FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Russ now understood why people were so quiet in the mornings.

He felt like a zombie getting on and off the bus Wednesday morning, and the noisiness of the school seemed twice as loud in his ears. After the revelation of two nights prior, he had spent all of Monday night drafting theories and rough models of spacecraft. He had been so caught up in his work that he had stayed up until the early hours of the morning, only just getting to bed at about five. Abigail had come to wake him up, but seeing the mess of papers on his desk, she assumed that he had been busy with homework and let him skip school on Tuesday to get some sleep.

Now he was back at school, although somehow the fatigue from yesterday had carried over to today. He had drunk two large mugs of coffee that morning, and it seemed to be working, albeit slowly.

"Hey, dude!" Scott the bear greeted him by the lockers. "Where were you yesterday? I missed you at lunch!"

"Pulled an all-nighter," said Russ as he unloaded his bag. "Forgot a project I had to do."

He bought the lie. "Oh, that sucks, dude."

"Yeah," the husky responded vaguely. He promptly changed the subject. "So how have you been?"

"I've been great!" Scott's face lit up. "Me and my brother got tickets to a Skrillex concert this Saturday! It's gonna be cool!"

Russ gave a chuckle in disbelief. "I still don't know how you can listen to that stuff, man."

"I keep telling you - don't knock it 'till you try it!"

"Right," said Russ. Across the hall, he spotted Tyler talking to his girlfriend Roxy. The wolf looked so stereotypical, with his red and white football jacket and leaning casually against the locker. He must have said something funny because Roxy gave a high pitched giggle, Tyler chuckling along with her.

In a sudden spot of vindictiveness, he said to Scott without looking. "Hey, I'll catch you later, okay?" Scott responded with a "see ya, dude," but the husky barely heard it. He only had one thing one his mind, and that was getting revenge for what Tyler had done to him that Monday.

He came up behind Tyler and grabbed his shoulder spinning him around. Both Tyler and Roxy looked shocked at his behavior.

"You're a fucking prick, you know that?" Russ snapped loud enough for those nearby to hear.

Tyler appeared torn on how to react. He was in a tough position. He wanted to cuss him out and insult the husky, but he also wanted to look cool in front of his girlfriend. He decided on replying, "Yeah? What of it?"

Got him. Russ refrained from grinning as the wolf fell right into his trap. He could have denied it completely, but he had instead taken the bait. "What you did on Monday? With your jock friends? That was an asshole-ish thing to do. Frankly, I'm surprised you haven't been suspended."

Tyler looked annoyed and a little afraid. Behind him, Roxy appeared not to have known what transpired two days prior, but was putting two and two together. This was going to great.

Tyler wasn't ready to back down just yet. "Look, what the f - what's your point?" He wanted to end the conversation before his girlfriend figured it out, but it was too late.

Russ growled. "Stay the fuck away from me if you know what's good for you!"

Tyler snarled back. "Fine!" He stormed away down the hall. Roxy shot the husky a confused look and hurried after Tyler.

Russ now allowed himself a satisfied grin as he went to his first class. His work here was done. Now he just had to wait.

................................

Russ once more left the band room after school, this time making sure to take a different route outside. The jocks probably wouldn't bother him today though; there were more people walking about than before. The concert was coming up in a few weeks and more band members were starting to stay after school to practice.

It was a shame he wouldn't be there to attend.

Russ went through another side entrance and immediately stopped just outside. He could hear hushed voices nearby, and one of them sounded familiar. They were around the corner nearest the football field. Dare he take the risk?

Russ decided that if it looked like he would be caught, he would just run as fast as he could. The husky crept along the wall with muted steps, soon catching part of the conversation.

"...heard about what Rod and the rest of them did to that poor husky. Were you part of that?"

It was the voice of Tyler Mooney that answered. "C'mon, Roxy. You know I wouldn't -"

"Don't touch me!" A girl snapped, presumably Roxy. "And give me a straight answer this time. Were you or were you not involved?"

"I - no! I wasn't!" Tyler stammered.

