History Main / UndercoverAsLovers

* ''Series/LaFemmeNikita'': Nikita and Michael go undercover and are flat out told by their controller that they're to have sex.

** In the Campbelldon arc, agent <Nightfall> insists that she and <Twilight> pose as a married couple when participating in the underground tennis tournament. <Nightfall>'s real motivation is for <Twilight> to end up [[RomanticFakeRealTurn falling in love with her for real]] and have her take over Yor's role as the mother in Operation Strix.

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'':

* The entire premise of ''Manga/SPYxFamily''. <Twilight> is a spy who needs to get himself a fake family to infiltrate his target's social circle. Yor Briar is an assassin who wants to keep a low profile under a government that views single women with suspicion. Naturally, they get married and adopt Anya, a young orphan who they don't realize is a {{telepath}} who knows both of their true identities. Interestingly, neither member of the couple is aware of the other's true identity but somehow everything has worked out well so far.

** Given that Sarah is the only female on their team, she's been paired with everyone except for Casey for missions like these, generally to play up the UnresolvedSexualTension and/or jealous rage of Chuck.

* The first ''Film/{{Austin Powers|International Man of Mystery}}'' movie did this, complete with clueless Austin using the inappropriate pseudonyms [Series/HappyDays Richie Cunningham]] and Creator/{{Oprah|Winfrey}}.

* The first ''Film/{{Austin Powers|International Man of Mystery}}'' movie did this, complete with clueless Austin using the inappropriate pseudonyms Richie Cunningham and Oprah.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' that portrayed all the major players of the 2008 US Presidential Elections (with the exception of Joe Biden) as a gang of ludicrously high class thieves, UsefulNotes/BarackObama and Michelle Obama were portrayed as this. They really hook up at the end.

* Played with on ''WesternAnimation/{{Young Justice|2010}}'', when ComicBook/{{Superboy}} and [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Miss Martian]] go undercover as ''brother and sister'' despite all the UnresolvedSexualTension in their relationship since they're impersonating an actual brother-and-sister supervillain duo. [[AnIcePerson Icicle Jr.]] is naturally quite {{Squick}}ed when they start making out.

* The entire premise of ''Manga/SPYxFamily''. <Twilight> is a spy who needs to get himself a fake family to infiltrate his target's social circle. Yor Briar is an assassin who wants to keep a low profile under a government that views single women with suspicion. Naturally, they get married and adopt Anya, a young orphan who they don't realize is a telepath who knows both of their true identities. Interestingly, neither member of the couple is aware of the other's true identity but somehow everything has worked out well so far.

* In ''Film/GetSmart'' Max and 99 are ''supposed'' to use this as their entry cover into Russia, but they're made by GiantMook Dalip before they even leave the plane.

* ''Series/{{Elementary}}'': In "Dirty Laundry" both the victim of the week and her husband are revealed to be Russian spies who were sent to pose as a normal American couple. They started sleeping together as part of the arrangement but stopped after they conceived a daughter. They decided not to tell their daughter who they really were until she started applying for colleges.

* ''Series/LaFemmeNikita'': Nikita and Michael go undercover and are flat out told by their controller that they're to have sex.

* ''Series/Lucifer2016'': In "Til Death Do Us Part", Lucifer and Pierce have to pose as a gay married couple. Needless to say, HilarityEnsues.

** "Under Covers": Tony and Ziva pose as a [[BattleCouple husband and wife team of assassins]] and fake having sex more times than is really necessary to maintain their cover. The act is apparently so convincing they fool the FBI agents who are secretly monitoring them, who insist, even after being ''told repeatedly'' that the entire situation was an act, that they can't be fooled and it was real. [[BrickJoke Five seasons later]], it's implied that the sex was real.
** [=McGee=] and Bishop pose as husband and wife to catch an actually married pair of killers. Rarely, this did not heighten already present UST or result in newfound UST between them. If anything, she ends up confiding in him about her troubled marriage.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. In "High Road" the POI lives in the suburbs. Given that [[PersonWithTheClothing The Man In The Suit]] sticks out somewhat, Finch arranges for Reese to move into the house next door, and in a twisted sense of humor, Reese asks [[TheFixer Zoe Morgan]] to join him [[WithThisRing by handing her a diamond ring]] and [[ShipTease asking if she'd marry him]]. Despite SmallTownBoredom the partnership actually works quite well, and the end of the episode has Zoe suggesting they stay an extra night before 'divorcing'. [[DidTheyOrDidntThey Just to finish their game of poker, of course.]]

