Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

I feel like the chapters are getting shorter. And that is good.

Kululu snuggled up to whatever warm, soft thing he was next to as his mind slowly started tuning into reality. He sub-consciously took in its nice scent, feeling calmer.

Slowly, he opened his eyes, realizing he was next to something and he wasn't just dreaming. Seeing Angol Mois curled up next to him, it took a moment to register that he had spent the night in Mois's bed.

He bolted up, falling off the bed in fear and pressing himself up against the wall.

Mois yawned and opened her eyes, hearing him falling off the bed. She saw him wheezing and looking at her in fear.

"I... I spent the night in your bed..." he realized.

"So?" she asked. "I don't have a problem with it."

His eyes twitched. "Why not? You're usually so embarrassed about other things!"

"I like sleeping with you. You're plushy-sized!" she grinned. He couldn't tell what he should focus on more. That she had said she liked sleeping with him or that she had said he was plushy-sized.

He eventually peeled himself off the wall.

"You can continue sharing the bed with me, if you want. I'm not bothered by it - it's probably a lot comfier than the floor." She tried to be kind.

He paused for a moment, thinking. Every fiber of his being told him to say "no" to this offer. That it was a stupid offer. But the bed was comfy and a part of him didn't actually mind the idea of snuggling with Mois every night.

That would probably just make his situation worse, though. How much closer could he get to Mois before they crossed a terrible line?

"Fine," he grudgingly agreed, "But only because it's a soft bed."

Mois smiled and clapped. "Good!" She quickly got out of bed. "So... about yesterday..." She knew they should probably talk about their kiss.

"Yeah. We kissed a little. At least they can't say we've never kissed before." Kululu tried to pretend he didn't really care, and just dismiss whatever conversation she wanted to have. He really didn't want her to state the obvious, like "that was pretty long for a little kiss."

"W-we..." Mois felt her breath catch. She wasn't sure what she was about to suggest, but she knew it was a stupid decision. "We could probably continue doing at least a little bit of that to further convince them. Like... kisses on the cheek and all. I mean, they're right that if we never kiss, it does look a tiny bit odd, especially when we keep trying to look super affectionate." She tried not to look at him after her suggestion.

Why am I suggesting this? Am I really that devoted to helping him? Maybe she was; maybe she just really wanted to help her friend. But she was beginning to suspect that she just really liked kissing him and that she kind of wanted to again.

It gave her mixed feelings that she had liked it that much. Kululu was her friend - she was supposed to be there to help him. Not to kiss him. Not to actually fall for whatever act they were doing.

She had Keroro already. This was like mentally cheating on him. Not like she and Keroro were actually together.

But she still felt bad for her crush.

She just was really inexperienced with how to deal with hormones.

Kululu looked up at her, genuinely shocked by her suggestion. "You sure you don't have a problem with it?" he asked. "Ku, yeah, it would benefit our act, but kissing's a bit... far. I mean, I have no problem throwing away morals and stuff to further my own gain, but you have actual morals and standards specifically about romance. You sure you're comfortable with it?" he asked. "You've been helping me out a lot just out of the goodness of your disgustingly pure heart. I... I don't want to oppose too much."

"I'm fine with it," Mois reassured. "I do have standards about romance, but I'm your friend and I want to help. And I think we both knew that the conversation of kissing would come up eventually from this charade."

Kululu didn't seem convinced. "You sure you're okay with it and can handle it?"

"Positive," she agreed. "I can do it if it's to help you."

"You sure you're not just suggesting it because you like kissing me?"

Mois sputtered as Kululu narrowed his eyes at her. "E-excuse me?"

"Ku, ku, ku. Gotcha, I was just teasing." Kululu laughed at her distress. He knew she probably had a problem of separating her hormones and her feelings, and there was no harm in her actually enjoying it. She clearly did, at least a little bit. She just had her own mechanisms for making it better, like imagining someone else was there.

"You were?" Mois asked.

"Yep. Because... if you were just suggesting it since you liked it, there would be no need to do it in front of everyone. We could just do it right here.~"

Mois's face turned pink and she covered her face.

"Man, I am getting better at acting! Ku, ku, ku. You fell for that one too?" he laughed.

Mois jerked her hands away from her face. "You were teasing again?"

"Yep. Gotta practice flirting with you, after all," he assured.

She didn't look happy. "Don't do that when we're alone. I don't like you pretending when nobody's watching."

