Spoilers Off applies to all Tear Jerker pages, so all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
Probably the only webcomic that will make you cry for good reasons.
- Reading Volume One becomes Harsher in Hindsight as the story progresses in the next volumes thanks to Cerebus Syndrome kicking in. Watching Mike and Lucy playing together or engaging in slapstick humor, watching Paulo and Abbey getting into arguments after meeting in high school, watching Daisy and Paulo's initial pursuit for Mike and Lucy's hearts... It's not so funny anymore when we see what happens in the following volumes.
- Anytime Lucy loses Mike, she has a heartrending emotional breakdown. It really shows just how attached she's become to him over the years. However, the single saddest moment happens in Chapter 51 "A Distance Apart"
when Lucy finally admits her love for him, and he rejects her. - There have been other tearjerkers besides the one above. How about some of Daisy's Corrupt the Cutie moments during the Awakening arc? In Rising Temperature, being humiliated by Katie and two in this page? Mike feels guilty for ignoring Daisy and Daisy is all alone, even though she does have her friends.
- Mike and Abbey's fight regarding the former neglecting Daisy in favor of spending time with Lucy. Abbey loves Daisy, but he's painfully aware that she loves Mike and is angry that Mike can't take the time to at least try to be a more attentive friend with her, to the point of him nearly getting into a fist fight with Mike despite his tendency to only use violence to be a Bully Hunter. Likewise, Mike foreshadows his frustration with his friendship with Lucy and eventual hatred for her, gets enraged at Abbey's accusations, and fights back. Considering how the two of them are the nicest members of the cast, it's jarring to see the, fight like this, particularly when Molly comes and begs them to stop fighting.
- The "Another Path" chapter is pretty much tear jerking. It's a what-if scenario of what would have happened if Paulo had a Moment of Weakness to give Lucy Sex for Solace over her heartbreak. It's quite heartbreaking to see Lucy tear up over Paulo taking her virginity and panicking over the possibility of being pregnant. Likewise, Paulo actually breaks down in tears when he tells his dad (even if it's Played for Laughs) and later as he takes care of Lucy during the time it takes to get the results of her pregnancy test, he bitterly cries in jealously over Mike being Lucy's support, admitting his anger at him for not wanting to be there for her while he wants to be there for her. By the end of the chapter, Paulo and Lucy are an Official Couple and graduating, with Lucy declaring her love for him...only for the chapter to be revealed to be All Just a Dream.
- Pillow Talk has some more tearjerkers for you. Though, YMMV on them.
- The way things are going in that flashback, you just know the whole chapter will turn out as one...
- Yeah, the flashback ended sad, so the chapter seems to be so full of Tear Jerkers.
- The way things are going in that flashback
- In the "December" arc, Mike finally tears into Lucy over everything she's done to him, culminating in him declaring his undying hatred for her. The worst part, he then reveals he never saw her as a friend.
- He then proceeds to take it WAY too far, especially considering that Lucy's behavior has improved, and his unnecessarily cruel words to her leave the reader with a strong desire to punch him in the face. Even a constant victim of abuse for so long like himself isn't supposed to break her to the point where she's physically ill. Poor Lucy...
- "At Loose Ends" show more of Abbey's Dark and Troubled Past, specifically, his final straw with his father, how he became a woman-protector, and his mother's death. All in the middle of the fucking Christmas season.
- "Just Beautiful" is relatively lighthearted...until Lily chases off Mike, who decided to try apologizing to Lucy for his recent behavior. Not really that sad, since he was only doing so on Sandy's advice, but then She and Lucy have to tell Yashy the truth behind Mike's status. Jesus!
- The entirety of "Breaking Up/Leaving Home", from Paulo snapping at Daisy, to Mike collapsing from guilt and regret, to Paulo trying to play it cool in front of Rachel only to completely break into tears.
- "Small Fry", despite being more of a light-hearted romp through Paulo's 16th birthday, and his foray into getting a part-time job and learning how to drive, shows us the inevitability of Rachel and Paulo's 'friends-with-benefits' relationship, especially with Paulo feeling guilty about Rachel's genuine attraction to him while he's still hoping that Lucy will one day return...
- "Total Recall", wherein at the end of the Junior Prom, where Paulo, Matt, and Jordan do some definite male bonding, they get caught right into a car accident.
- "Trapped," where Augustus has his origins with Alejandro told, and we run into a girl named Melanie... who is in an abusive relationship with Alejandro. On page 25, she reveals that the scholarship she wants is specifically to get away from Alejandro, and her breakdown over it is painful to watch.
