Xiumin/Sehun
Obnoxious side girl!Baekhyun/Lu Han
PG-13, 5k
Sehun’s first year in his dorm is starting out awful, and the cute boyish RA with amazing abs really isn’t helping. Or maybe, he’s the only one actually helping.
Sehun is excited. Nervous, but excited.
Its not as if he's just graduated high school -- he took a year off, vacationed with his family -- but he's jittery, luggage beside him on a trolley, bag slung over his shoulder and teeth worrying his bottom lip.
It's his first day, moving into the spacious dorms directly off campus. Or, really, he's trying to move in, but he's lost the key card they've given him and is now trapped outside, cold Autumn wind biting through the thin beanie he's wearing, whistling through his summery jacket.
It's an accident really, and Sehun regrets it, shivering in the cold, ass nearly frozen to the ugly blue bench he's seated himself on, metal digging into places it shouldn't be. He's staring at his phone, grief stricken, dramatic frown in place, the busy signal blaring over the speaker phone for the fifth time.
"Answer your phone," He whines out loud, pathetically pressing the numbers in once again, holding it to his ear this time, feeling blessed when it actually rings.
"Hello? Lavender Place 4th floor Adviser, is this a student?"
The voice that answers is boyish, upbeat, cute, but Sehun only frowns deeper, glares at a truck across the street.
"You finally answered," He snaps, usual shyness shoved away with his frustration, irritation as his fingers go numb, knuckles red.
"It's move in day. We often are busy and experience high call volumes," His Resident Adviser answers smoothly, handling Sehun's outburst well. He in fact, sounds cheerful, undeterred. Sehun decides he hates him already.
"I lost my keycard," Sehun mutters, embarrassed as he stuffs his free hand in his pocket for warmth as a particularly snarly gust of wind whips around the pillars at the front of the building. "Would you - could you please let me in? And maybe help me with - with my stuff. My hands are frozen."
"I was waiting for that one person," The Ra says with a laugh, sounding completely unsympathetic to Sehun's situation, voice endlessly chipper. "Someone always loses the keycard first day. You poor soul, I'll be right down."
He hangs up on Sehun, not waiting for a response. Sehun sulks, glares at his phone and shoves it into his bag, crossing his legs over his lap, hands wringing together to creates some kind of friction.
"Right down" turns out to be fifteen minutes later, a short but fit boy swinging out the doors and around a pillar to stop in front of Sehun, good-natured grin in place, tanktop tight, low cut.
"Hello!" He says, gums appearing with how wide his grin stretches. The boy holds out a hand for Sehun to shake, retracting it smoothly when Sehun just frowns at him, not missing a beat as he continues. "I'm Minseok! Sorry for leaving you out in the cold, some girl has already set off the sprinklers in her room."
"Poor girl," Sehun yawns, getting to his feet, arms crossed over his chest and frown never leaving. "Bet its warm at least."
"The water was cold?" Minseok asks, more a question than a statement. His grin never falters, much like Sehun's frown ever does either. It feels like a challenge, and Sehun only frowns deeper, more pronounced. He really doesn't like his RA.
"Are you not cold?" Sehun mumbles, glancing at Minseok's outfit, lingering on well-defined arm muscles before resuming his frown. He doesn't ogle at the muscles of someone he's already put onto his hate list.
"Nope!" Minseok says cheerfully, muscles flexing obnoxiously as he curls fingers around the trolley handle, dragging it behind him and waving for Sehun to follow. "Nothing like a good breeze to get the blood flowing."
Sehun blinks, following Minseok and heaving out a sigh of relief when a blast of warm beautiful air blesses his skin, shaking his head like a dog to fix his windblown hair.
His good mood doesn't last long however, because they're stopping at the front desk, Minseok speaking quietly to the equally chipper lady behind it. They take too long, and Sehun frowns, lines etched into his features. He taps Minseok's shoulder for his attention, furrowing his eyebrows for effect.
"What's taking so long?" He asks, and he's trying to keep up his attitude, but Minseok only smiles brightly at him, eyes sparkling.
"I'm getting you a new keycard printed!" Minseok says, voice the living embodiment of a pig-tailed girl skipping down the street. Sehun wants to gag. "And you can't complain, because it’s your fault!"
