"And I'm here to help!" said Iris. "I know your father is um.." She put her hand on her chin to think of a way to describe her husband. "Intimidating!" Yes that was it. "But once you break his shield he's easy to talk to. Trust me. I married him." She gave him a goofy grin.

Adrien chuckled and shook his head. His parents were so different. Whatever his mother had done to get close to his father was a mystery to him. "I'll try to remember that when I'm talking to him. But it seems really hard. What did you do to get him to open up?"

Iris had to think back for moment. It was so long ago. "Well I just had to break ice. I just started talking about fashion since we both like it. After that I just started randomly asking him things to get to know him. It was quite fun actually." Iris smiled to herself as she thought back to the times before her and Gabriel got together.

Adrien mulled this over. So his father was willing to open up to his mother and not to him. He probably shouldn't be surprised, but it still kind of hurt. He had to remind himself that his father was in mourning the entire time he was a single parent. Maybe now he would be more open. If they talked, anyway..

"I'm still surprised he was willing to answer questions. You must be good at getting through to him."

"Well they weren't deep personal questions," Iris explained. "I asked him likes and dislikes questions. He didn't start opening up until we got closer." She then chuckled. "Although there are times he keeps things to himself and I have to force it out of him."

Adrien nodded. He would definitely have to keep that in mind.

Once he was done resting, they continued walking around the park. It was nice to see all the animals, especially since they were safely in their cages rather than being controlled by a loose akuma. After a while, they made their way to the souvenir shop, and Adrien glanced around the stuffed animals, looking for the perfect butterfly plushie.

He smirked and pulled out two different ones. "What do you think? White or purple?"

Iris was looking at T-shirts when Adrien came over to her with two butterfly stuff animals. She just smiled. "Purple. It's his color after all." She couldn't wait to see her husband's reaction. Iris walked back over to the stuff animals with Adrien.

As he was putting back the white butterfly Iris was looking at the other stuff animals. She felt movement in her hair. Pain poked her little head out. "Psst, Iris."

"Yes?" Iris whispered.

"Can I have that?" She pointed a small stuff peacock.

Iris chuckled. "Of course." She grabbed one. They then went to pay for the stuff animals and headed home.

Gabriel was just stitching the last of his current project when Lycca flew over and rested on the mannequin's shoulder. "They're back. It feels like they had a good time. Adrien's tired, though," he said.

"I'm not surprised. Going to the zoo when he's supposed to be resting.." Gabriel answered as he pushed the needle into the fabric and turned to exit the office. He met them while they were still in the foyer. 

"How was the zoo?" he asked, despite Lycca telling him already.

"It was good," Adrien answered. Gabriel raised an eyebrow. His son was smirking. That was never a good sign. His eyes traveled to a souvenir bag in Adrien's hand. 

"That's good," he said, still eyeing the bag somewhat suspiciously. "What did you get?"

Adrien looked excited that he had even asked. "Oh, just a gift. Think of it as a peace offering," he said as he held the bag out.

Gabriel looked at Iris and then back to Adrien suspiciously. Adrien was being way more outgoing towards him at the moment, and Gabriel doubted one outing with Iris would be enough to seriously improve their relationship. In fact, this was the type of anticipation he usually saw in Iris when she was messing with him... He mentally shrugged and took the bag.

One look in the bag was enough for him to let out a sigh. He removed the butterfly plushie from the bag and stared at it for another moment before frowning in exasperation and looking back to the two of them. "A butterfly." He could see Adrien trying to bite back snickering and failing miserably.

Iris grinned. "Isn't it cute? Adrien picked it out himself." She could tell her husband was not asumed. Iris rolled her eyes. "Someone needs to lighten up." She looked at her son. "Right, Adrien?"

Adrien hesitated for a moment before nodding. He wouldn't usually mess with his father this much, but he was taking a hint from his mother's actions. "It goes well with you butterfly motif."

Lycca popped out of Gabriel's pocket and looked at the butterfly. "I, for one, think it's very nice," he said with a smirk, mostly to annoy his miraculous holder.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Of course you would like it. You can have it in your sock drawer."

"Awesome!" Lycca said before ducking back into his pocket.

"Aww," said Iris. "Gabe, you should put it in your designing room. A butterfly is your company logo after all." She gave him a playful smile.

Iris then turned to Adrien. "Well you should go rest until lunch. Any special requests for lunch?"

Adrien was about to agree when he remembered his friends were coming over. "Oh, Marinette, Alya, and Nino are coming for lunch. I must have forgotten to tell you..."

Gabriel frowned an crossed his arms. "I think you should reschedule. You've been at the zoo all morning, and you need to rest."

"I will rest. We're not going to be playing DDR or anything like that," Adrien protested.

"As long as you stay in your bed while they're over," said Iris. "I don't see why not. Now go rest." She then nudged her son and he went upstairs.

Iris looked at Gabriel. "Don't punish him. It was my idea for us to run away. So punish me." She slightly chuckled.

Adrien went upstairs to his room and went straight to the bed. Might as well rest until everyone arrived. Going around the zoo had been more tiring than he thought. "I'm going to take a nap, Plagg. Wake me if Marinette and the others get here."

"Yeah, sure," Plagg said while digging through the cheese stash for a large cheese wheel. Adrien doubted the kwami would remember.

Gabriel sighed, "I know. If Adrien were more responsible, he would have stayed in his room. But you're both so free-spirited, I should have known you two would go out when he still needed rest."

Iris frowned. "Hey I offered a wheelchair and he said no." She then took his arm and pulled on it. "How about taking a little break and spending time together before Adrien's friends comes over?" She slowly inched them up the stairs.