Damian Desmond/Relationships

== Family ==
=== Donovan Desmond ===
Donovan is Damian's father, with whom he has a very distant relationship, though he wishes he would pay more attention to him. Comparing how Donovan spent lots of time with his older brother Demetrius when he was younger, Damian assumed that his father simply did not like being with him, causing him to do everything he could to impress him: from striving to become an Imperial Scholar like Demetrius to not wanting to show any kind of weakness. As he works towards these goals, Damian often imagines his father being proud of him and praising him as "the pride of the Desmonds." Eager to earn his father's praise, Damian would even go as far as forgoing spending time with his friends and having fun to focus on being a better student. Their butler, Jeeves, tries to act as if Donovan cares for Damian, but Damian does not believe it.
Damian aspires to follow in Donovan's footsteps by becoming a politician and holds him in very high regard, even believing that a man as important as his father would not spend time with someone like him. When Damian meets with Donovan after the Imperial Scholars mixer, he sees how mysterious his father is. When Donovan dismisses how Anya punched Damian at the school orientation with a smile, Damian is confused and frustrated that Donovan does not seem to care about him and tries to express his feelings, only to be shut down by Donovan's exasperated sigh. Later, when Damian hears that his father sees him as a stranger when he reveals his beliefs to Loid Forger, the declaration depresses him. However, Loid defends Damian's feelings and suggests that Donovan took the time out of his day to meet with Damian to try to understand him, and when Donovan agrees, Damian is surprised.
When the father and son are left alone to talk as Damian requested, Damian finds the courage in himself to tell Donovan his recent achievements and failures in school, only to receive a dry congratulation from him, but the congratulations are enough for the boy. Damian asks Donovan why he agreed to see him, and Donovan answers that it was simply on a whim. Donovan then tells Damian to continue striving not to damage their family name, something that Damian eagerly agrees to. After their meeting, Damian continues to work towards his goal of getting Stella Stars and becoming an Imperial Scholar to get closer to Donovan.
=== Melinda Desmond ===
Similar to his father, Damian has a distant relationship with his mother, Melinda, though he also appears to care about her and what she says about him. When he first learns from Anya that their mothers have become friends, Damian quickly asks if his mother said anything about him, though he is mostly worried about his childhood secrets getting exposed. After Anya assures him that Melinda said nothing about him, Damian is visibly disappointed.
After the bus hijacking incident, Damian is surprised and relieved that his mother came to pick him up, letting go of his strong façade and crying when they reunite. Later, Damian is happy upon learning that she cooked all the food for his dinner when they returned home and thoroughly enjoyed her cooking.
Though both mother and son care for each other, Damian is currently unaware of Melinda's conflicting thoughts on him.
=== Demetrius Desmond ===
Similar to his father, Damian has a distant relationship with his older brother, to the point of being nervous when talking with him on the phone. However, he does seem to have a slightly better relationship with him than with Donovan and Melinda since Demetrius made sure to pass to their father Damian's request to talk to him after the Imperial Scholars mixer.
After a while, Damian personally meets with his brother to ask him for something again. The kid starts from afar, trying to congratulate Demetrius on his newly received Stellas, but gets a cold reception because the teen seems absolutely not in the mood for casual conversation. When Damian awkwardly tries to ask his brother about their father's reaction to his third Stella, Demetrius silently looks at him and then abruptly turns around, saying that he does not maintain regular contact with Donovan. Not wanting to continue their talking any longer, the teen walks away, not caring about his younger brother's stunned condition. A difficult conversation with his older brother causes Damian to have sad thoughts about his family and makes him doubt how busy his father really is that he cannot be close to him as he once was with Demetrius in the past.
== Eden Academy ==
=== Anya Forger ===
His classmate, with whom he has mixed feelings. The two often engage in fights, but Damian has shown some positive feelings about her when he sometimes blushes while talking to her. Since Damian is unaware of Operation Strix or Anya's telepathy, he falsely assumes that her efforts to befriend him are simply to get closer to the Desmond name. After the bus hijacking incident, their relationship appears to have improved since Damian tolerates her presence more, with him gaining newfound respect for Anya and calling her a friend. He currently has a big and very obvious crush on her that she seems to be oblivious to, even getting jealous at the prospect of her getting taken away by someone else.