Sehun glares, probably does almost gag, and his mood only worsens when another RA exits the elevator, all auburn hair and perfect features. Sehun ogles at him a bit too, frown slipping from his mouth before the new arrival guffaws loudly, clapping Minseok on the back and grinning at Sehun, feral and ugly.
"This one looks a little lost," He says conversationally, looking Sehun up and down with a glint in his eye. "Cute, too. Is he your floor?"
"Yup!" Minseok chirps, new keycard in hand as he turns back to them, tossing it to Sehun and taking his trolley once again, tilting his head towards the elevator as if he's calling an obedient puppy. "He lost his keycard and I had to come to the rescue. He's a grumpy one."
"I'm right here, you know," Sehun says meekly, walking at least an entire three feet behind the two, fidgeting nervously now that he's out numbered by freakishly cheerful people.
"Oh," Minseok says, and this time his smile extends to his entire face. Sehun frowns, confused by physics. He's always been confused by physics, but even science can't explain how someone can have such wonderful muscles and yet look like an excited hamster when they smile. The cute disappears when Minseok continues, "I nearly forgot you were here. Let's get you to your room. Oh Sehun is it?"
"Yes," Sehun sighs, crammed into a corner of the elevator next to the creepily grinning RA.
"Single room, right?" Minseok asks, and he's leaning across the trolley, entire chest exposed. Sehun tries not to blush as he sneaks a peek under the white material, noting pink nipples and what looks like amazing abs. The boy next to him snickers quietly, and that snaps Sehun back, has his frown appearing, comical and sorrowful.
"I don't like roommates," Sehun says honestly, grateful for the ding! of the elevator as they reach the fourth floor, mechanical female voice announcing so, grating to Sehun's ears. He's going to hate that too.
"Well, as a single dorm person," Minseok explains as they walk down the hall, motioning the other RA to follow them. "You're required to take part in the weekly orientation events. No exceptions, no buts. We can't have any lonely people."
"I'd rather not-" Sehun starts to say, but the other RA waves a hand at him, grins.
"You have no choice," He says in a voice as cheerful as Minseok's, and Sehun wonder if they're all just trained this way; To be obnoxious and happy and overall terrible. "It's compulsory, and I'm sure you don't want to get evicted."
"Are you blackmailing me?"Sehun asks, frowning as he fumbles for the key he'd been given along with his keycard, frowning when it seems to be nowhere. Panic flashes across his face for a brief moment before the frown is back, just as pronounced as ever.
"I-uh-" Sehun starts, and he feels a little sheepish now, a little embarrassed because Minseok's sunny demeanor fades for the slightest second, a flash of annoyance before he's smiling brightly again, gentler this time. "I think I lost my key too."
"Incredible," The other RA says, and he sounds interested, amazed, rather than condescending. "You've got your work cut out for you now, Minseokkie."
"Shut up Lu Han," Minseok says, voice buoyant, words having no actual bite to them. He turns back to Sehun, and his smile seems a little more sympathetic, a little more human. "I have a master key in my room. You can borrow that for now, but a new key will take about a week to get."
"Okay," Sehun says, let awkwardly alone with Lu Han while Minseok disappears down the hallway and around the corner. Lu Han doesn't say much now that Minseok isn't around, taking out his phone to stare intently at it, most likely texting his million friends. People like Lu Han and Minseok, they probably have a lot of those things that people call friends.
Sehun frowns.
He could make friends, but if everyone is like these two he's not going to want friends. He hates sunny, outgoing, happy, adorable people. The arms, those are cool, those can stay, but Minseok is too ... amiable for his tastes.
Minseok dances down the hallway just as he's thinking this, bright smile back on his face, a mask of happiness as he dangles a key in front of Sehun, drops it into his hand.
"Do you need help unloading?" Minseok asks, and Sehun wants to frown but he sounds genuinely nice, eager to help, smile just on this side of shy. "If not, just leave the trolley down the hall in the back room. You'll find others there."
"I've got it," Sehun mutters, ducking his head and relaxing his face, glancing back to add a delayed, "Thanks."
"No problem!" Minseok beams, patting Sehun on the shoulder and giving him a curious look, hand pausing in mid-air, as if he's about to ruffle Sehun's hair. He doesn't withdrawing his hand and grabbing Lu Han by the wrist, dragging him off down the hall and towards wherever the hell they're going, calling a "goodbye Sehunnie~" over his shoulder.
