when do u think justin’s feelings for brian went from puppy love to actual love? in that scene from ep 7 i def feel like its still infatuation / puppy love at least to some extent but by 1x21 when he tells michael that he loves brian i KNOW that he means it so fully…. so id say somewhere between 1x07 and 1x21 but was wondering if u could expand on that? like is there one moment u think switches it or was it just a progressive thing throughout those 14 eps
Hey anon !
Great question 🤔
For me it's a progressive thing as the first season goes on, as you say in 1x07 when he tells his parents he loves Brian and he's all he wants, it's true but its in the puppy love/infatuation era for me. Justin is only 17 and of course he feels that whirlwind rush of 'Omg I'm in love with this guy he's everything' feeling. As the season continues Brian demonstrates acts of care and love towards Justin, which over the course of the 14 episodes help Justin and the audience realise that his love for Brian is something true.
Here's my list of moments which to me bit by bit help Justin and us realise he's falling in love with Brian and how he fully means it when he says it
1x08 - Brian is adamant that Justin return to his parents and that he cannot stay with him at the loft, but once he's there and encounters his homophobic father and hears how for Justin to continue living there he would have to suppress and deny his entire being, Brian gives the 'that's not love that's hate' speech and takes Justin home with him. We see the look of shock on Justin's face as Brian asks him if he's coming with him, because even though he feels strongly about Brian he never expected him to take him back home with him. We then get one of my fave scenes when they have dinner together, and Brian compliments Justin's cooking and we get a small scene of them smiling at each other and an indication that these two might be something special.
1x10 - Justin runs away to New York and even though Brian essentially threw him out at the start of the episode, he still goes down there to find him, tells him he's taking him back to Pittsburgh and that he's gonna help him find a place to live and sort his life out. We even hear Justin tell Brian that deep down he hoped he'd come find him and was quite relieved when he did. For all his protests Brian took the time to get him home, not call the police and organise the move into Debbie's place and not just send him back home
1x14 - Justin hearing about Brian being accused of sexual harassment by Kip at his workplace, goes out of his way a bit stupidly but he's blinded by his love for Brian into taking the matter into his own hands and getting Kip to drop the charges against Brian by a bit of light blackmail. He could've easily ran and told Brian what he did but he instead chose to keep it to himself, happy in the knowledge that he helped him out in some way after all Brian's done for him.
1x18- I think by this point Justin has moved past the infatuation stage, and is definitely in love. This episode again has one of my fave moments with the scene at Babylon where Brian berates Justin for giving up his dreams of going to art school because he feels guilty about his parents divorce. He recalls their first meeting and says how even though Justin was terrified he still went home with Brian he took a risk and went after something he wanted, he impressed him by doing it. You can see a look of shock and recognition on Justin's face that Brian remembers that, and Brian's opinion is important to him, so if he believes in him then that means a lot to Justin.
1x21/1x22- When we reach these episodes Justin does voice to Michael he loves Brian and is devastated by him going to New York and tells him not to go with the gorgeous New York Goodbye Hug as I've titled it scene, where he tells Brian that he'll probably forget him and think he was just a dumb kid who thought he was in love with him. But at this point there's more weight to Justin being in love with Brian, as its become more obvious that Brian's in love with him. Yes he speaks the words of I'm walking out and never looking back, but his words betray him as he clings to Justin for dear life and strokes his hair as they hug goodbye. What's there to say about the prom episode at this point its blindingly obvious that both men have fallen in love with each other and there's no turning back.