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Benji and Zaid were just hopping in the car. Benji was ecstatic, and Zaid loved watching him be ecstatic. As they buckled themselves in, Benji hit the gas pedal, and soon they were on the road.
“I'm really glad you could come, babe,” Benji said.
“I'll always make time for you, Bennie,” Zaid flirted. Benji blushed hard. He was conflicted on being called Bennie. He never knew exactly how to react to it besides embarrassment? Either way, he chose to change the topic before things got weirder for them both.
“I can't wait to show you all of my favorite comics,” Benji went on. “It'll be wonderful seeing you indulge in the world of fiction.” His eyes glistened behind his glasses.
“It'll be nice to finally understand what you see in those things,” Zaid chuckled. “What's the difference between a comic book, and a regular fiction novel?”
“Are you kidding??!” Benji was appalled. “The difference is the storytelling. Novels can describe, sure, but comics make you feel the story as if you were there. The art gives perfect visuals, the dialogue is often realistic, even if the story isn't, and the best part is, there usually isn't too many words clamped into one place. Comics are more than just a silly booklet of paper, reading one is an experience like never before. Comics have a unique way of getting the reader to feel a true connection to the story, something novels will never be able to achieve.”
Zaid knew comics were a big part of Benji, but he didn't know he felt this passionate about them. To be honest, it made him a bit psyched to read one. Could the story really captivate him in the way it captivates Benji? Is there really a unique way to interpret it? Is it truly more than just a booklet of pictures and onomatopoeias?
The car made a turn into a parking lot of a building complex. The lot was packed, and it took a minute for Benji to finally find a free spot far away from the store itself. The car was out in park as Benji turned over to look at Zaid.
“We're here,” Benji said in a confident tone. He and Zaid unbuckled their seat belts, and stepped out of the car. Zaid looked up at the place ahead of him. Comics ‘R Us. A very common comic book store.
“Wow..,” Zaid said. He stared at the glowing sign with the title of the store. The big, radiant red lights stared back at him. He would've found himself captivated by them if not for his even more captivating boyfriend dragging him inside.
The inside was even more amusing than the outside. The aisles of comics, separated by genres, authors, and alphabetical order. The bright lights above the area. It seemed busy, there were many customers there.
Walk-in in further, Zaid heard a voice to his left. “Yo, Benji! What's up?” they said.
“Hey, Ronny, the usual, just getting a few more comics,” Benji responded.
“Nothing less to expect from our top customer,” Ronny said. He looked over at Zaid. “And who might this be?”
“This is my boyfriend, Zaid. He's a bit new to comics, so of course I could only come to the best place to get comics for the first time.”
“Well, welcome to Comics R Us, Zaid. Benji, you know where to get the beginners. I'll see you two when you check out!” Ronny waved at the couple as they left to the back of the store.
Walking down the aisles, Zaid was rather intrigued by what he saw. Just from the covers alone, these all seemed interesting to read. Monsters, robots, aliens, superheroes. Everything beyond regular human compensation.
Benji was more than happy to introduce Zaid to the comic store. He went on and on about his favorite comics. “Ooh, check this out,” he said as he grabbed one off the shelf. “This is The Entities of the Tombstone. It's about a colony of mummies in Western Egypt surviving the harsh climate and avoiding the sightings of human beings. It's a really good read if you ask me.”
“Interesting..,” Zaid said. He looked at the book in Benji’s hands. He took the book from Benji, and opened it to a random page. What he saw was a headless mummy with green liquid oozing out of the neck, what he could only assume was its supposed blood. The head was on the floor in the background, as the next drawing had the headless body fall to the ground.
He instantly closed the book. That'll be in his mind for a while. “How about something less… intense?” Zaid suggested. Benji giggled and nodded.
“Yeah, it's probably for the best,” he responded. He put the comic back on the shelf, and began to search for a different one. He scanned his finger down the aisle before his eye caught another comic, and he picked it up.
“What about Detective Koala and the Mysteries of Gamma Island? It's a really mystery comic, and there's lots of action and drama as well.”
