Fandom: Step Up

Characters: Tyler Gage, Miles Darby, Lucy Avila, Nora Clark, (Colin)

Rating: G

Word-count: 1 480

Disclaimer: I own nothing. This story is based on the characters and situations created and owned by Touchstone Pictures, Summit Entertainment and various producers/choreographers. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Being The Bigger Man

By Hannah

Tyler rolled his eyes at Miles standing next to him. They were standing a little off to the side at the party, listening to the music rather than dancing. Miles was looking annoyed and everything he wasn't supposed to be in a place like this. Tyler thought he knew why his friend wasn't in a party-mood, but it didn't mean he had to drag Tyler's mood down with him.

"Come on, man," he half-whined, slapping Miles lightly, "would you snap out of it?"

Miles only shook his head, not looking at him.

"Yo, all right, look, the way I look at it, Brett did you a favor," Tyler told his friend, annoyed that he wasn't getting the response he was looking for. "Yo, your beats are hotter than what he can do with 'em anyway!" he said honestly.

Miles still wasn't answering him, only looking up at the stage where Lucy backed up her boyfriend, Colin, singing and obviously having a good time.

"Come on, man!"

"Now I gotta sit up here and watch this Colin?"

Tyler could've laughed out loud, he finally got Miles to say something to him. The music wiz was usually hard to shut up and seeing him stand around and not say anything was almost as irritating as when Miles talked a-mile-a-minute and putting his foot in it every two seconds. But just because he was relieved to get a response didn't mean he couldn't have fun now that Miles seemingly was back.

"I'm sorry, did we come here for him?" He gestured up towards the stage, faking confusion. "I thought we came here for Lucy." He wanted to laugh at the blank expression on Miles' face. "Wait, is that who you've been looking at the whole time?" He heard Miles laugh and he applauded himself mentally. "He is kinda hot, I guess," he continued his little speech, not needing much imagination to shudder at the thought of Colin and Miles, "in that weird way-..."

"Shut up man," Miles interrupted him, unable to hold in the grin, "shut up."

Tyler chuckled and ducked his head, smirking at Miles when he looked back up again. "Man, you were trippin', gotta keep you on your toes, man," he said as a half-excuse, punching Miles on the shoulder. "Yo cheer up. Luce's gonna be glad you came, man," he added, knowing the pretty brunette up at the stage was Miles' weakness.

"Yeah, I guess," Miles replied evasively.

Just then, the music stopped and they could hear Colin announce they were going to take a break over the cheering from the crowd. Tyler applauded with them -- the music hadn't been bad -- but Miles only looked around, trying to act nonchalant. He snorted, Miles was so terrible at hiding his thoughts and emotions.

"Hey man," he said, nodding his head in the direction of the stage to draw Miles' attention to it, "Luce is coming over."

"Yeah, and that Colin too."

"Shut up, man, you gotta let it go." Tyler rolled his eyes. "Could you, like, pretend to be having a good time? For Lucy?"

Miles sighed. "Whatever." He shook his head and deliberately turned his back to the stage slightly. "I gotta get up outta here, man."

Tyler didn't have a chance to answer him as Lucy pushed her way through the crowd as soon as she spotted them, her hand firmly clamped around Colin's. She was practically bouncing, and Tyler couldn't blame her, this seemed to be her element for sure.

"Hey guys," she said as a way of greeting, pulling Colin to her side as she came up to them, "have you, um, met my boyfriend?"

"Hey man, I'm Colin."

Tyler leaned forward and caught the other man's hand. "Tyler," he introduced himself, "nice to meet you, man." He pulled back and tapped Miles on the chest with the back of his hand, knowing the darker man wouldn't introduce himself without help. "This is Miles."

"What's up, man?"

"Miles? Hey, this the guy you've been telling me about?" Colin asked, looking at Lucy.