- "Class of 2008", in which Tess graduates. After all she's been through with Paulo, as well as Jess and Rachel, it's heartrending to see her (mostly) forgiven and sent on her way with good luck wishes. The last we see of her is a hazy gray pencil sketch as she walks out of Roseville High. Especially poignant for those graduating at the time of this chapter's release.
- The splintering of the main group of friends. Before the Acapulco arc, the main clique used to be a rather tight-knit group of friends (especially the main protagonists Lucy and Mike), and despite all of the vitriol that they give each other, always had each others' backs, even willing to risk their lives to save each other when in dangerous perils. Come Sophomore year, the circle of friends slowly corrodes as internal grudges and bottled-up emotions rise and Love Triangles come forward. The absolute destruction of Mike and Lucy's friendship (with the latter being Put on a Bus) was a very critical hit to the group's stability, and even when Lucy came back in Chapter 95, the situation did not get any better. Makes it even more tragic when you realize that every single member of the group is guilty of doing something that unwittingly shatters not only their individual friendships with one another, but their entire True Companions group as a whole.
- Chapter 95 has us see Lucy's suicide attempt in gruesome, heartrending fashion. She decides to jump off a building after we're treated to a few pages of her self-loathing internal monologue. And we see her jump too... and watch her not only survive the attempt, but also realize she survived, is bleeding out, and can barely move. It's a good thing Augustus came when he did...
- Chapter 96 doesn't stop the pain train for anyone. While it's more reasonably light-hearted, the end of it has Mike get exactly what's coming to him from Lucy. With Mike pussyfooting around so much, it should have been a glorious moment, but the end and the intermission, where all the guilt culminates in him and he breaks down in tears, feels otherwise.
- Even in the light-hearted moments there's still a bit of sadness. As Mike's facing the last opponent in dodgeball, he can't quite shake off all of the violent antics Lucy did to him.
- Paulo's chances with Lucy sink hard during Chapter 97. Even though he feels like she didn't use him, Lucy tries to beat into his head that the pair was never going to happen, and their one moment was an act of desperation.Paulo: I want off this shitty ride.
- The entirety of Chapter 100, as the main group of friends ends up completely and utterly demolished. Paulo tries to help Mike with his problems with Sandy, resulting in Mike slamming Paulo's face into the lunch table. Embarrassed, Paulo runs away only to bump into Lucy hanging out with Augustus. Paulo then lets loose at Lucy for hanging out with the guy who molested Daisy, and starts to confess all of his feelings for her. All that Lucy says however is that she doesn't care, not about Paulo, not about her friends. Meanwhile, Sue chases after Mike, confronting him over what he did earlier and tries to get him to open up about what's going on, but ultimately causes him to furiously snap at her when she asked if the issue was about Sandy (which was correct in the first place). He tears at her, complaining that the group never cared about his problems or about his relationship with Sandy, and always favored Lucy and gave her special attention. Poor Sue can only lament at how toxic and unpleasant Mike has become lately and could do nothing but walk away from him. If you add in Abbey sitting at another table, and Mike's friends getting mad at him for what he did, then the friend group has never been worse off.
- Chapter 102 finally gives us a look into Lucy's mind following her suicide attempt. While she sleeps over at Augustus's house, she has a dream about all of her former friends showing no sympathy for her—hell, her version of Sue even calls the whole thing "[her] drama", and Mike shows up just to tell her nobody cares about her anymore, showing she still does care about his opinion. But the real meat is when Alejandro appears; looks like she didn't just forget "Confrontation" happened after all.
- Chapter 103 is a mostly light-hearted chapter, but it gets way darker near the end, as Lucy reveals that Augustus is staying at her place, only for Daisy to give her a "Reason You Suck" Speech due to jealousy of her getting all the attention. This causes Lucy to snap and scream at Daisy that she never wanted any attention, and she storms off. The chapter ends with Daisy and Mike talking about how much of a mess everything has become, only for Mike to make things worse by telling Daisy that it has been weeks since Sandy last contacted him. While we were always aware that Mike was having issues with Sandy after the events of Model Girlfriend, it was this moment that truly showed how much of an issue it has become.
- What's more is that after Lucy snaps, for two panels, Lucy has the Dull Eyes of Unhappiness from her suicidal days before she masks it again. It shows that despite having having some mental recovery, deep down she still was emotionally shattered from the events prior to being Put on a Bus.
- Paulo and Matt sobbing in the car together at the end of Chapter 104.
- It's a small moment, but in Chapter 105, Lucy finally reveals why the pets haven't returned home with her. It's especially harsh when she tells Sue that Yashy is still so heart-broken that she doesn't want to see Mike ever again.
