Diamond couldn't believe she was here.
She was so frustrated with herself, and had been for all of that weekend. That scummy, good-for-nothing competitor of hers ripped away her home and her business with the use of legal fine print. In the whim of a deal gone bad, Diamond lost everything. Not only was she jobless, but she also lost the business she had spent her entire adult career building up. And to top off the worst sundae ever, she lost her house, too.
She was asked to move out ASAP. Luckily, Diamond still had her car, and a storage facility lined up. She had nothing to rely on but her savings. She could have just went and got a hotel, too. But Diamond didn't build her business up by spending her money liberally. She was a frugal woman. And if she had to build herself back up, then she'd have to follow that same principle too.
Which is why, instead of renting a place, she took her college ex's offer to let her use the spare room in her apartment.
The apartment's exterior wasn't too terrible. It wasn't in a great part of the state - at least for job prospects - but it was just temporary. And besides, she wouldn't have to pay rent or bills.
It was oddly kind of Zero to allow this. After all, the two hadn't quite ended things on the best of terms. Diamond winced as she remembered shouting at Zero to get the hell out of her home after Zero had destroyed one of her favorite suits by sheer accident. Maybe she shouldn't have gone that hard. Diamond was under a lot of stress, and to be fair, she did take it out on her ex-girlfriend a lot.
This was abnormally kind of Zero. Diamond was almost suspicious.
Diamond mentally agreed to keep her guard up, apply to jobs like crazy, and get into a house of her own as soon as possible. Diamond estimated it would take less than two weeks, with her impressive resume. Which was good because Zero only agreed to let her stay for two weeks.
It was better than nothing. Diamond rang the doorbell, and stood by the entrance for a while. Finally, the door swung open. Diamond was greeted by someone who certainly resembled Zero.
At least, she thought.
Zero hadn't always cared too much about her appearance. She was graced with perfect skin, and that was about it. She always tried to at least take care of her long hair. But the woman standing in front of Diamond... her head was more grease than actual hair. Even though it was 3pm, she still wore just her pajamas. And in her hand was some kind of soda or energy drink. It seemed -- according to multiple senses -- that she hadn't showered in weeks.
Diamond tried to hide her thoughts and keep her judgements to herself. "Z-Zero," she forced out. "Good to see you... again."
"Yeah, you too!" Zero gave a smile. At least her smile was still cute. "Come inside. I cleaned just for you!"
Diamond exhaled. That was kind of Zero, at least. "Thank you, that's very... generous, of you." Diamond had to wonder what 'clean' meant to Zero. And as she was led inside, that question was answered.
Predictably, Zero and Diamond had very different ideas of 'clean'. Soda cans and takeout containers were still strewn across the apartment, and there were only a few places to sit that weren't covered in garbage. Diamond couldn't even describe the smell. She only prayed that she would grow used to it, or convince Zero to open some windows.
Diamond held her breath. She couldn't believe she had to stay here for two weeks. Briefly, she reconsidered finding a hotel. No, she forced herself to think, she only had to do this for two weeks. And all she had to do was find a job. Easy peasy.
"Well, make yourself at home," Zero offered.
"...Thanks," Diamond responded, the sarcasm dripping from her voice. She looked around a little longer. On the TV, some kind of video game was on screen. A fighting game, perhaps? Diamond never understood any of the nerdy things Zero was into. It didn't matter to her. "Don't you think you should throw away some of this trash?"
"Huh?" Zero blinked. "That's my emotional support trash."
Silence hung above them, before Zero burst into laughter. Diamond couldn't have felt any more indigent. "Nah, I like it this way. Feel free to tidy it up yourself if you don't like it, though."
"I'm not cleaning up your--" Diamond started, and stopped herself. She took a quick moment to compose herself, and remind herself that she didn't have many other options. "Very well. I may do so... later. You said there's a guest room I can take?"
Zero nodded. "Yeah. Lemme show you there." She put the video game controller down, and stood up. Zero motioned for Diamond to follow her. Distantly, the judgemental former businesslady prayed that at least the guest room would be nice.
