Outfit

If you are not desirable you are nothing.

-03.14.102,013

Hearing the phone in the lower level ringing Nia made her way down at a leisurely pace. She had made sure to tell the males not to answer it if it range, it rarely did. It was almost a new day making Nia wonder who could possibly be calling her at such a time.

“Hello.” She called into the receiver not bothering to see who had called. Upon receiving no answer she repeated a louder greating, but still there was no reply. Confused Nia looked at the phone and saw it was an unlisted number. “Listen, if you are messing with me right now I am not scared. Call someone else for your games.” She hated these kids who prank called for fun.

“Wait!” A voice called out cracking as the speaker yelled. Cringing Nia pulled the slim device from her ear. She could see the males sending her confused looks. They knew better than to speak when she was on the phone, someone might hear and question why they were in her home so late at night. “Nia, is this you? It’s me.” The voice spoke again this time much softer.

“Sorry, but I do not know who ‘me’ is. You will have to be more specific.” Honestly, this person calls from a hidden number and claims to be ‘me’, what were they expecting? Was she supposed to magically know who he was? All she knew was the caller was male. “Tell me your name or hang up.” Her voice was flat, but she did not care, the person was cutting into her relaxation time.

“It’s Sehun!” The name was nearly yelled into her ear. What the hell? How did that kid get her number? “Yuri told me you, uhm, might be having a hard time with the plant things and since I work in those…” Yuri, Nia should have known. As soon as she heard the other girls name she drown out anything else he was saying.

“Well, if that is all then there is no need to worry.”  Nia could hear a strangled sound of confusion coming from the male on the other line. Hearing a snicker coming from near by Nia turned and nearly jumped out of her skin as she came face to face with Luhan. He sniggered at the floundering boy on the other line.

“Are, are you still there?” Sehun’s voice called from her phone. “Nia?” He called her name and Nia found his insistence a bit off putting. She was not a big fan of people who talked as much as the male seemed to want.  Nia may have liked Sehun, but she did not like him that much.

“Yes, I am still here.” She told him her voice tight as she looked over at Tao and Jongdae playing one of the games she had brought home for them. It was vintage and hard to find, but she felt that it was worth the high price and hard work. “There is no need to worry. Kyungsoo has already agreed to help me.” The boy had been so thankful and though Nia was adamant that she did not want anything from him Kyungsoo twisted her arm. In the end they would be studying together until she could at least figure out the plant names.

The line was silent for a moment and Nia had to check to see if perhaps it went dead. Frowning Nia shrugged her shoulders and assumed that Sehun had received his answer and ended the call before joining the playing males. He had obviously received the message and hung up, though she did find it rude that he did not say any farwells.

“Who was that?” Minseok’s sweet voice called from beside her. He had seemed so engrossed in the games she assumed he had not even noticed she was on the phone. “Was is important, what did they need?” He questioned further his head tilting to the side in inquisition. He was always so invested in Nia's life and holding actual conversations that it made her feel rather special.

“Just a classmate of mine.” That was all Sehun was to Nia in her mind. They were closer than she was with most classmates, but they were not friends by any means. “He was offering to help me with school work, but I turned him down.” Nia had no interest in spending time with Sehun outside of school. She had also turned him down more than once before, but the male did not seem to get the message. Perhaps this time he finally understood.

After giving Nia strange look, Minseok let the topic drop and told her about the meals he had cooked when she asked. He said that a couple of the things she had in her kitchen were similar to the foods they had below and so he made what he could. She could practically feel her saliva glands activating as he explained dinner to her.

“Tell me, what is it like down there?” Nia propped her arm against the back of the couch and lay her head against it before turning to face the Minseok. He smiled sweetly at her, she was starting to believe that was the only way Minseok could smile, as he faced her.“I’ve been wondering for a while now. Do animals run free, what do you live in?” As Nia had already asked she figured that she might as well ask all of her questions.

