FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Zel walked into homeroom a few minutes before bell rang as he always did. He was never late, one thing he actually liked about himself, not that he could really help it. He'd always had this thing about being on time. Just the thought of possibly arriving late to an appointment or to class set his nerves on edge in a way that made him want to twitch in pain.

As he walked to his usual seat near the back of the class, his face showing no emotion whatsoever as was normal for him, he ignored the looks he got. The same looks he got everyday, as if the furs around him were seeing him for the first time.

'You'd think they'd be used to it by now...'

They were, of course, looking at his unusual colouring. He didn't know if it was in interest, disgust, or whatever and frankly, he didn't care. He'd had to put up with it his entire 16 years of life and he'd learned to live with it.

You see, Zel's colouring wasn't in any way typical for your average wolf. He'd been born with a rich, cobalt blue coat, his underside a dark ash grey and head fur that was a bright forest green. When he had finally opened his eyes, he looked back at his parents with vibrant, lavender purple eyes. His parents were, to say the least, shocked, not to mention the doctors when he was born. After his birth, the doctors had taken him away to run any test they could think of to make sure the pup was healthy, as was typical and were surprised to find that he was healthy in every way; he just had unusual fur. His mother and father were timber and arctic wolves, respectively and neither could understand the reason behind their son's unusual appearance.

As he grew up, he was constantly teased and picked on by other furs, being called names such as freak and weirdo, the names gradually getting worse as he grew older. Once he had entered high school, the furs that didn't know him assumed that he dyed his fur just to be different. Those that had actually liked his "style" had asked why he did it or what product he was using and how often he had to dye his fur. He answered truthfully saying that he was naturally that colour. The more... radical students, such as the goths and punks thought it was pretty cool, but made no attempts to befriend him. Those that tried to befriend him met with a lot of resistance and eventually gave up.

At some point during his elementary school years, Zel had given up on trying to make friends, despite urges from his parents and teachers to try. He didn't mind not having friends. It gave him more time to focus on his schoolwork and his writing. Writing was the one thing that made him feel better about everything, because, in the worlds he created, furs like him were normal. He could escape into his worlds and live vicariously through his characters.

As he sat at his desk, he pulled out his notebook and continued to work on his current story, a sci fi Romeo and Juliet type romance about two lovers having to overcome their natural hatred of the others race so that their love could survive. Just as his creative juices were getting into full swing, the bell rang, signaling the start of the school day. He ignored it and kept writing as the stragglers stumbled into the room, getting admonishments from the teacher. Zel was happy that his homeroom teacher that year happened to be his favourite teacher in the whole school, a tiger in his mid-thirties named Mr. August Rathman. Mr. Rathman was one of the English teachers and one of the very few who actually didn't Zel a sideways glance because of his colouring. He was also the teacher that encouraged Zel's passion for writing, always looking forward to his next work and helping him by fixing mistakes and showing him what he could do to make it better. Zel looked up to him like a second father, though nothing was wrong with his relationship with his actual father, they actually got along great as that had been where he had inherited his love of the written word. So, when Mr. Rathman had discovered that Zel was to be in his homeroom that year, he had told him on the first day to just knock on his desk when his name was called during roll call, so he could keep writing.

His classmates quickly caught on and started teasing for being the 'teacher's pet', but he ignored it like he ignored all their attempts to get a rise out of him. Some of the bullies in the school had actually created their own game where they would see who could break him, but so far none had succeeded.

The door suddenly flew open as a latecomer entered the classroom, but Zel didn't look up nor did he need to as he knew what who it was. It was the one student in the entire school that had managed to become friends with the emotionally distant wolf, a slender otter by the name of Eric Kasser.

"Really Mr. Kasser? Again? What was it this time? Was it the sudden and inexplicable hurricane or was it the gravity reversal that made you late this time?" Some of the students chuckled and giggled at the otter's past excuses as he was known to make up such tales frequently, while Eric just feigned ignorance.

Eric put a paw to his chest in mock hurt, "I have no possible idea what you are talking about Mr. Rathman! I merely overslept."

Mr. Rathman just rolled his eyes at Eric's theatrics and rubbed his temples, "At least you're being honest this morning. I promise you though, that if it happens again, I am calling your mother and telling her to hide several alarm clocks in your bedroom." This elicited several more chuckles.

