Nasty I have a question about basement wife I’ve been thinking of for a while 🤔 apart from not trying to escape and not fighting against crocodile, what counts as her being on her “best behavior”?

At his core, I think that yandere/dark Crocodile is a wife guy. He wants that "wife experience" without the hassle of you running and threatening his operations in any way whatsoever. He did say he never trusted anyone from the start - and you're no exception to that. But who needs trust in their partner when they're unable to do anything against him? Crocodile wants to have his cake and eat it, too. (Not to mention that being a real threat to someone makes them awfully compliant and sweet, no?) You playing pretend, being nice and giving him a warm lap to rest his head on after a hard day's work is 'best behavior'. No fussing, no going stiff, no claws, no apathy, nothing. Just you being his good, little (or not-so-little) stepford wife. Our man is tired, overworked, always tense... he just wants an outlet at home; someone to spoil and decorate, to take the edge off. Of course, you're only human and not perfect, he can live with that. But you being affectionate out of your own volition, addressing him with a pet name, a kiss pressed to the hand that holds you at night... That is best behavior. And always rewarded. In my mind, this whole spiel goes on for years and years - at least a good while before Robin appears. It has the potential to morph into a weird neither-here-nor-there dynamic, one that makes him a little softer, to the point that he drags you with him after the Summit War. After all, he could have simply ditched you, without a base and unsteady as he is. But you're well and truly his spouse by then. You belong by his side, are a part of the look like the fur he likes to wear. And with the years (and fear, wrongly perceived as loyalty), he really finds himself loving you. A little backwards, that one.