Alex Summers would have to describe himself as the "cool" uncle. Has been ever he was able to interact with Scott's kids and even now. Gabriel would have to be the weird uncle. Actually- he was simply the black sheep of the family but no one wanted to admit it. Not that it mattered to Gabe.

Exercising his status of being the cool uncle, Alex had transformed the living area into a volleyball court using some of Jean's plants from the garden as a net. The tendrils of said plants reached out towards the other and knotted, making for the perfect barrier. Jean probably wouldn't be happy that he moved it all the way out here- or rather why exactly they decided to play indoors- but he'd face that when the time comes.

Right now Alex took up one side of the room with Rachel accompanying him on his team, leaving Nathan and Gabriel to be the other team. He had explained how to play (setting, bumping, etc.) and after several attempts of yelling at Gabriel that flying was cheating, they were ready to start.

Rachel set the ball, allowing for either Gabriel or Nathan to reciprocate it. Of course, as per shenanigans, both attempt to dive for it and slam into each other.

Alex throws up his arms in annoyance. "C'mon guys, I thought we were ready to start?" he snorts. "I didn't clear out all this furniture for nothing?"

"You-" Rachel twists her expression into one of confusion and accusation. "It was me who moved everything. I used my telekinesis!"

Alex rolls his eyes and tunes the right girl out. He waves his hand promoting everyone to hurry up. "Yeah yeah, whatever Rachel. Just set the ball Nathan and we'll try it again."

Nathan dips his head with compliance and grabs the ball. His tongue pokes out between his lips as he focuses on setting the ball correctly and lo, it actually made it to the other side. Rachel is quick to bump it right back, reciprocated by Gabriel.

When it gets back to his side, Alex jumps and spikes the ball, causing it to bounce off of the hard floor and squarely into Nathan's face. The poor boy recoils with a cry of pain, his left eye sparkler growing in response to the spike in emotion. He holds both of his hands over his nose and curses incoherently.

Troubled, Gabriel goes over to Nathan's side. "Are you alright?" he prompts, hesitating to lay a hand on his shoulder.

"Psh," Alex scoffs, brushing it off. "He's fine…" He then cups his hands around his mouth to call out to Nate. "Walk it off kid, you're doing great!"

Nathan looks up and shoots Alex a death stare. The eye sparkler of his was going haywire with the heated emotion. He said no words and yet his expression said everything. His nose looked like it was bent again, turning in the opposite direction it was the first time.

"What?" Alex pops a bit of a squat, resting his hands on his knees. "What're you going to do? Tell tattle to your daddy?" he goads. Clearly it wasn't the right thing to do but c'mon. The kid has seen a lot more injuries in his life than getting pegged in the face with a volleyball.

"No." Nathan sucks in his cheeks and stands his ground. "I'll tell my mom." In actuality, if he had told Scott there was a huge probability that he would do nothing about it. Now Jean on the other hand would reach forth and call the Phoenix to smite Alex alive where he stands. It wasn't really a big deal, but Nathan loved the power the "Mom Trump Card" gave him.

Silence ensues after Nathan's delivery as the four just stared awkwardly at each other. For a moment Nathan thought he should play it off because he just made a fool of himself but he was too stubborn to do so. Besides, if Jean heard he was embarrassed to be a bit of a mama's boy, he would never hear the end of it.

Alex's stifled laughter breaks through the silence. "Jean? What's Jean going to do? You're a grown ass kid, deal with it!"

Rachel squeaks in disagreement. "Um- yeah, I wouldn't put it past her to tear you a new one for hitting Nathan with the ball. Especially since we're playing indoors."

"What did I tell you?" Alex rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. God these kids don't know how to disobey their parents. "If anyone gets mad that we're playing indoors, we say that it was Gabriel's idea."

"But it wasn't-" Gabriel begins, furrowing his brows in protest.

Alex puts up his hands to cut him off, "Shh!"

"But-"

Alex loudly shushes him again. "But we say it was."

Nathan crosses his arms and narrows his mismatched eyes. "Uncle Alex, I'm starting to think you're a bad influence."

"Whaaat? Me?" Alex gasps audibly and drapes a dramatic hand across his forehead. "Oh my God it's almost like you kids don't know how to have fun!"

Rachel opens her mouth in opposition to the term "kid."

"Uncle Alex I'm nearly twe-"

Again, Alex keeps cutting them off and squints into the distance. "Oh I'm sorry… I'm looking for anyone who asked."

Having enough with Alex's tomfoolery, Gabriel floats over their makeshift net. "Well this stopped being fun a while ago. Alas, I am going to get Nathan an ice pack. Then maybe I can pop it back into place."

"Yeah," Rachel agrees. "You're being a bit of a jerk."

Alex scoffs, "Okay, I'm a lot of things, but a jerk isn't one of them. Lighten up, jeez. You know how many times I got pegged in the face with a ball? Mostly it was from Scott. Name it, soccer ball, football, basketball, baseball even. I mean- just the other day I got hit in the face with a monkey wrench!"

No one other than Scott really knows how Alex managed to get smacked with a wrench but he paraded around the house with a black eye for several days before opting for some Krakoan healing.

Rachel giggles at the memory, "Heh heh, monkey wrench."

Alex throws his hands up on defeat, "See! It's funny now!" He playfully juts his tongue out at his niece, and despite himself, Nathan laughs. Alex goes over to his nephew just as Gabriel returns with the ice pack.

"I got it!" Gabriel exclaimed, landing down next to Nathan. "This one is shaped like a dinosaur." He hands the pack to the boy and behold, it was a T-rex. How cute. Why exactly did a house populated with adults have this, no one knew.

"So," Alex clicks his tongue, "am I still the cool uncle?"

Ignoring Gabriel's look of "Pardon?", Nathan squints up at Alex as the man searches his face for a reply.

For a moment they're both silent while Alex held his breath trying not to laugh at the absurdity of a badass teenage boy holding a dinosaur ice pack to his crooked nose. Nathan pretends to be cross for the moment but he couldn't help but burst out laughing at himself. "Oh Alex," the boy snorts, "of course you are. We're square." The two share a fist bump while Gabriel croaks inaudibly with his mouth agape.

"Then what am I to you?" Gabriel prompts, demanding to know.

"You're Uncle Gabe." Rachel smiles.

"Yes…" Gabriel nods slowly, "I am, but…"

"Let's fix this place up." Rachel offers, eager to change the subject. She starts levitating the plants out of the way.

"Yeah," Alex agrees, letting out a low chuckle. "Quick, before your mom sees what we've done with her plants." His eyes twinkle in amusement.

He was Alex, the cool uncle. Been that way since his brother had kids.