FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Rating: This chapter cleared for general audiences.

The sounding and editing boards for this series are chaired by Timid Fox and geneseepaws; thank you both for your critical eyes and insight.

• - - - - START - - - - -

As Hunter drove, the familiar hum of the engine was accompanied by faint snoring from his dozing passenger. The husky had returned his lupine friend to a seated position a number of times during the trip, following failed attempts to wake him using hard turns. With turns running out and the chances of an accident increasing on the neighborhood roads, Hunter would let the wolf slumber for now.

The husky made a final turn into the cul-de-sac and pulled up along the curb, the driveway occupied by both his father's car and family minivan. Not even a hard stop and slam of the driver side door had the effect of waking the wolf. Taking drastic action, Hunter threw the passenger door wide open and unbuckled his friend's seatbelt. Placing a paw against the headrest and the other at the front of the seat, Hunter bent over his target's ear, tongue lolling at the tip of his muzzle.

"Get any closer and you will regret it."

The husky smirked and brought his tongue back while stepping out of the way. His passenger yawned widely, teeth gleaming in the afternoon light. Hunter raised a brow at the wolf, returned with a slight smile and a look in the husky's direction.

"Always the dramatic one, eh Ryan?"

Ryan rubbed his shoulder and replied, "Oh that was a good nap. I am a bit sore though, driving like a maniac again?"

Hunter grinned sheepishly and brought a paw to scratch the back of his head.

"Relax," the wolf reassured. "I'm not going to sue you for personal injury."

The pair shared playful punches to the shoulder before Ryan fell out of the car trying to get Hunter when the husky stepped back. The wolf got up and started to brush himself off as he stood on the grass. Hunter retrieved their schoolbags from the back and tossed Ryan his bag. After closing and locking the car door behind them, they walked across the lawn to the house.

"Mom, I'm home!" Hunter announced as he stepped through the doorway.

"Huntie!"

"Uh oh, here comes the welcome party," the husky whispered, causing Ryan to grin.

The two stood in the hallway, awaiting for whom they knew to expect. A young husky hopped down the stairs and ran straight in-between the older males. Her arms were spread wide and embraced both at hip level.

"Hi Hunter, hey Ryan," she greeted, turning to regard each with her cheery muzzle.

"Hey munch," Hunter replied, rubbing his paw in her headfur, earning a pout from the girl. "Okay, nice to see you Sarah. Where's mom?"

"Mom's in the backyard, watering the plants. Can we play a game?"

"Maybe later Sarah. Ryan and I need to get work done."

The lass shook her shoulders and skipped back up the stairs to her room, seemingly unphased by her brother's postponement. Motioning for his friend to follow, Hunter led the way up the stairs. Rounding the corner at the top of the steps, Ryan was brought to the door of the husky's room.

"You'll have to excuse the mess. It's been a while since I've gotten around to cleaning up."

Hunter's comment was acknowledged with a grin from the wolf. Knowing Hunter as the dramatic one in their friendship, the husky had to be exaggerating the extent of disorder in his room. Ryan's assumptions were confirmed when he was let into the bedroom. Since the wolf was last here, not much had changed in the space: the walls remained clear of posters with a calm blue hue; the bed and desk were still messy as ever; and the hamper would have been the only thing out of place with its contents overflowing the basket.

"Well, want to get started with our work and progress to kicking your butt in a little multi-player action?" the husky proposed

"The first part sounds good, but you are mistaken for the game. It'll be you getting your furry rear end handed to you in the match. Fastest hands around, good for gameplay."

Hunter scoffed at the wolf's boastful claim and snickered at his second remark. Both actions blended well, leading Ryan to believe the husky was dismissing the outcome. Pending the game, the two settled in for what was expected to be a long study session.

