FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The lights inside club Hard Candy always made me cringe. Violet and blues of the dance floor to my right contrasted sharply with the mellower and dim yellows of the bar on the opposite side. A moment after my eyes adjusted, I made my way to the counter with the occasional look towards the dancing area.

Nearly all stools were taken, it was Saturday night after all. As I looked for a seat, I couldn’t help but watch the other clients. A bear guy flirted with an uninterested cat twink. Two dogs—dressed far too formally—blushed between gulps of colourful drinks. A lion wearing not much more than a pink boa laughed with a hyena in a fishnet shirt. And a purple-haired boar accepted the invitation of an older, musclegut tiger, leaving behind a line of three empty seats.

I took the seat in the middle and began considering what to order. It had to be something light; the smell of booze could scare that guy away. It couldn’t be too expensive either in case I had to buy him a drink as well. And I should definitely avoid these flamboyant drinks.

“Can I take your order?” said a jaded voice.

I looked forwards and cracked a smile. “Damn, Sterling,” I replied. “Why so formal? I thought we had something going on.”

The chinkara gazelle shook his head and crossed his arms. “That sort of relationship is discouraged by management, Ed,” he said.

I brought a palm to my chest with the most drama I could muster. “What!? I meant of our friendship! You need to get your mind out of the gutter, sir!”

A short smile formed on his muzzle. “That’s discouraged too, just so you know.”

“Hehe.” I leaned in a sly grin. “But you ain’t gonna follow that are you?”

“Hah. For you, I’ll make an exception.”

“My man! How’s the night?”

He sighed. “Too early to tell, but no problems so far.”

“Heh, no ‘Big Mike Moment’?”

“His ass is banned now,” Sterling groaned. “Thank god.”

“Phew! Now do I get to be your favourite customer?”

“Heh, you can be my favourite fox customer.”

“I’ll take it! And a Negroni too, why not?”

Not long after bringing my drink, Sterling flicked his head towards the dance floor. “He’s out there.”

“Huh,” I replied with a quick look behind me, “he’s early. Weird.”

“I’ll say. Maybe you finally got him, Ed. Congrats. How long has it been now, two months?”

I crossed my arms and sighed. “And a half! And most of that was just getting him to go to the patio with me.”

“Right…” His muzzle opened to speak some more, but the chinkara stopped himself.

“Hey, I saw that,” I said, pointing at him. “Go on, spit it out.”

Sterling looked away from me, but not towards where that man was. For a moment, I thought he meant to stay quiet until I gave up. Unfortunately for him, a journalist always wins the chicken game.

“Ed,” he said, after almost a minute, “is this, like, good for you?”

I cocked my head. “What do you mean?”

“How do I say this… Have you two have a conversation outside the club? Do you even have his contacts?”

“Hah, of course I have his socials, man!”

“But have you talked?”

“I message him sometimes.”

“But never the other way around, right?”

I took a moment to reply. “I told ya, man, he’s playing hard to get but he’s totally into me.”

Sterling sighed. “Never mind. It seems you’re fine with this after all. Need some more liquid courage, Romeo?”

I down the rest of my drink and let out a satisfied sigh. “Not at all, Mr. Barman! Wish me luck!”

If he spoke something after that, I didn’t hear him. Foxes are born hunters, the moment we set ourselves on a mark, the rest of the world falls away. I didn’t see him as I walked to the dance floor, but I could feel him in my bones. That night, that rabbit would be mine.

Those violet lights were even more oppressive from underneath. Around me, variety of mammals danced to the beat of some electronica music, and they would do so all night. Lions, dogs, beavers and that boar-tiger pair from before all melted into a dark coloured, swinging mess of dancers.

For a second, I considered letting the primal fox hunter in me take over and try to find that bunny only through scent. But then, the modern, gentlemanly fox in me warned how much of a weirdo I would look sniffing around the dance floor. No, the only proper way to find my mark was to act like he did. Aloof and sly, pretending every fibre of my being didn’t want to pin him down and take him for myself right then and there.

