Niall's parents seemed just as stunned at Niall did, unsure of what to say. What little was left on his head stuck up in random directions and didn't look good at all. "Uh, is your mother home?" Niall's father asked, stepping forward. As if on cue, Tricia Malik came out of the kitchen, her purple apron tied around her neck and waist. She, too, noticed Zayn's hair.
"Zayn!" She cried, a hand flying to her mouth. "What on earth did you do to your hair?" Zayn just shrugged sheepishly, clutching the shirt tighter in his hand. "We will be having a talk later, mister. Now take Niall and go play in your room." Zayn grinned and reached out for Niall's hand. Excitedly, the blue eyed boy grasped Zayn's bigger hand, allowing Zayn to lead him to the bedroom. Zayn closed the door behind him and turned back to his best friend, the smile never leaving his face.
"Oh, Zayn," Niall frowned, "you cut your beautiful hair." Zayn's smile only grew wider as he nodded his head.
"I cut it for you," Zayn exclaimed in a half whisper, so the adults downstairs wouldn't hear. Zayn opened up his shirt and grabbed a fistful of his hair, his eyes meeting Niall's. He took Niall's pale hand in his and opened it up so that he could see the palm. Zayn set the hair into Niall's hand and closed his fingers around it. Niall's eyes lit up in joy as he clutched the beautiful hair to his chest.
Their eyes met again, a smile on both of their faces. "F-For me?" Niall asked, showing his teeth as he smiled. Zayn nodded again, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Thank you so much. You're the best friend in the world! Here, have my hat." Niall removed the hat from his head, revealing the forever bald surface. Niall had been devastated when the doctors had told him that his hair would never grow back, that the sickness was keeping it from growing.
Happily, Niall placed the baseball cap on Zayn's head, covering the unevenly cut hair. Blue met brown briefly before both boys laughed, throwing their arms around each other and hugging tightly, never wanting this moment to end.
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(I do not own the story of "If You Give a Moose a Muffin". All credit goes to the author)
"It's up the stairs and down the hall, you shouldn't miss it," the receptionist told Zayn as she handed him a visitor pass. He smiled at her and thanked her before jogging up the steps off to the side. The room was clearly labeled with curly letters "Playroom". The glass door provided Zayn with the sight of the kids inside, playing with blocks and legos and reading books. His palms began to sweat at he reached the door, suddenly having second thoughts about this. Before he could back out, the head of the volunteer team caught sight of him, waving him in.
Zayn yanked open the door, attracting the attention of most of the kids. He smiled at them as he made his way over to Louis, the leader. The blue eyed boy grinned at Zayn as he shook his hand. "It's so great that you could come! The children love when volunteers come to visit them. It'll be so wonderful to have two people here at the same time since, sadly, there are so many children here," Louis spoke quickly, his eyes glancing throughout the room.
"Wait, there's another volunteer?" Zayn asked as he, too, looked around. And suddenly, he felt stupid. It was obvious to see who the other volunteer was in the small room. While all the little kids with cancer were bald, the other volunteer had hair, the blonde locks being played with by some of the kids.
"Yeah, that's Niall," Louis smile, "he comes here all the time. He loves playing with the kids, and the kids love him, too. Why don't you go talk to him?" Zayn only nodded his head and made his way over to the blonde, plopping down in front of him. He came face-to-face with the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen, a blue so gorgeous, Zayn envied them.
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