Iris gave him comforting smile as she gently stroke his hair. "I'm back and that's all that matters." She then moved closer and kissed him on the lips. "Adrien and I are going to hang out. Would you like to join us?"

Gabriel gave her a skeptical look. He and Adrien hadn't resolved anything yet. Would their son really want him there when he could be bonding just with Iris. "If Adrien wants me to join... What are you two doing?"

Iris put her hands on her hips. "Yes he does. We're going to have family nights on a regular basis. To move forward both of you need to get to know each other better." She then stood up. "We're playing Mario Party. It's a video game and no you can't skip out on this." She tugged on his arm. "Because if you don't Adrien will be convinced you don't like to have fun."

Gabriel opened his mouth to protest as she took his arm, but her last statement interrupted him. "You've always told me I was a boring person," he said, not moving at first. Why video games of all things? And what was this about family nights?  Wouldn't forcing Adrien to spend too much time with him too soon make things worse?  Then again, Iris did say Adrien wanted him to join... But really.. video games, of all things?

"The truth hurts huh?" Iris said and then pulled in his arm and forced him to get up. "Come on let's go."

They left Gabriel's office and went back to Adrien's room. The door was still open and they went inside. "We're back!" Iris let go of Gabriel's hand. "So Adrien we can we play the Mario Party I got you?" Iris bought Adrien Mario Party 6 for his 8th birthday. It turned out she bought him an older version of Mario Party and he explained it to her. Regardless they both had a lot of fun playing it together.

Adrien was surprised to see his father actually came to play video games. Did his mother force him to come? Or was he actually willing to play video games as an attempt to make things better? He nodded to his mother and pointed up at the library above them. "It should be at eye level on the far left, above the bed. The console's in the media center under the TV. It'll just need to be set up."

"Alright," said Iris. She went up to the library and got the game. She then returned back to the main level of Adrien's room. She set up the console and gave everyone a controller. Adrien had wireless controllers so they sat on his bed. "I'm calling that green dinosaur. His name was Yoshi right?"

Adrien nodded, suddenly remembering the countless times his mother had played with Yoshi. "That's right," he answered as he scanned over the remaining characters. He finally settled on Luigi, mostly because he liked the color green. Then he glanced at his father, who seemed to be having trouble deciding.

"Is there any benefit at all to choosing certain characters?" Gabriel asked, staring critically at the screen.

"No. You just choose whichever one you like and then follow the rules of the mini-games."

"I see..." Gabriel answered, seeming even less enthused. He held the joystick down to the right and let it move quickly around the rows of characters before letting go. The character selector landed on Waluigi. Adrien stifled a snort as he thought about the irony of it.

Iris just slapped Gabriel on the back. "Lighten up!" She just grinned at him. She looked at the character select screen and saw he picked Waluigi. "He wears purple." Iris gave him another grin. "I've always told you purple was your color, Gabe."

Gabriel shrugged. "Fate seems to agree with you," he murmured. He tried to make himself look more interested in the game as they went from the character selection the move count and all these other choices that he didn't really pay attention to.

Adrien looked through the options, setting it to 15 turns with no handicaps and the computer, Toad, on easy so his father might actually have some chance. Then he chose Castaway Bay, and the game began.

Things were going smooth at first. Iris was surprise she still remembered to play most of the mini games. Gabriel was doing okay as well. Then everything went South when Toad bought a star then got his second one through a random event. He was now in first place.

"What!" Iris said. "That's not fair.."

Adrien laughed. "I put it on easy, but sometimes the computers have just the right amount of luck to pull ahead.  We still have time for one of us to get in first."

"What is the point of playing a game where you can randomly lose to a computer...?" Gabriel asked. He was currently in fourth now that the computer had gotten the upper hand. It was quite annoying.

"What's the point of designing clothes when mainstream stores can make clothes?" Iris teased back. She couldn't help it. He left himself open. It was now her turn and she hit the dice and got a five. She watched Yoshi moved five spaces.

Gabriel frowned. "That's not a good comparison. I design clothes because I want to and because mainstream store clothes look terrible. There's no merit in losing to a computer."

Adrien rolled his eyes. "It's called fun. You might want to try it sometime," he said, his voice lighthearted; joking even. So, Gabriel held his tongue about the lack of fun he was having and watched the characters move on the screen. At least this was an improvement.

Despite their best efforts, none of them could pull ahead of Toad, and he placed in first. Adrien sighed in annoyance, though his eyes betrayed how much fun he'd been having. Gabriel bit his lip. It had been so long since he'd truly seen his son having fun; especially around him.

"What should we do now?" Adrien asked.

Iris was thrilled that their family night was going well. She could tell Adrien was enjoying this. "Well it's dinner time! How about I order us pizza? I'll get the usual." She stood up. "I'll be right back." She then left the room which left the boys alone.