He was messing with my brain. I had never thought of myself that way before, not even with other smaller guys like him. It was the chase he forced me into, all the time I put into that relationship made me more and more eager to get my due reward. And when that thought crossed my mind, I heard Sterling’s earlier question: was I fine with that?

I didn’t have much time to think about it, because I soon caught a glimpse of two grey ears with darkened, brown tips. My feet dash towards them before I even considered those could belong to any other rabbit guy who were there that night. There was no need for shame, in the end. Those ears did belong to Marcel.

The rabbit twink appeared lost in the sounds. His body swung and turned in the electronic beat without so much as an acknowledgement of the world around him. An oversized, white T-shirt left one of his shoulders naked, revealing a tight, black undershirt. He also wore jean short shorts and on a pair of black sneakers protecting black socks that hug half of his calves.

The sight stunned me. He never wore that sort of getup. Each piece was lighter and more revealing. If Sterling was right, he had dressed like that for me, as a reward for my persistence. The idea left me ecstatic, maybe things were fine this way after all.

My preparations for a cool, falsely disinterested attitude ended up not mattering. In the wild shaking of his hips and arms, his eyes found mine before continuing to dance as if nothing happened. The lack of an acknowledgement drained my strength. Had I misread the situation? Did he simply not recognise me? Was he not mine yet?

A bump onto my left side broke my trance. “This is a dance floor, you know,” the rabbit said, still swinging.

I had to force my muzzle shut in order to not laugh right there. Of course. That was another little trial, a quick challenge to keep on my toes. A thought that made me dance more than whatever forgettable beat hurt my ears.

When that song faded into another generic beat, and found myself a little winded. Seeing that the rabbit had stopped, I took the opportunity to pause and catch a breath. But I couldn’t stay panting for long. I could feel his sardonic gaze on my fur, which forced me to stand erect and cross-armed.

“Need a breather?” Marcel said.

“Maybe,” I answered without realising the suggestion hidden in his words. “I know just the place, if you’ll join me.”

I couldn’t help but take a deep breath of the night air. The patio had an entirely different atmosphere from the inside. Filled with crisp air, uncrowded and shielded by a retractable roof for privacy, the courtyard might as well have been a different word.

As we looked for a spot, my eyes wandered about. My fellow patrons made sure to remind me Hard Candy was, partially, an erotic bar. While sexual activities were forbidden above ground, the mammals around us did everything that could blur that line. A leather-wearing throuple fondled and tugged each other’s clothes, a feline shoved a canine’s muzzle under his skirt, and that younger boar got a long taste of the older tiger’s bare chest.

Marcel seemed to ignore the depravity around him entirely. The rabbit led me around at a calm pace until he pointed to an open spot on the parapet.

“I thought you said you went to the gym,” he said, leaning on the short wall. “I expected you’d last more out there.”

“Same,” I sighed out. “Maybe I should try Zumba or whatever it’s called.”

One of the rabbit’s eyebrows arched. “Would you?”

His judgemental tone made me stagger. “N-Nah. I’m not a dancer anyway.”

Some levity returned to Marcel’s voice and stance. “Hah! Then why come to a club, anyway?”

I concealed my relief with a scoff. “Heh, plenty! Socialising, the drinks…”

“The eye-candy?”

The rabbit motioned towards the action behind me with his muzzle. That moment I knew he had seen me surveying the customers, and that he was none too pleased. But I also knew that to be another test, one I wouldn’t fail.

I bridged the gap between us with two short steps. “Not when there’s something much more attractive right in front of me.”

He leaned back a little with a satisfied smile. “I’ve trained you well.”

That took the wind out of my sails. By that point, I was pretty aware that Marcel had been leading me to act a certain way, but what he said made me actually feel the control he had over me. So far, I had been the hunter, provoked by the thrill of the chase, by the actions of a mark. If all that time, I had mere been playing into his hand, was I the prey instead?

And then, I thought a little longer. About the revealing way he dressed that night, how provocatively he had danced, and the fact he had basically been the one to lead me to the patio.

“I think both of us had an effect on the other,” I said, eyeing him up and down.

