FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Anthony always believed that he would adjust quickly to being a canine, if he ever had the chance to become one.

It simply wasn't a realistic possibility, but he was getting to live out the next best thing, and with every day that passed, his mood lifted a little bit higher.

"Ready for another run?" Jason asked, as he came in the door of their apartment. Anthony was always home a little bit earlier, and as part of their new routine, he was already partially suited up before his boyfriend even arrived.

The latter was exceptionally quick about stripping out of his work clothes and sliding into a pair of jogging shorts; spring was _finally_starting to come around, and where Jason felt comfortable wearing a little bit less as the months went on, Anthony was still in a comfortable place with the extra bit of warmth that Fletcher provided him.

With a quick seal of the suit's neck and a kiss to his forehead, Jason assisted Anthony with the final step every single time, cementing his affection for him no matter what form he took. He loved Anthony either way, and seeing how happy it made him to spend the extra time as Fletcher was boosting his mood, as well.

They were both coming into spring slimmer and happier than ever, and the same old trails hadn't grown stale yet; they were chocked full of new things to discover and new sensations for Fletcher to appreciate as the Earth slowly thawed out around him.

Every walk or jog was a little bit different for Fletcher, even if Jason had seen the path so many more times than that. He grew quicker on all fours by the day, and after a while, there was no way to discern his gait from that of a normal canine, no matter what speed they were moving at. His slower trot was happy and consistent, and when he was given the freedom to run off leash, he was able to sprint with the best of them.

What set him apart from so many of the other canines was that hint of a subtle, human voice in the back of his mind that reminded him to be well behaved, as a silent way of thanking Jason for giving him such a wonderful gift. Feral instinct left him wanting to go after every squirrel, bird and falling leaf that he saw, but whenever Jason called for him to come back, he returned without any further prompting.

The number of compliments he got about his good behavior was only outshined by the number of warm, comforting pets that he received from the other dog owners, who saw him as nothing more than a member of the friendly community that gathered at the park every day.

Every night, there was a hint of regret in Fletcher's gaze as he watched the sun set, knowing that he'd be back to his human life when they woke up in the morning...but every weekend brought a slightly longer respite, wherein he could go between his two lives as Anthony and Fletcher at will; sometimes, he spent the entire weekend normally, without every putting the suit on.

Others, he was Fletcher from the moment he clocked out on Friday until he had to go back to work Monday morning.

There were still a great many things that Anthony didn't understand about the suit, but whenever he was living his life as Flethcer, he was too busy being consumed with the natural joy of a canine lifestyle to ask Jason the hard hitting questions that were waiting in the back of his mind.

That coming Monday, he was finally going to get the courage to look for some answers, if only to satiate his curiosity...

**

"I'd say this is something of a surprise, but you've been getting up a lot earlier since you got that suit. If I knew it would have this many positive side effects, I would have looked into getting it for you a long time ago!"

Jason was almost always up first, but this time, Anthony was the one to creep out of bed early. Typically, the former would make himself breakfast and the latter would get to have whatever was leftover, but that day, Anthony decided it would behoove him to turn on the vents and get the stove going. He'd prepared a full spread of eggs, bacon and a small stack of pancakes for them to split, and if it were a more common occurrence, Jason might not have asked any questions.

Seeing how proud Anthony was of the spread, however, and how attentively he was looking across the table, Jason couldn't help prying a little bit. "Whatever you're about to ask me for-

"Now, don't go jumping to that kind of conclusion," Anthony countered before Jason could finish those words. "You've already given me a gift greater than anything I could have asked for, but...that's actually what this is about."

Jason cocked a brow. "Did you somehow manage to tear it?"

"No, it's not that."

"Are you bored with it already?"

"You know that I'm not."

Reaching out to the center of the table and gathering up his breakfast as they talked, Jason gave a quick shrug and looked at his steaming food, waiting for them to get to the point so he could eat. "Well, that was it for my guesses. What's up?"

Anthony looked down at his own food, his expression tainted with nerves once more as he was put on the spot. He told himself not to back down from the subject when he'd finally gotten Jason's undivided attention, but there were a few things at the heart of the matter that left him bashful.

"Well...where exactly did you get the suit?" Anthony finally asked. "I've looked online for something like it, and to be honest, I haven't found anything that promises the kind of...unique results that this one has."

