"Alright," Iris replied. She tapped her finger on her knee. She didn't want any small talk. It was time to cut to the chase. Iris looked him in the eye. "Gabriel, why didn't you tell me about the brothers this morning? And why aren't you trying to control me? Are you actually holding out on our deal?"

Marinette arrived at school and greeted Alya who was her locker. They chatted for a bit before heading up to their classroom. Marinette decided to keep the news about the brothers from Alya. She didn't want to deal with Alya's thirst for journalism. They made it to their classroom and they greeted Nino and Adrien. Marinette took her seat next to Adrien.

Alya was chatting to Nino so Marinette took this moment to ask Adrien a question. She lowered her voice. "Did you see the text?"

Gabriel gave her a surprised look. Had she really picked up on his unease that easily? He took a sip of coffee, vaguely aware it wasn't helping. "I wanted to get my thoughts in order before waking you," he answered. "And I didn't want to say anything stupid.. I don't want to end up trying to control you again. But the brothers being back has made me ten times more worried..."

Adrien nodded, keeping his voice as low as hers. "Yeah. I wonder when the next beast is going to come..."

Iris bit her lip. She could feel her hands trembling. "Gabriel, are we going to fight? I'm.." Iris hesitated. "I'm worried about our relationship. What if things don't get better? What if we keep on fighting?" Iris could feel tears in her eyes. She felt awful since last night they talked about their relationship. He seem so sure things would get better. "I hate it. I just want it to stop.."

"I know," said Marinette with a sigh.

"What are you two whispering about?" Alya asked.

Marinette looked up and saw both Alya and Nino staring at them. "Nothing."

Gabriel inhaled sharply, at her words. He didn't want to keep fighting, especially when it was fear that was driving his stubbornness. He didn't want to lose her because of his own emotional weakness. He hadn't even considered how much he was affecting her. He should have known better.

He wrapped an arm around her and brought her closer to him. "Iris... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel this way... I don't want to fight with you. I can't imagine losing you again... I just need to get a better handle on my emotions..." It felt strange to say that considering he'd always prided himself on being able to stay calm and collected in most situations, but it was true. Fear was not something he'd really needed to manage before she disappeared, and he wasn't sure how to handle it now.

Adrien frowned as their conversation was cut short but nodded to affirm Marinette's answer. Nino would let it go at this point, but he wondered if Alya would try to push for more information.

Iris finally broke out in tears. "Which means we are going to keep on fighting." She inhaled loudly. "It's upsetting Adrien. I can tell. He has never seen us fight like this."

"Nothing huh?" said Alya. She glanced at Adrien briefly.

"Yep."

"Then why whisper?"

"Because we want to."

Gabriel bit his lip, guilt washing over him. Not only was he hurting Iris, but he was also stressing Adrien out. He was causing them so much pain that he wondered if they would be happier leaving rather than dealing with his issues. They could easily be fine without him. That train of thought hurt, and he quickly pushed it in the back of his mind. As far as he knew, neither of them wanted to leave at the moment.

"This is all my fault..." He murmured, unable to think of anything useful to say. 

Adrien paused for a moment before smirking in a very Chat Noir sort of way. "You're right, Alya. Were were trying to hide something. You see, we were just talking about what we're doing tonight when everyone else is asleep. But you know, that's extremely personal. Hence the whispering."

Iris slapped Gabriel's arm. His comment pissed her off. She did not want to hear him pity himself. "You're suppose to tell me the fighting will stop! And that you'll make up for your mistakes!" More tears were streaming down her face. She looked away from angrily.

Marinette blushed and was feeling flustered. "Adrien!!"

Alya chuckled. "Well then I'll leave the love birds alone."

"I want to fix everything and stop fighting. This isn't how things should be. But I feel like as soon as I promise to stop, something will happen and make everything worse. And then I'll have broken my promise and make it seem like I'm not trying when I am..." He hadn't meant to ramble, but maybe she would understand..

Adrien chuckled as Alya left them alone and smiled innocently at Marinette. "Sorry, princess. I had to get her off the trail somehow," he whispered while simultaneously noting how cute she was when she was blushing.

She looked back at him. "Then what are we suppose to do, Gabriel? I don't know what to do. I feel so out of touch." The tears kept on streaming down her cheeks. 

Marinette couldn't help, but chuckled. "It's fine. It's just you're always full of surprises. I never know what's going to come out of your mouth."

Gabriel held her closer to him and stroked her hair, wishing he could do more to make her feel better. But he was the reason she was so upset. "I need your help, Iris. I need you to understand when I say or do something controlling it's because I'm extremely anxious at that point in time, and calmly call me out on it. And I need to talk through it with you when you call me out rather than stubbornly fighting you. I'll do my best to get better. I just don't know how long it'll take to get me back to where I was before you disappeared..."

Adrien let out another chuckle. "I would have thought you'd expect these type of antics after all we've been through, my lady," he whispered even softer so he an Marinette were definitely the only two to hear his words.

Iris squeezed him. "Okay." She closed her eyes tight. "I can do that. I will do everything I can to help you. Gabriel, I'll be more patient I promise." Iris opened her eyes and looked up at him. "I love you."

Marinette smirked. "I believe you're talking about Chat Noir. Him and I have been through way more. I always know what to expect from him."

"I love you too. And I'll do everything I can to improve," Gabriel answered before leaning into a kiss. Talking everything out felt like it lifted an extremely heavy weight from his chest. Hopefully, they would have a better time working through this now.

"Chat Noir?" Adrien asked as he gave her a fake offended look. "I'm way better and more predictable than Chant Noir."

Iris returned his kiss. She wrapped her arms around him and deepen it. When she released her lips from the kiss, Iris sat up. She felt much better after this talk and was more hopeful things would get better. 

She leaned back into him and started to play with his hair. Now they could enjoy the day together since Gabriel took off. She smiled at him. "So now what?"

"Ha," Marinette said. "Sure you are. Have you ever seen his sweet moves?"

Gabriel held her close to him. He paused at her question, acting like he was thinking, before he smirked. "Well, we have the house to ourselves. Other than the kwamis anyway. And Adrien won't be back until later. I think there's an obvious thing we should be doing," he said, being vague to let her play around if she wished.

Adrien held a finger up to his chin in mock thought. "Well, he did do an awesome barrel roll that one time. But I have sweet moves too, you know."

"Oh yes!" Iris said returning his smirk. She sat up and grabbed his hand. "There is something we should be doing." Iris pulled them both up from the couch. "Painting the house!" 

"Oh?" Marinette said trying not to burst out laughing. "Maybe you should show me sometime."