It was an overly sunny day- the giant ball of fire in the sky baking the earth and the unfortunate souls working on it. The boy pitied them, but mostly he was just happy he could work indoors. Even though he was ordered around by his master-of-the-day to clean spotless things, having his hands dried out from soap was much more preferable compared to getting dried out from dehydration.

As he scrubbed at the floor, he sang quietly under his breath.

“When you smile, sun shines . . .”

It was an old song that everyone knew, but no one knew why being like the sun was a good thing.

“Number Ten!”

The boy flinched at the voice and stood up quickly. Head bowed, he replied obediently, “Yes, sir?”

“Are you done with this room?”

Ten stared at the ground. Darn, he thought. He missed a spot. “No, sir.”

The man, Mr. Wu-something, muttered a string of curses before saying, “Forget it. Clean up the bedroom before my wife comes home.”

“Yes, sir.”

He stared at the man's shoes. They were shiny and he could see his untamed hair in the reflection.

“Why are you still standing here?” The man yelled as he turned to leave. “ing uneducated scum.”

Ten always found it ironic that the Elites called others “uneducated” by using vulgarity. He thought that they would use classier insults, but nope. No matter what social class, everyone cussed using the same language.

Shaking his head, he gathered his cleaning supplies and walked down the marble hall, entering the lavish room at the end. His mat in the Cleaner's dorm could have fit neatly in one of the bookshelves, but he was used to it. After all these years, probably only the General's room could get a reaction out of him, with all it's “gold and silver and diamonds and everything rare and shiny everywhere”. He'd never been there, but Twelve was chosen to go once, and he had talked about it for hours after lights out. Ten vividly remembered seeing the whites of the other's wide eyes, contrasting sharply in the dark. It was kind of creepy.

From the doorway, it was obvious what he needed to clean. The master clearly had with someone, and it wasn't his wife. He couldn't tell whether it was an Entertainer or a bored and Elite, but it was all the same to him.

He stripped the pillows and threw the satin covers into his laundry basket. Then, taking the corners of the bedsheet, he lifted it up with a practiced flourish, trapping the dirty blankets inside so that he could carry it easily.

Ten was an expert at cleaning up after , but he'd never personally experienced this glorious thing. After work every day, all he wanted to do was sleep, not sleep with someone. So he had long accepted the fact that he would stay a until ordered otherwise by the Government. (He'd always wondered about that. Was he going to be assigned a girl to have with until she got pregnant?)

With the bed done, he surveyed the rest of the room, trying to see if there was anything else to straighten up. The door to the bathroom was closed but he didn't dare to check inside. “Clean every ing corner, but don't see anything you're not supposed to.” That was his job.

Again singing under his breath, he walked out to dump the sheets into the washing bin to scrub later and fetch clean ones.

~~~

The bathroom door cracked open and a head of reddish-brown hair poked out. Satisfied that the coast was clear, the door opened fully and the boy stepped out. It wasn't that Baekhyun was too shy to let others see him in last night's costume- which was virtually nothing- because he definitely wasn't. He just didn't want to have to awkwardly stand around while the Cleaner did his job. Baekhyun liked to talk, but not when he was feeling moody and nowadays, it was more often than not. And the bathroom was interesting too, what with all the badly hidden condoms and lube.

He looked at the bare mattress and tried to remember last night. The first few times had been exhilarating and full of pleasure, but he soon grew numb to it all. He still did his job, but while he was ed mindlessly in the (all his master-of-the-night's were men- something do with not complicating the blood line, or something), he allowed his thoughts to wander and fantasize. There were millions of tiny worlds and universes in his mind, one for every night, and they were all better than the one he was living in.

And that was ing depressing.

Baekhyun thought that last night's world might have involved a ranch house in the middle of nowhere, leaning his head on someone's shoulder and watching the sun set, but it might have also involved coming from an alien planet to save Earth with superpowers. If he could, he would love to light up this dark society, shining brightly on the Elites and burning them, watching them burn to crisp and . . .

He shook his head, stopping his thoughts in case the Elites had created mind reading machines without letting the others know. It sounded like something they would do.

Baekhyun walked over to the wardrobe to find some clothes (he hoped the man wouldn't mind), because, no matter what, he still had some decency left to not want to strut down the streets, but was distracted by the tall mirror beside it. Slowly turning, he examined himself. “Unblemished porcelain skin my ,” he muttered at the hickeys and red scratches.

Tearing his gaze away, he threw open the door of the wardrobe, only to be disappointed. Apparently status didn't equal fashion. He poked through the neat piles of expensive and boring suits and wondered why Elites bought so much of the same ing thing. He was debating between a black suit jacket with velvet lining and a black suit jacket with silk lining when he heard footsteps approaching.

“Woah. You were not here before. Where did you come from? Who are you?”

The still unclothed Entertainer turned towards the voice. Really freakishly tall, Baekhyun noted, studying the newcomer. There was something about the Cleaner- probably those expectant puppy eyes coupled with frazzled hair- that he really didn't like. The giant poodle seemed way too happy for someone living this ty life.

“I'm Baekhyun.”

The puppy eyes widened before they're quickly lowered. “Sir, I- I'm sorry, sir,” the Cleaner stammered. His body went rigid, knuckles whitening as he clutched the sheets in his hands.

“I'm not a ing Elite,” Baekhyun spat out.

The eyes were back up immediately, searching in the other's, as if eyes really were the windows to the soul. Baekhyun held the stare for a beat before rolling his eyes. The Cleaner flinched and tried to look elsewhere, gaze traveling down Baekhyun's bare body before awkwardly landing on his nose.

“But, numbers . . . you . . . ?”

“The numbers were assigned to us and we can give ourselves a name too,” he explained impatiently. He wanted to get the out and get some sleep. And maybe get some food too.

“But you can't do that!” the Cleaner protested, looking into his eyes again.

“Ok, whatever. I'm leaving.”

He pushed past the giant, the open wardrobe forgotten as he went for the door.

“Wait!”

Baekhyun turned and cocked his head, waiting.

The Cleaner had set down the sheets and was shrugging off his faded gray jacket. Offering it with an outstretched arm, he timidly said, “You should take this.”

The Entertainer was never one to refuse free , so he took it. And his heels, leaving without another word.

As he walked away, he swore he could hear the puppy smiling.

ing happy virus.

Freak.

