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Part 3 of In Search of Harmony - Noah x Sam
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SDV Writers Guild: OC Week
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2025-07-09
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2,592
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1/1
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The NAH Trio

Summary:

Written for the Stardew Valley Fanfic Writers Guild OC Week for the prompt: Besties

Noah is new to Pelican Town and has quickly become best friends with Haley and Alex. Together they hatch a plan so that Noah can dance with his crush at the upcoming Flower Dance.

*~*

"I barely know him. I can't exactly just go up to him and ask him out." He glanced between his cousin and his friend. "Can I?"

"You should ask him to dance tomorrow," Alex said suddenly, winking at Haley.

"Oh you totally should," Haley agreed quickly. It was in that moment that Noah realized he'd walked right into a trap.


Notes:

I came up with the idea for Noah back in January, but haven't yet gotten around to writing him. I hope you like him just as much as I do!

A special thank you to my dear friend Grey for the Noah art! Check out Grey's work on Tumblr and on ao3!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

If he lived to be 100, Noah would never forget the first time he met Haley. It had been a bright, sunny day — his first full day in his new town, in fact — and Noah had spent the morning tilling the soil of his new farm with his late grandfather's hand-me-down tools, lamenting the fact that he no longer had access to all the gas powered equipment he'd used in his former job as a landscaper for Joja Corp. Satisfied with the small bit of land he'd cleared before noon, he hadn't bothered changing when he left the house, since he was intending to head home immediately after he ran his errands to actually plant the seeds he hoped to buy from the local general store.

He'd left the store with a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter and some packets of seeds, turning back towards his home on the edge of town, and had almost bumped into a pretty blonde woman. He had caught himself just in time, halting midstep to stop himself from bowling her over, and had offered a crooked grin in apology.

He'd felt like an ant under a magnifying glass as her blue eyes sized him up from head to toe and back again. "Oh," she said, her voice as casual as if she were ordering a pizza. "You're that new farmer boy, aren't you?" She didn't wait for him to respond before speaking again. "My sister told me you were moving in."

"Your sister?" Noah had managed to ask.

"Huh? Oh yeah, she knows all the gossip," the woman replied as she rolled her eyes. "Useful at times, but annoying too. Anyways, I'm Haley," she added, finally identifying herself. Noah still wasn't sure who her sister was. Aside from the local carpenter and the mayor who had served as a welcome committee for the town, he hadn't met anyone aside from the shopkeeper five minutes ago, and he highly doubted that Robin or the smug 'Pierre' was Haley's sister.

In the time it had taken for Noah to think all of that, Haley's eyes had narrowed slightly as she sized him up. "Hmm…" she said, almost to herself. "You know… if it weren't for those horrendous clothes, you might actually be cute." Then she blushed as she realized she'd spoken the words out loud. "Actually, nevermind," she started to say, but Noah cut her off.

"Okay, well maybe call me when you're wearing shoes from this decade and we can talk fashion," he retorted, rolling his own eyes. He started walking away, intending to brush past her, but to his surprise, Haley laughed.

"Fair," she giggled. "I totally deserved that. I was pretty rude, wasn't I?" She shook her head. "Here, let me help carry your stuff to the farm, I'm not doing anything else today. On the way I can tell you all about the town. I expect you haven't met too many people yet."

Noah shook his head, too bewildered by Haley's seemingly 180 degree change in attitude to protest as she took his bag from his hand. "Just you, the mayor, Robin and Pierre," he offered.

"Oh Yoba, what a welcome," she giggled again as she followed him towards the farm. "Okay, well, let's start with my sister…"

"You know, I'm glad you moved to town," Haley remarked thoughtfully, as she painted Noah's fingernails a light blue colour. Normally he would protest, but even though it had only been a couple of weeks, he knew that arguing with the woman who was quickly becoming his best friend would be futile. And at least he wouldn't have too much time for manual labour the next day since it was the flower dance, and that meant the polish was much less likely to chip. "Gives me someone other than Alex to talk to." She glanced at her friend sitting across the room. "Although… I still think you two would make good couple."

"And I told you," Alex interjected dryly, "it may be a small town, but I'm still not dating my cousin."

Noah nodded wholeheartedly. He'd only met Alex once before moving to Pelican Town, when he'd accompanied his father to Alex's mother's funeral. Understandably, neither of them said much to each other at that time, but Noah remembered looking sadly at his cousin from where he was sitting, wondering what it would be like to have a parent die at such a young age. He'd thought about that a lot in the following years when his father had been fighting in the Ferngill-Gotoro war…

"You're second cousins at best," Haley said as she added a quick drying clear coat to the top of Noah's nails.

