"I'm Back."

"Warm welcome."

"Ah, Mr. Dupain!" Elias spoke up trying to match the bigger man's energy walking to wards the counter.

"How have you been? Sabine and I have missed your company now that our little miss has gone off and started her own thing."

"I've been well!" Elias responded with a small smile.

"You've got some meat on your bones now." The bombastic man chortled. Elias could only chuckle. "That's thanks to the recipes you taught me back then."

"AH HA HA HA! Still as charismatic as ever Elias. SABINE! Guess who's here!" Tom yelled behind the counter.

The sound of a door swinging opening causing the three men to change their centre of focus. A short Chinese woman covered in flour appears with an irritated expression. She grabbed a hand cloth hanging off the wall, dusting her hands off before lifting her head to meet her husband's gaze.

"Yes, Tom." She sighed.

"Look who's here!" said the boisterous man, using his hand to guide his love's gaze towards the young man behind the counter. As her eyes fall on the guest behind the counter they light up. "Elias! It's been so long!"

The young man only smiled at the woman.

"Ah Adrien! How are you doing. You know Elias?" The woman asked.

"We've known each other for many years now. He's like family to me." The blonde speaks softly with a familiar smile on his face.

The pleasantries exchanged are half hearted, but comfortable. Tom and Sabine asking Elias about how his tours have been and his stay in Paris so far. The conversation though shifts to the purpose of their visit; buying Aletta some cakes. After a long process of dessert evaluation they had finally settled on an array of treats that would seems fitting for Aletta's personal indulgence and for Mr. Agreste. 

"Thank you." Adrien said taking a paper bag from the hands of the nice husband at the counter. He got some quiche and cheese filled goods for himself and Plagg, mostly Plagg. He now stood and watched Elias speak to Aletta over the phone about something business related that Adrien didn't really care about. After saying his goodbyes to the older couple with Elias, who gave them a wave and a friendly smile, they made their way to the vehicle parked in front of the bakery.

His father would lose it if he found out that he was out in public without any form of disguise but this was how it usually is with Elias. With him living in America where seeing celebrities living their life normally isn't a really big thing he's never minded being out in public casually, though the possibility of them getting swarmed with fans was never really high for him to need a disguise in public anyway his father has always been a bit paranoid. 

The sound of an engine revving pulled him out of his thoughts. He turns to the sound instinctually to locate the source. A motorcycle. It looked familiar. He looked over at Elias who had also had his head turned in the same direction. His expression unreadable. 

The rider took off their helmet revealing the same man they had seen on a motorcycle a few days ago. Luka. 

Luka turned over to see the two men. "Yo Adrien!" Luka waved walking over to the two. "Hey Luka how have you been? It's been a while." He replied walking up to the other to dap him up. 

"It has. What brings you here?" The motorcyclist asked gesturing to the bakery. "Ah we just stopped by to buy some cakes and stuff." He looked over at Elias who was no longer on the phone, Luka following his gaze. "Wow, you're Elias Gray right? Big fan of your stuff man." Luka complimented the other with a fond smile. 

"Yeah, thanks..." Elias replied unenthusiastically and a bit more cold than usual, arms crossed leaning against the car. Staring the motorcyclist down, head to toe. Causing Luka to shift his stance to shake off the nerves that had just arisen within him, making a quick recovery. 

Adrien could feel the tension Elias had created deciding to ask Luka what he was doing here to break it. "Ah, I'm here to pick up some fabric from Mr and Mrs Dupain-Cheng for Marinette she left some things here on her way to the studio." Luka asked. 

"I still haven't seen it yet, both Nino and Alya have. I was able to help set up cause of a dumb shoot I had at the time." Adrien sulked. 

"Haha! Don't worry man you can come see whenever you're not busy. Marinette wouldn't mind. In fact you should ask her before you guys head over to the Bourgeois' party." Luka laughed placing a hand on the other's shoulder. "Now I need to find who I'm gonna go with since you and Marinette seem to have that covered mmh. Well I gotta go. See you at that party Adrien! Elias." Luka finished walking into the bakery. Leaving Adrien with the other who had a blank expression on his face.

They get in the car and the blankness on the musician's face fell into a cold scowl, his eyes reflected amber light despite the black-out tinted windows of the vehicle. The amber of Elias' eyes always seemed slightly more intense in situations like this. Though his eyes had always reflected light in an unnatural. 

"What the fuck is he talking about Agreste?" The other's ominous tone sent a shiver down his spine. Adrien knew of the lengths that he could push the others patience so he choose to proceed cautiously when considering his answer. 

"Marinette asked me to be her plus-one as this is her first big event as my father's apprentice." Adrien answered poised, refusing to lose his composure as Elias scanned his face for a single trace of a lie, Elias was a human lie detector. As kids Adrien realised that out of all the people he has lied to, only Elias has been able to spot them, finding the need to tell the other "Not to lie." every time he was caught; He could even spot half truths which was Adrien's least favourite discovery. 

To combat this Adrien just got better at lying, well at least he believe he has. Over the years Elias' stopped pointing out his lies or little lapses in the truth leaving Adrien to concluded that he could no longer detect his lies. A big relief. 

It's been some good years since he last saw Elias so his lying skills aren't as polished as they were before so he needed to make sure all his deceitful cues were under control. 

The two sat in silence. A staring competition between them. Green searched amber for intention finding nothing but emptiness. Amber searched green finding... seemingly nothing.

Elias sniggered, a mirthless smile adorned his face as he turned way from the other to look out the window. 

Adrien released a breathe he didn't he was holding at the sight of the back of the other's head. The tension leaving his muscles. Bullet dodged successfully. 

______________________________________

Extra

Elias is a very apathetic person. He comes across as indifferent about many things moments like this make Adrien nervous. He has seen how neurotic Elias becomes when the wrong buttons are pushed. 

Everyone has their limits and everyone has what makes them tick, but Elias has always been a mystery. No one truly knowing what sets him off. But all one can say is to avoid his personal life. The walls built around his heart are thick and tall, with several entry cracks in it but going through the wrong crack may lead to the wolf's den.