The first time we see Noel in season three is after Braeden saves Isaac from the alpha pack, in the credits. He holds the same spot in the lineup, between Tyler Hoechlin and Holland Roden, and his visual stays the same as well (a clawed hand ripping his shirt to reveal the Hale triskele between his shoulder blades).

—

After the intro, we're in a tattoo parlor, and Stiles and Noel are flipping through books of pictures of potential tattoos. Stiles, now with an all new full head of hair, holds up a picture of a howling wolf.

"You sure you don't want this one?" he asks his best friend, Noel laughing and saying "Wait, I got a better one." He holds up a picture of a humanoid lizard, similar to the kanima, and Scott asks with a slight smirk "Why don't you get that one?"

"Because I hate tattoos, and I don't plan on getting one ever," Noel replies casually, looking at the tattoo artist and saying "No offense, of course."

The artist seems unbothered by the statement as he continues to prep Scott's arm to be tattooed. Stiles keeps flipping through the book, saying "I think I gotta go with Noel, man, are you really sure about this? Tattoos are pretty permanent."

"I'm not changing my mind," Scott says firmly, but with a smile.

"Okay, but why two bands?" Stiles asks, and Scott responds with a shrug "I just like it."

"But don't you think your first tattoo should have some sort of meaning, you know, or something?" Stiles asks, Scott shrugging. "Getting a tattoo means something."

"I don't think that's-" Noel starts, the tattoo artist cutting him off. "He's right. Tattooing goes back thousands of years. The Tahitian word tatau means 'to mark', like a rite of passage."

Scott turns to look at his friends, saying "See? He gets it."

"He's covered in tattoos, Scott. Literally," Stiles says, the tattoo artist picking up his gun and asking Scott if he's ready. Scott nods, and the man asks if he has any problems with needles. Scott says he doesn't, but Stiles says "I tend to get a little squeamish, so..." he trails off as he watches the man start to tattoo Scott's skin, fainting right into Noel's arms. Noel catches him, rolling his eyes and struggling to get Stiles into a chair.

After the session is over and all three boys go to Stiles' jeep, Stiles asks Scott if he's okay. Scott admits that the spot under the bandage "kind of burns", and Noel says "You don't think it's infected already, do you?"

"No, he just got stabbed like 1,000 times with a needle, that's why it burns," Stiles says.

Scott shakes his head, restating "I don't think it's supposed to burn like this."

After a short silence, Scott cringes in pain, repeating that the tattoo is definitely not supposed to feel like this. He tells them he has to take the bandage off, and Stiles and Noel yell at him not to (Stiles because he's afraid of what he'll see and Noel because he's afraid he'll just make it worse) but he does anyway.

We watch as the tattoo fades away to absolutely nothing. They all stare at it in shock, Scott saying dumbfoundedly "It healed..."

"Thank God, I hated it," Stiles responds, Noel and Scott both looking at him in disbelief. Stiles apologizes meekly before they all drive off.

—

When the boys pull up to the traffic light next to Lydia and Allison, Noel shrinks down in the backseat and stays away from the situation. When Stiles rolls down the window to say hi to the girls, Noel tries to pull him back, but it doesn't help.

The girls drive off as soon as the jeep's window is down, Noel groaning and collapsing back in the backseat. Stiles makes a face of disappointment, saying "You know what, they probably didn't see us."

When the light turns green and the boys start driving again, Scott points out that they're driving right behind the girls. "Well, do you see any turns he could take to stop driving behind them?" Noel asks, Scott saying "I just don't want it to look like we're following them!"

"What do you want me to do?" Stiles asks, Scott suggesting that Stiles do anything to stop following them. Stiles slams on the brake, and Allison turns to watch as she and Lydia drive away from the jeep.

Allison and Lydia then stop as well, Allison questioning why they all stopped in the first place. "It's the boys. Do you really want to try and apply logic to those three?"

As she says this, a deer runs into her front windshield, shattering it and spraying shards of glass at her and Allison. All three boys see and immediately get out of the jeep and run over to them, Scott asking if they're hurt. He runs to Allison while Stiles and Noel run to Lydia, asking if she's okay.

"No, I'm totally freaking out, how the hell did that just run into us?!" she asks, gripping onto Noel's sleeve. Noel puts a hand over hers and says "Lydia, relax, I'll call your mom and she can come pick us up and take us home, and we can drop Allison off at her house. We'll get the car fixed, it's gonna be fine, just relax."