"Our grandmothers were sisters," Noah pointed out. "Still close enough."

"Besides," Alex said, a gleam in his eye as loud music started playing from Haley's neighbour's house. "Noah has his eye on someone else."

"When are you going to ask him out, N?" Haley asked, a similar gleam in her own eye. "Or are you just going to keep pining away."

"It's hardly pining," Noah protested as he felt his cheeks turn red. "I barely know him. I can't exactly just go up to him and ask him out." He glanced between his cousin and his friend. "Can I?"

"You should ask him to dance tomorrow," Alex said suddenly, winking at Haley.

"Oh you totally should," Haley agreed quickly. It was in that moment that Noah realized he'd walked right into a trap.

He shook his head, but he already had a sinking feeling that protest was futile. He already knew his friends well enough to know that they wouldn't let him leave Haley's room until he agreed to do what they asked. Truthfully, he wasn't even mad about it. Especially when they were right, he did have a crush on Haley's neighbour, and it would be a perfect opportunity to get closer to him.

"I'm sure Sam has already asked someone to dance," Noah pointed out.

"Oh you're right," Alex said, breezily. "He always dances with Penny. Just like I always dance with Haley and Sebastian always dances with Abigail. But it's not like any of that means anything. It's just how it is."

"Exactly," Haley added. "It's not like I'm dating Alex or anything," she pointed out, wrinkling her nose. "He's definitely not my type."

"No, you just put up with me cause I'm the best dancer and you like to win the Flower Queen title every year," Alex pointed out.

Haley threw a cotton ball at Alex, which missed by a long shot since it was too light to make it all the way across the room. Alex still feigned injury as if he'd been hit, putting his hand over his chest and falling back dramatically across the back of Haley's makeup chair.

"Well how about this?" Noah suggested, once Haley had painted the last stroke of clear coat, waving his hands around in the air to help the polish dry. "I'll ask Sam to dance if you two ask your preferred partners." He smiled to himself as both his friends blanched. "Or are you too chicken?" he asked, making bork noises in both of their directions.

Haley was the first to rally, but instead of refusing like he'd thought she would, she booped him on the nose. "Deal," she said, a grin on her face.

They both turned to look at Alex who was chewing on his lower lip. "I… It's…" he looked like he might cry. "You know my grandfather doesn't know I'm gay, Haley," he said finally with a small whisper.

Shit! Noah had forgotten that fact when he'd issued his dare. "Fuck, I'm sorry Alex," he said. "You don't have to…" He got up and walked across the room to wrap Alex in a hug. "I forgot," he said simply, feeling Alex shake underneath him. His cousin seemed so confident that Noah forgot sometimes that he was still technically in the closet.

Haley hugged both of them. "We don't want to make you do anything you're not ready for," she confirmed. "The dance is supposed to be fun, after all," she added in a soft voice, as she wiped a tear off his cheek. "Still, it would be fun to break up the ASS trio," she said thoughtfully.

"You know only Abby calls them that, right?" Alex said, his voice still a little shaky, but clearly feeling a little relieved for the change in topic. "Sebastian hates it. Sam just goes along with it cause he's so agreeable."

"I know," Haley agreed, "But it's fun. Anyways," she continued. "I think it's time to interject a little NAH trio into the ASS trio."

"NAH trio?" both Alex and Noah asked.

Haley nodded with satisfaction, pointing at each of them as she spoke their names. "Noah, Alex, Haley… N. A. H. NAH!" she grinned.

Noah and Alex just stared at her. "I've never felt more empathy with Sebastian in my entire life," Alex muttered, shaking his head reluctantly.

"I suppose that makes me Sam," Noah agreed with a smile. "You and I both know that no matter how much we protest, she's going to call us that from now on," he added reluctantly. Haley was as stubborn as a mule, although she preferred being called tenacious.

"Alright, Hales," Alex said, a frown on his face. "What's your plan? Hopefully it's one that doesn't involve me outing myself to the whole town."

"Well, here's what I was thinking…"

"You don't have to do this just because Haley said so, you know that right?"

Noah jumped at the sound of Alex's voice behind him. He'd been so lost in thought, he hadn't heard Alex approach until he'd spoken. He fiddled with the bowtie on the suit he'd pulled out of his grandfather's closet. It was both ill fitting and tight at the same time; his grandfather apparently had been taller than Noah, but not as muscular, and Noah hadn't planned on dancing until the evening before.

"I know," Noah said, as Alex untied Noah's tie and tied it again properly. "Thanks," he added, gratefully. "I just… I do want to ask him to dance, you know?"

