FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

I woke up in a bit of a shock; it was very typical of me to stay up until around 1:00am and wake up at 12:30pm on my days off, thinking to myself "you just wasted a good portion of your day; I hope you're proud of yourself". The process would repeat, and I'd be forced to stay up late the day before I go back to work, meaning little sleep and an unsettling reliance on coffee. It wasn't that I hated coffee; I just hate relying on it to keep me awake.

It was only until I started up my 'morning' shower that I realised what I had to do today. I'd have to force myself to find a costume for the party Maria was going to; and I had to make it look convincing. Money was hardly an issue; I always kept a 'contingency' fund, as I called it, should an emergency happen, and I was willing to treat this as an 'emergency'. The only issue was what I would go as.

Well you're not going as a superhero._I thought to myself as my back was drenched with warm water from the shower. _Iron Man costumes are either crappy jumpsuits or heavy, not to mention expensive, plastic. Not to mention you don't have a superhero physique.

My body was on autopilot at the time. I shower, dry my fur and brush it down so often that it's become like second nature to me; I'd eliminated five, maybe six ideas before my grey fur was fully dry and brushed down. I had to have a costume that was physique-based; Whippets aren't the bulkiest Dogs unless you count the "Bullies", Whippets with myostatin mutations, and even for a Whippet I was pretty thin. It wasn't that I didn't eat enough, but I walk around so much that it's hard for me to gain any upper muscle mass.

Something physique-based... I thought again, filling the kettle for a cup of coffee and grabbing a couple of slices of bread for some toast. You could go as a skeleton. Not the most original idea, but you could put something extra on it.

My train of thought was put on hold as soon as I heard my doorbell ring. No family is visiting me today, I'm not expecting any packages, and I doubt any friends of mine would turn up unexpectedly. I was wondering as I trudged reluctantly to my front door. Unless, of course, Maria decides to show up; but I swear she always has something to do when she's not working. Don't let it be her, don't let it be her, don't let it be her...

"Hey, Pepper, why are you in your bath robe...in the afternoon?" It was Maria. I backed up slightly to hide my lower half behind the door before Maria's eyes averted downwards. "Don't worry; I've seen it all before." She smiled.

"Not on me, you haven't." I protested, completely reluctant to move from where I was standing. "What do you want? How do you know where I live?"

"It was on your CV when you applied for your work as a librarian." Maria sighed, indicating that she was out of breath. "You...you live half an hour away from the library and you walk to work; what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing. I just like walking." I replied bluntly, my lower body starting to shift around uneasily. "I guess you should come in, then." I moved out of the way and closed the door behind her as soon as she was in.

I hardly ever let just anyone into my own little world. I didn't think Maria was invading my personal space, and I wasn't going to ask or force her to leave; she hardly meant me any harm, so I'd just have to deal with it.

"Can I get you anything? Tea? Coffee?" I offered upon hearing the kettle boil and the toaster pop up.

"Coffee, please." Maria smiled, taking off her backpack and laying it down next to her as she sat down by the oak kitchen table.

I took the time to look her over briefly. She was wearing a white shirt with sleeves that went all the way to her wrists, a pair of light blue jeans, grey boots and a dark blue jacket which was now laid on the back of the chair she was sitting on. Not very revealing, but she still managed to look good wearing it; unfortunately she noticed where my eyes were wandering.

"I should think about charging you for looking." Maria joked as I handed her a cup of coffee. I quickly averted my gaze as I sat myself down with my breakfast. "...that's a big comic book collection, by the way." The amber Fox broke the silence, indicating the stack of comic books I kept in the living room.

"Uh...yeah." I wasn't sure how to respond. I never let Maria get too close and personal with me. She looked young and pretty for a woman in her early thirties, so what could she possibly see in someone like me? "...so, um...what did you say you came here for?"

"Relax, Pepper. I'm not going to bite your head off until I'm in my werewolf costume." Maria seemed to force a laugh to put me at ease, somewhat. "I came here to help you look for a costume; I'll drag you to this party by your tail if I have to."

"Figures...and it's not like I'm intimidated or scared of you or anything." I muttered just so she could hear me; it was then that an idea had forced itself into my head. "Wait. Scarecrow...what about a Scarecrow?"

"A scarecrow?" Maria mimicked, looking at me with a mix of confusion and concentration, maybe trying to imagine me in a scarecrow outfit. "What kind of scarecrow? The 'straw hat, shirt with suspenders, full of hay' kind of scarecrow? Or the kind of scarecrows you only see in nightmare fuel images on the internet?"

