FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Zel just sighed and kept walking as he called over his shoulder, "What do you want today Daryl? I've told you before that I don't smoke, nor do I even remotely resemble a cigarette in any way."

This got a chuckle from some of the students around him, but no smile graced Zel's lips as he kept his usual indifference. Daryl was a hyena a year above Zel in grade as well as his most frequent tormentor. Zel didn't know why Daryl insisted on trying to get a rise out of him everyday as most of the others got bored and gave up after a month. Some had tried again after a while, but still to now avail.

Daryl snarled and started stomping towards Zel, not happy that he was basically being ignored and being laughed at. His two 'friends', who were really no more than lackeys, followed him on either side. One was a cheetah named Hank and the other was corgi named Jace. Furs cleared out of their way when they saw how angry Daryl was and the trio soon closed on Zel. Once he was close enough, the hyena gave a sharp tug on Zel's blue tail causing him to yelp and stop. He turned his head and glared at Daryl who was still holding his tail while Hank and Jace moved into a position where they surrounded the wolf.

"Did I say you could touch me?"

Daryl just stayed there, "You don't walk away when I'm talking, poof."

Zel's face became indifferent again except for a raised eyebrow, "So I'm a cloud now? Or did you mean 'poof' like a genie? Sorry, I don't grant wishes for numbskulls."

Despite the situation, some of the furs around them chuckled again until Daryl turned his glare on them. Turning his glare back to Zel, his eyes stopped on the wolf's backpack for a moment and an idea came to him. Just as he started letting go of Zel's tail, he grabbed the backpack and yanked it off him.

"Hey!" Zel yelled as he turned around to get his bag back only to have his arms grabbed by Hank and Jace. As Zel struggled to get free, Daryl sauntered a few steps away while opening the backpack.

"You know? I've had it with your attitude and I'm thinking that you need a lesson of some kind. We've learned from the past that beating your loser ass doesn't do anything, so I'm thinking we take a new approach."

Zel continued to struggle as Daryl dug around in the backpack, giving out a triumphant "Hah!" as he pulled out Zel's notebook. The one that contained his stories. The wolf struggled harder as Daryl started to flip through the book, reading random passages. His eyes went wide when he found the one story that Zel wouldn't let anyone read, not even Mr. Rathman. It was basically erotica about two guys finding love and expressing it through sex as their relationship grew. It also went into great detail. Daryl's eyes were glued to it and despite the look of disgust on his face, his cheeks were rapidly becoming flushed as a blush overtook his face. Zel thought he saw hyena gulp as he read.

Daryl slammed the notebook shut and slowly turned his head towards Zel, "I knew you were a fag." He looked back at the notebook in his hands, "There's only one thing to do with filth like this."

Zel's eyes grew wide as Daryl pulled a lighter from his pocket, "NO!! Don't burn it! Give it back!"

The hyena ignored his cries and held the book from one of the top corners at an angle while trying to light his lighter. After several attempts, his lighter finally sparked to life. He grinned maliciously as he held the flame to the bottom corner of the notebook. When Zel saw his book start to smoulder, something inside him snapped. Drawing on strength he didn't know he had, he pulled both his arms forward, resulting in Hank's and Jace's heads colliding and letting him go. He then surged toward Daryl, grabbed him by his shirt's collar and slammed him into the nearby locker, the impact causing Daryl to drop both the book and the lighter. As Zel had him pinned to the locker, panting with rage, Daryl saw something the frightened him. He looked into Zel's eyes which, unknown to anyone around them, were glowing as if they were on fire. Everyone knew that Zel's eyes let off a very faint, soft glow, but what Daryl was looking at was like staring into a blazing bonfire.

He started trembling as Zel moved closer to him and spoke in a low rumble, "Try that again, and you will regret it."

As he let Daryl go, his eyes returned to normal and his faced showed nothing but indifference again. He gathered notebook and backpack and resumed his walk to class like nothing had happened while Daryl was sitting on the floor, still trembling.

The rest of the day was uneventful except for the fact that, by the end of his last class, the whole school had heard about how Zel had owned Daryl. Zel still didn't know where the strength had come from or why Daryl had suddenly become terrified of him. He pushed the thoughts to the back of his head, figuring it was just adrenaline and the fact that someone had stood up to the bully.

