Some Things Never Do.

A Zack & Cody One-Shot, by ReneyyySprouse~~

"Do you wanna' explain to me why the money you owe me is still yet to appear in my bank account? For the third time this month?"

Cody was seething. His teeth were gritting together harshly against his lips as he tried to keep as cool as possible and refrain from exploding in a series of swears and shouts.

Rolling his eyes at the response he heard reverberate from his mobile phone, Cody screwed his hand up into a fist, "Well, thanks. Thanks a lot. I've just come down to the lab to rent out some equipment to use over the weekend to complete my major assessment but I can't because – here's a shock – I'm broke!"

It was almost as if the younger Martin's hazel eyes were turning to an unusual shade of fiery red as he grew more and more angry with each word he spoke. He scraped his fingers back between his long, blonde hair – long enough that it could now be comfortably tied back into a ponytail. His lengthy legs continued to pace back and forth across the floor of his university's science lab as he shook his head at the words echoing from the receiver of his phone.

"If only you could get all of your priorities adjusted in the correct way," he sniped with sarcastic venom. Flinching from the loud tone that yelled back at him, Cody huffed out a heaving sigh, "Okay well maybe I will! And maybe that'll persuade you to try and start looking out for yourself and little bit more and stop being such a burden on me!"

He was almost, almost surprised at the fact that he could say something so harsh, but even so, Cody remained firm, he upper lip stiffened as he waited for a reply. Again, he sighed, "Well lucky for you, I'm done talking now. And I won't be talking to you again until you give me back my money. This is really starting to get ridiculous, Zack."

And then with that, Cody snapped his phone shut, slamming it down on the table beside him in the upmost frustration. He let out an agitated breath, blowing his long strands of hair that hung down out of his face. This was so typical of Zack.

After graduating from Seven Seas High, and having sufficiently licked his wounds after being rejected by Yale, Cody had applied to and successfully been accepted by another school where he was now studying an intense and prestigious science degree. He had spent almost all of his young years preparing for what he assumed college life to be, but in the short year that he had now been there, it was already clear that the demands of higher education were nothing like he ever expected. He could only imagine the kinds of challenges that Bailey may or may not have been facing in Connecticut at Yale.

It had definitely been one of the most petrifying moments of Cody's life the day that he stepped foot into his university, all alone, knowing that Bailey was hundreds of miles away and that the young couple were beginning their college lives with a long distance relationship. While the younger twin had always been certain that no other girl he ever laid eyes on could ever compare to his beautiful girlfriend, the nagging fear had always been in the back of his mind of Bailey finding another guy. Someone smarter, kinder, funnier, better looking. Even today, the thought still sent a nervous shiver up his spine. And yet, here Cody was a year later, still with Bailey, still incredibly happy, and counting down the days until summer vacation where he would get to see her again. Those things that he had been worried about the most never even changed.

But then, there were other things. Things that Cody wished would change.

As the thought of his brother crossed his mind again, Cody groaned in annoyance. It's not like that he wasn't accustomed to Zack taking money from him. In fact, when Cody really thought about, that wasn't even the problem. It was the selfishness. The inconsideration – Zack's undeniable nature of simply not caring. And the more Cody thought about it, the more angry it made him.

Taking one final glance at all the innovated and highly-developed scientific equipment that he was desperate to grab a hold of, Cody flicked off the light switch of the science lab and began to head back up to his dorm room.

As he plodded along the carpeted floor, each step building more irritation within him, Cody furrowed his brow as he struggled to try and recall a time in which Zack had actually stuck his neck out for him. Unsurprisingly to the younger twin, the task was certainly much more easier said than done. It's not like Zack was always, constantly a bad brother. There were plenty of memories that Cody had of having fun times and sharing a close bond with his twin – their adventures in the Tipton Hotel and aboard the S.S. Tipton being extremely obvious to him. But deep down to Cody, it felt like the bad outweighed the good, and maybe that wasn't something that he was willing to have in his life anymore. Maybe it was time that things started to change.

