Rambling that was too long for the app. Oops.

[kingofbabylon]

He doesn’t really do scene-kid hipster land. Rather than doing something vague and artistic, Justin would rather make it loud, blatant and bonus points for profane. When he gets taken to the college party with all the snobbish, intellectuals he looks painfully bored. It’s simply not something he fits into and he finds it boring and likely also containing a high concentration of bullshit - no doubt a viewpoint he’s acquired from Brian. When asked to come to said part, the conversation goes like so -

Ethan: My friend wants to know if my imaginary lover will be accompanying me it to his soiree.
Justin: Tell him I would sooner eat shit and die. [said with a cheeky smile]
Ethan: He says he can't wait to meet you.

While at the party, for a while he’s quiet and just sort of... enduring, up until he breaks away to smoke, mentions that he’s not really comfy, and then one of the snobbish hipster friends comes over and the old Justin we see from Liberty Avenue that could make sailors blush comes out, pretty much obvious that he’s fed up with the environment and now making a point of traumatizing poor, privileges snobs. What I love about this scene and why I’m assaulting you with dialogue from it is just how that smartass sort of nature character of his that is so potent and apparent most of the time doesn’t do getting suppressed very well, even in favor of making nice with the Romantic Prince Violinist Boyfriend’s fancy friends.

Friend of Ethan’s: So this is the imaginary boyfriend. Ethan tells me you're an artist.
Justin: Yep.
Friend: What kind of stuff do you do?
Justin: Lately I've been manipulating the classical form with digital imagery.
Friend: Then you're not just a pretty face.
[beat]
Justin: No. I got a pretty big cock as well. And I give one hell of a blowjob. Right, Ethan?

He’s much more Liberty Avenue than he ever was IFA, and the duration of his relationship with Ethan is essentially him trying to fit himself to this thing that he’s convinced himself that he wants - the romanticism of the starving artist lifestyle and the overly idealistic storybook sort of romance with Ethan. It’s him trying to live out a fairytale. While plenty mature for his age, Justin is still just nineteen and as much a teenager when it comes to relationship as any other. It takes the betrayal from Ethan for him to actually realize what exactly it was he had with Brian, and the higher grade of love than could be found in the picket fence kind of breakfast in bed and eating chocolates and wine together sort of thing. He is a little puppy that got distracted by the shiny lights.