This is going to be a long year.
*~
Sehun expects to sleep in his first morning in the dorm. After all, it's a Saturday and school doesn't start until Monday.
He's proven wrong when a loud knock rouses him from his sleep at the lovely time of Seven AM, familiar boyish voice the last thing he wants to hear this early in the morning, especially after having spent the entire night marathoning three seasons of The O.C, his guilty pleasure.
Sehun shuffles to the door in nothing but baggy sweatpants, hair a mess and eyes half closed, yanking open the door to give his RA the best frown he has, scare him off so he can go back to sleep.
He's greeted with Minseok's beaming face, eyes bright and grin lopsided, dressed far too well for this early in the morning, button up shirt and tight black jeans hugging his figure and accentuating his muscles. Fuck those muscles.
"Floor breakfast," Minseok announces, smiling as he pushes his way past Sehun and into his room. He looks Sehun up and down, eyes slowing as they drag appraisingly across Sehun's stomach and waist. Sehun isn't one to feel self conscious, but he does right now, practically flying to the dresser to pull out a shirt.
He'd unpacked his entire room during his TV marathon, walls freshly decorated with posters, bulletin board littered with photos of him and his childhood best friend, Jongin.
Minseok is sitting on his bed, legs too short to reach the ground with the risers up, feet swinging back and forth as he smiles at Sehun.
"You'll need something nicer than that," He comments gently, referring to Sehun's ratty t-shirt, nose crinkling cutely, not in disgust but in amusement. "Something button up, maybe. Like I'm wearing."
"Where the hell is breakfast?" Sehun mutters, digging through the closet instead, grateful for the multitude of dress shirts he owns, though begrudgingly worn through horrible family dinners. He feels awkward changing into one, not looking at Minseok purposely, frowning when he turns around to find Minseok leaning against the wall, clearly comfortable.
"Breakfast is at my father's hotel," Minseok shrugs, playing with the edges of Sehun's freshly bought sheets as he smiles. "It's not the nicest, but it's nicer than most. He offered to host a breakfast, proud of me being an RA or something."
"Cute," Sehun says, still frowning but hating Minseok a little less, shuffling into the bathroom to comb through his messy hair, frowning more at the colour. His hair is jet black, boring, and Sehun decides there, half asleep in his new bathroom that it needs to be silver. He'll figure out how to do that in the trashy dorm showers later.
"Ready to go?" Minseok asks, and he leans closer to Sehun for a brief moment, sniffing the air. "Givenchy cologne? You should hangout with Lu Han."
Sehun doesn't understand what Minseok is saying but he nods anyways, fidgets awkwardly in the hallway and looks at the ugly carpeting, splotchy yellow flowers glaring at him, laughing at his pathetic, tired, embarrassing self.
"Do you personally drag all the residents out of their rooms for this?" Sehun grumbles as they walk to the elevators, stifling a yawn with the back of his hand, pleased at his ability to keep his frown strong through it all.
"No, just you," Minseok says happily, and it's so casual, the way he leans against the elevator railings. He's not beaming as brightly today, chipper but more like a normal human being, gaze level. It makes Sehun squirm, and he fidgets, frowns, leans awkwardly on his own side of the railing. "I knew you would be difficult." Minseok continues, and he winks, fucking winks at Sehun. "Think of it as a date, a special date with your RA."
"Is that how to get special dorm privileges?" Sehun snorts, shuffling out of the elevator as fast as he can, actually anxious to get to the rest of the people, to not be alone with Minseok any longer. He blames it on the way Minseok plays with the cuffs of his sleeves, distracting and kind of hot.
"You're cute enough," Minseok grins, and it seems different from his "I'm a resident adviser" grin the day before, simple, regular. "You could earn those privileges."
Minseok doesn't say anything else, just smirks at Sehun, an entirely different look than his grins up until now, less cute, more hot, fits the whole muscle thing well. He bounds over to a group of residents waiting, greeting them all like he knows them well, brilliant smile back on his face.
Sehun frowns. He's not jealous, really. Just wishes that for once the attention coming his way wouldn't be equal to the attention going everyone else's way.
*~
Breakfast is a terrible affair, Sehun shrinking into a corner spot, next to a loud, obnoxious volleyball player -- Chanyeol his name might have been -- miserable the entire time, scowl never leaving his face, eyes never leaving the table, mouth shut, silent.
