I know I focus a lot on Danny's complicated relationship with his parents, but there's really not enough on how messy his relationship with his friends can be.
Because in some ways, they are the best friends. They're amazing. There is no amount of crazy, no amount of terrifying, no amount of danger that can make them abandon him. They are ride or die to the end.
But they are also such teenagers.
And that's fine! They're allowed to be! It doesn't make them bad people or even bad friends. But God, these two are Danny's only support system, and emotionally speaking, they can be... kind of unreliable.
Because both of them? Are constantly trampling on Danny's feelings. Which Danny has a lot of, all the time, because his life is awful, and Sam and Tucker... don't really seem to respect that. (Again, perfectly understandable! They're teenagers and they've become used to this as their new normal.)
Every time Danny breaks down from the stress (WHICH HAPPENS A LOT) Sam and Tucker bitch about it, and his behavior, and how rude he's being. Whenever he's in a bad mood, he's a buzzkill, he's belligerent. When he's doing something just for himself, he's abandoning them, he's irresponsible. A lot of times, during intensely traumatic events, they openly blame him for what's happening.
(In fact, Sam and Tucker are a big part of why I hold 'struggles to assert himself' as a cornerstone of Danny's character.)
And they're kids, it's not their job to be Danny's therapists or his emotional sponge, and they should absolutely not be his sole source of support... but it's also so, so bad for him. Have I mentioned that Danny's life is a nightmare of abuse conditioning? Because it is.
And this is of course not the only or even the most important aspect of their friendship! But it's such a recurring theme (both with them and in Danny's life in general) that I'd love to address it at some point.
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