“Woah there,” Minseok laughed raising his hands as though to fend off some of her questions. “One at a time.” He joked his gummy smile shining at Nia as she blushed slightly realizing she may have been a bit too excited to question the male. “Why don’t we all get together and we can all answer your questions?” Minseok offered to the girl who nodded and shot up to gather the others. As Nia wandered off she could hear his amused chuckles following her.

Excited at the idea of learning more about the others and their world Nia was quick to send them all to the living area. Yifan was the only one who complained claiming he did not have much to add. Needless to say with a well placed smack to the arm he was more than agreeable to go along with the girl.

Once all of the males were gathered Nia asked the all of the questions she had been wondering, which were even more than she had asked Minseok. Why did they eat meat and did they eat all sorts of animals or only some and did they only eat meat? Were there very many females where they were from and why were there no females with them? What was the surface like was it all water and almost no land? What was a bison?

The males laughed at her enthusiasm as she stared at the expectantly. Nia could understand why they were laughing. She was normally a chipper person, but she could practically feel herself buzzing in her seat as she waited for them to answer her questions. When they did answer she was not disappointed, not in the slightest.

“Well,” Luhan spoke first after he stopped his girlish giggles. “To answer a few of your questions, some animals run free and some are pets. We mostly keep dogs as cats don’t listen well, but we have other pets too. Beside the pets pretty much everything is fair game.” Luhan looked over to the cat palace where a white lump of fur sat, Ola the cat, was lounging and had met eyes with Luhan. The cat let out a low mewl before slinking over to the male. It had surprised Nia the first time she went to him, Ola hated people, but Nia just attributed it the fact that Luhan was nearly impossibly to dislike.

“And, we do eat things that aren’t meat.” Jongdae added having realized Luhan was done from the moment Ola made her way to him. “The warriors gather and the scavengers, well, they scavenge. They bring back roots and berries along with anything else the find that we can eat.” Chen nearly started drooling as he spoke. “I miss meat.” He murmured dazedly as he was obviously fantasizing. “But, most of the food here is pretty good.” Jongdae amended knowing Nia did not like how much the males love meat.

“There aren’t many females back home.” Minseok told her softly answering another of her questions. “Actually, the fact that we see them all the time in the visions is shocking. I’ve only ever seen a few in my whole life.” At least Minseok was not going to become swept away by what he was talking about like the other two had been. He was one of the few that she could trust not to lose himself as he was always so serious.

“Huh, what about all of your mother's?” Nia questioned looking between the males as she spoke. Surely they had to have met each others mothers? She had met the mother of every single friend she had ever had, it was a must. “You’ve met them right?” She questioned turning back to Minseok.

“Yeah, seeing as a couple of us share mothers of course we have met each others mothers.” Minseok made it sound like the most casual thing in the world. “I’ve met each of their mother's and I’m sure they have as well met everyone else's mothers.” He looked to the others who all smiled and nodded.

Nia just looked between each of the males in shock. Minseok had practically just told her that some, if not all, of them were brothers! How could he say it so casually? She had no clue any of them were related in anyway so to find out they were brothers! Nia felt like she was about to have whiplash from the sudden twist that the conversation had taken.

“So what you are telling me, is that some of you are related?” Nia questioned looking between the males. “And this was not something you thought I might have wanted to know before?” Again, the males just gave her blank stares like she was asking meaningless questions. “So who is related to who?” Nia had a few guesses, but at that point she was not really sure of anything with the males.

As it turned out, Luhan and Minseok were related, the small faced brothers. Yifan and Tao were related, explaining Yifan’s death threats the first time they met. Yixing and Jongdae assured her they were not related, but not before they informed her they had their own siblings. Apparently they were all only half siblings which also explained why neither of the sibling pairs looked too alike.

“Back home a woman only having one man is unheard of.” Yifan told her nonchalantly. “Women are so rare that if you met one it was almost a given that she would be the one you would be with forever.” Nia knew he was not trying to suggest anything, but she could still feel her face go red at his words. Why was it that way? Why were there barely any women down on the surface?

