Basic Trope: Two characters need a distraction, so they decide to kiss.
- Straight: Alice and Bob enter the fortress of the Big Bad and don't want to be caught, but someone walks by, so they decide to kiss as a distraction.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice and Bob want to enter the base, but there's no-one around to watch them. They kiss anyway as a distraction, despite not needing one.
- Alice and Bob kiss as a distraction... But they decide it's not effective enough, so they take their distraction one level higher.
- Alice and Bob start doing this in the middle of the enemy base, and the guards just walk past them without even batting an eyelid.
- As long as Alice and Bob keep their lips locked they're rendered invisible, letting them rampage through the enemy base with the Mooks never realizing anything is wrong even as they watch their colleagues gunned down.
- Downplayed: Alice and Bob enter a fortress which also houses a few public areas. In order to hide why they're there, they give signs they're dating. They occasionally peck on the cheek to keep up the disguise.
- Justified:
- The Big Bad and his army are Allergic to Love so they have to look away or they'll die themselves, so it was the best possible distraction.
- Someone finding two people in an area where they aren't supposed to be would assume they're doing something suspicious. If they can convince the observer that the suspicious thing they're up to is just an illicit make-out session, they can distract attention from their real purpose.
- The Mooks are robots programmed with a faulty facial recognition program - they automatically assume you belong inside the base unless your face matches the ones programmed in. Once the duo runs out of hiding spots, Alice suddenly pulls Bob's face to hers to cover them both, rendering the robots blind.
- Inverted:
- Alice and Bob are making out when they are caught in the middle of the fortress.
- Alice and Bob think they are about to get caught by two of the guards, then the two guards suddenly start making out.
- Worried that they're about to get caught, Alice slaps Bob across the face and runs off, seemingly on the verge of tears. Bob runs off after her, either because he's in on the plan or because he's got no idea what he did to set her off. The guards decide they don't want to get dragged into it and leave the two alone.
- Subverted: Alice suggests kissing, but Bob refuses, saying they'll sure be able to find another way...
- Double Subverted: ...Until they're almost caught and Bob realizes there is no other way.
- Parodied:
- Bob and Charlie are entering the fortress when they're almost caught, so they decide to kiss as a distraction. They fail miserably, as their display attracts a crowd of Yaoi Fangirls.
- Alternatively Bob and Alice are infiltrating the fortress. Bob proposes this and Alice misunderstands and makes out with the soldier coming around the corner. The soldier walks off dumbfounded after that as Bob tries to explain that's not what he meant.
- Alice and Bob are forced to keep kissing for a very, very, very long time.
- Alice and Bob are kissing vehemently to distract the enemy soldiers. However, they are so caught up in making out, that when they let go, the entire army of villains, including the Big Bad, stand in front of them, some cheering them on while others tell them to Get a Room!.
- Alice and Bob are part of a specialized kiss-distraction team, and brought along with the regular agents for the sole purpose of distracting guards with their makeout sessions.
- Zig Zagged: Alice brings up the idea of kissing as a distraction, but Bob refuses, until the enemy soldier is near and he's forced to give in. However, just before they kiss, the soldier recognizes them and stops them from using the trope.
- Averted: Whenever a distraction is needed, Alice and Bob never decide to kiss.
- Enforced: "We need a good bit of Ship Tease for the Official Couple... How about we let them infiltrate the fortress and almost let them get caught, so they need to kiss?"
- Lampshaded: "Oh no, you're not going to kiss me, are you? It probably won't even work!"
- Invoked:
- Alice knew she'd almost get caught, so she brought Bob with her to kiss as a distraction.
- Alice has a major crush on Bob, and brings him along on a dangerous mission hoping to get a chance to use this distraction.
- Knowing the enemy force is full of men, Bob is sent in with Alice and Claire. Alice and Claire find a good spot in front of a security camera and start making out, knowing that anyone watching the camera feed will have their eyes glued to the screen, letting Bob sneak by more easily.
- Exploited: Alice and Bob take a break in the middle of an enemy base to make out, then claim they were about to be captured when confronted by Bob's angry girlfriend.
- Defied: Alice always travels alone, in fear of having to use this trope one day.
- Discussed: "I heard Alice and Bob kissed when they needed to infiltrate the base..."
- Conversed: "Oh no, they're kissing to distract the soldier! How can they possibly think that'll work properly?"
- Deconstructed:
- Bob and Alice kiss as a distraction, but because of this, the enemy soldier immediately notices them and tries to catch them...
- Alice and Bob’s friendship is never the same; confused feelings lead to an argument, and they split up feeling that they’ve ruined their friendship.
- Reconstructed: ...But since they are making out so heavily, the soldier decides to leave them alone, to grant them some privacy.
- Played For Laughs:
- Alice has an unrequited crush on Bob and insistently suggests that they do a Fake-Out Make-Out every time a distraction is called for... And quite a few times where a distraction is not called for, much to Bob's discomfort.
- Bob (who may or may not be a Tsundere) slaps Alice afterward and asks what the hell she did that for.
- Played For Drama: Bob has a girlfriend with whom he is quite happy, until Alice is forced to kiss him as a distraction. Although he agreed to kissing, he feels like perhaps Alice is feeling something. They drift apart rapidly because Bob begins to distrust Alice, and since he kissed his friend, the relationship between him and his girlfriend is going south rapidly as well...
- Implied: Bob returns from his mission with lipstick smeared on his lip, and Alice forbids him from explaining what happened.
Back to Fake-Out Make-Out
