Fake-Out Make-Out

Danny: I call that a fake-out make-out.
Sam: [dreamily] Yeah. I know.

—Danny Phantom

Two characters, who either appear to be attracted to each other but in denial, or who just hate each other's guts, find themselves cornered during an emergency. They're about to be caught sneaking into the Big Bad's fortress, looking at confidential files, or fleeing the scene of the battle. The quickest solution? Kiss—passionately.

Maybe the theory is that whoever's about to find them will want to look away and give them some privacy. Maybe the logic is to do the least suspicious thing a boy and girl would be doing in a dark room or alley, or because it's difficult to recognize someone's face when it's mashed against someone else's. Maybe it's somehow necessary to maintain the Masquerade. Maybe it's a good excuse. Either way, the danger is quickly thwarted... but the moment is not so quickly forgotten.

Probably the only kiss that comes without warning. Often fuel for shippers anyway, and has a good chance of appearing in that episode's Trailers Always Lie. Distinct from the Kiss of Distraction because that involves one of the kissers being distracted, whereas this seeks to distract people looking at the kiss.

Sometimes done to interrupt a guy speaking/shouting, either to just shut him up or because someone is coming.

Compare the longer-term Undercover As Lovers.

Not to be confused with the Kiss of Distraction.

Examples of Fake-Out Make-Out include:

Anime and Manga

  • Used by two different pairs in one episode of The Familiar of Zero, Louise x Agnes being the more entertaining of the two — Agnes eavesdrops on a conversation between conspirators, Louise comes up behind her and gasps when she overhears part of the plot. When one of the men goes to investigate, Agnes quickly kisses Louise until the man walks off. Agnes looks disgusted (or, at least, very embarrassed) afterwards, but for some odd reason, someone happens to mention a rumor to Louise later on that Agnes might like women...
    • In that exact same episode/chapter of the light novel, there's a really steamy, passionate scene where Princess Henrietta practically rapes Saito to avoid arrest by government officials looking for her.
    • Also on the subject of Agnes, she is rather androgynous/masculine in appearance,[1] so her and Louise kissing wouldn't necessarily look like a lesbian makeout session to unknowing observers.
    • Then there's another moment where the Queen and Saito do this, only using something more... racy.
  • In Divergence Eve when Bernard and Misaki are sneaking around a guard checks them and Bernard kisses Misaki to give an explanation as to why they were there. She blushed and it was never mentioned again.
  • In the BL manga FAKE, Dee locks lips with Ryo in an alley to distract the bad guys from spotting their target, who is hiding behind them. The leader of the bad guys leaves visibly squicked, Dee comments on how great it feels to throw them off their tracks, and Ryo stammers out that they didn't have to go to such lengths.
  • The fifth episode of Code Geass, where Lelouch "kisses" Kallen so she doesn't see C.C. around. Although they don't actually kiss, it looks that way to at least one onlooker (Shirley), who happens to have an intense crush on Lelouch.
  • In a chapter of Detective Conan, Ai Haibara talks one of her classmates into faking intimate contact so she could figure out whether she was being tailed by the Organization, only to scare him with the intense expression on her face.
    • Takagi and Satou have also pretended to date on a few occasions to tail a suspect (Takagi couldn't enjoy their time together at all because Satou is pretty damn scary when in Work Mode).
  • The first episode of Darker than Black.
  • Gunslinger Girl. Alessandro does this while working surveillance with Petra; due to her age and conditioning she's a good deal more flustered about it than he is.
  • Done by Keima to Tenri to trick the demon chasing them.
  • Super Dimension Fortress Macross has an example where kissing is actually weaponized: the resident Proud Warrior Race Guy Zentradi who live apart from their women and reproduce through cloning. When Misa and Hikaru (Minmay and Kaifun in The Movie) are ordered to kiss by Britai who have no idea what kissing is, the two comply and give a nasty Heroic BSOD to every single Zentradi in the room.
    • The third episode of Macross 7 Encore is essentially a large shoutout to the original Macross series but this time, it's Milia and Max doing the kissing and the targets are Meltran (female Zentradi). Reactions are the same.


