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Noah's eyes rested briefly on Peyton's mouth, a wordless thought slipping rapidly through his mind, sensory memory and imagination, but he let it pass. His hopeful sense that maybe she would let him wasn't going away, but he didn't want to make this weird or screw it up. He met her eyes instead. He liked that too.

The air outside was cool, but he felt warm anyway. "Thanks," he answered shyly. "Um, not everyone in Life is smart, but I think I am, kind of, at least. I was gonna major in agricultural engineering and maybe help my parents improve their setup at home, I mean, the farm was running fine but there's always refinements you can make in any process, you know? And it's the figuring out how you can improve things and then getting to do it, that's the fun part. Science!" he exclaimed, and did a little fistpump with his free hand, then grinned, half embarrassed and half proud. "Did you know what you were gonna do yet? I mean, before," and he remembered in time that he probably shouldn't declare the name of a secret organization out loud in public.

"I was talking about that to someone, actually. But I've been pretty busy since then. They keep me running when I'm around the labs," Noah said, and shrugged one shoulder. He didn't seem to be upset about the state of things. "I wonder if I could, like, order seeds from somewhere. I heard someone's got a greenhouse, I wonder what they're growing. Vegetables or herbs or something, I guess, I bet the kitchen could really use fresh stuff." The "obvious alternative" hadn't even crossed his mind, apparently.

He listened as she answered, paying quiet attention to what she had to say and nodding. "I'm sorry," he said, then, with a slightly sheepish smile, "I'm glad you're here, though."

"That's true," Noah nodded. "Um - are there any, like, veggies you really like? Tree fruits would be harder to do, they'd take a while, unless there's a way to make them grow faster, but then I'm not so sure I'd trust them, considering." He trailed off, tilting his head a little. "But strawberries would be easy," he added, remembering suddenly that she liked strawberries. "Those can even grow in pots, we wouldn't have to have a garden plot or anything, just a window with enough sun or like right outside the dorms."

The goofy grin blossomed again as she squeezed his hand. He'd been a little afraid that maybe he'd offended her, but she still seemed to be in a good mood, and she was agreeing. He kind of wanted to hear more about her life, but it sounded like it was something that made her sad, and right now, in the bright, beautiful, cool day, he just wanted her to enjoy herself. She'd tell him more later if she really wanted to. "Look, there's the monkeys," he said, and pointed out the little island with its rocky climbing structure, where a cluster of snow monkeys groomed each other in a patch of sun.

"Uh huh, we could do that, you'd just have to remember to water it," Noah confirmed with a hopeful smile. She liked the idea. This was something he could really help her do, and the idea was kind of exciting.

It was almost strange to see real animals again after months spent tending to the odd little monstery things in the petting zoo, but it was nice. "I like them. Monkeys are smart," he said. "Did you know that snow monkeys wash their food in water before they eat to make sure it doesn't have dirt on it? Some of them prefer to use salt water because it adds flavor to the food." Like when he'd talked about the snakes, he sounded genuinely pleased by the trivia, happy to share interesting information.

"I could eat," he agreed. "What are you hungry for?"

It had been a long day that felt like a short day. They'd played tourist shamelessly and enjoyed themselves mightily doing so, and Noah thought he'd never stop smiling. Dinner had been great too. He hadn't expected any of this, but maybe that just made it better. He took the key card out of his wallet and swiped it carefully through the lock to open the hotel room. "I've had a lot of fun," he agreed as he opened the door, smiling back at Peyton.

It was just nice to hang out with her. Not complicated, not difficult, not awkward. Had anyone asked beforehand, he would have guessed that things would be awkward or weird, because she was pretty and confident and just really cool, and he never quite felt sure of himself, but it somehow hadn't been an issue. It was just easy to be around her, in a way that he'd never experienced before, and he liked it, and he liked her.

He toed his shoes off inside the room and set the keycard down on the table, then peeked over at Peyton. "Thank you," he said, a little shyly.

Noah looked at the closed bathroom door for a few moments, thinking about everything and nothing, a very specific everything and nothing that was still kind of blowing his mind. He really had no idea why Peyton would be interested in him; he was nervous, kind of boring, and gave in way too easily. But he was finding it easier than he'd expected to believe that she did like him. There wasn't anyone to impress or show off to; they were strangers in a city of a million people here, and still they'd had fun all day, talked all day, and she'd listened to his endless well of trivia with apparent interest and a genuine smile that he couldn't have resisted even if he wanted to. And she'd held his hand, stayed close to him all day, tucked up against his side or arm while they saw the sights and explored the neverending parade of new things to see that was the Big Apple.

This was ... real, and he didn't quite know how to deal with that and he really, really didn't want to mess it up, he'd made a bad first impression and somehow managed to recover from that and start a friendship anyway, a friendship that was rapidly shifting towards more than that. He thought, very briefly, of Al, then ruthlessly smothered the thought and the swell of hurt that came along with it. That had been something that happened between people who were very much like them but ultimately weren't, and Al had made it painfully clear that he thought it was funny, that he hadn't taken it seriously and hadn't cared enough to come back and stay friends after that strange, awkward moment in the dark and early morning of New Year's. One moment had ruined everything, a friendship he'd overstepped and lost. He didn't want to lose this too.

But this was different. This was just ... just them, and it hadn't been teasing, and maybe if Maebe hadn't kissed him during a fight he wouldn't have believed anyone really might want to kiss him, but there was evidence, and Noah's thoughts kept returning to Peyton's smile and the way her shoulder felt against his arm and the fact that she was here at all, with him, had gone off on leave just to spend the day with him -- with him! -- and they'd had fun and it was just ... easy.

ARE YOU GOING TO BE NAKED? Lazarus inquired with some interest.

Noah squeaked, feeling his whole face turning hot and realizing that he'd been staring blankly at the bathroom door while he turned ideas over in his head and actually maybe that was a little creepy. He hastily trotted over to dig his sweatpants and old t-shirt out of his backpack. It didn't take long to change, and when Peyton opened the door again, he was folding the shirt he'd been wearing into his bag. "I like to think so," he answered the playful question, and giggled himself.

When he turned around, though, he stopped and just stared for a moment. It wasn't like her pajamas were that different from normal clothes, but .... but they were, and he couldn't explain why the sight just stopped him in his tracks the way it did. "Wow," he said, and felt the blush come back and wished he could find something more intelligent to say, because that had been kind of dumb, really dumb, and, and ... his thoughts stuttered to a halt on their own.

"You're really beautiful," Noah said, then blinked and added hastily, "I mean, not that I didn't think that before, I just, I just thought it again now. Because you are." He shut up again. The brain-to-mouth filter, rather permeable on a good day, seemed to have vanished entirely.

Laz chuckled. GO AND GET HER, the weapon urged.

I can't just, it doesn't, Noah yelped, managing to keep the words from being out loud through a heroic force of willpower.

IF IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT THEN HOW DOES IT WORK? Laz inquired, and even with the massive debuffs to logical thought provided by the presence of a beautiful girl who he liked and his own terrifying nervousness, Noah had to admit that it was a fair question. He swallowed hard and took a tentative step toward Peyton, resolving silently that if she showed any sign of being unhappy with that he'd back off way fast.