((Based on personal experience))

Self confidence

When you first meet your new teammates, you thought nothing of the tall, shy, green haired, stuttering mess sitting across from you.

When you offered to help work through his self esteem problems, Prosciutto was relieved. Maybe if he had more than one person telling him how great he could be, he could finally accept it and achieve his true potential.

Honestly, you wanted to help because you yourself have had problems with self esteem in the past. And maybe you could have some fun with it and end up with a new drinking buddy when it was over.

Step one: Accepting who you are.

Improving your self esteem is almost impossible if you cant accept who you are.

You teach Pecsi that it's ok to get flustered, sometimes even embarrassed.

"But you shouldn't be ashamed of it."

The things you experience lead to the things you do. The things you do are what makes you who you are.

The constant change, thats what makes you human.

Now if he gets anxious, he doesn't stumble over his words too much. He can work his way through it. And each time he does, he becomes a little sturdier.

The team goes out to eat, and some asshat bitch makes a comment about his looks, or behavior.

Suddenly, he's back to stuttering and apologizing. For something he can't even control no less!

No one should apologize for being themselves. Unless they're a bitch.

This brings you to...

Step two: CLAP👏BACK👏

You teach him that no one has the right to bring him down.

If some ass wants to make a rude comment, about who you are, or what you look like, don't apologize. Bring it back, use their words against them, and tell them in the most polite way possible, that they are wrong.

And to go fuck themselves.

You share some clever comebacks with him, and how to use them.

You test him sometimes by throwing insults at him out of nowhere.

At first he's confused and hurt. Why would you say that he looks like a pineapple? He thought you were friends?

You explain that it's an exercise. You tell him he needs to be able clap back at a moment's notice, no matter WHO it is insulting him.

"It doesn't matter who's insulting you, you shouldn't take it. Teasing is one thing, but if your friends or even family tell you that what you do, or how you act is wrong, as long as it isn't hurting anyone, don't let them. Dont be afraid to call them out on their bullshit."

After that he picks up on it surprisingly fast.

The next time you go out, and Formaggio gets on him for drinking milk, he's met with:

"My skeleton could kick your skeletons ass any day."

A good start.

Prosciutto mentioned that Pesci is getting better at certain things, like standing up for himself in battle, and asks how progress is coming along.

So you turn to get Pescis attention on the other side of the room.

"Hey Pesci!"

He turns to look at you.

"Fuck you."

"...Later."

Damn you didn't even teach him that one.

But even though he can catch the shit that people throw at him, and throw it back with a grenade inside, all those comments on how he looks still gets to him.

So now it's time for the most important step.

Step three: Confidence.

Once he has accepted who he is, and not to take shit for it, you teach him a very important lesson.

His looks don't matter.

Now that he's found himself, that's what people see. They see him.

You proudly point out your own flaws, and hes in awe.

He never even noticed them before?

And he doesn't even care. He just thinks they make you even more beautiful.

About now is when he releases hes fallen for you.

"You can't just BE confident, you need something to be confident in. You know who you are and what you like. Be confident in that, be yourself, and people won't see the things you don't like about yourself. They'll grow to love it. Because it's a part of you."

And now is when he releases why.

You don't care what others think, you just continue to be you. And you're confident in your ability to be yourself. Your beautiful personality shines through your so called "imperfections" and everything else becomes invisible.

You are you and he is himself.

He loves himself.

Step four: THE LADIES!

Now that he got his shit on lockdown, it's time to put all his training to the test.

You two head for the the most hostile environment you can think of.

The bar.

People can be savage, especially when looking for a partner. If you can thrive in an environment with so much competition, and come out not worrying about what anyone said to you, then you've made it.

Phone numbers give him bonus points.

Confidence is key.

He's unsure if that's true, but you reasure him.

"Confidence can turn almost anyone's own hormones against them. I remember when I was younger, everyone flipped their shit over a fictional character. You know young people, if something shows even the slightest bit of confidence they want to fuck it. But get this. This fictional character, was a TRIANGLE! A TRIANGLE!"

You both take a moment to shudder at the weirder side of your childhood cartoon fandoms.

And with that, you sent him off.

When he comes back, Pesci has collected TWENTY EIGHT phone numbers!

For a moment, you're a little jealous.

And that's when YOU realize.

The person he had become, the person he had been the whole time but was too afraid to let out?

You loved them. And that was only natural, of course.

Because when you love yourself, others follow suit.