As the last bell rang, he put in his earbuds and picked one of his playlist. He had several, most of them being different genres and some being mixes. He was in a metal mood, so he put on the playlist and walked to his bus, head bobbing to the music now and then. He got to his bus, sat in the first empty seat he found and rested his forehead against the window with his eyes closed as he considered how his story was going to end as he'd just reached that point. No one ever sat with him on the bus if they could avoid it. No one except...

"Did you seriously take down Daryl and his cronies!?" Eric asked as he plopped onto the seat next to the wolf.

Zel sighed, "I didn't take them down. Hank and Jace were holding my arms while Daryl was about to burn my notebook." He pulled out the book and showed Eric the crispy edge, which thankfully hadn't ruined any of his work, as proof. Eric looked at the book then back to Zel, eager to hear what happened next.

"So, I just brought my arms together with all the strength I had so that tweedle dee and tweedle dum's heads would smack together and then pinned Daryl to a locker. It's not like I did anything spectacular."

Eric's jaw hung open, "Are you kidding? That is EPIC!!"

Zel's ear folded back from how loud his friend was being, "How? All I did was stand up for myself."

"It's how you did it, knucklehead! You know that Daryl is now terrified of you?"

Zel nodded, "I don't know why though?"

Eric just gave his friend a flat stare, "Really? You knock out both of his lackeys then threaten him menacingly and you don't know why he's scared?"

"I didn't knock them out."

"Actually, you did." A feminine voice said from in front of them. All they saw were her ears until she lifted herself up and kneeled in the seat so she could see them. She was a short, brown rabbit that had several piercings in her long ears and pink head fur.

Zel just blinked at her, "Pardon?"

She smirked at him, "You did knock them out. I was there when it happened. You probably didn't notice 'cause you were so pissed, but they had checked out."

Zel couldn't believe it. He hadn't hit them together that hard...had he? "Wouldn't I have been called to the office if I had?"

The rabbit shook her head, "The bell snapped them out of it." She suppressed a chuckle, "You should have seen it. When the bell went off, Hank jumped so high in the air that he nearly attached himself to the ceiling with his fur all sticking out."

Eric howled at that while Zel just smirked a little at the image.

The rabbit snickered, "So you can smile. It's a good look on you."

Zel's smirk quickly turned into a frown and he looked back out the window, blushing a little and thankful that his fur hid it, while Eric spoke up, shaking his head, "We don't bring up the fact that he's allowed to be happy." He chuckled as he knew that Zel was now glaring at him.

The girl just snickered at them before sticking her paw out at them, "Name's Tammy Harlow."

Eric took her paw and instead of shaking it, he turned it and kissed the back causing Tammy to blush, "Enchanté. I'm Eric Kasser and this ray of sunshine," he put his arm around Zel's shoulder, who was still glaring at him, "is Zel Farlin."

"Well, everyone knows about Zel. He's kinda hard to miss." She looked at him apologetically, "No offence."

Zel just shrugged, "Meh. I'm used to it."

Tammy fidgeted a little, looking like she was dying to ask a question and Zel knew exactly which one she was going to ask, "Yes, my fur and eyes are naturally this colour and no I don't know why."

"How'd you know I was going to ask that? You psychic or something?"

"It's the same question everyone asks me when they first meet me." Zel started to twist one of his earrings as he went back to staring out the window, a habit he'd picked up when he started to feel anxious.

Eric just rolled his eyes and poked Zel in the ribs, hard, "Ow! What?"

Eric motioned to Tammy, "She's trying to be friends with you, you nert. Be nice." He looked to Tammy, "Please excuse His Glumness. He's gotten it into his head that he doesn't need friends."

Tammy raised a quizzical brow, "Why's that?" Eric just tugged on some of Zel's blue fur, earning a swat from the wolf, "Ah. Right." She smirked as she leaned in as close as she could, "Well, guess what, wolfy?"

Zel just raised an eyebrow, already knowing what she was going to say, "You've got yourself a new friend." She said confirming what he knew.

"Whatever."

This earned him a punch in the arm and a glare from Eric, "Ow! Okay!" He turned back to Tammy, "I'm sorry. Welcome to the group."

Tammy grinned triumphantly, "Thank you. Now that we are all friends, is it not customary that we exchange numbers for chatting purposes?" She said in a mock pompous tone while she pulled out her cell.

