First Friend

"Booker, you there? I miss you. You were the only one who ever... You were my only friend."

— Elizabeth, Burial at Sea

Exactly What It Says on the Tin. This is the first person you've ever acknowledged as a friend, maybe even a best friend. They come in three variants:

• The first person you form a very special bond with in childhood.
• The first person to become your friend when you originally had a Friendless Background.
• The first person you open up to when you initially didn't believe in bonds.

No matter the case, these are the people that helped introduced you to companionship, allowing to come out of your shell and open up to others. Whether these people are the most important person in your life or not, they are ones you get to know and form a special bond with first, so they remain an important figure in your life.

May overlap with Best Friend, if the first person is really that close with you. It could also overlap with with Only Friend if said person was the only friend they had prior to making more companions. It could also lead to a Childhood Friend Romance if the two friends were to fall in love with one another.

Truth in Television, as many people have a first friend. While they do exist however, they are far too common and also far too personal to talk about, so No Real Life Examples, Please!

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Examples

Anime & Manga

• The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: Rentarou is this for most of his girlfriends, owing to the vast majority of them having Friendless Backgrounds.
• Attack on Titan: Armin and Eren are each other's first friends, befriending each other after Eren confronts Armin about why he never runs away from his bullies. They are also Only Friend to each other till Eren meets Mikasa and they become a trio.
• Dandadan: Okarun is a very lonely boy. The reason why he became obsessed with the paranormal and aliens is the rationale that since no humans had thus far shown him friendship, he might as well settle on aliens. Ayase ends up being his first friend and he's so elated by having a friend that it takes him a while to even consider the one girl that likes being with him in a romantic light.
• Danganronpa 3: Hajime Hinata and Chiaki Nanami end up being this to each other. Hajime was looked down on for having no talent, while Chiaki never had anyone to play games with before. The two became best friends immediately over their shared interest in Galaga, meeting by the fountain to play games. Their relationship ends in tragedy when Hajime, in a desperate attempt to be someone who can stand by Chiaki's side, decides to go through the Kamakura Project to get a talent, only to have his personality replaced by the talented, but emotionless Izuru Kamakura, who goes on to observe Junko Enoshima's plans to spread despair and watches as Chikai is tortured to death. Izuru/Hajime's memories of Chiaki remains his most pivotal since.
• Date A Live: Shido Itsuka would end up being this to Tohka Yatogami, the first Spirit in the series he would seal the powers of. Before, Tohka had no memories of before she first awakened, describing it as if she just popped into existence, and didn't even have a name. She was hunted down by the Anti-Spirit Team for unknowingly causing the spacequakes that destroyed the area around her, causing her to believe the world was out to get her. Meeting Shido, a person who didn't want to kill her at all, changed her perpesctive of the world, and hearing Shido promise to help her no matter what it takes causes her to view him as her Living Emotional Crutch.
• Death Note: L tells Light that he considers him to be the first person he could call a friend. It's unknown if he was telling the truth, and regardless, Light doesn't feel the same way (except maybe subconsciously). In a cruel irony, Light ends up causing L's death, something L had suspected would happen for a long time.
• Dragon Ball
  • Bulma was the first companion Goku ever made, since Goku had lived his entire life alone after his Grandpa Gohan died. She was one who set the stage for his journey to find the Dragon Balls, becoming his first traveling companion and the one who introduced him to the outside world.
  • Piccolo, when he was still an enemy of Goku and forced into an alliance to fight their common foe in the Saiyans, originally kidnapped Goku's son Gohan both to train him to fight the upcoming threat and to also corrupt him in his image. Ironically, this allowed him to find his first friend in Gohan due to the boy's kindness and Incorruptible Pure Pureness, which set him on the path to good and becoming True Companions with the very man he was born to kill.
