FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Robert feels a sense of both confidence and hope as he walks home from work tonight. It may take him about four hours to do so, but it does not bother him in the slightest bit. He has just received his first paycheck that took his annual raise into account. The fox, earlier that day, had gone to the gym and worked out longer than he ever had--he had lifted more weight, he had ran farther, and done everything like some sort of super fox. Because of this, he even managed to not be beaten up by Joe and Mac, the two ligers who were always trying to bother him about having been a sort of "slave." They also annoy everyone else about how they are of the "superior race," since the majority of the government is run by felids.

Anyway, he was more of a henchman than a slave, really. Nobody knows how Joe and Mac had found out about Robert's youth, but the only person who cared was the fox boy himself. During high school, Robert missed about a month of school at a time, and nobody ever questioned it, to his relief. Robert was never sick during this time, nor was he hurt, unless being shot in the shoulder by one's master counts. The Siberian husky, "master," was named Julius Arno; at least he was before he was caught and arrested. Robert was also caught, but when he convinced the police that he was under duress and had been forced into working for the husky, they released him and let him finish his senior year of high school without having to miss much more of it.

Robert snaps to reality when a large truck blows its horn as it passes. The fox hadn't noticed that he wasn't walking since his flashback began, so he takes it as a wake-up call of sorts. Robert takes a gander at the brick building to his right and sees a large "No Loitering," sign hanging upon it. The fox boy thanks the timing of the horn in his mind and continues along the path of roaring traffic during the rush hour (which happens to be from around ten to one in the morning in this city).

As the fox boy walks down the metallic sidewalk while passing by several other people, he occasionally gazes at the skyscrapers towering above him. It is chilly tonight; the moon and stars aren't visible due to clouds, and it is mostly dark, so the fox can only see a few windows with lights on as any indication that light even exists in the universe other than what illuminates the street next to him. Still, Robert is impressed with how the city has progressed in the past two decades. Robert remembers vaguely when construction on most of these buildings were still in their infancies, since he himself was also at such a very young age when mayor Greenman decided to use the taxes to begin deconstruction on the already existing buildings. He allowed many businesses to take ownership of empty lots which had been cleared and prepared by the city. Thus, the amazing feats of engineering Robert now stares at were born.

A while later, stepping into the now less abundant streetlight becomes a relief for Robert. As a 21-year-old, he must be vigilant of his surroundings; always keeping on his toes. For all the fox boy knows, there might be a gang of thugs waiting to pull him into an alleyway, so he glances left and right and makes sure that he is not being followed. He keeps his paws in his pockets, as if trying to appear to be holstering a pistol. Everywhere you turn, there's most likely someone just itching to mug you. As soon as you're within range, they make their move, and you wake up in a ditch wondering what the hell happened.

What's worse is that the government forbids the use of gun-related weaponry unless on the police force. If Robert could manage to join it, he would be on top of the world, metaphorically speaking. Self-defense is mandatory on the streets of New Olive, and firearms would make it much easier, especially since Robert is far from a feat of strength; he doesn't have much noticeable muscle mass. Though, there's one catch, like always--he doesn't meet the physical requirements. Or at least not yet. Though he is working to build his physique, he still has a long road ahead of him. Plus, he has been in trouble with the law, so the fox is doubtful that he would even be considered.

Robert finds the dim light of the lamp above him relaxing, and he discontinues his walking for a moment to catch his breath. It would take him about two more hours to walk home from where he is, and knowing that he is only halfway home is not comforting. He hasn't stopped walking since he started, so he sits down and leans against the lamppost. He's also asthmatic, which acts as yet another reason to rest.

But, the fox cannot stay for long. Someone will come for him. It's late at night, and he is tired and hungry, but luckily, it is pay day, so if Robert were to cash in the check he got from his boss, he could spend the night at the hotel just across the square which he now notices. But in order to get there, he has to traverse a set of poorly lit crossings. It will be dangerous, regardless, and this is the main road, making it that much worse.

He makes the decision to go for it. He rests his ear against the asphalt, trying to hear and feel the vibrations of approaching traffic, but it's strange. There is no traffic. This is usually the rush hour. It doesn't make any sense. All Robert can hear and feel is the wind blowing in his face as he looks around the intersection.