~~~

Baekhyun lay on his cot, holding the Cleaner's jacket. It was soft from wear, edges fraying, and threadbare around the elbows. He stared at the number 10 printed onto the back in disgusting yellow paint. Ten . . .

He thought of their exchange earlier. The Cleaner had been right that they weren't allowed to exist as anything other than numbers. But it was an open secret that the toys named themselves, because to the Elites, having to moan out numbers was just too awkward.

The door opened and Kai sauntered in. He fell onto the cot across from Baekhyun and stretched languidly. Kai was the dorm's golden boy (literally golden, because somehow he was able to end up with sunkissed skin instead of sunburnt skin). But he had another name, a secret identity that only Baekhyun and a handful of others knew: Jongin. It was apparently the name given to him by the Guard at his orphanage, but it probably wasn't true. The Guards were low-class Elites, but they were still stuck-up s. It wasn't important though. What mattered was that Kai was y and shameless and Jongin was shamless, but his friend.

Baekhyun only had one name, and he still wasn't sure who he was.

“Who's jacket is that? You should be staring at my gorgeous body instead of that.” Baekhyun threw said jacket in the direction of said body and heard a slightly muffled, “It smells like soap.”

“Why would I stare at you scrawny thing if I can look at fat asses all night?” he scoffed.

“They wouldn't be fat if you give them enough exercise," Jongin shot back.

“Shut up.”

Surprisingly, Jongin obeyed, but after a beat of peace, Baekhyun broke the silence. “Hey, do you have food?”

“No.” He sounded half asleep already. “Your master didn't give you any?”

“He didn't even give me clothes after.”

“Oh,” Jongin said excitedly. “So that's why this Cleaner gave you his jacket! Aww, that's so sweet.” Baekhyun could hear him sniffing. “It smells like love.”

“Shut the up and give it back!”

Jongin laughed his obnoxious laugh and the gray cloth landed in a clump on Baekhyun's face. He breathed deeply without meaning to and inhaled the clean scent. He quickly lifted it off his face, catching sight of the yellow numbers again.

Being an Entertainer definitely had some negative side effects, mainly bruises and STDs, but there were benefits too. His dorm had actual furniture, he could get free food sometimes, and at least he didn't have a giant 100 painted onto his clothes like a brand.

A brand . . .

Sleepily, his hand found its way to the small crook behind his ear.

~~~

In his dream, he traced the line-circle-circle over and over, finger acting like an eraser, until all that was left was skin.

Until all that was left was human.

Was Baekhyun.

Himself.

♔ A  u  t  h  o  r  '  s    N  o  t  e ♔

How do you like it so far?

*Cleaners are basically maids and Entertainers are pretty much prostitues.

*Other than Baekyeol and the members who are Elites, the rest are using their Exo numbers.

12= Kyungsoo

and here's kaibaek how i kind of imagine them in this story (but not really)