#para:noa

[marykatehood]

Mary Kate liked to think that she was a person who learned from her mistakes, but if tonight was any indication, then she most certainly did not. The Halloween Ball was starting to feel all too familiar -- spending time with Noa, being her happiest when she was around him, then deciding she couldn’t trust herself with her feelings -- like the wedding all over again, right down to the part where she ended up kissing a boy she didn’t care about in the middle of the dance floor for all to see. Only this time, spite and jealousy and denial hadn’t made her want to keep going, or to take things entirely too far. Instead, when Jay had pulled back from her and thanked her for their kiss being nice, Mary Kate had just been tempted to tell him that no, it wasn’t, because it wasn’t him that she wanted to kiss and she was sick of pretending that anyone else could be Noa. They couldn’t, and as soon as she’d made her best attempts at damage control for Jay and Jordan, Mary Kate jumped ship and tried to go back and find him instead. So what if she didn’t make his heart beat erratically or his stomach do flips or his smile so big that his face hurt the way he did to her? Even just being around him doing nothing was better than any random kiss or hookup she’d ever had.

Mary Kate probably could have brushed that off easily enough. Not being in the mood to ditch a great party for a meaningless hookup? Totally casual. But when she hadn’t found Noa and had realized he’d left, Mary Kate hadn’t called it quits and gone home, or gone back to partying with her other friends. She’d found her feet tracing the hallways of the dorms to his room, and was currently trying to finger-comb any knots out of her hair so that if he opened the door for her, she didn’t look like someone who’d been liplocked with someone else only to want to come see him instead. Mary Kate wracked her brain for some kind of explanation for how she’d ended up here, but she couldn’t seem to come up with anything that wasn’t akin to neon lights flashing and spelling out just how crazy she was about him. Admitting that was terrifying, and it was setting herself up for heartbreak, she was sure -- but her feet had carried her this far, and she wasn’t turning around now. She didn’t want to hear about how she’d ditched him for Jay for the next four months, or about how being someone’s distraction was almost as bad as being their gay whisperer, or whatever grief Noa was going to give her about her life and her choices. She just wanted to be with him, it didn’t matter in what way. And so, sucking in a deep breath and willing her hand not to shake, Mary Kate raised her knuckles up and knocked gently on the door. 

@noa-atua

[marykatehood]

⚰️ for our muses to ditch the festival to explore somewhere rumored to be haunted

“Okay, was that seriously the best that Halloweentown had to offer? Because I wasn’t scared like, the entire time we were in there, it was so lame!” Mary Kate scoffed with a shake of her head as she and Noa exited the haunted house. She hadn’t meant to end up spending the afternoon hanging out with him, but as always seemed to happen when he was around, she’d found her way to his side. She’d suggested the haunted house because it had seemed easier than doing something where she might have to talk about how weird she’d been acting towards him lately, but the entire thing had been underwhelming. Not wanting to give him time to tease her about her terrible choice of activities, Mary Kate wracked her brain for something else to do that was more their speed, a mischievous smile on her face as she thought of something. “Okay, so this isn’t me hitting on you,” she prefaced, “But do you want to get out here? I heard the lighthouse down at Belle’s Harbor might be haunted, and like everyone’s at the festival right now, this could be our one chance to explore.” 

@noa-atua

[marykatehood]

While King’s Day wasn’t exactly her favorite event of the summer, the day was still turning out to be pretty fun for Mary Kate, especially once she’d bumped into Noa. Not that she’d ever admit that to him; she’d rather die than let him know he was the best part of her day. Still, dragging him around for a bit before he inevitably ditched to go hook up with some other girl was kind of nice. What wasn’t nice? This stupid avocado lime cheesecake she’d bought. She’d snapped a picture of it for her avocado-loving mom before taking a bite of it, her face twisting in disgust as she swallowed. “Ugh, this is awful, you eat it,” Mary Kate insisted as she attempted to shove it into Noa’s mouth instead, nearly dropping it as her eyes moved from the cake in her hands up to his face. Damn. This boy managed to do weird things to her heart on a regular day, but something about this moment felt different, like just looking at him was enough to make her legs feel like jelly and like there were butterflies exploding in her stomach. 

@noa-atua

[hemimanawa]

🍁jump on the fallen leaves together and have fun

Growing up with people like Ariana and Noa around, it was easy for Hemi to feel like he was kind of the lame kid in the Motunui crowd. For the most part, he felt like it had gotten better since he’d gotten to college and kind of grown into his own skin, but he still felt like he lacked game comparatively. Especially considering that girl in his econ class that he’d tried to ask out last week, only to have her not-so-gently turn him down. How was he supposed to know she only dated guys who were six feet taller or more? That seemed like a pretty arbitrary rule to have, but he’d kind of been sitting in the back of class avoiding her ever since.

Now, though, he was strolling across campus with Noa, just trying to have a chill catch up session, when he spotted her coming from what felt like a mile away. “Shit, shit, shit, no,” Hemi groaned, looking around for another path he could take so he didn’t have to see her. No such luck, though; there wasn’t even really anywhere to hide, unless he hid behind Noa, which was too lame even for him. “Quick, pretend like we’re uh... having fun. Girls love fall aesthetic pictures, right?” Hemi said desperately as he grabbed Noa’s arm and pulled him off to the side, where a pile of leaves was stacked almost waist high. “Jump in or... do whatever, just don’t look at that girl down there!” Hemi demanded as he himself faceplanted into the heap. 

@n-atua​