Eric pulled his out as well and Zel reluctantly pulled out his. After programming each other's numbers into the other's phone, Zel went back to looking out the window. By this time, the bus was well on its way and had already dropped off a several students. It was then that Zel realized that nothing looked familiar. He looked around slightly panicked and noticed that there were too many furs gone.

"Fucktarts!" He yelled. Getting both of his friend's attention.

"What?" Tammy asked before she looked at Eric, "Fucktarts?"

Zel looked to Eric and poked him before he could answer, "We missed our stop." He stated, looking not happy at all, while pointing out the window.

Eric looked out then around the same as Zel had done before looking forward with a blank look, "Well, crap."

"You could get off at my stop and come to my house. You could get your parents to pick you up there." Tammy offered.

Zel looked at her nervously, "Are you sure? Won't your parents mind you randomly bringing home two people you just met?"

She waved her paw dismissively, "Nah. My mom won't mind. We just moved here a week ago, so she'll be thrilled I've made friends."

"Then we'd be thrilled to take you up on your offer, dear lady." Eric said, switching into his gentleman mode again and earning a giggle from Tammy.

It wasn't long before Tammy's stop came up and the three of them got off. After the bus left, Tammy led them to her house, chatting with Eric while Zel walked behind them. About a block later, Tammy stopped at the end of a driveway of a typical two story beige house.

She walked up to the door and opened it, calling out as she did, "Mom! I'm home! And I brought friends!"

There was clinking sound from down the hall before an older looking version of Tammy, who Zel assumed was her mother, approached them from another room with a bright smile on her face.

"It's about time you made friends." She got an evil glint in her eye that Zel recognized immediately from his own mother, "So which of these handsome boys is your boyfriend?"

"MOM!!"

Mrs. Harlow chuckled as did Zel, which surprised Eric, "I'm just joking, dear. I'm your mother. I'm allowed to make jokes at your expense."

Tammy groaned and facepalmed before taking a calming breath and motioned to her friends, "Mom. This is Eric and Zel."

Zel stuck his paw out first to shake Mrs. Harlow's paw, again surprising Eric, "Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Harlow." He said in a quiet voice.

"Please, just call me Susan." This caused Zel to look around nervously.

Eric shook his head with a smile, seeing his friend return to normal, and shook Susan's paw, "Pleasure to meet you, Susan, and don't mind him. He's got this thing about politeness around adults sometimes. He's known my mom for two years and still calls her by our last name, despite how many times she's asked him to do otherwise."

Susan shook her head, "Nothing wrong with that." There was that glint again, "Now if only Tammy could find a boyfriend like you."

"Seriously, mom!!" Tammy huffed as she marched into their living room.

Susan chuckled again, "Do you boys want anything to drink?"

They both declined politely before Eric spoke up, "Thanks for the offer, but we can't stay long. We missed our stop and Tammy offered to have us over so our parents could pick us up."

"Well you're welcome to stay for supper if your parents will let you."

They both thanked her for the offer and joined Tammy in the living room. Before anyone could say anything, Zel felt his pocket buzzing. His pulled out his phone and looked at the ID, seeing it was his mom.

Hitting the answer button, he put the phone to his ear, "I was just about to call, mom."

"Just wondering where you are, dear." His mom answered, worry tinting her voice.

"Eric and I made a new friend on the bus home and while we were talking, we missed our stop. Our friend invited us over so we could get picked up here. Her mom also offered to have us for dinner."

"Well that was very nice of them. You be sure to thank them both and you are more than welcome to stay there for dinner. I'll call Eric's mother and let her know what's going on."

"Thanks mom."

"It's wonderful that you are making more friends, honey."

Zel blushed a bit under his fur, "It's not that big a deal..."

His mom chuckled, "If you say so. Just give me a call when you're ready and I'll come pick you both up."

"Will do. Bye mom." He hung up and turned to Eric, "So my mom is going to call your mom and fill her in and she'll come pick us after dinner."

"Wonderful!" Came a shout from behind Zel, causing him to jump three feet into the air with a cry. His hackles raised and he clutched his chest to try and get his heart to start again as he looked at the older rabbit behind him, "I'll get started on dinner while you all chat and work on your homework." Susan said, leaving them little choice in the matter.

Zel walked over and sat on the couch to try and calm himself and rub his fur back into place.

"Sorry about my mom. I swear, she must have ninja training or something." Tammy apologized as she pulled out her homework and slid off the couch to sit on the floor in front of the coffee table.

