Summary: To escape the stress of constantly overworking themselves, Adrien and his best bro Nino decide to take a vacation in the sprawling french countryside. Where a one-day trip to a large scale Ren fair leads to months of new experiences after two mesmerizing belly dancers capture more than just the guys' attention.

'Cause I wasn't enough of a total geek to begin with, have an AU that might end up in our favorite french dorks in tights!

Author's notes at the end

I own none of these characters, I'm just a fan.


Porcelain skin glowed with sweat, glittering in a way that complimented the coins that dripped along the tops of the intricate skirts and matching bohemian bralette. Bangles jangled as the coins tinkled against one another, creating their own music with every sway of a toned arm, and every jut and swerve of a curved hip. Eyes as clear as an untainted freshwater spring sparkled with unbridled joy and sweet lips painted a deep shade of ruby curled wide to reveal a smile just as bright.

This girl that glimmered like an ethereal maiden, glowed even brighter with the obvious delight she put into every move she made in her mesmerizing dance. Hair dark as the midnight sky shone in the sunlight as she turned and extended a hand out to her solitary audience member. Her smile seemed even warmer as she directed all her inherent light solely on the person who held her full attention now.

Her enthralled admirer raised his own hand, completely under this mysterious dancer's spell and reached out to take her inviting hand. Yet with every inch closer he moved, the farther the woman seemed. Now desperate, the man reached, and reached, and reached, and—

Adrien fell face first out of bed, legs bent in the air, and his arm outstretched and now uncomfortably pinned under his chin.

The pleasant jingling of silver bangles from the fading dream is now replaced with the obnoxious alarm blaring from the cellphone on the contorted man's bedside table. The blond groaned into the rough fibers of carpet before he struggled to untangle his limbs enough to lift himself from his uncomfortable position.

Adrien felt around blindly for his phone with one hand while trying to right himself back onto his bed with the other. After a few minor slips, strangely flexible positions and a serious case of wobbly arm, he was sitting up in bed with the rudely intrusive phone turned off in his hand and his severely mussed bed head leaning back against the cool plaster of the wall. The last pleasant visages of his dream fizzled out, despite his struggles to remember the very scenes that had left him feeling so amped and on edge.

All he could remember now as he finally slipped into full cognitive state, was how badly he wanted to reach whatever had escaped his grasp.

Phone now quiet in his one limp arm, he raised his free hand to his face. The hand that had tried to grasp the thing, or person, or whatever it was he so urged to have. Maybe it was just from lack of blood circulating to the appendage from the impromptu human pretzel he'd become… But his hand seemed to tingle even more fervently than the rest of his perfectly tanned skin.

His kelly green eyes, crusted with sleep, narrowed in groggy confusion at the hand like it was some foreign entity that had sprouted from his arm overnight.

Before he could contemplate his own hand, or the dream he couldn't even remember any longer, his phone went off with his back up alarm, letting him know he couldn't stray any longer in the bed that was far too big for one person.

With one more defeated groan, the blond young adult slipped from his silk covers and toddled groggily to the adjacent master bathroom. He rubbed the sleep from his eye with the heel of his palm before flipping the light on in the cold echoing bathroom.

He faced the exhausted man staring at him in the mirror above the long double sink counter. His honey golden hair stuck out in all directions, and he was pretty sure he'd get charged extra at the airport terminal for the bags he was sporting under his eyes. His lips, that had chapped during the night from no doubt his unattractive open mouthed breathing he did when he slept particularly hard, blew out dejectedly as he took stock of his unkempt and rather zombie-like appearance. Long, normally nimble fingers dragged down his face in a frustrated attempt at snapping him out of his sleepy daze.

Adrien glared at the rumpled man in the mirror, and the grumpy reflection glared back. The slightly delirious man held one of his long fingers up and waggled it at his reflection as if he were scolding a child.

"No more Oreo binges before bed for you."

His nutrionalist growing up never allowed him to have sugar because of a many number of reasons. His child acting/modeling career being a major factor over actual care for his health. As a healthy and fit young man of 23 however, and out from his oppressive father's rather large metaphorical thumb, Adrien was free to eat however he wanted. And though he did allow himself junk food now and again, he'd gotten used to the healthy lifestyle. And passed the unkempt appearance of a man who quite literally had just rolled out of bed, he did pride himself on his appearance.

Gone was the too slender body of a high fashion model, Adrien had focused on exercise and building muscle. And build muscle he did. Where once he was simply pretty and lithe, almost effeminate with how much he'd looked like his late mother, he was now assuredly a handsome young man. In body he felt finally fit his face. In a body he'd worked hard to form and upkeep. It may not seem like much aside from something purely cosmetic, it was something he did on his own, for himself.

