I do not own Disney's Suite Life of Zack and Cody, nor the characters that emanate from the product. I only own my own created plot and the extended personalities of the characters.

Key events in the series will be preserved mostly despite an alternate storyline. "Time Period" refers to the approximate period during which the events take place.

This is my first fic! I hope this can be more than just a oneshot, but I'm still not sure where I can go from this.

Please Review! It means a lot to me. Give me some idea if you want this continued. I don't mind continuing with extreme themes or anything you can think of.

This will be rated T for now since at this stage I am not planning to include themes too mature or explicit.

Also excuse my writing. English's not my mother language.

Enough introduction. Here's the story. Enjoy!

A Different Codster

Time Period: The Fairest of Them All

It might seem like an ordinary school day for everyone in the basketball court. It was the usual warm-up exercises, the usual basketball practice, the usual endless running, passing, shooting and sweating. But for one person in particular, it was so unusual. He simply didn't feel the same way he used to; something definitely changed. It wasn't the things surrounding him that changed. It was his own worries, mostly because of what happened the week before.

That person was Zachary Martin, and his brother was what was on his mind. Cody Martin, his 12-year-old twin brother, was forced to cross-dress as a girl to attend a beauty pageant. And it was worse. He was the one who forced Cody to do it, solely because he wanted the prize money for a new bike. He hadn't considered Cody's feelings much, including the fact that Cody only wanted to drop out of the race since he wanted another girl to win.

ZACK

It isn't like he didn't want us to win the contest. He probably just thought the girl deserved the prize better than we would have. Cody's always been the kind one, and the caring one. I guess I was wrong to stop him from being who he is, and even more wrong when I shouted at him and told him that he didn't care about us at all.

Cody cares about us. He cares about me. I can't count the times he took the blame for me for all the bad things I've done and all the pranks I've played on people, not to mention the fact that he always ends up making my bed for me and tidying up my half of the room even though he always says that he won't, and the fact that he does almost all of my assignments.

But last week's fight was really intense. It wasn't like any of our typical fights. Usually, it would take a day or two of his silent treatment for him to be willing to speak to me again, but this time it's so different. It's been a week already, and he acts like an entirely different person, like a perfect stranger to me. It's like he doesn't care.

He hasn't been ignoring me, but his responses have been short and simple. When I asked him about dinner, he simply said "ask mum". The Codster I know would've got enthusiastic and ended up cooking for me and Mum. After all, cooking is what he loves, and he knows how much I hate Mum's cooking and how much I love his though I never put it in solid words. I know he knows that I appreciate his cooking.

When I asked him for 5 dollars for some candies from Maddie, he simply said "sorry Zack, but I can't borrow you money". That was it, and I was hit by a wave of sadness when he said that almost with no emotion. His face showed no feeling towards the words I'd said. Maybe saying this to a total stranger is okay, but for God's sake, I am his brother! I am his twin, and he's treating me like some random person he's just encountered. I dare not even ask him to do my homework like he always does, let alone just ask for advice for my History paper.

I can't take it anymore. We used to be so close, and it all seems so distant, when in reality, it was only a week ago. I know I was at fault. I know I ruined it for him and Rebecca, and I know he is infuriated. What else do I need to know for him to forgive me? Why is he so different all of a sudden? Have I gone too far this time? But I did apologize and he accepted it with all his heart, or so I thought. He must still hate me very much. That must be why he's talking to me as if I wasn't related to him.

I don't think I can wait any longer, not this time at least. This time, it's different, though I don't know how. I need to talk to Cody. If he's waiting for me to take the initiative, I'll do it. For once, I want to be the responsible big brother for Cody. I'll talk to him tonight after dinner, and I hope he will truly return to his usual self.

The trip from school back to the Boston Tipton, the hotel where the twins lived, was extraordinarily fast. Zack ran all the way home. He wanted to see Cody as soon as he could and he just didn't want to have this feeling of separation lingering deep inside his heart.

He left so quickly that Max and Tapeworm weren't quick enough to catch up with him, and Zack didn't even bother to say goodbye to them. His mind only focused on one thought at this precise moment, only had one image right now. He imagined him and Cody riding down the street on their skateboards and how happy they were. They were laughing and having fun, and they didn't care about anything else. He was still laughing even when he fell off the skateboard and hurt himself, and Cody helped him up he gave him an honest smile. He wanted to do that with his brother again.

"Zack! No running in the lobby, " Moseby, the hotel manager, shouted out loud as the youngster ran inside the hotel lobby.

As usual, Zack ignored him and ran past him. I don't have time for this right now, he thought.

"Hey Zack. What's new?" Maddie, the candy counter girl, asked.

"Not much. Have you seen Cody today?"

"Yeah. He was here earlier, about an hour ago. He's probably up there."

"Thanks, sweet thing." The flirting was cut extra short on this day.

