Take Me to the Sky | BTS+

"Oh-Lah-Lah-Lollipop"

Shae noticed the stunned-beyond-belief look on Ava's face, as her friend stood on the other side of that flashy red car.

What, is there something on my face? Shae padded at her pale cheek with one hand. No.

Then Shae realized that her best friend was looking past her, not at her. She slowly turned around on the tips of her toes, her Converse shoes squeaking agains that asphalt.

"GHA...!"

So close. Strange male bodies, so close.

Shae took a quick step backwards, her butt knocking into the side of Ava's car.

The taller of the two young men swaggered forward towards Shae. She noticed that his side-swept white hair had a lightly buzzed undercut. His tan skin, softly chiseled features, and that sly single-dimpled grin were enough to make Shae forget what breathing was.

Shae thought that she was tall, but this guy was very tall.

"Looking for this?" He dangled a set of car keys near Shae's face like it was the worm and she was the fish. She swallowed.

The two breathtaking young men were dressed in all-black threads: skinny joggers, leather jackets, and T-shirts. They both had thin black bands on their left wrists that reminded Shae of a fitness tracker.

"You're sure about this, Joon?" the second of the two men asked. He was smaller in frame, but also tall. He puckered his lips again around his purple lollipop as he glanced uncertainly between Kim Namjoon, the car keys dangling in Joon's hand, and the two young ladies on both sides of the red car.

"Tae. Today's mission is not optional, and we're already running late." Joon looked over his shoulder and made commanding eye contact with Kim Taehyung. "Or are you questioning my authority right now?"

Taehyung shook his head, meek and silent.

"Good. Now move it."

Taehyung started walking around Ava's car, stepped up onto the sidewalk with the delicate finesse of a cat, and then he started straight for Ava herself. His shoulders were slumped in slightly.

Ava couldn't help but notice the closer he walked that this Tae fellow had a face that looked sculpted by Michelangelo and come to life, with a warm, boyish glint hiding in his slightly dejected eyes.

He spoke slowly to Ava as he approached her, as if she were a skiddish rabbit he didn't want to run away. "Okay. So, I'm gonna put my hand on your shoulder for a second. But like just a second. And then—"

He slowly reached out a hand towards Ava'a shoulder.

"The EFF! Boy, do you want to die?"

Tae's hand flinched away at her sharp voice and even sharper glare, and his elbows tightened into his sides. He made a scrutinizing face and kissed his purple sucker as he plucked it from his mouth. "It won't hurt. If you could just relax for a second, girl...."

"GIRL?!"

Now he's done it, Shae thought to herself.

Shae's chest felt like it was coiled into a tense bundle of tripwire as she looked up at the dark, calculating eyes of the holder of Ava's keys.  While this Tae fellow was jumpy as a marsh hair, Shae noticed that Joon was unmoving like a tree. He was still standing too close. Shae could smell something savory on him, like grilled meat.

The uncertain Shae put on her best mean girl voice: "June, was it? What are you, a 90 year old woman?"

Joon's smile twitched dangerously.

Oh dear. With a nervous edge, Shae went on, "What the heck do you guys even want?"

Joon spun the keys into his palm with a CLINK, looking pleased to feel in control of the situation. Then he pulled one of Shae's hands towards him and placed the keys in her palm, closing her fingers around the lumpy metal. His hands went up in surrender.

"Your help. That's all." Joon's voice was sharp with authority, and yet smooth like an invitation.

"Help? Help with what?"

"You'll see."

As he said this, that single-dimpled smile returned to his tanned cheeks, and both of his hands reached out and grabbed Shae firmly by the shoulders.

Shae immediately tried to twist herself from his grasp. Joon stepped forward and pulled her into him from behind. His strong arm's braced against her collarbone and stomach, locking her into his chest. Shae squirmed, her cheeks flushed, and she couldn't escape.

He spoke in her ear in a low voice, "You might want to close your eyes."

Shae's heartbeat was pounding. She couldn't seem to wrestle free, no matter how much she wriggled and squirmed.

"Ready, Tae?"

The slender Adonis, Tae, was now crouched low and holding his arms over his face as Ava swung her heavy designer purse over and over again down at his face. His expression was pained terror at each fresh blow, eyes squinting through his arms in faint hope that she might stop trying to pummel him any second.

Shae could feel the breath of Joon's sigh against her neck and the heave of his lungs against her back. He barked, "Tae, hurry up! We're running out of time!"

The thin young man stopped, dropped, and rolled right out of Ava's line of fire. Then he leapt behind her, put a hand on both of Ava's shoulders and shouted through a candy coated grin, "Ready, Joon!"

Ava stood stiff and unmoving, and spoke in a deadly voice, "You'd better back the eff off son before...."

Joon nodded. Tae nodded back, and then the two young men... began to glow.

The magic had arrived.

Light grew from each of their thin black wristbands. Tae's arm was consumed in a rich purple blaze, while Joon's was overcome by a vibrant white light. Then the colors exploded around all four of them like supernovas of mystery.

Just as suddenly as it came, the flash of light and magic popped and vanished—and left no humans behind.

"Yeah, man, I just can't get into it."

"You don't know what you're missing."

Ava's ex and his pal began walking in ignorant bliss across that very street, oblivious to the magical explosion that had just transpired.

"Dude, isn't that Ava's car?"

"Dude. It is."

"Dude, aren't those Ava's keys?"

"...Dude."