"Fine, fine. I promise I won't do it again," he said. "Now let's go out and kiss in people's faces until they're so disgusted about our lovey-dovey relationship that they bow down to me like they promised."

Mois giggled at his proclamation.

Kululu mostly just kissed Mois on the cheek and hand, now that she had given him permission. He especially liked doing it in front of Zhuang and the Viper.

There was no need to go any higher. And that amount of kissing was pretty tame on both of them, although he did hate it when Mois turned the tables and kissed him on the cheek. It was way worse and cute and he couldn't handle it.

Zhuang's suspicions were still there about their relationship, but whenever he was about to speak up, Kululu would just kiss Mois's cheek, and Zhuang left, not wanting to see their lovey-dovey display.

Mostly he did it when they were just in front of crowds.

"What are you working on now?" Mois asked him as Kululu put together some intricate invention. Unlike what Zhuang believed, he hadn't just come to this convention to date Mois, he also came to market his invention.

"Mind-reading device, inspired by the Kilulu. I can probably sell it for tons," he told her. Mois made a face. "Don't worry, I won't test it on your mind." She looked calmer.

Eventually he finished the device and clicked it into his headphones. It was made for headphones, after all.

"I'm going to test it now. So be quiet," he told her.

She nodded. "You could say, as quiet as a mouse?"

Kululu didn't congratulate her on getting a phrase right. Instead he listened to people's thoughts. He tried to focus on a specific subject so he wouldn't get over-whelmed.

Mois and me. Let's see what they think of that. That'll be my test. He focused on that and got tons of people's thoughts.

Unlike what he thought, the thoughts weren't all respecting him and how he had won the bet. Instead it was focused more on Mois.

"She's pretty cute, isn't she?"

"He did say a lot of good things about her. Kind of makes you believe it after a while."

"She's a way higher standard than him."

"Maybe if she wakes up and dumps him I can date her."

"Lord of Terror, huh? I think she might have killed my family. But I misplaced them so..."

Kululu took the headphone device out of his headphones. He wasn't sure how to take all their thoughts about her. If she dumps me they can date her? Ku. They don't have a chance with her. She's not interested.

He didn't like what he heard. Sure, he had bragged about her a lot, but he never assumed that would make people interested in her. She was his co-worker, even his friend. And that was weird for people to think.

"Did it work, Kululu?" Mois asked.

Kululu was shaken from his thoughts. "Yeah, it worked fine. This invention is a success, thanks to me."

"Good job!" Mois clapped happily.

But Kululu was still thinking about all the things he had heard. Unlike Mois, he didn't want to beat around the bush at the threat of other people flirting and being with her. He didn't want to have to fake being jealous.

I better just kiss her in front of everybody until the idea flies out of their head. She had given permission for those sorts of things, after all. And he wasn't below taking advantage of it just because he didn't want people thinking she'd dump him and they'd have a chance.

She's mine. At least, that's what they should think. She's not really, but I'm going to rub this sooo hard in their faces. He loved ruining other people's dreams.

"Do I get a congratulatory kiss?" he asked as she praised his mind-reading creation.

"Huh?" Mois hadn't expected him to ask.

"Do I?"

Angol Mois finally nodded and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Kululu grinned, trying not to show his embarrassment.

"Too short, Mois," he told her, feeling confident at the idea that he was doing this to rub it in people's faces. Mois blinked and gasped for a moment as he placed his lips on hers and pulled her down to him.

She happily kissed him back, trying not to enjoy it too much. After a few moments of intensely awkward kissing, Kululu pulled away.

"Better," he grinned. She just blushed, wondering if she should regret this decision to give him this sort of power in public.

He started kissing her a lot more in public, specifically in front of others. In private they could act as normal as they did usually and it was a welcome relief from their charade.

"I'm going to have to kiss you a lot more tonight. That's fine, right?" Kululu checked just to make sure.

"What's tonight?" Mois asked.

"A sort of fancy banquet. But Zhuang will be there and I really want to rub it in his face that we're an item," Kululu told her, "since he still hasn't apparently gotten the idea."

"It's fine, then," Mois nodded. "Um... Kululu? You've been kissing me a lot more on the... well... lips. Why not just use the cheek?" she finally asked.

"Ku. Easy. Lip-locking with you is much more intense than kissing your cheek. It convinces them a lot more," he told her. "Why? Do you not like it?" Had she finally woken up and decided to stop?