  • Fat Buu's first friends ended up being both his dog Bee and none other than Mr. Satan. Before, Buu only had Bibidi and Babidi telling him to kill and destroy, something he follows even after their deaths because that's all he knows what to do. Mr. Satan originally only got close to him to try and kill him, but he hesitates when he sees Buu playing with Bee (who ends up being the first to never run from Buu, mainly because Buu healed him). Once Mr. Satan learns of Buu's reason for killing, he is able to convince him to stop by telling him it's a bad thing to do, something Buu immediately agrees to do. This friendship brings out the best in both of them, allowing them to contribute in destroying Kid Buu and become great allies to the Z-Fighters.
  • Broly (who is now incorporated in canon with a more sympathetic portrayal) had Bah, one of the native wildlife on the planet he was stranded on. He managed to tame the beast, but Broly's father Paragus shot off Bah's ear and scared him away. Broly has worn the ear as a pelt ever since.
• Elfen Lied: Before Lucy met Kohta, her only true friend was a puppy she took care of, since everyone at the orphanage picked on her for her horns. One little girl stood up for her, causing Lucy to show her the puppy and ask her to keep it a secret, only for the girl to betray her trust and reveal the pup to the bullies, who proceed to beat it to death and leading to Lucy's Start of Darkness. Shortly after, Lucy would then meet Kouta, who is the first human to truly befriend her and bring out her softer side. The tragic events that would follow^note Mainly, Kohta lied to her about his cousin's gender to avoid upsetting her, only to set off her murderous side and kill the boy's sister and father in front of him, an act that would break Kohta and cause Lucy to realize how much pain she inflicted on him lead to Kohta serving as Lucy's Morality Pet, as well as her goal to apologize to him.
• Haikyuu!!:
  • Kuroo is revealed to be composed and introverted Kenma’s first friend and the reason he starts playing volleyball.
  • While they would probably never admit to being friends, Hinata is most likely to be Kageyama’s first friend.
• Hunter × Hunter: Due to being the heir of a family line of assassins, Killua Zoldyck never had any friends until he met Gon Freecss in the Hunter Exam. The two bonded pretty quickly and when Gon learned that Killua is a child assassin, he doesn't seem to be afraid of it and still wants to be friends with him. The two have become best friends ever since, becoming inseperable until they are forced to part ways after Killua saved Gon from his death by rescuing Alluka/Nanika and using her wish-granting abilities.
• I Got My Wish and Reincarnated as the Villainess (Last Boss)!: Between being too weak to do anything in her past life, and being the subject of fear in this life, Karen is the first person Elizabeth befriends in a total of 30 years.
• Kaiju Girl Caramelise: Kuroe Akaishi had no friends until Arata Minami decided to strike up a conversation with her while she was Eating Lunch Alone. This leads to her falling in love with him. As far as non-romantic friends go, her first was Manatsu Tomosato, her Spoiled Sweet Cloud Cuckoolander classmate who is obsessed with Kaiju and bonds with Kuroe over her apparent connection to Harugon the Notzilla.
• Kotoura-san: After having been broken at the start of the series, Haruka Kotoura didn't have anyone willing to talk or be nice to her because of her inability to control her Telepathy until she met Yoshihisa Manabe, who not only voices all his thoughts out loud, but is the first person to treat her like a human being instead of a monster or someone to avoid, becoming the first friend she could count on and eventually her love interest.
• My Hero Academia:
  • Izuku Midoriya spent the last ten years of his life as a Bully Magnet due to being born without the superpowers everyone else has. His first real, supportive friend is his idol, All Might, who encourages him through thick and thin and tries to guide Izuku towards becoming a hero. Once Izuku arrives at U.A., his first friend his age is Ochaco Uraraka, who turns his Embarrassing Nickname into an Appropriated Appellation and brings him out of his shell with her constant cheeriness and support for him.
  • Katsuki Bakugo's callous and crude attitude quickly alienates him from most of his peers at U.A., who call him out for being a Jerkass. His first friend there (aside from Izuku, whom he constantly dismisses, and his two lackeys from junior high) is Eijiro Kirishima, who looks past his prickly exterior and admires his pride and strength. This actually becomes a plot point during the Hideout Raid arc, as Eijiro is the only person Katsuki trusts enough to accept help from without it hurting his pride when rescuing him from the League of Villains.
• Naruto: Naruto's first friend would happen to be his teacher from the Ninja Academy, Iruka Umino. He was the first to treat Naruto like a person rather than a monster or outcast. His belief in Naruto is what allowed the latter to finally master the Shadow Clone Jutsu, allowing him to graduate from the academy. Iruka would remain a supporting figure in Naruto's life since.
  • Naruto tends to be this to a lot of people throughout his journey, helping them to change for the better and grow as people.
