Noah was bored. He had twisted his ankle the other day when he was rehearsing some dance moves that he had learned over the summer and walking.. walking was painful. So he had originally been on his way to the grounds to go enjoy the autumn leaves but with how his ankle was hurting - he couldn't walk anymore. So he opted to chill in the Arcade Area. Surely Minjae would have been in here, right? Limping into the room, he scanned the area and found himself frowning and sighing when he didn't find his friend.

He didn't feel like venturing back up to his common room so he slumped into one of the free chairs and began searching through the nearest games. He was trying to find something at least interesting to play. Snitch Snacker... No.... Wizard Skittles... Not in the mood for. He pursed his lips, wishing that he

Rune Riddles. That sounded like fun! He selected a puzzle book and then began trying to solve it. Not even three minutes later, he threw his head back and sighed. He was so bored.

Aboli had literally never ventured into this room before. She had heard Minjae and Noah talking about it recently, though, and knew Noah had even considered it for her and Minjae's date. She had nixed it, though, because she didn't want her first ever date to include video games. She didn't find anything WRONG with them, but she wasn't familiar enough to feel comfortable.

She thought she spotted Noah as she was making her way down a staircase and had swiftly but quietly followed him. He had gone into the arcade area...and she spent longer than normal debating whether to join him or not. Usually, she would have had no second thought about chilling with her best mate. Now, however...she just...it was so easy to do something stupid with him, especially the near!miss the other day...she was uneasy still from it.

Sighing heavily, she entered the room and smiled. "Hey Noah!" she said cheerfully.

He had successfully managed to balance his ankle upon an uneasy stack of board games and card games. Elevation was good for swollen things so thus he was elevating his ankle. Not sure if it'd help at all but he was game to try because he was in pain. Glancing at the riddle in front of him, he paused, deep in thought before being distracted by other things. The other day... Things had gotten a little... erm... well complex between him and a certain Prefect. He was in a relationship and thought... he was boots and all in it. He was sure he was but part of him.... Part of him wondered if it was possible to have feelings for someone else. Right, wrong, or indifferent.. he felt horrible at such a confession.

Noah heard her voice and he felt a semi-sinking feeling in his stomach paired with a happy grin. He was happy to hear her voice but also pleasantly surprised she was her. "Aboli! Come play a game with me!" he cried out with the biggest smile he could imagine wearing. He wanted her to sit with him. Longed for her not to be awkward around him...

"I saw you sneak in here earlier...and had to return a book to the library before I came to join you!" she liiiiiied, plopping down next to him. She was obviously not going to admit she had debated joining him for like waaaaay too long before coming inside. "What are you playing?" she asked, getting comfortable immediately. Her eyes trailed down to his leg and the makeshift lift he had made. "Mate, what the heck happened to your leg?!" she asked worriedly. "Did you hurt yourself? Dancing?" Which if he had, she would SNORT so loudly. What a Noah play. WHAT A NOAH THING TO DO.

Everything was fine. This was fine. Nothing was on fire. HER HEART WASN'T ON FIRE. THIS WAS PERFECTLY OK, FINE, AND NOT WEIRD.

NOPE.

Oh. He bit his lip, holding back a teasing comment about her stalking him or something. That.... Probably wouldn't have gone over well. Instead he went with a more neutral answer. "So you watched me limp in and didn't help me?" he asked, pretending to look as horrified as he could when she plopped down next to him. He was only teasing though. But his heart sort of dropped at the thought. A little. But she wasn't being weird and they weren't being awkward so this was nice. It felt normal. Really normal. Things were okay and there weren't any fires.... yet. Small wins?

"I was playing Rune Riddles. It looked interesting. Are you good at riddles?" he asked, offering her a small smile. Noah was okay at them but maybe there was a better game to play. "We could play a different one if this isn't fun."

He followed her eyes after she asked that question to his makeshift unstable lift and he gave her a lop-sided grin. "Weeeeell you seeee..... " he dragged out before covering his hands with his face out of sheer embarrassment, looking something like this. He laughed. "How did you know??" He then whined. "I twisted my ankle earlier today when I was rehearsing a new dance..."

Oh no! Aboli looked aghast. "I - I didn't notice the limp! I'm so sorry, Noah!" She felt bad INSTANTLY. She really hadn't noticed, though...or maybe she had, and she was just too anxious about talking to him so she had ignored it? She shook her head quickly - SHE HAD NOT NOTICED.

