Bromance One-Shots [Closed]

25. Ziall: When The Last Leaf Dies

Prompt: Niall’s lost all will to live and Zayn just wants to give him a little hope.

Short fluffy drabble!! It’s based on a story my Nana’s friend told me today, I’m not sure if it’s true or not but it was cute and inspired me to write this, I hope you like it as much as I do. (:

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Four months. It had been four months today that Niall had been admitted to hospital and two days from tomorrow that Niall had given up caring about what happened to him.

Ever since Niall was little he had been a severe epileptic. He would have a seizure at least once a day if he’d forgotten to take his medication and even that sometimes didn’t help all that much.

Niall’s parents first discovered their son’s condition when he had come down the slide at the local park too fast and hit his head at the age of three and from then on he had to be watched and monitored all the time.

Niall had been so bad he couldn’t attend regular school like his brother and all of the other young children on his street. No. He had to go to a correspondent school for people with disabilities so he could have a personal aid to help him out and make sure he wouldn’t fall and have a fit. Niall didn’t mind though, he was allowed to leave school whenever his mother who didn’t work was ready to pick him up and the kids on his street thought that was cool.

They played with him, the neighbourhood kids. They liked Niall because despite his condition and how it prevented him from doing a lot of things he was always happy and eager to take on new challenges. All the parents had spoken with their kids about how Niall was different and they had to be especially mindful of his head no matter what they were doing; from playing soccer to just sitting on the grass on someone’s front lawn, they had to be careful. They were instructed that if Niall was to fall, or even start seizing with no provocation to get an adult, roll him on his side and not put anything in his mouth because it could break his teeth.

Niall liked that the kids didn’t treat him much different. He liked that they included him in their fun and even though he noticed that when they played tag they wouldn’t run as fast as they would with the others, and when they played soccer they wouldn’t kick the ball as hard and as high if he was too close, and even when they played hide and seek someone had to hide with him, he knew they were trying to keep him safe.

When Niall was eight he’d arrived at school a little late on Tuesday morning due to a hospital check up, he found there was a new little boy there. His name was Zayn.

Zayn was a diabetic. He had to have an insulin pen carried with him at all times so that he could be injected once every three hours.

Zayn was born with a pancreas that just didn’t function properly, it couldn’t produce insulin by it’s self. In his lunchbox, along with his lunch, Zayn had to have a little packed of Jelly Beans because sometimes his blood sugar would drop rapidly and without warning.

Zayn’s family had moved from Bradford to Ireland because the hospital was unable to provide the treatment Zayn needed to try and get even a little bit of his pancreas working again, and instead of moving towns, they moved countries for a new start.

Niall and Zayn became friends very quickly. Niall was chatty and Zayn was quiet. Niall liked to run around and play whereas Zayn liked to sit and draw. Their friendship should have run so smoothly, but it did.

Ten years later, Niall and Zayn were set to finish high school when Niall’s medication stopped working, causing the teen to seize at the most inconvenient moments, the only warning was the metallic taste of blood in his mouth, barely giving him enough time to tell Zayn or his aid so they could have him lay down on the mattress in the back room the was treated like the nurses office at a regular school.

Niall was admitted to hospital, and just seemed to be getting weaker and weaker as the days went on; and to make it worse, the doctors couldn’t find a single reason as to why the medication stopped working.

“Hey buddy, how’re you feeling.” Zayn asked softly as he came to sit next his best friend’s hospital bed.

“Same as always.” Niall replied quietly.

This always broke Zayn’s heart because even into his teen years Niall was still the loud, bubbly, laughing at nothing in particular type of person, and being confined to a hospital bed with currently no definite promise of him ever getting better had put Niall into a state of depression.

The two sat silently for a few minutes, it wasn’t awkward just peaceful as they both stared out of the second story window. On the outside ledge of the window in a tan pot was a baby lemon tree, only forty-five centimetres in height with only one remaining leaf as it was now coming into winter.

“Hey Zayn,”

Zayn hummed in response, turning his attention to Niall who was now blonde because a few days earlier Niall asked Zayn to bring him something, anything because he wanted to do something spontaneous. So Zayn brought hair dye, and with his parents permission he dyed Niall’s hair.

Niall turned so he was looking Zayn in the eyes, his deep blue ones burning into Zayn’s brown. “When that last leaf dies, so will I.” He whispered seriously with tears in his eyes.

This caused an argument as Zayn told Niall that he wasn’t dying, only sick but Niall insisted that he didn’t want to be alive and when the leaf was gone, he’d kill himself because he’s rather be dead that stuck in the hospital. Zayn had told him that this only temporary, that the doctors would find him a new medication and he’d be back on his feet in no time. But Niall didn’t want to hear it and the more they argued the higher Niall’s heart rate got which led to a seizer and Zayn left, tears rolling down his cheeks because Niall was his best friend and he didn’t want to loose him.

Zayn didn’t come to visit Niall the next day or the day after that and Niall was beginning to think telling Zayn of his plans was a mistake. But no, Zayn had a right to know how Niall felt and Niall never thought Zayn would leave him over something so small. Hell Niall thought Zayn would want to spend more time with him so he could be with Niall as much as he could before he died.

But Niall was serious and weather Zayn liked it or not, he wasn’t going to live a day longer than the last remaining leaf on that tree. He didn’t care that the doctors were trying to help him, he didn’t want this life.

The next morning Niall awoke and turned his gaze immediately to the tree on the windowsill like every other morning, except this time it was different.

Yes the leaf was still there barely hanging on, but it wasn’t blowing in the soft breeze like the other trees in the distance. It was still.

It wasn’t until he’d woken up a little more and the grogginess had faded that he realized that it wasn’t his tree at all. No. Instead that part of the window had been covered with a very lifelike painting of the small tree, every detail was perfect and Niall knew only one person in whole world that could paint like that.

“Now the leaf will never die.”

Niall turned with big teary eyes toward the door where Zayn was stood, a cup of coffee in one hand as he admired his work.

Niall knew Zayn cared about him, even when he didn’t visit. But he never knew Zayn cared about him enough to spend two days painting a still life of a frail baby lemon tree.

“Zayn...” Niall extended his arms much like a needy child towards his best friend and Zayn smiled softly and placed his coffee on the table by Niall’s bed as he was pulled into the tightest hug he’d ever experienced.

“You’re the best friend in the whole world Zayn I love you.” Niall whispered into his neck.

“I love you too.” Zayn breathed, not holding back his tears because he’d done it, he’d saved Niall.

And slowly Niall came alive again, that painting taped to his window his will to live because Zayn wanted him to live and his parents wanted him to live, everyone wanted him to live and so Niall wanted to live, and when he was better, he was going to take that painting and hang it on his window in his bedroom the those days where he felt down.

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