FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Gary looked at his smartwatch as he waited on the glass washer to finish the final round before he marked it off his closing list. The tile bar had already been sanitized and wiped down, as had the shelf behind the bar. He had even taken each bottle of liquor or spirit off the shelves to wipe them off. The floor was swept and the mop bucket was nearby for him to complete as the very last step before he went home for the night. The fox had done almost everything he could reasonably do to stay at the restaurant. He was the last employee remaining for the night, and it looked like he would be alone as he clocked out in a few minutes. Just as had been the case for the past five weeks.

Since that night he drove Hughie home over a month ago, there had been a growing distance between the hyena and the fox. When Gary had gone back that morning to drive Hughie to his car at Pasquale's, the hyena had been quiet. He had chalked it up to being early in the morning and the hyena suffering from a hangover, but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed to be something deeper and more serious. He only received a curt thank you from Hughie after dropping him off, but the fox's long night had finally caught up to him, and he was too exhausted at the time to notice the coldness.

After going home and sleeping the entire day away, Gary had awoken to a sticky mess in his boxers. He spent nearly an hour in the shower afterwards, both to enjoy his thoughts one last time and to scrub away the crusted liquid. He had stepped out of the shower with the resolve that he was done with those thoughts about his friend, and that he would not bring the hyena anything that he did not ask for, be it food or drink. He would be completely professional, and treat Hughie as a friend, not as his plaything to stuff with greasy food at every opportunity.

He arrived at Pasquale's upbeat as he had ever been to go in for a shift, and the rest of the staff seemed to notice it as well. León, the server he had asked to stay later last night, ribbed him and asked if getting lucky had been worth his favor. While Gary had wanted to explain to him that he had not yet gotten that far with Hughie and that there were a few complications with that line of thinking, he chose the simpler and more vague option and responded that it had been a very enjoyable evening.

The lion had not been content to leave it at that, and spent the next hour pestering Gary for details. Eventually growing bored of the nonanswers he received, León switched topics to his own recent sexual conquests. Gary tuned him out after the lion decided to go into great detail about the wolf he was seeing.

The fox and lion were soon occupied by their jobs and their conversation was restricted to small talk and general complaints about obnoxious customers. It was a welcomed break for Gary, who had grown tired of hearing what a perfect hunk of wolf meat the lion was going to be chewing on after they got off work. There were only so many different ways for the lion to describe the wolf's body, and he had gone through all of them within the first few minutes. And Gary was not even interested in muscles, so he truly had not gotten anything out of the explicit details forced upon him by the thirsty lion.

As the afternoon sunshine descended behind the overpriced tourist condos and beach houses, Gary kept an eye on the front entrance. He couldn't wait to see his best friend again, and he had a few things he wanted to discuss with him, namely the apparent future departure of Joel.

As the hours ticked by, the initial trickle of customers cascaded into a flood of traffic, and it was not even a holiday weekend. It was good for the fox, who was looking for a distraction until the familiar face of the chubby hyena appeared. Hours of mixing and slinging drinks, pouring draft beers, and coordinating takeaway orders later, and there was still no sign of Hughie. The crowd petered out, until only the late-night dining crowd remained. And, as they finished their meals and departed, the hyena was still nowhere to be seen.

The evening cleaning list was brought out and the restaurant was scrubbed of much of the dirt and grime it had accumulated from a busy summer dinner service. The kitchen staff finished their list and clocked out, closely followed by the servers. León, determined as ever to show off his date, stuck a rather explicit photo of the two of them in Gary's face before heading out the door as well.

Which left Gary alone at the restaurant. With all of the free time left in the world, and no one around to complain, the fox pulled out his phone to send a message to Hughie. He spent a few minutes debating what exactly he wanted to say without seeming desperate, eventually settling on a light-hearted joke about how the hangover was for the hyena at work. The read receipt was almost instantly marked blue, and a typing bubble appeared under Gary's message.

Gary went to clock out while he waited for the text to be sent, but upon his return he saw that Hughie had left the messaging app without sending anything.

What had been one day of texts where the hyena seemingly ignored the fox became two, which agonizingly became three, and then a week, and then a month. Nothing seemed to break the icy wall that had been erected between them. Funny images or videos that Gary sent were ignored or earned a simple 'lol' in response. General check-up questions or questions about work were met with 'fine' or 'busy.' Each response was almost as big a punch in the face as no response, but at least the fox knew the hyena was alive.

