FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Sorry this is a short chapter, and it's late, I had almost no time to write it. As I said in the comments of my first story, my articles are usually written whenever I have free time, which lately has been never. Enjoy. x

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The snow glowed brightly that morning, rich with the sun's glare. I covered my eyes while Gare followed me in my shadow. We had the same first period this semester. It was art, thankfully, so that would give us some time to talk about what was happening. Ms. Tere, the art instructor, encouraged 'productive chit-chat'. I dodged through the thick sea of people, my mind heavy with dread.

Was it really that obvious? Was Nyo really able to guess it that easily? And if it was so easy for him, then maybe others were catching on as well. Another thing that worried me was the assumption that Gare and I were dating. I mean, it was just kissing, right? Nothing serious. I'm probably not even gay! I don't know where I got that notion. It was absolutely silly. I was about to turn around and tell Gare the good news when I saw his beautiful face, and my heart melted.

I guess getting used to this was going to be harder than I initially thought. The face staring back at me with a quizzical, nervous smile reminded me that this was real, and I wanted it to be real. But more than that, I didn't want to have to hide it like we were currently doing.

"Miles, you okay?" Gare leaned in close and whispered in my ear. I must have looked sad, because he cautiously brushed my paw, trying to cheer me up without drawing attention. "If it's about Nyo, he seems nice, I don't think he'd tell anyone." The way he said it, so sincerely, made me want to kiss him in front of the entire school and denounce any homophobes that dared oppose the relationship. But that could never happen.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Let's get to art, okay?" I wanted to talk about about some things. We walked through the now thinning crowd of people towards the art classroom. Gare took the lead, saying I should hurry up or we'd be late. Quickening my pace, I huffed after him. I wasn't looking around at my fellow classmates, nor was I looking forward towards the school. My eyes focused in the back of Gare's head, the swish of his tail through the crisp winter air, the padding of his feet on the frozen, snow-laden ground. I was becoming obsessive.

Several heads turned our way. Some noticed my wolfish stare at his backside and gave quizzical looks. Others jeered, not even for a second considering that I may actually be gay. No one would think that. I'd dated innumerable girls. Right? I cursed myself for being such a fool. I needed to control myself better than this, or people would find out. Yet, in the back of my head, that's all I wanted. I wanted people to know, I wanted people to find out. How else could they have a public relationship?

They reached the art room at last, seconds before the bell rang. The short, cheery woman who sat at a stool in the front of the room made a tutting sound and waved them to her desks. Her hair was brushed straight, cascading down her shoulders in grey snowy curtains.

"Cutting it a little close?" She warned in her warm voice. I smiled and took my seat with Gare, hoping she would leave us to individual work, rather than the mandatory silence her lessons so often required. "Now," she announced, clapping her hands together, "today we'll continue work on our shading, so just grab a sheet of paper, or draw on the table, if you can find an empty spot. Have fun, that's your assignment all class." With a wave of her hand, class commenced.

"Uhm... what were you saying earlier?" Gare asked nervously. He fidgeted with his pencil, and pretended to shade a sphere on the table.

"What do you think of Nyo?" I said, not wanting to talk about anything important until the conversation in the room elevated to the usual roar. This was a common tactic in this class for talking about sensitive topics. Not that Ms. Tere would care, she doubled as a student counselor.

"Oh, he's alright. I guess I don't know him well enough to make any big decision on his personality. But he has a lot in common with us." He was obviously hinting at the whole bisexuality thing. The conversation was getting to the loud point that I was wating for. I pulled him in closer, grabbing his paw in mine under the table. He jumped at the sudden advance, looking around frantically to make sure no one saw. No one did.

"I want to talk about what happened yesterday."I whispered into his ear. He looked nervous, apprehensive.

"What about yesterday?'' He seemed like he thought I was about to hit him.

"You know." I blushed a deep red. "The kissing."

"Oh. That." He focused intently on his sphere, which looked more like an oval with scribbles in it. "What about?"

"What does it mean?" I asked, trying to get my point across. "I mean... are we... you know... together?" His pencil lead snapped, and Ms. Tere looked at him disapprovingly as he got a new one out of his bag.

"Well... I don't know... do you want to be?" He asked sheepishly, as though he wanted to say no but couldn't find the words. His manner deflated the hopes I hadn't even known I possessed. He noticed my crestfallen expression. "No, I mean, I didn't mean.... Doyouwanttobetogether?" He_ _gripped my paw tightly, bringing me back from my daze. I looked into his eyes, trying to find out if he was serious, or putting me on. Recent events told me he was serious.

"Yeah... I think I do. I mean, I know I do." I squeezed his paw tighter, and wished I could hug him then and there, in the classroom. But then people would suspect, and that couldn't happen. I decided enough was enough for one class period, and decided more could be done later. I was happy enough just being with the husky I never knew I needed.

"Really? That's great!" His eyes were moist, but not with the heavy tears of sadness. These were joyous tears born of affection. He wiped his eyes before they spilled over onto his fur, and whispered in my ear that we could talk more later, when there weren't so many ears around. And we sat there in art class, inconspicuously holding paws under the table, the student body being none the wiser, until the bell rang, signaling students to go to their second period.

As the students got up to go, Garreth lingered, busying himself with the task of cleaning his station, while I pretended to help. The students filed out of the room, one by one, until it was empty, save for them and the teacher. She smiled at them brightly and turned towards the board. Gare chose his moment, hoping he timed it right, and pecked me a quick kiss in the cheek. Ms. Tere chose this moment, turning around at exactly the wrong moment, and turned immediately around again. Gare, embarrassed, hurried out of the room. My face lit up a furious red hue as I gathered my stuff and hurried out of the room, saying a quick goodbye to the teacher that I couldn't bear to look at. I hurried off to my next class, wondering if she'd witnessed the act.