    • Gaara was what Naruto could have become had he remain a outcast, without any supporting figures in his life. Naruto overcoming him and explaining how he gains his strength from his friends and loved ones caused Gaara to change his outlook on life, becoming a loyal friend and a great leader to his village.
    • Hinata was a lot like Naruto in her youth, someone who was seen as a failure throughout her childhood and destined to remain that way. Seeing Naruto's determination and kindness motivated her to keep trying to improve herself, eventually changing her feelings towards Naruto from admiration to love. The Last: Naruto the Movie reveals that Hinata first met Naruto when he went out of his way to help her when she was being bullied, despite not knowing her at all. This event would lead Hinata to develop her admiration for Naruto, becoming the first person to believe in him and setting in stone the events that lead to their friendship and growing love.
  • It's strongly implied that Obito's first friend was his teammate, Rin Nohara, the first person to show him strong support in his goal to become the Hokage. Obito fell in love with Rin, which unfortunately would cause him to become the Big Bad when he sees Kakashi impale Rin, causing his Start of Darkness as he seeks to replace reality with an illusion.
• Pokémon: The Series:
  • Ash Ketchum's first friend at the start of his journey was none other than Pikachu. Until they got attacked by a flock of Spearow, Pikachu was antagonistic towards Ash, but seeing try to protect him from the flock caused Pikachu to come to his aid. Ash doing everything he can to help him is what allows Pikachu to treat Ash for the better, and since then, they become the best of friends.
  • Even before that, there was Gary Oak, who he had a falling-out with. They made up, but it took a long time.
  • Ash also qualifies as a First Friend himself for plenty of his companions, such as Serena, Misty and Clemont, all of whom had difficulty forming any friendships before he came along.
  • Dawn has Kenny and Leona.
  • Iris has Shannon, who was also her only human friend for quite a while.
  • With Goh, it's a little unclear who was his First Friend. We have Koharu, who was chronologically his first friend, but there's some debate on whether Goh saw their relationship like this. There's Tokio from Episode 32 with whom he became fast friends before Tokio disappeared from his life without explanation, and Ash, with whom he might have the closest bond, but came into Goh's life long after the other two. Notwithstanding that, one of the Idiosyncratic Ship Names for him and Ash is FirstFriendShipping. Arguably each of them fit at least one of the three variations of this trope.
• Soul Eater: Crona had grown up under their abusive mother's thumb, having been raised as a Tyke Bomb and never knowing friendship or love. While Maka initially fought Crona as an enemy, learning about their backstory has her express sympathy for them as she extends a hand of friendship to them. Maka's kindness towards Crona causes them to change sides, and while their moral standing differs between the manga^note Medusa manipulates Crona into coming back to her side and continues her plan to turn Crona into a Kishin. and the anime^note Crona runs away from DWMA out of guilt, but is given a chance to set things right., Maka's friendship with Crona remains their most potent bond, enough to actually commit a Heroic Sacrifice in the manga for her sake.
• Ayakashi Triangle: Suzu and Matsuri are Childhood Friends who bonded over their shared ability to see ayakashi. Before then, Suzu was quite isolated because no one believed her about them, but has since grown to be fairly socially adept. What she didn't realize is that Matsuri didn't have any friends back then either, and his social skills later degraded so much, Suzu would remain his Only Friend until high school. Once informed of this, Suzu pushes Matsuri to at least make friends with the rest of her friends.
• Major: At the start of the story, Goro Honda isn't particularly close to any of the other children in the kindergarten, since none of them shares his interest in baseball. His first actual friend is Toshiya Sato after he drags him into playing with him. As they grow older, their relationship turns into a Friendly Rivalry since the two are often playing for different teams, though they prove themselves to be very effective when playing as teammates, and they constantly push one another to reach new heights.
• Usagi Tsukino from Sailor Moon is Ami Mizuno's and Rei Hino's first friend of their own age. Ami (in the anime) had an old gardener as a friend and Rei had an older relative, but otherwise they were almost entirely isolated due to Ami's intelligence and Rei's supernatural powers. Makoto Kino had a couple of friends before the series proper but Usagi is her first friend at their shared school since everyone else is afraid of Makoto. It's actually brought up in the first season finale and the R movie that Usagi approached them and didn't shy away from them despite various misconceptions and rumors.