And with the kind of life he'd lead up until… Well.. independence of any kind was important to him now.

Shaking himself from his unusually early dark minded stupor, Adrien turned on the sink and splashed some refreshing cold water on his face in an attempt to perk himself fully awake. After a quick brush of his teeth and a shave he returned to staring decisively at the man in the mirror. With a determined puff of his chest, he fixed his reflection with an equally determined smile, before striding out of the bathroom to get dressed for the day.

—– —- —-

Expensive running shoes squeaked against the smooth concrete of the old apartment building's stairwell. Though he lived on the 6th floor and could easily take the elevator, Adrien was never one to turn down some invigorating cardio. Even for something as mundane as fetching the mail he'd forgotten to pick up the day before.

He'd just gotten to his front door, when the phone nestled in the pocket of his sleeveless gray hoodie started to buzz and play the telltale dubstep tune that told Adrien exactly who was calling. It had gotten to the fourth buzz by the time the blond had unlocked his door and fished the phone out of it's downy fabric prison to answer it.

"Hey Nino, you're up early man, what's up?"

"What's up? I just woke up with a face full of keyboard and a set list consisting of just 5s and Ts. That's what's up, bro."

Adrien winced in sympathy at his longtime friend's grouchy, sleep graveled voice. He held his phone to his ear with just his shoulder as he attempted to divide his attention between his complaining friend, and the fat stack of mail he'd managed to collect in just one day.

"Ouch dude, sounds like you had a rough night."

"You're tellin' me! Damnit, All these different clubs breathing down my neck for new mix tracks has got my ass glued to this goddamn office chair almost 24/7."

Adrien chuckled despite himself at the imagery his friend was creating as he tossed a few spam letters advertising car insurance to the side.

"By the sound of it you probably got some keys glued to your face too."

"Ha-ha, bro. Glad to know my agony amuses you, Mr. Centerfold."

"For the last time, man, it was just a cologne ad. In a health mag for like, housewives."

"Yeah, in the center of the mag. And you're not wearin' anything but towel in that pic too, Mr. Centerfold."

"Jealous of cougars that're gonna be chasing after me, bro?"

"As if, you're too oblivious of any interest any babe might have in you, no matter how thirsty she is. I'll be jealous the day you actually have game to match your dumb photoshopped looks."

He was glad his friend couldn't see his indignant frown at the teasing jibe. He tossed a couple of paychecks a little too hard across the counter by his wallet so he wouldn't forget to deposit them later, one boomeranged and fell on the floor instead.

"'Least I don't use a stage name to pick up girls."

"DJ name dude, and it's for business purposes. It's called 'branding'. You know that word, don'tcha rich kid?"

"Me-owch! You are overworked dude. What happened to the chill Nino I know and bro-love?"

"Guh, he checked out 4 crappy, sleepless nights ago, man."

"When's the last time you actually chilled that wasn't at a club you djing?"

"I dunno, what month is this?"

Adrien's brows raised and he blew his lips out in empathy for his friend. He recalled how equally exhausted he was just a short half hour ago. He himself was worn out from the onslaught commercial and print ad jobs he'd gotten recently. Though they talk almost daily, it'd been almost a full week since he and his best friend had actually hung out. And that hanging out had only amounted to drinking the snobbishly pricey beer Adrien had in his fridge, and watching some stand up comic on late night TV.

The two young men were oddly career driven for their age, and now that he thought about it, hadn't gotten a real break in nearly a year. His oddly perfect brows furrowed in disappointment at this revelation.

"Man, you and me both need a breather, Nino. I mean, it's not like we're gonna get behind on bills anytime soon." It was true, because of the connections that came with being an Agreste, both Adrien and his talented and highly approved best friend have ended up with more than decent paying careers.

"How many mixes do you have left to make?"

"After fixing the one my face trashed last night? Two."

"That settles it. We're taking some time off. C'mon dude, we haven't enjoyed a decent time off since we got outta college."

"You don't have to convince me twice dude, I'm gonna need a couple weeks to get my fingers uncramped from their gross Typer's claws. I'll finish these mixes and then we can tell our employer dudes to screw off for a while!"

"Ha! We tell them that and we'll be in for a permanent vacation."

He grinned at his friend's over-eagerness as he shuffled over and bent to pick up the mail that had fallen from the counter.

"Yeah, yeah. So any crazy ideas on how to spend our newly earned freedom, bro?"

