FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Two weeks had passed and Leo was nearly back to normal. His chest still hurt every so often but, it wasn't something he couldn't handle. Most of his cuts had started to fade and his bruises were already gone. He healed a bit faster than normal, which he was very thankful for.

Leo had his call back audition two days ago and he was still waiting to hear back for it. It was for a lead role in the movie. It was an action thriller about a guy who was a government IT consultant and he stumbled upon some documents and various shady operations. He ignores it but, rouge agents chase him down to keep their secrets safe. He was excited for it and really wanted to get the part. His audition and call back both went really well. It had a great script and a great director already signed on, so that movie could be his big break.

He could really use a few weeks of location shooting, somewhere outside LA. Somewhere he could clear his head and forget about Nate. Nate had been super sweet since Leo was attacked. He took care of him and made sure he had his pain meds and everything. It was the closest Leo could get to having him as a boyfriend.

Aiden never called and never came over since that night at the club and Leo didn't try to text or call him either. He was embarrassed, he was scared, he was pissed, and he didn't know how to process any of it. He didn't know if Aiden would ever resurface but, he knew it would be the right thing to do. Aiden probably didn't even know what happened to Leo that night. Leo just didn't know how to feel about the whole situation.

He walked along the boardwalk as the sun was starting to set. The smell of salt water and fish filled the air as he strolled along the wooden platform. The warm glow of the sun was cooling down as it painted the blue sky shades of orange, yellow, and red. The breeze from the ocean was nice against his fur. It was the perfect place for him to clear his mind and help think things through.

The peer was mostly empty as the sun started to set. Dark storm clouds could be seen way off on the distant horizon but, didn't come close to impeding on the beautiful colors of the sky. It was going to be rough storm for sure; at least that's what forecasters were calling for. He just wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet for as long as he could.

Everything around him felt overwhelming and in that moment it felt like it was all fading away. Like, Leo didn't have a care in the world. Like, he was finally happy and peaceful.

Leo kept cool with white shorts, white t-shirt, and white sandals. He never really cared for sandals; he wasn't big on his feet. He also didn't wear white too often, there was too much of a chance that he was going to get a stain on it and the fact that it can be transparent at times was both embarrassing and arousing.

This was one of the few days where he didn't talk to Nathan nor saw him much at all. He was off meeting with some record company. Leo was sure he was going to hear about it later tonight or something but, this evening was about him.

He walked over to the railing, leaned forward with his forearms on the metal bar and looked out onto the ocean. The waves rolled in and crashed into the sandy beach as he looked out. The sun casted a warm orange glow on the side of his face. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in; he felt a feeling of bliss. As if he could stand there and all his problems would fade away.

Leo's cellphone was on silent and he was unplugged from all his electronics. No music, no health apps, no distractions. It felt like a small weight was off his shoulders being disconnected from all the tech. The scenery and the breeze was all he cared about in that moment.

"Hey Leo!" He heard his name being called. He managed to turn around in time to see Nathan coming up to the railing. "I knew I'd find you here."

"How so?" He asked as he turned to face the ocean again. He didn't have too much of a tone in his voice, almost as if he was on autopilot. He wanted to be alone, to think, to forget. Nathan was the last person he wanted to see at that moment.

"You came to this spot when you first moved here remember?" There was only one other time he came out to this spot and that was shortly after he arrived in LA. He had gotten homesick and was questioning if he should have left the security of his home city. When he went out to that peer it helped him put things into perspective. That's what he was hoping for this time. "What's on your mind this time? I tried calling you."

"My phone's on silent." He didn't have the heart to tell his best friend that he wanted to be alone. "So what's up?" Leo asked, wanting to get to the point. He may have loved his best friend but, he didn't quite appreciate his quiet time being interrupted. He was too nice to say anything to him though.

Nate turned to Leo and said, "Neon Records signed me! And it's a great deal, Rebecca looked over the contract before I signed. I'll have my own album at the end of the year!" He exclaimed. The smile on the kangaroos face was the biggest Leo had ever seen before.