Zaid took the comic from Benji, and once again opened to a random page to see what the style was. He saw who he assumed to be Detective Koala tied up in a bunch of ropes above a giant pot on a stove. He could feel his entire body shiver as he closed the book.
“After the koala tacos, I don't think I could ever look at one again,” he handed the comic back to Benji, who seemed apologetic.
“Oh, right..,” Benji said. “Should've thought of that.” He put the comic back. He tried to look for something less extreme and less koala…y? He slid over and searched for something else. “How about… ooh, this one!” He found yet another comic, and pulled out another one.
“Dilemma Diaries! It's about a girl with a passion to be a story writer, but she struggles to make it big. It's funny, no gore, no koalas, and there's a fun plot twist at the end.”
“Is the plot twist that her only online supporter was her best friend the whole time?” Zaid asked.
“Wha- how did you know??!”
“They made a live adaptation of it. Ivy forced me and Tristan to watch it last week because she got the lead role,” Zaid rolled his eyes at the memory.
“Oh..,” Benji said, disappointedly. Zaid put a comforting hand on Benji's shoulder.
“It's okay, Benj. I'm sure I'll find something here I like. It's not like the entire store would be out of my taste.”
“Yeah… yeah, you're right,” Benji said. “Then let's search for more!”
The two spent their time in the comic store searching for more comics. They went through various genres, topics, themes, art styles, etc. But they found nothing that matched Zaid's interests.
The two sat on the ground in the now mostly empty comic store. It's a good thing they cleared their schedules for the entire day, because the sun was beginning to set. Looks like they won't be able to watch that movie tonight.
“Well, this sucks,” Benji says.
“Yeah..,” Zaid responded.
A beat of silence passed. Nobody else was in sight but the two of them. The place seemed as if it were about to close. Benji then spoke up to break the silence.
“I'm sorry,” he said. “I thought it would be fun to introduce you to the world of comics. I wanted this to be something we can share together. But maybe I should've left it alone. Maybe it's just not your thing…”
“Bennie, you have nothing to apologize for,” Zaid says. “I should be apologizing. It's okay if we couldn't find a comic we could share. There's many things out there that we could do together. I promise, we'll find something to do together, and it'll be our thing.”
Zaid took Benji’s hands in his, and pulled him close. He brought one hand up to caress the geek’s face. Benji smiled. “Yeah. As long as it's us together, it doesn't matter what we do.”
The two kissed and in that moment it felt as if everything in the store froze. It was only them in that place. Nothing else existed. No one else existed. Just the two of them.
When their lips disconnected, everything fell back into place. They were in the comic store again. A public comic store. On the floor. For anyone to see. The two giggled as reality hit them, and began to get off of the ground to leave.
As Zaid stepped off the ground, he immediately felt an impact on his back. He was shoved forward into the bookshelf, almost faceplanting into it. He only barely caught himself before that could happen. A comic fell off of the shelf as it shook under his grasp. He turned around to the person who looked very apologetic. “I'm so sorry, I should've looked where I was going,” they said.
“Oh, no harm done,” Zaid assured them. They walked past him and Benji in a more alert manner. Zaid bent down to pick up the comic that dropped, but as he grabbed it, he took a closer look at the title. Chef Marie and the Comedy Pie.
He opened it to a random page. The old lady, who he assumed by her attire was Chef Marie, was seen in a stand off against a personified pie figure with a muscular human shaped body made out of dough. It seemed… interesting?
“Benji, what's this one?” Zaid asked. Benji looked at it a little closer.
“I've never read this one,” he said. “Maybe it's new? But it's about a chef and… oh. Ohhh. OHHHH! Of course, a culinary comic for a chef, why didn't I think of this sooner?” He facepalmed.
Zaid once again returned his hand to Benji’s shoulder in a comforting manner. “Well, at least we found a comic to start off with. And think of it this way. You haven't read it either, so this really could be our thing!”
Benji’s cheeky smile returned once again. “You're right. Now let's go home. We've been here for quite some time, haven't we?” The two laughed as they went to Ronny at the checkout.