Ike was super excited today. It was almost the end of the school year, and they were going on a field trip! All of kindergarten was going to the nearby zoo and aquarium. Ike had gone there as a baby but never since and he definitely didn't remember it. Plus it was cool to see the kids in the other kindergarten class since they didn't have much overlap.

So the kids were split between Miss Titania, Mr. Danved (the other kindergarten teacher), Mr. Ranulf, and Ms. Laura who was a student teacher. Soren was put in Mr. Ranulf's group and Ike insisted on being his partner, so Ike was also in Mr. Ranulf's group. This group also had Lethe and Lyre, and two girls named Marcia and Jill, and a boy named Mordy who was also a kitty.

Ike had never been on a bus before, so he ran on immediately so he could run up and down the aisle. It was crazy how many seats there were! He of course came back up and sat in the very front seat. Then he felt bad because he looked out the window and saw Soren was standing there looking worried as other kids passed him to get on. He was about to pull down the window to encourage him to come up, except STUPID STEFAN was there?!

"What's he doing here?" Ike demanded.

He'd missed Mr. Ranulf was already on the bus, so he was a little surprised to hear his laughter from a few seats back. "He's helping me with my flight risks."

"Yeah well he should run away," Ike said bitterly, watching as STUPID STEFAN cajoled Soren onto the bus by holding his hand.

"Tell us how you really feel, Ike," said Mr. Ranulf with a snicker.

Soren did get on the bus but he was shaking as he got into the seat with Ike. Ike however was now mad. "You can't hold hands with anyone else, it's against the contract," he reminded him.

Before he could answer, STUPID STEFAN, who had gotten on the bus after, said, "No Ike, it's not safe to not hold hands with an adult outside if needed." Ike glared at him, so he continued, "Also Soren has never been on a bus and needed a little encouragement."

"That's my job, not yours!" Ike argued.

"You were busy running up and down the aisle," Mr. Ranulf pointed out.

Oh, right. "I woulda come back," he said, feeling embarrassed.

"The point is, he wasn't cheating on you," STUPID STEFAN said with a snicker. Ike glared at him harder, and he laughed.

Then Soren looked at Ike with a hurt scowl, before he moved to another seat.

Ike gasped. "What're you doing?"

"I'm mad at you and removing myself from the situation," he said primly.

"It's nice one of you listens to my lessons," said Mr. Ranulf with a wistful smile.

Ike was devastated. "I'm sorry," he said.

"For what?" Soren asked pointedly.

"For makin' you mad."

"What did you do that made me mad?"

"Uh…. I didn't help you?"

Soren sighed and shook his head no, turning to look out the window.

Ike felt prickles in his chest as he looked out his own window. This was awful. He was getting dumped, he just knew it. What was he wrong about? Soren held the hand of STUPID STEFAN and that was against the rules of their couple's contract. He KNEW Soren liked STUPID STEFAN more than he liked him, this just proved it –

STUPID STEFAN moved to sit in the seat with Ike. Ike glared at him.

"I know you don't like me…. Do you think I'm going to steal him away from you?" he asked calmly. "Or… that Soren would choose me over you?" Ike winced. "Ah ha. That is… so very wrong. First of all, I am old enough to be your grandpa." Woah, he sure didn't look it. "Second, I am just his therapist, I'm not his friend like you are. He adores you more than anything. That's why I invite you to our sessions. That and you don't care about race and that's a wonderful thing."

Ike huffed and looked away. "STUPID STEFAN," he muttered.

"Anyway, Soren is mad at you because you're being so jealous for no reason," he explained. "So you'll want to apologize and trust him more."

"Aw c'mon, don't give him the answers!" Mr. Ranulf said with a grin. "I'm enjoying the soap opera. Days of Our Kindergarten. As the School Turns."

Ike turned and glared at Mr. Ranulf too. STUPID STEFAN snickered and moved back to his own seat. Ike turned to look at Soren, who was glaring at him. Before he looked out the window to pretend he hadn't been looking at him. Ike sighed and moved to his seat. At this point the bus started moving and they were told no more moving, which made Ike sad because he'd sacrificed his window seat, but it was worth it. "I'm sorry Soren," he said sadly, "It's just 'cause I don't like that you like STUPID STEFAN more than me but I'll be able to get over it I promise."