On the day of Eden Academy's end-of-class gala, Anya defeats her rivals for the chance to be Damian's dance partner. Blushing, Damian accepts her victory, and they dance together for the first time. At first, things do not go very well, and they cannot get into a common rhythm, with Damian getting flustered at holding Anya's hand. Thanks to Henry's advice, Damian pulls himself together, and the two begin dancing properly. During a heart-to-heart conversation, Anya confesses to him her mind-reading abilities, but Damian does not believe her and calls her a dummy, thinking that she watches too many cartoons.
=== Becky Blackbell ===
Damian is on odd terms with Becky, with her being Anya's best friend, and the two often trade jabs on any subject in or out of school. After the bus hijacking incident, it is shown that these two are in better circumstances, with Becky normally advising him about his decisions towards Anya.
=== Emile Elman ===
His classmate, who acts and is seen as Damian's flunky. Though Emile may be one of Damian's "minions," they seem to have a friendly relationship as they are shown doing various activities together. Emile has great respect for Damian, being willing to take a ball that was meant for Damian during their dodgeball match against Bill Watkins and getting himself in trouble to accompany him.
=== Ewen Egeburg ===
His classmate, who acts and is seen as Damian's flunky. Though Ewen may be one of Damian's "minions," they seem to have a friendly relationship as they are shown doing various activities together. When Damian is punished for missing his morning muster, Ewen purposefully gets himself in trouble to receive a similar punishment, so he can aid Damian with the chores and hang out with him.
=== Bill Watkins ===
Damian is one of Bill's rivals, aiming to earn a Stella Star at the interclass dodgeball match. At the start of the game, they briefly banter after Damian tries to eliminate him. Later, Wald Hall and Cecile Hall share a bus during a trip to the museum. Bill proposes becoming friends, but Damian states their classes are rivals, so Bill challenges him to see which class can name the most dinosaurs in the museum. After the bus gets hijacked by the Red Circus, Damian and Bill do selfless acts to calm their classmates, earning each other's respect.
=== George Glooman ===
Damian and George seemed pretty unacquainted with each other until the latter tried to get the former expelled after hearing his father's company is on the verge of bankruptcy and believe the Desmonds are the cause. When George explained his jealousy towards him and his family status and claimed he would be leaving Eden, Damian helped him fulfill his wishes, from buying a juice box for him to even lending George his Stella Star. He even gave George his stationary case as a memento. However, when it turns out that he will not be leaving, he coldly demands to pay him back for the juice, and later, when he sees that George bought the final set of the rumored "Pastry of Knowledge," Damian reminds him of the stationary case that George has yet to return to him.
== Other ==
=== Jeeves ===
Jeeves is the butler of the Desmond Family. He normally serves under Damian's instructions but also guides and cheers him, as he is aware of the estrangement between the family, doing his best to make him believe Donovan is looking out for him and assuring him that Melinda, despite her absence, still cares about him.
=== Loid Forger ===
Damian first meets Loid shortly after the Imperial Scholars mixer and learns that the man is Anya's father. Their meeting left an impression on the boy, as Loid gave Damian a reassuring pat after Donovan passed him off as a stranger, and he was embarrassed when Loid began praising his school project on Donovan to the man himself. Loid also pushed Damian to get along with Anya, something that Damian also expressed wanting to do, though he quickly got embarrassed and told the man off. When talking with Donovan, Loid's words about meeting people in the middle to understand others help motivate Damian to tell his father about his recent achievements and failures in school.
Later, during a heart-to-heart conversation with Anya at the end-of-class gala, Damian tells Anya about their meeting and comments that Loid seemed like a passionate guy, and after hearing how Loid helped Anya practice for the dance, Damian says that her family seems nice.
== References ==
Category:Relationships
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