And it turned out, miraculously, compared to the rest of Zero's home? The guest room was arguably nice. It wasn't perfect -- the bed was hardly made (was there even a sheet covering it?) and the trash bin hadn't been dealt with for... probably a while. But there was a bed, a desk, and a closet. Diamond could make do with that. If she wouldn't do anything else to help Zero, she would at least clean up the guest room.
After all, it was going to be her room for the next two weeks. At most.
"Thanks, Zero," Diamond said, trying to keep her tone neutral. Zero made a fake salute.
"No prob, boss," she replied. "If you need me, I'm gonna be in the living room, playing video games and jerking off."
Okay. TMI. Whatever. "Of course. Have... fun."
And Zero left, presumably to do exactly that.
Diamond didn't wait any spare seconds. She opened her computer, sitting at the dingy desk, and began her job search. It wasn't hard to find jobs she'd been qualified for - it was hard to find jobs she wouldn't be overqualified for. But she grazed the job posting websites, and even reached out to a few of her former MBA friends. Diamond managed to find a handful of jobs by then. She didn't have much else to do, and she knew how hiring practices worked - so most of her time was tailoring resumes and writing custom cover letters.
By the time she got... around 10 applications out, the sun had already set. She knew it would take some time for the places to get back to her. Understandable. What Diamond didn't like was that she basically had... nothing else to do. She didn't want to leave the relative comfort of the guest room and deal with Zero's house - and Zero herself.
It wasn't that Diamond didn't like Zero. Zero just had very, very different values from Diamond.
Just as she was about to head to bed early, her phone buzzed. An email. Diamond whipped it open, and thank the lord, had her first interview offer. The job was fairly below her pay grade, but she would take it if there were an offer. Diamond knew the way she was going to make money would be by building up self-employment income again.
As Diamond wrote her reply, another email came in with another offer. One or two more offers came in as Diamond drafted the first email. A wave of relief washed over Diamond, feeling that maybe - just maybe - she wouldn't be here for too much longer.
With three interviews lined up for tomorrow now, Diamond fell asleep, letting the cheap mattress take her into slumber.
~~
"You're leaving? Where're you going?" Zero's head whipped around as Diamond headed out the door.
"Job interviews," Diamond responded blankly. "Got one after the other. Might as well get there 30 minutes early to make a good impression."
Zero smiled, narrowing her eyes towards the businesslady. "You're on the move so quickly. Don't even want to take off your shoes, rest for a bit?"
"No," Diamond spat. That was easy for Zero to say, when all Zero did was 'rest for a bit'. "I need to get my life back on track again. I'm not going to turn into someone who just... plays video games all day and lives in a dump." Ouch. Even Diamond felt kind of bad saying that.
Zero didn't mind it, though. "Alright. Well, if you insist. Mind if I give you a hug first?"
Diamond pondered her options. Zero looked clean...ish. She must have finally decided to take a shower, considering she smelled normal again, and her hair was wet. Maybe Diamond inspired her, somehow. There couldn't have been much harm in allowing that. "Sure," Diamond said. "A quick one."
Zero walked around the couch towards Diamond. She pulled her into a hug. There was always a height difference between the two, Diamond a little over six feet and Zero barely reaching 5'5". And yet, somehow, Zero gave better hugs than Diamond.
She pulled Diamond in, Zero's hands exploring the back of Diamond's body. "I'll miss you," she said. Diamond couldn't put past the sense that Zero was being... sinister.
"Me too," Diamond lied.
But Zero didn't let her go, even as Diamond struggled out. "Can you let me leave, now? I said a quick-"
"Shhhhh," Zero hushed. "Don't move. Just relax."
Alarms went off in Diamond's head. Something was wrong. She should have guessed Zero was going to try something. "L-let me go, I have to make--"
Diamond was cut off as Zero's left hand traced up Diamond's neck. Reaching her scalp, Zero grabbed a fistful of Diamond's hair. Diamond took immense pride in her perfectly done hair, but she couldn't lie and say she didn't like  having her hair played with by a trusted partner.
Zero wasn't a trusted partner. And yet, somehow, she was melting in Zero's hair pulls. Diamond's struggles grew weak as Zero pulled harder, harder. Diamond felt herself dropping, somehow. Like she was very, very tired. Her eyelids felt heavy. What was she doing again?
