Who's crying now?
Crying!Justin is a staple not just of bad!fic, but a lot of good fic and meta, too. I think one of the reasons we see so much crying!Justin is that he's often seen as the designated girl/feeling half of their relationship. Justin is emotional, Brian is stoic. Justin is in touch with his feelings, Brian walls himself off.
But when it comes to that pesky thing called canon... you know, the facts?... things are actually quite different -- as those who really understand the character of Brian Kinney instinctively know. He may act tough, but that guy? He's all heart. Which is exactly why his defenses got to be so strong in the first place, yo.
Bunny and I spent a lot of time going through the series and watching the scenes in which one of the boys is crying, or seems to be, or might have been. We found a few things that surprised us, and maybe some that will surprise you, too. Come find out....
Definite crying
These are scenes where tears are clearly visible on their faces. There are no ifs, and or buts: The boys are crying here.
Justin, 102, after Brian says he believes in fucking, not love. (thx, testdog65 for this; cap from KWAF)
Brian, 109, at Michael's after seeing his father at the bar
Justin, 121: Brian leaving for New York
Brian, 122: At the hospital after Justin is bashed
Justin, 202, Jennifer waking him up from a nightmare
Justin, 513, before he goes to New York
Tally: Justin 4, Brian 2
Definite crying, but no visible tears
These are scenes where we don't actually see tears on their faces or in their eyes, but we do hear or see sobs, nose or eye wiping, shaking shoulders, or other incontrovertible signs that they're crying.
Justin, 109, "I'm not crying, it's just my allergies."
Brian, 119, in the street with Michael after his father's funeral and the bowling alley scene
Brian, 201, the flashback of him holding Justin while he was bleeding on the "cold cement" while his shoulders are shaking with sobs. Meep.
Brian, 202, in the garage while trying to help Justin remember the bashing. This one should have gone under definite, because Brian is clearly sobbing, but we see no tears at all, so...
Justin, 408, "Tell me about Ibiza." I always thought this one had tears, but while we get multiple sniffles, one sob, and some nose and eye blotting, we really don't see a single tear.
Brian, 510, "I love you." I actually never thought of this one as a crying scene, but Bunny thought it might be. We watched it, and there's no question Brian is wiping his nose and his voice breaks as if he's crying. There are no tears, but on multiple viewings (sheesh, the things we do for fandom!), we had to put it in "definite."
Tally: Justin 2, Brian 4
This leaves us with a total tally of definite crying scenes of Justin 6, Brian 6! Very different from what I think we'd all have guessed, for sure. So I think it's fair to say, based on canon, that Brian and Justin cry about the same number of times in the series. But now let's look at one last category:
Possible crying
This category is very subjective. Sometimes we decided one of them was crying because their eyes are red, and there might be a sniffle, voice break, or some other suggestion that they are crying, had just cried, or were about to cry. But there's no single moment in watching them where we felt we could say they definitely cried.
Justin, 108, "I'm not a stupid faggot." I always thought this was a "definite crying" moment, but on watching it several times, it's not clear that he is crying. He might just be overwhelmed or even angry. Brian thinks he's crying, but unlike the similar "allergies" scene, we really don't know if he is or not. What do you think?
Brian, 218, in the hallway with Michael when Ben is in the hospital. Michael is certainly crying his eyes out here, but Brian? Watch it when he's talking to Michael about Justin being bashed.
220, after Justin comes back from Ethan's and, in total silence, gets into bed with Brian. Are they crying? I don't know. Justin's eyes are red, and he does look like he might be crying or about to. But Brian, again somewhat surprisingly, looks like he might be, too -- watch the scene and look at his eyes.
Again with the 220.... imagine that. This time it's Brian. I always thought he was definitely crying here, but on watching it for this picspam, Bunny and I couldn't decide. His eyes are bleary, and he looks gutted. Your thoughts?
Brian, 304, where Joan accuses him of turning "his back on the Lord." Here's another one I never thought of as a "crying" scene, and certainly there are no signs of tears. But Brian's voice breaks, hard, and he sounds like he's fighting back tears. And who could blame him?
Brian, 510, in the chapel with Debbie. His voice breaks hard, and he kind of sniffles. He's not sobbing or anything, but it's possible.
Well, that's it. Excluding the "maybes," they're pretty much tied. So all you fic writers, remember: The boyz cry. Both of them. Not a lot, but when they're really moved.
And add in the "maybes"? Canon gives us that Brian cries more than Justin does. Go figure.