"Can you move the delivery before our customers trip on it? I can't really lift that much." Sam could lift these boxes of comics like they were nothing but last time Blaine tried, he pulled his back and had wisely decided to make the muscle hunk do it instead. He was trying to get the comic shop ready for the new year - that meant inventory, new comics, changing the shelves around and all manner of chaos.
He ran his fingers through his messy hair and looked around at the shelves he was scanning, wondering if he could get it all done before closing and without deterring too many customers. They didn't have the greatest amount of floorspace.
"Maybe we should have shut the store today..." Or worked Sunday like they were supposed to, instead of getting super into Agatha All Along again. It wasn't their fault Tina hadn't watched it yet!
He ran his fingers through his messy hair and looked around at the shelves he was scanning, wondering if he could get it all done before closing and without deterring too many customers. They didn't have the greatest amount of floorspace.
"Maybe we should have shut the store today..." Or worked Sunday like they were supposed to, instead of getting super into Agatha All Along again. It wasn't their fault Tina hadn't watched it yet!
Edited 2025-01-24 19:33 (UTC)
"It's not as if it'll get super busy until schools let out, right?" Sam knew their core audiences and it was largely teens or else adults that didn't live life styles that had them that likely to be out of bed before lunchtime.
He lifted the boxes easily, moving them over to where they needed to be. They weren't heavy for him, on accord of his very sexy muscles, he knew that. "Do you think it's safe to admit that we do have those new pokémon cards yet? Still seems dicey."
Scary world, with those scalpers around.
He lifted the boxes easily, moving them over to where they needed to be. They weren't heavy for him, on accord of his very sexy muscles, he knew that. "Do you think it's safe to admit that we do have those new pokémon cards yet? Still seems dicey."
Scary world, with those scalpers around.
"No, we don't tell anyone, people have to come and discover it by word of mouth. If we advertise, all those neckbeards will buy them up. I want the kids to take first crack at them. Not that I'm not also excited to get some good pulls but let's try to refrain." It didn't help them make money to take their own stoke but sometimes they were tempted. Blaine pulled the yaoi manga off the shelf and stacked it onto the floor, crouching down to scan the books into their new inventory system.
"Remember the temporal force chaos? Nuh-uh, not again." Blaine looked up from the yaoi books and gestured over at the t-shirts. "Did you remember to price them up? We said 20 bucks, right?"
"Remember the temporal force chaos? Nuh-uh, not again." Blaine looked up from the yaoi books and gestured over at the t-shirts. "Did you remember to price them up? We said 20 bucks, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, I remember." Vaguely, anyway. Sam walked over to the shirts and did his best, glancing Blaine's way to make sure that Blaine was glancing his way so he could trust him to keep him on track. Blaine was handy like that. "Huh. You know, they have mostly gotten better at it but that right there has serious girly girl and giant hand man syndrome."
He diagnosed the yaoi novel Blaine was currently holding just from the cover, snorting. "That's so retro."
He diagnosed the yaoi novel Blaine was currently holding just from the cover, snorting. "That's so retro."
"Sometimes a tiny child-bodied man wants to be whisked away by gigantic hands. Don't judge. Everyone has their kinks." Blaine scanned the book and put it in the done pile, aware that he probably shouldn't be creating a giant obstacle of gay manga porn in the aisle but as Sam said, their peak was around 2pm and on a slow Monday, they were rarely snowed under with people.
"Oh... my God." Blaine paused and then held up the cover of Dear.Door 4. "We may have to put some of these behind plastic and just like... hide them." That was a lot for a cover and they were family friendly. Or, at least, tried to be. "I don't even understand what is happening here." But he scanned it and added it to the pile.
"Oh... my God." Blaine paused and then held up the cover of Dear.Door 4. "We may have to put some of these behind plastic and just like... hide them." That was a lot for a cover and they were family friendly. Or, at least, tried to be. "I don't even understand what is happening here." But he scanned it and added it to the pile.
"Wow... What is even going where on that and why-- Yeah, maybe we need to put that behind a curtain or something. That's so slutty, Artie would blush." Which, in Sam's eyes, was clearly saying a lot. It was kind of ludicrous, so naturally he had to giggle and then immediately come over to Blaine to find even more ridiculous covers, pulling out some of the manga in his search for the most scandalous.