"Just let me take care of things," Zero suggested.
"Wh...what are you-"
Zero pulled on Diamond's hair, hard. "Fall."
~~
Diamond wasn't quite sure how long it had been, but finally, she woke up. Her body felt heavy and weak. She slowly oriented herself to her surroundings, realizing she was still in Zero's apartment. Still messy as usual. Diamond's head felt... foggy. Like she couldn't be judgemental of Zero even if she wanted to be.
"I... what did you do?" Diamond demanded, her voice still a tad sleepy.
"Nothing!" Zero lied. "I just gave you a hug before you left."
"R-right," Diamond murmured. "What time is it? It's--" Diamond checked her watch. Fuck. 45 minutes had passed! She needed to leave now, or she was going to miss her first interview. "I need to go now! I-I'll see you--"
SNAP!
Diamond paused. She was saying something. Something important. She had to go somewhere, but she couldn't figure out where. It seemed vital, a place she needed to go. But for some weird reason, she couldn't place her finger on where she was heading. Her train of thought disappeared into the fog.
"Uh... I need to go..." Diamond's head hurt trying to think. Where was she going? What was she doing? What--
Zero smiled. "You were going to an interview."
"I was... oh, shit, yes!" Diamond felt like facepalming. How could she forget something that important? She felt like the biggest idiot in the world -- even stupider than Zero. Without another word, Diamond ran out the door, to her car. She flew into the driver's seat, turned the key, and slammed the gas pedal.
Diamond made it to her 8:30am interview at 8:29am. She didn't know what room to go in. As soon as she parked, she sprinted inside the fancy-looking office building. What floor was it again? Where was she going? She looked at the email again, and answered those questions. She rushed into the open elevator, praying for it to go faster.
8:30am hit.
Then 8:31am.
Diamond felt like sobbing. How could she have fallen for Zero's stupid trick? She did something to Diamond. Something--
"Diamond Masters!" A voice greeted her. A man in a fancy outfit stood in front of her, holding a cup of coffee. "My name is Davis. You look like you've been in quite the rush."
"Y-yes, nice to meet you, I..." Diamond didn't even know how to explain herself being one minute late. But in the world of finance, a single second of lateness could cost a job. She could tell the interviewer was forcing a smile. Diamond had deeply fucked up.
And somehow, she found herself being okay with that.
~~
Diamond made the first two of her three interviews that day. Each second of running around, answering questions... all of it totaled her body. Something strange was going on. Her first two interviews, she had to take a while to answer each question. For some reason, she didn't know what her answer would be. Of course she thrived in fast-paced environments. Of course she worked well under pressure. And she answered as such.
But her words felt like lies.
Maybe Diamond was just burnt out. Or maybe she was still dealing with the emotional after effects of losing everything she knew and loved. Her head pounded. Her heart ached. One thought crossed her mind-
"I don't want to work anymore."
The fact that thought existed in Diamond's head made her truly think something was terribly off. Diamond loved working. She was a borderline workaholic. If she didn't have anything to work on, any way to be truly productive... she felt like her life didn't have meaning.
That was how she felt her whole life. Until now.
Diamond reclined in her car seat. All she wanted to do was rest. Maybe this was how Zero felt -- like there was a heaviness weighing her down, pinning her to her seat. Diamond couldn't think about work. She couldn't even think about going to her final interview that day.
With 30 minutes to breathe, she made a decision she would have never thought of.
She no-showed. And miraculously, she didn't feel an ounce of guilt or shame about it.
        Since there was no real place to go next, Diamond decided just to head back home. Well, 'home' was figurative. She wouldn't particularly call Zero's apartment her home. It wasn't nearly clean enough for Diamond to be comfortable there. She had to find a job and get a real house and get TF out of there.
Maybe she shouldn't have ghosted that job interview... ah well, it was too late, and Diamond had been heading back to Zero's place anyways.
