Jungkook focus

"I get it," Jungkook said and looked up from the finished print.

Yoongi's hoody-clad frame was sitting on the couch and scanning through the content of D.O.'s phone with earphones plugged in and a notepad at hand while Taehyung was working on the technique for printing the Japanese war bonds with him.

For their job, the artist taught him a technique called drypoint. It was comparably easy. With metal needles of different thickness, one scratched a picture onto acryl glass, then a creamy kind of ink is spread over it and the excess gets wiped off so that the color is only left in the scratches. And then the glass is pressed onto paper with a small drum so that the ink is pressed into the fiber and leaves the image on the paper.

In their case, Taehyung had made him trace a photograph of Jimin and a mirror-inverted "Cinderella" lettering underneath to present the basics of this technique to him. Later on, they would copy the original war bond which Jin had collected for them from their customer while they had been busy in a different way in Japan, but first Jungkook needed to learn how to do it.

The outcome of his Jimin drypoint was stunning. It was a little dirty with excess ink because he had been too impatient while wiping it clean, but it definitely resembled his boyfriend and was well crafted.

"I'm sure Jimin will treasure this if you gift it to him. Make it a Christmas present," Taehyung said with a smile while he got rid of the ink stained latex gloves to put on new ones for examining the bond that lied on the easel behind them.

That idea was not too bad. "Uhu," Jungkook hummed and nodded. It sure was something very personal and unique.

"Do some more prints and don't be so shallow with the wiping," Taehyung instructed, eyes already fixed on the war bond. "Good work needs patience. I'll work on the inks."

Jungkook nodded. The war bonds they were about to forge unfortunately were not printed with the simple soot ink he was using for his Jimin but with a red and yellow ink, which Taehyung tried to find the chemical origin of. The red, he had explained to him, was made with Eosin Y aka. Acid Red 87, but he was still trying to figure out which kind of yellow pigment had been used. Also, the stamps and the writing would need another method of printing, and Taehyung had not yet decided which he wanted to apply.

Jungkook was happy that his part was the easy one and did not produce that wrinkle on his forehead that Taehyung displayed right now. "Looks like chrome but chrome darkens to brown with time," the artist mumbled under his breath. "Could be cadmium yellow."

"Cadmium is toxic," Namjoon's voice suddenly boomed through the room and made everyone look up in shock. The agent had entered without prior notice and was now striding towards them.

Hastily, Taehyung hid the bond behind the sketch block on the easel.

"Yes," Yoongi intervened calmly, "but we're talking about cadmium sulfide."

"Whatever," Namjoon waved it all off. "I have what we need." And he placed a big beige envelope with the presidential seal on the table.

"Uhm," Taehyung mumbled. "We might have troubled you for nothing," the artist said and smiled apologetically.

Namjoon looked confused. "What changed your mind?" he asked cautiously and looked back at Yoongi when the hacker stood up to join them at the table.

"I met D.O. this morning," Yoongi said and sat down. "Tae and I discussed the probable course of events and realized that our old friend might have a valid code for the Waldis." Namjoon breathed in sharply. "He was very helpful," Yoongi added, "and gave us his phone with all the mission communication that occurred." The small man waved with the black device he had been studying so intently before.

"So, we simply might be able to walk into his apartment and open the safe to get the document?" Namjoon asked and Jungkook lost interest. He knew all that already and was more interested in continuing this art-related job than finishing one that was basically done with picking one lock.

When Jungkook's two teachers nodded, Namjoon grinned happily, his dimples oozing with relief. "Then what are we waiting for?" the agent wanted to know.

"I'm still scanning through the texts and listening to the calls to find the code," Yoongi explained and walked back to the couch, waving the phone through the air. "But this should not take me much longer."

"A poffee while you wait?" Taehyung, who had gotten rid of his gloves again, asked their guest and went over to the kitchenette without waiting for an answer.

Namjoon nodded gratefully and flopped into a chair, exhaustion showing on his gray face. "Sure. It's been a long time since my last."

Jungkook smiled knowingly and resumed with his work. He took the acryl plate, which he had dropped in shock, and began to apply the thick black color with a sponge.

"What're you doing?" Namjoon asked curious and looked at him.

"Drypoint," he answered clipped and tried to fend off the curious ex-cop with a dark stare.

"What's that?" the gray-haired wanted to know, apparently not impressed by a dirty look. Well, as the president's watchdog he was probably used to worse.

"Art," Jungkook answered mockingly and began to wipe off the excess paint.

Namjoon gave up with a sigh.

But to Jungkook's astonishment, Taehyung began to explain. "It's an intaglio technique what means that the image is created by filling the scratches on the screen-" He pointed at the plastic Jungkook was working on. "-with ink and then printing it onto paper with a press. Like this."

At an encouraging nod from his teacher Jungkook took a fresh piece of paper, placed the acryl glass on it withheld inked side down, and took the drum to roll over it and press it to the surface. When he lifted the plate, another Jimin appeared. Only, this one was lacking a nose.

