Yours To Hold

By: Riley

Summary – From the first time they met and onwards there was something special about their relationship that they couldn't quiet explain. Collection of prompts found on Tumblr.

1: First Time They Met

Age: 13

The first time they met wasn't special at all.

As a matter of fact it was probably the worst way to ever meet someone. It shouldn't have been that tense. But it was. It shouldn't have had an underlying sense of fear. But it was.

However, it was something the two easily remembered when asked. As per usual, Zack had been gearing up to play some sort of prank on the hotel staff. What was a bored thirteen-year-old supposed to do when he lived in a hotel as extravagant as the Tipton? Respect it, as his mother always said?

Ha.

What a joke.

The Tipton crawled with opportunities for a good laugh; the air ducts were the perfect size, the elevators and stairwells could get them up and down to different floors within a matter of minutes, even the bell placed on the front desk to tell Mr. Moseby a new guest had arrived—with his office unfortunately misplaced behind it—was fodder for the mischief that ran through his head. He and Cody had even managed to make a prank out of the revolving doors that led into the Tipton hotel.

Those were always fun, but what was better was when new kids moved in. Not only did it make the veins in Mr. Moseby's throb like a volcano about to erupt, but it gave him something to do other than hang out with Cody all day. He loved his brother, but going over flashcards and math problems was not his idea of fun.

At thirteen years old many people around him—re: every person that had ever met him—had wished he would find some maturity and quench his thirst of causing mischief and destruction. No such luck. He had roped Cody into doing a prank on Mr. Moseby and had just stepped out of the elevator when he noticed the group standing at the front desk, conversing with the uptight hotel manager. The first thing he noticed was the brunette man that towered over the desk, making the hotel manager appear smaller than ever before, then he noticed the five kids that were with him as they glanced around the five star hotel with the same expression of awe on their faces he and Cody admittedly had when they first arrived from Seattle.

"Look." Cody nudged Zack on the arm and pointed over to the kids. He started to head over. "Let's go say 'hi'."

Zack wasn't interested—his mind had quickly shifted back to the stink bomb in his pocket that was waiting to be released—until the kids had all turned around and his eyes immediately zeroed in on the two girls. They ventured away from the desk while the three boys continued to stand near the man. Cody seemed to have noticed as well, for he had slowed his movements across the floor but his older brother grabbed onto his arm and continued to drag him.

"Hi!" Cody greeted them. He hadn't had planned on his greeting to come out so high pitched and squeaky, nor did he plan on saying anything at all but Zack had forced him forward and he stumbled to catch himself before crashing into them.

Nevertheless, the girls appeared a little annoyed as they took a step back.

As Cody righted himself Zack quickly noted that the girls were identical twins just as he and Cody were. Perfect. About his age. Didn't look like they were already over him. And very cute too. Two for the price of one. If not having a better chance all on his own.

"Hello ladies," he greeted them with a flirtatious lift to his voice.

"Hey," came the simple reply.

He studied their faces at the response, much as he did whenever he spoke to a girl. He was looking for the signs; a giggle, eyes lighting up, nervous shuffling, showing the same sort of confidence back to push forward his advances. This time, however, he got indifference. The girl wearing purple didn't say anything in response, merely looking him up and down, it was the one dressed in red that had replied.

The accent to her voice immediately caught his attention and intrigued him even further. Exotic. He liked that. With a smile he gave her a quick once-over noting the way her red sweatshirt stood out against her dark jeans, dark hair, and dark eyes. When she noticed he was staring at her, the corner of her mouth turned up into a smirk and wham. He was instantly smitten. This girl was definitely someone he could see himself with. Not to mention she didn't look like other girls he had known; blondes and brunette, the occasional redhead. No, her black hair and dark blue eyes that seemed to blaze with a mischievous fire instantly caught his attention. Not to mention the tattoo he could see coming from beneath the sleeve of her sweatshirt, so she was a bit of a rebel, that suited him just fine.

"Sooooo," he said to her, falling into a comfortable stance as he crossed his arms. "How does it feel to have just met the man of your dreams, sweet thang?" It was his go to line; the one that always got the best results.

Cody slapped himself on the forehead and tilted his head back to look at the ceiling.