Eric sat on the other side as he pulled out his math textbook and notebook. After getting his heart and breathing under control, Zel joined them, pulling out his own homework. As they worked, Zel found out that Tammy was in two of his classes and she proudly exclaimed that she would sit next to him in both, as both the classes happened to be ones where they could sit wherever they like.

After half an hour of working, helping each where they could, and chatting, Tammy, without looking up from her history homework, spoke to Zel, "So, random question." The looked up at her, not knowing who she was talking to. After finishing the sentence she was working on she looked up at Zel with a straight face and asked, "I'm guessing since were your only friends that you don't have a boyfriend?"

Zel started panicking and sweating, "Wh-what are you talking about?"

Tammy rolled her eyes, "Oh please. You may not show it much, in fact, barely at all, but my gaydar is infallible. I guessed after whatever Daryl read in your notebook, but I knew when we started talking on the bus." She paused as a look came to her eyes that Zel knew he wasn't going to like, "Come to think of it, I'm kinda curious what Daryl read." She leaned close to him, "Any chance I could read it?"

Zel gulped and shook his head furiously.

"Oh, come on. Please?" She tried giving him the big, soulful eye routine.

After several minutes of trying not to look into her eyes, which seemed to get bigger every minute, he sighed and begrudgingly pulled his notebook out and slid it across the table to her after opening it to the right story. She gave a cry of victory and slid the rest of the way to her and started reading. Eric let his curiosity get the better of him and and scooted around the table so he could read as well. Zel turned around and lowered his head in shame, his entire face read and hot from his blush.

After what felt like ages, Zel heard Tammy whisper breathily, "Damn..." He looked over his shoulder at them to see their eyes glued to the page, both sporting a massive blush. Zel turned away again, slumped over in shame. He had just revealed a part of himself to his friends, a part that he thought he would keep hidden until he at least got to college. He had laid bare one of his fantasies, one he had written out in excruciating detail and passion. He'd heard from his teacher, his friend and his parents that he wrote in a way that was detailed, but not boringly so, so that every reader could easily see in their mind's eye what was unfolding on the page. Because of his wolf nose, he could clearly smell that what he had written had excited his friends. A few minutes, he heard his notebook close and he turned back toward his friends, somewhat unwillingly, and looked up to see their faces. They were both looking off into the distance, their entire faces bright red with blush, including their ears. They both gulped before looking at Zel. Tammy was the first to speak.

"Th-that was... Wow..."

"Yeah..." Eric mumbled.

Zel slowly pulled his notebook out from under Tammy's paw and put it back in its hiding spot in his backpack.

"That would make even the straightest man cream his pants." Tammy noted after a few minutes of silence while the two got their faces under control.

"I know. I almost did..." Eric muttered as he sat back down across the table from Tammy.

Zel just blushed even more and returned to his homework. The other soon followed, needing to distract themselves from what they had just read. After finishing their homework, Tammy and Eric started playing some racing game while Zel watched. Zel was on the floor between his friends while they were sitting on the couch when Zel felt a paw on his shoulder. He looked up into Tammy's smiling face.

"You, my wolfy friend, are an amazing author. I swear, if you don't pursue that as a career, I will personally kick your ass."

The compliment earned a blush from Zel while the friendly threat earned a chuckle, "I was thinking of going to college for English then try to get a book published afterwards."

"Good." Tammy nodded as if she had made up his mind for him, "By the way..." Zel looked up at her again, "I'd like a copy of that."

This made both boy's eyes go wide. She looked between them innocently, "What?! It was good and I'm a teenager. You know? Raging hormones and whatnot?" She looked back at Zel, "Hell... I'd pay you to write something else like that. I'd pay you to write an entire gay romance novel even."

Zel was shocked. While his regular writing had earned some positive feedback, he didn't think his works were that good. After a moment or two, he finally nodded, "Um... Sure. I'll make a copy and give it to you tomorrow."

"Awesome! You rock!" She yelled as she hugged him from above.

Zel chuckled while Eric watched the two interact, happy for his usually solemn friend. He then poked Tammy and pointed back to game, declaring that he would finally beat her. The trio chuckled and Zel watched and laughed as his two friends yelled at each other and tried to mess the other up. As the night progressed, he felt something that, to his knowledge, he had never felt before. Real happiness.