Disagreement on his face barely lasted a second. With crossed arms, and a not wholly dissatisfied look, he jerked his head away from me. “Maybe so,” he responded.

After a u-turn, Marcel rested on his crossed arms and looked towards the city. I took his right and laid my own forearms on the rail.

“Whatchu thinking about?” the rabbit said, bringing an end to a brief silence.

It took me a beat to respond. “Nothing, I guess.”

“That’s good.” His words took me away from the nightly skyline. “Thinking too much can’t be good for you. You know those people who keep thinking and thinking about shit and never do anything? I hate them.”

“Heh, I get that.” I paused and, ultimately, thought. “But, you gotta do it sometimes, right? Plan for the future and stuff.”

“Future’s not real, man.” The rabbit finally faced me. “Plan’s are pointless. All we have is the now. Like, did the you from five years ago think he’d be right here right now? Not even, did the you from a year ago think that? Did he plan this?”

“I guess not, but what about a hard choice? Don’t you gotta think on those?”

He scoffed before I had even finished the thought. “That shit doesn’t exist. I’m a ‘cross the bridge when I get to it’ kinda guy. I decide things when I have to and that’s that.” Marcel shot me a smirk. “You should try it, Mr. Fox. Whatchu thinking about right now?”

I had to wrestle my brain from pursuing the conclusions of his carefree attitude. Even if I couldn’t agree 100% with him, maybe there was something to letting things be and stick with the now. He was right about that; it is all we truly have.

“I’m thinking about how fucking hot you look right now,” I whispered into the night air with little hesitation.

For the first time, I got to break his cool demeanour. He tried to hide it in the darkness, but I saw distinct pink hues take the inside of his ears. The following silence made me consider if I had made some kind of mistake. But then I remembered.

“Thinking hard are we?” I said, leaning in closer.

When his gaze returned to me, it bore the usual nonchalance, but also came with a consistent smile. “Hah! Maybe you are rubbing off on me.”

Again I had to fight the instinct of thinking. With my mark was so close to me, that primal hunter demanded action; cautious but decisive action. I edged even closer to him; Marcel didn’t move. I parted from the parapet and towered over his body; Marcel didn’t move. I put my hands on the gaps between his arms and his torso and touched the very edge of his nose with mine; Marcel didn’t move.

Taking care not huff into him, I locked eyes with the rabbit. “Whatchu thinking about right now?”

Hard Candy’s cruising area could be found underground. A labyrinth of dark corridors, illuminated by red or dark blue lights, led to cabins of different sizes. Most had simply a bed, and others a cross or a sling for BDSM activities, but nearly all of them had mammals having sex.

We walked around for so long I could no longer tell which of us led the other. These rooms were mostly made for cruising, but, as long as you could find a vacant cabin, you could lock the door for a more private experience.

The sudden sound of a door opening stopped us in our tracks. From inside, came out the tiger and the boar sharing satisfied looks between them. After giving them the space to squeeze past us, I glanced over to Marcel, but before I set my eyes on him, I knew what he was thinking. No, he would not settle for a “secondhand” room. This proved a good opportunity for me, however. When I took him by the hand and dismissed the cabin as wordlessly as he had, I knew I had made a lot of progress in capturing him for good.

A free cabin did materialise eventually. Truth was, I knew very well the deeper rooms were either equipped with bondage contraptions or rarely used. Knowledge I would've given the rabbit, if fear my body count would scare him off didn't stop me. Marcel didn’t give me any sign of satisfaction other than forcing me inside.

As expected, we barely fit standing side-by-side in there; the bed took up most of the room. Above us, mood lighting coated the room in faint indigo, making it just a smidge less gloomy than the outside. It didn’t matter, though. After all, we weren’t there to stand around or appreciate the room’s layout.

Not a second after hearing the rabbit lock the door, I turned around to catch him removing his T-shirt. Even if little had changed, the tightness of his tank top and clear shortness of his jeans made his nakedness stark to me. I avoided making comments of how well-groomed he always looked ever since he told me to look at him with “no lustful intentions.” But that night, I openly gawked. He was beautiful.