With this line, he confirms that he's moved in with Lydia since the season two finale. As he says that line, Scott goes to the front of the car to survey the damage, Lydia saying "I saw its eyes right before it hit us... It was like it was crazy."

"No, it was scared," Scott says, still staring at the damage. He even reaches out and touches it, correcting himself "Actually... Terrified."

The other four watch him, Noel taking a deep breath and pursing his lips. He can smell the terror on the deer as well.

—

The next day, Allison's father goes into her room and asks her if she wants to wait another day before going back to school. She says she'll be fine, adding "I promised Lydia that I would drive her and Noel, since her car is wrecked and he sold his over the summer."

"That's a shame, I always thought he had a pretty nice car," Chris says, Allison shrugging and telling him "He said it had too many memories, but I just think he really misses Derek since he's the one that bought the car."

"He's a teenager and Derek was his first boyfriend, of course he misses him. He'll get over it once he finds someone new," Chris assures her, and she smiles, telling her father that she should probably get going. Chris nods, pulling her in for a hug.

—

When Lydia puts on her lipstick in her room and puts on a leather jacket, a voice behind her says "Looks good on you." We see a blonde teenage boy, laying in her bed, presumably naked. She smirks at the sound of his voice, taking the jacket off and tossing it at him.

He seems unfazed, asking "So, you think we could go out for a real date sometime?"

She ponders the question but pointedly doesn't answer. The boy then asks if they can have sex again, Lydia smiling this time. As she smiles, Noel pops his head in the doorway and says "Lydia, Allison's downsta- WOAH!"

He sees the boy laying in her bed, and he quickly covers his eyes despite the boy's bottom half being fully covered by her blanket.

Lydia turns to Noel, smiling and saying "I'll meet you down there. I get front seat." Noel nods and rushes out, mumbling a few apologies. The boy looks at Lydia, asking "Who the hell was that?"

"Roommate," Lydia answers simply, grabbing her bag and leaving the boy laying in her bed.

At school that day, Noel is walking down the hall with Scott and Stiles. Stiles asks Scott why he wants to ask Derek for help with his tattoo, and Scott says "He's got the triskele tattooed on his back, so there has to be a way to do it without healing, right?"

"Yeah, but still, doesn't he have his hands a little full," Stiles asks, gesturing to the posters in the hallway that declare Erica and Boyd as missing. Noel looks at the posters sadly and says "Maybe it will be good to give Derek a distraction. God knows I need one."

After he says this, the boys hear the new teacher in the next room and scurry away.

—

Later in class, Noel sits behind Scott. When Allison realizes the only available seat is in front of him, she sits down, Noel and Stiles both shooting him a thumbs up. He, along with the rest of the class, gets a text as their new teacher walks in, and as soon as she steps in, Noel looks intrigued. She instructs them to turn their phones off, meaning Scott doesn't get Melissa's call.

—

After Scott eventually leaves, Lydia and Stiles have a conversation where Lydia tells Stiles that her dog, Prada, bit her. Stiles suggests that maybe Prada biting her and the deer running into her car are related, but she brushes it off by pointing out Stiles' own philosophy about things happening in threes.

As she gets to the specifics of three, a bird crashes into the window of the classroom, a blood splatter popping up. All of the students turn to look, clearly uncomfortable and frightened. Suddenly we see a whole flock of birds flying, and they all begin to crash into the window. One manages to break through the glass as the students all scream and duck for cover.

The teacher yells at the students to all get down repeatedly, Stiles rushing to cover Lydia with his body while Noel does the same for Allison. Birds can be seen attacking students before there's a jumpcut to after the chaos.

The students all get up slowly, looking around the classroom in shock. Black feathers fill the entire room, desks all thrown out of place. Noel and Allison look at each other before they both look at Lydia and Stiles, who seem to have even less of a clue than they do.

—

After Derek's first appearance in the hospital with Scott, we're back in the classroom, Stiles and Noel both texting on their phones. Stiles looks up at their teacher, nudging Noel and gesturing to her. Noel looks at her before turning back to Stiles, nodding slightly. Stiles calls out to her "Miss Blake? Are you okay?"

She nods, subtly, and Stiles notices that she has a feather in her hair. Noel gives him a look when he pulls it out, narrowing his eyes disapprovingly.

Stiles then calls Scott and tells him there's an emergency at the school, but Scott tells him "Meet me at Derek's, okay? Bring Noel."

"Derek's house?! What the hell are you-" Stiles asks, but Scott cuts him off and tells him to just hurry down there.

