| Returning The Favour || Yoonmin |

Ch19 ~ Saccharine remedy...

Yoongi trudged out of Dr. Jung's office, feet even heavier than they were before he pulled himself off his computer chair that brightly lit afternoon. He staggered to the reception and made flirtatious stares at Hyerin before he made his way to the exit of the hospital. The nurse looked away bashfully, he imagined her heart was racing wild horses in the shattering bones of her ribcage. Yoongi wasn't surprised, he had that effect on people, it was quite a religious reaction after he had spent the night with one or two of them. He stuck his tongue out at her as she cursed herself for being so tempted and affected by a teenager's flirtatious antics.

As he approached the beautifully adorned hospital gardens, he noticed the garden had a new piece of flora bouncing from plant to plant with a watering can. The being was dressed in a shabby winter coat tied to his waist and black t-shirt that hugged the muscles of the supposed gardener's arms. He tilted his head at this, where was the old man who tended to the gardens? He looked around for the old timer, but saw nothing but this beautifully sculpted being with muscles for days. He was also wearing wellington boots and garden gloves that covered his hands oddly, the fingertips of the elusive fitting gloves giving the illusion of small hands underneath.

"Hello," Yoongi whispered to himself amorously, licking his lips in a way he knew he was probably going to get a good time tonight. "I sense a booty call waiting to happen." He bit his bottom lip, approaching the person with a spring in his step. As he approached, he noticed the man watering the plants was singing softly to himself, his honey sweet voice almost sending Yoongi to a slumber he desperately needed after so many sleepless nights, recurring nightmares and dissatisfying sex. The stranger's saccharine voice grew louder as he got closer, he debated on whether this person was really a girl, who'd transitioned into a guy and had not yet started taking his hormones. Still, a potential fuck was still hopping around the gardens of the hospital, he couldn't pass this up now he'd come this far. He took the final steps behind the stranger's back and patted his shoulder gently, "Excuse me, I couldn't help but notice a new flower had made its' way into the garden, I was wondering if I could put a name to such a beautiful flower."

The stranger watering plants and getting mud all over his wellington boots, curved around to face the silver headed play boy in what seemed like a slow motioned turn... and Yoongi could barely believe his eyes.

"Sorry sir, I don't know what all the names of the plants are, I'm just the- Oh my goodness!" the gardener gasped. "Yoongi hyung?!" standing before him, in all his heavenly splendour was an angel clothed in tattered attire, muddy skin kissed by the harsh rays of the summer sun, eyes smiling in uncontained joy as he set eyes on the familiar boy.

"Jimin?!" Yoongi almost yelped, all but shocked by the presence of the homeless teenager in front of the hospital of all places. "What are you doing here?!" he held back the urge to spare a glance at the exposed muscles on his arms. "Aren't you supposed to be at the homeless shelter?"

"Yeah, but there were loads of people there already." Jimin said with a timid smile, putting down his watering can. "The volunteers were having a hard time getting to everyone cuz there were so many people, so I just got out of there to make room for everyone else." He scratched the back of his head nervously, not knowing there was still mud on the glove. Yoongi felt his stone-cold heart crack at the reason he was all the way out here in the city again, surrounded by the elements and not in a shelter where he was moderately safe from harm.

"Why didn't you fight for your share?!" Yoongi almost screamed, but took care not to rattle the younger boy or start a scene in the hospital gardens. No one needed that so late into the afternoon. "Did they pick on you?! Did they not give you a fair amount of food?!"

"No, it's just-" but Yoongi was already pulling his phone out of his back pocket, dialling Jin's number and scowling sadly at the new-found gardener. "What are you doing?!"

"Hello Jin?" Yoongi planted a vexed hand on his hip, the other hand occupied by his mobile phone. "Yeah, Jimin's here and he got himself kicked out of the homeless shelter."