Soren gave him a Look. "Sure, even though I'm dating you and spend all my time with you and asked you to be my Valentine, I like Mr. Stefan more. Sure." Ike felt crestfallen. "Ike, of course I like you more!"

Ike now felt delighted. "Even more than STUPID STEFAN?"

"Yes."

"And Aether?" He asked with more worry, because he couldn't judge Soren for liking his dog more.

Soren sighed. "Silly Ike, I love you most of anyone ever."

Ike hugged him tightly. "I love you most of anyone ever too!" Soren sighed again but petted his hair.

"Twu wuv," said Mr. Ranulf. Mr. Stefan laughed. Ike happily ignored them both.

The zoo was crowded and filled with people, and Ike was super excited. He happily held Soren's hand both for safety and for keeping him calm because Soren didn't like crowds. The only problem was that Ike wanted to see EVERYTHING and the others were super slow. So annoying! Like why was he supposed to care about horses even if they did have stripes? He knew his favorite animals were at this zoo and he WANTED TO GO SEE THEM. But sadly Mr. Ranulf was the boss, and his group had a lot of kids who liked to argue. Lethe and Jill in particular got into a LOT of fights.

"I don't WANT to see more CATS," said Jill firmly as they stood outside the jaguar exhibit. Lethe hissed at her. "I get enuffa that at school." Then she paused when she saw Mordy looked sad. "Except you."

Mr. Ranulf gently tapped her shoulder with his tail and pointed it toward Soren, who was plastered to the glass to stare at the jaguars. Jill huffed and crossed her arms before stomping off to the nearest bench to sit. The jaguars were swimming so it was super cool, even Ike could admit it.

"So Soren, why are jaguars your favorite?" Mr. Ranulf asked.

"Tigers are better," said Mordy quietly, with a giggle.

"Because everyone forgets 'em because they think they're just leopards but they're bigger and stronger and have the greatest bite force of any of the kitties and they use a bite to the head which is different than the others and they like to swim and they eat caiman and they live in the Amazon and-"

"Okay okay!" Mr. Ranulf laughed. "That's awesome though. You're very smart." Soren blushed heavily.

Ike nodded big time. "He really is!" he cheered. "And it's all animals too, he knows all sorts of stuff about all of the animals!"

"Do you want to study animals when you grow up?" Mr. Ranulf asked.

"Oh, no," Soren said, "I wanna be a doctor like Mrs. Greil."

"Awwwww," said Ike and Mr. Ranulf.

"Studying animals would be cooler," said Lethe, "but doctors are cool too. I'm gonna be the best warrior ever when I grow up."

Mr. Ranulf gently smacked her in the face with his tail. "Not the greatest," he said with a cheeky grin, "because I'm there." She stuck her tongue out at him. Lyre was giggling. "And so are the lions, I guuueeessssss."

"I'm gonna be a HERO!" Ike declared with joy.

This made the others laugh for some reason. "We all knew that," said Lyre with more giggles.

"You do say it a lot," Lethe agreed.

"Well, that will go well with Soren the doctor," Mr. Ranulf pointed out.

"CAN WE PLEASE GO SEE THE RHINOS NOW?" Ike asked, having been VERY patient.

The group began the walk to the rhinos. Ike asked Soren for facts and he rattled off a bunch of them, which made Ike happy. Today was great!

After having seen all the animals he liked, Ike was ready to be done but sadly they had to do the aquarium too. The whole group came together again.

His opinion changed as they walked in. It was a HUGE AQUARIUM and they were in a tunnel and the aquarium was over them and —

There was a person in the water, which was cool. And the person was swimming with… a gray floaty potato.

"Look everyone!" Said Miss Titania, pointing up. "That's her! That's Princess Bubbles!"

Her entire class gasped and watched in awe as the person led a small manatee to the glass. Ike was vibrating with excitement. Princess Bubbles was real, and super cute! He ran up to the glass, dragging Soren along. Princess Bubbles brushed the glass, and Ike gasped.

As they swam away, Ike noticed Soren was crying. He gave him a hug immediately. "What's wrong?"

"I have so much happiness and I don't know what to do with it," Soren said through tears.

"The best problem ever," Ike agreed, brimming with happiness too.