Damian: [about Anya] It doesn’t mean I want to be her boyfriend.
Ewen: Well, what do you want then?
Damian: I don’t know. I just wanna be with her all the time. I wanna hear about her day, tell her about mine. I wanna hold her hand and smell her hair. But I don’t want to be her stupid boyfriend.
damian doesn’t ever see himself as an important aspect of his dad’s life and that’s just so upsetting because he’s a child???
but what i think is great is damian still receiving love from his friends, even if it’s not really a great substitute for parental love it makes me happy that he has people in his corner.
emile and ewen at first glance seem to only be friends with damian because of his family and who he is which might honestly be true. half of the children are seen wanting to befriend him for that reason. but this is why chapter 39 is so special. it shows that they really do love and care for him. they purposefully get in trouble so they can receive the same punishment as him, they try to convince him to go to the movies with them because he needs a break from studying but when they see that he won’t budge they try and make his punishment fun. they tie bed sheets around their necks so they resemble cloaks and pretend to be imperial scholars :( because they know that his dream is to become an imperial scholar
sure, emilie and ewen might not be fan favourites because of how they treat anya but chapter 39 really shows that they have soft spots for damian. they happily fish together and have fun on the field trip. and when damian falls in the water (which is actually shallow enough to stand in) they comically jump in to save him
but my favourite panel is this one, damian actually laughing for once all because of his friends and their company.
what’s even more touching is the faith his friends have in him, they believe he’ll make ostania a better place. that’s because they see all his hard work and effort. unlike his father they recognise everything he does because after being friends for so long they can’t help but admire those things about him.
that’s why people typically don’t understand why the boys call him bossman. i think they assume his friends use it because they think they’re inferior to him because he’s a desmond but that’s not it at all - they simply admire him and his work ethic. that’s why they want to be like him.
ewen and emile are real friends because they realise what damian has been trying to show everyone else - that he’s reliable and can be trusted. he so badly wants his father to trust him and give him encouraging words but he never does, but thankfully ewen and emile seem to be there to offer that to him instead :) and again it’s not a great substitute for parental love but it’s nice to see that damian isn’t completely alone