“It doesn’t seem to be that way here though.” Minseok commented a smile playing at his face as he stared intently at Nia. There was something twinkling in his eyes that she could not understand. Minseok did that sometimes. He would look at Nia in such a way that she knew he was trying to tell her something, but she was not sure what it was. “By the way you’re looking at as that is almost as bad as eating meat.” He was always the most observant one.

“Well,” Nia was not exactly sure how to describe how things worked in the city. “People are normally paired up in two’s. It is the normal practice.” She had never before heard of people openly accepting polygamy. “It is considered illicit to have more than one partner, but some people still do it, in secret of course.” Nia knew of a few older couples who had a person waiting at home for them, a third partner. Those people were of the highest desirability so it was over looked, they could do no wrong.

“Man, all of our moms would be toast here!” Jongdae joked and the others laughed along with him. Nia forced out a chuckle along with them. She was not judging them, honestly the males could tell her they were interested in each other and she would not be shocked. Nia could tell that their society obviously had different concepts of what was acceptable than what the City did and she was beginning to accept those differences as part of the males around her,

“There are trees everywhere.” Yixing’s voice suddenly chimed in. It took a minute for Nia to realize he was answering a different question. She was grateful that he was changing the subject as the previous one was starting to make her feel a bit awkward. “They are growing from everything and taking over the old abandoned buildings. The trees are beautiful.” The smile on Yixing’s face was so serene that it made Nia wish to see the trees.

Yixing then went into a detailed explanation of stories about how the buildings were crumbling and everything was falling apart before the trees began growing in the buildings and stabilized them. How everything had green somewhere on it and the plants grew in abundance. The water had for the most part receded to the oceans, but that the tides were unpredictable and that they had to be ready to pick up everything and run  at a moments notice. Yixing and the others told her about the camaraderie with everyone on the surface and how one earned their title to gain their position in society.

Nia could see why they wanted so badly to go back down. Yet, as she stared at them she questioned what was so great about it down there. Sure, the people seemed good, but there were good people in the city, was she not proof of that? And, it seemed more dangerous than it was worth it to live down there. There were not even enough people down there and they had to share their lovers and fight for their food. Those were things that no one in the city ever had to worry or even think about. If the males stayed she could give them a much better life.

“What about here? Are there trees here?” Yixing questioned and it made Nia smile once again to see how excited he looked as opposed to his usual blank expression. “I didn’t see any when we were in the elevators or in any of the hallways, where are they?” The way Yixing was questioning her reminded Nia of a child trying to pull questions from their parent.

“The trees are in the green sector.” She told them simply before realizing that maybe that would not be enough for the males as they knew nothing of the City. “That is the part of the city where all of the gardens are as well as the produce and pretty much everything green. There are few trees or anything outside of it unless someone owns it and has it in their home.” Nia herself owned a few plants which were all gifts.

Hearing Yixing talk so casually about trees and plants excited Nia as she had only ever seen them in the gardens. To see the fields you had to work there and she was never good at those types of things. Plus, household plants were expensive, each cost a small fortune, since they were so rare and hard to come by as most died off with the sun. If you were given a plant by someone it meant that they held a great deal of affection for you.

Unless you were Kim Jongin. Jongin gives plants to everyone seeing as he receives them from everyone who sees him.

“What is it?” Nia questioned upon seeing a nervous look cross Yixing’s face. She had seen many expressions on the males face before, but the look on his face told he thought he was about to receive a scolding. “Is something wrong?” She was getting worried as she noticed him exchanging looks with Luhan and then the other four as well.

“Nia,” Tao called Nia’s attention to himself and she was ensnared. He was giving her the same look he had given three nights previous when he wanted her chocolate. She had given him a bite out of pity and then he liked it so much and she was somehow ered into giving him the rest. “There was something we were wanting to ask you for.” They had found her weakness and were exploiting it!

“Just ask already.” She could already see that she was not going to like it. The males knew Luhan’s ‘cute’ face had no effect on her, she found it rather creepy, but apparently they had figured out that Tao’s was very effective.