He missed the bell by the door ringing. A man walked in, carefully styled hair, black clothes, a dark brown faux fur coat and a shirt that was buttoned but somehow still showed porcelain skill between each button, all the way down to where his black pleather pants started.
Kurt Hummel stood in a comic book store for the first time in his life and he looked down at where some books were piled up, staring at the cover of the top one. "Oh. Wow." That was a lot more pornographic than he'd been expecting.
He missed the bell by the door ringing. A man walked in, carefully styled hair, black clothes, a dark brown faux fur coat and a shirt that was buttoned but somehow still showed porcelain skill between each button, all the way down to where his black pleather pants started.
Kurt Hummel stood in a comic book store for the first time in his life and he looked down at where some books were piled up, staring at the cover of the top one. "Oh. Wow." That was a lot more pornographic than he'd been expecting.
Blaine wasn't expecting a customer so when he heard a voice, he spun around and dropped the X-Rated yaoi that Sam had handed him by accident, staring. Oh. God. The guy who had just walked in was hot. Seriously - so hot. And, honestly, gay hot. Maybe he wasn't gay but Blaine didn't care. He was stunning. And Blaine was not.
He was standing there, messy from the days work, surrounded by yaoi, just trying to compose his thoughts. "Oh, hi, sorry! We're just doing inventory, I'm just scanning." He held up his scanner. "That's not ... appropriate, no, we're planning to curtain it and--"
Blaine turned around, intending to tell Sam to hide the porn but he got a bit too spinny with his turn and accidentally kicked his foot back for balance. This, of course, meant that he kicked the stack of porn at the customer.
He was standing there, messy from the days work, surrounded by yaoi, just trying to compose his thoughts. "Oh, hi, sorry! We're just doing inventory, I'm just scanning." He held up his scanner. "That's not ... appropriate, no, we're planning to curtain it and--"
Blaine turned around, intending to tell Sam to hide the porn but he got a bit too spinny with his turn and accidentally kicked his foot back for balance. This, of course, meant that he kicked the stack of porn at the customer.
"I'm so sorry. Seriously, so sorry. We just don't have lots of floorspace. We are open though." Blaine smiled awkwardly and pushed his hair back, watching Sam try to remove the sexual nightmare material from the floor. Thank the good lord that this guy was quick on his feet. "If you just step over the books my colleague is picking up, I can assist you. We just have to do our inventory and this is the quietest time of day. No kids."
Blaine came forward and kicked the yaois gently to the side to make Kurt a porn free path into the comic book store. He had no idea why a guy dressed like that was here at 11am, he looked more like he should be on the red carpet, not here. Maybe he was lost - but then why did he check the opening times? Weird. "Welcome to Blam! We don't usually block our entrance with gay porn."
Blaine came forward and kicked the yaois gently to the side to make Kurt a porn free path into the comic book store. He had no idea why a guy dressed like that was here at 11am, he looked more like he should be on the red carpet, not here. Maybe he was lost - but then why did he check the opening times? Weird. "Welcome to Blam! We don't usually block our entrance with gay porn."
"Oh. Yeah. I know what Vogue is." Well, that was a brutal slam of his fashion and probably his hair. God, he hated people seeing his hair like this when they were all hot and sexy. Usually he didn't get many hot guys in here and even if he did, he wasn't really looking to date. Even so, he didn't want to be a slob in front of this fucking handsome vogue editor.
Why was their a vogue editor? That wasn't fair! They never got fashionable people.
"I'm the manager here." Blaine introduced as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm a Bl in the Blam. It's named after me and my friend. Sam." He gestured over at Sam and then cleared his throat. "H-How do we help you?"
Why was their a vogue editor? That wasn't fair! They never got fashionable people.
"I'm the manager here." Blaine introduced as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm a Bl in the Blam. It's named after me and my friend. Sam." He gestured over at Sam and then cleared his throat. "H-How do we help you?"