Taehyung chuckled while Jungkook frowned. "Don't worry. Not all donuts come out with holes," the artist joked.

"Beautiful," Namjoon commented, unbothered by or unaware of the flaw, and took the paper to look at it more closely. "I suppose this can be used for more than printing nice portraits," the agent added with an amused look at Taehyung and Jungkook, and Jungkook felt slight panic burning through his veins. So, this was where the agent was coming from. But the ex-cop was merciful. "I won't ask further," he calmed them down and waved it off.

"Got it," Yoongi's voice came from the other side of the room, so Namjoon's head turned around. Yoongi had stood up and was stowing away the headphones. "Let's go," he said to Namjoon and gestured him to follow.

"Me?" the agent asked confused, and added with a gesture at Taehyung, "What about Tae?"

"Oh, don't bother," the artist said with a sweet smile and Jungkook had to suppress a snicker. "You won't need me, and I have other things to do," his teacher explained with a gesture at the table and Jungkook.

"Are you coming?" Yoongi asked impatiently.

Everyone was trying to get Namjoon out of this room and it was rather funny to watch how clueless the man was. Jungkook felt a little sorry, considering that their old friend looked truly exhausted and probably would be better off if he just stayed here and had a poffee. But there was a Japanese war bond hidden on the easel that needed attention, so they had to get Namjoon out. Jungkook made a promise to himself though, that he would invite Namjoon to some of Jimin's relaxing Yoga trainings once all this was over.

"Sure." The agent jumped up with more energy that Jungkook would have expected from him and followed the Yoongi out of the door, poffee all forgotten at the prospect of finally reaching his goal. Maybe Yoga was unnecessary. That man seemed to be powered by work desire.

"He looks sick," Taehyung stated when the door closed, smile all gone.

Jungkook nodded. "This job needed to end, or he would've fainted from exhaustion."

"Well, let's hope they're successful," the artist mumbled before he got back to the bond.

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After Taehyung had determined the pigments they would need and had written a note for Yoongi to get him those and gum for the ink-base, the artist had printed two mirror-inverted photocopies of the war bond, and now they both tried to do their first plate of acryl glass. It was much harder than Jungkook had expected. He had slipped up on several lines, but Taehyung had told him to continue so that he would get accustomed to the design.

And although it was frustrating to fight with the material, Jungkook went on with it, diving into this new task with the vigor of a diligent student. Because even though it was making his shoulders and neck hurt from the uncomfortable posture, it was relaxing. His thoughts could run freely while his hands were engaged. Art had always had that meditative effect on him, so when Taehyung's phone rang and the caller ID Minnie Mint appeared on the screen, Jungkook accepted the call in a trance, putting it on speaker without much thought.

"Yeah?" he asked absentmindedly.

"The safe is empty," he heard Suga, and in an instant he and Taehyung snapped up their heads and leaned closer to the device.

"Empty?" Taehyung asked a little too high-pitched and confused for Jungkook's taste. He was used to those two being prepared for everything.

"He must have gotten it already," Namjoon provided unhelpfully.

"Unlikely," Yoongi deflected the agent's opinion. "D.O. has been called from Japan that night, so it would have been impossible to fly here and back within the short time it took your team to connect the dots and search for Yamamoto in Japan."

"Okay, so?" Namjoon asked.

Taehyung answered. "Start plan B and see what he does." Right there still was the fake envelope lying on their table, forgotten in the extasy of possible success.

Namjoon was sceptic. "Will it work still?" the agent wanted to know, apparently stuck on the idea of Yamamoto already being in possession of the documents.

"We'll see," Taehyung said with a shrug. "That's all we can do for now."

"That's rather unsatisfying," the agent sighed.

"I know, but we can't do magic," Yoongi growled from the background. The hacker was probably waltzing through the room in deep thought. And after a second of silence, the raspy voice came through the line much clearer like he had decided to abandon his pacing. "What if it's not Yamamoto who's got the documents?" the hacker asked. "What if D.O. was not scared off by it but planned all this?"

Stealing the documents, getting caught to meet Yoongi who would give him a new identity, and vanishing like thin air with the goods. It sounded possible at first sight but even Jungkook could see the gap in the logic.

"We already talked about that. How would he have known that we would get involved?" Taehyung replied annoyed. "Just come back for now."

Sighs could be heard from the other end before Namjoon ended the call with, "Fine. Later."

Jungkook looked at Taehyung who stared at his acryl glass. Or rather through his acryl glass and through the table, eyes completely unfocussed.

"What are you thinking?" Jungkook asked cautiously.

"Either Yamamoto is really careless with where he puts those papers... or... or we have overlooked something," his teacher said, expression more serious than Jungkook had ever seen before.

This slowly developed into the most difficult job they had ever had.

>><<