Work Text:
Nobody told you that working as a girlboss CEO was exhausting.
Well. She should have expected it- everyone always told her, ever since she was a little rat, that she had to work hard to make it and have the office, have the outfits and the plants and the big windows she could look dramatically out of. And she had, in all sense of the words, made it. She had the high corporate job she knew many other rats were jealous off, she wore the high heels that paired nicely with her long scarves, she had the office and everything. None of her colleagues, her past college acquitances, or Rat God forbid, her family, would be none the wiser.
She didn't know that once she had made it, her hard work would just have to keep going. There was no break for a girl boss. And no one had to know that to keep the image of the hot girl CEO, she had to put long hours in overtime once she got home from the office. And in that case, "home" was her shitty two bedrooms apartment in the cheap part of town that she shared with a roommate. It was a stretch to call anything in this place home and on the subject of the roommate...
Ok. Maybe putting on advertisement on Ratlist was not the smartest idea at the time. To be fair, she was running on about 3 hours of sleep, just finished a 10 hours day of work and had about 4 too many cups of coffee when she had made the post searching for a roommate. But she was Lonely Desperate for attention In need of someone Please just someone any rats not willing to pay rent on her own when the place had a whole room available for someone else to rent.
And it was what had put her in this situation.
So. She was exhausted after her work shift. Already feeling a headache coming, thinking about how many hours of overtime she would have to secretly pull to stay at the top of her game and keep the image of perfect girlboss CEO. Really hoping that, maybe by miracle, chugging more coffee would let her push through. Hopefully, the small headache would not transform into a migraine. But those dreams were quickly dashed as she entered onto the shared studio and saw her roommate wearing entirely too little, with her guitar, standing on the arm of the sofa.
The other rat little beady eyes tracked her every movement as she entered and her whiskers seemed to tremble in excitement.
Oh dear Rat God, not this.
"Heya! Glad to see you're back!! I worked hard on this song for about 30 minutes, you just have to hear it! I dare to say, it's some of my best work yet."
Her roommate fuzzy chest was puffed up with pride. She could only drag her high heel to the sofa - Too close, too close, way too close - and collapse on it, feeling a stomach ache coming along the headache. Oh, wait, had she eaten today? She was sure to have sipped on a energy drink in front of her computer while working during her diner break - Emails were not going to answer themselves after all. But had she eaten anything?That would at least explain the pain in her stomach, though not everything that also ached, like her head, her feet, her soul...
Ah.
She shouldn't space out. Already, the other rat was moving one paw in front of her arms trying to gain back her attention. She could see a frown on the other rat face for having been ignored for one minute. Always so needy... That was almost too cute. She simply sighed and answered:
"I'm really not in the mood, if you don't mind, I'll just-"
"Of course I mind! I put a lot of effort into this you know! There's nothing else more important for you to do!"
Rat God, What a brat...
Well. At least with the guitar and her short fur, her troublesome attitude just made the other rat look cool. Like she didn't have a care in her little (b)rat brain. That no other rats opinion of her mattered, except her roommate opinion on the new song she apparently worked a whole 30 minute on.
New song she couldn't give a rat ass about.
She wanted to argue that in fact, Yeah, she had better things to do. Not that the other rat would know anything. She was living in her little perfect world, where writing music occasionally was the more important thing. Way more important than holding a job so she was able to pay rent. Who she was late to pay to her. Yet again.
No, instead of arguing, she simply deeply sighed and nervously played with the end of her scarf and said:
"Do you ever feel-"
"Like a plastic bag?"
"No. Feel like you're giving too much of yourself and then, there's not anything left to give?"
The other rat seemed to consider the question for a minute. And then, with far too much confidence, she answered:
"No. That's stupid."
The CEO felt her jaw drop. The audacity! The musician had no idea what she was talking about, had no concept of responsibility, or pressure to strick for excellence, nothing else. She had NO idea what it was to live in her fur and to make fun of her for opening up and sharing her worries and and-
"Woah, woah, don't get your tail in a twist, let me finish!! If you feel like you're giving too much, then stop giving. If there's nothing left and you can't give anymore, don't be stupid, you don't give shit! You take it back!"
"Oh."
Oh.
Well. That was strangely considerate of her roommate. The girlboss rat continued to look at her from the corner of her eyes.
Maybe she would listen to her advice for once.