With nearly three hours spent hunched over the work, pages flipping, and exasperated sighs occasionally mixed into the session; they decided to call it quits for the day. There was an entire weekend to do the work or at least Sunday night to burn through the rest of the assignments. Following a quick stretch to work out the kinks that developed during the work, the pair padded over to the entertainment area in the corner of the husky's room.

"Ready to find out who's right or wrong?" Hunter asked while turning on the flat-screen and console.

Ryan's reply was given by tapping through the menus as he set up the rules of their friendly competition. Noting the wolf's intense expression and his fingers flying over the controller, Hunter answered his own question, "Guess we're going to find out."

The load screen took longer than normal to finish, but that perspective was relative of the friends ready to blow each other to bits in the game. With Hunter's attention focused on the screen, he didn't notice the rapid footfalls of a young husky as she made her way across the hall. Nor did he notice the door open slightly and a small muzzle poke through the doorway. With the music building and environment loaded onscreen, she tiptoed her way to her brother just as Hunter's character was taken out by a sniper round.

"That shot was outrageous! How the F--Sarah! What is it?" the husky exclaimed, catching himself and paused the game.

"Mom wants you to help make dinner," she answered, swaying back and forth on the balls of her heels.

Hunter placed his controller on the table and made his way out of the room.

"It will be a while, just to let you know," he advised as he left. "So campaign if you're going to keep playing."

"What were you playing? Adult games?" Sarah asked, turning to look at the screen.

The paused game had the image of Hunter's character splayed on the sand, virtual blood staining the ground. Ryan had navigated the menu to return to the home screen so Sarah couldn't catch the last violent act.

"Yes, we were playing an adult game." He grinned inwardly at the statement.

"Well, since Hunter's downstairs and we're up here, do you want to play tea party with me?"

"Um, I think. . . uh we should wait to play with Hunter," Ryan tried to answer while setting up the campaign.

"But I want to play now. I waited the first time."

Her pleading was interrupted by a shout from the kitchen, "Sarah are you bugging Ryan?"

"I was asking if Ryan wanted to play," she yelled back.

"We'll play after dinner okay?"

"Fine!"

Sarah stomped her way out of the room and closed the door behind her. Ryan shook his head at the scene before returning his attention to the game. The wolf breezed through a number of the missions, as he had the game at home. After an hour of the same environment, nagging officers and gunning down enemy extraterrestrials, Ryan decided to save at the next available checkpoint and shut down the system.

Prime time programming was still a few hours away, so nothing merited watching television as it was all soap operas, reruns or local news. Looking around the room to find something to do, Ryan spotted the homework. Immediately dismissing the idea, he continued to look around until his eyes were drawn to the computer.

'Guess I'll check my email,' the wolf figured mentally.

Browsing on the computer began innocently enough, as he actually checked his messages and visited a few video archive sites. With the minutes ticking by and the current collection of videos losing the wolf's interest, he decided to take a quick peek at Hunter's history to possibly find something both liked. The first few entries were to a blogging site. Following a quick scan of the remaining history, it became apparent that the husky had an account with the service. While reading the most recent entry, Ryan found an interesting section:

Submitted my assignment the other day. . . I created it based on me. . . add a hint of deception and no one knows. . . there's some truth to what I'm typing. . . seeking companionship, the ultimate life goal. . . to have someone else as your own to love and cherish. . . I'm still searching. Well, not searching 'that' hard. There is Ryan. . .

"Hey Ryan," Hunter greeted from the doorway. "What are you doing on the Net, being naughty?"

"Oh no, I um," the wolf fumbled with his words, while trying to close the window. Ryan's erratic actions and nervous response led the husky to believe his friend was up to no good. As the wolf tried to start a new session, Hunter jokingly chastised him.

"It's okay, really. We have our little secrets in life, no need to be embarrassed."

Ryan turned around from his view of the computer screen to give the husky a rebuttal, but quickly realized the husky was in his boxers and it wouldn't be much longer until Hunter would be down to his fur before the wolf. A heat grew upon Ryan's cheeks as he brought his eyes to meet up with Hunter's. The husky, still clad in his boxers, had his paws placed at his hips and eyed his friend suspiciously.

