“So, what now?”

“Now, bro, we sleep.”

“...How do you sleep?”

“You close your eyes, and then you don’t open them for a couple of hours.”

“Sounds awfully boring.”

“Nah brah, after a couple of minutes you stop thinking and start dreaming, which is pretty cool.”

Adam turned over and raised his head, peering up at Chad’s lying form like a Nessie out of water.

“I don’t get it,” Adam admitted, his energetic yet tired eyes trying desperately to pierce the darkness to see how Chad was doing.

“Aren’t you tired?” Chad asked, turning over on his side to meet Adam’s gaze.

“How does it feel to be tired?” Adam asked. Sure, way back when he was still on Lutum, he had at times felt tired. Many times, in fact. But sleeping was not common for him. Nor had he been tired for the past couple of hundred years. Not even when draining Magick fully was in style had he grown tired.

And although his form may have looked a bit human the last couple of months, it certainly hadn’t been. Not really. Only now was he actually human, with all the insides to match one.

“Well, I guess it feels like… aw, man, this is kinda hard bro. You feel tired, like… like heavy inside? Like you wanna close your eyes and stuff and just lay down? Kinda, I guess, not-feely?” Chad said, trying his darndest to help out but still sort of falling short.

“I think I feel something like that, man. It feels good, just lying down like this. Why does one get tired? What have I done wrong?” Adam asked, poking at his chest to see if there was any odd pain.

Chad squinted.

“Dude, you look really tired. Like, your eyes are all baggy and stuff. Did… did you sleep at all last night? You did say you haven’t been human for a while…” Chad said, his remarkable night-vision picking out every detail of Adam’s pale face. Not only were his eyes dark and cloudy, but also quite sunken-in, almost like a corpse.

“Huh? You have to sleep every night?... Well, I didn’t sleep last night, but I didn’t think that was a necessity… or even a thing you did for that matter. I’m an expert in Magick, not human physiology!” Adam said.

“Bro! That’s, like, not good, man! Sleep is important! Not only is lack of sleep, like, super-bad for your health and stuff, it’ll also make you feel bad in your head! What were you even doing all night bro?” Chad asked. His knowledge in most everything may be quite lacking, but he knew his muscle gaining/keeping tips and tricks. A good diet and proper exercise were good, sure, but bad sleeping could cancel both of those out in a heartbeat!

“I was reading this picture-book thing that I borrowed from Pe-," Adam here realized his folly, "oh, Tzar be damned! I forgot all about borrowing more books from Pete!” Adam groaned, shooting right up into sitting position.

“Picture book? Dude, like a comic?” Chad asked.

“Is that what it’s called? Well, I say I was reading it, but honestly, I can’t… well, I’ve forgotten how to read English properly. I can somewhat understand the words, but mostly not, so I gave up real quick and just interpreted the pictures,” Adam admitted, shamefully looking down and pressing his fingers together.

“DUDE!! Not reading the dialogue is like super disrespectful to the chara-, oh heck, I gave myself away didn’t I?...”

“Gave yourself up to what, Chad?” Adam asked, genuinely confused about what Chad was trying to admit.

“I-, um… well, you told me your big secret, so, I guess… this is it. I haven’t told anyone about this bro, not even you from before all this stuff happened to you. I-... I’m really into, erm… comics…” Chad confessed, glancing off into a corner, his cheeks heating up to a fever that matched his inner panic. “S-, specifically, the… the Hulk…”

“I’m not really following, but… well, since we both like these ‘Comics’ things, I don’t see the problem? Plus, I, uh… I may have known this before. I checked the bookshelf, and… I think it’s cool, dude! Since we both like comics, well…” Adam caught Chad’s gaze, “ why don’t you teach me how to read them again?”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Chad’s entire body perked up, mood and lips included.

“Y-, yeah bro! Totally! I hope it’s not too late, but… yeah man! One second bro,” Chad said, turning on a bedside lamp (obviously shaped like a little fireplace) and hopping out of bed, carefully stepping over Adam’s body. As quietly as a 200-pound beefcake could possibly sneak, he made his way over to his one and only bookcase, jam-packed with neat rows of comics, all apparently about some “Hulk” fellow.

Chad mindfully picked out a spot and ruffled through the individual comics, clearly being well-aware of which comics were which, despite the spines all looking about the same. Finally, after only mere moments of checking through them all, he picked out a single specific one, his eyes glittering at the mere sight of it. The cover was exceedingly minimalistic, even compared to the one Adam had checked out previous. This cover was only in two primary colours, with a bulky shadowy dude in black on a neon green background. The upper part of the muscular creature was basked in light, with that brick-y name spelt out in a bright magenta. All and all, the cover was eye-catching, and Adam had a feeling he’d remember it for a good while.

“This,” Chad held the comic gingerly, presenting it like one would a famed piece of art, “was the beginning of a revolution.” And with that said, he went back to sit on his bed, not failing to catch the curious look in Adam’s eyes. “Alright, look here at the cover. Ignore the awesome splash by Keown, that’s not the focus for now. Look at that pink name in the background. What does it say, bro?”