Tyler found it interesting to see that Lucy seemed embarrassed, looking between Miles and Colin with a semi-startled look on her face. He knew Lucy'd been on Miles' case a lot, Nora had let it slip once or twice, and apparently not even Lucy's boyfriend had gotten out of hearing about Miles.

"Yeah, she said you played," Colin elaborated when no one answered him. "Got a set up if you wanna join us."

"Ah, no, I left my, uh, G4 at home, man," Miles tried to play it off.

Tyler glanced down at the bag by his hip, knowing Miles never went anywhere without his equipment. It was a part of Miles, you couldn't see one without the other.

Smirking to himself, he decided he needed to give Miles a little push. He faked a cough, "It's in his bag." He scratched his throat and tried to play innocent when he met Miles' accusing stare.

"Yeah?" Colin seemed eager. "Come on, man, we'll set up. Ready, Luce?"

And with that the two left, Lucy throwing Miles and Tyler a look over her shoulder as they went. Tyler braced himself for a possible outburst from Miles, but it never came. Instead Miles just seemed slightly annoyed.

"Dude think he's slick," he said, gesturing towards Colin's retreating back, "trying to use that reverse-psychology shit on me."

Tyler grinned, Miles was already walking towards the stage, obviously too drawn to the attention he could get and the opportunity to play to be too annoyed. "He seems kinda cool to me, man."

"That's part of his whole game," Miles announced, although he was smiling slightly too.

"Man, just go play," Tyler dismissed him.

He stood watching as Miles fought his way through the crowd and up to the stage, holding his bag in front of him like the prized treasure he thought it was. He turned around when he felt a hand on his elbow.

"Hey."

He saw Nora's smiling face looking up at him and he turned to face her fully. "Hey," he greeted her back, knowing he sounded slightly surprised. "I didn't think you were gonna come after everything that happened with-..."

She cut him off, "That's exactly why I wanted to come."

"Yeah?"

She blinked and frowned for a second, looking at him suspiciously. "Wait, what are you doing here?"

He glanced up towards the stage again. "Miles needed a wingman."

"Oh," Nora laughed faintly as she spotted Miles. "What's he doing up there?" she asked, smiling.

Tyler shrugged. "Uh, trying to be the bigger man," he explained, feeling a hint of pride for his friend. He knew it wasn't easy for Miles to see Lucy with Colin since he liked her so much, but he was damn strong for putting up with it and actually trying to be okay with it.

"OK."

Tyler smiled at Nora's easy acceptance, barely hearing that the music had stopped and everyone's attention was at the musicians now as he looked down on Nora. "You look beautiful," he complimented her, even though he'd barely gotten a look at what she was wearing. To him, she looked beautiful whenever, but she didn't need to know that.

"Thank you."

As the music started playing, both turned their attention to the stage, finding Colin standing with the back-up singers, Lucy standing to the side, holding a mic. They started singing and Lucy immediately stepped forward. She broke out of the "ah-ah" everyone was singing and sang out a long, clear "Yeah" as soon as she'd reached the front of the stage.

Tyler was surprised. "I didn't know she could sing like that!" he blurted out. Her voice was really good.

Nora smiled as she looked at Lucy, obviously proud of her friend. "In her own words, she majors in dance because she already knows how to sing." She laughed softly and Tyler laughed with her.

He grinned when Lucy turned to Miles in surprise as the DJ played something she wasn't familiar with. Tyler snorted a laugh when the crowd cheered loudly and Lucy turned to face the audience with a smile. Miles was just smiling, getting into his groove.

Tyler wanted to shout out to his friend but settled for a "Kill it, Miles" only loud enough for Nora to hear.

"So, are you gonna ask me to dance?"

Tyler looked down on Nora, smirking. "I didn't know you could dance without your tights," he teased, already starting to remove his jacket. There was no way he was turning down an opportunity to dance with Nora.

He tossed the jacket to the side where he thought no one would disturb it and turned back to Nora as she started to back towards the clearing serving as dance floor, smirking at him.

"You don't know what you got yourself into."

Author's Note: Reviews make me happy!