"Something wrong?"

"Erm, ahem, d--do you have to do that?"

Hunter's expression changed from suspicious to perplexed, wondering why Ryan would ask that particular question. They were both males so it wouldn't have been something either haven't seen before. Picking up his clothing, the husky walked over to the wolf. Hunter bent down with a paw on his friend's shoulder to see if he could get a clearer answer.

"It would be difficult to shower with my clothes on."

"No kidding, not to mention that you need it," the wolf answered, and playfully added, "Did something die in here or did you roll around in the garbage before coming up?"

Ryan's snide remark was met with the husky's dirty clothes pressed against his nose, causing the wolf to dramatize gagging at the smell, and he pushed the offending fabric to the side. The husky picked up his discarded clothing and dropped them around the hamper. After clearing up the matter for now, Hunter picked up a full body towel and left for the bathroom down the hall.

"Fair warning," the husky advised as he was leaving, "After I get done showering, I'm going to be naked in my room. So finish up what you're doing on the computer and wait downstairs. That is, unless you want to see more of this--" where Hunter tugged at his boxers.

Considering how Hunter acted during school since the wolf had known him, Ryan was sure the husky would follow through with his promise if he was still in the room when Hunter came back. Ryan closed the browser and prepared to shut down the system, but an icon next to the power down dialog box caught his attention. It was camouflaged with the desktop wallpaper so he hadn't noticed it right away.

Figuring that Hunter would be occupied in the shower for a while, the wolf had some time to explore a quick interest and clicked out of the dialog box. The icon seemed to indicate a web browser, with the text 'Whimsical Wolf Web' hanging beneath the graphic. Thinking it was another relatively unknown, but good open source web browser, Ryan clicked on the icon.

A new window with a saved address appeared on the screen, the cursor blinking busy as the content was retrieved. When the page loaded, his eyes widened and he uttered, "a whole new meaning to WWW."

Ryan took a quick glance over the site finding text, graphics and videos all depicting various acts between furs. The content was tame, but two things stood out as he explored. The first was all the characters were males either in romance scenes or snuggling together. The second common thread was the presence of a wolf.

'Certainly rules out the possibility of another Ryan,' he thought

Before long, the wolf had spent more time than he intended to exploring the site. Thinking Hunter would be done with his shower soon, Ryan closed out of the browser and set the computer to shut down. Standing up from the desk, he padded over to the door. With a casual glance over at the computer screen to make sure nothing popped up, the wolf closed the door and went downstairs to wait in the living room.

While reclining on the couch, Ryan heard the husky's footfalls followed by the faint clacking of plastic clothes hangers. Soon enough, Hunter made his way down to the living room and took a seat in a recliner next to his lupine friend.

"You're in for a real treat today bud," Hunter stated while leaning forward in his seat.

"Oh?" Ryan asked, turning his attention to the husky.

"Yep, the pre-weekend feast. Okay not really a feast," he corrected himself. "But a good home-cooked meal after takeout and leftover takeout for a few days does the system good. A nice way to celebrate the end of the work week."Â Â

Ryan's nose twitched as he took a whiff of the air around them and noted the sweet aroma of roasted meats, the Earthy scent of steamed vegetables and hint of herbal garnishes. The husky smiled as Ryan sat up in his seat and turned his head around to get a better sense of the smell. His muzzle opened slightly and he closed his eyes to limit his senses to only pick up the aromatics of the food.

"I take it you aren't used to this."

Ryan confirmed the husky's statement with a nod and turned back to sit down on the couch. Hunter continued his explanation, "The garden out back has a few things that pretty much complement any meal: tomatoes, green onions, lettuce, cilantro and the like. I'll take you out back tomorrow to check it out. For now, we wait."