“You see, we were wondering, if it’s possible, could you take us there?” Tao questioned acting as cute as possible to win her over. “To the green place? We miss the trees. Please Nia!” The large male, he had to be well over 180cm, threw himself at her much smaller frame, she barely passed 160cm. Tao clung to her shoulders wailing into her and Nia made the mistake of looking to the others for help.

Looking up at the other five males she found they all wore similar pouts to the one Tao sported, well all except Yifan who settled for a hopeful look. They all looked so dejected as though they knew what her answer. Her answer was an obvious one, no.

How could Nia possibly take them out when it would risk all of their lives. The males did not seem to understand just how dire their situation was. If they were found out then all seven of their lives would be in danger. How many times would she have to tell them before they understood. Just like Sehun they would not take an answer they did not like.

Nia had done some studying up and found out just how right she was about the situation they were in. There were multiple laws against what they were doing. If one were to find something from below then they were to immediately report it to the council and if they did not then they would face a minimum of two years in the metal. The metal was a jail of sorts, more of a horror house, for those who committed the worst crimes.

Upon further readings Nia had found out that the punishment they would face would be worse than death. They would be investigated. It may not have sounded too bad, but to be investigated meant they would be interrogated and the council would do anything in their powers to get the answers they wanted. Torture was not out of the realm of possibilities, in fact once the investigation would end the torture would begin as their actual punishment.

Shuddering at the thought Nia shook her head softly trying to get the images of the males tortured bodies from her mind. She could not even handle the whines Tao threw at her when she refused to give him chocolate how could she possibly handle his screams as he was filleted alive?

“That’s okay,” Minseok’s voice called to Nia as she bit her lip looking at Tao in worry of how to turn him down. “We knew it was a stretch to ask to go out. You’re already doing so much for us.” He was saying it was okay and yet Nia could hear the disappointment in Minseok’s voice as he spoke. It hurt her to hear him speaking like that. She knew it was her fault, but she really was just trying to do what was best for them.

“You can’t keep us locked up in here forever.” Yifan told her calmly and had it been two weeks ago Nia knew the words would have been biting and vicious, but at the moment they were simply bitter. He wanted to go out and see more of the world, to see if it was really as dangerous as Nia made it sound.

Without their knowledge the males were using their two greatest weapons against her. Minseok and Yifan. While Nia really did not like telling Tao no, she would for their sake. But, to say no to Yifan and especially Minseok she was not sure if it was possible. The males had always been so good to her and were always there when she needed them. One was her safe haven and the other her reason to keep going when she was weary.

“I,” Nia took in a shuddering breath as she looked at the frown on Minseok’s face. “I’ll see if I can figure something out.” She whispered so lightly she could barely hear her own words. The moment the words left Nia automatically wanted to cram them back in and give the males a firm no, but it was too late.

“Really?” Came the excited scream Nia knew belonged to Jongdae as he had made the same one when she told him she had bought him something. “You’ll really take us out Nia?” He questioned and she knew he was over anything else she had ever given him as he never used her name and always used nicknames. Freedom was the best gift.

“Really, Really.” She agreed already knowing the males would not allow her to back out of it. Tao had not let her go and suddenly she could feel wetness gathering on her shoulder. Nia knew what it was, but was unsure of what to do. Awkwardly, she wrapped her arms around Tao and gave his back a light pat. She had seen Yifan do so once when Tao had broken a plate and cried thinking Nia would scold him.

Searching for Yifan’s eyes Nia was shocked when she met his eyes and suddenly she saw Yifan in a way she had never seen him before. He was smiling. It was not that he never smiled, but that he had never smiled in the way he was in that moment. Yifan was looking at her as if she had made his greatest wish come true. His eyes were bright and filled with mirth as he walked over and extracted an unwilling Tao from her.