Gary initially struggled to understand why Hughie abruptly cut him out of his life, but a sickening thought crept in and latched a hold of his mind. Hughie must have figured out Gary's secret. He must have figured out that the lithe fox liked how fat, out-of-shape, and slobby the hyena was becoming and he must have figured out that the fox had been giving him extra food in hopes that he would gain even more weight. He must have figured out that Gary wanted to see Hughie eat himself to an immobile blob and stuff his face until his heart gave out on him. He must have known that the fox was sneaking off to the bathroom to rub one out over these dark fantasies and dreams. He must have figured all of that out and cut him off in fear and horror. He must have figured that out and immediately moved out of town.

It was those thoughts that kept Gary from calling or going over to Hughie's apartment. He did not want to know. He wanted to, but not knowing gave him a sliver of hope that there was still some way to salvage their friendship. Perhaps Hughie would come back to Pasquale's one day, slimmed down and with a runner's body that matched Gary's pound for pound. Maybe then, the fox would no longer have those perverted thoughts about his best friend and they could hang out again.

So the fox resigned himself to giving the hyena the time and space he needed. He thought he was doing well, but ever since the two met in their introductory economics class, they had not gone more than a week without seeing each other. And tonight, as Gary once again gave up on a late night appearance by the hyena, it was officially five weeks since he had last seen Hughie.

He missed his friend. He missed his presence in his life. He missed seeing the hyena smile at one of his lame jokes. He missed the comforting and knowing look he'd get from Hughie when some customer asked for a ridiculously complicated drink or complained about the food. He missed seeing the hyena at the end of the bar, happy and content while Gary watched him out of the corner of his eye.

His heart ached. This pain did not come from simply losing contact with a friend from grade school or university. This was not fading from someone's life. No, this was deliberate and personal. Whatever it was that Gary had done to Hughie to push him away, this pain that he felt was too much for him to bear.

He couldn't think straight. Even now, he was waiting alone in the bar of a restaurant that had closed almost two hours ago for someone who had not been there in five weeks as if he was going to magically show up there, of all places. He knew where Gary lived. He had been over once or twice in the last year. Hell, he had Gary's number in his phone.

What did he do wrong?

He sighed as he locked the doors to Pasquale's behind him. He thought he knew why, but he just could not figure out how it was that Hughie knew those dark thoughts about him. There just was no way he could have known. It wasn't like the two of them ever talked about that kind of stuff. They commented on attractive guys they saw, but it was always attractive in the conventional sense of the word.

Gary started his car and began to pull out of the parking lot. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the tune of some pop song that was only popular the year it came out. It was simultaneously too late and too early for traffic on the road. He was alone as he sat at a red light intersection. The yellowish-orange hue from the streetlight shined straight into the driver's seat and in Gary's eyes. It was the same color as Hughie's fur, although the light was less comforting than the hyena.

The song had ended, and after a few minutes of commercials and advertisements, the first song to play was the same song that was Hughie's ringtone when they were in school, back when everyone had their favorite song as their ringtone. Hughie had chosen this blues rock song from the nineties, which had a music video that depicted the story of this girl from Kansas who encountered three companions and a magical band playing music. It had always stuck with Gary, due in part to its strangeness.

Driving on autopilot and reminiscing about his first memories of Hughie, Gary failed to notice where his subconscious was driving him, until he realized that the apartment complex he was turning into did not resemble his in the slightest.

He had, for some reason, driven in the opposite direction of his own apartment to end up in front of Hughie's residence. Perhaps it was fate that led him to the building, or maybe some other otherworldly force was guiding his path. It didn't matter. He was here now, and whatever fear or stress had been holding him back before now melted away into a determined resolve to confront the hyena. He was not angry at him, yet. It depended on the reason for why he had become so distant.

He looked at his watch. 03:27 a.m. It was quite late. The first hit to his resolve was strong, but it wasn't like he and Hughie had never stayed up late into the night before. Sure, that was when they were playing video games in their dormitory, but still...

He quickly turned the key and stepped out of his car before he could talk himself into leaving. If he left now, he'd surely never hear from the hyena again, and he wasn't going to let that happen.

He'd never forgive himself.

He clung to that sentiment as he climbed the steps to the first floor. Each step was an internal battle between his fear of finding out why Hughie was upset with him, and the guilt he would feel if he turned around and went home. When he finally reached the top of the flight of steps, Gary took a moment to do a little victory dance. He had conquered his self doubt, for perhaps the first time in his life.