The time passed by without either noticing while they talked about what they were going to do for the weekend. It was agreed that homework had to be done by tomorrow so nothing school related would be on their minds. They also planned to be out of the house to stave off boredom. The conversation was going so well, the pair didn't notice the call for dinner. It wasn't until the husky's father placed a paw on his pup's shoulder that they made their way to the table. With everyone seated for the meal, Hunter's dad decided to strike up some conversation.

"Well Hunter, how's school? You doing all right?" he asked, while unfolding a napkin upon his lap.

"School's fine, I wouldn't complain about anything."

"Ah good, exactly what I wanted to hear," he responded, moving various foodstuffs from the serving plates to his. "Get a chance to know any vixens you like?"

"Honey, I don't think this is the appropriate time to discuss you know what in front of you know who," his wife intervened

 "Aw Sarah's not interested in grown up talk, are you princess?" he asked his daughter and received a "Nuh uh" from the youngest husky.

"Well nothing but good news," he announced jovially, "that is depending on your answer Hunter."

"Sorry to disappoint dad, but scouting for vixens is the one thing I haven't been able to do."

"Now that's a shame pup. Inheriting your looks from me, but can't pick up a vixen, it's unfathomable."

His remark drew a round of polite laughter.

"Well don't worry about it Hunter, you'll find her some day. But if you happen to fancy the other side, you know how I feel about homosexuality, don't you?"

Hunter responded by briefly meeting his father's eyes with a light smile. The adolescent husky then turned his attention back to the cooling vegetables on his plate and took a fork-full into his maw.

"So Ryan," the husky's father started anew, turning to the wolf, "what brings you over?"

The wolf looked up from his plate and gave the older husky an apprehensive look as he asked respectfully, "Sir?"

"A simple question son," he responded, "To what do we have the honor of your presence?"

The wolf couldn't help but chuckle at how the husky's father managed to make a simple question much more complicated. Another look to regard Hunter's dad caused Ryan to sit up abruptly. The beginnings of a scowl from his interrogator frightened the wolf to give a serious response.

"Um, my deepest apologies sir. I--I was going to be at home alone this weekend and I thought I could hang out with Hunter since we're really good friends at school."

"It's okay Ryan, I didn't mean to put you on the spot. I needed to make sure you weren't running away from home or falling for my pup."

His later remark drew up a silence to the table for all except Sarah and himself. Ryan had his muzzle slightly agape; Hunter looked up to Ryan before turning his head to his father, a worried look in his eyes; and his mother had a forkful of mashed potatoes held frozen in her paw, hovering just above the plate. Noting the tension in the air, the husky's father looked up from his dinner to regard the members of the table who had stopped eating.

"What is it?" he asked defensively, "Giving our guest a bit of a laugh. Lighten up folks, only a joke."

Sarah, now taking notice to the events unfolding in front of her, stopped eating as well. With the nature of what was said, the festive atmosphere was on the verge of collapse. Ryan, realizing he was the cause of the remark, decided that it would be the his response that would save Hunter's father from feeling as if the joke had gone severely wrong.

"I can see where Hunter gets his sense of humor from," the wolf began with a slight grin. "Always serious on the surface, but never ill intentioned."

Understanding nods and soft chuckles followed Ryan's comment. The meal continued on a lighter note, everyone present enjoying the cleared atmosphere. When dinner concluded, there were the inevitable leftovers, but the meal was worth having a second taste tomorrow. Hunter's father retired to his room for the evening, leaving the rest of the family members and Ryan to clean up the table.

"Mommy, can Ryan and me go play tea party?" Sarah asked, after taking her plate to the sink.

"Only if Ryan wants to honey," she replied and turned to the wolf. "Would you mind keeping Sarah occupied for a few minutes? I'll be up after we're done here to tuck her in."

"I don't mind"

"Yay!" the young husky shrieked, practically deafening everyone in the room. She took hold of Ryan's paw and pulled him up the stairs into her room.

