Vanilla Kiss

Say Cheese! (Band AU)

"Midorima-kuuuuun! Aomine-kun is being a shit biscuit again!"

"Aomine, stop being a shit biscuit to Kuroko." Midorima turned to look at the two boys in frustration.

"Can you blame me? I'm starving. We all get annoyed when we're hungry so can we go eat or something?"

"Mine-chin's right. I want food."

It was true, they were all hungry. And bored. Akashi had told them it was best to stay in the hotel when there wasn't business to attend to, otherwise they would be dealing with fans all day.

"Please Shintaro, I really want a milkshake. Can't we go, just this once?"

"Well," Midorima looked at Kuroko's sad expression and considered the options he had. Either be swarmed by fangirls all day or starve to death and be stuck with his friends for eternity. "I guess it couldn't hurt. Go get dressed, we'll go to Maji Burger."

Aomine and kise, who were already dressed, raced outside with the others soon following suit.

Down town

"So Akashi Seijuro, what's it like being a member of kiseki no sedai?"

"It's quite fun, I must say. I get to do the stuff I love with my friends and I'm pretty good at it as well. We're more than a band, we're like of family and no matter how hard times get, I would have it no other way."

The girl practically swooned at his response. "That's so sweet. You and you're friends must be very close. Its unfortunate that they couldn't join us today."

"Yes, sadly Tetsuya has seperation anxiety and can't stand being alone for too long. We decided only one of us should go today and the rest should go another."

"Tetsuya?" She swore she had heard that name before. Perhaps in another interview? Or was it in a rumor she had heard?

"Yes, he is very dear to me."

"Well, Akashi, before you go we have one last question for you. Is- is that the kiseki no sedai?"

Akashi turned around and saw his friends in the window of the Maji Burger across the street. They had seemed to have gathered a crowd.

Filled with fury that his orders were defied, he marched to the restaurant with the interviewer at his heels.

At the restaurant, Murasakibara and Aomine were having a milkshake chugging competition while Kuroko and Kise watched. Midorima had left to replace the milkshake they accidentally stole from kuroko.

"Wow Aominecchi! I didn't know you were that fast!"

"Its called talent, dumbass!"

The restaurant got quiet and the crowd moved aside as an angry Akashi walked towards the group.

"A-Akashi-cchi?"

"Ryouta. Where's Shintaro?"

Kise pointed towards the counter where Midorima, with milkshake in hand, had stopped in his tracks.

"Shintaro, I thought I had told you to stay at the hotel."

"We were hungry, and Kuroko wanted-"

This only seemed to aggravate Akashi more as he sighed in exasperation.

"We both know, Shintaro, that giving in to all of Tetsuya's wishes will only lead to trouble."

Akashi then looked at the rest of them, "get your things, we're leaving."

He heard a few aws but couldn't decipher whether they came from the crowd or his friends.

The disappointed celebrities packed up what food they had and followed Akashi out of Maji Burger.

Mean while, the interviewer stood and watched them leave as she thought to herself. Then, she realized something.

"Hey! I know that kid!"

Once back to their hotel room, Akashi gave them another lecture about why they shouldn't leave without informing him and that the point of them staying was to ensure that Kuroko would be at home and not alone.

They all promised not to do it again, although they would and Akashi knew this. He let them go with a warning as he also knew that his friends like to do normal things from time to time, like go out to eat, and he didn't want to take that away from them.

"Just make sure next time to be inconspicuous when you go out." Akashi then let out a huff and let them go back to whatever they were doing earlier. Surely, a day out couldn't have made that much of an impact, right?

The next morning, the boys woke up to a call from their manager telling them to check TMZ.

Midorima opened the page and began to read. "Member or Fling? The young stars of Kiseki no Sedai were found with another boy known as Kuroko by fans. It had started as a rumor that the band had a secret member when they had confronted him during a meet and greet."

He began to mumble until Aomine hit his head and told him to keep on reading.

"During an interview yesterday with one of our reporters, Akashi Seijuro confirmed that the hoax was true, claiming the boy's name was Tetsuya and even explaining that he had separation anxiety. But, the question remains; is Tetsuya truly a member of the band or does his connection with them go further?"

Below the article was several pictures, some of which they didn't even know existed, of them hanging out with Kuroko.

Him sitting murasakibara's lap at his friend's basketball game, Kise petting his hair after a kid from class stuck gum in it, Aomine giving him a piggy back ride the time he broke his leg, Midorima carrying him the day after he ran the mile at school, even when Akashi held his hand as he crossed the street.

They were all stunned until Kise butted in. "How could they get that picture of me and Kurokocchi?!"

"And the picture of me and
Kuro-chin at that game last week?"

"Well," Akashi interrupted, "you seemed to have doubted how far our fans are willing to go."

"Well, Akashi, what do we do about Tetsu?"

He thought about for a few minutes, each plan he made failing in his head. "Nothing. Its not like we're committing treason. We have the right to our own personal lives."

The rest of them were conflicted. Knowing Kuroko existed wouldn't harm anything. Just meant more rumors going around which didn't bother them anyway.

They decided that they were satisfied as long as no one asked personal questions about Kuroko. Kuroko, however, was still upset that Akashi told them about his separation anxiety.

Hopefully, this would turn out well. After all, best case scenario is that no one cared. Worst case scenario was that a jealous fangirl killed Kuroko out of envy. They all hoped it was the former.