Fan Works

• In Amazing Fantasy, Peter is Izuku's first friend and mentor. In addition to coaching Izuku through his new spider-powers, Peter gives him a ton of life advice from personal experience to help Izuku get over his social awkwardness. Peter also acts as Izuku's closest confidant and source of encouragement when things get rough.
• In the Avantasia Protag AU series, when Scarecrow and Gabriel run into each other after mysteriously being transported from their own dimensions to the "real world", they decide to stick together and Gabriel becomes Scarecrow's first friend he ever had. Eventually it progresses further and they start thinking of themselves as brothers.
• In Unfiltered, and its sequel Wings of Rebellion, Akira becomes Akechi's first friend, enjoying spending time with him even when not at his best, wanting to help him if he needs it, and even helps him have more friends by getting him closer to hers. Though later both consider the other more than just a friend.
• A Series of Fortunate Events: Chinami, a single mother that lives in the same apartment complex as Saki Yoshida, became her first friend when she moved into her apartment. Their friendship started when Chinami and her son welcomed Saki and her daughter Hana with food. Saki and Chinami's friendship is built on the fact that they are both single mothers raising their children whose parents threw them out of the house. Chinami is also a kind and caring person who genuinely cares about Saki and wants to be her friend. Saki thanked Chinami for being her friend and confessed that Chinami was the first friend she made. Chinami admitted that she was glad to be friends with Saki since she was being lonely with no one to befriend.
• Son of the Sannin:
  • Naruto and Hinata are both this for each other, having become friends shortly after entering the academy. This proves to have a major effect on both of them, curbing Naruto's attention seeking habits enough to be on good terms with his other classmates, and giving Hinata a much needed confidence boost. Much like with their canon counterparts, this ends up developing into a Childhood Friend Romance.
  • Fu's first real friends were the members of the Animal Squad (Shino, Tamaki, and Kiba), having met them shortly before the Chunin exams when they were on a mission in Takigakure. Even after befriending the rest of the Konoha 15, she stays the closest to the three of them (especially Shino, who she ends up in a Long-Distance Relationship with).
• In Pokémon Reset Bloodlines and its sidestories, Misty's only close company were her Pokémon until she met Ash, who becomes her first genuine human friend. In no small part because he's also the first person to treat her with kindness, it doesn't take long before her feelings begin to grow into romantic attraction.
• In You Were My Best Friend, kid!Bloom (aka Anne) is this to Aisha, who up until then, only interacted with her nanny, the royal servants, and, very rarely, her parents; never with kids her age.

Film — Live-Action

• In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Bucky Barnes is presented as Steve Rogers' first friend. In pre-serum scenes, Bucky is kind towards and protective of Steve even when everyone else picks on him or overlooks him due to his sickly nature and stunted stature. In Captain America: The First Avenger, he gets along well with the Howling Commandos and Howard Stark and has a subtle romance with Peggy Carter. In the present day, Steve is shown to canonically be fairly close with Black Widow and Falcon and also on friendly terms with most of the other Avengers. However, in Captain America: Civil War he is very vocal about Bucky's status as his first true friend.
• In X-Men: First Class, when Charles and Raven first meet as children, it is implied that she has been alone most of her life and Charles is the first person to truly be kind to her, befriending her despite her visible mutation.
• In Run Wild, Run Free, Philip spends his days wandering the moors in complete solitude, unable to feel any attachment even towards his parents, before he bonds with a kindly old retired colonel who shares his love of nature.
• In Henry & Verlin, Verlin is mute and mostly unresponsive until he befriends his uncle Henry, after which he starts showing emotions and interest in his surroundings.
• In Mandy (1952), Mandy spends most of her childhood alone, with most of her interactions with hearing children full of Kids Are Cruel. The first child to be friendly to her is an unnamed deaf girl who gives her a clay necklace and waves to her in the dorm at night.
• In A Boy Called Po, the titular autistic boy befriends a girl named Amelia Carr, who reads the encyclopedia to him and shows him how to hide from bullies. His father is delighted, as he's never had a friend his own age before. Until he finds out Amelia isn't real.

