The Bookstore Dilemma

[Kitsune-chi]

I don't know if any of you have had this experience, but I browse around in bookstores a lot. And a lot of my purchases are manga. And a lot of my manga are BL. And a lot of the covers for BL give it away as such. Very. Very. Obviously.

And I get self conscious. Ahahaha. XD

But sometimes- like just today- I encountered somebody else browsing BL. O__O While I was innocently reading Princess Princess, (It's not BL TECHNICALLY- although I was hugely amused that the author intended it to be at first, but that's neither here nor there.) I looked beside me to see this woman- she had to be nineteen or so- thumbing through La Esperansaca. And I figured, "Okay, it's kind of a shojo manga, even though it has BL. Maybe she just thinks it's pretty. XD" And then I went back to Princess Priness and that was that. But I glance up again and I see she's got Only the Ring Finger Knows and Loveless under her arm. And my initial reactions was, "Holy crap! A kindred spirit! rofl "

What kind of experiences do you have while looking at BL or Yaoi at bookstores? Discuss different experiences with store clerks, with other customers, or while just browsing. :3  

[Uchimaki Yuuzora]

I've never tried to buy one... but I have borrowed one from the library once. My friend was right next to me when I picked it up and I was sooooo nervous (it was Only The Ring Finger Knows--freaking awesome manga!!!)... but I picked it up and tucked it under my other manga. When I went to the check out counter my mom stood right next to me and I wanted to DIE as the check out lady was checking the manga out to me. Thankfully, I don't think that my mom noticed or else she never said anything. But I hid it under my pillow when my family was home and when I'd have any alone time I would go and read it. When I had to return it, I tucked it in the middle of the other books so neither she nor my brother would see it. That was the most nerve-wracking situation that I've ever been in aside from talking in front of crowds (or classes or just groups of people that I'm not used to talking to in general). redface  

[TokiTokiBun]

Umm once this girl was buying Gravitation, Loveless and Yellow. So I went up to her, introduced myself and we talked about our yaoi experiences. ^ 0 ^ I told her about gaiaonline but she doesnt goon the net much. BUT I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY YAOI FAN IN FLA!! YAH ME!!  

[TanteiNeko]

Thankfully, I moved out a while ago, so I don't have to worry 'bout the weird experiences of hiding BL manga that I bought (I did have to for a while though... sweatdrop ). I remember freakin' out when my parents were in the same room and I was trying to watch "Loveless" or something like that.

I generally introduce my self to every manga fan that comes into either of the places I work (Borders and Tokyo's Anime). It's lots of fun to meet fans that like the same stuff I do.  

[Kitsune-chi]

LoliBunniofdoom333

Umm once this girl was buying Gravitation, Loveless and Yellow. So I went up to her, introduced myself and we talked about our yaoi experiences. ^ 0 ^ I told her about gaiaonline but she doesnt goon the net much. BUT I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY YAOI FAN IN FLA!! YAH ME!!

*blush* I could never introduce myself like that! Good for you!  

[yuyu-chan]

what's wrong with a 19 years old looking at yaoi.....no just kidding. hell i'm almost 21 still looking at yaoi/bl everytime i would go to the bookstore to see if they have Bronze (sadlly they never do T.T), and other manga readers would look at me funny when i pick up a "wrap in plastic" one, jeez you know they bleep out most of it......or is it that i have a face of a 14 years old.....i didn't get to buy a yaoi manga at the con b/c i don't have a id....i was very piss, i'm way over 18 for god sake!  

[retice]

Hmm, well I was at Borders with a friend of mine who doesn't read manga, let alone BL -- and I had to explain to her was 'yaoi' meant and why it was in transparent packaging when the other manga weren't in any packaging at all.
Her facial expression was funny. =)  

[MinaMouse]

"A kindred spirit" made me shoot juice out of my nose. XD!!

But at bookstores if I'm with my friends we go to the 'self-help' books section and read the ones about gay sex sometimes. It's always really funny when someone who's actually 18 or older comes by, we THROW down the book and jump up like nothing happened.

One day we walked past that aisle and there was a couple standing there, a man and a woman, and the man takes a book and turns to the woman and says "Let's start with your boobs."

We RAN to the other side of the store and cracked up.

I love bookstores.

We also read all the yaoi manga we can and when we're dissapointed shout "WHAT?! NO BUTTSECKS!?"  

[klausolas]

I met a person once while browsing the yaoi section at my local comic store. That led to an hour long discussion on yaoi and exchanging phone numbers.  

[Dental Damnation]

I remember i was reading Boy Princess, Loveless, and Gravitation in Barnes & Noble one day and i was trying so hard to not let anyone see. Then i heard my mom's voice somewhere and i started scrambling to put them all back. I wish i could meet other BL fans (boy or girl). It would be nice to not be alone 3nodding  

[Hawt_az_FCUK]

lol i am the only person i know at my school that is into yaoi...so far. i am getting my friend into shounen-ai....tehe i lent gravitation.

although all my friends at my old school are yaoi fans too....i miss all the talks about anime that we had! *curses moving away*  

[User_2629207]

xD I remember when i bought my first yaoi.. it was no big deal really. I was like: Daddy, I need money for a book that I REALLY need..*puppy eyes*
Dad: Okay then, I'll take a little off your allowance each month for it!
me: yay! *grabs zander and runs to Borders*
So I was like: rawr where is the yaoi? and Then i found Demon Diary. it has a 13+ and a fantasy tag on the back. =D I love it when they don't tell its yaoi...>w< So nobody knows whats inside... *snicker* And the stoe girl just read a bit on the back and scanned it, no questions or anything xD

 

[Kurai no Kuria]

Hm...I've never been self conscious about yaoi unless it's around my parents.

One time I was browsing Barnes and Nobles and found Embracing Love. In my enthusiasm, I remarked kinda loudly to my brother that every chapter in this thing had a sex scene, that it was practically gay porn and that I was surprised I even found it there. An old man walking by was looking at me rather oddly. Lols. Yeah, it's sad that that's my only interesting experiencing with purchasing/browsing yaoi stuff.  

[Hypothetical HD]

The only weird thing I can think of was a long time ago, I was buying Gravitation and the check out guy starts flipping through it and says "You're into this stuff, huh?" and I was just like "Uhhhh yeah" because I didn't know if he was talking about BL or manga in general. I was embarrassed either way because like I said, he was skimming it right there in front of me. XD  

[IMA_BI_hehehe]

There was one time when I bought my first BL manga (Only the Ring Finger Knows), and brought to the cashier to find she was also a big yaoi, and shounen-ai fan. We were dicussing something when this guy from another cashier came and asked for help though we both had the manga opened to the part where they were kissing. We both smiled innocently and the guy blushed from ear to ear. As he left to find someone else she also told me about this time when a six year old picked up the book, looked at it then she brought it to her mom. Her mom obviously was homophobic because she threw the book on a shelf and brought her daughter out of the store, leaving my cashier friend laughing.