"I'm sorry to say that that wouldn't work."

"And why is that Mr. Kasser?"

"Because my mother knows better than to invade my inner sanctum" Eric proclaimed cockily

"Fine, fine. Just take your seat." Mr. Rathman tried to suppress his smirk. This banter had become part of their morning routine as it had with every one of Eric's homeroom teachers.

With his usual smile, Eric strut to the back of the class to sit next to Zel, "Gooood morning Zelly! How's the space odyssey coming along?"

Zel just shrugged in response and spoke without looking up, "It's getting there." He stopped writing and pointed his pencil at Eric menacingly, "And I've told you not to call me that." He went back to his writing as if nothing had happened.

The bubbly otter was unfazed by his friend's hostility and chuckled, "Oh you know you love it!"

Zel just rolled his eyes with a sigh. To this day, no one, not the teachers, Zel's parents or the other students could figure out how eric had broken through Zel's defences and become friends with the morose wolf. Eric was bubbly, outgoing and someone that everyone liked while Zel was the complete opposite and had made it a point that he didn't want friends of any kind.

After Mr. Rathman had taken the roll call, he told his pupils that they were free to do as the pleased until the bell, as long as they didn't cause any damage. The sound of scraping chair could be heard next as the students moved about to hang with their cliques and just make lots of noise as they tried to talk over each other. This was usually when Zel put in his earbuds and start playing his classical music mix which helped focus on his writing. He was happily entrenched in his fictional world when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked up to see his teacher standing over him smiling. He paused his music and took out his buds as he looked up at the large tiger.

"How's the story coming along, Zel?"

Zel blushed at how close his teacher was to him and just flipped his notebook back a few dozen pages to the start of his current work and handed it to his teacher. Mr. Rathman just chuckled as he accepted the notebook and started reading. As his teacher was reading, Zel was tapped on his other shoulder. He looked over at Eric who gave him a knowing smirk to which Zel responded with a death glare that just seemed to bounce off his friend.

Eric's smirk was because he knew two things about his silent friend. The first was that Zel was gay and the second was that the had the hots for the older tiger. Zel had known he was gay since he was ten, though he didn't know it was called being gay until he was a few years older. Unknown to Zel, August was well aware of his shy pupil's orientation and attraction to him. He never did anything to encourage him as he himself was straight and had no interest in the boy other than seeing him as the son he didn't have. This didn't stop Zel from using his teacher to fuel his fantasies when he was alone though.

Without looking at the clock, August handed the book back to Zel as he knew the bell was about to ring, "It's an interesting premise. I'd read more, but the bell's about to ring." He squatted down, unknowingly giving some of his students behind him, particularly the females, a good view of his rump as it pressed against his tight slacks, and rested his arms on Zel's desk so that he was eye level with the wolf and smiled softly, "I know that you prefer to write in pencil, but if you used the online document sharing program I told you about, I'd be able to read it without having to steal your notebook."

Zel fidgeted in his seat as he avoided looking at his teacher to try and hide his blush, "I... I know. I just like the feeling of writing it out by hand. Typing just seems cold and impersonal, like it takes away from how the words should sound and feel." He finally looked at his teacher, his blush diminished somewhat as he got talking about his writing, "Does that make any sense?"

Mr. Rathman nodded, "It does. But keep in mind that if you want to go to college for English like we talked about, you'll have to do a lot of your work on a computer."

"I know..." Zel conceded with a sigh.

August put a gentle paw on the teen's shoulder, "Just keep it in mind. I know it means having to write it out all over again, but it also means I could help you outside of school as well. And, as you are rewriting it into the program, you may discover ways to make it better."

Zel just nodded right before the bell rang. He put his things away into his backpack as Mr. Rathman went to his desk to gather his own things. As Zel and Eric walked out of the classroom and down the hallway to their next class, Eric couldn't help but grin at his friend.

"Damn, dude, you have got it bad." He said with a chuckle.

Zel punched his friend in the shoulder, "Shut up." He growled out, still blushing.

They had the next two periods and lunch together before they went their separate ways. It usually around this time that bullies tormented him, or at least tried to.

He was halfway to his next class when he heard a yell behind him.

"Hey faggot!"