—

When Stiles and Noel arrive at Derek's house, Noel decidedly doesn't look happy to be there. Derek tells Scott he can see the two bands of his tattoo, and asks him what it means.

"I don't know. It's just something I traced with my fingers," Scott says, showing Derek by drawing the symbol in the dust.

"Why's this so important to you?" Derek asks, Scott asking a question of his own. "Do you know what the word tattoo means?"

"To mark something," Noel says, his eyes fixed on Derek. When Derek turns to look at him, Noel quickly looks away in embarrassment, realizing he shouldn't have said anything at all. Stiles smiles, amused, but sympathetic for his friend.

"That's in Tahitian," Scott says, going off of Noel's statement. "In Samoan, it means 'open wound'."

Stiles and Noel both raise their eyebrows at Scott, Derek looking like he understands. "I knew I wanted to get a tattoo when I turned eighteen," Scott says softly. "I always wanted one. I just decided to get it now to make it kind of a reward."

"For what?" Derek asks, and Scott says solemnly "For not calling or texting Allison all summer, even when I really wanted to. Even when... It was so hard not to sometimes. I was just trying to give her the space she wants."

As he says this, Noel keeps glancing to Derek, knowing he hadn't done the same that summer. He looks down at the ground, full of guilt, vowing to himself to stop trying to make something happen with Derek when the man clearly doesn't feel the same way.

"Four months later, it still hurts. It still feels like... an open wound," Scott says.

Derek flashes him a slight empathetic smile, his eyes fixed on Scott as he says "I know the feeling too well."

Noel looks up at Derek, his posture tensing a bit. He licks his lips, clearing his throat and saying "I think I'm, uh... I think I'm gonna go for a walk. Text me when you guys are done here, okay?"

He takes off speed walking, Stiles calling out to him. We hear the door to the Hale house closing gently, and Scott looks at Derek.

"You didn't have to say that," he says, an air of protectiveness in his voice. Derek lets a beat pass before saying "I wouldn't have said it if it wasn't how I felt."

"He sold the car you bought him," Stiles informs Derek, the man nodding and saying "I'm aware. He mailed me the check."

"If you guys still like each other, why don't you just get back together?" Scott asks, Derek shaking his head.

"You of all people should know breakups are more complicated than that," he says, then adds "Noel and I had an extra complicated breakup. Now, are we going to keep talking about my love life or are you going to get a tattoo?"

Scott doesn't look like he wants to drop the situation, but he does, and the scene continues basically as normal. But instead of Stiles saying he's going to go wait outside when Derek pulls out the blowtorch, he says he's going to go out and find Noel. Derek holds him back, telling Stiles he's going to stay and hold Scott down. Derek starts tattooing Scott, and the scene ends with Scott's screams of pain.

—

After the tattooing is done, Scott and Stiles step outside and see Noel sitting on the front steps of the house. They look down at him and smile, and he smiles back.

"You okay?" Scott asks him, and he shrugs, saying "I will be."

Both the other boys smile at him and move to leave, until Scott notices that Derek painted the front door. He points this out, and Derek tells him to go home. Noel walks over to inspect the door, asking "Why did you only paint one side?"

He and Scott look at each other, both unleashing their claws and scratching at the paint. Derek yells their names to stop them, but they're already too far gone. They reveal the symbol of the alpha pack, as we flash to Braeden hiding in the locker room.

Scott asks Derek how many alphas there are, and Derek tells him it's a whole pack. Stiles and Noel share a look, and Derek repeats "An alpha pack."

"All of them? How does that even work?" Stiles asks, Derek replying "I hear there's some kind of a leader. He's called Deucalion."

It is revealed then that the alpha pack leader is the blind man Scott had helped in the elevator at the hospital earlier. "We know they have Boyd and Erica. Peter, Isaac, and I have been looking for them for the last four months."

"And you didn't even bother to tell me?" Noel asks, outraged. Derek gives him a look, one that's almost pitiful, and Noel demands "Go out there and find them."

"It isn't that simple," Derek says, and Scott asks "Let's say you find them. How do you deal with an alpha pack?"

"With all the help I can get," Derek says, the three teens looking at each other. Suddenly Isaac's voice pipes up from behind the quarter and asks "Where is she?"

They all turn to look at him, and Isaac clarifies "Where's the girl?"

"What girl?" Derek asks, as we see Braeden in the locker room talking with Deucalion.

—

Noel isn't seen or mentioned again in the episode.