Not so Incognito

Nestled nearly between two buildings, a small grocery store waited beneath with its small door hanging open.

Michel wasn’t usually the type to go to grocery stores himself, preferring to pay another bun to do his grocery shopping for him, but sometimes he liked to shake things up and by that he meant his publicist was forcing him to. Unfortunately that meant his best friend had to shake things up with him and just like him, Cero didn’t like doing to places like this either.

“Michel.” Cero whined, pouting as tried to make sure nothing touched his fur while they walked inside, “You know I hate places like this and no one can even see my outfit when I’m in bun form!”

Michel groaned, “I already told you of my agency said I needed to go to more simple places. I promise I’ll take you somewhere much better after this.” Granted they slipped into their doll forms and fixed their outfits.

He adjusted his purse with a little huff as it was a bit heavier in this form and the reason was quick to try to lick at his fur.

Diamond was staring up from where he was cuddled in Michel’s purse, the purple impup seemed a bit squished but still very happy. “Oh my poor baby! Ugh why can’t they make better animals purse for when I’m in bun form? What if Diamond has to touch these dirty floors because he’s uncomfortable?”

Cero adjusted his purse in the same breath as Michel, even petting at his own cyan impup. “I know! Do they expect Bijou to walk just anywhere?”

Michel suddenly clapped his hooves together. “You know what we should do? We should get some of those expensive little boots we saw the other day!”

“You mean the cute imp ones my new fling said he would buy us?” Cero looked perfectly smug as he laughed, “I already had him order us three pairs each, we have to have them in every color.”

“You perfect-” Michel paused suddenly, his little arm slipping around Cero’s in a panicked rush. He started to whisper yell, “Cero, Cero look!”

Cero frowned, turned his head to the side and back. “What am I looking at?”

Michel shook his head, “Not there, the bun in front of us. Look at the pattern on their ears! I think that’s Velveteen.”

Cero gasped, moving to hold onto Michel, “The supermodel? But no one’s ever seen their bun form?”

As if noticing the pair’s commotion behind them, Velveteen glanced over their shoulder. They looked icily at the two and Michel was quick to break the tension.

“Hmm? Were we talking too loud? We just saw one of our favorite magazines.” He was quick to pluck a magazine that had Velveteen’s face plastered on the cover. “This version is so hard to find, it really shows off the pattern of our favorite supermodel’s ears. Don’t you think?”

Velveteen frowned beneath their mask, “I-”

Cero suddenly seemed to realize what Michel was doing, leaning against his best friend as he agreed. “We were also talking about how you have like never seen their bun form? We just were wondering what they looked like.”

As if on cue both Bijou and Diamond barked, leaving Velveteen a bit mystified by the little impups who seemed to agree with their masters. They squinted their eyes, suspicious but not foolish enough to blow their cover, “Right, you were talking about the magazine.”

Michel raised an eyebrow, unable to help his sassy personality, “What else could we have been talking about?”

For a moment, there was amused widening of Velveteen’s eyes and it seemed they seemed to understand what the other two were doing. They were deeply upset that they were recognized in this form, but it did help that those two weren’t trying to expose them. And if they were right, the one with the purple impup, what was his name Michel, was a rising star in the model world.

They nodded slowly, “Nothing, nothing at all.” They adjusted their grocery bags, confident that their mark was still on straight. “I just thought I recognized you.”

Michel’s eyes widened, before he put on a self assured smile, “Well I do model here and there, you might have seen me in a few magazines.”

Velveteen hummed, “Yes, that’s it. You’re Michel, you’ve been making waves lately.”

Michel looked delighted, smug even as Cero pulled on his arm and commented, “Of course you recognize him, look at how beautiful he is.”

Velveteen nodded, their amused look staying. “I’ll have to remember that.” They turned back around, “I have to go, but… hmm Michel? I won’t forget that name.”

As quickly as they appeared. Velveteen was gone.

Michel and Cero exploded with excited whispers, grabbing onto each other’s furs.

“Did you hear that?”

“I can’t believe-”

The bun couldn’t hide their delight, one for being recognized and the other for getting to see his bestie recognized by another popular model. Maybe that was the reason they would keep this to themselves once they got back home, too thrilled to worry about telling other people what they saw.

And just maybe, Michel understood in that moment that Velveteen didn’t want them to know who they were. That just maybe there really was a reason they didn’t show off their bun form. Of course this kind of realization would only last for Velveteen and not any other famous buns Michel saw.

He loved to gossip.