When Adrien Returned

Chapter 2: Worlds Apart

Adrien opened his tired eyes as Gorilla stopped his limo near the entrance of The Agreste Mansion. After 6 years of being away from Paris, he was alas home.

Adrien was so eager that he had psyched himself up from the day he decided to come back to Paris. He wanted to side-see the streets of Paris on his way back home but the exhaustion caused by the excitement, not to mention his photoshoot right before his flight, made him crash as soon he sat in the backseat.

Adrien was glad to see Gorilla. He looked older with his grey hair and his build a tad bit out of shape, but the love in Gorilla's tired eyes as he saw Adrien after 6 years made Adrien feel like he was a teen again.

It was sweet of Gorilla to receive Adrien at the airport. Gorilla held a placard titled "Adrien Agreste" written in his crooked handwriting. As soon as a handsome much older version of his Adrien approached, a smile grew on both their faces.

Gorilla handed Adrien a box of Parisian Camembert- he remembered his little Adrien always carrying this stinky cheese. Gorilla did find this quirk weird as he never saw Adrien eat it, but the simple-minded bodyguard did see his blonde icon happy whenever he held it in his hand.

What Gorilla didn't expect was to see Adrien's smile drop after receiving that box. He missed Plagg and there wasn't a single day that his little kwami didn't pass through his mind. Adrien's frown and the awkward silence thereafter made Gorilla think that it was a bad idea. The poor old man just wanted to do something nice for Adrien unknown of the consequences it had.

Gorilla picked up Adrien's luggage to interrupt the empty conversation. As Adrien handed over his backpack, Gorilla offered to take his Camembert box in an attempt to take the pain caused by his gift away from him forever.

"No. I will keep this with me. Thank you for this gift... It means a lot to me!"

Gorilla smiled, he felt better about making Adrien feel at home again. The curious soul wanted to ask many questions, but seeing his Adrien sleep like a baby in the backseat after his long flight made him remember his young Adrien after a long day of photoshoots.

~~~~~~

The Agreste Mansion didn't change a bit, Adrien still felt the same discomfort as soon as he got out of the car. The only difference- Adrien was way over it to feeling intimidated.

As Adrien opened the front doors, he saw Gabriel standing on the landing between the two grand stairs. He was staring at the huge painting of both of them on the wall facing his back to the doors, completely aware of Adrien's arrival.

"Hello, Father"

Gabriel turned his head to look down on Adrien. He then continued to stare at the painting.

"You have a photo shoot in an hour. Be ready... another thing, don't eat that Camembert, it will add unnecessary calories to your body. I'll ask Natalie to throw it away as we won't be ever needed it in this house"

"So, no welcome back?? Okay cool. Anyways, I'll be in the room resting today cause I'm tired from my 20 fucking hours of-"

"ADRIEN! DON'T YOU DARE CURSE IN THIS HOUSE" screamed Gabriel bolting down the stairs towards him. Talking back, let alone CURSING was a big no in this household yet doing that exact thing infuriated Gabriel.

"AND DON'T YOU DARE SHOUT AT ME!" clapped back Adrien leaving Gabriel shocked.

"Another thing... I'm not going to your photo shoot" continued Adrien in a normal tone.

Gabriel calmed down at the sound of that, he needed to fix his mess before Adrien declined this photo shoot which was of course, extremely important to Gabriel.