It was only when he finished taking off his socks without scolding me that I was sure of my victory. None of his usual sarcasm or complaints. No playing hard to get. He was mine.

And then, he hit me with a pair of bedroom eyes, making me aware of how overdressed I was. My response was to join my partner in some form of nakedness, but his tender touch stopped my bumbling attempt. A flick of his eyebrows and a light push on my chest told me everything I needed to know.

Not a second after took his offer and sat on the bed, he straddled me. It was almost enough for me to lose it. We had hugged, once. Only at that moment did I realise how much of a leap our relationship was taking.

Before I could freak out however, he shut my gaping mouth with his own. Earlier shock made me take an embarrassing amount of time to respond. When I did, I found in the bunny a careful lover. As the man himself, the kiss had no rush or deep desire to it. His tongue danced with mine with deliberate moves and switched from leading to being led effortlessly. It was enough for me to question—for the second time ever—about his past experience. Not that I could, locked with him as I was.

Marcel had to be the one to pull back, as I still tongued the night air he left behind. I had been so lost the smooch I didn’t notice him remove my shirt and open my fly. That surprise must have shown on my face, since he let out a soft giggle.

Soon after standing up, the rabbit reached for his own fly. His fingers undid button and zipper smoothly. I quickly caught on that he wanted me to watch him do it and nurtured my hardening bulge in return. He leaned forward as he took the jeans shorts off in a final act of teasing. Right after, my mark could hide no more.

Under his short shorts, all night—and who knows how many nights before—Marcel wore the smallest pink jockstrap I had ever seen. It hid no more than his privates and hugged him so tightly I could see the outline of his half-chub. With a satisfied smile, he played with the rims of his underwear and my breathing grew heavier. Mimicking his moves on the dance floor, he wiggled his hips as he turned around until he presented his bear ass to me.

The two fluffy, grey mounds, prim, and soft as the triangle-shaped tail above, were inviting enough, but when he bent forward, I rose to my feet. I had only caught the shortest glimpse of the pinkish rim of his hole, but I needed it for myself. To touch, to tease, to fuck. My prize.

Without warning, I hugged him from behind and began grinding my crotch on his ass. The more I did, the righter the situation felt. I was the hunter and he was my target, yes, but at the same time, a deeper emotion came over me. Fucking Marcel right then and there, was what we both wanted, and we communicated as much wordlessly.

I hugged, groped and kissed Marcel while thrusting my erection between his cheeks. In turn, he gave me moans, hums, and the occasional peck. The lustful dance led my hands southward, to the last part of him I was yet to see. My hands slid down his lean stomach and landed on the fabric of his underwear, the hot firmness under it bobbed with each of my pelvic moves. The sounds of pleasure from my partner grew, so much so that I became bold. After a quick tease of the rims of the jockstrap’s band, I dug my fingers in.

Only for a strong grasp to stop my wrist.

With his head turned to face my neck, Marcel huffed out. “Not this time.”

I was completely still as I took each of the words. I felt cheated right then. In my mind all those months of hard work had given me all liberties, including that one. Fortunately, I managed to catch that ugly thought, pulling back my hand.

“Of course,” I grunted before returning to my assault of kisses. “I got a condom on my left pocket,” I whispered into his longer ear. “How about you fetch it for me, beautiful?”

“Nuh-uh.”

His answer made me stop again. My mind dashed beyond disappointment and into panic, only for all my questions to be answered by him grinding even closer to my crotch.

“Like you were before,” Marcel whispered. He even took my hand and made it caress his bulge. “Just like that.”

A grin took over my muzzle. Ah, that’s what it was. Not another game or tease. Marcel simply wanted to do it that way that night. Victory was already mine, now my prize was going to be delivered to me in instalments. Yes, I could handle that.

“Okay, beautiful,” I told him before continuing.

Just as he had ordered, I went back to thrusting my dressed erection on his bare ass and fondled his own fabric with my hands. The symphony returned, powered by the idea that we were again in sync.

While the endless teasing didn’t hold a candle to actual penetration, the feeling of his smooth behind so close to my dick had its own pleasures. His hole was simultaneously within and beyond reach, creating a continuous tease. Meanwhile, contact the front was a lot more direct, with the thin textile allowing me to tug and pull his length to the tiniest feeling.