** In "The Last Ride of Bonnie and Clyde", Lucy and Wyatt go undercover as a fellow bank-robbing couple, and even kiss to make it believable.
** In "The Salem Witch Hunt", Lucy and Flynn go undercover as a married couple who oppose the witch trials.
** In "The Day Reagan Was Shot", Lucy and ''Jiya'' pose as a lesbian couple in an effort to convince Agent Christopher to come out to her parents and back out of the arranged marriage she had agreed to as a result of Rittenhouse's assassination attempt on her.
* Cole and Mel in the ''Series/{{Tracker}}'' episode "Love Cirronian Style". They're trying to catch a pair of Orsians at a couples retreat. Causes a lot of UnresolvedSexualTension because Cole is falling for Mel but afraid of being distracted from his mission. Him getting captured by the fugitives and going through a rather unpleasant life force extraction so they can attempt a jailbreak on Cole’s fugitive storage device doesn’t help.

* ''Series/TheXFiles'', "Arcadia": Mulder and Scully pose as a married couple while investigating a [[TownWithADarkSecret Planned Community with a Dark Secret]]. Given their almost ChasteHero nature, it was more an opportunity for snarking at each other than UnresolvedSexualTension, such as Mulder claiming they [[MeetCute met at a UFO conference]] -- with Scully being the one more into it. "She's into all that New Age stuff. I don't know why she falls for it." Scully somehow manages to give a shamefaced smile through gritted teeth. Every fan knows Mulder was lucky to escape that assignment with his life. Or other important parts... The funny aspect about that episode is that it wasn't originally classified as an X-File. It was simply a missing persons case in a creepy town. Which means that whoever was running the case though that out of all the male/female partnerships in the FBI qualified for the case, ''Mulder and Scully'' would be most believable as a married couple.

* Referenced but averted in ''VideoGame/Persona4''. When the party is staking out Kanji, after Kanji catches Yosuke and Chie in the act, Yosuke tries to pretend that the two of them are on a date, but Chie is having none of it. It doesn't help that Kanji had already caught them eavesdropping on him the previous day, so he'd have seen right through their ruse anyway.
* ''VideoGame/Persona5'':
** During Makoto's confidant arc, the protagonist and Makoto are initially mistaken for a couple then use it as a cover for a double date investigation. Whether or not they become an actual couple depends on the player's choice.
** During Ohya's confidant arc, Joker pretends to be her underage boyfriend to her boss as an explanation for why she's been so tight-lipped about her recent activities. She was actually investigating something that he'd already ordered her not to. Like with Makoto, whether or not this leads to them becoming an actual couple depends on the player's choice.

** Happens briefly in the ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "The Headband" with Sokka and Katara, the latter even pretending to be pregnant. This being a Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} show, the {{Squick}}iness of their actually being brother and sister is not addressed.
** In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Korra and Mako go undercover in order to infiltrate an Equalist gathering. Considering they do become the OfficialCouple at the end of the season, this is almost certainly intended as ShipTease for them. [[spoiler:Nevermind that they decide to stay as JustFriends two seasons later.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' pulls an [[InvertedTrope inversion]] of this trope in "Tales from the Resistance" with the AlternateUniverse versions of [[spoiler:Doofenshmirtz]] and [[spoiler:Charlene]]. [[spoiler:They're HappilyMarried but pretending to be divorced.]]

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperforceGo'', Sparx and Nova have to pretend to be a married couple in order to trick the [[EvilElevator Elevator Monster]] into taking them to wherever it is taking people to. He seems quite happy about it, she doesn't.

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[[quoteright:300:[[Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/undercover_as_lovers_9.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:"Prepare for trouble, and make it a nuptial!"]]

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* In ''Film/Sunburn1979'', private detective Jake Dekker hires model Ellie Morgan to pose as his wife while he investigates insurance fraud. They rent a house and attend parties together. Before long they start to develop feelings for each other for real.
* In ''Film/Partners1982'', a straight cop and a gay cop go undercover as a couple in order to solve a series of murders of gay men.

* In the musical ''Baker Street'', Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler disguise themselves as a low Cockney couple, Mr. and Mrs. Brasser Bates of Bethnal Green.

* During the ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' story line, [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Sue and Johnny Storm]] had to pose as Lovers. Being siblings, this obviously was extremely [[{{Squick}} Squicky]] for them.