Literature

• Harry Potter:
  • Rubeus Hagrid is the one who introduced Harry to the Wizarding World, as well as the first to treat him with kindness after Harry had to spend an entire childhood under an abusive household. Hagrid would remain an important figure throughout Harry's time at Hogwarts, both as an adult and and as a friend.
  • In terms of kids his age, Harry's first friend would be Ron Weasley, who would go on to become his Best Friend and future brother-in-law. Ron becomes an important companion throughout the series, being one of Harry's greatest supporters.
  • Luna Lovegood was considered to be "loony" by her classmates and ostracized until she was recruited into Dumbledore's Army in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione visit her home in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, they find pictures of themselves, Ginny, and Neville painted on her walls, linked by chains of the word "friends". This implies that she had never had friends before.
• Earth's Children: In The Mammoth Hunters, Deegie isn't the first friend Ayla ever had, but she is notably her first Cro-Magnon friend (discounting her early connection with Jondalar before their relationship became romantic). She's also one of the first friends Ayla has had in her own age group, as besides her adoptive sister Uba she mostly hung around with older people. Her friendship with Deegie gives her someone to easily relate to and helps her to integrate with Cro-Magnon society.
• Ender's Game:
  • In the original novel of the series, Ender's first friend at the Battle School is Shen, since they both bond over being bullied by Bernard and stick close for protection. Unfortunately for Ender, the teachers are trying to groom him into their champion and separate them so that Ender won't grow dependent.
  • Ender's Shadow: Bean initially doesn't make any friends at the Battle School, which causes the teachers to worry about his ability to work as a team. When he realizes he's being monitored, he decides to open up, and makes friends with Nikolai, a student he had previously dismissed as mediocre but who actually has some smart insights. And as it turns out, Bean is actually Nikolai's long lost brother.
• Kea's Flight: Before she meets her best friend and future Love Interest Draz, Kea rarely talks to anyone except her bunkmate Stacy Baker, with whom she has little in common.
• In The Eagle Tree, March's rather unpleasant classmate Stig refers to March as his first friend after the two bond over March's obsession with trees, Stig's obsession with insects, and how the two interact.
• In My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Catarina is this to several characters, and this is why she (unwittingly) resolved the cast's problems. The list include:
  • Mary, as Catarina was the first person to approach her with kindness as her half-siblings treated her like crap, mostly because her mother is of a lower class than theirs.
  • Sophia, as Catarina becomes the first person besides her brother to look past her "shameful" appearance and see her as the gentle soul she really is.
  • In Catarina's past life as the "wild monkey", she was Atsuko's first friend, and helped her leaving her Friendless Background caused by Atsuko having No Social Skills. What's probably not coincidential is that the aforementioned Sophia is Atsuko's reincarnation.
  • Slightly Downplayed in Maria's case, since Catarina isn't her first friend in her entire life, but pretty much any friends she may have was more than ten years, when the discovery of her light magic caused her to be isolated from her peers.
• In Project Tau, Tau and Kalin/Kata both become this for each other; Kalin due to his Friendless Background, and Tau because he's never been allowed to interact as an equal with non-cloned humans before.
• Rapunzel and the Lost Lagoon reveals that Rapunzel is Cassandra's first friend.
• In Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, mankind's first Canine Companion is literally given the epithet "First Friend" because he is also the first animal to be domesticated, implying that the title also applies to dogs in general.
• In Warrior Cats:
  • Firepaw was friends with his neighbor Smudge before joining the Clans. He encounters Smudge in the forest sometime afterward, and Tigerclaw questions Firepaw's loyalty to ThunderClan for not chasing him off.
  • In Tree's Roots, Tree's first friend was Stream, a tom the same age as him. Since the group they were born to made toms leave at the age of six moons, Tree had expected the two of them to wander together, but Stream's sudden death meant that Tree had to begin his journey utterly alone.
• Because of the Rabbit: Jack is the first kid Emma befriends when she starts school, and while Jack's classmates are reasonably friendly to him, Emma is the first to want to hang out with him outside of school.
• Dogs Don't Talk: As a young child in Oakwood, Texas, Ben's best friend was a boy named Travis. They used to pretend to be Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, even though they were too young to read the book. Their friendship ended because Ben's mom didn't approve of Travis's other friend's meanness towards Ben's autistic brother Johnny.
• If I Fall, If I Die: During Will's first day at school, Angela Gallo asks him to steal some drawings from her crush Jonah's desk. That's enough to earn her friendship. She helps him navigate the school's social environment, and to his relief she never asks him about his mother.
• In Eye Contact, the autistic child Adam had no friends his age until he met Amelia, who had PDD-NOS. The two sat together and sang songs on the playground until Amelia was murdered.
• Knuffle Bunny, Too is about Trixie going to school for the first time and meeting another girl named Sonia who has a Knuffle Bunny. They start off as rivals, but by the end of the book, Sonia becomes Trixie's first friend.
• The Goldfish Boy: Matthew and his neighbor Jake Bishop were friends almost since birth, since their mothers were friends. They remained best friends for most of their school years, but when Jake was bullied by both classmates and teachers for having eczema, Matthew failed to stand up for him. Jake never forgave him for that.
• Tornado Brain: Colette and Frankie met in kindergarten when they were hiding under a table during an EF3 tornado that just barely missed the school. They hugged each other in fear, despite Frankie's usual aversion to physical contact, and Colette said, "If we don't die, let's be friends."
• Nova from Planet Earth Is Blue decides that her special ed classmate Mallory is her first friend after Mallory gets revenge on two bullies for insulting Nova, saying "I don't let anybody be mean to my friends."
• Bat's third grade classmate Israel invites him to play Four Square and tries to talk to him outside the Sugar Shack. Eventually Mr. Grayson tells him that Israel is trying to be his friend, so Bat invites him over to meet his skunk Thor. Israel's status as Bat's first friend his own age is cemented when he makes a crude clay statue of a skunk kit for Bat.
• In Lily and Dunkin, Dunkin moves to Florida, where he befriends Lily, the first real friend he's ever had. Phineas, his best friend from New Jersey, turns out to be an Imaginary Friend.
• In The Mermaid of Black Conch, Reggie Rain is a homeschooled deaf ten-year-old who is very isolated because he and his mother are the only people on Black Conch who know ASL. When he meets Aycayia, he starts teaching her ASL, which she picks up quickly. He considers her his first friend.
• Slug Days Stories: Lauren, who has ASD, is lonely because all her attempts at making friends end with the other kids annoyed at her. But at the end of Slug Days, Irma, a New Transfer Student from Sweden, tells Lauren that she's scared to ride the bus because she has no one to sit with. Lauren offers to sit with her, and Irma says, "I would like that." Lauren is so happy to have a friend that her slug day turns into a butterfly day.

