It was the last day of January when Ike remembered something super important. He and Lucia had been playing Roblox online, she mentioned her and Geoffrey's birthday was in exactly two months, and then Ike realized something AWFUL and ran from his bedroom to downstairs.

"OH MY GOSH SOREN I'M SO SORRY!" Ike yelled as he ran into the living room. Soren was cuddling with Aether and they were all watching TV together (Mama loved "Dr. William" which was a talk show, for some reason). "Your birthday was in January and we didn't have a party or anything!"

"Oh," said Soren.

"And that's TERRIBLE!" Ike insisted.

"Honey, his birthday was the 5th. We asked Soren if he wanted a party and he said no," Mama said.

Ike was aghast. "Huh? Why? Parties are awesome! Especially birthday parties! You eat cake and get presents! We gotta have a birthday party!"

Soren shook his head and buried his face into Aether's curly fur.

"He doesn't like that kind of attention, Ike," said Daddy, "You know that. Try to think about it from his perspective."

"Huh?"

"Put yourself in his shoes," Mama helped. "You know Soren doesn't like crowds or too much attention on him." She reached over to pet Soren's long hair as he nodded.

Ike thought about it. Well, he tried to, anyway. He only figured it out when Mist spoke up, "Silly Soren, parties are the best! I want another birthday party!"

"Your birthday is in October," Daddy said with a short laugh. "You have a long time until you have a birthday party again." And of course Mist started to cry because she was a crybaby, but Ike also realized that if Mist thought it was true then it had to be wrong, so he sighed and gave up, sitting to cuddle with Aether and Soren.

Still, he regarded Soren thoughtfully. So, no birthday parties for him apparently. But… hm… what was the next holiday?

Oh.

Valentine's Day.

Ike blushed at the very idea. Last year the day hadn't even been on his radar except for Daddy having bought Mama a lot of roses. It was a love celebration right? He did love Soren.

Yes, that was it! He could ask Soren to be his boyfriend!

Ike held Mama's hand as they walked through the parking lot to the store. He was very excited for their shopping trip. It wasn't often he got Mama Time, but Daddy and Mist had taken Soren to see the eye doctor.

"Are you getting toys today?" Mama asked him. She liked to do that – review the rules before going into a store. Ike sometimes forgot so really it was good for him.

"No," he said, disappointed. "We're gettin' some food and work stuff for Daddy and Valentines."

"And can you eat anything in the store?"

"Noooooo."

"And if you keep your hand on the cart and stay calm when I tell you no…?"

"I get candy in the checkout aisle," he said, smiling. Candy was awesome.

"Good boy." Mama smiled at him.

"Can I get something for Soren too?"

"Sure, sweetie." They went in an Mama got a cart. Ike put his hand on the cart like a good boy and walked with her.

She took foreeeever getting all the food, and it all looked so tasty that he wanted to eat it now! But no they had to pay for it, he knew that. It was a rule. Then they walked past an aisle with cards and stuff that was pink and a bunch of stuffed animals. Ike was so excited that he almost ran down it.

"Valentines!" he exclaimed. Mama nodded at him and he ran down to look over all the STUFF.

His mama pulled out a list. "All right, ten kids besides you, plus Miss Titania… I know Soren will be getting ones for Mr. Stefan and the other therapists, but do you want to as well?"

Ike paused, all joy forgotten at the mention of the evil name. "NO."

She laughed. "Oh Ike. What am I going to do with you. Well the kids all need the same cards so no one feels left out."

Ike doggedly looked for the best cards. Eventually he settled on a pack with a cute cartoon pie that said Pie like you very much. He loved puns, they made him crack up. Plus pie!

Okay, now he had the mission that he hadn't told his mama about - asking Soren to be his boyfriend for real. So he would need the BEST VALENTINE EVER to do it, of course. None of these cards were good enough, though.