"DON'T TELL HIM THAT! THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED!" Jimin scurried around the older boy with great haste, attempting to get a hold of his mobile phone. But Yoongi wasn't putting up a lazy fight, round housing away from the gardener with just as much haste, face occupied with a deadpan expression.

"What's that? You're coming over to our house to cook? Great!" And he hung up the phone.

"HYUNG!" Jimin whined. "I don't get paid if I don't stay here until 8 in the evening and it's only 7:30!"

"What the fuck are they going to do with a gardener until 8pm?" Yoongi huffed, annoyed he was even having this conversation. Those hospital perverts, they probably want to harass him when he gets off work. "Fine, you didn't ask, but I'm staying with you until 8pm and I don't care what you say, I'm not budging from this spot." Yoongi stubbornly planted himself on the soft grass, crossing his arms and promising not to move until someone dismissed the homeless teenager.

"You really don't need to." Jimin waved his hands out nervously. "You don't even need to get Jin hyung in on this, I'll be fine!" the tanned adolescent insisted, but to no avail. The silver headed musician wasn't moving an inch before it was absolutely necessary. Jimin sighed, picking up his watering can and proceeding to water the flora in his midst. "Fine, but if I get in trouble, I'm blaming you."

"Fine by me." Yoongi chirped, the sweetness of his triumph a little too diabetic than he'd initially thought it might be. "So, how'd you even end up with this job anyway?" Yoongi asked out of the blue, taking his phone out to text both Jin and Jihoon that he might be late coming home that night, but he'd definitely have Jimin with him.

"Someone approached me earlier and told me I could get paid if I tended to the garden in front of the hospital for a while." Jimin ran over to the azaleas and showered them generously. "Apparently, their original gardener's gone into retirement, so they needed a replacement for the time being. And I'm always happy to help." Yoongi felt his heart ache again, the ringing noise inside his head had all but ceased to exist, the sound of the young boy's voice serving as a medicine to the incessant cacophony of deafening racket inside his head. Yoongi wondered if it was a coincidence... wondered if Jimin had some sort of special power that chased away all his troubles with but a single word. Sometimes not even that.

"How about you?"

"Hmm?"

"What are you doing here?" Jimin asked. "It's not everyday someone has to go to a hospital, did you come to see someone?" he asked again, eyes not leaving the marigolds in front of the sapling apple tree in the middle of the garden. Yoongi froze, his mind attempting to conjure up an excuse as to why he was in the hospital on this random Sunday night.

"Uhm..." Yoongi stalled. Quick genius, tell him why you're here! "...you see..." Yoongi hesitated again, did he really want to tell him? Someone he didn't know too well? He didn't tell many people about his condition, not by choice anyway. His mother had found out shortly after he was born that he would need help in his teenage years. His brother knew about it since his mother had educated them about it when they were old enough to understand. Jin was the only person he'd told by choice... since Jin was the only person he trusted enough to keep it.

Jimin wasn't a bad person. He'd proved that to him over and over since Yoongi had first seen him near the riverbank. He'd sacrificed his umbrella for a child who he believed needed it more than he did, he'd probably given what little scraps he'd come across on the street to someone in a similar situation to his own, leaving none for himself. Yoongi had never met anyone more pure of heart than this homeless person, he'd probably seen all the horrors of the street but still maintained some sort of kindness and innocence within his tanning physique. He must have tasted every flavour of pain imaginable... but still maintained a smile on that flawless face.

Fuck it.

"I came for a check-up." Yoongi answered, nearly 5 minutes after Jimin had asked. "Type 1 neurofibromatosis."

"What's that?"

"It's a tumour that will eventually make me deaf." Jimin halted his movements and shifted his gaze so that he was facing the older boy, observing his now downcast stare as he used his hands for support behind him.

"H-hyung..." He gulped, regretting he ever asked the question in the first place. "I'm sorry I asked, that's a really private subject..."

"It's ok..." Yoongi smiled up at him, his eyes coming out from under his silver fringe. "I trust you..."