As Diamond drove her expensive sports car, she began to think. How was Zero paying her bills? Zero didn't have a job or any sort of income. Diamond distantly remembered Zero having gotten into competitive fighting games, and getting into a few tournaments. She remembered some of them actually payed pretty well. But Zero couldn't have been sustaining herself off of that alone. Not with how much takeout she clearly was getting.
Diamond had a decent amount in savings. She had about seven figures in liquid cash alone. Maybe she should repay Zero's kindness and help out with one or two of the bills, at least.
As that thought continued to linger in her mind, Diamond pulled up into the parking lot (she was still shocked there was a parking lot). She grabbed her belongings and, still feeling nothing about skipping her interview, sauntered back into Zero's apartment. The door was unlocked, thankfully.
Or, not thankfully, considering Diamond had just walked in on Zero fucking herself with a dildo. Diamond's jaw dropped to the ground. She hadn't even bothered to lock her doors, or even go to her own room. Not to mention, she was still sitting in her mess of a living room as she mercilessly fucked her own cunt. Zero was moaning and panting like some kind of bitch in heat.
And fuck. She looked hot.
Diamond's heavy breathing -- she wasn't turned on herself, too, was she? -- was the thing that gave away her presence. Zero's head whipped around to Diamond. Notably, she did not stop fucking herself. "Diamond! You're back early." There was no shame, no hiding in Zero's voice. She did not care about what was going on. Or... maybe she liked it.
Diamond's face was deep red. "I-I am. Didn't mean to interrupt you, I'm going back to the guest room now." That was all she wanted to say before going back to hide, before Zero stopped her.
Well, Zero didn't necessarily stop her intentionally. Diamond stopped at the sound of Zero's moaning intensifying. Diamond whipped around to see Zero's body convulsing, her moaning turning to screaming as Zero shamelessly rode out her orgasm in front of Diamond. Diamond was in sheer shock, getting the worst case of secondhand embarrassment she ever had in her life.
Zero had no tact. She didn't even hide her orgasm from Diamond.
Eventually, Zero's orgasm ended, and she pulled the dildo out of herself. Diamond quickly eyed the size, and was impressed Zero could take a shaft that size. Maybe she wasn't terrible at everything. Zero smirked to Diamond, as she put the dildo on the table.
And then tried to go back to her video game.
"You're not even going to try to clean it?" Diamond demanded. She couldn't help herself; she was just so stunned.
"Eh, I'll do it later," Zero shrugged. "Unless you want to do it for me."
"What?!" Diamond exclaimed. Whatever generous thoughts she had about helping Zero with her bills had long flown out the window. "Of course I don't! The very least you could do is put it back in your room as opposed to on the damn table! You're... you're disgusting, Zer--"
SNAP!
Diamond knew she was yelling. She knew she was angry. But that was all she remembered after the sound of the snap finished. Once again, she had no idea what she was going on about. Why did she feel angry at Zero, again? Diamond closed her eyes, trying to remember. "I... I... what was I saying..."
Zero chuckled. "You were saying you wanted to clean up my dildo."
"H-huh?" Diamond blinked. That didn't sound right at all. She did some mental calculations. Her eyes were fixated on the toy, namely how dirty it was from Zero's juices. This was unsanitary and gross.
But if Zero said that, Diamond was a woman of her word. "Fine. I'll take it." Diamond walked around, ready to grab the dildo with as little of her hand as possible, before Zero stopped her again.
"Oh," Zero cocked her head. "I thought you said you were going to lick it clean."
"What?!"
"Yeah." Zero spoke matter-of-factly. "I was surprised too, honestly. I didn't think you were like that. But you seemed pretty insistent on it."
"I...I..." Diamond had no words. She didn't know what to say. But, Diamond definitely did not offer that. She didn't remember doing so, and it would have been completely out of character for her. "N-no. I'll take it to the sink--"
SNAP!
Diamond felt dizzy. She didn't even know where the snaps were coming from. It was like she blanked out the second they happened. Diamond looked around, trying to figure out what the hell was happening.
And then she locked eyes with Zero. The dildo in her peripheral vision. "Come on, Diamond," Zero urged. "I wanted to see that. If you do anything to repay me, c'mon, let me watch you clean my used dildo with your tongue."