Comic Books

  • Alan Quatermain and Mina Murray do this during an infiltration in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
  • Happens in the Knights of the Old Republic comic. Twice.
    • "Leave him guys he's recruiting..."
  • Uncanny X-Men: Iceman does this to Cecilia Reyes, who not only actively dislikes him but hates the whole mutants-vs-humans drama thing going on, and is only with him because she got outed and will be killed if she doesn't have his help.
  • In the Mad Magazine parody of Mandrake the Magician ("Manduck the Magician"), Manduck tries this trick multiple times. It never works and the girl in question eventually realises he isn't doing it to avoid pursuit at all.
    • "WHO CARES IF IT DON'T WORK?"
  • Chemical Kid and Dragonwing do it in the first issue of the 2011 reboot of Legion of Super-Heroes.


Fan Works


Films -- Live Action

  • James Bond used this to get through to the rather frigid Bond-Babe, Miranda Frost, in Die Another Day. Subverted in Casino Royale, when the bad guy sees the earpiece Bond is wearing and hears it squeaking. Years earlier, in Diamonds Are Forever, Bond ducks notice by a villain by making out with himself.
    • Given his large, hairy hands... That would be Ho Yay with himself!!
  • Played straight in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Well, except that both characters are male, and it doesn't really lead anywhere...
  • At one point in Heathers, Veronica and Jason elude a police officer by not just kissing, but also by disrobing and getting into a car. Notably, they do attract attention—just not for the shooting. Over radio, another officer asks whether or not the two are having full-blown sex.
  • Similarly used in Bon Voyage, as the characters who start kissing have just escaped into a dark movie theater.
  • In Ronin, Robert De Niro and Natascha McElhone's characters are sitting in a car at night, scoping a target. When a car passes them, he pulls the fake-out. After they pull apart, she silently straddles him for a little real making-out.
  • Subverted somewhat in the 1983 film version of Clue, in which, in order to hide the bodies of three murder victims, the characters set up a makeout room with the corpses.
  • Rock and Roll High School features a solo Fake-Out Make-Out in which one of the protagonists turns towards a corner, wraps his arms around himself and mimics the sounds of a couple making out, successfully fooling his pursuers.
  • Notorious Cary Grant: "Wait a minute, I'm gonna kiss you."
  • Subverted in the The Faculty. While breaking into the school's storeroom to steal ingredients for his drugs, Zeke cites the trope to reassure Marybeth should they be caught. However the two aren't patient, and start making out regardless.
  • Simon and Emma do this in The Saint.
  • Subversion in Fight Club: Tyler pulls Marla into a corner in a hallway to escape the paramedics, but instead of kissing her, he does a bit of an awkward dance to pass the time.
  • Hilariously subverted in one of its earliest examples, Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps. In it, the main character is trying to evade police who are looking for him on a train. So he bursts into a woman's compartment and kisses her as the police look in, snicker, and go on. The woman then immediately turns him in to the police without hesitation.
  • The Fourth Protocol. In the opening sequence where the MI5 Watchers are tailing the South African agent, Michael Caine sees two young Watchers snogging passionately and says: "Aren't they overdoing it?" His colleague replies: "She doesn't seem to mind."
  • Top Secret, a farcical Affectionate Parody of action movies set in World War II, takes it in a bit of a different direction: when a patrol of soldiers looking for them happens by, the young protagonists hide in each others' faces in a park rather crowded with other couples making out.
  • The New Centurions (1972). The police officer protagonist sees a robbery taking place inside a store, calls for backup, draws his gun and ducks behind a car for cover, then realises there's a couple snuggling each other in the front seat. He rushes over to warn them, only to get shot in the chest with a sawed-off by the couple, who are driving the getaway car.
  • Inception: Arthur suggests this to Ariadne to avoid the stares of the projections:

Ariadne: They're still looking at us.
Arthur: ...it was worth a shot.