"The second one." I replied, taking the last bite out of my toast and a gulp of coffee from my mug. "Kind of like how The Scarecrow used to dress in the old animated Batman series."

"Never watched it; but I guess it's better than a skeleton." Maria sighed, taking the last gulp of her coffee as well. "So what do you need to make this work?"

"A red long-sleeved shirt," I began as I got up to go to my room and get dressed. "A potato sack for the mask, a witch's hat, some brown trousers, some thin rope, a reel of bandages and a pair of black pointed shoes; and maybe some sawdust to give the outfit a 'worn down' look. I already have the shoes and the bandages covered."

"Well it certainly sounds easier than my werewolf costume, I'll give you that." Maria reached into her backpack and pulled out a pad and pen to write it all down as I stepped into my room, making sure to close the door behind me.

The first thing I did was drop down onto my bed and bury my muzzle in my hands. This wasn't exactly how I expected my day off to go; I was supposed to have an afternoon breakfast, get dressed, come up with an idea for a costume in that time, walk into town, get what I needed, come back, make the costume and never touch it until tomorrow evening. Truthfully nothing about that had changed, but it felt like a bit of a bother with Maria around, which only made me feel awful and anti-social.

"Screw it...get dressed, go into town, deal with it." I muttered to myself, untying my bath robe and hanging it up on the hook on my door.

I took a moment to look myself over in the mirror just to make sure I had the right upper body for my potential costume; slim, thin arms and a thin chest to the point that you could just barely make out my ribcage. My vision slowly descended to my lower body; I was already wearing a pair of white briefs, not that there was much to hide. There was no tell-tale bulge, no indication of male genitalia what so ever. Just to be on the safe side, I looked to my left to make sure my bedroom door was closed. It was.

My hands reluctantly gripped both sides of my briefs and slowly pulled them down. The first thing I saw was a small oval-shaped brown spot of fur; below that, a reasonably small pair of nether-lips. I sighed and sat back down on my bed. I wasn't sure why I looked, or what I expected when I pulled my briefs down to my ankles; it was always there; it wouldn't just go away or be replaced with a proud, throbbing manhood and I was never quite used to looking at it.

I was never open about it, either; others would just find out. My family knew, it was my doctor's job to know, I never told any more than a handful of my friends about it after they inquired, and even then I don't think they were bothered about it enough to tell anyone else. Maria didn't know about it; and I'd rather have it stay that way. It was my secret shame, and I was determined to keep everybody, anybody else from finding out about it. That was until I heard Maria knocking at my door.

"Okay, so I've written it all down and I think I know where to find a...sack..." Maria's voice drifted off as her eyes scanned over me, especially between my legs. By then I was frozen with shock; Maria _knew_I was getting dressed! Sure, she was in her mid-thirties so she's probably seen her fair share of naked guys, but was she so insensitive that she would barge into their rooms while they were changing?!

"...holy crap..." Maria squeaked after what felt like a long minute of stunned silence. "I...uh...shit, I'm sorry!" She backed up out of my room and slammed the door shut, leaving me sitting there, still having a minor panic attack.

All my limbs felt weak and were shaking; my insides felt like so tight that I felt like throwing up and tears were already beginning to form in my eyes. It took a full five minutes, but from my perspective it seemed like an hour for me to get my body under control, pull up my briefs and get dressed; black jeans, white shirt, black shoes and a black coat. The shock hadn't gone away completely, and I was entirely dependent on the chance that Maria would decide to drop it until I was comfortable talking about it, which wouldn't be for a long time.

"...so, um...are you ready to go?" I asked quietly, easing my bedroom door open to see Maria sitting down in the living room, probably thinking over what she just saw.

"You...we're still doing this?" The amber Fox looked up in surprise, holding her backpack in both hands, probably thinking that I wouldn't feel like hunting for a costume after what happened.

"Can we just forget about what happened and go into town, please?" I was half asking, half begging her for this. Maria simply nodded and got up slowly, hauling her backpack around her right shoulder.

I trailed behind her as we exited my apartment. Maria could easily see me blushing from embarrassment underneath my fur, but she didn't seem to bother turning around to make sure I was there; she was probably burning from embarrassment as well. We both knew we couldn't just drop the subject like that, though. Unfortunately, this was anything but over.