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Looker adjusted Philippe’s wig and turned to check Corbeau’s disguise. “Don’t worry about acting differently than how you usually do. You might be surprised by how much people don’t pay attention to, so long as the obvious traits are hidden. Being a couple also helps, people will be too uncomfortable to look too closely at you two.”
Corbeau seemed annoyed by his help while Philippe welcomed any tips. Philippe spoke up first, “How will people know whether or not we’re faking being a couple?”
“Touch a lot, that will make people stop looking. If you think you’re doing a little too much, you’re probably fine. New couples sometimes act over-the-top, so never feel like you’re overacting there. You two already have a decent chemistry, lean into that.”
“Ugh, you shaved his face.” Corbeau went over to Philippe and touched his cheeks. “Arceus, you have such a baby face. Remember when you had hair this long before?”
“Yeah.” Philippe took his hands off his face. “You look weird with black hair, Boss.”
“My hair is black. I dye it.” He frowned at him.
“Your eyes aren’t brown though. And your face looks naked without glasses.”
“I hate these contacts, Looker. Why colored contacts? My eyes itch.” He rubbed his eyes furiously.
Looker moved in between them before explaining, “Like I said, the obvious traits need to be hidden. Including your attitude, Corbeau. Uniquely colored eyes and glasses could give you away, unfortunately. Philippe has tattoos so he can’t wear anything with shorter sleeves, and everyone knows what you look like from the neck up. Look at Corbeau, you could hardly recognize him already.”
“Didn’t need to shave Philippe.”
“It’ll grow back fast, Boss. Don’t worry.”
“Seems like a lot for a couple days.”
“Hopefully it’s worth it. You guys got the tip; I’m only here to consult and give you advice. Give us the details and maybe we can take out the Team Plasma faction growing in Lumiose City.” Looker pushed Corbeau’s hair in his face. “If you feel your hand going to adjust your glasses, fix your hair instead.”
Looker went to leave and turned back one more time. “Practice the nicknames, it helps to practice. If you need to lie, lie close to the truth, it helps you form the lie and remember it better.”
“Anything else, Mr. Police Guy?” Corbeau glared at him.
“Yes, it’ll be over before you know it. Just get through each day a day at a time. Thank you for helping keep the city safe.” And he vanished in an instant after.
--
In front of a Furfrou Salon, Gypso and Karasuba, newlyweds from some other region, boldly harassed people for participating in the sadistic act of cutting the hair of the Furfrou like they were items. After an unproductive afternoon, Karasuba went to call it quits, but they gained the attention of some people.
“Wanna actually make a difference? You know, there’s actual stuff you can do to stop businesses like that from thriving. Interested?”
Just like that, they were in. They didn’t have to report that they were in, but Karasuba was dying to tell Looker about their success so far. The guy told them to meet up at sundown near one of the sewers that Karasuba had frequented as a kid. Of course, they didn’t know that.
They met up with the little gang at the location and immediately drew eyes.
“Who are these two?”
“I’m Karasuba, and this is Gypso.”
“They’re honeymooners, but they’ve got an eye for the disgusting parts of the city,” the guy who noticed them explained.
They all kind of just took it without arguing about it. Gypso kept a hand on Karasuba, and at some point Karasuba realized they weren’t really selling this well. Karasuba backed up into Gypso’s chest and grinned at him, making faces while they went through their motto or manifesto or whatever. They weren’t really Plasma anyway so all of this didn’t matter to them. Karasuba could ad lib their cause if needed and Gypso probably memorized this ahead of time.
When they all went to discuss their next course of action, Gypso suggested their next target and some other guy piped in with how they could do it.
“If you two can separate for two seconds, we could use Gypso on that.”
“That okay, Suba? It’ll just be for a bit.”
“Why can’t I go too, Gypsy?” Karasuba pouted at him.
“They need you for the next thing.” Gypso touched his cheek with his hand. His entire face could fit in that hand.
Some other guy perked up to help, “Yeah, we have bigger plans, this is just a display to get more interested parties.”
Karasuba smirked up at Gypso. This would be easier than they thought.
--
Gypso helped a group of them in destroying some small establishments that took in stray Pokémon, and he kept stock of everything they broke so that the Rust Syndicate could eventually pay them back for all of this. The Plasma grunts were not the most skilled guys, but they were organized, implying there were more of them and a hidden leader. The Lumiose City faction was more about growing their numbers so far, but some guy did imply that there was a bigger target.
“What’s the bigger target?” Gypso asked a guy after they escaped somewhere neutral.
Even after working together, the guy hesitated. “You’re still a little new for that, Gypso.”
“Oh, just curious. Wanted to know if Karasuba would be in on that or not. He likes doing stuff together, and he hated that we weren’t together tonight.”
“Wanna call him? We’re done.”
Gypso took out his phone and reluctantly called Karasuba. Hopefully he didn’t pick up like his Boss and remembered he could be around people.
As soon as the phone picked up, Gypso quickly answered first, “Hey, baby, I just wanted to hear how you were doing.”
Karasuba didn’t allow video but answered back just as enthusiastically, “Hey, sugar bear!” Gypso internally laughed at that—wow that sounded fake. But the guy next to him looked like he could gag so maybe it was convincing.