  • Two Interpol agents do this in Assassins, guarding a hotel room where their colleagues are setting up a sting operation to try to trap Electra, the hacker played by Julianne Moore but they can't fool Miguel Bain, who casually greets them, then as he walks past them, whirls, whips out his silenced pistol and shoots both of them (and a hotel maid who inadvertently witnesses the scene).
  • In Charlotte Gray, which takes place in Nazi-occupied France, the eponymous heroine and a member of the French resistance are being held in a house by Nazis, and manage to distract the guard who's supposed to be watching them by making out, then jump him and run for it when he comes over to separate them.
    • Earlier, the resistance member is yelling angrily at Nazi tanks driving down the street, and Charlotte kisses him to shut him up and prevent him from being arrested or killed on the spot.
  • In K-9, the protagonist uses this trick to elude one of the bad guys, but there's a small problem - the sunbathing woman he kisses is a complete stranger who is taken by surprise. The trick works, and the thug leaves, but while he makes an honest attempt to apologize, she kicks him hard where it hurts.

Literature

  • Mat pulls a surprise make out in The Wheel of Time to prevent the woman in question from being discovered. She is quite shocked at first, but quickly complies when she hears the guards' voices.
  • Used repeatedly in the Hardy Boys Casefiles series.
  • In An Oblique Approach by David Drake & Eric Flint, Prince Eon of Axum hides the fugitive Princess Shakuntala from a search of his quarters... by throwing her on the bed, jumping on top of her, and then pulling the blankets up over them both while making some obvious physical movements and sounds. The villain's soldiers, utterly embarrassed at having caught their master's royal house guest in the middle of something, give his rooms the hastiest and most perfunctory search ever and then flee in disorder.
  • Also used in Shadow of the Lion by Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, and Dave Freer. However, there is nothing fake about it, and technically, the participants were not making out.
  • Dirk does this to Tia in one of the Second Sons trilogy books.
  • In Isaac Asimov's novel Pebble in the Sky, one of the protagonists has a secret meeting with a girl in a car. She says that if someone is coming, they should do this. Then she lies that someone is coming.
  • In In the Belly of the Bloodhound, part of of the Bloody Jack series, Jackie Faber and her Arch Nemesis Clarissa are taking advantage of a diversion to look for possible escape routes, IIRC. Hearing someone coming, Jackie grabs Clarissa and makes out with her. Passionately. A Minion with an F In Evil walks in on them, causing them to be Mistaken for Gay.
  • Happens in Sweet-Talking TJ by Karen Mc Combie, between the titular character of the book and Stella to trick the police. It might have worked, but then they might have just not been seen.
  • It doesn't go all the way, but in Alta by Mercedes Lackey, Kiron needs to hide Aket-ten from the Magi. He pulls her into a shrine to the goddess of lovers, throws his cloak over her, pushes her to her knees in front of the statue, and kneels himself. The Magus in charge of the squad looks in, "sees" a pair of lovers praying, and leaves without Aket-ten.
  • In The Night Is for Hunting, Lee figures out a way for Fiona's parents, who have been working in an office after much of the area has been recolonized, to sneak out and meet with her during their lunch break. After tearfully reuniting with their long-lost daughter, they return to the office snuggling, kissing and touching each other intimately. It's very clear what they wanted people to think they were doing hiding in a bush all through lunch.
  • In the sixth Troubleshooters book, Going Too Far, Sam and Alyssa do this in an alley to hide from random passing strangers that A) they are fighting, violently, and B) they are handcuffed to each other again.
  • Alyzon Whitestarr by Isobelle Carmody features two of the main protagonists, Alyzon and Harrison, sneaking into a library to find out about Alyzon's sister. When a military-looking goon comes along, guess what happens.
  • In one of the Sweet Valley High Kids Christmas books, one of the twins does this after she and a boy she was helping are caught by guards in a restricted area during a party. As neither of them were invited to the party to begin with, she also runs off crying saying "I told you someone would see us." The guards are so busy laughing that neither of them are checked for ID or questioned about why they were in the restricted area.
  • In The Pillars of Creation from the Sword of Truth series, Jennsen and Sebastian pull this off to avoid being noticed by a squad of D'Haran soldiers.
  • At the beginning of The Warrior's Apprentice, Miles and Elena do this twice in rapid succession. The first time is intentional: Miles convinces an armsman that they're sneaking into the library to make out, rather than to break into his father's secure terminal. Shortly thereafter, both their fathers walk into the room, and Miles' attempts to make it look like they're rehearsing a play just make it look more like awkwardly-concealed sex. Complications ensue.
    • In Ethan of Athos Elli Quinn wants to make sure her scheme to get a pair of Cetagandan intelligence agents arrested goes as planned, so she drags Ethan into a convenient alcove near the agents' rooms and enacts this trope. Ethan is a bit perturbed since he's from a male-only planet with religious beliefs that women are the source of all sin and temptation, but he manages to play along.
  • In Games of Command by Linnea Sinclair, Branden's trying to blend in among Tasha's former coworkers when he spots several who know him personally. He tugs Tasha into an access corridor and starts kissing her to hide his face. Since the couple had gotten together a few days before and broken up a few hours before, Tasha is understandably confused.
  • In Gabriel's Ghost by Linnea Sinclair, Sullivan, Chaz, and Ren are trying to pick the lock on a door in a public hallway. When they hear someone coming, Sullivan takes the chance to steal a kiss from Chaz, and silences her protests by claiming they need an excuse to be standing around in a hallway. The passerby laugh and tell them to get a room, and Ren apologizes claiming it's the couple's honeymoon.
  • Most of the kisses between Katniss and Peeta in The Hunger Games, seeing as they're supposed to keep up a Star-Crossed Lovers masquerade—or at least all of them are to Katniss before she starts feeling something. To Peeta, it's a completely different story.
  • Used by Corran Horn in Wedge's Gamble to avoid being seen by his nemesis while on an undercover mission.
  • The "Fake" part is subverted in A Planet in Arms by Donald Barr, in which to protect spymistress Citizen Wells from a would-be rapist, it's not enough for Wells' agent Corander to pretend he's having sex with her; he has to actually do so. And Wells, Corander discovers at this point, is a virgin. Well, now it's was a virgin. Luckily, a) Wells fully understands why Corander's doing this; b) he's such a Nice Guy that just about any woman he's intimate with soon falls for him,[2] and Wells turns out to be no exception; and c) at this point Corander also realizes he's been in love with his boss for a while now.


