Does Coop keep in touch with childhood friends? Which ones and why?
A few! Growing up, Coop traveled around Cyberspace with his mom, Rosey! She was a handywoman for hire and brought Coop with her to all her jobs! She taught him everything he knows about fixing things and would bring him to Disgardia to salvage parts because they didn't have the money to buy new ones for jobs!
Because of this, Coop met a wide variety of borgs from different sites! He vaguely remembers a borg he greatly admired on Gollywood, but whenever he tries to think too hard about them, he gets the worse migraine. (It definitely isn't @moecartoons oc Chip, what??? No....)
Because of his positive and relaxed attitude, friendly nature and smarts, and pretty face Coop has always been pretty popular. He makes friends wherever he goes! The biggest gap in his friendships was when he and Hacker separated and when he was isolated for years because of Hacker poisoning him.
When he and Hacker separated, they shared the same friend group on Radopolis, and many of their friends felt like they had to choose sides, or were too chill and refused to take Coop seriously about Hacker.
When Coop was on Disgardia, he definitely loss some of his charisma as well as picked up the habit of talking to himself. Once he returned to Radopolis many of his old friends reconnected, but with his aged joints and energy levels, not all of them stuck around, but some of his childhood friends did which he appreciated.
One of those friends was King Dudacus. He and Dudacus had been childhood friends and often competed in competitions together going head to head. In Radopolis, there's a skating competition to be the next ruler. Originally Dudacus wasn't going to compete, but Coop pushed him to do it. While Coop was MIA, Dudacus kept an eye on Slider and was the reason Slider didn't become a full recluse, encouraging him to skate and helping him find business for his garage, something that Coop greatly appreciates. Dudacus is like a distant uncle figure to Slider who still goes to him to complain and vent when he's mad about something. When Coop returned, Dudacus was the one that made an entire celebration, and makes sure others respect Coop's skills when he's around.