With the knowledge it was no longer foreplay, I let myself go faster. It didn’t take long for me to be fucking him in all but a literal sense. I could still feel his ass, and his fur, and his manhood. The sweat, kisses, moans, and gropes are all as real as any fuck I’d had. To think that someday, someday soon, we would feel even more of each other, ended up being the last straw.

I forced his muzzle to meet mine when I came. My whole body clenched on release, forcing us to become as close as possible. My ejaculation came out as powerfully enough to fly as if it were naked, and hot strings of jizz coat my chest and Marcel’s lower back.

My mouth huffed into his when I broke off the kiss. As my body relaxed from the climax, I caught the funniest sight. All of Marcel’s coolness had truly melted at last. I was proud of that the most.

"Your turn, beautiful,” I whispered into his face.

Without waiting for a reply, my hand found the shape of his manhood once again. With eyes locked on his, I grabbed his erection and stroke it. Every time I completed at travel over his length, he gave me a new moan. And his pleasure made satisfied huffs leave muzzle.

In a swift move, he turned around to hug me tightly when he came. Yelping and gasping into my chest, he let a timid stream of cum into my expectant hand. I only let up the handjob when his whole jock was soaked through, giving the bulge a final squeeze before I retracted my hand.

We stayed silent for a while after that. In playful clumsiness, he toppled me onto the bed. All the while, I kept hugging him; from fall, to chuckles, to kiss, to resting on one another, I never let go.

Holding Marcel that way brought peace to my heart. There’s no doubt, that was the last stage of the courtship “game.” The hunter had captured his mark to keep. No more overthinking what to wear or do, no more being left on read, no more chase.

“That was good,” I said, looking at the ceiling.

“Yeah,” Marcel replied into my bare chest.

“Hoping we get to do this more often, beautiful.”

He took some time to respond. “Maybe…”

Ecstasy allowed me to ignore the uncertainty in that reply. “I mean, probably not after every date, right? Cuddling like this is just as good.”

“Date?” the rabbit said as he sat up beside me.

“Yeah?” I rose myself, holding up my torso with my elbows. “Well, I guess these have been types of date, but I wanna take you somewhere better than this, y’know? You like Chinese? My friend’s family runs a pretty good Cantonese restaurant.”

The room’s dim lighting made the expression on his face hard to read, but his silence was enough to bring me an unease. My brain, so assured of its victory, didn’t even concern itself with the possibility of me being in the wrong again; it only had space for curiosity.

“Marcel?” I said at last.

Even with the darkness, I could see him bite his lip. “I think I’ve made a mistake.”

The moment he dotted the sentence he was off the bed. Words didn’t leave my mouth even after I sat up. I watched him spot and put his shorts back on in stunned silence.

I spoke in an uneven tone. “What’s going on? Was it something I said?”

He struggled for a moment before replying. “You were talking about dates just now.”

My brow furrowed. “Yeah? Is that not what this is going?”

Marcel grunted. “See, it’s not your fault. I didn’t make myself clear, is all.”

“Then can you fucking explain!” I cowered at my tone as soon as I heard myself. “Sorry. Please, Marcel? I wanna know what’s going on.”

The rabbit sighed through his nose. “I hate this.” That second word cut any follow-up I had in mind. “Look, you’re a nice guy and all, but I don’t do dates or boyfriend sort of shit.”

“You want… friends with benefits?”

“Not exactly,” he grunted again. “Like, remember when we first met?”

“You barely gave me the time of day.”

“Yeah. How did that make you feel? You didn’t just feel ignored, did you?”

The clarity in his words stunned me into silence again.

“I’m guessing you were ‘intrigued,’ right? Curious about what sort of guy I was? That’s why you tried again, wasn’t it? Ah, but when I did answer weren’t you so happy? Weren’t you satisfied that I gave you attention because you persisted?”

To hear him spout thoughts I believed to be mine, brought redness to my ears. I still couldn’t reply.