Minseok notices, sends a smile in his direction, less cheery camp counselor and more gentle older brother. Except gentle older brother is not the feeling Sehun gets when his RA stretches, yawns, shirt pulling tight against his chest. Sehun speaks once during breakfast; asking for an extra glass of water, feeling a little thirsty.
*~
The next morning Sehun sets the toaster on fire.
It isn't on purpose, he just gets a little distracted looking out the bay windows of the lounge, sitting on the edge of the table and mapping out buildings, tiny cars below. It feels impossibly high, even just on the 4th floor. It's calming almost, early morning silence and rising sun bringing a small rare smile to Sehun's face.
Calm until he smells something awful, like burning toast. He frowns, glancing around the room and sniffing cautiously. He looks at the toaster, eyes widening when he sees it smoking flames licking up and around his poor, burnt toast.
Sehun, having never experienced a fire before, does the first thing that comes to mind; he screams. It's shrill, loud and he hears doors open, hushed voices, concerned. A girl pauses in the lounge, looks first at Sehun and the toaster, and gasps quietly before huffing in a breath.
"Minseok," She calls, and it's almost calm, just slightly panicking, just a little bit shaky. "Minseok the freshman set the toaster on fire."
Minseok appears at that, and Sehun is almost glad the toaster is on fire, just for a moment, because Minseok is in his boxers and nothing else, hair tousled from sleep. He's like an angel, fire extinguisher in hand and toaster fire put out minutes later, perfectly defined abs glistening in the rising morning sunlight, hair flipping perfectly as he flicks his hands through it, puts the extinguisher back and eyes Sehun. The spell is broken when Sehun notices a frown on his features. It's the first time he's seen Minseok frown since he's moved in, and it's disconcerting, nerves jumping to life.
"You," Minseok says, jabbing a finger in Sehun's direction. He looks scary, slightly murderous, even with his biceps flexing and his thighs shining, eyes dark. "Come with me. We're having a chat in my room."
The girl lets out a condescending "oooh" noise, smirking at Sehun when he throws a frown in her direction, socks shuffling against the floor as he quietly pads after Minseok. This is it, he's getting evicted and he hasn't even made it to his first rent payment, hasn't even experienced his first day of school.
"Good luck," The girl snickers, laughing into her hand and waving, bright pink shirt and matching pyjama shorts obnoxiously bright, the sun shining off them in an entirely different way than it had off Minseok's beautiful skin.
"Shut up Baekhyun," Minseok says, though his words have no bite to them, and Sehun absently wonders if they're close, jealously out of place considering Minseok is about to kick him out of the dorm, send him home to his tiny attic bedroom and overbearing mother.
"Don't mind Baekhyun," Minseok says as he closes the door behind Sehun, back muscles flexing as he smooths down his hair, distracting Sehun enough that he doesn't catch the next part of what Minseok is saying.
"Huh?" Sehun says intelligently, blinking back into focus only to eye Minseok up as he pulls on sweatpants, thankfully leaving his shirt off. It's Sehun's turn to awkwardly sit on the edge of a bed, eyes switching between the floor and Minseok amazing pectoral muscles as he waits for his terrible punishment.
"I was just saying that Baekhyun thinks she's special just because she's dating Lu Han," Minseok repeats, leaning against his desk and again giving Sehun that look, the one that makes him nervous. "Lu Han's the other RA you met on moving day, the annoying one."
Sehun raises an eyebrow, frowns at that.
"Lu Han's my best friend," Minseok says defensively, huffing slightly. "I'm allowed to call him and his girlfriend annoying."
"Are you-" Sehun starts, but frowns, licks his lips, unsure of what exactly he was even going to ask. "Are you going to evict me?"
"Evict you?" Minseok asks, brows furrowed in confusion. It's a hot look, and Sehun is drawn away from his muscles and to his face, taking in his sharp features and cat-like eyes. He's a little smitten, maybe. Might not actually hate his RA, maybe. "Why would I evict you? It's just a toaster accident. I just wanted to pull you in here to get you away from Baekhyun. you looked uncomfortable."
"Oh I thought-" Sehun stutters, and for once he forgets to frown, too grateful that he isn't being kicked out of college, that his future is still there in front of him, just a few thousand sleepness nights of studying ahead. "Thank you."