"That's fantastic!" Leo responded. In that instant he forgot about everything and was just happy to see his best friend finally get signed and catch his break. "I'm so happy for you!" He reached in and gave him a big, tight hug.

"Did you hear back from Rebecca yet?"

"No, not yet." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned the ringer back on. "I was hoping to hear something back today but, I guess not." As soon as those words came out of his mouth his phone started to ring. When he had looked down to see who it was, it was Aiden. He finally decided to call, after Leo was almost fully recovered from being beaten.

Leo started to reach for the decline button when Nate stopped him. "No." He said, "You need to answer it. You need that closure."

Nate was right, as much as Leo hated to admit it. He hit the accept button and said, "Hello?"

"Hey... Leo..." Aiden sounded upset. Leo already knew what about to happen but, his eyes was started to tear up anyway. "I think we shouldn't continue to see each other. It's just a lot to handle with you being in love with Nathan and I think you really need to focus on that before you can focus on someone else. I'm really sorry but, I think its best."

Leo looked off to the side trying not to cry. "No, no. Yeah. I get it. I guess I'll see you around." Leo hung up the phone. It was a much shorter conversation than he had planned but, he didn't want to dilly dally on the phone and drag it out even more. He looked back over at Nate who had a blank look on his face and his mouth slightly ajar. Leo started to get a sinking feeling in his stomach and a lump in his throat again. He started to realize that his volume was all the way up and more often than not it was easy of other furs to hear the whole conversation. "Please tell me you didn't hear that." Leo started to ask Nate but before he could respond his phone started to ring again.

This time it was Rebecca, Leo looked down at his phone and then back up at Nate. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to answer the call from Rebecca but, he wanted to make sure Nate didn't hear anything.

"Leonardo, It's Rebecca." She said on the phone.

"Hey Rebecca, please tell me you have good news."

"I'm sorry kid but, they went with another actor. I'll keep looking and find you a better part." She sounded empathetic in her voice which was almost out of character. I guess she was starting to feel bad for Leo, he wasn't bad, he was just unlucky.

"Alright, thanks Rebecca." He hung up the phone and he started to get teary eyed again. He looked over at Nathan who had a confused look on his face. "I didn't get it." Leo's chin started to quiver a bit but, he tried his best to keep it together.

"I'm sorry, buddy." Nathan said in a monotone voice which was out of character for him too. He shook his head a bit and then asked, "Did I just hear that you're in love with me though?"

Leo's chest started pounding more and more and the lump in his throat felt like he had swallowed a boulder. He started to breath heavy and felt like he was hyperventilating. His face started to get hot and his palms were sweating already.

The truth finally came out, Nate knew. And like a scene in a movie a clack of thunder was heard in the distance. Leo was terrified; he didn't know whether to lie or to tell the truth. All of his emotions were coming to the forefront.

Leo stood in front of his friend, speechless. He didn't know what to do or what to say. His best friend knew he loved him and he didn't get the part in the movie. It felt like his whole world was crashing down.

Nate still had a slightly confused look on his face. It was obvious he didn't know how to take that. All he could say was, "So you love me?"

Leo was frozen in his space; he just stood there and managed to nod his head slightly in agreement. His eyes started to water more and more as he had started to lose control. Within seconds he started to cry. He felt like he was stuck, like he couldn't move. Then he felt an impulse in his legs and without even trying he took off running down the pear.

When Leo took off running Nate, started to chase after him. He wanted to talk to him but, Leo wasn't a match for him. He was much faster than Nathan was and the other day in the gym he proved it. He slowed down to a walking pace as Leo faded away.

