[ It ought to make him happy, to look of complete confusion on Eddie's face. The naked sincerity in how he asks that last question, since it makes it clear how much he likes Cisco himself. Enough that he thinks it ought to be natural or inevitable for others.

So Cisco doesn't know why it is that Eddie's reaction sets off a chair reaction of sadness in his chest, flaring up sudden and sharp, making his throat go too tight to respond for a second or two. He smiles, though it is a little lopsided and rueful, and shrugs. ]

Apparently... very easily.

[ He could probably break that down, go into detail about the many reasons why and how people didn't like him in school. But Cisco's pretty sure that no good could come of that. If Eddie somehow doesn't get it, Cisco isn't about to pull back the curtain. Not about to ruin a good thing. ]

Caitlin and Ronnie were kinda my first good friends. I mean, things weren't as bad in college as they had been in high school, but even then it's not like people were lining up, you know? Nobody was writing shit on my locker, but it wasn't like I got invited to stuff, either.

[ He shrugs. In a way, that had been harder. The open loathing was at least understandable. But the being ignored, underestimated, passed over, all of that had made Cisco feel invisible. It had made him pretty damn sure that the polite greetings from peers in the halls and in classes were just a cover, and that they still loathed him, just behind closed doors. ]

And for the record, that stuff you said? None of that makes you bad friend material. You get that, right?