Zack rushed to the elevator, leaving an intrigued Maddie wondering what was going on. He hit the 23rd floor, waited and waited. When the doors opened, he stepped out and began slowing down his pace. He was afraid, afraid that his brother might be even more mad at him after he talked to him. But he knew he had to do it, because now he was the only one that could mend whatever was wrong between him and his brother. So he took a deep breath and headed for their suite.

When the door was opened, an empty living room was what filled his sight. He was even more scared right now, but he was relieved that Carey wasn't home. Zack thought it was probably better for him and Cody to sort this out by themselves, without having to involve their mother in the whole thing.

In a swift motion he opened the door to the bedroom, but there was still no sign of Cody. At first, he thought Cody might have gone out, but then he thought again and knew that it was not possible. Carey had grounded them for two full weeks for what they did in the beauty pageant and Cody never disobeyed her. Also, Cody seldom went out on his own after school.

No sooner had Zack walked back into the living room than he heard noises coming from the bathroom. He turned and walked towards the bathroom door.

It has to be Cody, he thought. He must be in there since it's the only place I didn't look. How could I have missed the bathroom?

Having approached the door, Zack could hear the noises getting louder and clearer now, and he decided to pay closer attention listening to them. It must be Cody making the noises, Zack said to himself. I can recognize that it's Cody. It's the sound he makes when I told him his cookies were too sweet, and when I told him he'd never do better in basketball. Wait...is he...is Cody crying in there? Did Cody lock himself in the bathroom and cry?

Zack was too confused and too worried to wait anymore. He reached out his hand for the doorknob and turned, pushing the door open quickly and entering the room. He found out two things. The first was that he was wrong about the door being locked, because it wasn't. However, he was right about Cody crying. Zack spotted Cody's red eyes and his tears-filled face. He was lying inside the bathtub fully filled with water.

It was Cody first reaction to turn and fixate his eyes on Zack's frustrated and shocked look. He almost instantly spoke, "Zack? What are you...?"

His words were cut short by Zack's interruption. "I'm sorry, Cody. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything, for you and Rebecca, and for saying that you didn't care about us. I'm really sorry!"

Zack was about to continue, but then he noticed something major taking place on Cody's face that stopped him. He was sobbing even harder. He was crying so hard that he didn't even care about the fact that he was completely naked and Zack was standing right in front of him staring at him.

Zack quickly grabbed a towel near the sink and walked over to his brother keeping his head down. He handed him the towel and he avoided exchanging glances with him. "I'm sorry, buddy. I didn't mean to break in without...you know. But I really need to know what's wrong. I just want you to stop being mad at me, because I just want you to know that I've really missed my brother. I miss the old Codster."

Cody was totally wordless. He was overwhelmed by what just happened. Too much happened in such a short amount of time. First his brother broke into the washroom and saw him naked in the bathtub, and the next thing he knew he started apologizing and couldn't stop talking. His brain wasn't able to process so many things at once, causing him to cry even harder.

Zack was sitting on the floor right next to him, and in order not to make his brother feel embarrassed, his eyes were looking at the door on the other side. He sat quietly and waited for Cody to say something. He'd waited a whole week, so he didn't mind waiting a couple minutes longer. He wanted so badly to know what was on the other twin's mind, and he needed him to say it all out loud this one time, because their twin telepathy wasn't working in such a complex matter.

He didn't mind being shouted at this very moment; he just wanted his brother to feel better, and wanted it all to be over. He wanted them to be the old Zack and Cody again having fun together and causing trouble together. Zack knew all along that Cody could always walk away from all his "plans" and stay clean, but he didn't because they were twins, and they were close. It didn't matter what they did if they could do it together. Zack wanted Cody to feel this way again. Cody was a twin too great for him to lose.

"I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry," said Cody, as he wiped his tears from his face.

Zack turned and their eyes met, and he was surprised to know Cody didn't mind at all how he was looked at. He wasn't even reaching for the towel Zack gave him, because there was something more important on his mind. What he was about to say was more important, and Zack sensed it, so he waited for it.

"I'm sorry for being such a jerk. I shouldn't have believed that you felt that way when you said that I didn't care about us. You only said that cuz you were upset about my withdrawing from the contest. I should've just ignored what you said, but Zack, I don't know why I couldn't, and in the past few days I've been thinking about it, seriously, thinking about why I hadn't been able to let it go...I was...stuck..."

Tears began to form in Zack's suddenly watery eyes, and this time he wasn't afraid to cry in front of his brother. He still looked him in the eyes, and he calmly spoke to his brother, "It's simple. It's because you do care about us, so when I said that you didn't, you were saddened. I'm so sorry that I upset you, Codes. I love you."

"I love you too." Cody was smiling when he said that, and Zack put his hand on his brother's shoulder, smiling back.