"Duke Weaselton!"
The bearer of this name would have cringed at the shrill, angry tone of the owner of that voice, were he not so tired. The weasel ignored his name, groaned, and slumped into his favorite armchair. The scraggly-looking mustelid was even more worn-down than usual, and the collapsed posture in his noodle-like body communicated this well.
Standing at the doorway to his bedroom was a very irritated-looking weasel. She glared at him from her chocolate-brown eyes and folded her arms tightly.
"Where is dinner?" Duke's wife asked acidly.
"Uh, was I supposed to get somethin', Queenie?" Duke responded, scratching his head.
"I told you I didn't feel like cooking tonight, Duke!" Queenie thrust her hands out. "I texted you to pick us up something on the way home!"
Duke rubbed at one of his temples. "Couldn't you have gotten something, babe? You work at a supermarket n' all."
"Don't 'babe' me," Queenie twitched her index finger's claw sharply.
"I've had a rough day, bay- Queenie," Duke groaned. "I'll order us a pizza."
"I like pizza," the voice of Duke's daughter came out from elsewhere in the apartment.
"No one asked you, Princess," Queenie snapped. "Fine. It'll come out of your pocket, Duke. Get one with sardines."
"Yes, ma'am," Duke groaned, picking up the phone.
In the uneasy silence that followed the ordering of the pizza, Duke reflected on the day he had. Queenie didn't ask him about it, and he knew she probably didn't want to hear it. The pawn shop he worked at had gotten mugged by a honey badger, about the largest mammal that could fit into a shop so relatively small. Honey badgers having the reputation they did, the robber didn't even have to produce a weapon to start making threats, and he walked away with a large amount of goods.
Of all the rotten luck, things even got worse when the police showed up on the scene. That Flopsy character, Judy, was among them, her and Wilde, and the two gave Duke no end of ribbing for being unfortunate enough to be robbed.
"Ol' Weaselton got robbed? What a shame!" Judy had said, her bright voice unable to conceal a clearly sarcastic intent.
"Y'know what they say about ol' Karma," Nick had winked at Duke, clicking his teeth. Wilde was one to talk, from what Duke knew of him. The big lug couldn't even fit in the shop properly and was only there to support his partner during the investigation. Duke doubted they'd really put a lot of effort into it. After all, it was "just" Duke Weaselton.
Between his wife's slowly-building animosity towards him and the ridicule he put up with from other sources, he sometimes regretted going straight.
His thoughts were broken by the sound of the doorbell ringing. A young male ferret, late teens, was offering the pizza.
"Ten dollars, please," the ferret requested.
"Hey, thanks," Duke said, parting with the money. When the ferret gave him a mildly skeptical look, he added another couple of dollars on top of that. "Oh right, heh, tip."
It seemed like prices were going up while the money he made stayed the same. Ten dollars for a smallish mustelid-sized pizza seemed like highway robbery. Something a "job" or two on the side would alleviate. He was wary of that business, especially after the incident with Mr. Big, who if he never crossed again in his life would suit him fine. As it was, he could count his lucky stars, since a mammal normally didn't live past one cross of Mr. Big.
Catching a bit of a shiver, Duke walked toward the table.
"Your damage acting up again?" Queenie narrowed an eye. "Don't drop that."
Duke placed the pizza down without a word and got some paper plates for everyone.
"Princess! Pizza's on!" His wife called out.
Duke's daughter made an appearance, finishing up a text and placing her phone in her pocket. Luckily for the teenage weasel, she'd gotten most of her looks from her mother. Her soft, warm brown eyes were accentuated by a little bit of eyeshadow, and her style of dress could definitely be called fashionable.
"Hey Mom, hey Dad," Princess grinned. "Ooh, sardines." She happily grabbed a couple of pieces and made her way back to her room with little ceremony.
Duke ate a piece vacantly as he tried to relax, avoiding the stares he felt boring into him by his wife. As she was making no headway, she put the news on their small television. The weasel hopped the robbery wouldn't show up on the news, and it didn't look like it was going to. There were far bigger stories to tell in Zootopia, in more ways than one.
"So I had a rough day at work, too," Queenie snipped. Duke felt like retorting, but he let the words perish in his throat. "You wouldn't believe some of the customers I get. Thinking they can boss me around just because I'm a weasel. But no, you have to be cordial to them. The customer's always right, even when they're a jerk."
