Author's Note: I wrote this before the change in band members, so Jaeseop/AJ and Hoonmin/Hoon aren't in the story.

Disclaimer: None of these boys are mine. Sigh.

With his skinny legs crossed and his bangs up on his head in a miniature blonde bun (apparently, some of Xander had rubbed off on him), Kevin leans forward, absentmindedly reaching for the last chocolate-chip cookie on the plate.

He snaps to attention when what feels like smooth, warm skin meets his fingertips, and not the rough yet soft surface he'd expected to feel. He smiles when he sees Eli retreat slightly, looking at him expectantly from the other side of the coffee table.

"You can have it," they both say at the same time, causing Kevin to blush a little. (He hopes Eli doesn't notice...)

He turns away to hide the red heat on his cheeks, grabbing a nearby pillow and pressing it against his face so that most of it was covered by fluffy green material.

Kevin's eyes move around the room consciously before he fixates them on the black-haired rapper. It was like this lately...

Well, no, Kevin thinks to himself, sighing inwardly. This... This didn't just start happening recently. He knows—as well as Xander, Kibum, and Kiseop—that his...crush...on Eli (my fellow U-Kiss member, Kevin told himself silently, cringing at the reminder) could be traced for years back.

Back when Kevin had first moved to Korea from San Fransisco, when the six of them, brand-new band mates in an idol-group-to-be, had introduced themselves to each other. Back when Eli still had the sides of his hair shaved and knew about as much Korean as Kevin had during that time.

He still remembers.

—

Eli walked over to him first, steps slow and unsure. He stopped and stood about three feet away from Kevin, staring down at his navy blue Nikes as if Kevin had a contagious flu.

For a while, it was silent between them. The whole atmosphere in the room was generally quiet and awkward, but the air where they stood near each other seemed to feel so much thicker.

Then Eli, just a stranger to Kevin then, tilted his head back up. Kevin didn't realize that he'd been holding his breath all along.

"You're... You're Sunghyun, right?" His first words were awkward and barely audible, but nevertheless, Eli had succesfully broken the ice.

But just before Kevin could even begin to rack his brain for a reply, the two corners of the older boy's lips turned up into a smile. Small, shy, and...

And suddenly, Kevin didn't know what to say. The sensation that washed over him then was strange and alien—he was sure he'd never experienced it before. The younger boy felt relieved, assured, and secure. But at the same time, his senses were going out of control. His arms and legs were tingling, his cheeks were practically flaming, and countless, random thoughts jumbled together.

Luckily, he broke through the abrupt block in his head just before Eli could get suspicious. "N-no," he stammered. "A-actually, I... Well... I prefer being called K-Kevin?" He bit down on his tongue whilst mentally slapping himself for sounding so flustered.

"Oh, I see." Eli said, much more at ease compared to a few minutes ago (how does he do it?). He let out a sigh of relief, and Kevin flashed him a tiny, bewildered smile. "That's good. I mean, I wasn't exactly sure if I was saying your name right. Your Korean name."

Stalling with a wordless nod, Kevin searched his cluttered mind for a reply to keep the conversation going. "Yeah, so... Y-you're Kyoungjae, right?" He needed to be faster and smoother with this, really...

Eli laughed, and Kevin chuckled softly along with him. He didn't get what was funny, but there was something about the way Eli laughed that made him want to laugh along with him. Kevin shook his head and chased away the silly thought, focusing (or trying to, anyway) instead on the person in front of him.

"Actually, I... Well... I prefer being called Eli?" He managed to say in between rounds of cute guffaws. Why was he still la—

Fresh embarrassent hit Kevin just as the realization did—Eli had just imitated him now, which means he must've noticed how gawky and graceless Kevin had been.

"H-hey!" It didn't help how Eli was starting to laugh again. Kevin put on the best glare he could manage in that situation.

It worked. Eli was silenced, mouth still left half-open. He took a step toward Kevin, dark brown eyes roaming over Kevin's face, as if he was studying it.

"What?" Kevin asked, immediately running a hand across both of his cheeks. "Do... Do I have something on my face?"

Eli shook his head, the last traces of amusement fading away, being replaced with an expression Kevin couldn't interpret. "No, it's not that." The tone of his voice was, all of a sudden, lower; Kevin's eyebrows raised in interest. "Just now, you looked really..."

Ugly? Weird? Stupid?He was holding his breath again, his chest tightening a little. (Just a little!)

He broke out into a grin again. "Nevermind, it's nothing."

Kevin released the breath he'd been keeping in out in a huff, his heart sinking down to his stomach. (He knew why, of course, but he refused to acknowledge that certain reason at the moment.)

"Not going to tell me?" He mumbled, getting ready to summon his "scary Kevin" side once more.

"I don't think I should." Eli's voice got quiet again. Kevin paused, an all-too-familiar hammering rhythm speeding up against his ribs.

Kevin decided to drop the subject there. Besides, another new groupmate was approaching them—a guy who emanated a very cheerful vibe, with large, smiling eyes and a head of brown curls to match.

He gave Eli a side-glance. Eli was looking away from him now, but Kevin could see that shy smile from earlier slowly returning.

All right. He would just ask him about it some other time.

—

One studio album, three EPs, and six singles later, Kevin still hasn't forgotten.

"What were you thinking about?" Eli asks in the present, and Kevin vaguely wonders when Eli had gotten next to him. (Not that he minded.)

"Oh, nothing." Eli's aware that it's a lie, but he knows better than to ask. (Even though he really wants to know...)

"So, this is the last cookie, huh?" Eli changes the subject, holding the mentioned object up in the air between them as if it was a valuable gold coin.

"Yup," Kevin replies, obviously distracted. His mind is on something else... no, someone else right now. He notes Eli's hair—still black, but it'd gone through other colors since U-Kiss's predebut days—and how more mature he looked, and how more built he'd gotten...

"Just now, you looked really..."Blank. Kevin doesn't know why it matters to him so much, but it does. He should've asked later that day years ago, but then, it didn't seem like the right time.

"...you can have it."

He blinks, jerked back to reality.

Eli chuckles quietly. "Do I always have to work for your attention?" He murmurs something incoherent about Kibum that Kevin doesn't catch.

"You know that's not true," Kevin whispers before he can stop himself. (Maybe he wasn't even going to try...)

Eli just smiles at him, and Kevin's heart skips a beat. It's the same exact smile from that day...

"Say ahhh." Eli says, the cookie in his fingers approaching Kevin's lips.

"Ahh," He obeys, and cherishes the sweet chocolately treat as he chews.

It still wasn't the right time to ask Eli about it, Kevin decides.

Or maybe he was just making excuses, afraid of what Eli might answer. Because anything and everything Eli does leaves this silly effect (or mixture of effects, rather) on him...

Tingling arms and legs, madly-blushing face, and all these out-of-the-blue thoughts clogging his mind. In control, yet out of control. Calm and wild at the same time.

(Not that Kevin didn't like it.)