Adam carefully studied the array of letters.

“It-, I, uh… I’m not sure,” Adam said, feeling a tad bit shameful.

“Alright, that’s cool dude, just… hold up, this is a bit awkward, one moment,” Chad said, slipping down to sit next to Adam on Adam’s bed. “This is cool with you, right?”

“Y-, yeah, of course, dude.”

Chad smiled, completely missing the blush infecting Adam’s cheeks.

“Alright, this is much better. See this here?” he pointed directly at the letters in bold, “what does the first letter mean?”

Adam ripped his eyes off of Chad to look at where he was pointing.

“That would be… H, right?”

“Bro, you got this! Alright, next one?”

“U…”

“And the last two are?”

“L and… what’s that, it’s almost like… a K?”

“Right on! And what does that make dude?”

Adam knitted his brows together.

“H, U, L, K… HuuLk?”

“Yesss! The HULK! The best and strongest guy in all of Marvel! He’s frickin’ awesome dude. I think you’d like him! Bruce Banner is also cool though, heh,” Chad joked. Adam didn’t get it, but he laughed anyway. “Alright, alright, settle down, child. Before we get into this groundbreaking piece of art, we’ll just read this ad about an Italian plumber breaking into a bathroom where two kids are taking a bath, alright?”

“Uh, sure?”

Apparently, the Italian plumber in question was actually the very same guy Chad had played as during their gaming session. Adam found it weird, but it seemed to be a common sight in Earth since Chad hardly questioned it himself. Adam read it surprisingly well. Once he got past the hurdle of the new letters and the new pronunciations and all that, understanding the written language was surprisingly easy.

But even so, Chad would not let him off the hook. He wanted them to read the whole comic, and, well… Adam sort of wanted that too, if only to talk more to Chad.

“...So, although the issue of Banner’s mental issues have been dealt with before in issues such as 227 and will be dealt with many times more, this can be seen as a turning point of sorts, where ideas introduced by esteemed writers such as Bill Mantlo get fully fleshed out. I would personally consider Bill Mantlo to be the first real writer for the Hulk, although Len Wien of course also had his influence. However, despite how classic these two are in the development of the Hulk as a character, I still believe Peter Davids to be superior in actually making something of what they established. His portrayal of the Grey Hulk, or Joe Fixit as some call him, was simply revolutionary. It had never been done before, and once Davids got a hold of it, he truly made a character of what would have otherwise have been a trivial mistake. However, despite how well he wrote the Grey Hulk, saying he didn’t write the original Hulk well would be a grave understatement. His true hold of the several different forms of the Hulk and the degrading mental state of Banner himself is the most apparent in the issue just before this particular issue, namely #376, where Banner’s hijinks finally catches up with him, leading to an extremely interesting nervous break where Banner’s two Hulk personalities fight each other most literally, both in his inner mind and in the physical plane, where Banner can be seen attempting to strangle himself with differentially coloured arms. I, personally, found this extremely interesting. All and all, I would consider that issue and this to be two of the most important issues in the whole series. Sadly, I haven’t got #376 myself, but-, hey, are you listening?” Chad said.

Adam, blinking some of the tired out of his eyes, turned his head slowly, glancing up at Chad and down at the five different comics spread out across Chad’s lap that seemed to have materialized out of nowhere. Well, Adam could hardly remember them appearing there, so there was definitely some Magick involved here.

“Uh, um, yeah,” Adam mumbled, his head far too heavy for his neck. Not really thinking much of anything, not about how icky humans were, not about what humans had done to him, not about what he had done to humans, he let his head fall, softly, slowly down on Chad’s broad shoulder. It wasn’t hard. It was soft, very soft. Like clouds in the sky and marshmallows and cotton and everything good in the world.

Trust.

What an odd thing.

Adam let his eyelids fall shut, sealing his world in soft, embracing darkness, the mother to all. It felt good. Not having to keep an eye open, believing an enemy to be around every corner, a shadow in every sun and a sin in every smile.

“Alright then bro. See, the real interesting thing about the way Peter David wrote Bruce Banner is how…”

Chad’s voice grew ever-distant. A soft murmur of noise, the chirping of birds on a bright sunny afternoon, the wind weaving through treetops, the humming of flowers in a field.

A smile on his lips, Adam drifted off to sleep, a boat in a river, uncaring, happy.

Somewhere between explaining why having a gaggle of Hulks around was a terrible thing and why the Professor was superior to Doc Green in every way, Chad came to realize that Adam had, in fact, fallen asleep. Right on his shoulder, too. Chad would’ve noticed it if the man snored in the same ungodly manner as the old Adam would, but this Adam was almost deathly silent. Chad had to listen real close just to hear him breathe.

A bit concerning, but he was just fine now, so it should be alright. Probably.

But, this left Chad with a bit of a problem.

He couldn’t move.

Much like a man with a sleeping cat on his lap, Chad could not move an inch out of fear of rousing Adam from his light slumber.

So, instead, he did the only sensible thing.

He put his comic over to the side, leaned back, and let sleep claim him.