"Um... no, it's not that, it's just... I'm really bad at it. I have no idea what to do when we're doing it and it's... awkward," she admitted. "I get way too embarrassed and freeze up and... I hate to ask this, but if we're really going to be doing it that much, can I have a practice session?"

"P-practice session?" Kululu tried to run through what she had asked. They had never kissed alone. And honestly, the only reason he was getting through it was because she was embarrassed and he was rubbing it in people's faces.

"Just like on the train," she explained.

"B-but... But we'll be alone," he pointed out.

"Yeah. So it'll be okay if I mess up." Her eyes were wide and innocent, as if she didn't realize the gravity of what she was suggesting. "You could say, second time's the charm?"

"Third. Third time's the charm," he corrected. Their second practice session. He thought about it. It wasn't that he had a problem kissing Mois, but what she was really asking for were slow practice kisses. "Fine... but, umm... don't laugh or anything if I can't do it," he requested. "I'm still afraid of you."

"Got it," she smiled. "Could you close your eyes, Kululu?" she requested politely. Kululu swallowed and nodded, trying to steady himself up against a wall.

If she needed to practice it, it meant she'd be the one initiating. And he wasn't sure if he'd survive that. He was going to die. He closed his eyes, trying not to hold his breath as her soft lips pressed up against his. She tilted her head so it wouldn't awkwardly bump against his so much, and she softly and slowly just sort of experimented with kissing him.

She was just so curious. And only she could have him pressed up against a wall and still make it innocent. Kululu's body was shaking as her hand seemed to try to explore where was most comfortable to rest, it eventually landed on his hips to steady him.

Am I swooning because I'm really into this or because I have a lack of air...? No it's definitely lack of air. Kululu had forgotten to breathe and pushed her off, gasping for air.

"Are you okay?" she asked as he wheezed.

"Y-yeah..." he said. "It's just..." I can't do this, it's too hard. I'm way into it and embarrassed. "Nothing, continue. Get your darn practice." He tried to play it cool.

She smiled and let him breathe for a few minutes before pressing herself up against him again. This time she tried parting her lips a bit, and he felt her hot breath against him and her sucking very gently on his lip...

"Okay, that's enough practice, you're doing fine." Kululu quickly wrestled out of her grip before he collapsed, or worse - started kissing her back with some sort of ferocity.

His kisses would be saved for public. And, most importantly, for rubbing into people's faces.

"I was doing fine?" She tilted her head to the side. "So I'm okay at this?"

"Very. I mean, you did fine. You don't need any more practice." I can't take it. "We should prepare for that banquet. Not... umm... make out. Sorry, it's just weird doing it alone. I mean, I promised didn't I? That we wouldn't do those things alone."

She nodded. "If you really think I'm good, we won't have to practice anymore."

"You're good," he reassured. REALLY good.

Mois smiled. She was glad she was getting better at this.

It was pretty easy to get to the banquet. Kululu dressed up Mois in his fancy black dress for her.

He expected Zhuang to antagonize him again when he sat by the two of them. To try to get some information that conflicted. But instead, he just sat in front of Mois and spoke to her.

"How are you enjoying the TEC?" he asked.

"It's lots of fun!" Mois chattered chipperly.

"I know. I'm super glad to be here," Zhuang agreed. He seemed polite, although he usually was to Mois.

"Mois. Try this." Kululu tried to get her attention from Zhuang. After he had heard so many people thinking she was cute, he was just a little suspicious. "It's not curry. And you said you wanted more foods that weren't curry." He gave her one of the foods and she tried it.

"It's good," she smiled.

"Try this one. It's better for you and it tastes more exquisite," Zhuang suggested passing it to her. She tried it and smiled.

"That's good, too!" She didn't say which one was better, though.

"You have something on your cheek, darling." Kululu tried not to speak the last word venomously. It was very, very difficult. Instead he kissed her on the cheek.

"She didn't have anything, though," Zhuang pointed out.

"Ku, I just wanted to kiss her. Because she's my girlfriend, you know," he pointed out.

"Look, you're not fooling me. It's very obvious you're doing this all for show. I mean you just suddenly started kissing when we pointed it out, and you're obviously doing it for the sole reason of rubbing it in our faces," said Zhuang. "She's very clearly not into you. And it's very clear you just kiss her to prove something to me."

"That's untrue," Kululu denied.

"Mois, what do you even see in him?" Zhuang asked.

"Lots of things," she answered non-specifically. "Kululu's not just my boyfriend. He's my friend, too!"

