When Freddy perks up, it is a physical thing, once again much like a puppy seeing something of great interest, though it's his shoulders that rise out of his faint habitual slump rather than, say, a pair of extra ears popping up out of his scalp in order to make his excitement more obvious. On pretty much anyone less genuinely harmless, the expression would probably signify the beginning of a plot for said hazing. On Freds, it's just a keen sense of legitimate interest. Also a perhaps overly excited response to the fact that Gabriel is actually smiling back...at all.
"Oh man, yeah! Freshman year is pretty, like, overwhelming, huh?" That is...actually probably a bit of an understatement, which does nothing to balance out just how overstated pretty much everything else about this glowworm is. "I'm a junior," he goes on, "so, you know, I guess I've kind of got the hang of stuff by now. Mostly. I mean, until classes really get rolling. Also, I guess I'm pretty good at recognizing people." There's something in his hand now. It's a...glass, featuring some forgotten cartoon characters of the 70's, possibly 60's. "So, hey, what are you looking for? I guess your room is probably pretty sparse right now, huh?"
One would imagine that an entire conversation like this would be even more exhausting than the average.