* ''Franchise/GhostInTheShell'' has a variation. A wealthy businessman being targeted by a thief [[spoiler:actually Section 9]] is hosting what amounts to a very high-class {{Robosexual}} party. In order to get inside without arousing alarm, [[DaChief Aramaki]] and the Major attend, with the Major posing as Aramaki's SexBot, since she has a full-body prosthetic, making her essentially indistinguishable from an android. Aramaki, being a high-level government official with numerous connections, is able to go as himself without arousing suspicion. It is quite clear that the Major does ''not'' like this plan.

* In ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'', [[spoiler:Wraith and Lemon]] do this while they gather information for Tessa in Russia. There were definitely deeper feelings on [[spoiler:Lemon]]'s part, though [[spoiler:Wraith]] is harder to read.

* Discussed in ''LightNovel/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'', when Kyousuke and the White Queen need to infiltrate a hotel. There's a musical in the local area that features them as the main characters, so Kyousuke pretends that the White Queen is actually the actress playing her, and that he's another staff member dressed as himself (to help the supposed actress rehearse her role). He then considers also pretending that they're secretly lovers, to justify them acting suspiciously.

* ''Series/{{Lucifer}}'': In "Til Death Do Us Part", Lucifer and Pierce have to pose as a gay married couple. Needless to say, HilarityEnsues.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperforceGo'', Sprx and Nova have to pretend to be a married couple in order to trick the [[EvilElevator Elevator Monster]] into taking them to wherever it is taking people to. He seems quite happy about it, she doesn't.

* ''LightNovel/SpiceAndWolf'' shows the two main characters Lawrence, who is a traveling merchant, and Holo, a female wolf spirit taking on the form of a teenaged girl, use this excuse. Lawrence when asked about who Holo is will typically respond with either "my lover", or "my wife", so he doesn't have to explain that she's actually a wolf spirit. This brings Holo no end of amusement as she likes to tease him. [[spoiler:By the end of the series this is no longer an excuse as they become HappilyMarried for real.]]

This may be a sign of UnresolvedSexualTension between them; alternately, it can be used to highlight the ''lack'' of tension, by showing just how unnatural it feels to have them play the role. Either way, expect a huge amount of bickering and an agreement not to use tongues.

* ''LightNovel/SpiceAndWolf'' shows the two main characters Lawrence, who is a traveling merchant, and Holo, a female wolf spirit taking on the form of a teenaged girl, use this excuse. Lawrence when asked about who Holo is will typically respond with either "my lover", or "my wife", so he doesn't have to explain that she's actually a wolf spirit. This brings Holo no end of amusement as she likes to tease him. [[spoiler: By the end of the series this is no longer an excuse as they become HappilyMarried for real.]]

[[folder:Light Novels]]
* Discussed in ''LightNovel/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'', when Kyousuke and the White Queen need to infiltrate a hotel. There's a musical in the local area that features them as the main characters, so Kyousuke pretends that the White Queen is actually the actress playing her, and that he's another staff member dressed as himself (to help the supposed actress rehearse her role). He then considers also pretending that they're secretly lovers, to justify them acting suspiciously.
[[/folder]]

* ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'' does it in "Death on the Rocks" where Steed and Cathy Gale must pretend to be husband and wife -- probably the UrExample since it was from 1962 and there just aren't many series prior to that where the woman had enough of an active role to get an undercover mission (and to have UST, since that implies that her main role in the series isn't already to be a love interest).

** In one episode Booth and Brennan go undercover as married circus performers.

** Season 9 has another awkward one with them going undercover at a couples retreat right after Booth was forced by a villain to reject Brennan’s marriage proposal and she was still devastated because he couldn't say why.

** [=McGee=] and Bishop pose as husband and wife to catch an actually married pair of killers. Rarely, this did not heighten already present UST or result in newfound UST between them. If anything, she ended up confiding in him about her troubled marriage.

* Cole and Mel in the ''{{Series/Tracker}}'' episode “Love Cirronian Style”. They’re trying to catch a pair of Orsians at a couples retreat. Causes a lot of UnresolvedSexualTension because Cole is falling for Mel but afraid of being distracted from his mission. Him getting captured by the fugitives and going through a rather unpleasant life force extraction so they can attempt a jailbreak on Cole’s fugitive storage device doesn’t help.

