One

10 Year Plan

"My life is over!" Xion Gainsborough declared as she dramatically flopped onto her sister's bed, wrinkling the crisply made comforter and causing Namine's eye to twitch a little.

"What is it this time? Was your favorite eyeliner out of stock again?" she guessed, unable to roll her eyes high enough to express her annoyance with her sister's antics.

Xion scoffed and rolled onto her stomach, pushing her raven black hair out of her eyes. "No, and I resent that you'd assume so! I'm not that fucking vapid, Nami."

"You hunted down the manager of Sephora and made a scene in front of the entire mall, Xi. I'm pretty sure after the bitchfest you threw at her, they'll never run out of eyeliner again," Namine reminded her, raising an eyebrow. Her sister constantly acted like her life was ending because of one thing or another. It made sense that she was the president of the drama club. She had enough drama to fuel the entire school.

"Excuse me for expecting more from my favorite store. And to be fair, she promised me that they'd be in on the next shipment and they weren't. But that's beside the point!" she huffed, remembering why she'd come into her sister's room in the first place. "No, I was trying to choose my classes online and all the good omega classes are full already! I'm gonna get stuck in a level one baking class if I can't convince them to let me into sewing."

Namine snorted with laughter and swiveled around in her desk chair to face her. "You seriously waited until now to pick your classes? I sent mine in last month!"

"Shut uppp," Xion whined, letting her face fall into Namine's blanket. "I hate baking," she grumbled, her voice muffled in the fabric.

"You're a terrible omega. Your future mate is gonna be fucked," the blonde commented, shaking her head in disapproval. "I've made sure to take at least one level of every omega course offered. I want to be well rounded for Riku."

At the mention of her boyfriend's name, Xion scowled. "I still don't like that guy. There's something up with him, and I can't figure out what."

Namine knew exactly what her sister was picking up on, but her future mate had sworn her to secrecy. "He's a good guy, and he's going to be an amazing mate. You're just jealous."

"Uhh, no actually, I'm not. I don't give a fuck about finding a mate right now. We're only in high school. All the alphas are dumbasses and all the betas are pathetic. I'm waiting until I've toured with a Broadway show at least once before I even think about finding a mate."

"I gotta hand it to you, Xi, you do know where your priorities lie," Namine had to admit, shrugging her shoulders as she turned back to her computer screen.

Xion smiled proudly. "I have a 10 year plan and I'm sticking to it."

"Let me guess… baking isn't in the plan?"

"No! Fuck no! How would knowing how to bake help me end up on Broadway? And why is baking even necessary for omegas to know? Will our alphas die if they don't get fresh baked cookies every night after work?"

Namine shrugged again. "Our job is to keep the house and raise the kids. They're trying to make sure we know what we're doing."

"Ha! You might be content with that life, but I sure as fuck won't be. Whoever my mate ends up being, he sure as hell better let me do my own thing."

"Riku said I can have a career if I want to, but I'm really only interested in doing some commission art in my free time. Nothing too serious, you know? He's studying pre-law, so it's not like we'll really need another income. I'd rather be free to create whenever I want to."

Xion nodded. "I can see that for you. I don't know if I could picture you at an actual job. You're too shy."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure any kind of customer service would kill me," she laughed, agreeing with her sister.

"But… you know you aren't going to be able to rely on Riku forever, right?"

Namine cocked her head to the side curiously. "What do you mean?"

"I've just noticed lately that when we're around people, you tend to kind of cling to him, and you don't really socialize unless he's with you. You kind of act like Kairi sometimes…"

"First of all, there's nothing wrong with Kairi or the way she acts. Second, I don't think you're right. I'm perfectly capable of socializing without Riku," she defended herself, her brow furrowing.

Xion put her hands up. "Hey, hey. I'm not trying to offend you or bag on Kairi. You know I love her to pieces. I just don't want to see you disappear into him, that's all. I've seen it happen with omegas and their alphas before. The omega kind of loses their own personality and just becomes an extension of the alpha."

"Xi, I would never lose myself like that. Don't worry. Seriously," she tried to reassure her, even though doubt was tickling the back of her mind. She was already aware that she was losing herself in her boyfriend, but she didn't know how to stop it from happening. She would promise herself every time they hung out that things would be different, but then fall right back into the same pattern time and time again.

"Well, I'm gonna try to email the teacher of the sewing course and see if she's got room for one more. I have my own sewing machine, and I'll bring that bitch to school if I have to," Xion changed the subject, rolling off her sister's bed. "What are you doing, anyways?"

Namine blushed and closed the document on her screen. "Just some writing."

"Oh. I'll let you get back to it."

She would never admit it to either of her sisters, or anybody else for that matter, but Namine was an avid writer of fanfiction. Before Xion's dramatic entrance, she'd been working on a gay sex scene between two characters from Voltron: Legendary Defender. She'd also drawn quite a bit of fanart for the series, including a comic that she posted on Instagram regularly. She was hoping to get to a break in the story before school started, because she knew she wouldn't have the time for it once they went back.

But as she tried to refocus on her story, Xion's words were swimming around in her head. She'd seen it happen too, where an omega gets absorbed into their alpha's personality. She loved Riku, but she didn't want that to happen. So she made a decision; junior year was going to be different. And this time, she really meant it.

"Nami?"

She jumped and swiveled in her chair to face her other triplet, smiling softly. "What's up, Kai?"

"I overheard you talking about your schedules, and I need to submit mine as well. I would have asked mother for help, but she seems very tired."

"Oh! Of course I'll help you! Come on in," she grinned, quickly leaning over and flipping off the lights so that only her desk lamp was on.