For Leo, running felt like the only good option. He wanted to get away, to remove himself from that spot and try and forget about it. One of his white sandals snapped when he took off running and the other flew off before he reached the end of the wooden platform. He didn't care; he just had to keep running. He ran until he felt like he was a good distance away, where Nate couldn't find him

Bright light flashed in the sky quickly followed by the loud cracks of thunder. The storm was moving in faster and faster and suddenly Leo was realizing that he didn't drive there. He took an Uber. He pulled out his phone to request a ride. The sky above him was no longer the beautiful pinks and oranges but rather, black and gray.

His sides started to hurt a bit from his bruised ribs but, it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. They may have been nearly healed but, it still hurt for him to push himself like that. Leo continued to walk down the streets even as the sky's opened up and started to pour. The rain was coming down so hard and so fast that it was difficult to see. It looked much similar to walking around in fog, just with white droplets instead.

The street lights and store fronts illuminated the water; it was the only way Leo could tell where he was going. His first thought was to find shelter but, he was already soaked. His shirt and shorts were completely drenched and he was dripping wet and all of his fur was matted down.

After standing on the sidewalk in the rain for a few minutes a car finally pulled up, his Uber. He opened the door and climbed in. There was a towel waiting on the seat for him to sit down on, and another one sitting next to him to dry off with. On the plus side it didn't look like Leo had been balling his eyes out at all.

He didn't say anything to the Uber driver; he just looked down at the floor the whole time. He was trying to process everything that had happened. Not getting the part wasn't as big of a deal as Nate finding out the truth. He didn't want to go home because he knew that Nate was there, sitting across the hall. He was surely waiting for him to come home so the two could talk.

It didn't take too long for Leo to arrive at his apartment. Before he stepped back out into the down pour he turned to the driver and said, "Thank you." He opened the door and quickly closed it behind him. Normally he would have taken off running for shelter inside the building but, not this time. He took his time.

There was something peaceful about the rain. The cold pellets hitting his fur and skin comforted him in a way. The loud crashing of the water hitting every surface was the only real sound in the air except for the occasional thunder. He felt removed, removed from his own body, removed from the world, removed from his crumbling life.

He walked up the stairs to his building dripping wet and barefoot. It was almost symbolic; it was just like his first night there. The first night he and Nate hung out. It felt like that was years ago, like it was another life time. He walked down the hallway towards his apartment. This walk was much different than the one he did months ago. Instead of it feeling like he was starting a new life, it felt like his was ending. Like he was on a death march of sorts.

He made it to his apartment and closed the door and quickly locked it behind him. He slid down the backside of the door until he sat down on the floor. He didn't want to move, he didn't want to dry off, and he didn't want to take off his dripping wet clothes. All he wanted to do was sit there and cry.

Leo wasn't a really emotional person but, the past few weeks he had been a wreck. Love did that to him, and it did for a just about anyone. It also didn't help that his brother wasn't there to help him through it. The two would usually talk and hang out but, he was on the other side of the country; three hours ahead in another time zone.

Just outside in the hallway Leo could hear Nate's door open and close. He could feel his presence on the other side of the door. He could feel the door move slightly as Nate placed his paw on the door. If Nate really wanted to he could open the door. He had a key now.

Just out in the hallway Nate stood there with his right paw on the wooden door. He looked down towards to floor as he spoke through the wooden barrier. "Hey, Leo?" He paused for a moment, hoping Leo would interject but, he heard nothing on the other side. "Look, I don't know if you want to talk to me but, I really want to talk to you."

Leo sat on the floor inside his apartment. His legs bent up and his head buried into his knees as he cried heavily. He wanted to let Nathan in but, he didn't want to be hurt. He couldn't stop Nate from talking either. He just looked up at the ceiling to try and stop crying for a moment before he spoke. "I don't know what to say, Nate." He sniffled and wiped the tears off his cheek. It was hard to distinguish what was a tear and what was water from the rain. "I'm in love with you... I'm in love with my straight best friend and there's nothing I can do about it." He thought to himself for a moment and decided to just let it all out; the cat was out of the bag anyway. "I think about you all the time. When we're not hanging out, I wish we were together. I smile every time I see your texts. I get a flutter in my chest every time I see you smile. I just don't know what to do anymore." His chin quivered as he finished talking.