A sigh. "I can tell when you're lying to me, Tyler, and you're doing it right now."

"Look, Roxy, they pressured me into doing it -"

"Bullshit! This is exactly the kind of thing you'd decide to do!" Roxy was furious. "You told me last year you'd stop bullying the other students!"

"I know, but...c'mon!" Tyler was trying to be so chill about it, but it was only making her angrier. "They're my friends! I can't just -"

"Yes, you can! I thought you were finally becoming the nice wolf you were when you asked me out to prom." She let out another defeated sigh. "What am I to you, Tyler?"

"...wha?"

"What am I to you? Am I your girlfriend who you love and adore? Or am I just some prized cheerleader you can show off to your friends?"

Granted, the question was a little bit unfair to the footballer, but Russ was loving it. His plan was working.

"I..." Tyler was at a loss for words. "You're my girlfriend! We're a couple!"

Roxy apparently wasn't satisfied. "Well...I have to say I'm disappointed. Here I was hoping I was actually important to you. I thought you'd finally stopped being a selfish jerk and started being a decent loving wolf." There was that word again. Love. "I guess I was wrong."

"Roxy," Tyler sounded worried. "Wha -"

"I'm breaking up with you, Tyler."

They were both silent for a moment while Tyler took it in. Then he exclaimed, "Wha - no! You can't!"

"I can do whatever the hell I want! You don't and never have had any power over me!" Roxy shouted angrily. "Goodbye, Tyler."

Russ heard the cheerleader storm off in the opposite direction. Tyler stood in shock before shouting a desperate and angry, "ROXY!" His shout fell on deaf ears as her fading footsteps marked the end of a relationship.

..........................

Russ was quite pleased with himself as he took the bus ride home. He had just singlehandedly broken up Tyler and his girlfriend in a single day. One may have thought this was a rather harsh comeback considering the circumstances, but Russ didn't care. Tyler had pushed him; it was his turn to push back. Maybe now without a girlfriend to validate him, Tyler would realize how much of a dick he was.

This was the only thought in his mind as Russ rode silently with the rest of the students through the streets. This bus ride was considerably noisier than the ones in the mornings. Probably because they had more to talk about now that the school day was over.

As the bus turned a corner, Russ caught sight of what appeared to be a mess of broken cars in the distance. Even from here, he could tell that they were no longer functional in their current state. It was a junkyard. The husky saw this junkyard every day on the way to and from school, and he had thought nothing of it. But now, the sight gave him an idea. A truly brilliant idea.

Russ got off at the next stop and started walking in the general direction of the yard, simply guessing which ways to turn along the way. His gait was a little suppressed by the trumpet case he held in one paw, but it was still manageable.

When he finally did find it, he was faced with a metal fence with a padlocked door. Trees and vines grew around the fence and provided shade at the entrance. Glancing around, there was no one else in sight; all he could see was the dirt road that led onwards into the property. On the fence was a white sign with black spray-paint letters that read "Workers Only - Do Not Enter."

Russ hid his trumpet and backpack in a cluster of bushes to the side of the entrance and approached the fence. He easily climbed up, swung over the top, and dropped down on the other side. He brushed himself off and continued down the dirt path, careful to avoid unwanted attention.

Once he emerged from the path and found the main property, he gasped. Arranged in rows across the vast lot were several brands of cars in various conditions. Some looked fine, except for the fact that they didn't work, and others were clearly in bad shape, appearing as if they had been part of a bad accident. Elsewhere were large piles of scrap parts that didn't seem to be organized in any way. In his current line of sight, there was one building in the middle of the yard where he guessed management operations took place.

He had just hit the jackpot. This was perfect. This lot full of spare car parts was all he needed to get his job done. Sure, he would have to do some massive repair jobs to get one to work, but that was the easy part. The hardest part would be adding his own features to give it the functionality he wanted.

He would use this junkyard to build his spaceship.

...............................