Live Action TV

  • Vaughn and Sabina pull one of these in Alias. It doesn't work so well.
  • In The Mighty Boosh when Howard and Vince are on the roof together the night of Howards birthday party.
  • In a flashback on NCIS, Ziva saves a former marine by claiming that he was looking at banned areas of a ship because she asked him to find them some privacy - instead of spying. They then proceed to enjoy themselves until the suspicious crewmember leaves, and Ziva starts telling him off for his stupidity.
  • Chloe once started kissing Clark on Smallville when the two were caught looking at hospital records, then fed the security guard some story about taking a break from their "candy-striping."
    • Happens again in the Season 9 premiere. Lois speaks with John Corben, who she believes is a detective at the time. When an actual cop comes, he evokes this trope without her consent. She takes it rather well...
  • Subverted in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (of course it was). Xander suggests this so people aren't suspicious when they invade The Initiative. Buffy stops him by pointing out little is more suspicious than a scientist and a soldier making out in a secret military base. In another episode, it was the excuse Xander and Cordelia (more appropriately dressed as his trashy girlfriend) successfully used to get access to the armory.
    • And brutally subverted in "Passions" when Angelus is stalking Buffy; she and her friends exit the Bronze without taking notice of a couple necking. Once they're past the woman falls to the ground to reveal it was Angelus feeding on her.
    • In the Season 2 finale Buffy runs into Xander at the hospital. As she's wanted by the police Xander quickly pulls her into a hug when two cops pass them in the corridor. On letting go Buffy jokes that Xander did that partially to cop a feel; Xander's lack of response to this tells Buffy that something bad has happened to Willow.
  • Also happens in the fourth season of Angel, when Fred and Angel are trying to evade Jasmine's followers. It's initiated by Fred, but it of course doesn't work, given that everyone in the city is being mind-controlled by Jasmine and nothing is happening in Los Angeles—not even a young couple making out on a midnight stroll—without her approval.
  • Star Trek: Enterprise. Captain Archer is talking to his Green-Skinned Space Babe, when his translator breaks. She doesn't know he isn't from her world, and her finding out would be bad. So he kisses her, counting that it'll distract her long enough for him to hit the reset button on his translator. It seems to work, but later in the episode he kisses her goodbye and she jokes, "Is your translation device broken again?"
  • Doctor Who did a time-delayed version in the new series. The Doctor kisses Martha before running away, so that some of his non-human DNA will register on her, and the aliens hunting for it will be held up double-checking that Martha is human, buying him some time.
    • In series six, the Doctor doesn't want Craig to find out that they've been teleported into space, so he immediately wraps himself around Craig and tries to kiss him to distract him. Craig dodges.
  • In Burn Notice, Fiona and Sam used this when they were caught sneaking onto a boat to search it... only they made it look like they were in the middle of having sex. Happens again in a fourth season episode between Fiona and Jesse, when some mooks catch them on surveillance duty in her car - naturally in the aftermath it's clear there's some chemistry between them which leaves them both a bit unsettled.
  • Robin Hood: Marian and the Count kiss after getting back from a trip into the forest, to cover up for the fact that they had gone there to meet Robin.
  • Apparently superfluous usage from Bionic Woman episode "The List": Jaime and her partner, sneaking down a restricted corridor, see that a security guard has already spotted them, but they do the Fakeout Makeout anyway as he hurries over to try to get them to leave, then they knock him out. Then snog again.