* ''Series/TheXFiles'', "Arcadia": Mulder and Scully pose as a married couple while investigating a [[TownWithADarkSecret Planned Community With A Dark Secret]]. Given their almost ChasteHero nature, it was more an opportunity for snarking at each other than UnresolvedSexualTension, such as Mulder claiming they [[MeetCute met at a UFO conference]] -- with Scully being the one more into it. "She's into all that New Age stuff. I don't know why she falls for it." Scully somehow manages to give a shamefaced smile through gritted teeth. Every fan knows Mulder was lucky to escape that assignment with his life. Or other important parts... The funny aspect about that episode is that it wasn't originally classified as an X-File. It was simply a missing persons case in a creepy town. Which means that whoever was running the case though that out of all the male/female partnerships in the FBI qualified for the case, ''Mulder and Scully'' would be most believable as a married couple.
* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' pairs Xena with Autolycus as [[XenaS01E17TheRoyalCoupleOfThieves The Royal Couple Of Thieves]], though couple may be overstating it as, to Xena’s annoyance, they pose as Lord and concubine. They attempt to recover a priceless chest while maintaining their cover, including a double subversion of NotWhatItLooksLike while caught attempting to hide the chest in [[ThereIsOnlyOneBed their bed]], but must play it off as ''what it looks like''.

[[folder:Theater]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

[[quoteright:300:[[Anime/{{Pokemon}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/undercover_as_lovers_9.png]]]]

* [[SubvertedTrope Subversion]] In ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'': Upon learning that James was an heir to a large fortune and could come upon that inheritance just by marrying, Jessie initially suggests that she and James falsify a wedding to each other in order to steal the inheritance. [[spoiler:But then they learn that James already had a betrothed and really, really did not want to cross paths with her... Ironically this would have made Jessie's plan even easier had they gone through with it, since [[IdenticalStranger she looks exactly like James' fiance]].]]

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': After Elliott "Grotto" Grote escapes the Punisher's massacre of the Kitchen Irish, he makes it to Josie's Bar, where he approaches Nelson & Murdock and asks them to help him get witness protection. He then collapses due to an unseen injury he obtained from shrapnel during the shooting. Karen takes him to the hospital, checking him in under an assumed name while claiming to be his wife and claiming to the nurse that he got injured in a bar fight defending her honor. Too bad they don't have much time to set the story up before Frank Castle manages to track them down.

* Played with on ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', when ComicBook/{{Superboy}} and [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Miss Martian]] go undercover as ''brother and sister'' despite all the UnresolvedSexualTension in their relationship since they're impersonating an actual brother-and-sister supervillain duo. [[AnIcePerson Icicle Jr.]] is naturally quite {{Squick}}ed when they start making out.

** PlayedWith in "Video Killed the Radio Star." Rollins offers to be the HoneyTrap to go over a radio personality who is a serial rapist. He prefers married women, so Benson suggests she wear a ring. Fin suggests someone pose as her husband. Benson agrees and immediately presses Carisi into service. It's subverted in that Carisi and Rollins are actually lovers, but the only person who knows that on the squad is Benson--meaning for everyone else, they ''are'' this trope and that Olivia just ''trolled'' her detective.

* The entire premise of ''Manga/SpyXFamily''. <Twilight> is a spy who needs to get himself a fake family to infiltrate his target's social circle. Yor Briar is an assassin who wants to keep a low profile under a government that views single women with suspicion. Naturally, they get married and adopt Anya, a young orphan who they don't realize is a telepath who knows both of their true identities. Interestingly, neither member of the couple is aware of the other's true identity but somehow everything has worked out well so far.

** In "[[Recap/FireflyE02TheTrainJob The Train Job]]", Captain Mal Reynolds and his second in command Zoe are on a shady job, stealing goods from The Alliance. They are questioned by a local sheriff, and Mal decides on the spot that a married couple looking for a job will be the best cover-up story.
** In "[[Recap/FireflyE06OurMrsReynolds Our Mrs. Reynolds]]", [[BoisterousBruiser Jayne]] and [[TheCaptain Mal]] pretend to be husband and wife, with Mal wearing a dress and bonnet. Hilarity ensues. Mal jokes that he likes the "air flow" of the dress.

* The entire premise of ''Manga/SpyXFamily''. <Twilight> is a spy who needs to get himself a fake family to infiltrate his target's social circle. Yor Briar is an assassin who wants to keep a low profile under a government that views single women with suspicion. Naturally, they get married. Interestingly, neither member of the couple is aware of the other's true identity but somehow everything has worked out well so far.