"You probably just asked your friend to help you in this last-ditch effort." Zhuang pointed out.

Kululu just frowned, because that was exactly what happened. He kissed Mois again and chose to ignore Zhuang. Maybe Zhuang was just being stubborn.

As the banquet continued and Zhuang continued chatting with Mois, Kululu got a bit worried if there was something going on with him. Zhuang was single now, and Mois was probably nicer and more supportive than his stupid ex-wife. And she was also cute.

Zhuang definitely seemed interested in her. Kululu popped his little mind-reading device into his headphones and tried to listen to Zhuang's thoughts about Mois.

"She's awfully cute. Pity I have to expose her charade with Kululu. I hope she's not too mad. After all, she probably has nothing to do with this. I'm not mad at her, just Kululu."

Kululu's paranoid mind read this as that Zhuang wanted to expose him and Mois and wanted to date Mois, same as some of the other people at the con. Not that he was just being nice to her.

He definitely likes her. He took out the thing from his headphones and glared at Zhuang. And she's getting close to him. She's nice to him, too. She didn't like him back, but she could hypothetically fall in love with him. He could see Mois going for the nice sort of environment-loving thief like Zhuang. At least he was slightly better (by a decimal of a percent) standards than Keroro.

He knew she wouldn't really leave him for Zhuang, since she was devoted to their charade and was here to help him as his friend. Her reasons were pure and just, but he couldn't help but feel threatened and frightened.

After all, she didn't have feelings for Kululu. And maybe the month away from the Captain would make her realize that there were others better than him. Like Zhuang. She might develop feelings for him.

But... he didn't want that, because even though she was pretending, from his side everything wasn't completely pretend.

He cared about her. He liked being affectionate with her. He liked being her fake boyfriend. And he didn't want that to end.

When the banquet was over and they were alone in their room, he addressed his concerns. "What do you think of Zhuang?"

"He's nice, I suppose. But don't you guys not get along? I mean, he's like the one who made this bet with you, right?" she asked.

"Yeah... but, I mean... you were chatting with him most of the night. Um... do you like him?" he asked.

Mois blinked at him. Well, that was a stupid question. She hadn't been aware Kululu could ask stupid questions. "No," she answered bluntly. "Not at all."

"Ku. You don't have to deny it. You need to be honest with me. After all, it'll put our charade in jeopardy if you develop feelings for him. I mean, one thing that's been working in our favor is that Keroro isn't around to give you mixed feelings about helping me. But if you start liking Zhuang instead..." Kululu's thoughts were a jumble of paranoia. Mois just blinked again.

"Are you jealous, Kululu?" she asked quietly. She wasn't sure why Kululu was going on about something that obviously wasn't true.

"NO! Of course not. I mean, this is just fake... us. There's no reason to be jealous," he defended. "It's just... I think he likes you, and I know you're devoted to being my friend and helping me. But if you leave just because you find your prince charming, it could be problematic for me," Kululu explained.

"Oh. So you're just worried about this charade ending." Shesmiled, "It's all right. I won't. After all, I like playing pretend with you."

But... I don't. I'm not playing at the same level you are. Kisses, touches, they're real to me. Kululu bit his lip and didn't tell her. He bottled up his feelings. No reason to tell her. She didn't need to deal with that. She was being overly helpful to him, and didn't need to deal with that issue.

"It's just annoying people thinking our relationship is breakable and that they might have a chance with you," he admitted. "I don't like it."

Mois wasn't sure if he meant that he didn't like it because it hurt their pretense, or if he really was jealous. "It's all right. I'm not going to leave. I'm your friend. Not theirs," she tried to reassure.

She could tell Kululu was still frowning. The reassurance wasn't working much, and he was still worried.

She sighed, wondering what to do about Kululu's possessiveness. Her words weren't doing the trick of reassuring him. "Would you like to make it look more like I'm yours?" She asked, "Maybe that would give them the idea." She took off her collar, to give him access to her neck and whatever marks he needed to make.

Kululu grinned as realization came to him. "Already ahead of ya. I can make all sorts of things for you with my spiral insignias! Ku, ku, k!" He ran over to his suitcase. "That should work fine - "

"That wasn't what I was talking about." She cut him off. "I... um... actually meant those sort of hickey things. I mean, that helps show we don't just kiss in front of people, right? And it might help make you feel better that I'm yours. Your friend. Not theirs."