Jason cut into his first pancake and buttered the doughy treat casually, as if the question wasn't out of the ordinary. "You've gotta know where to look," he answered, knowing that there were details missing from something so dismissive. "You probably wouldn't find that if you just searched for fursuits or sporting equipment on the web, but I've found a few distributors of this kind of thing; a company called 'Clingsuits' made the one that you're so fond of."

"And they don't come up when you search for fursuits?"

"They feel like that name is a limitation of the medium with which they actually create, and given the results that it's had on you, I'm inclined to agree with them."

Lycra wasn't an uncommon material for fitness clothing to be made out of, but Anthony wasn't satisfied with that answer: the stuff that he'd felt clinging to his skin almost seemed to disappear when he put it on, and when the head of the suit was sealed over his neck, he was sure that the exterior took on a realism that couldn't be explained by normal, earthly means.

After living the fantasy for so long, he couldn't help needing a little reality to ground the whole experience.

"It's had some unbelievable results...I'm not arguing with that," Anthony replied. "But it's the fact that they're so unbelievable that gets me. I can accept that this suit is more realistic than any other that's ever been made, and that they're really hard to come by, but...it's hard to explain how it feels."

"Trust me, I know."

"So you did try it on first."

"How couldn't I?" Jason posited. "I mean, no...I'm not into it the way that you are, but I wanted to see what it would feel like to be a dog for a few minutes. I think that's pretty normal."

"Sounds to me like you'd fit in at one of our conventions after all."

"Maybe," Jason said, with a brief roll of the eyes. "But I think that's more of a human thing: wondering what it would be like to be in a body other than your own for a while."

"And did you like it?"

"I..."

Jason trailed off. There was a lot more information to be revealed about the suit, even after Anthony wore it for such a long time, but there were parts of the experience that even he was shy about revealing.

It wasn't a matter of Anthony being ready for that information or not, but a matter of Jason being unsure if Anthony had already discovered those secrets on his own.

"I had a lot of fun with it, I won't deny."

Now, it was Anthony wearing the grin as he leaned across the table and gave Jason a stronger, curious look. "What exactly did you do?"

"A lot of the basic stuff: I stumbled around a bunch, tried walking on all fours, sniffing things, looking at the world with a different set of eyes...I never quite felt like I was a dog, but I guess I just needed to give it more time, if your results are any indication."

"Maybe it doesn't work for everyone?"

"I guess it is kinda like a fursuit, in that sense. If you're not really into the experience and immersed with it, you probably won't get as much out of it as someone who goes balls to the wall, so to speak."

That phrase was innocent enough, but it was still just what Anthony was worried about bringing up, all told.

"Uhm...speaking of balls..."

"I suppose yours were kinda uncomfortable in the suit, then?" Jason cut him off, stealing the devious grin back from his boyfriend. "Or was the whole package giving you a little trouble? You'd never guess it, by the way that you run through those fields..."

There was no denying the amorous feeling that stuck with Anthony whenever he was in the suit. It wasn't that he was overwhelmed with lust, but more like there was a mosquito hovering around his ears; trying to distract himself did away with his arousal, but after a few seconds, it came right back, louder and stronger than ever.

In truth, it was one of the areas of wearing the suit that Anthony had explored the least, but knowing what he'd done on the living floor, even once...he had to know if Jason had done the same.

"Did you do anything with it? Like that?"

Jason cocked a brow. "What do you mean?"

"I know the suit does different things for each of us, but...did you try...putting your new equipment to the test?" Anthony finally asked, struggling to find the right words to move forward with. "Feels like I'm a lot more flexible when I wear it, and it's completely normal for dogs to do that, and...I..."

"...When did you even have time to lick your own crotch when I wasn't around?"

Anthony was already wearing his suit more often than Jason could keep up with, but with safety in mind, Jason did his best to always be around, or always be in contact when Anthony decided to be Fletcher for a while.

If nothing else, just putting the full suit on demanded a little help, and Jason's wheels were already turning as he tried to think of when such a thing could have happened.

Anthony lowered his face to the table bashfully, but even as his warm cheek settled against the table, he felt a comforting gaze from across the breakfast spread.

"Guess that means you've already found out how accurate the suit makes everything down there," Jason cut back in. "So...you decided to play around a little bit. What's so wrong with that?"

"You still didn't answer my question, Jason."

There was a silence, broken only by a heavy sigh as Jason found himself in a rare, timid mindset.

"Judging by your reaction, I'm guessing I didn't take things as far as you did, but...yeah. As soon as I was used to moving around in it, I tried behaving more like a dog, and when I saw how unique everything looked between my legs, I just... went for it. I dunno if the suit was confusing my instincts, or if I was really into wearing it; I wasn't really looking for answers. It just seemed fun."