"Hmmm…" Adrien honestly had no ideas in mind aside from escape the stresses of constant unrelenting work. As he picked up the fallen letter, he was surprised to feel the glossy finish of a brochure stuck to one side of the check. Curiosity pulled him from his thoughts as he carefully pulled the two documents apart before opening the eye-catching leaflet.

Curving Shakespearean style writing, and a picture of jousting knights advertised a grand Renaissance Fair in the french countryside, not a few hours drive from Paris. Multiple pictures and an illustrated map showed a near themepark-like set up, with actual buildings and more activities and large scale events than any nerd could shake an 8 sided die at.

Though handsome model he was, that was only professionally. In reality he was a gigantic nerd, and something as romantic and adventure inspiring as essentially stepping into the land of knights, princesses, and quests, really tantilizied the green eyed man.

Though he didn't think it was his friend's style, and was about to set the idea aside in favor of spending time with his bro, one picture caught his attention in a way that sent his heart skipping a beat.

An advertisement for a local belly dancing troop, scheduled to perform the entire length of the fair. Their spinning ruffled skirts and many bangle decorated arms hit at something that Adrien couldn't really place.

"Adrien? Dude, you still with me?"

"Oh. Uh, yeah. Yeah I'm here."

"Shit man, you must be just as zonked as me. So? What the plan, man?"

Adrien fingered the slick gloss of the leaflet as a thoughtful grin crooked at his lips.

"Well, it's not a crazy plan. But I do have one idea…."

—–

A few hours distance from the Paris, somewhere in the sprawling french countryside…

Toned, pale arms curled together as a makeshift pillow for a snoozing woman with midnight dark hair. Her eyes as clear as an untainted freshwater spring, were glued shut with exhaustion as she snored softly over her latest garment design.

The tired woman was abruptly jolted from her deep, yet too short, sleep by the door to her small trailer slamming open, shaking the wheeled foundation. A disappointed and mothering gaze fixated at her from her long time friend.

"Girl! Do you know what time it is? Rose, had to open up shop without you! Poor girl's already swarmed with tourists lookin' to be princesses! And we have a performance set in two hours!"

The pale, sleepy beauty hurried rubbed the sleep from her eyes before jumping up frantically at her friend's hurried tone. Even half asleep the young woman began bustling around the small space, gathering up her peasant style dress for her period dress shop called Lady Luck's Princess Shoppe. As well as the tote she kept her belly dancing ensemble and accessories in.

"Oooooh noohnoohno! Shit! I was so busy working on the new dress for the display that I didn't set my alarm! Oooohnonono, and on the first day too! Alya! Why didn't you get me sooner?"

"Because I thought you'd at least have it together for opening day!"

"Alya, this is me we're talking about here!"

The dark haired girl didn't even have any time or sense to defend her little bad habit. Instead she was slipping off her t-shirt and sweats, not caring that her long time friend was watching, in favor of the heavy pink fabric of the flaring bell shaped skirt, and the thin yet slightly stiff material of the creamy quarter-sleeved peasant style top. With a stumbling spin, she presented the laces of the breast supporting, rib crushing device that was her off black corset to her friend as a silent plea for help in lacing the garment shut.

Without any further prompting, Alya maneuvered through the miscellaneous stuff her friend had strewn around for her design work, and with a few straining grunts from both girls, expertly tightened and tied off the out of date fashion piece.

"Guuuuh, I already can't wait til it's time to perform."

"Yeah. I'll take jingly bikini tops and heavy skirts over a corset any day."

The corset bound girl pressed her hands into her low back and stretched til she felt a few spots in her spine pop in relief. She groaned in exhaustion and shuffled over to her cheap portable vanity mirror and began fixing herself the bare minimum it took to be decent for her shop. She'd apply any time consuming make up later when it was time for her to join her troop for their show.

It took her 10 minutes with the help of her mother hen of a best friend, to get ready and gather up what she'd need that she wouldn't have time to come back for later.

"Hurry up, Marinette! Rose just texted me that she caught a big spender looking at some of the high rack dresses!"

Even exhausted, only 75% awake, and stumbling over her worn red ballet flats, Marinette Dupain-Cheng was smiling bright as she hustled off to her first day as a self-made business woman at her home town's Renaissance Fair.


*Author's Note:

Here it is! nothing like a forshadow-y prologue to get the ship feels hyped!

I'll be describing the fair in more detail in the next chapter, but for reference the scale and style of the fair is based off the Kansas City Ren Fair that you can check out pictures and details of here ( ) to get a better picture of where this AU takes place ^u^

I maaay have to change the rating up to M in later chapters depending on how heavy our dorks end up getting.