The second person Noah had met in Pelican Town had been Sam, and he'd been instantly lovestruck. How could he not be? Sam was handsome, his blue-green eyes sparkling everytime he smiled, a light dusting of freckles dancing over his slightly crooked nose, his blond hair sticking out in a mullet that should look absolutely absurd, but just seemed to emphasize Sam's carefree nature. He'd found more and more excuses to just "drop by" Haley's neighbour's house to say hi. At first he'd been afraid Sam was dating his best friend, Sebastian, but Haley had laughed in his face when he'd found the courage to ask her one day.

"I'm sure they've slept together a few times," she said, pointedly ignoring Alex's frown at her statement. "But Abby told me they tried dating properly for like a month last year, and it just did not end well. They didn't speak to each other for like two weeks after that."

Which was comforting and terrifying all at once. Comforting because Noah didn't have to worry about competition from Sam's best friend. Terrifying because Haley had all but confirmed Sam was single. Which meant it was up to Noah to find the courage to ask him out. Which he hadn't managed to do… yet.

Noah's eyes settled on a red-haired girl in a white dress who entered the clearing, her eyes set on Sam. Thankfully, though, Penny was distracted by Sebastian's sister, Maru, and Noah knew it was now or never. If he didn't ask Sam to dance, Haley would happily dance with Alex again. He smiled at his friend as she also arrived at the clearing, followed by her sister, Emily. He knew she was counting on him to be the brave one, to give her an excuse to shake things up. She had told him last night that she could never be the one to stir the pot — things in Pelican Town were frustratingly set in stone — but if Noah disrupted things, then maybe she could follow suit.

"Well," Noah said, steeling his shoulders. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck," he heard Alex mumble behind his back, and then Noah headed over to the buffet table where Sam was standing with Abigail and Sebastian.

"Hey man," Sam beamed at him when he noticed Noah approaching. "You made it! Welcome to your first ever Flower Dance."

Sebastian groaned beside him. "You can leave now and save yourself," he said, only half-joking. "This dance fucking sucks."

Abigail pushed gently on his shoulder. "At least you have a good dance partner," she reminded him.

"I guess," Sebastian moped. "I'd rather have no dance partner. I hate feeling like everyone is staring at me."

"You never know, maybe this is your lucky year," Noah smiled encouragingly. "Anyways, can I borrow Sam for a minute or two?"

Sebastian and Abigail blinked at him, then both of them grinned. "Yeah, go right ahead," Abby said, dragging Sebastian away by the sleeve of his blue suit jacket.

Sam looked at Noah once they were alone, a nervous but hopeful look in his eyes. "What's up, Noah?" he asked, his voice slightly higher pitched than normal.

Suddenly Noah found it a little hard to breathe. Something about the way Sam looked at him, like he was the centre of the universe, always made Noah feel a little lightheaded. He shook his head and let out a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart. "I… waswonderingifyouwanttodancewithme?" he blurted out.

Sam didn't say anything. He just blinked at Noah, a grin growing on his face. He opened his mouth and… sneezed. Loudly. Several times in a row. Then he turned red as he pulled an honest-to-Yoba handkerchief out of his pocket and blew his nose. "Sorry," he mumbled, "Stupid allergies." He sniffed. "There. That's better." Then he grinned again and said the only words that could have calmed Noah's nerves: "Of course I'd like to dance with you. I was hoping you might ask."

"You were?" Noah's own voice squeaked a little, so he cleared his throat. "Good. I… yeah… good." He glanced over his shoulder, giving a thumb's up to Haley and Alex, then made small talk with Sam while they watched Alex approach Penny and ask her to dance. Penny looked surprised, and glanced over at Sam, smiling at him as she saw him with Noah.

Haley, on the other hand, headed in their direction, veering off to head toward Abigail. They watched as Abby blushed then nodded her head in excitement. Next to Abby, Sebastian looked relieved as he glanced around the clearing and realized he'd be able to sit the dance out for once.

"Finally," Sam said, as Abigail took Haley's hand and led her to the dance area. He reached out for Noah's hand as well, which Noah eagerly accepted, suppressing a shiver as Sam's calloused fingers entwined with his own. "I thought they'd never get together," he said just loud enough for Noah to hear. "Now we just need to figure out how to get Sebastian to pull his head out of his ass and ask your cousin out."

Noah laughed as he took his place across from Sam. "One thing at a time," he said as the music began and they met in the middle. "Today, let's just focus on us."

Noah by Egggargler

Notes:

There will be more Noah fics down the road. I have a few ideas laid out for him and Sam, and I can't wait to write more about him, hopefully somewhat regularly!

If you enjoyed, kudos and comments are always appreciated and help fuel the plot bunnies!

Next week, a special birthday fic a friend of mine. I don't want to give too many details, but I can tell you it features Willy.

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