"You don't need to thank me," Minseok laughs, and he walks over to Sehun, gives him a one armed hug. It's awkward, mainly because Sehun veers away, eyes widening because Minseok is still shirtless, and wow muscles.
"In fact," Minseok says with a smile. "If you ever need anything, or if anything else goes wrong, please come see me. We'll make great friends kid."
"I'm not a kid," Sehun mumbles, but the hint of a genuine smile is forming, tugging at his lips, and he hates himself for a moment, trying to contort his face into a frown. He instead looks like an idiot, face flushing red as he nearly runs out the door and down the hall, collapsing into bed.
An hour later he's frowning again. He never did get to eat his toast.
*~
A week later, Sehun traps himself in the elevator.
He's cursing, late for class and slightly claustrophobic, palms sweating as he frowns heavily, pressing the call button repeatedly only to find it's broken.
He does the next best thing, pulling out his phone and gasping with happiness when he finds service, whipping it to his ear to call Minseok, panicked voice stuttering in his effort to speak, lisp heavy.
"I'll call someone," Minseok says over the line, and his voice is soothing, gentle. It calms Sehun down, has him leaning on the rail, breathing deeply, palm pressed to his forehead as a migraine develops. "You'll be fine, Sehun."
Sehun ends up in Minseok's room after that, skipping class to mope on Minseok's bed, wrapped in a blanket, and of course, frowning.
*~
Sehun continues to be clumsy, accident after accident occurring as he struggles his way through his first year of classes. He skips too many classes, spills soda on his textbooks and breaks down into tears after accidentally breaking Baekhyun's favourite mug, her shrill voice leaving him cowering by a table.
Minseok helps him through all of it, explaining that skipped classes can be fixed, that textbooks can be rebought, and that Baekhyun is just dramatic. Sehun is grateful for it all, and he especially likes when Minseok stops caring about Sehun's presence in his room, lounging in just sweats most of the time.
Sehun really wants to feel his muscles, trace them with his fingers, maybe kiss Minseok too. He might really like his RA.
*~
Sehun rarely ever sees Minseok on campus.
They're in different years; Minseok in his third year, Sehun in his first, so naturally they have different classes, different majors. Minseok is majoring in kinesiology and music theory, Sehun working towards a humanities degree in languages.
He does run into him in the upstairs cafeteria once in a while, usually in embarrassing ways.
The first time, Sehun trips, bumps into Minseok, spills his soft tacos all over what looks like a very nice shirt. He's frowning, apologizing, curling into himself when Minseok just laughs, looking unbothered, group of friends eyeing Sehun curiously.
It's worth it when Sehun gets to watch Minseok strip in the bathroom, dutifully holding Minseok's ruined shirt while Minseok puts on his workout clothes, grumping to Sehun that he'll be ogled at by random girls all day now.
"Wouldn't you like that hyung?" Sehun asks, frowning even though his voice is attempting to sound playful, flirting even.
"Nah," Minseok says, and he smirks at Sehun, looks him up and down pointedly before saying, "I'm not really into females if you catch my drift."
"You?" Sehun asks, flabbergasted and flustered, frowning nervously now. Minseok takes it the wrong way, chews on his bottom lips hesitantly, eyes a little sad as they settle on Sehun.
"I- no-" Sehun gets out, shoving Minseok's clothes back into his arms, eyes on the ground. "I just meant-me too."
He runs away that time, down the escalators and into his dorm, Netflix feeding his nerves, a day of classes missed in his confusion.
* ~
Sehun tries to avoid Minseok like the plague for the next while, even braves going upstairs to knock on Lu Han's door, to give him monthly payment and winter break papers, mumbling a quiet excuse of Minseok not being around.
Lu Han just gives him a look, smiles slowly and waves his phone in Sehun's face. He's obnoxious, and Sehun can see why he's dating a girl like Baekhyun. They compliment each other well.
"I was just on the phone with Minseok, you know," Lu Han says as Sehun turns to leave. "He was just telling me how nice it was to take a weekend day off, lay around in bed and watch Netflix."
Sehun flushes, glares, turns on his heel and smashes the elevator buttons with force, sulking the entire ride and his entire walk through the hallway, stopping to glance forlornly at Minseok's door.