"Ah, yeah actually, that's an easy one. I haven't repaid you yet."

Zack stifled a laugh. He even amazed himself sometimes with how witty he could be.

All of a sudden, listening to the voice that resonated from his phone, Zack's expression dropped in offense, "Hey, you're not the only one with a ton of work, ya' know. I've got about two and half days left to finish editing this piece for my production class next week."

Pushing away the long mop of blonde hair that sat on top of his head, Zack scratched at his shaven sides, confused by what the big deal was all of a sudden. His hazel eyes blinked vacantly as his expression remained empty with bewilderment. Pulling the black earphone out of his ear, he pushed his chair back from the editing table of his university's production lab.

At the next words that he heard, Zack's eyes suddenly collapsed in an angry frown. He scoffed loudly, stunned by the audacity that echoed to him as he hastily stood up and raised his voice, "How's about getting off your high horse and relaxing your ego a little bit? I think it's pretty simple – if you don't wanna' keep having this problem, then stop lending me money!"

Just when he thought about maybe pulling back on his tone a little bit, Zack was then unexpectedly driven to a sharp silence. His mouth was agape as he allowed what he had just heard to cycle about his mind once or twice more. Soon enough, Zack collapsed back down into his chair and slowly shook his head in disappointment, "Wow, a burden, really?" he droned, shrugging his shoulders to himself, "Why are you even still talking to me, Cody?"

The older twin wasn't surprised when he heard his brother sigh, spew a few more nasty words, and then quickly and viciously hang up the phone. Rolling his eyes and shaking his head once more, Zack then shut his own phone and placed it down on the desk in front of him. Cody was unbelievable sometimes.

Something else that had also been unbelievable to Zack was his remarkable success after (surprisingly still) graduating from high school. While at first the eldest Martin assumed he would be heading back to Boston and finding some kind – any kind – of full time job to hold him over financially, his plans took an unpredictable turn. It had felt like a lifetime ago when Zack had nonchalantly applied for a couple of different colleges with the hopes of possibly landing a place, but little did he know that one particular college would waitlist him. And then actually accept him.

It had taken a lot of convincing from both his brother and his mother for Zack to agree to actually go to college. He had claimed that he had only applied in the first place just to make Carey happy, and he didn't want to waste everybody's time and money by doing something that he was eventually going to change his mind about anyway. But that argument had been pretty easy to see through. Zack was terrified. College was something that he had never had a single realistic thought about in his entire life. And now all of a sudden he was being dumped right on higher education's doorstep. He didn't want to mess up. He didn't want to struggle, or fail, or disappoint Carey. The mere concept of all of it was perhaps the scariest venture that Zack would ever embark on. But still, despite all of his concerns, Zack had sucked it up, swallowed his fears, and stepped foot into his very first class. And it was the best decision he had ever made. Now, he was studying movie production, and excelling in all of his classes. It felt so good for him to be out on his own and studying something that he actually enjoyed. It seemed that sometimes, a bit of change could be a very good thing.

But then, there were other things. Things that Zack thought could do with a little change as well.

As thoughts of his school lift drifted away and his brother re-entered his mind again, Zack grunted in aggravation. He wasn't unfamiliar with Cody's harsh judgment of him by any stretch of the imagination. But that wasn't even the thing that was bothering the older twin so much right now. It was the fact that Cody was acting like that he was the only one who had any work to do. It wasn't only Cody who was so busy and concerned with school anymore, and the more that the younger twin ignored that fact, the more that it annoyed Zack to his absolute core.

Angrily yanking his earphones out of the computer he was working at and shoving them in his bag, Zack shut down all of his applications and turned off the power before leaving the production lab to go back to his dorm.