Robert knows he doesn't have much time left before he's found, so he decides to ignore the abnormality and focus on crossing the streets. He slowly takes the five steps backward that is required to have a good running start. On these roads, "slow and steady wins the race," does not apply. The cars along this road travel at speeds that can get up to 60 miles per hour. Though the cars are fast, Robert has to be faster. The cars can pop out of nowhere, and just because Robert can't see or hear them now, it doesn't mean that they won't zip by five seconds later.

He takes one final breath of preparatory air, crouches, and his body is in the perfect ready position. The gun fires in his head, and he is off. Now on the asphalt and completely leaving behind the safety of the metal sidewalk, Robert presses on. He can't stop now. Not when he's halfway across the first road. As he continues to advance, he grabs the street sign, not letting go until the 90° turn is complete. He releases his grip on the sign, flinging him forward with an extra burst of speed, and he sprints across the second street. Finally, he can come to a halt, but then again, he doesn't have much choice since he trips over the curb at the last second, which knocks him to the ground.

It feels like he has sprained his ankle, but he doesn't mind or even care. It doesn't hurt much since he's used to getting beaten regularly by his co-workers in the locker room. They hate his guts, and they torment him for being a former slave and a fox. Surprisingly, they still haven't figured out that Robert is gay, so they don't bother him about it.

Of course, like many stories, Robert's would get much more interesting later on. Or at least the fox hopes so. His life shouldn't be boring, he believes. Nobody's life should be without any excitement. Many people still live monotonous lives anyway. Then again, do they have control over that?

At least Robert has enough money to pay for the night. The wolf behind the desk looks very attractive, but the scarlet fox has a room to rent. He reaches into his wallet to pull out his credit card and pays little attention to him.

"Could I have a room for the night? Single bed," Robert asks the silver furred wolf behind the counter.

"Smoking or non-smoking?" The wolf replies without looking up from his computer screen.

"Non-smoking, please."

"Alright, I'll check my system, and see if something's open," The wolf mutters under his breath. He seems depressed, like something is nagging him, keeping him from even pretending to be cheerful like he most likely should.

Robert thinks, I have to cheer him up. I can't stand seeing someone like this. "Rough day?"

"I'm fine, but thanks," The wolf snaps rudely.

_ Well, excuse me for trying to help._

"Okay, I have room 102 open. It's just down that hall, and it's the first door on the right."

"Thanks." With the key card in his paws, Robert begins to walk toward the hallway. He assumes the wolf must have noticed the slightly impaired walk cycle from when he tripped before, because he gets up from his chair behind the front desk to stop Robert from going to his room.

"Wait." The wolf almost shouts as he says this, making the boy jump a bit.

Robert sighs and replies sarcastically, "Yes?"

"I'm sorry. You were right." Now, in contrast to just a few seconds before, the wolf is almost whispering.

Confused, Robert asks, "How do you mean?"

"I_have_ had a rough day."

"Well, I'm one to forgive and forget. And I'm sorry to hear that. I guess if you want any help, business seems painfully slow. I bet your boss wouldn't mind if you took a breather?" Perfect. Make him an offer he can't refuse. Wait, did I...? Dammit, I guess it just goes to show how prolific The Godfather was.

"Actually, I'm my own boss, so nyah!" Sticking his tongue out and smirking, he opens the door leading to the space behind the front desk. He locks the door behind him, which seems to be an automatic sign-turning mechanism. It flips the "Welcome" sign around so that it reads "ring for service" instead. Finally, a panel on top of the desk flips itself over, and there is now a bell on a little stand where there was once a solid marble and mahogany desk. "And yes, I'll gladly take you up on that offer."

Robert winks at the stranger and motions for him to follow. The scarlet fox keeps in mind what he was told a minute ago, and remembers that his room is the first door on the right. He swipes the key card in the thin slot, which makes a little red light turn green, as well as a beeper to go off for a second. Robert turns the door's handle, and leads the way inside the room.

Robert finds the light switch almost immediately, and flicks it upward to illuminate the hotel room, which turns out to be very quaint in appearance. The wallpaper is a wavy-textured beige, and the carpet is a dull green, which has a yellow dot pattern embroidered upon it. There is a small oak coffee table in front of the old-fashioned TV which sits on a stand against the wall across from the pull-out bed loveseat, which the wolf sits down on.

Plopping his bag of work clothing down on the oak table, Robert inquires, "So are you going to tell me what this is all about?" The wolf looks like Robert is speaking another language. Okay, I guess we can do this the old-fashioned way... Robert tells himself with an I-really-don't-want-to-do-this tone. "Well, first of all, what's your name?"

