Fandom: Step Up

Characters: Tyler Gage, Nora Clark, Miles Darby

Rating: PG-13

Word-count: 1 120

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.

What Tyler Wants

By Hannah

Walking down the dock with Nora, Tyler was feeling happy and giddy and just exhilarated. All those girly feelings he knew he'd die if anyone found out he was feeling. Mac would seriously have a field-trip if he knew.

"That place- OH! That place is crazy!" he burst out. "Ah, is it always like that?" He laughed, if that was what the parties she went to was like he wanted to go to every single one, they were almost as fun as the ones Omar threw. Different, but fun as hell!

Nora laughed too, the sound music to his ears. "Yes." He grinned. "But tonight, Miles and Lucy were on a whole other level," she gushed, laughing slightly. "You weren't so bad yourself," she added.

He swelled with pride for a second, knowing that although she was teasing, she was honest. It the feeling faded quickly as his thoughts whirled around in his head. He sighed. "Ya'll know exactly what you want."

He didn't know why he said it, why he'd felt like he'd needed to, but he said it and he knew it was true. Nora had a clear path in front of her, she knew what she wanted and she was going to get there, one way or the other. Miles did too, in his own way. Even Lucy did, no matter what she said about not thinking about the future.

"Well, what about you?" Nora asked, sounding cheerful. "What do you want?"

It threw him off for a second, he never thought about that really. He observed what other people wanted, but he never thought about what he wanted. "I don't know... Nothin'," he said honestly.

Nora laughed again. "Come on!"

She thought he was joking, he realised.

"What about when you were a kid? All kids want something," she stated, sitting down on a bench, looking up at him with big trusting eyes.

He hesitated, should he lie to her? He shook off the thought quickly, he didn't need to lie to Nora, she'd never think less of him. She'd done so at first, but ever since they'd started dancing together, she'd warmed up to him. So he shrugged lightly. "Um, look, just-... For me, it's just...better not to want anything," he started, sitting down on the bench, straddling it so he could face Nora. "That way, if it goes away or..." he could see Nora's smile fading and he looked away, "...doesn't happen," he shook his head, "you know, it just doesn't matter."

He hadn't thought it would be this hard to say that, but it felt easier because he was saying it to Nora who was looking at him with sympathetic eyes. For a second, when he looked up into her eyes, he'd thought he'd seen her heart break for him, but he dismissed it as sympathy.

Nora's eyes intensified as she shifted slightly closer to him. "But you want something now, right?" she asked, her tone of voice sounding like she needed him to reassure her of that, not so much her stating facts. "Like...maybe to go to MSA?"

He looked at the flicker of hope in her eyes and he could've broken out into a wide smile. Hell yeah, he wanted to go to MSA, now that he knew Nora was there and she was... He didn't know what she was, his friend? His dance partner? He wanted to find out, though...

He just looked at her for a second before answering honestly, "There's a lot of things that I want now that I didn't used to." He let a ghost of a smile touch his lips. "I even catch myself every once in a while actually thinking I can have 'em."

He swallowed hard, noticing Nora's eyes drifted down to his lips for a second and he caught himself looking at hers. He realised that she wasn't pulling away, looking away, trying to get away. She was sitting still, eyes slightly unfocused. He started to lean forward, slowly, just to see what she did. His heart started beating fast when she didn't pull away but rather leaned into him too and he felt emboldened by it.

As he closed the space between them, he pulled his hand out of his pocket and lifted it to her neck, holding her close like he'd wanted for some time now. He felt his body react to her soft lips, her sweet smell surrounding him, but he couldn't stop kissing her. And she was kissing him back and it felt wonderful. It was a soft, light and rather short kiss, but how great wasn't that?

They broke away slowly and he let the smile through as he saw Nora's beautiful smile. He let his forehead rest on hers for a second before he pulled her into another kiss, equally soft and light. When he forced himself to stop kissing her, he noticed movement in the corner of his eye and turned his head to see. Nora did the same and they both saw a figure coming towards them from the party.

"Miles," he recognised, the bag by the figure's hip giving him away.

"What does he want now?" Nora complained softly, leaning back with a flash of annoyance across her face.

He couldn't help but smile at that and it only widened when Nora smiled back at him, to her credit looking slightly abashed. "Don't worry, he doesn't hold a candle against you," he teased.

"Hey!"

He only laughed when she slapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"Tyler! Nora! Glad I found you, man," Miles called for their attention. "It's Luce."

"Is she okay?"

Miles held up his hands in a sign of surrender. "She ain't hurt, Nora," he reassured her before frowning, "at least not physically."

"What happened?" Tyler broke in, standing up beside Nora, putting a calming hand on her back.

"It's that fool, Colin," Miles practically growled, "Luce and I caught him messin' about with some chic just after you guys left."

"What?"

"Oh my God, is she okay?" Nora asked worriedly.

Miles shrugged helplessly, "Dunno, man, she just ran out on me, but it looked like she was pretty upset."

"No shit."

Nora looked up sideways at him. "Tyler," she said warningly.

"What?" He shrugged lightly, "I'm just sayin' it ain't that-..."

"Did she say where she went?" Nora broke off, turning to Miles.

The music genius sighed. "She said something about checkin' their sound levels, I think, but-..."

"Thanks."

She was gone before neither guy could stop her, walking as fast as she could with her heels.

"Sorry to break up the love fest, man," Miles apologised, sounding a little too happy for it to sound genuine.

"Man, shut up."

Author's Note: Reviews make me happy!