This was wrong. This was all wrong. Diamond didn't remember saying anything like that. But remembering anything in the past couple of minutes was a herculean task, anyways.
So Zero must not have been lying. "A-alright." Diamond kneeled down to the table, grabbed the dildo, and after a few moments of hesitation, began licking the juices straight off of Zero's dildo. The taste wasn't too bad, nor was the sensation of the fake veins in the dildo. But what was defeating Diamond was the sheer degradation of the act. She must have looked like such a wanton slut. Diamond felt belittled, and no one except her and Zero stood in the room. How did she get to this point?
Diamond didn't know. All she knew was she had to keep licking until the dildo was clean.
Zero petted Diamond's head. "That's it," she cooed. "By the way, my electricity bill came in today. I was hoping you could help me with it..."
~~
About a week had passed since Diamond had started staying at Zero's place. She had gotten a good amount of interviews, but nothing came through yet. Diamond wanted to know what she was doing wrong - she was certain that she would have had a job by then. She was qualified, dignified, and had made a name for herself in the business world.
Maybe it was her interview skills. Diamond used to teach classes on proper interview etiquette. But now, when Diamond would get to an interview, her mind would go blank. She would forget all her accomplishments, all of her experiences. And she would sit there for what felt like forever trying to work through the mental fog in her brain. She could tell the interviewers were getting annoyed with her. And she had no idea what to do about it.
At least virtual interviews went better. She wouldn't have to leave the comfort -- relative comfort -- of her guest room. And she could keep her resume open in one tab to jog her memory. Those weren't terrible. But, she still had immense difficulty acquiring any sort of position. Even after she expanded her sights.
One day, Diamond took a good look at the guest room behind her desk. It had gotten so messy. She started relying on takeout as well, and cleaning up after herself had become such a hard task. She would constantly think to herself, "I'll do it tomorrow," and then tomorrow would come and she'd put it off again. Maybe Diamond was too busy. Or maybe Zero was just rubbing off on her.
No. She absolutely would not let that happen. Diamond was a dignified, important businesslady. She wasn't some loser or NEET.
And yet, her room was a mess. She couldn't get herself to clean it. Maybe if she got some cleaning supplies or trash bags in her room, it'd get her to do a bit. Even just 15 minutes. Even just 5. Diamond felt so humiliated by how she was acting, how even 15 minutes of cleaning seemed impossible. Who had she even become?
Diamond left her room, and went to go look for the trash bags. Zero was still in the living room, talking into a microphone, into a camera. "Streaming", as Zero had called it, still didn't quite make sense to Diamond. It didn't matter. All she had to do was find the trash bags.
If there were any.
Diamond checked every single cabinet, every area she could, and could not find a single trash bag - at least, not an unused one. Diamond exhaled in exasperation. Zero didn't even have trash bags. Maybe when she'd get some, Zero would get inspired to clean up her place too. Well, trash bags weren't out of Diamond's budget in any way. She walked behind Zero, where she wouldn't get caught on camera, or get noticed.
She failed.
"Diamond!" Zero called out. "Where ya going?"
"To get some trash bags," Diamond said firmly. "We need to tidy this place up. I need to tidy the guest room up, at least."
"Huh?" Zero cocked her head. "Huh, I was liking what you were doing to the guest room. It looks nice."
Diamond didn't even know what to say. "I'm going--"
SNAP!
"Don't worry about it." Zero interrupted Diamond's sudden onslaught of mental fog. "This place is nice. It's my place too, not yours. I'm just letting you stay here. Besides, it's easier to just ignore all the trash in life, isn't it?"
Zero was playing with her. Diamond knew it. "S-stop..." she silently pleaded.
"Stop what?" Zero smiled. "I'm not doing anything to you. Well, other than asking you to eat me out while I stream."
Diamond shook her head. The fog was about to hit her. Zero was about to snap again, and that'd make Diamond lose the last piece of her resistance. Diamond felt like a total idiot, falling for Zero's stupid trick. She couldn't believe she let herself walk into such an obvious trap. Why was Zero doing this? And why couldn't Diamond just stand up and leave?
Zero raised her fingers. "No--!"