"Daron. But it's spelled with an 'o' instead of an 'i.' Yourself?" Daron replies warmly.

"Robert. Ah, SWEET!" Robert has just noticed the single-cup coffee maker resting on the counter in the small kitchen area. Robert walks over to it and finds that there is complimentary French vanilla, mocha, and traditional-flavored coffee grinds, as well as a paw-full of bags of hot chocolate powder. As Robert begins to make a cup of cocoa for himself, he asks, "Do you want any coffee, or anything? I'm making for myself, so..."

Daron stutters, "No, I couldn't-"

Robert interrupts, "Please. I'm here to help you, and chocolate in any form always helps me feel better after a long day. I insist."

Daron hesitates, mulling it over. "Well... if you say so."

"Well, that's a start." Robert takes out a second mug from the above cabinet. "Anyway, why is today such a bad one for you? Death in the family? Stock take a major blow?"

"My boyfriend left me. He said he was embarrassed to be around me, and that we had to stop seeing each other, and..." Daron sniffs heavily and covers his eyes with his paw for a second. "I'm sorry, but it was just out of nowhere. We were fine for years, even as far back as sophomore year of high school, and for him it was freshman year, but this morning he called, and he told me..." Now crying as he begins to trail off, Daron has tears pouring down his face.

Robert puts his left paw on Daron's shoulder as he walks over and sits down on the sofa to the right of the wolf, with two cups of steaming hot chocolate in his grasp. "WOAH, woah, woah. Hold up one second, now, buddy! You need to stop crying, and start acting like what you are. You're a wolf, you're a guy, and you're huge compared to most wolves I know, and I mean that in a good way. Like, in reference to your muscles and whatnot. All this makes you strong, man. You just need to pull yourself together, and if he really doesn't want to see you again, you'll just have to move on. There's nothing that can be done at this point, buddy. Maybe it was never meant to be, and he probably understood that before you. Things like this aren't worth beating yourself up over. I trust that you're a sensible guy, and you know what you're doing. It'll get better, and I'm going to make that a promise, Daron."

Daron doesn't stop sobbing into his paws, despite all this being said. Robert is shocked right now. He cannot believe it; this complete stranger he had just met not even ten minutes ago is opening up to him with his personal problems, pouring his heart out. Daron finally stops crying after about ten minutes of sitting on the couch with Robert rubbing his shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"Robert, are you gay?" He finally says out of nowhere after getting control of himself. Robert can see through Daron's silver fur that he had gone red in the face as he said this.

"Am I really that careless?" It is almost an invitation for the silver wolf.

"More like the opposite, kid," Daron chortles.

"To answer your question, I have to say yes. But you're the first person I've ever admitted it to except for what I said in a statement I once had to make from when I was falsely brought in for questioning about a rape case or something. But that's confidential, so I guess it doesn't count, right?"

"Heh. I guess so."

"Well, I just..." Robert hesitates, choosing his words carefully. He sighs and finishes his statement. "Could you keep this between us, though? I don't think I want to be so open about anything yet. In fact I've even gone to strip clubs just to hide it and make my friends think I was straight. Some girls actually tried to get with me. I know, it creeped me out too, but most of them were drunk or something. I still turned them down, though."

"Wow. Never heard THAT one before. Anyway, whatever floats your boat is cool with me, Rob. So that brings me to my next question: how does a guy like you end up in a dump like this?"

Just to tease him, Robert replies smirking, "I was going to ask you the same thing." They both chuckle a bit and Robert continues, "Well I was just going home from work, but since my sister can sustain herself for th-" Robert cuts himself off as he realizes that his sister doesn't know where he is. "Crap! Is there a phone in this room?"

"I have an iPhone, here. I'm taking a shot in the dark and saying that you forgot to call her?"

"Be quiet a second, 'kay? I can barely hear... Natalie...? Okay, I'm not coming home tonight, kid... Sorry kid, I had to close up, and I wouldn't have been there until at least 0200... Yeah, there's some noodle soup in the pantry you can have, if you haven't eaten yet, but only one, okay? There had better be exactly 7 packets left in that box when I get home. Any less than 7 and I swear to God, I will personally... Natalie? Nat-! FFFF-!" Robert doesn't actually swear for the sake of acting at least somewhat professional, but he has to catch himself at the last second. He throws his paws up angrily in the air, imitating a temper tantrum. He flexes his arm muscles hard enough to make his arms vibrate as he hangs up and wipes the paw prints off the screen with the corner of his t-shirt. This makes Daron chuckle to himself quietly. "She hung up!" He sighs. "Sometimes, she's a..." He realizes before he continues that the rest of the sentence he had planned to say would again be unprofessional. Instead, he sighs again and continues. "And sometimes she's just an older brother's dream: a perfectly obedient angel without an attitude, taking care of herself, no reminders, no nothing."