    • On another occasion Jaime sees a couple kissing outside her apartment, but her bionic ear picks up their conversation revealing they're actually a surveillance team.
  • Played with on In Plain Sight: Mary just wants to smear lipstick on Marshall's face to make them look less suspicious when they confront the diamond smugglers, but he mistakes her intentions and tries to kiss her. When she tells him off, he unapologetically responds, "I'm a guy. It's what we do."
  • In the pilot of Arrested Development, Maeby kisses George Michael just to get attention from her parents. They don't notice. This does, however, provide George Michael enough Fetish Fuel to last the rest of the series.
  • Averted on Monk. Monk and Natalie are in the car when they spot a murder suspect approaching. Natalie panics and suggests that they kiss, but quickly backpedals when Monk looks at her in shock.
  • Lampshaded in a first-season episode of Lois and Clark. After getting caught snooping in a closet, Clark hands Lois over as a reporter in order to preserve his own cover. Later, she tells him they could have done this instead.
    • Also done in another episode of the same, where Lois and Clark are pretending to be a newlywed couple in order to investigate from a hotel typically reserved for honeymooners. When Clark's super-hearing picks up on the maid, he immediately hides the telescope they've been using, and starts kissing Lois. The maid takes one look at this as she walks in, and promptly walks right back out.
    • There was another variation in this show. Before she was thrown out of a plane, Lois asked to kiss Clark goodbye. She really wanted to get close enough to whisper, "I'll take the one on the left".
  • Steed and Mrs. Peel fake a kiss while following an enemy spy in The Avengers episode "Escape in Time". However, they only face one another in a street corner and don't actually kiss.
    • In a Get Smart episode, two characters clearly based on Steed and Peel pretend to kiss while staking out Max's apartment. They have to do this for a while because Max gets distracted watching them make out; when Max finally enters his room, the "Steed" character admits that he quite enjoyed that.
      • In another episode, Max does this with a female courier when someone walks past their park bench rendezvous. Then he claims they're coming back and goes in for another round.
  • In "Chuck Versus the Break-Up?" in Chuck, we learn that Bryce and Sarah always used the "happy couple making out" cover up during missions together. And pretended they didn't enjoy it.
    • Replace "always" with "often," and that could go for Sarah and Chuck, too. Chuck is usually taken completely off guard, but generally doesn't seem to mind.
    • And used between Chuck and, of all people, General Beckman in "Chuck vs. the Santa Suit". Afterwards they agree, "We will never speak of this again."
  • In The IT Crowd, the episode "Are We Not Men?", Moss kisses Roy to cover up their involvement in a robbery and their presence near the thieves hideout. After a moment of embarrassment, Roy points out that it would be more convenient if they hid behind a set of adjacent bins. However, Moss still uses this technique to hide from the next four dozen police cars that drive past.
  • In Degrassi: The Next Generation, Paige is having some trouble getting past a bouncer into a VIP party at a movie premiere. Cue Alex with a fake story apologizing for being late because some jerk blocked in the "Employees Only" space at the strip club, followed by a very convincing kiss. That got them in, where they proceeded to become a two-girl Spotlight-Stealing Squad (in-show).... Well, actually, that did turn into a Canon pairing, at least for a season or two.
  • On Leverage, Parker does this to Hardison to cover for having set off a silent alarm. He tries to discuss it afterward, but she apparently doesn't notice.
    • And again in the third season opener.