Kululu's face paled as he stopped rummaging through his suitcase. "I don't think that's very friendly..."

"Neither is kissing," she pointed out. "Or dating."

Kululu nodded. It would help their case. And he didn't have any problem with sucking on Mois's neck... It was just awkward.

"You sure the accessories wouldn't work better?" he asked.

"For the last time, Kululu, it won't help me wearing panties that have your face on it. Nobody will see them and it's got your face on it. Like, what's with Keronians needing to put their face on everything?"

"I wasn't going to suggest the underwear this time. I was actually going to suggest a skirt with my face on it."

Mois shook her head. "I'd much rather have you suck on my neck than wear that."

Kululu frowned. He couldn't tell if she really didn't want to wear something with his face on it or if she wanted him to kiss her.

He suspected it was probably the former, judging by that frown on her face.

"Fine. You're going to have to bend down a lot, though, since it's hard for me to reach your neck. Ku, ku, ku." Kululu let out a nervous chuckle. Mois nodded and sat down on the floor, tilting her neck to the side.

Kululu started slow, kissing it just softly. It was a lot different than kissing her lips, because this time he could hear every intake of breath she made. He could hear if she moaned a little bit, or if she was enjoying it even a little bit.

And her enjoyment gave him courage to continue, kissing and sucking lightly. He wasn't very good at doing it, so it took a good while of just kissing her neck to bruise it. But he didn't mind. It made up for her terrible kissing practice session.

Finally, after a while he was done. He looked up at his work. "Is that good?" he asked, feeling that Mois probably was right that this would do better in the long-run than merchandise. The hormones running through his head made him feel much more confident.

"Y-yeah... That's fine," she stuttered, touching her neck absent-mindidly. "I can't believe I just went through that."

"You've been a real trooper for friendship. I really owe ya one when you get home," he told her, grinning. He liked her embarrassed little expression.

She just nodded.

Kululu pretty much made excuses the next day to just show Mois off to people so they could marvel at his handiwork. He was very proud.

Mois wasn't so sure if she liked being showed off like this.

Zhuang eventually approached them after seeing Kululu enthusiastically and confidently talking to her, and the two of them stealing glances at each other when they weren't looking.

It was pretty obvious that they were at least interested in each other. I shouldn't be so stubborn about it. I don't want to be a sour loser. Zhuang sighed and walked up to them.

He bowed to Kululu. "I concede. I'm sorry for not believing you had a girlfriend. There's been no real evidence that suggests you don't... I was just being stubborn." He had to take his defeat honorably.

"Ku, ku, ku. Kiss my ass, jerk," Kululu laughed, happy that Zhuang had believed them. Apparently, Zhuang only had his imagination to go off of about what had gone on to make so many marks. He'd never know it was a lot of awkward "Are you done yet? What? You don't know how to do this? Let's google it!" And honestly he didn't need to know.

"I'm not going to do that." Zhuang tried not to barf.

"Ku, ku, ku, fine. But you will gather people to look at my inventions, just as you promised," Kululu grinned. This convention was going to be good from now on. No more problems, no more desperately having to be overly-affectionate to prove a point.

Far off, just barely in Kululu's hearing distance, he heard a familiar voice.

"It seems someone forgot to invite me to this huge convention! I mean, that doesn't make any sense, does it? I'm the smartest Keronian around. Best hacker, after all! Pu, pu, pu. But don't worry, I broke in, even if you all did forget to invite me. And I'm ready to ram that jerk Kululu's face into the ground to prove in front of millions that I'm the better one. Not that it'll be hard. Where is Kululu, anyway?"

Suddenly, everyone pointed in Kululu's direction.

"Don't make eye contact," Kululu instructed Mois, trying to avoid Kululu. She tried, but Tororo ran up to them.

"Damn," Kululu swore. That wasn't what he needed. Tororo usually wasn't a threat, but being someone who actually knew him and Mois, somebody now knew for a fact they weren't dating.

And now he'd be a threat easily able to expose him and destroy Kululu's reputation in a heartbeat.

It was the first time Kululu actually paid attention to Tororo as a genuine problem.

Finally done with this chapter. It was a lot easier to write than last chapter probably since I took a break on this story for a while.

And now I get to write the Tororo part so yay!

This was one of the three chapters with the most kissing scenes (which I procrastinated on because I'm bad at writing them) last chapter was one of them too. And then the third will be to come.

The difficult chapters, basically.