"Well, she's your sister. You can't really pick and choose who you get, can you?" Daron puts on one of those sarcastic-but-frankly-honest faces as Robert hands him his phone back. "You know, you're a really cool guy, letting me open up to you like this. And might I add that you're pretty cute?"

Robert is now blushing violently as he asks, "Are you flirting with me, Daron?"

"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't my intention, kid. Speaking of which, how old did you say you are? I think my mother's short-term memory loss is kicking in again." He chuckles as he says this.

"It's not, don't worry. I just didn't tell you. I'm actually 21, and I'll be 22 in another month. But since I'm technically property of the government, they let me just go to work to support my sister and myself." Robert uses an effeminate voice while saying this.

"Well, I may be 22, but I'm 17 at heart! And what do you mean by 'property of the government'?" He gives another stereotypical dance-class-cheese smile, but he means it.

"I used to work for this drug dealer named Julius Arno. The government found out about him, and they caught him. But they caught me too, and I had to convince them that Julius was threatening me and my family and that I had no choice but to do what he said. I was also still young, so they were a little more considerate than they would be now. They let me go under the condition that they randomly test me for drugs, search my house even it they have no warrant, and that I remain under surveillance." Robert stares into his lap and pauses.

"Wow. That's some story, kid. And I'm sorry you had to go through all that. But I'm wondering if you meant it?"

"Meant what?"

"What you said to the people that caught you and him."

"You think I'm lying?" Robert's eyes grow wide with shock. But when the scarlet fox thinks about it, he realizes that the way he said it to the wolf could be perceived as a lie.

Daron's left eyebrow raises in response.

"Well, no, I didn't lie. I'm not lying about it now either. He really found out where we lived, and he really threatened to hurt us if I didn't work for him. I missed almost half of high school because of it, too."

"Okay, I believe you, kid." Daron raises his paws as if admitting defeat as he speaks.

"Anyways, Daron, if you want, I'm always willing to help you out if you need me. I have my license, I just can't rent a car every time I go places, but until I buy a real car, you can come by my second job, talk over some dinner or something...?" Robert gives Daron a business card made for his second job, which is a small diner about half a mile from his house.

Robert is propositioning in the most awkward way possible without realizing, but it works, because the next thing Daron says is, "Some hot chocolate maybe?" He gives Robert a wink, and finishes, "Sure. I'd love to."

"Okay." Robert smiles warmly and yelps quietly as Daron stands up from the pull-out and lifts Robert to his feet as well. Daron leans down so he is only half a head taller than the scarlet furred fox boy, and Robert can't help but notice another tear in one of Daron's baby blue eyes as he holds Robert closer to his chest. As Robert sees the tear roll down his face, he takes his paw and uses the back of it to dry it from his cheek. "Don't cry anymore, Daron." Robert whispers, looking deep into Daron's eyes. "You'll make me cry, too."

During this first embrace, the first of many, Robert sees his reflection in the tears falling from Daron's eyes, but he also sees something more. Robert can't quite explain or even understand it, but one could say he sees the future, because Robert sees himself and Daron together standing under a Chuppah* in front of a rabbi. It is like he sees, deep in those light blue eyes, the wedding that could happen sometime in the future. But that's crazy, he's not a psychic. It's just wishful thinking, he tells himself. It's just wishful thinking...

"Er, I should probably go." Robert understands that Daron is very confused and embarrassed as he says this. It'd be a lie if it was said that the feeling wasn't mutual.

"Only if you want to," Robert whispers back to him.

"I can't stay, kid... but I'll definitely stop by that diner. I have to get some sleep. I'm going to close up for the night. You know, if you ever need to spend the night, I'm always open."

Robert thinks to himself as Daron winks again, Another one? Is he serious? Yes, he must be. What else could he be thinking!? He's fallen for me!

"Great! All my info for the diner is on that card. I just don't work on Saturdays is all. And my cell number is on the back."

"Awesome! Good night, Rob." He whispers with a warm smile as he slowly closes the door.

"'Night." Robert whispers to himself after the door is shut.