Hardison: You know, I like it when we do this pretending to kiss thing.
Parker: Pretending?
Hardison: Heey...

Hogan: There's never a policeman around when you need one!

  • Oz. An undercover police officer passes on information to his female partner by having her pose as his wife on a prison visit, then whispering the information in her ear while they're kissing passionately. It's obvious however that the two are lovers in real life also.
  • In the mini-series A Man Called Intrepid a man-female spy team supposedly disappear into an office for a little nookie, but actually to rifle through the files. When the guard becomes suspicious, the woman starts to fake moans of passion, whereupon he just smirks and goes back to his post. Note: this was based on a real life WW 2 incident where a couple were breaking into an embassy safe while supposedly making love—in that case the woman stepped naked into the guard's flashlight beam, whereupon the embarrassed guard quickly left.
  • Babylon 5. Captain Sheridan is being hit on by a beautiful naked Political Officer. He looks like he's going to refuse her advances when Ivanova (who's up to something he really doesn't want anyone to find out about) teleports into his office. As she's about to turn around to see what could possibly be distracting Sheridan from her naked body, Sheridan grabs her for a passionate clinch, giving Ivanova the opportunity for some great deadpan snarking. "I think you're about to go where everyone has gone before."
  • Played with in Supernatural. Bela and Dean pretend to be married in the ghost ship episode. Bela pretends to faint, and they use this as an excuse to get into the room with the records they need. Dean leaves, and when a security guard comes to check on Bela, she acts like Dean is still they're and they are up to something (Complete with moaning when the guard closes the door.) The guard then sees Dean walking back up the hall. He assumes Bela is cheating on him.
  • In My Family, Ben is spying on his wife, but notices she's about to walk by the vehicle he is watching from, he asks his son Nick to think of something. Nick pulls a Fake-Out Make-Out with his own father. While it works, Ben has no response but to return the gum that Nick was chewing.
  • Secret Army. La Résistance use a fake bicycle accident to make a German officer stop his vehicle so they can jump him. After they've dragged the body off into the woods an army motorcycle-sidecar drives up, and its occupants are highly suspicious at seeing an abandoned staff car...until a man comes out of the woods wearing an unbuttoned officer's uniform, his arm around a pretty Belgian girl. The Germans whistle and catcall, then roar off on their motorcycle. As there's some UST between the two characters there's an "you can stop kissing me, they've gone" moment too.
  • The Friday Night Project has a short-lived segment in its first series called "The Inappropriate Kissers", where two people would be planted in a real-life situation, (in one instance, next to an interviewer at a film premiere) merrily necking away. Supposedly, in Real Life he was very much into her, but she couldn't stand the sight of him.
  • In an episode of Weeds, Nancy and Andy are waiting for a drug shipment when they see cops approach—their solution is to make out so passionately in the car that Andy spaces out for a while. Turns out he rather enjoyed it.
  • In the Warehouse 13 episode "Duped", Pete and Myka employ this trope to avoid the suspicion of the target they are trailing. Although it's not really Myka. At the end of the episode, Pete says this was how he figured out the imposter, as the real Myka would never have kissed him.
  • Sonny of Sonny With a Chance does this to Chad as part of a Batman Gambit to dump his best friend. It Makes Sense in Context... kinda...
  • CSI used it with Catherine and Detective Vartann when they were trying to make it look like they were in a hotel room as lovers instead of cops on a stakeout.
  • In the House episode "The Down Low", Thirteen pretends to be a prostitute in order to cover up her and Eddie's presence at a drugs warehouse, where they were collecting environmental samples.
  • To preserve her cover as a call girl, Diana Barrigan (who, incidentally, is gay and has a girlfriend) jumps Neal Caffrey (who is posing as her john) when someone enters their penthouse suite in White Collar episode 2.02, "Need to Know." It turns out to be Neal's friend, Mozzie. When Neal tries to resume the makeout session by pretending Mozz is one of the bad guys, Diana shuts him down.
  • Sue Thomas FB Eye had the rather appropriately titled episode "The Kiss".
  • Played straight in the Castle episode "Knockdown" in which the title character and Beckett try to get close to a guard of a building in which Ryan and Esposito are being tortured for information by a professional assassin. They try the drunk and lost maneuver but that doesn't quite lower the guard's defensiveness. Not until they do the trope does the guard relax enough to be taken out. Word of God is that it was genuine.
    • In the Season 3 finale, Castle calls Beckett out on their UST, including the fact that they never talked about the time they kissed. "I don't know what we are."
  • Britta and Jeff have one in an early episode of Community so he can avoid failing a class.
    • Starburns tries to have one, but Quendra refuses.
  • Curtis kisses Hannah to avoid detection by their creepy guidance counselor in Todd and the Book of Pure Evil. This also marks the point where Hannah develops feelings for Curtis, though it had been hinted at in early episodes.
  • Taken a step further in Twenty Four. Rick is trying to help Kim Bauer, who has been kidnapped, when a guard comes in. He pretends that he's raping her instead. The guard ... approves, and later expresses an interest to rape her as well.
  • MacGyver: Mac and his female partner pull this trick when they are caught by a motorcycle cop while scoping out the hospital they are planning to break into in "For Love or Money".