“We’re wrapping up here, you wanna eat when you’re done?”
“Yeah!”
“I’ll come to you, just sit tight. See you soon, babydoll.”
Karasuba made a kissing sound on the phone instead of saying bye.
“I’ll give you the location of the headquarters. That’s probably where Karasuba is right now. He’s probably helping organize stuff there.” The guy wrote something down and passed it.
“Thanks, man.” Gypso got up and honestly couldn’t believe how smoothly this was coming along.
--
Karasuba stalked around the headquarters and still couldn’t pinpoint a clear target. He did find out some important people were coming though, which would absolutely thrill the International Police. What was the target?
Gypso entered the headquarters; he knew because Gypso had asked around for him until people practically threw them together. When he saw Gypso, he ran up to him and grabbed his hands, but Gypso was the one who pulled him into a tight hug that took the air out of him. During a meeting of the affairs in Kalos, Karasuba hugged Gypso’s arm, rubbed his hands, and looked at him instead of whatever they presented. Even though they played the airhead couple, the Plasma grunts sure respected their skills so far. They gave Karasuba a lot of information, and he helped them clean it up, organize some of it. Everything but the target, of course.
The speaker saw them acting like fools and told everyone to go take a break before they get into more.
Karasuba dragged Gypso into a closet and got close to his face. “I can’t find out the target. I know some of the leaders are coming but that’s it. You?—also, ‘babydoll’? Really?”
“First of all, we didn’t plan the cute nicknames so I had to improvise. I’m sure you went through plenty of dumb ones before you landed on ‘sugar bear’. But yeah, they’re tight-lipped about the target. Not telling new guys, I think only Plasma grunts with seniority are gonna be part of this—but wait, I have an idea. There is something going on in two days that would make a perfect target—”
Before Gypso could continue his train of thought, the door opened on them.
Despite not talking about it at all beforehand, they immediately locked into passionate kissing. Before the door fully opened, Gypso had his tongue in his mouth and held him so close, it hurt.
Karasuba had his hands wrapped around his neck pulling him closer, struggling to breathe since Gypso was refusing to let him. Gypso threw in a loud moan that had the grunt that opened the door groaning and slamming the door closed faster than it opened.
A second after, they pulled apart. Gypso cleared his throat and continued to talk, but Corbeau couldn’t even hear after that kiss. That was amazing, and he was so smooth about it, getting right back into work. Was it always like that? Wish he could snap his fingers and get that to happen again.
“What do you think?” Gypso asked him.
About what? “Yeah, I think you’re right.” Fake it till you make it.
“Good. I’ll ask around and see if I can get anyone to confirm. You ask around here, carefully, and see if anyone says anything about the Pokémon Contest Finale.”
Oh, that’s what he thought the target was. He wanted to touch the redness on Philippe’s—ah, Gypso’s—face to see if it felt as warm as it looked. Was he just as flustered? If he was, he wasn’t showing it.
“I’ll call you when I get it, Gypsy.” He patted Gypso’s cheek and walked out of the closet feeling like his entire body was on fire.
--
Gypso hung out with the same guys that helped him take down the Furfrou Salon and the adoption buildings. He still felt floored from kissing Karasuba but shoved that to the back of his mind. It was a cover after all. Not a big deal.
“Hey,” he called over the guy who originally gave him the headquarters address, “who’s in on the Contest Hall takedown? I want to contribute. I used to be a bouncer back in the day. I can help.”
“How’d you know about that?”
“Suba told me last time we, well, had a chance to chat.” He smiled and swore the guy looked disgusted.
“Sure. I guess you’re both pretty competent. You learn fast, makes sense they’d read you in. Okay, sure. You can help keep people in when the initial exhibition happens. I think they won’t want Karasuba on site, but if he really wants to help, he can talk to the tech guys and see if he can help set up the visuals at the Contest Hall ahead of time. He’s crafty.”
“And good with his hands.”
“Dude, you gotta stop.”
Gypso purposely used that to get away from him and called Karasuba. “Hey, Boss. I got confirmation. Meet me at the office and we’ll talk. It’s over.”
A weight lifted at it being over, but not all the weight…
--
Looker and his police force took down the faction, the plan, their plans going forward, and stopped potentially more factions from forming in Kalos. They waited until the leaders arrived and got their hands on some big names.
So, a couple days later, Corbeau sat in his office taking inventory of the things Philippe destroyed while trying to fit in with Plasma grunts. But Philippe standing behind him felt weird now. Since they stopped being a fake couple, he couldn’t stand the awkward tension. When he first saw Philippe when everything was over, he reflexively ran up to Philippe and grabbed his hands before pulling away and complimenting his perseverance. Philippe seemed fine but stood further and further away from him as if closeness was revolting.
On this particular day, he had had it. He slammed his laptop closed and turned to Philippe.
“I hate this! I can’t stand it anymore, Philippe! I want it back!”
“What?”
“I want you to want me again! I want you to call me ‘babydoll’, but this time for real! I’m dying to kiss you again. Aren’t you sick of all this tension?!”
“I am, Boss.”
“What’re you gonna do about it then, huh?”
Philippe floundered a bit until Corbeau got up, grabbed his hand, and led him to their supply closet to kiss him again.