Maybe it was too late at night, or too early in the morning, to be doing... whatever it was he was doing. He was exhausted, and felt like he wasn't making sense. Maybe this plan was stupid.

What if Hughie was asleep and didn't come to the door? What if he came, saw that it was Gary at the door, and slammed it in his face? What if he didn't even live here anymore, and some random stranger came to the door and freaked out and called the police and they came and arrested Gary and he ended up in prison and--

The fox stood in front of the door, frozen in place. He was certain he was potentially behaving slightly irrationally, but he was also certain that he was maybe not entirely wrong about his fear. It was a disaster potentially only moments from happening.

He bounced in place and shook his arms as he tried to will himself to do... something. For once in his life, he was going to do something he was afraid to do. He was going to knock on the door. He was going to talk to Hughie, and he was going to tell him how hurt he was that he had been basically shut out of his life.

Gary forcefully knocked on the door, surprising himself with the strength behind action.

Shit. He was well and truly committed to it, now. Whatever happened next, his and Hughie's future was going to change.

He waited. And waited. Was it seconds, or hours? Maybe he should knock again, or call, or maybe he should just go home or--

Gary heard creaking and movement just behind the door.

"Who's... who's there?"

The fox swallowed before speaking. "Hughie? It's Gary. I-I uhh..."

"Gary?" The door swung open to reveal Hughie. "Are you... Is everything alright?"

The fox's eyes went wide at the sight before him. Hughie, rubbing his eyes sleepily, was almost completely naked. His boxers might as well have been a thong, were only covering his crotch. Everywhere else was proudly on display for the fox to gawk at with his tongue open and drool spilling out. And gawk Gary did, having completely forgotten his fears and anger at the situation just moments ago.

From the front, Gary was able to see just how large Hughie's stomach had become. It protruded out like a swollen, engorged beach ball with a horizontal fold right around his belly button. The navel looked deep, but it was angled down due to the weight from Hughie's bloated stomach. Said stomach seemed to be packed to the brim, and appeared firm and in desperate need of a massage. Just above and resting on the fat hyena's stomach were two swollen and jiggly moobs, each wobbling as the hyena continued to rub his face. Speaking of the hyena's face, a double chin rounded out and met chubby cheeks that made his face appear more as a peach than a hyena.

As the fox's gaze hungrily traveled south down his ample stomach, he noticed with both surprise and approval that the hyena's sagging gut was mostly covering his fat pad and the top of his crotch. The significant bulge was due in part to the pad, but the hyena had always been well endowed. As he continued to stare at his best friend's crotch, he realized that it wasn't a pair of boxers but rather a jockstrap that the hyena was sporting, and if he had not already been rock hard by this point, that would have been the final nail in the coffin.

Now, if only he could get the hyena to turn around and display his humongous ass for Gary, it would be like he was at the strip club of his dreams.

"You want to come in for a bit?" Hughie stepped backwards and to the side to allow Gary to enter.

"Well," Gary stretched his neck as far as he could to peer inside. "I don't want to bother you and Joel..."

"Oh... He moved out about a month ago." Hughie murmured, despite looking and sounding more awake and alert than he had been a few moments prior.

The hyena didn't provide any additional information, but Gary could tell that it must have ended on a sour note. Judging by the way his last conversation went with the wolf, it was clear that there was significant tension between the two of them.

It was embarrassing enough having this conversation outside where others could hear, and the hyena probably would be mortified if they continued it further, so Gary took a few steps inside the apartment.

Hughie shut and locked the door behind him. "You can have a seat on the couch if you want. I can heat something up, too. Let me just go put some pants on, first."

Gary didn't want things to be even more awkward between the two of them, but he also didn't want the hyena to hide his heavy frame. He started to make his way over to the kitchen table to give his friend some space, before noticing all of the cardboard boxes on the floor in the kitchen.

"What's going on with all of these boxes here?" He called out over his shoulder.

Hughie stopped in his tracks, the creaking of the floorboards underneath him serving as the only sound in the silence. "Oh, I'm going to be moving out of here soon..."

Whatever it was that Hughie said afterwards, Gary was unable to hear it or process it. His head was swimming. Was Hughie moving far away? Was he moving to get away from him?

"Gary? You good?" Hughie returned to the kitchen, shorts covering his waist but leaving little to the imagination. "Did you want something? I've got some pizza rolls I can throw in the oven."