Kairi nodded and stepped into the room, sitting down at the foot of her sister's bed. "Thank you. I already signed up for the academic courses I want to take, but I have no idea what I should take for my omega courses."

"I'll help you decide. Here, type in your password to the school's website for me."

The redhead got up, but her fingers just hovered over the keys.

"Oh right, sorry," Namine apologized, pulling a canister of Lysol wipes out of her desk. She took one and wiped down the keyboard very thoroughly with it, then did the same thing a second time. "Better?"

"Thank you," her sister gave her a curt nod, typing in her username and password. When it successfully logged in, she sat back down on the end of the bed.

Namine pulled up the scheduling app and checked out what academic courses her sister had chosen. "Jeez, Kairi! You're in all AP courses this year!"

"Of course I am. I have a 4.5 GPA. Why would I not take the best courses available?" she asked, tilting her head to the side curiously.

"Yeah, but… do you really want to take Bio and Chemistry in the same year? You can always take one next year," Namine told her, staring at the full course load that Kairi planned on taking.

Kairi gave her a confused look. "But when will I take Physics?"

"Kai, you're really taking both Geometry and Calculus too? Do you hate yourself or something? Are these courses even offered allowed to be stacked like this?"

"I don't understand. Why would I hate myself? I'd argue that I am doing myself a favor by taking the best courses our school has to offer. Plus, I have an extra slot available because they don't make me take Gym."

Namine remembered what Kairi's last experience in a gym class had been like. Total disaster. Someone threw a kickball at her and she curled up in the fetal position until their mom came to pick her up. "True, but don't you want to take anything fun?"

"Academics are fun," Kairi remarked, shrugging. "I just need an arts class and an omega course. What should I take?"

"Ooh, you could take Drawing with me!"

Kairi grimaced, her nose wrinkling up. "No. The sound of pencil on paper bothers me."

"Oh, right… I'm trying to think of something that wouldn't bother you. Uh… Band would be way too loud, and you'd have to go outside… Drama is a definite no… You already took Creative Writing and Poetry… Hey, what about Pottery? Do you think that would bother you? You'd have to get your hands dirty, but you could always wear gloves."

She thought about it for a moment. "I suppose that would be okay. I'll bring my own gloves. Or do you think they have them?"

"Uhh, no Kai. I doubt they have gloves. Most people like the feeling of the clay on their skin."

"People are very strange," she shook her head, playing with the sleeve of her hoodie. "What omega class should I take?"

Namine looked through the options, trying to decide which one would be the least annoying for her. "Well, what about the Parenting course? That's what I'm taking this year."

Kairi furrowed her brow. "Do you really think I'll ever have children?"

"I wouldn't completely count it out. Lots of autistic people have kids," Namine reminded her.

"But that would require me to find a mate. Who would ever want to mate with me? I'm broken…"

Namine stomped her foot in frustration. "No you aren't, and don't say that! Now I'm signing you up for Parenting with me, and that's that."

"Whatever you say," Kairi huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"That's the spirit! And hey, who knows? Maybe this year we'll finally run into the boy from the island," she mentioned, knowing it would hit a nerve with her sister.

Kairi sat up straight, her blue eyes going wide. "Do you really think so? I'm starting to think I never even saw him that day. I was just a kid anyways."

"Kai, he's the only human being besides me, Xi and Mom that I've ever seen you take any interest in. He's out there somewhere, and we're going to find him someday."

It had been a long time since she'd seen Kairi blush. "He was so cute… and he had such kind eyes. I'll never forget them."

"Good, 'cause that's probably the only way we'll ever find him again. Whatever you do, remember those eyes!" Namine laughed, finishing up Kairi's schedule and submitting it for her. "Hey… I have a question for you."

"Yes?"

"Do you… I mean, do you think that I'm too wrapped up in Riku?" she wondered, hoping for another opinion on the subject.

But Kairi just glanced around. "What are you talking about? Riku isn't wrapped around you at all."

"No, no… I didn't mean literally, Kai. I meant, like… do you think I rely on him too much?"

"Oh! I don't know. Aren't omegas supposed to rely on their alpha? I would want my alpha to be reliable. I wonder if the island boy is reliable," she went off on her own tangent, offering absolutely no useful answer to Namine's question.

She just sighed. "You're right, Kai. Thanks for the advice."

Kairi stood up and nodded. "We are done. I'll see you at dinner."

"Sure."

"Six o'clock."

"I know, Kairi." Her sister had to eat every meal at the exact same time every day. It was one of her little quirks that the family had just gotten used to over time. She'd even set an alarm on her phone for 5 till just to make sure she didn't trigger one of Kairi's episodes.

She was still contemplating her story when her phone buzzed on her desk, and a new text from Riku popped up on the screen.

Riku: Hey babe. You wanna hang out tomorrow? I'm going to the gym, but I thought you could come along.

Under any other circumstances, her answer would have been an immediate yes. But now that Xion had put doubt in her mind, she rethought it.

Namine: Actually, I'm going to the beach with my sister tomorrow. Sorry.

Riku: Uhhh… okay? What are you going to do at the beach?

Namine: Beach stuff? Idk.

Riku: All right, I guess that's okay. Maybe I'll meet you there after the gym.

Namine: Don't worry about it. We're gonna have a girl's day.

Riku: …Fine.

Namine stared at his response, her heart pounding in her chest. She'd never really openly defied him like that before, and she couldn't really read his emotions through the text. From what she could tell, though, he seemed pissed.

Namine: Love you baby.

Riku: U too.