The freedom did not last long as another slimmer pair of arms wrapped themselves around her. The scent of vanilla and musk entered Nia’s nose and she knew right away who it was. Minseok. He was the only male she had ever met that had such an interesting natural smell. She had once asked him how he always smelt so good, but he simply replied that it was his natural scent. Nia found that she liked it, it was unique just like him.

“Thank you.” Minseok, it seemed, was always the one thanking Nia. He thanked her that first night and he had thanked her each day since. Nia was not sure why he was always thanking her. She knew he was polite, but sometimes the two of them would just be sitting in silence and he would suddenly thank her. She had tried to question him a few times, but each time he would give her a smile that told her he would not give any explanation.

“I cannot say no to you guys.” It was the truth too. Nia knew that if she could she would give the males anything they asked for. She had caught Tao looking at some very expensive clothing once with Luhan and she bought them just like anything they spent more than a second looking at. Once she discovered their love of music, she bought enough musical items to last a lifetime for Yixing and Jongdae. Nia even found herself fixing the door to her sanctuary so Yifan and Minseok could enter without her. None of it made sense to her, but she did it anyway.

“You won’t regret it!” Luhan cheered pulling the two apart. “I promise we will be on our best behavior!” Luhan’s words did not really mean much to Nia as she knew his best was still very over the top for people from the City. Nia still smiled at Luhan as she focused her gaze solely on him causing her to miss the rather unhappy looks being shot at the two from a few of the other males in the room.

After finally pulling herself from Tao’s grip, Nia was able to leave her apartment to go for work. The male had been watching the visions again and saw the news about some of the random attacks that had been happening in the city. She was not worried about what was happening, but Tao had been sure that something bad would happen to her while she was out. It had taken Nia the better part of an hour to make him calm down.

Upon entering the elevator Nia noticed the lack of people and found it rather nice. There were usually at least half a dozen other people in the small box, instead there were only three. Though there were less people Nia was slightly nervous as one of them was a liberator. Nia had been afraid of liberators for years as she had seen one beat a poor old man when he could not pay for his meal. That was how they worked, the liberators, they liberated people from their wrong doings.

She could not tell where the liberator was looking as his black glass mask covered his entire face and made it so that she could not see even his eyes. Liberators were given those masks so that no one they liberated could ever know who had ‘saved’ them. Some people were not so happy with their liberation. Nia knew that as far as anyone in the outside world knew she had never committed a crime, but she knew she had. She had committed at least six.

Hearing the ding of the elevator signaling that the doors were about to open Nia looked down at her feet trying to avoid catching eyes with anyone that may be entering the vicinity. As of late she had caught herself accidentally staring at people's eyes which almost made for awkward incidents if not for her quick ability to look away when she could see them turning her direction.

“Hello, Nia?” She could hear a voice question and realized that she had zoned out. Looking up Nia found the face she recognized as Yuri. “Finally, I have been calling your name for a minute now!” Her friend told her a barely concealed smile playing at her lips teasingly. Nia could feel her face flushing at her friend's words.

“Yuri, sorry.” Nia greeted her with an apologetic smile slipping onto her own face. “I guess I was lost in myself.” It was true too. Nia’s mind seemed to slip off more often since she had met the males waiting at home with her. She often found herself thinking about what she would do when she arrived at home. “Are you going down too?” Nia questioned Yuri and in return earned a small nod as an answer.

The two girls were smiling throughout the entire elevator ride as they took part in small talk. Nia missed having somewhat normal interactions like that. All she had done in the past two weeks was spend time with the males and try and go to work and school. She had so little time to herself and she could feel the stress weighing on her shoulders.

Even though they were having a nice light hearted chat Nia could tell that there was more Yuri wanted to ask. They had known each other for years so naturally Nia could see when Yuri had something she wanted to voice. The other looked slightly worried when Nia had told her to just ask already. When she opened Nia had automatically wished she had never said anything.

“Why are you even spending time with that kid?” Yuri questioned and Nia knew right away who she was talking about  Kyungsoo. Yuri was not a hateful person, but she did stick staunchly to the ideals that many placed in the world. She was one of those who believed in the desirable class system. She benefited greatly from the system, even more so than Nia.