Live-Action TV

• In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Data the android didn't know how friendship worked until he met Geordi, who is still his best friend now.
• In The O.C., a large part of why the Cohens take in Ryan is because he gets along well with their son Seth who is socially awkward and historically has difficulty making friends. Seth himself often asks Ryan for help in group settings, acknowledging that he's relying on Ryan's superior social skills to gain access to parties and events Seth would never have been invited to on his own. While Ryan remains his most steadfast friendship through the series, Seth does continue on to make a few other friends, including a couple of girlfriends, although admittedly with a lot of consultations with Ryan.
• In the second episode of Cadfael, Liliwin is a minstrel and Rannilt is a young maid. They are treated poorly by their employers and ignored by everyone else, owing to their bottom-of-the-barrel social positions. They share a meal in the kitchen at a feast where both are working, and afterward each independently tells Brother Cadfael that the other was the first to ever speak kindly to them.
• The Big Bang Theory: Amy had no friends growing up or in college, and considers Penny to be her first (and best) friend. She values their friendship so much that she commissioned an artist to paint a portrait of the two of them. Penny is sometimes nonplussed by Amy's awkward displays of friendship, but she does consider Amy to be a close friend.
• Stranger Things: Mike is Eleven's first friend due to her spending her childhood as a prisoner in a lab.
• The Twilight Zone (1985): In "A Message from Charity", Peter Wood skipped two grades when he was younger and therefore found it very difficult to make friends. When Charity breaks off their telepathic contact, he tearfully tells her that she was the first real friend that he ever had. The closing narration makes it clear that they were also each other's First Love.
• Sherlock: The self-declared Sociopathic Hero Sherlock becomes flatmates with Watson for purely utilitarian purposes, then comes to value his companionship unlike anyone else in his life. As he finally admits in Season 2:
  "I don't have friends. I've just got one."