"You can stop, Sam. I think he gets I'm gay." Blaine assured Sam as he threw his hands out and gave Kurt a smile. Hopefully he didn't think they were total losers, even if they were doing little to debunk that since the fancy-smancy vogue guy walked in. "But sure, I can help you as best as I can. I don't know much about fashion history but I do know a lot about comics. And you can sort of see the outfits evolve so that's kind of cool. I always notice it with the girls more."
They went through the horrible offensive and problematic outfits to lame attempts to fix it to real attempts and now a retrograde.
"Some comics are also always stuck in a bit of a specific era too, both in theme and fashion. Like X-Men. Do you know X-Men?" Blaine asked as he started to walk towards the marvel comic section.
They went through the horrible offensive and problematic outfits to lame attempts to fix it to real attempts and now a retrograde.
"Some comics are also always stuck in a bit of a specific era too, both in theme and fashion. Like X-Men. Do you know X-Men?" Blaine asked as he started to walk towards the marvel comic section.
"Spiderman is marvel comics, like X-Men, the Avengers and Captain America." Blaine explained as he looked through the comics and tried to find the ones he was the most interested in. "There's not been, no. Too 'woke', I'm sure. There's been some queer representation. America Chavez in Doctor Strange or Phastos in Eternals but it's not the best. That doesn't mean comics don't have a queer history, it just means that people like to ignore it."
He held out an X-Men comic for Kurt to look at, smiling. He opened it for him and pointed at a certain character. "That's Northstar. He came out of the closest in 1992 as the first gay superhero. He married his partner, Kyle Jinadu, in the first same sex marriage in a mainstream comic book. And once that door opened, the X-Men didn't stop. We got Ice-Man, lesbian power couple Mystique and Destiny and even Escapade, a trans mutant. They're all mutants."
He leaned over and picked up more X-Men comics, opening up pages and setting them on the nearby shelves. "It started in 1963 and the fashion in it evolves all the time so it could be cool from that perspective. And it's got a good message. You know, it's about being born different and refusing to change. Fighting to be who you are."
He set down a few different issues and then opened X-Men: The Wedding Special on the page of Mystique and Destiny marrying.
"Plus, you know, they're homo superior. Kind of says it all right."
With a dorky smile, Blaine moved forward and pulled the marvel pride comic down and set it onto the shelf as well. "This one is a mix of heroes. DC and Marvel do one every year now. Pride comics!"
He held out an X-Men comic for Kurt to look at, smiling. He opened it for him and pointed at a certain character. "That's Northstar. He came out of the closest in 1992 as the first gay superhero. He married his partner, Kyle Jinadu, in the first same sex marriage in a mainstream comic book. And once that door opened, the X-Men didn't stop. We got Ice-Man, lesbian power couple Mystique and Destiny and even Escapade, a trans mutant. They're all mutants."
He leaned over and picked up more X-Men comics, opening up pages and setting them on the nearby shelves. "It started in 1963 and the fashion in it evolves all the time so it could be cool from that perspective. And it's got a good message. You know, it's about being born different and refusing to change. Fighting to be who you are."
He set down a few different issues and then opened X-Men: The Wedding Special on the page of Mystique and Destiny marrying.
"Plus, you know, they're homo superior. Kind of says it all right."
With a dorky smile, Blaine moved forward and pulled the marvel pride comic down and set it onto the shelf as well. "This one is a mix of heroes. DC and Marvel do one every year now. Pride comics!"
He wished. He would love to be all this guy could ever want but he assumed someone like this probably dated hunky vogue models or something. Hell, he looked pretty in shape, he probably needed someone to keep up with him. Blaine was not that sort of guy. Alas.
"You know, you said Spiderman before. I think I know something you'd like. They just got their first gay Spiderman and they're iconic already." Blaine moved across to the box he had been unpacking before and pulled out the comic he wanted to show him. He walked over and held it out. "Web Weaver. Edge of Spider-Verse #5. He has a passion for fashion."
He laughed a little and then smiled. "I guess it's like if you were Spiderman." Well... that was the dorkiest way to hit on someone. He was proud of himself for managing that. He blushed and then pulled away.
"There's also queer comics, where the heroes are queer, but they're not mainstream. I'm not sure if you're interested. There's also DC - so like Batman and Superman. Did you know that back in the day, Batman was part of the lavender scare in the 50's? It's wild."