The girl in purple made a snorting sound as she looked amused, finally smiling.

The girl in red copied his stance, crossing her arms over her chest as she tilted her head to the side. Her smirk widened, drawing Zack's eyes to her face once more. "I don't know, mate. But you'll be the first to know when I do, yeah?"

He smiled waned a little. Only a little. It was a small setback. His opening lines didn't work all the time, but it was normal. There were plenty of other ways he could get her. Still, he was a little grateful that Cody spoke up next; at least he got her name. "Ignore him. I try to, anyway. I'm Cody and this is my brother, Zack."

"I'm Rhuben, this is my sister Riley" the girl in purple said. The small smile was still on her face.

"I couldn't help but notice your accent; it's not very common around here." Zack grimaced as Cody then started to ramble, his nervous habit with just about everything. "There are a lot of New York accents, and Southern accents, and some from the Midwest, some Jersey, and even some Irish here and there, but never from Australia. Australian accents are so cool, don't you think? Am I talking too much? Because when I'm nervous I have a habit of talking too—"

Reaching out, Zack slapped his hand over Cody's mouth, effectively cutting him off. Finally both girls smiled. "To answer your question, mate, we just got here from Australia," Rhuben explained. She turned and glanced at the man that continued to lean against the counter. "With our…Dad and our brothers; Patrick, Noah, and Sydney. Our Dad just got a job here in the States."

"What does he do?" Cody asked.

"He works in sales," Riley swiftly replied.

"And you moved into this hotel?" Cody's eyebrows flew down towards his eyes. "That's kind of expensive."

Zack slapped his hand to his forehead as Cody had done before. Didn't he realize how much of a blessing in disguise this was? Not only were there more kids at the Tipton hotel to hang out with, but now there was one girl for each of them and he didn't have to try and entertain them all himself. Not that he didn't have fun with it; it was almost a pastime to him, but he was getting older now. Focusing his attention on one girl was probably the better tactic.

"It was the only thing open to take us all in," Rhuben explained, her voice suddenly growing cold as if warning him to drop the subject. Even Zack felt it in the tips of his toes as if the temperature had dropped all around them.

Not wanting to lose the opportunity Zack made a show of running his hands through his hair and sauntered over to Riley, putting as much swag in his step as he could. He came to a stop beside her and she rolled her head towards him, following the movement with her body. The smile was gone but her expression was still pleasant. "So," he said and put his arm around her shoulders. "What do you say I give you the famous Zack tour of the hotel? The game room, the pool, the workout room…" he flashed her a flirtatious smile. "All the best places to make-out…"

"I'd appreciate it if you would take your hand off my daughter."

Riley's and Rhuben's eyes immediately darted to the floor.

The sound of the deep, almost gravely voice caused a chill to roll down Zack's spine, prickling every nerve and making every hair stand up along the way. He let out a light 'eep' his eyes instinctively shifting to Cody's, which grew to be the size of dinner plates, then slowly turned his head to look behind him. Tilting his head back to take in the man's full height of 6'4" Zack gulped when he noticed the steady steel grey eyes boring into him. Immediately dropping his arm, Zack slid back to Cody's side and grabbed onto him for protection.

"Thank you," the man said. He then turned away from Zack and Cody and focused on the girls. "We got our room; the bell boy is going to take our bags up." He nodded over to Esteban Ramirez, who stood behind them with a cart loaded down with suitcases. "Let's go." With a tilt of his head, he tightened his grip around the hand of the smallest boy with him and they headed towards the elevators.

Zack and Cody quickly moved out of the way of the passing group, watching as the girls lowered their heads and followed after him.

The tension that had immediately risen in the air around them had punched him in the stomach in a way he wasn't going to forget until he figured out the reason why.

And yet, he was still drawn to her.

A/N: Well, that's the first one. The pieces aren't in any particular order; with that in mind their ages through this entire thing will jump between ages 13-22. If you'd like me to put a specific mention of how old they are, I'll do it in the chapter titles or figure something else out. I have about half of these written out already so I'm a little ahead of the curve for a while.

Other characters from the show as well as my OCs make appearances throughout this as well.

Cheers,

-Riles