Hunter and his mother took the used plates to the sink and stored the remaining food in the refrigerator. The rest of the duties were split up for Hunter to wipe down the table and his mom would start washing the dishes. The husky was preparing to help his mother with the dishes, but was stopped by a dripping, suds covered paw.

"Thanks for your help honey, but I can handle it from here. You should go and checkup on Ryan. We don't want Sarah to have too much fun at your friend's expense."

Her words were acknowledged with a nod from Hunter and he prepared to leave the kitchen. However, a concerning thought made him turn around and regard his mother. She turned up from washing and noted the worried look in her son's eyes.

"What's wrong dear?" she asked, wiping her paws on a dish towel and taking her son in her arms.

"What dad said at dinner. . . was any of it true?" he asked with a slight sniffle.

"Oh Hunter, you know your father was only kidding."

"But the way he said everything, I've never seen him that serious," Hunter continued, beginning to tear up.

"Don't worry honey," she reassured, rubbing the slightly sobbing pup's head. "Like Ryan said, both you and your father share a wonderfully unique sense of humor."

"But mom--"

"No buts Hunter. Though your father can be serious at times, he enjoys seeing you happy. If he has to pull out a joke to get you to smile, he will do it. His humor is a bit distant, but he does work most of the week. He always wants the best for you, don't ever forget that."

"You always know what to say, thanks a ton mom," he said into his mother's fur, then pulled back to wipe his eyes.

"What can I say? I'm a mom, I know things," she added reassuringly. "Probably more things than you know yourself honey."

The elder husky dried her pup's moistened fur so he could go meet up with Ryan without looking too upset. Hunter left the kitchen to make sure the wolf wasn't in trouble, while his mother returned to cleaning the mess in the sink.

On his way up, Hunter could hear the giggles accompanying a fun tea party. Sarah's voice could be heard through the door, along with another in a falsetto. The husky slowly opened the door and was nearly floored by the scene in front of him.

"Good evening ladies and lasses," he managed to say before keeling over in a fit of self-amusement.

The two were seated at a small play table, Sarah at the perfect size for the set while Ryan was uncomfortably seated with his knees held up to his chest. The wolf wore a frilly pink sun hat with a sunflower adornment and a play dress held in front of his compact form. A full compliment of plastic dishes and cups were arranged neatly serving the two, a stuffed panda and a blank space presumably for Hunter. But as he prepared to sit, he was stopped by a shrill cry.

"Noo, no boys allowed!"

"Pardon me milady," Hunter started with a high voice, "But I, Madame Hooskie, would like to join you for a spot of tea. Would that be all right dear?"

"Oh! My apple-gies. Of course you may join us. Please have a seat. We were about to talk about how gross boys are."

The early evening party was in full swing, with the huskies and wolf playing well at make believe. Their fun continued in the absence of another family member who would make her presence known. The door opened slightly, and a small box appeared through the space. A flash of the bulb later, the box was removed from the vantage point with the cackle of, "This'll go great on the Internet."

"May I be excused Princess Sarah?" Hunter asked, a sense of urgency in his voice.

"You may leave Madame Hook-sie," she replied with a pinky raised tea cup.

"Leslie!" Hunter shouted, going out to look for his older sister. Following a peek into her room and the other hiding places on the second floor, the husky went downstairs to look for her. Giggles from the kitchen drew him into the space to find Leslie showing off her latest snapshot to their mother.

"Aww, isn't that just precious," she cooed while wiping her paws off with the dishrag.

"I know and it'll look even better on the Internet so everyone can see our little Hunter and his friend have tea with Sarah," the elder sister added, throwing a glance over at her steaming little brother.

"Mom! You can't let Leslie put that picture on the Net, it's embarrassing," Hunter objected

"But you three look absolutely adorable together," their mother noted. "Besides, if your friends poke fun, you could always counter with keeping Sarah happy."

"Mom, not everyone can be reasoned with, this is high school. Furs will find a reason to make fun of anyone for any reason."

