Comfort from a Brother
Movies had always been something that Zack Martin was more into than his younger twin, Cody. Unless the movie was about something stupid and educational, then Zack usually left the room to do something more interesting. As, he rather not have to endure more school and learning back at the Tipton, in their suite. Which was basically their home.
Which Cody did watch movies with him, even if they were ones he didn't always prefer. Probably why it was a bit surprising that Cody had been so easily convinced to see a scary movie. Granted, their mom did say for them not to see it to start with. But it wasn't like it would hurt her if she didn't know.
But even Zack didn't expect for that film to be that scary, it was about zombies. Most movies like that were usually pretty faked. But it felt backwards to him. It was always Cody that got scared or even terrified because of a movie.
Though sometimes he would tease Cody about being a wimp, which usually had the desired effect because then his younger twin would try to show that he wasn't. He wouldn't tell him what he was doing was on purpose and that there was a reason for it. At least to him, he wasn't that terrible of a brother. Besides, teasing him was part of his job as the older brother.
So far, their mom hadn't really asked how the movie date was. And Zack didn't want to picture what her reaction would be if she found out they went to see the exact movie she had forbidden them to see. They were thirteen, it shouldn't matter what movie they went to watch with their dates. But now, Zack was starting to realize that maybe she had a point.
Even by his standards, it wasn't like him to check everything in their shared room. As if there was some zombie lurking in their room, waiting for him to lose his guard before striking. Though he preferred to keep all his skin on him.
Though it was probably pretty sad when Zack had to pull the blanket up so to make sure there wasn't anything hiding under there.
Cody just stood by his own bed with a puzzled look on his face. His green eyes just looked on in confusion.
"Zack? Are you okay? That was the third time you've looked under your bed. Unless you lost something, which isn't surprising given the mess that you keep your side of the room. But I'm not cleaning up your side again."
Zack dropped the blanket on his bed to give Cody a blank look.
"I didn't lose anything," he denied.
"So, that means I don't have to worry about you finding food that you dropped and then eating it?" Cody asked, the thought of it was already making him feel nauseous.
Zack shrugged his shoulders; it was a good possibility.
"Though I didn't think that a movie would ever scare you," Cody remarked.
Zack frowned, "I was not scared."
"Really? Because the screaming gave me an indication that you were," Cody raised an eyebrow at him.
"It just… surprised me, that's all," Zack commented, even though he knew it was a weak argument.
"Surprised… if you say so," Cody said as he walked to the other end of the room. Where the light switch was, about to turn it off for the night.
"Don't you turn that off!" Zack's outburst was immediate, he couldn't help the slight fear that crawled through him as the prospect of having the room dark. Places he couldn't see…
Whatever Cody was going to say was cutoff by their door opening.
A twin pair of green eyes immediately went to the doorway as their mom came into their room.
Zack had taken a nervous step back and he knew the only reason he didn't scream at the suddenness was because he could tell who it was. If it had been dark, he was sure that he would have gone to hide in his bed.
"I just came in to say goodnight. No staying up late or video games, you have school in the morning," Carey said, her eyes flickering more to Zack as she said this.
"Yeah, mom," Zack muttered. Though he felt more apprehensive when she had turned out of the light and shut the door back. He hadn't hesitated in sitting on Cody's bed, closest to the wall. Which his brother hadn't noticed until after their mom had left.
"Zack? Are you okay?" Cody asked once he noticed the presence of his brother. He couldn't even recall a time where his older twin had sat on his bed. Sure, there had been times when he had been scared by something or had a nightmare, but he always went to Zack. It never had been the other way around, until now.
"What? Can't I spend time with my younger brother?"
Cody frowned, "did it freak you out that badly?"
"I'm not freaked out," Zack denied.
Cody rolled his eyes where his older twin couldn't even admit when he was scared.
"Zack, you were literally scared that I was going to cut off the light," Cody pointed out.
"Okay… maybe it freaked me out a little bit…" Zack admitted.
Cody didn't remark that he thought his older brother was underexaggerating that statement. He didn't know if it was because he knew his brother so well or because of them being twins. But he could tell that the movie unnerved him a lot more than he was telling.
"Just because you're older, Zack, don't mean you have to underplay it," Cody told him before he started to yawn.
Without Zack having to tell Cody anything, he automatically curled into his chest. That way his older twin wasn't half falling off their small bed. He had a feeling he knew why Zack needed this comfort but didn't press him further about it. Just like he could feel the sudden wave of calm and relief. It was nice that he could provide the same comfort that Zack would give him time after time.
When morning came, their mother wasn't too shocked to see them in that position when she woke them up in the morning for school. She was familiar that Cody tended to get scared easily and it relieved her that he could find comfort in Zack. Despite the many arguments she had to hear from them, she never had to worry about Zack not being there for him. Though the grin on her eldest son was something new, especially this early in the morning.
The moment was broken when Cody rushed to the bathroom to get his morning shower before getting dressed. It was a typical morning in Suite 2330 at the Tipton Hotel.