“I felt it too, Ed,” he continued. “To deny you and reward you was also exhilarating to me. Every conversation I’ve ignored from you, every message I left you on read, even just now when you couldn’t fuck me, it was all part of the thrill. That’s what I want, Ed.”

I blinked rapidly when I finished taking in his words. Everything that I had seen as victories were no more than pointless plays on an endless game. The reward I had wanted so bad was just a creation to toy with me.

“You wanna string people along,” I said at last, gazing at the ground. “You wanna toy with them.”

Marcel shook his head so violently it drew my attention. “Argh, you don’t get it!” The rabbit picked up his shoes and made for the door. “Like I said, this was a mistake. Goodbye.”

The way he opened the door made my heart sink, but before I could protest or apologise, he was gone. I sat alone in the dark cabin for longer than I even remember.

Sterling did a poor job of hiding his cringe after I finished telling him what happened. I tried not to go to club Hard Candy on Sundays, but I really needed to talk to someone. The moment I walked in, I made a beeline to the bar counter. Waiting for the gazelle’s ear to be free or pushing out that memory hadn’t been the challenge I expected, but then again, I found it hard to feel much of anything.

“Yeah, sorry,” I told him, barely able to lift my head. “I just dumped that on you, didn’t I?”

“Heh, a little,” he replied. “It’s fine, though. Comes with the job.”

“Ouch… We’re not friends anymore? I’m just a client?” The gazelle scoffed at that, which allowed me to see how ridiculous what I said was. “Sorry, argh, this is so stupid.”

“It’s okay,” Sterling sighed. “And for the record, it’s because we’re friends that I sat through all that.”

“I know. I know.” Bile rose to my throat before I returned to moping. “It’s fucked up, what he did. I was nothing more than a toy for him. Can’t believe there are people this messed up out there.”

“Ed, I’m…” he paused, obviously considering what to say. “No, fuck it, I think you need to hear this.” I blinked three times as I cocked my head. “You’re wrong about Marcel. He isn’t some sick bastard looking to torment people for fun. At worst, he’s failed to make things clear between you two. And, let’s be honest, you failed to realise or ask what you were actually in for. Miscommunication is the real villain here.”

“But then,” I said after a huff, “then you think what he’s doing is perfectly fine?”

“Between two consenting adults? Yes.”

That phrasing triggered a new emotion inside me. Trying to work my heartbreak, I had villainised the rabbit to the point I never saw the obvious answer. It was kink, or something like it. Marcel wanted to me to be his eternal chaser like a sub seeks a dom to restrain them.

“Aw fuck,” I let out after a pause.

My reaction eased the expression on the chinkara’s face. “Didn’t realise it was a thing, did you?”

“Not at all!” I shook my head. “I guess it’s not the most outlandish thing I’ve heard of, but…”

“If it makes you feel any better, he could've made things a lot clearer.”

“Hah, I’ll say!” I took a sip of the Cranberry Kiss in front of me. “Thanks, Sterling, I’m feeling better already.”

“No problem, man,” he shrugged. “It’s all part of the job.”

I shook my head in a chuckle. “Y’know, I’d love if you made things clearer between us.”

The gazelle clicked his tongue. “The friend-slash-client thing again? Damn, man, it was just a joke.”

“Oh, yeah? Prove it. Let’s hang out sometime, Sterling. No bar counter, no loud music, just a good time. I know a good Cantonese place. Bring your boyfriend too, let’s have some fun!”

“It’s partner now, actually.”

“Ah shit, my bad.”

“It’s alright, you didn’t know.” The gazelle mouth went terse for a moment, but it soon opened into a grin. “You know what? Fine.”

“Hell yeah, man!”

“Now,” Sterling sighed, “I have to actually do my job and hope management won’t get on my ass about this.”

“Ah, I have been hoarding you, haven’t I?”

“A little, but that’s what friends are for.”

He walked away as I was taking another swig, which left me no window to wave him goodbye. Part of me was afraid of being on my own again, of blaming Marcel for his poor communication or myself for not noticing the obvious. To my surprise however, the reflection on the reddish liquid showed a resigned, but candid smile.