Back at the house, Russ was interrupted from his work by a loud knock at his door. The husky jumped at the sound, accidentally adding an illegible scribble on his paper. Following his find at the junkyard, he had decided to continue working on his blueprints immediately. Since he was only in the planning phase, he still only had rough theories to work him. However, his knowledge of both engineering and coding would guide him over that obstacle. Plus, with the right tools, it shouldn't be too difficult to -

Another thump on his door jerked him from his thoughts. Russ got up from his chair and opened the door - only to receive a swift punch to the face.

"You fucker!" Tyler growled before tackling the husky to the ground. He pinned Russ to the floor. "You made me lose my girlfriend! You'll pay for this!"

"You had it coming!" Russ struggled and managed to free his arms from the wolf's grasp. Pressing against the wolf's chest, he growled back, "Get off me!"

"I'm gonna kill you!"

"Get off!"

The two continued like this for a good minute, rolling around on the carpet floor in a flurry of fur and teeth. The husky was surprisingly agile, dodging the wolf's punches and wriggling out of his holds. He couldn't completely escape however; Tyler was too strong and wouldn't let him get away.

Their wrestling match was interrupted by a voice at the door.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

Russ and Tyler rolled apart and looked up to see Abigail standing there with her paws on her hips. And she looked furious. Her azure gaze was like lasers burning into their souls, fixing them with an inquisitive glare. The two boys sat panting on the floor and looking extremely guilty. In the wrong context, one might think they'd have been doing something else, but the contempt they felt for one another was unmistakable.

"Both of you. Downstairs. Now." She left without another word.

The boys stayed silent as well, quickly getting up and exiting the room. When they both tried to leave at the same time, they accidentally bumped into one another. Tyler gave him a small shove out of the way, to which Russ responded to a punch on the arm. They didn't go any further with it though, and they went downstairs in silence.

On the couch sat not only Abigail, but Bryan as well, who must have gotten home from work early that day. Both had stern expression on their faces, and neither of the boys could look them in the eyes.

"So," said Abigail. "Would either of you like to tell us what that was all about?"

Silence.

"The subtle dirty looks at each other were one thing, but outright fighting is another," she continued. "So what's going on between you two?"

Russ and Tyler exchanged a short glance and looked forward again. They each knew the other wasn't going to talk. Tyler had too much to lose and Russ didn't want to make things any harder for the family.

"When we first accepted Russ into the house, we expected you both to respect each other," said Bryan. "Tyler, we know that you know better than to behave this way. And Russ, we expected more of you."

Russ was hit with a pang of shame. In his attempts to validate himself, he had neglected to think about its effects on the family. If he was trying to kept things easy for the family, then he was doing it wrong.

"So what's going on? Why aren't you two getting along?"

Again, neither fur spoke. It was like a game to see who would crack first. Except neither of them were going to do so any time soon.

"Fine. If neither of you are going to talk, then I think a punishment is in order." Bryan glared sternly at the boys. "Tyler, you're going out with your friends this Saturday, right?"

"...Yes," Tyler responded slowly. "Dad, please don't ground me, I -"

"I'm not going to ground you. I have something else in mind." Bryan paused, eyes still flickering between the two. "Instead of keeping you inside...when you go out with your friends this weekend, Russ is coming with you."

The wolf and husky both stared in shock.

"No!" Russ broke the silence with a desperate plea. "Please no! Anything but that -"

"To late," said Abigail. "You've brought this upon yourself. Both of you have."

"That...that's not fair!" Tyler protested. "He can't come with us! He'll ruin everything!"

"I highly doubt that his mere presence will ruin a night at a friend's house," Bryan stood firm. "Besides, you should have thought about this before you went and acted the way you did. If the two of you aren't going to get along by yourselves, then we'll force you to."

When he was a young pup, Russ had been in some situations like this before, but never one quite this severe. Nevertheless, he had enough experience in the matter to know that such a plan never worked. If anything, it would make things worse. They were unknowingly about to send him with the group of bullies who were the root of this whole problem!

"Come on, please, we'll do anything else!" Russ begged alongside Tyler. "Don't make me -"

"No arguing!" Abigail snapped. "You're going with them on Saturday, and that's final!"