Video Games

• In God of War (PS4), Freya refers to Chaurli the Turtle as this. She says he was the first friend she made in Midgard offering her shelter while she protected him from the evils of the forest. Before her happen-chance encounter with Kratos and Atreus, Freya is otherwise completely isolated after Odin traps her in Midgard, keeping her from ever returning to her family and friends in Vanheim.
• Honkai Impact 3rd: In one event that details their past, Bronya used to be a child assassin until she's brought into Cocolia's orphanage; she put Bronya into a room with Seele, who's the first to befriend Bronya. Seele became the first person that Bronya really cared about and showed frank emotions towards.
• Mega Man Star Force: The first person Geo Stelar ever formed a BrotherBand with was Sonia Strumm. She's the first person Geo reaches out to, and the sheer fact they both lost a parent is what allows them to understand each other after Geo (as Mega Man) fights Sonia as Harp Note. It's even lampshaded how she's the first person to form a connection with Geo after he spend some time isolating himself from people.
• The World Ends with You: Neku Sakuraba was a loner who refused to socialize with people at the start of the game. This changes when he meets his first partner, Shiki, who is able to bring out the best in him during the week they have playing the Reaper's Game. Shiki being taken as his entry fee is seen as proof of how much he grew to care about her, and it gives him the determination to survive the game for her sake. It later turns out that Shiki being taken was to cover up the fact that she, the winner of that weak's Reaper's Game, couldn't be resurrected without the help of the Composer, who was absent. Neku never learns that, but considering Shiki's importance to him, he has no reason to question her being designated as his entry fee.
• Another Code: D ends up becoming Ashley's first friend as they bond through their sharing experiences exploring Blood Edward Island. She even calls him as such in the sequel.
• Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days: Roxas and Xion have both each other as well as Axel. Before, the two of them started out as blank slates without any memories (Roxas due to being born without inheriting Sora's memories, and Xion due to having just been created). Once Axel becomes a Big Brother Mentor to them, and the two find companionship in each other, Roxas and Xion are able to grow as people and form their own identities over time as a result of forming hearts within them.
• Persona 5
  • Ann, as a part foreign girl, had trouble making friends in Japan. That changed when she met Shiho, who, by criticizing her art, was the first person who didn't immediately bring up Ann's looks. Ann also met Ryuji at this time, but didn't truly become friends with him until after they became Phantom Thieves.
  • In Futaba's Confidant it's revealed that long before she met and joined the Phantom Thieves, she was a lonely victim of bullying in her childhood, until she met a girl named Kana, who decided to say hello to her every day. One day, Futaba responded in kind, and the two became close friends until Futaba accidentally caught a glimpse of Kana's diary, which revealed Kana's awful family life. Futaba speaking to Kana about it resulted in a rift forming between the two, which only healed years later after Futaba helped change Kana's parents' hearts, and contacted Kana to apologize.
• Phantom Brave: Marona, due to her powers, was feared and hated by most of the populace throughout her career as a Chroma. Up until she met Castile, Marona's only companion was her spiritual guardian, Ash. So when Castile shows Marona kindness, admires her powers instead of fearing them, and asks to be her friend, Marona eagerly accepts and becomes all the more determined to protect Castile as both a Chroma and her best friend.
• Zenos from Final Fantasy XIV declares the Warrior of Light to be his First and Only Friend in what he intended to be his last words. It showcases how obsessed with war he's become that he considers his Worthy Opponent and friend to be one and the same.

Web Animation

• RWBY:
  • When Team RWBY first meets Penny, Ruby's casual 'Farewell, friend' as she leaves causes Penny to immediately latch on to her because no-one has ever called her 'friend' before. Ruby and Penny end up becoming true friends, which allows Penny to confide in Ruby a secret she knows General Ironwood doesn't want people to know about and which her own team-mates, whom she describes as having been forced to spend time with her, also don't know.
  • At the school dance, Pyrrha explains to a surprised Jaune that no-one asked her to come to the dance because everyone assumes she's out of their league. She states that Jaune is the first person who has ever treated like she was normal instead of a celebrity. He is therefore the first true friend she's ever been able to make and is the reason she's been able to make other friendships that will, in her words, 'last a lifetime'. She then admits to Jaune that, for this reason, she wishes she was going to the dance with someone like him.
  • In a significantly darker example, Cinder was the first "friend" that her minion Emerald ever had. She recruited her from the streets and saved her from a life of poverty and hunger, which Emerald mistook for genuine love and attached to because she had nothing to compare it to. Even while it becomes increasingly clear that Cinder's level of evil is something Emerald finds deeply disturbing, her misplaced loyalty keeps her bound to Cinder. In Volume 8, Cinder abandons all pretense of caring about her, and Emerald abandons her soon after.