He tries to relax, tries to shower away images of what Minseok would look like in the shower, water droplets tracing his abs, but that doesn't last long, because the shower chooses that moment to break, head snapping off to release a jet of water, harsh and terrifying.
He's rescued by a panicked looking Minseok, dragged from the flooded bathroom and into Minseok's room, where much to his mortification he stands naked and dripping, Minseok towel drying him and handing him extra clothes with his signature bright grin.
"Hey it's not so bad," Minseok says comfortingly once Sehun's dressed in a shirt that's too short, sweatpants that pool around his calves rather than his ankles, happy and warm in clothes that smell like Minseok. "It could have been Baekhyun."
Sehun just sputters, frowns, buries his face in his hands and groans out loud. He misses home. He misses Jongin and he misses vacationing with his family. Most of all he misses high school where none of this ridiculous stuff happened, and none of his classmates had abs like Minseok's.
"Do you want to stay the night in here?" Minseok asks gently, returning from the kitchen with microwaved popcorn and a glass of water, placing it next to Sehun, throwing an arm around his shoulders and speaking into his ear. "You look like you could use a friend."
"I don't have any friends," Sehun mumbles suddenly, and he's frowning for more reasons than just frowning.
"I'm your friend," Minseok says, and he looks offended as Sehun glances over at him, eyebrows pinching together in annoyance. "I don't just invite all my residents into my room. I also don't rescue them naked from the shower and dry them off."
"Just your friends?" Sehun asks, and he's smiling a bit now, popping pieces of popcorn into his mouth at random, calming down slightly, still embarrassed but happy to be around Minseok.
"Okay, maybe not all my friends," Minseok says slowly, and he's smiling a different smile at Sehun now, one with a bit of a devious edge to it. "Just the special ones."
"Am I special?" Sehun asks, and he sounds pathetic even to his own ears, frowning sadly at Minseok, curling his legs towards his chest, chin resting on his knees.
"Sehun," Minseok says with a sigh. It's not condescending, not rude, just impatient. "You've always been special."
"You say that just because I break everything and mess everything up," Sehun tells him sadly, and he doesn't remember reaching for one of Minseok's pillows, but its in his lap, smelling faintly of Minseok's tangy shampoo.
"No, I say that because you're adorable," Minseok says, and he's gently prying the pillow away, settling down beside Sehun, leaning into his side, lips curved up into a fond smile. "And don't think I don't notice you checking me out every second you have the chance. You're not subtle."
Sehun whines in embarrassment, wishing he still had the pillow to bury his face into, covering his reddening cheeks with his hands instead.
"Also," Minseok says, and he's grinning a more Lu Han grin now, eyes sparkling. "I know you sometimes just come up with excuses to come to my room and whine at me."
"The shower wasn't on purpose," Sehun mumbles, and he's trying to sound casual, trying to calm down but his heart is hammering in his chest, so loud he thinks Minseok can hear, can feel it this close to him.
"I know," Minseok says in his soothing, boyish voice, leaning his head on Sehun's shoulder and peering up at him. Physics be damned because he's cute again, eyes disappearing into crescents and smile wide. "I like you."
"What?" Sehun asks, sitting up straight and inching away, staring at Minseok with widening eyes.
"I like you silly," Minseok says, and he's laughing, arms wrapping around Sehun's waist to bring him closer, poke him on the nose. "Even when I first saw you, shivering in the cold and trying to act tough."
"I am tough," Sehun says quietly, but Minseok doesn't catch it, just tilts his head cutely and blinks.
"Uh- I -" Sehun licks his lips, tries to calm the rising anxiety, the suffocating nerves. "I like you too."
"I know," Minseok says brightly, and he reaches out to ruffle Sehun's hair, cooing at the grumpy frown it earns him. "I've always wanted to ruffle your hair. Look at you, cute baby."
And Sehun doesn't have a chance to say something snarky, even to frown because a pair of lips presses gently against his own before Minseok is pulling back with a grin, fingers carding their way slowly through Sehun's hair.
"So do you want to date an RA?" Minseok asks with a grin. "It comes with many special perks."
He pauses before kissing Sehun again, a quick peck that leaves Sehun's lips tingling and his stomach curling into knots, breath quickening with nerves.
"Can I?" He asks, still unsure.
"The abs are included," Minseok says with a comical wink, and Sehun feels a little faint.
He hasn't made any friends yet, but he's gotten himself something much, much better.