Integrating? No. But maybe he's blending in a little better, at least. And, at the end of the day, even Joel needs some semblance of social connection - however much he prefers to pretend otherwise. Tess was proof of that, once. Now it's just him and— Well. Just him, now. Not a state he's all that happy to be back in.

"More of the same." Short and only informative by the loosest definition, but it's something. He can't really say better, anyway, no interest in mustering up the lie or putting on a front.

He almost rebuffs the offer, hand half raised to ward her package of cookies off (after that carnival, the thought of more sugar just makes his teeth ache). But he takes it, instead, after that halting second of indecision. "You're gonna need more than just the gingerbread to build a house."