"Mhm," Duke nodded absently. Queenie's eyes narrowed at Duke's seeming lack of attention and she gave him an appraising glance.
"Not that I think you can get a job anywhere else," the weasel looked Duke over, "but you really think working at a pawn shop is doing anything for this family?"
Duke's brow furrowed and he finally turned his attention to Queenie. "What're you sayin'? Are you sayin' you want me to get back into bootleggin' and petty theft? All that razz?"
"We need some sort of meaningful income," Queenie frowned. "Between trying to keep ourselves afloat and making sure Princess has nice things, we're nearly broke."
"I know, I know," Duke grunted. "An' believe me, I've thought about it. But I don't relish the thought of bein' held up over a vat of freezing water again."
"Always with that story," Queenie rolled her eyes. "It was one job."
"Yeah, and I never know what kinda mammal's pullin' the strings behind the jobs I take," Duke groaned. "Lotsa mammals bigger or stronger than me. One job gone wrong and I'm outta the picture." He laughed scornfully. "An' you don't even have a good life insurance policy on me."
"Hmph," Queenie barely smiled. She placed down her spent pieces of pizza, leaving the crust untouched as usual. "Well, don't wake me up when you come to bed, or else."
Duke swallowed his own piece of pizza as his wife exited to their room. Maybe he'd just sleep on the couch that night.
As soon as he was beginning to feel drowsy, he was jerked awake by his daughter coming into the room.
"Whuzzah?" Duke jolted, feeling a brief surge of wakefulness. Princess launched herself onto the couch, playing with her phone. "Ah, hey Princess."
"Hey," Princess didn't take her eyes off the phone for moment, then put it down and looked at her father. "Y'know, you take a lotta crap from Mom."
"...Nh, yeah, I know," Duke said, flipping through the TV channels distractedly.
"Kinda surprised you two've stayed together," Princess pocketed her phone.
"Well, uh," Duke scratched his cheek. "Where'd you be if we weren't together, huh?"
Princess seemed to think about this. "So what you're saying is... you two probably aren't going to last once I'm out of the apartment."
Duke groaned, cringing. "I don't really wanna think about that, sweetie. Things used to be pretty good between her'n me, but- but y'know, things change."
"So, they were better back when you were a criminal," Princess said flatly. Duke winced, even though the words didn't seem overly accusatory.
"Pretty much," Duke shrugged guiltily. "Could afford to get her some nice things."
"At other mammals' expenses," Princess clasped her paws together.
Duke laughed unsteadily. "What're you, some kinda guidance counselor alluva sudden?"
"Daddy, I run a clique at school," Princess stated, "but I don't let bad eggs into it. I'm glad you're trying to live your life honestly." Duke couldn't remember if he knew that fact about Princess. He figured his wife must.
"Well, it's not easy," Duke groaned. "Weasels can still get away with an awful lot. It'd be so simple to just up'n grab a pocketful of cash or two. Lotsa mammals wouldn't miss it."
Princess made a clearly distasteful face.
"Y'know, or not," Duke's weak voice trailed off into a tiny laugh. Trying to gather his thoughts, Duke felt he had more to say, but he didn't quite know how to say it. He took a deep breath. "Princess... one truth in this world that ya can't get away from is that money talks. ... An' recently, I haven't had very much to say."
"Money's not everything, Dad," Princess looked briefly at her phone. "There's also respect. I've managed to get a good deal of that for myself in school, and I respect you too. I didn't always."
"Ouch," Duke laughed nervously. "How time's gone by, eh? You'll be graduatin' soon, goin' off to college. Thank Drive you got that scholarship... uh, what'd you say you were gonna study?"
"I'm going to be an accountant," Princess said resolutely.
"Heh, you'll get to look at a lotta money that way," Duke grinned. His mind felt scrambled from his fatigue, and he couldn't think of anything else to talk about. After a few minutes, Princess got back up and headed back to her room.
"Uh, Sara!" Duke called after her. Princess blinked at the use of her middle name, and looked over her shoulder. "Dh- y'know... do some good in this world, okay? Be better than me."
Princess smiled softly. "Love you, Daddy."
"Love you too, Princess," Duke mumbled out, feeling like some sort of weight was released from his chest.
Despite his swelling mood, he felt like it would still be better if he slept on the couch that night. Mercifully, sleep found him easier than it usually did.