And then, Diamond's phone started ringing and buzzing. Zero lowered her fingers, looking at Diamond.
"Excuse me," Diamond murmured. She was extremely grateful for the interruption. She used the opportunity to run back into the guest room before Zero could do anymore damage.
Diamond picked up the phone, and began the conversation. Her mental fog was ever present, but she did her best to pay attention and answer questions.
Finally, her wishes were granted. She got a job offer! Even with a sign on bonus!
"Oh my gosh, fantastic news!" Diamond exhaled in relief. Finally, she could get out of this dump. "Thank you very much for the news. I happily--"
SNAP!
No. No. Diamond shook her head. She turned around -- sure enough, Zero was standing behind her, with the worst smug grin on her face.
Diamond scrambled to pick herself back up mentally. "I'm sorry, I accept--"
SNAP!
"The--"
SNAP!
She couldn't take it. Diamond couldn't even speak. With the last of her efforts, she forced herself to step back. "I'm sorry, may I call you back later?" Gracefully, the interviewer agreed. Before Zero could do anymore damage, Diamond said a quick goodbye and hung up.
And then turned to face Zero, nothing but fury in her eyes. "What is wrong with you?! Are you trying to sabotage my life?!"
"Well, yeah, I thought that was obvious."
Diamond felt her blood boil. With the adrenaline coursing through her body, she began stuffing her belongings back in her suitcases. "I cannot believe you! It's bad enough you want to live like this, but making me be just like you?! You're... you're disgusting, Zero! In so many ways! Fuck you!"
Zero's face was perfectly calm. Sadistically calm, in a way. She didn't immediately respond to Diamond's monologue.
"I'm leaving," Diamond hissed. "I'm leaving so things can go the hell back to normal!"
"You really think that's going to happen?" Zero asked. "I mean, look at you. You couldn't even get through most of those interviews without almost having a script. What makes you think you're going to be able to go back to work after this? With the way I've changed your brain, I give you like, 2 months before you get fired."
"You..." Diamond felt herself tear up. She hated that. She usually masked her tears with anger and frustration, much in the way she'd take it out on her employees. But being betrayed like this? It was too much to hide. "This... this is beneath even you."
Zero shrugged. "Maybe," she said casually. "But things are easier this way. Don't you want to spend your life just, not caring about anything? I mean, why try so hard? It's a much better use of your time to watch hentai and play video games all day, not to mention passing around the same dildo as me."
Diamond shook her head. With her belongings stuffed, she began to march past Zero. "Goodbye--"
"Nah. Not yet."
A series of snaps came out of Zero's hands. Diamond felt herself nearly unable to breathe. Why was Zero doing this? Slowly, Diamond felt her thoughts, her willpower, slowly fading away. She felt so humiliated, so embarrassed, that she couldn't leave this kind of situation. And that even if she did, her brain wouldn't force itself back to normal.
"This is your ideal life," Zero said.
Diamond resisted as much as she could.
"You want this."
Snap. Snap. Snap. With every snap, those statements became more true. This was Diamond's ideal life. She wanted this. This was Diamond's ideal life. She wanted this. This was Diamond's ideal life. She wanted this.
Diamond weakly reached her hand out. But she couldn't do it. In addition to being dumb and lazy, she also felt degraded, which made her shockingly horny. Diamond clenched her legs together. She tried to will herself back up, to get herself to leave this dump, and to get her life back on track.
She couldn't. She was a loser.
And with one final snap, the last of Diamond's resistance - the last of her willpower, her drive, her motivation - disappeared.
"What... what is going on?" Diamond asked weakly. Her body felt hot, wet, in need.
"Oh," Zero smiled. "You were just going to eat me out while I streamed. And you were gonna get your belongings from storage and move in with me."
Diamond still felt something was wrong. But instead of resisting, she just nodded.
"And hey," Zero chuckled. "If you really want any kind of income, I do have cameras, and we'd be great camgirls together."
Something about that sentence made Diamond clench up. But she didn't want to say no. She didn't want anything but to be with Zero. "Oh," she sighed. "Yeah, that sounds fun."
Better than anything Diamond could have thought of doing, anyways.