"Did you stop?"

"Took me a couple of seconds to realize what I was even doing, but once I saw the tip, y-yeah. I decided that would be a good place to stop," Jason claimed. "I did get a quick taste of it, but...that was it. Really."

Anthony was trying to fight his suspicions, but Jason had never lied to him before, even when there was a hint of shame involved. "I wouldn't judge you if you had, you know."

"And I really love that about you," Jason confirmed. "But yeah...it really was one touch, and that was it."

"I didn't stop at a touch," Anthony confessed. "I...kinda kept going."

He didn't have to give Jason that much of a detailed explanation, but while they were putting so much fresh information on the table, it only seemed fair to tell the whole story...and the slump of his arms over the back of his own head told it perfectly.

"You, uh...you know I'm not judging you for that, right?"

Anthony was too bashful to reply.

"I get why you're shy about it...I don't blame you at all. But knowing how badly you wanted the suit, and knowing how deep you were into the mental space of being a dog, it...it kinda logically serves that you'd get a little carried away playing with yourself, doesn't it? That doesn't make it a bad thing anymore than it would be to do it as a human."

"And there's nothing wrong with doing it as a human either, right?"

Jason was worried, until he could see just a hint of a shy smile creeping across Anthony's face once more.

"That's right," he agreed. "Perfectly natural thing to do, your body is a wonderful and mysterious thing, everybody does it, dogs included , yadda yadda yadda. Congratulations, you're becoming a man now."

There was such a panic building in Anthony that he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to find the words to explain what he'd done, but once it spilled, Jason took the information in stride and did what he always did for his boyfriend: he made sure that Anthony knew it wasn't a big deal and eased away his concerns, keeping him from turning a molehill into a mountain.

"I thought I was becoming a dog, actually," Anthony suggested.

"That's more of a special occasion than becoming a man," Jason pointed out. "But if you ever feel like cleaning yourself again like that...make sure that I'm in the room."

Anthony's jaw would have dropped, if it wasn't already pressed into the table.

"Anyway," Jason quickly deflected, "Did that answer all your burning questions, or do you think I've got more secrets to bequeath to you?"

"I'm sure you still haven't told me the whole story about how you got it," Anthony claimed, "But I guess I'm okay with there being some mysteries left to solve...keeps a bit of an air of mysticism about the suit, doesn't it?"

"That's one way to look at it."

For a moment, they both paused and stared at each other: Jason was trying to guess what Anthony would ask of him next, and for his part, Anthony was struggling to figure out where the holes in the story were.

"But...didn't you say that you found the suit online, before? And that it was new?"

"Mmhm."

"But you were able to find a place to try it on and make sure that it was actually worth the money before you bought it? I thought you said you hadn't actually worn Fletcher before."

"Gotta be honest, I can't remember if I said that or not," Jason fessed up. "But there are plenty of online distributors that will allow you to come to a manufacturing location and look at their product, especially when you're offering to spend the kind of money that Fletcher costs."

" And allow you to try it on...and apparently lick yourself?"

"They don't have you dress in front of the other customers...they do have changing rooms, you know."

Now that the cat was out of the bag, the boys were discussing the topic with a little more levity. Anthony was still bashful to go any further on that particular topic, but Jason couldn't help his burning curiosity about how that particular afternoon went.

He was also more interested in seeing a demonstration than he was in hearing a review, so he allowed Anthony to glaze over the topic for the moment; he'd remember to bring it up again when the time was right.

"I guess that means a lot to me," Anthony was slow to admit it, but he was leaning up from the table and smiling warmly as the conversation shifted. "You know...that you'd actually go as far as trying it on to see if I would like it."

"Like I said, I had my own fun with it...the fact that it made you this happy was something I couldn't have counted on, but it was just what I was hoping for."

There was no lack of romance between Jason and Anthony, but what started out as a quick interrogation had quickly fallen into one of the more affectionate discussions that they'd had in a long time; if not for the lack of vacation days at his job, Jason would have considered calling off so they could drag that warm moment out a little bit further.

For the time being, though, they were going to have to cut things short, as much as they both wanted to chat about it a little more.

"I don't suppose that you mind if I hop in the suit a little bit earlier tonight, then?" Anthony asked. They both had a workday to get to, but he knew that his was going to be a slow and difficult day, with the promise of getting to become Fletcher once more waiting for him after his shift.