Hunter put up his best pleading face to try and convince his mother to think otherwise. His mother relented and offered a compromise.

"Okay Hunter, here's what we're going to do. Leslie, you can keep the photo, but it doesn't leave this house in any form. So no sharing, no posting on the web and no blowing it up to poster size to hang onto the house. Agreed?"

After mock consideration, where Leslie held a finger up to her muzzle to think, she agreed to the terms. Hunter was disappointed the picture would exist, but was happy to keep everything locked away from the world. Satisfied with her work, Leslie and Hunter were ushered to their rooms for the night, while the elder husky had to attend to Sarah. Upon entering the youngest husky's bedroom, she was pleased to find Sarah getting ready for bed, Ryan helping her onto the mattress.

"Thank you Ryan," the husky's mother whispered, "I'll take care of her from here, you can head back to Hunter."

The wolf flashed a smile to both Sarah and her mother before moving aside to leave. As he stepped out, Ryan was able to catch a quiet conversation between the two furs in the room.

"Mommy," Sarah yawned, "can Ryan stay with us? He makes Hunter play pretend and it's more fun."

Smirking, the wolf walked across the hallway in long strides, quickly covering the distance to Hunter's room. Upon entering, he spotted the husky setting up another multi-player game. Taking the second controller, Ryan took a seat on the floor next to Hunter and the two became immersed in a world of bullets flying across the screen and frustrating respawns after a kill. After playing a few rounds, a knock at the bedroom door paused their game. Hunter padded over to the door and unlocked it, allowing his mom to enter carrying a tray with two bowls of ice cream.

"Hey you two," she greeted, setting the tray on the desk's free space. "I wanted to thank you for the help you each did for me today. Hunter, my sous chef for dinner and Ryan, for your help with watching Sarah."

Both thanked the husky's mother for the chilly treat and sat the bowls in front of them to eat while they played. While caught up in the gameplay, their ice cream slowly transformed into soft serve, then milkshake. Ryan's victory yell over having a higher kill score than Hunter in the game woke up the husky's father, whose loud grumbling in the hall ended the match for the evening.

While packing up the system for the night, the two remembered their sweet treats. After staring at the pools of melted milk for some time, Hunter took his spoon to stir the mixture and downed the contents in a few gulps; Ryan followed the husky's example. With the milk mustaches laughed at and licked off, the pair prepared for bed.

"You can find a sleeping bag in the closet," Hunter directed with the bowls in his paws, "unless you'd prefer a cozy spot in bed."

"Oh I'm your guest," the wolf remarked, making his way to the closet following the husky. "It's no problem for me to sleep in camping equipment."

Ryan wandered into the storage space and fished out the sleeping bag from a pile of old clothes. Turning back around, Ryan was prepared to continue his conversation, "Besides, sleeping in someone else's bed alone is a bit--" but returned to an empty hallway.

Shaking his head, the wolf returned to the husky's room and unfurled the makeshift bed. As Ryan prepared to walk over to the switch to turn out the light, Hunter re-entered.

"Great timing," the wolf noted, jumping into the sleeping bag. "One less thing I need to do today."

"Aww, who looks as cute as a bug snug in a rug," the husky joked

"I don't need a bedtime rhyme Mother Goose, just turn out the light."

Hunter flipped the switch and padded over to his bed, careful not to intentionally step on his roommate for the night. Several minutes passed for Hunter as he was trying to sleep after an infusion of sugar from the ice cream milkshake. Bored with the stillness of the night, Hunter tried to spark a conversation with Ryan.

"So looking forward to having fun tomorrow?"

The husky's question was answered with a sleepy mumble of "Yeah, surprise me" before Ryan turned in his bedding, followed by light snoring. Smiling to himself, the husky stared at the ceiling a few minutes more before the sugar rush ended with a crash, and he too drifted off into the world of dreams.

• - - - PAUSE - - - - -

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