Web Comics

• Orange Marmalade: Ma-ri is a Friendly Neighbourhood Vampire who ended up with a Friendless Background because all the other children thought she was a monster. The Fantastic Racism towards her and her family caused them to have to move around a lot. Transferring to a new school, she keeps her true nature a secret and distances herself from people so they won't find out. Soo-ri is the first person she meets who finds out she's a vampire and still wants to be her friend, making Ma-ri realize that Soo-ri is this trope for her.
• Stand Still, Stay Silent: Cloud Cuckoolander Lalli is incredibly anti-social, due in no small part to his role as a mage and appears to have an unspecified disorder. However, he slowly warms up to Emil, despite the fact that they don't even speak the same language. Lalli eventually admits to Onni that he considers Emil to be his only friend.

Web Original

• Franz Faust is this for Shanna Averil in Arkn: Legacy. At least, until Shanna is made to forget she ever knew him by Marchosias Aversen.

Western Animation

• In The Loud House episode "Friend or Faux?", Lisa reveals that she's never seen the point of having friends. When she has to make a friend in order to pass social skills, she makes friends with a little girl called Darcy in her class and they've remained good friends since the episode.
• Miraculous Ladybug:
  • Chloé Bourgeois, the Mayor's daughter, is this to Adrien Agreste, the son of a renowned fashion mogul. The latter suffered from a lonely childhood where he was isolated from his peers out of his parents' unhealthy overprotectiveness.
  • Alya Césaire, budding reporter, is this to Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Paris' heroine. Marinette previously was bullied and thus saddened with a Friendless Background until Alya stood up for her against her bullies and gave her the confidence to fight back.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • When the Mane 6 are tasked with reforming Discord, Fluttershy believes the best way is to befriend him. After hearing her call him her friend, Discord even says that he has never had a friend before. This ends up being what aids in Discord's Heel–Face Turn later on. While Discord intended to take advantage of Fluttershy to ensure he could be free to deliver chaos to Equestria, he realizes that doing so would mean losing the only friend he ever had in his life.
  • Spike would become this to Ember and Thorax, the future Dragon Lord and Changeling King respectively. Spike's kindness and offer of friendship would end up helping them become the rulers their people needed, allowing them to establish stable bonds with the rest of Equestria.
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Surprisingly, Mr. Krabs and Sheldon Plankton of all people ended up being this to one another, having been friends since birth. They worked together on a burger recipe to finally earn the kid's respect after being bullied for so long, only for their first burger to Go Horribly Wrong, causing their friendship to fall apart and become the arch-enemies they are today.
• Steven Universe: The titular protagonist ends up being this to a lot of characters with Friendless Backgrounds. Steven would become an important figure in these characters, and his friendship with those characters helps them to grow as people.
  • Connie Maheswaran, Steven's Implied Love Interest, didn't have any friends until she met him. After their first adventure together, the two become inseparable best friends, which allows Connie to grow more confident and assertive throughout the series.
  • Lapis Lazuli was trapped in a mirror for 5,000 years, treated as a tool until she met Steven who was the first to talk to her as a person. Ever since he freed her and healed her gem, Steven served as Lapis's Morality Pet and she becomes fiercely protective of him.
  • Peridot was originally an enemy of the Crystal Gems, but when she is left stranded on Earth and forced to cooperate with the Crystal Gems to stop the Cluster from forming, Steven became the first to treat her with kindness and shows her the beauty of Earth, which causes Peridot to have second thoughts about the Earth's destruction. When she sees Yellow Diamond will not change her mind about destroying Earth, her Heel–Face Turn is solidified. These events would never have happened had Steven not reached out to her, and he becomes the first person Peridot expresses concern for besides herself.
• Philip J. Fry to Bender Bending Rodriguez in Futurama.
  Bender: You know, Fry, of all the friends I've had, you're the first.
• Molly of Denali: In the episode "Culture Clash" Tooey notes that he and Molly had been friends long before anyone else. He says, "Yeah, remember? We did it with Oscar and Vera?" ^note Attempt to welcome them to Qyah.
• Harley Quinn (2019): Harley Quinn is the first human being Ivy ever opened up to and wanted to trust after a lifetime of being rejected by humanity. As Harleen Quinzel, she was able to break through to an imprisoned Ivy by showing her kindness and trust by gifting her a plant cutting, extremely risky given Ivy's powers.

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