"You know, you said Spiderman before. I think I know something you'd like. They just got their first gay Spiderman and they're iconic already." Blaine moved across to the box he had been unpacking before and pulled out the comic he wanted to show him. He walked over and held it out. "Web Weaver. Edge of Spider-Verse #5. He has a passion for fashion."
He laughed a little and then smiled. "I guess it's like if you were Spiderman." Well... that was the dorkiest way to hit on someone. He was proud of himself for managing that. He blushed and then pulled away.
"There's also queer comics, where the heroes are queer, but they're not mainstream. I'm not sure if you're interested. There's also DC - so like Batman and Superman. Did you know that back in the day, Batman was part of the lavender scare in the 50's? It's wild."
"My -- oh. Yeah, of course." His heart was racing in his chest and he had such butterflies in his stomach. He fumbled around and then pulled out one of his business cards. He turned it around and scribbled his number down. "If you need to know anything about queerness in comics, I can always help. It's kind of my speciality."
He always had pride events here, he gave out queer comics and always took in up and coming queer artists works to sell here. To him, it was important.
"I can tell you which Robin is bi and what the most popular queer comic ship is." Blaine informed him, nervously rubbed his hands together. It was just a work thing, no way was thus guy into him but if he could help spread the queer word of dorkdom, he would do it. "I'll find you some key comics and I'll try to streamline it for you."
He didn't want to overload him with anything.
He always had pride events here, he gave out queer comics and always took in up and coming queer artists works to sell here. To him, it was important.
"I can tell you which Robin is bi and what the most popular queer comic ship is." Blaine informed him, nervously rubbed his hands together. It was just a work thing, no way was thus guy into him but if he could help spread the queer word of dorkdom, he would do it. "I'll find you some key comics and I'll try to streamline it for you."
He didn't want to overload him with anything.
"Uh. Yes." It was hard to think, Kurt had soft hands. The hand was arm too, as he waited for Kurt to shake it or something but no, he just kept holding it. His heart was fluttering and he stared at Kurt, looking into his eyes. Oh no. He was falling. Falling for a guy he'd probably only see in person once more. Life sucked.
"I'll put them aside for you." He smiled awkwardly and no, he didn't want to pull his hand away, even though he knew that was the smart love. He just didn't often get this. Touch. Holding hands. Sure, he did it with Sam and Tina but it was different.
This felt special.
"I'll put them aside for you." He smiled awkwardly and no, he didn't want to pull his hand away, even though he knew that was the smart love. He just didn't often get this. Touch. Holding hands. Sure, he did it with Sam and Tina but it was different.
This felt special.
"Yeah, I do. I drink it a lot, actually. Sometimes too much." He found it was calming for him to pound a couple of a day and also what the hell was happening? Was he being asked out to coffee or was he just asking to get to know more about comics and why were they still holding hands? They were holding hands. Oh no. He lost his nerve and let go of Kurt, assuming he was the weirdo not letting go from the hot guy's hand and it was starting to make him look weird.
"Do you? Like coffee." Well, duh, obviously. Why else would he ask?
"Do you? Like coffee." Well, duh, obviously. Why else would he ask?
"I pulled away. I panicked. I blew it. I did, didn't I? I blew it."
Blaine groaned and watched Kurt move passed the window with longing before he promptly covered his face with his hands in embarrassment. "I thought I was being creepy cause I was holding his hand and I wanted to ask if he wanted and -- and what the hell? I put him off! I didn't mean to, I -- coffee?! Does he like coffee? He asked! Of course he does!"
How the hell did he always manage to do that? He sighed and then flopped down dramatically onto the floor of his very open comic book store, hiding half under the DC merch display. "Leave me here to die. I'm a lost cause."
Blaine groaned and watched Kurt move passed the window with longing before he promptly covered his face with his hands in embarrassment. "I thought I was being creepy cause I was holding his hand and I wanted to ask if he wanted and -- and what the hell? I put him off! I didn't mean to, I -- coffee?! Does he like coffee? He asked! Of course he does!"
How the hell did he always manage to do that? He sighed and then flopped down dramatically onto the floor of his very open comic book store, hiding half under the DC merch display. "Leave me here to die. I'm a lost cause."


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