“He has a name, it is Kyungsoo.” Yuri gave a large huff at the words as her arms crossed over her chest and she glared at Nia. “And, he is my friend so why would I not spend time with him?” As the words left Nia could see Yuri visibly deflate at the meaning behind the words. Nia did not consider just anyone a friend.

“That kid? What is so great about him, he is bug eyed and scrawny!” Yuri gave a stomp of her feet as if throwing a fit would prove her point. “You could do so much better with friends! You even turned away Sehun for that brat.” At that point Yuri was seething as she spit the words out. “I know you have no inclination towards him, but what about Kai or Chanyeol, at least they are at your desirability level and they both fit your type!” At her words Nia was sure of why Yuri was throwing such a fit.

Just like everything else it was about looks, it all came down to how Kyungsoo looked.

There was always a reason for where one was placed on the desirability scale. For Nia she almost qualified for the highest ranking, but two things stopped her, she had a mole in a spot that was not designated as a 'beauty spot' and her bone structure was the slightest bit too round. Nia stared at Yuri for a minute. The other was huffing and puffing as a few hairs had come loose in her fit. Yuri never lost her cool and in that moment Nia could see why the other was not of the highest desirability either.

When Yuri was angry she became ugly.

“Kyungsoo, I told you his name is Kyungsoo.” Nia would not have him spoken of so badly. “He is my friend and he has proved that he was worth it. Sehun and anyone else that you listen, none of them are worth anything to me as they have never proved anything.” Kyungsoo’s heartfelt apology, his genuine smiles and kind words came to mind. Kyungsoo’s selfless acts came to mind.

“I do not have any use for those people in my life.” Ever since a certain few males had come to mind she had been thinking weird things like that. Such as what people are like under their beauty. To see someone and not deem them beneath or above you based on looks, to not judge them. It was scary for Nia, it was a way of life that she had never considered.

“Did it ever cross your mind that he was using you maybe he is the one who saw a use in you?” Yuri frowned for a split second before her face returned to its normal passive expression. Yuri was vain and it was not often that she made facial expressions. “He is nothing compared to you, he probably just wants something from you.” There may have been no emotion on her face, but Nia could hear the condescension in her tone.

“No.” Nia was appalled at Yuri’s thoughts of Kyungsoo. She did not know Kyungsoo; Nia was the one who knew him, not her. “I was the one who approached Kyungsoo, I was the one to need something from him. We are friends and will be as long as he will have me.” Nia had no desire to rid herself of the mentioned male. She wanted to surround herself with him and the males in her house and Soojung. Nia wanted to surround herself in warmth.

Both of the desirable women stared at each other with neither uttering a word. Nia could see that Yuri was trying to find something to say. She needed a reason for Nia not to see Kyungsoo as she knew the other would not stop without one. Yet, both girls knew Yuri knew nothing of the male and therefore could not say anything. Yuri had nothing aside from his place in society and how low he was in desirability and Nia had just shut that down.

At a loss both females continued their silent staring contest as both felt the need to stand up for something. Nia was standing up for Kyungsoo and those back in her home. Yuri was standing up for the principles they had been taught their entire lives. Neither wanted to back down in fear of letting down the thing that they were defending. It was odd for Nia, exciting actually. She had never had something that she truly wanted to defend and to finally find something was enthralling.

“If you will excuse me.” Nia turned her heel and began her way to work. She could tell it was going to be a long night. She just prayed that everything would be fine when she returned home so that she could rest and eat some more of Minseok’s cooking and listen to Tao rant about a show he had watched while she was gone. Nia would even listen to Jongdae's horrible jokes or Luhan’s never ending questions about her clothing. Perhaps she could help Yixing play her piano as she had been recently. Maybe she could even spend some time stargazing with Yifan.

(AN:) Sorry for the long wait guys! I'm trying to update once a week or so! I hope each update is worth the wait! Also, has anybody figured out what the short saying at the top of each chapter might be?