Aboli tried to peer around for the box so she could read the directions of this game. "Not...great, but not terrible. Kind of neutral about it. Are YOU any good at it?" she asked, not wanting to OUT LOUD say that he seemed like the kind of person that'd be rubbish at riddles. "You should come by my house one day when we're home and see all the AWESOME board games my mum collects." Collect being the right word because Ziggy did not buy them to play; no, she was more about the aesthetic of muggle board games. The more profound and difficult they looked, the better.

Oh gosh.

OH GOSH.

The FACE he made sent her heart into the most un-rhythmic and rapid of palpitations, and she had to make sure she kept her face blank EVEN when her cheeks turned a deep scarlet. "NOaaaaaah! You have to be CAREFUL. Did you go see Healer Recard yet?" she asked softly.

Sadness.

Noah felt bad. Like really bad. No, Like really, really, REALLY, REALLY, really BAD. Really x 3000 bad. Had he purposely wanted to make her feel bad for not seeing him limping about? Uhh.. No but he just wanted to see IF she CARED. He waved his hands frantically. “No, no, no, no! It’s fiiine…” Everything was fine. Really it was. Deh nile was a looooooooooong river, he thought or could have sworn he heard his new cousin’s voice in his head. He cringed at that comment. He really ought to stop writing to his cousin so often. Spenley was a bad influence. “I don’t think I’d have wanted you to see me limp…” Probably would have been somewhat embarrassing. “You or Minjae..” he blurted out before glancing at the box.

He nodded when he heard her response. So mediocre? Wait. Aboli was mediocre? LIES! She was practically perfect minus the whole used to having a crush on bad boys thing... bu that was in the past to him. “Wait. Is this something I can actually beat you at?” he teased with a BIG GRIN. “I’m certain that you’re just being humble..” Aaaaaand thoughtful too perhaps. He offered her a confident, cocky smirk “I’m fairly decent at it. Riddles and rubix cubes..” If they had been thirteen, he would have offered to WOW! her by showing just how quick he was at solving a rubix cube. He smiled more genuinely when she invited him over to her house so that he could see the board games that her mum collected. That sounded great! He'd love too... Er. Like that. Like that was better. Everything was fine. “I’d like that- yeah! Do you like board games?” he asked.

That was the face of embarrassment. Eyes shut, Noah hadn’t been able to see the blush at first. He opened his eyes to find that her cheeks were quite red and her facial expression… deadpan… Huh? Mental note – NEVER play poker with Aboli. Girl was good at keeping a poker face. He blinked, utterly confused. Surely, she couldn’t be blushing, could she? He debated teasing her but stopped himself when she spoke once more. Awww… She DID care. The way she had asked her question made him feel quite unexpectedly vulnerable. “I was making my way there…. And I didn’t get far…”

"Why not me or Minjae?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. It was an odd statement...other people he didn't mind seeing the limp...but her and Minjae??? Why them?

She quickly shook her head as she picked up the box to glance at the directions. "Um..no. Not being humble. If I was good at it, I'd just tell you. I'm never humble with you," she said with a snicker. "WAIT! You can do a RUBIX CUBE?!" she practically shrieked because she didn't know anyone who could! WHOAH. Was Noah a secret genius?! Not that she thought he was dumb, but a RUBIX CUBE. "I do if I'm in the mood to play one. I'm not always in the mood," she shrugged as she tried to finished reading the directions, pausing a moment in talking to Noah in order to concentrate. She typically did not think awkward silences could exist between her and Noah (and the other Noah, too), and so she did not find this weird at all.

But maybe now it was weird, and now that she was hyper-focusing on it...it felt weird to her.

Ugh.

"Noah Nam! We should go right this minute!" she set the game down and crossed her arms AND FIXED HIM WITH A SERIOUS STARE. "Right NOW."

He flushed and looked away from her so that she would not see that. He would not admit that he was jealous not now. But then again... perhaps it was normal for best friends to be jealous of new friendships. "It's silly..." he admitted, looking back at her.

Noah arched his right eyebrow at her snicker and confession. She was cute. His eyebrows raised when she practically shrieked. "I can.... What? Like it's hard?" he asked, channeling his inner Elle Woods minus the whole pink aspect. He nodded, listening to her. Sure, he didn't come across as the smartest in the room but he was pretty smart. He smirked when she admitted that she wasn't always in the mood. He understood that.

He paused, trying to refocus on it as she was silent and then she said THEY HAD TO FIX IT. And he gave her a terrifying stare. He froze. "Yeeeeees?"