Slinging his bag over his shoulder, Zack's vision shot down to his feet and the floor that he passed over while he tried to think of any moment – over the past year at college or otherwise – where Cody had actually congratulated his brother and said how proud he was of all of his hard work. But it wasn't much of a shock to him when Zack couldn't quite remember any such occasion. He supposed that he didn't really think that Cody had always been so unsupportive, it was just that since the both of them had become so swamped with their college work, his brother had become much more snappy and much less understanding with him. And Zack was beginning to have enough of it. It felt like that nothing he achieved was ever going to be good enough to compare with whatever it was that Cody was doing. Maybe it was time that things started to change.

Cody's dorm room was in sight as he fiddled around in his pocket for his keys. He was still pretty steamed as he continued to think about his argument with Zack. Just when their fights were starting to become a little less frequent, Zack just had to go and do something that ticked him off. It absolutely infuriated him to think that his twin so selfish as to not ever help him or do anything for him. So much so, that Cody was just about certain that once Zack had paid him back, he would do all he could to separate himself from his brother until college was out for the summer.

As for Zack, he too was still feeling just as frustrated after their heated confrontation. Never did he think he would be one to get so offended by people undermining his work, but something about Cody's attitude was really getting under his skin. The older twin was so consumed with all of his major work projects that he was even beginning to think that it may have been worth paying Cody back and then immediately cutting both him and his negative opinions out of his life.

Finally approaching the door to his dorm room, Zack buried his hand into the depths of his pocket and retrieved his keys. As he jostled the key around in the lock, all the older twin wanted to do was relax in front of his computer and lose himself in some video games. Just as the door opened and Zack was about to step foot into his room, he came to a sudden halt at the sound of someone appearing beside him.

Cody had been just as eager to escape to the comforts of his own dorm room when he realised that his next door neighbour was also present in the corridor. Slowly and wordlessly, the twins looked up and stared at each other. Their expressions were empty as they both tried to think of anything else that possibly needed to be said. They were both still pretty agitated, but by some sort of miracle, coming face to face with one another actually wasn't adding anymore fuel to either of their fires.

Cody remembered how amazed he was when he discovered that Zack would be attending New York University with him. Not to mention how pleased he had been. After having spent the entirety of their teenage years always having numerous family and friends around them, it had made Cody feel a million times better knowing that he wouldn't be diving into college life alone. These were the things that the younger twin forgot about sometimes. That, and how proud he truly was of his brother.

Still gazing at his twin and staying just as silent, Zack thought back to his first days at NYU, too. He couldn't deny that it had certainly been a relief for him to know that his genius brother was going to be only a mere few footsteps away if he ever needed him. And not just for favours or for money – but much more importantly, for advice and support if Zack ever needed it. Luckily for the older twin, not once had he ever felt himself crumble under the pressure of college. But maybe that was because Cody's comfort had been there all along.

At the end of the day, university was a tough and demanding life. And at NYU there was no Carey, no London, Bailey, Woody, Moesby or anybody else. While they had made a countless number of new friends, when it came right down to it, all Zack and Cody had was each other. The twins couldn't be blamed if they let one little fight get out of hand. Besides, the end of the year was coming and they both had suffered a long, busy and straight up crap week. Maybe they had taken a tiny bit of their stress out on each other.

That didn't mean that they would ever be serious about the horrible things they said to one another. Or that they would stop needing each other.

Some things would just never change.

"Wanna' go catch a movie or something?" Zack asked, breaking the silence with a smile, "On me?"

Looking back at him, it wasn't long before Cody gave in, happily matching his brother's smirk, "Give me a sec to pick a different shirt."

Hey everyone :3

Thanks for reading my cute little story! For those who may not know me, hello my name is Reney. For some of you who might remember me, it's good to be back :)

I'd love to hear what you thought of my one-shot, and if you'd be interested in seeing more from me. I would really, really love to write a full Suite Life story again. Reviews are very much appreciated!

Thanks guys, and till next time,

Reneyyyyyyyyyy x