Lady Gaga stepped out onstage at the MTV Video Music Awards to pay tribute to Britney Spears with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.

Everybody anticipated a kiss.

“Every year … just to come here is such an honor, you never get used to it,” she smiled. “But tonight means so much to me.” In a night full of high-water moments, it was her tribute smooch from Gaga — er, Calderone — that she gushed about backstage. Especially because she said the kiss was totally unplanned.

“She was in full character!” Spears said. “We just got onstage and we just kind of felt it out; we didn’t know what was going on, so it was interesting!”

Spears seemed thankful for the prize but used her time to shine the spotlight on another artist: Beyoncé.

Spears introduced Beyonce’s unstoppable performance of the amazing 4 track “Love on Top” — at the end of which Beyoncé revealed her pregnant belly.