"... sure"

"Okay, I'll get that started, you can go to the living room if you want. It'll be about thirty minutes or so."

The hyena walked, with a bit of difficulty, to the kitchen. Gary was focused on his bouncing cheeks, mesmerized by the movement and by the fact that they were straining against the fabric. His already leaking member pulsed in his shorts.

The fox grabbed his crotch and adjusted it as he sat on the couch. Crumbs and wrappers littered the area, as did a mostly empty pizza box. With a curiosity but sense of dread, Gary looked at the name on the box, saddened but unsurprised to see that it did not come from Pasquale's restaurant. The two of them certainly had a lot to talk about, but Gary's mind went to the first and most important question.

"Where are you moving?"

Hughie flashed him a sheepish smile as he sat down on the couch next to him, fat rolls folding as his stomach sat large on his lap. "I think back to my mom's for a while. It'll be cheaper and on the other side of the traffic in the morning." He pulled a doughnut out of a box next to the couch. "Not too many cars leaving the beach early in the morning."

It sounded like he was trying to convince himself that he was making the right choice. Gary had met Hughie's mother a couple of times. She insisted on being referred to as Ms. Silva, her maiden name. As equally unpleasant as she was moralistic, those short sightings had been more than enough for the rest of his life. Gary recalled that the first visit to her house, she pulled Hughie to the side. While not knowing exactly what she said at the time, Hughie later revealed to him that Ms. Silva was convinced that the Devil had just entered her home and that she wanted Hughie to never see him again. When he asked why, Hughie told Gary that it was about his earrings and that she used particularly colorful slurs to describe the fox. By the second time that Gary saw Ms. Silva, her divorce had been finalized and she was in an extra foul mood. It was not worth thinking about what she said to him in passing remarks that day.

Trying to remain neutral, the fox posed his question as innocently as possible. "Are you sure about that? Isn't that a few towns over? Your commute would be almost an hour there and an hour back."

The hyena grimaced, sugar flakes falling off his cheeks. "Yeah, a little more than forty-five minutes from her house. But, I wasn't able to find a roommate and my lease is up at the end of the month and it'll give me some savings for a house one day. She told me that she was only going to charge me the average rent price for the city." He shoved an entire doughnut into his mouth.

It was clear to Gary that Hughie was stressed about moving back in with his mother. He heard snippets of the explosion from when Hughie revealed his sexuality to her. He could only imagine what would happen if Hughie tried to bring someone home one night.

Gary decided to attack from a different angle. "She's charging you to move back home for a short time?"

The hyena swallowed his fifth doughnut of the conversation. "Yeah, but I don't know what else to do. The way things ended with Joel, it just seems clear that I probably am not a good roommate and I just can't afford to live by myself right now."

Of course that wolf would be part of the problem. Gary had been feeling a bit jaded that Hughie didn't consider asking him if he had a spare room, but maybe it had something to do with their situation. That did give him an idea.

"We've known each other a lot longer than you knew Joel. I think we both know how the other works and I have a spare room in my apartment. You could move in with me if you want." Gary's voice was almost shaky by the end of his mini speech. He was worried he had overstepped, but the wide smile that emanated from the chubby cheeks of the hyena dispelled all doubts.

"Are you sure? I don't want to be a problem..." He cackled to himself. "But I also really don't want to live with my mother."

"Of course, dude. I wouldn't offer if I wasn't serious. I've missed you these past few weeks..." Gary turned to look at the black TV screen.

"Yeah... I've just been really busy trying to pack, and then I felt bad about moving away, and then some stuff with Joel happened and..." He let out a long sigh and rubbed his face. "He just... said some pretty awful things, but I'm so glad you came to see me tonight. I was so sad this week, but now I just can't explain how happy I am."

The timer in the oven beeped, causing the two to jump and share a laugh. Hughie rocked back and forth in his seat in order to generate the momentum he needed to stand up. Gary stood as well, unsure what to do with the sudden adrenaline rush he was experiencing. He was suddenly enveloped in a warm and squishy hug, and he felt the world melt around him.

Whatever happened from this point, Gary was already happier than he had been in years.

This story has gotten a bit more emotional and plot-focused than I had initially planned, but it's also becoming a cathartic experience. I'm very much enjoying the progression of this story. There will be a bit more time between updates from now, but I envision much more to come for Hughie and Gary. Thanks for sticking around, and until next time!