Web Comics

  • Backfires badly in CRFH, when Mike makes the mistake of using this tactic with the obsessively-in-love-with-him April. She later uses the incident against him.
  • Marsh Rocket uses this trope then later subverts it: somebody taped the MakeOut, and it's implied it's on the future equivalent of YouTube.
  • Slightly modified in Narbonic during "Professor Madblood and the Lovelace Affair". Madblood is about to spot Helen holding Titus Misanthropie's body, so she kisses Titus to cover up the fact that he's unconscious. There was never any sexual tension between Helen and Titus, but the incident served as yet another derailment of Helen's romance with Madblood.

"Hm. Peppermint."

  • Played with in one of the bonus strips in Order of the Stick volume War and XPs, where two female paladins pretend to be dating in order to avoid having to deal with Miko tagging along. This leads to one paladin saying that they had better atone for their lie, or they might lose their powers. The other one suggests that the two of them dating doesn't have to be a lie. Cue lesbian paladin makeout.
  • Happens on this page of Shortpacked.
  • Fall City Blues: Lex and Eiffel.


Western Animation

  • Danny and Sam do it twice on Danny Phantom. Granted, the show doesn't invent the trope, but they did give it a catchy name.
    • The first time, Sam initiates it. The second time, Danny does. It is only slightly less awkward the second time.
  • In The Fairly OddParents episode where Timmy lent his fairy godparents to Tootie for her birthday, he pulled this on her to prevent her from blurting out that she had them.
  • Justice League: Wonder Woman kisses Batman in the episode "Starscrossed", when the two are posing as a civilian husband and wife to elude detection from Thanagarian soldiers. He doesn't mind.

Wonder Woman: (blushing) Sorry.
Batman: (in his smarmiest Bruce Wayne voice) Don't be.