Jason smiled. "You can suit up whenever you like, same as always," he pointed out. "I'm not the boss of you, after all."

"Well, I didn't just mean putting it on..."

"I'm not sure what you're getting at, then."

Anthony was feeling timid once more, but this time, he didn't look away from Jason as he swallowed a brief lump of nerves. "Getting to transform into a dog at will is...well, it's a gift that I struggle to put into words, but the fact is that I'm only getting to enjoy that gift because of you, and the most special parts of putting it on are happening because I'm with you. Just getting to lounge around as a husky is great, but...it's the walks that we get to go on: those jogs down the hiking trails, visits to the park, hanging out with the other pets while you stand back and look proud...those are the moments that really strike me the most."

Jason understood Anthony's concern. The things he was asking for weren't just related to becoming a canine for the afternoon: they all required Jason's time and attention, and in that moment, he realized just how much deeper their connection had become by giving Anthony a new outlet to feel more comfortable in his own body.

"So you're asking if we can go to the park tonight, basically."

Anthony looked sheepish, but he did manage a cheeky grin as his long, flowery words were reduced to a simple request.

"I mean, the weather is supposed to be really nice, and the suit is completely clean for the first time in ages, and...I'm really happy about that, but there's something wrong about it, too."

Jason simply cocked a brow.

"I'm not saying that the suit is having lasting effects on me; I mean, I guess it is, but there's something weird about it being cleaned so professionally. As soon as I got it back and smelled it, I loved the scent of all the fabric stuff on it, but...something was calling to me to run around in the park, roll in the grass and pick up the scents of nature again, even before I put it back on."

"Pretty sure there isn't a neural link between you and Fletcher. I think what you're experiencing is just psycho-sematic," Jason suggested. "That, or you've spent so much time as Fletcher that you're starting to think your canine mannerisms apply to your everyday life."

"I mean, I do wear him almost every day."

"So you do," Jason agreed. "I'm sure this is the last thing you want to hear, but do you think that maybe you need a break from wearing him?"

It was a weird question for Anthony to consider. After spending as much time as he had in the suit, he was starting to feel like he had a place in his mind for both of his bodies: he wasn't dealing with a split personality, but rather, he considered Fletcher to be an extension of who he really was on the inside...just the concept of wearing him, as opposed to being him, was unusual to think about.

Dwelling on the topic left him wondering if he had been wearing the suit too much, but he refused to believe that such a thing was possible, when it gave his life such a sense of completion.

"I dunno if that would really help me," Anthony finally admitted. "But if you ever feel like I'm getting too far removed from reality, you'll tell me, right?"

"To be honest, I don't think you'll ever have that problem. I wouldn't let it get that far in the first place, but you're grounded enough as a person that you'd tell me if you were genuinely concerned. Right now, we're probably both just overthinking it a little bit."

"I guess Fletcher has become a pretty big part of our lives, hasn't he?"

"What you mean to say," Jason posited, "Is that you were already a big part of my life, and it turns out that I'm the bomb at giving gifts."

Anthony rolled his eyes, but he wore a bashful smirk as he did. "You have set the bar almost impossibly high," he agreed. "I'm already nervous about a birthday gift that would even begin to stack up for you."

"Your happiness is already the best gift I could ask for," Jason claimed. "And before you go saying that's cheesy, or some kind of cop out...it's the truth, so don't even think it."

If they kept up the exchange any longer, Anthony's cheeks would burn so bright that it would reheat the food that had grown cold on his plate. "Only because you told me not to," he replied. "Thanks for...y'know. All of this."

"Communication is the cornerstone of a healthy relationship, right?" Jason pointed out. "I appreciate you coming to me with your concerns...and I hope you'll keep trusting me to handle them for you, whether it's as Anthony, or as Fletcher."

To have someone so loving and accepting as his own was a treasure that Anthony didn't take for granted. He still had trouble believing his incredible luck from time to time, but he wasn't so timid that he had to keep his happiness inward anymore.

He was beaming as he finally got to sampling the breakfast that was spread out before him.

"For the record, I was planning on going for a jog after work, regardless," Jason told him. "So whichever one of you wants to come along, I'd be glad to have you join me."

They were two halves of the same whole, and Anthony was thrilled that Jason recognized that fact, even now. He'd be happy to go out for a walk with Jason as he was, but when it came to a jog in the park and a happy, side-to-side wiggle in the grass...Fletcher couldn't pass up on an opportunity like that.