Then he gasped as he spotted a fluffy-looking toy. A stuffed dragon that was black with red heart eyes and a big red bow. It was perfect for Soren! It looked kinda like him!

"Ike, I said no toys," Mama said as Ike picked it up.

"No no this is for Soren!" he exclaimed. "It's so he'll be my boyfriend!"

Mama was quiet for about thirty seconds. "Awwwww," she said happily. "That's so cuuuuuuute. Well then, I think the dragon would be great for him! Let's find a card now!" She helped him look, and in the end she found the perfect valentine: a card with a glittery manatee that said, Don't manatease me, please be my Valentine!

"Mama you are the BEST!" Ike squealed, jumping up and down. "He'll say yes for sure now!"

"You can't ask him at school though."

"Okay! I'll ask him in the morning! Oh can I get him candy too?"

She just laughed and helped him get little chocolates to go with his valentines. Then they went shopping for all the Daddy work stuff which was great too, and Ike was so happy except a little nervous about if Soren would say yes or not or if he would find the presents before Valentine's in two days. But it was a risk he was gonna take!

Ike put on his best clothes – including the Spider Man tie that he HATED not because of Spider Man but because it was a tie but sometimes sacrifices were necessary – and used his mama's hair gel to slick his spiky hair back. His pants were clean too. There, now he looked like an adult. He took deep breaths – Mr. Ranulf said that was a good way to calm down when you're nervous but it didn't work for Ike super well – as he walked up to Soren with his offerings hidden behind his back.

Soren was putting his bookbag together. He looked at Ike in confusion as he approached. "A tie?"

"Soren Kurth Reiss," he recited carefully, "Will you please be my boyfriend?" He held out the card and the dragon.

Soren gasped, shocked. "Me?"

"Yeah!"

Soren blushed heavily and walked to the closet. Then he pulled out a giant plush elephant. He'd added flowers to it. He also had a card with an elephant that said Never forget I love you! Ike knew that was a pun because elephants never forget.

Ike was gobsmacked.

"Will you be my boyfriend?" he asked shyly.

"Woah! Did we really have the same idea?!" Ike asked in shock. "This is AWESOME! Yeah! Yeah let's be boyfriends!" They swapped animals and cards and then Ike put his down and hugged Soren tight. Then he did the bravest thing he'd ever done… He gave him a kiss on the cheek. Soren was so red his birthmark was gone, which was so cute!

Then Soren leaned forward and gave him a peck on the lips.

Woah! His first kiss!

Soren giggled. "Your face is really red."

"So is yours!"

"Elena what have you done?" he heard Daddy say. He also heard his mama laugh.

School was super duper awkward because Lyre and Lethe both asked Ike to be their Valentine. He felt kind of bad telling them he was taken because he was now. Miss Titania told them all that they were all way too young to be worried about any of this and it was all pretend and silly, but Ike knew the truth. He and Soren were gonna get married and have beautiful babies and a house and Aether was gonna live with them and it'll be next door to his mama and daddy and he was gonna be a hero and everything was gonna be great!

It was indoor recess. "Can I take off my tie?" he asked Soren, who nodded. He took it off with great relief and put it in his bookbag (which had swords on it and was awesome). When he came back, Soren patted his desk so Ike sat with him.

"So I looked up what people do in a relationship," Soren said primly. "They hold hands, and cuddle, and… and k-k-kiss."

"Okay," said Ike. "We kinda already do that."

"Also they do not do those things with other people," Soren finished.

"Also okay."

"Great. So you need to sign this." He pushed over a piece of paper with writing on it. Soren had excellent writing, but Ike wasn't super great at it yet. "It's a contract saying we will both follow those rules."

"Oh, okay." Ike got out his favorite crayon and wrote his name. He'd gotten lucky because his name was short.

Soren then wrote his name. "Now then. I feel like playing with the magnet tiles, so you're free to go play with whatever you want." Soren got up and went to the blocks. It made Ike giggle. Yep, they were gonna get married some day.