  • Code Lyoko: When Hervé and Nicolas follow the gang to the Supercomputer, Odd and Aelita let them catch them kissing to explain their presence in the Factory. Since the two are pretending to be cousins, this would give them an excuse for doing so off campus.
  • Inque and Aaron Herbst in Batman Beyond episode "Disappearing Inque". Aaron enjoys it, as he is infatuated with Inque, but she simply used it to get out of a sticky situation and she hits and threatens him right afterward. She's not a nice lady.
  • In order to convince others that they were taken, Amy and Leela did it multiple times to Fry as a Running Gag in a Titanic spoof episode of Futurama, "A Flight to Remember". His reaction was always the same: surprise, "Hmm?", and then enjoyment, "Hmm..."
  • In the episode "The Parent Rap" of The Simpsons, Homer and Marge sneak off at night in burglar outfits in order to get back at a cruel judge. On the way Chief Wiggum drives by to which they quickly begin kissing each other to hide their motives.
    • And Wiggum comments how two young dock workers have found love...
    • Stood on its head in The Movie: Marge and Homer are looking frantically for a place to hide themselves from two approaching male police officers... when the officers suddenly start making out.
    • Both parodied and lampshaded in "Homer and Marge Turn a Couple Play". Homer is trying to scalp baseball tickets when he spots Wiggum and whispers to Marge, "Pretend we're in love," then kisses her.
    • In the episode "Rome-old and Juli-eh", Homer and Patty (disguised as Selma) do this to try and break up Selma and Grampa. They both have to think of others (Marge in Homer's case, Mrs. Krabappel in Patty's) while proceeding.
  • In the Family Guy episode "Deep Throats", Brian and Stewie are in disguise (Stewie, of course, in drag), and end up kissing to avoid being spotted. Afterwards, Stewie reacts with "Hey, freaking shot in the dark, but you wanna do something sometime?"
    • In the episode "Saving Private Brian", they kiss to get discharged from the army. It doesn't work.

Gay Soldier: Any room for one more?
Stewie: Hells yeah!
*Brian slaps Stewie*

  • Mission Hill: Eunice "Weirdie" Eulmeyer kisses Kevin passionately as they are discovered trying to steal Kevin's recommendation letter from an army base.
  • An episode of Kick Buttowski had the titular character kiss Kendall, a girl he loves to hate, to avoid getting thrown out of a movie theater by a local bully turned overzealous usher.
    • And in "Hand in Hand," Kendall initiates another kiss with Kick (while each wears a gender-swapped disguise) to avoid getting caught glued together by Kendall's boyfriend Renaldo. Kick the BST up another notch...
  • Variation: in one of the Scooby Doo movies Shaggy and Scooby disguise themselves as a couple to justify being in the park in the middle of the night, and pretend to make out so that no one will be able to see that Scooby is, well, a dog.
  • Krisse does this in an episode in the second season of Wakfu, they were really playing a game similar to rugby...
  • The Looney Tunes Show: Lola does this Bugs when she is tailing Daffy in "Double Date".
  • Bruce and Selina take this even further in the Elseworlds movie Gotham by Gaslight. When the police mistake Bruce for Jack the Ripper, Selina lets him hide in her carriage; they're still on his trail so they actually disrobe and embrace, so when the police try to force their way in, they quickly apologize and back off. This leads to real intimacy between the two in the next scene.

Real Life

  • Two boys smoking pot in a car, and a policeman drives up...
  • Once done at pre-Berlin Wall Europe by two youths involved in the Berlin form of suspicious doings to fool the East German Guards into dismissing it as merely the adolescent kind.
  • One Allied-sponsored burglary attempt at a Vichy embassy during World War II was protected by a distraction using this means.
  • One variation was a female Zionist agent in Istanbul who bought large numbers of condoms in which to smuggle messages to Jews behind German lines. Naturally most people thought it was for the more obvious reason.
  1. ↑ As long as she's wearing something loose enough to hide her figure, which is definitely NOT masculine
  2. ↑ She knows this, too, because she used to assign female agents to spy on him, and kept having to replace them since she couldn't any longer trust them to rat him out if necessary
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