There was silence on both ends of the door. They were both thinking, trying to absorb what was happening and how to continue. Leo sat there with his clothes still dripping wet; his body was starting to shiver. The air conditioning was on and he was soaking wet but, he didn't want to get up. When the cold air came across his wet fur it felt like ice. He heard Nate's muffled voice through the door.

"Can you please open the door, Leo?" He asked. He sounded upset. Nate's best friend was hurting and he was the cause of it. He didn't try to be. He was just being himself. Leo was the only friend he had, and wanted. Now that he had a record deal it was a possibility that he could go on tour if things took off. He didn't have time to make new friend just to abandon them.

Leo stood up off the ground leaving a puddle of water where he was just sitting. His clothes still dripped with water and clung onto him, each part the shirt touched felt like an ice box. His shirt was completely see-through at this point and so were his shorts.

He placed his paw on the door, as if trying to be close to Nathan but, without opening the barrier between them. He didn't say anything and he couldn't hear Nate on the other side either. He wanted to open the it but, he knew that this was over; that their friendship was truly over. How can you recover from something like this? No matter what it will be on everyone's mind. And Leo couldn't just stop loving him. Maybe over time it would fade but, that didn't seem like it was possible anytime soon like he once hoped.

There were a few minutes of silence which felt like an eternity. They never were this quiet around one another and it never lasted long when they were. During that silence Leo heard Nate's feet shuffle and then the distant sound of his apartment door closed across the hallway. He was gone, just like that.

Leo rested his sopping wet head on the door, his blue hair dangled down. His chin quivered once more as tears came out of him just as easy as before. The tears came down his face and muzzle, some came down on his lips. The salty taste of the tears made it obvious which was from him and what was rain remnants. As more tears flowed out of him they bypassed the travel down his face and just headed down towards the floor instead.

He couldn't help but, let out soft moans of sadness. It felt like his heart was ripped out of his chest, like he had lost part of himself. He didn't want to feel that. He didn't want to lose the only friend he had; the only beacon of hope in what seemed like a never ending tunnel of disappointment. The only furson who believed in him even when he didn't. When he was down, Nate was there to make him feel better. He couldn't lose that, even a friend was better than nothing.

Leo picked his head off the door, leaving a wet spot where it once was. He started at the door intently as if he was looking into Nate's eyes. He took a deep breath, tried to compose himself and reached for the locks on the door. With the quick turn, the deadbolt snapped out of position. He turned the door handle and opened up the door.

When the door was fully open he saw Nate standing there in front of him. He never left the hallway; he never left Leo there by himself. He would have sat there in the hallway all night if he had to. He stood there with a smile on his face and his eyes furrowed up. He looked happy and sad to see Leo, it was clear his head was full of emotions.

Leo didn't know what to do or what to think, his heart beat faster than it ever had before; faster than when he sprinted away from the kangaroo at the peer. His face started to get flush once again. The fact that he still stood there meant that his friend was a true friend. That no matter what he was going to be there, a quality lost on many.

Nate had a large white towel in his paw for Leo. He knew Leo was going to need it. In many cases he knew the husky better than he knew himself. He took the towel and reached up towards Leo's head. He encapsulated it and started to rub the towel all over to soak up as much of the water as he could. When he pulled the towel down some of Leo's fur and blue hair stood up in a few places. Nate couldn't help but smile and get a little chuckle out of it.

In that moment Leo felt like he had a boyfriend and not just a friend. Something he knew he wouldn't have out of Nate.

Nate slung the towel over his shoulder for a moment and reached up with both paws to flatten down some of the fur. Leo cared a lot about how he looked, he was an actor, if he was going to be in the spot light then he had to look his best all the time. After all the fur was patted back down Nate moved his paws to the side of Leo's face and pulled Leo in towards him; Nate closed his eyes and kissed Leo passionately on the lips.