FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

This is a collab with Taurus111 using a a couple of his characters.

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It was a clear day, not a cloud in the sky as the sun's heat beat down upon the city of Pecan Bay below. The light glinted off of Kevin's glasses as he strolled down the street towards the high school. The afternoon heat was not a problem for Kevin at the moment, but that would probably change soon. It was only mid-July, yet the local high school was already holding tryouts for the upcoming year's sport teams.

Normally, he wouldn't have bothered with it, but Joseph, his classmate, next-door neighbor, and best friend, had been pestering him for weeks about finally trying out for a sports team. Kevin rolled his eyes at the memory. Joseph was always on his back about trying out whenever they were on at the school, but he just wasn't the sporting type, and his skinny figure and lanky extremities didn't help in the slightest. It was enough of a pain having to endure gym class, let alone actively trying to participate in an extracurricular sport. Kevin hoped that coming out to the soccer team's tryout session would satisfy Joseph enough to make him stop pestering him about it.

* * * *

Joseph leaned on a fence post, one foot propped up on it. His right hand was in his shorts pocket, gingerly turning a small plastic capsule over between his fingers, careful to not accidentally pop it open. His cell phone was in the other. He looked up from it frequently, checking to see if Kevin was in sight yet. He checked the time once again. 11:40. Only five more minutes until tryouts started.

He pulled the capsule out of his pocket again, and checked it to make sure it wasn't leaking. It wasn't, but he silently reminded himself that if he kept checking it like this, it just might start. Looking up from the capsule he suddenly saw a head of brown hair as Kevin walked towards him down the field. He quickly stuffed the capsule back into his pocket and jogged over to Kevin.

* * * *

Kevin finally reached the school and continued around the side to where the soccer and football fields were. Adjusting his glasses, he could see a bunch of other students further down the field, and standing against a pole was Joseph, his stark black hair and tanned skin easily pointing him out. He seemed to be looking down at something in his hand before he looked up and started running towards Kevin.

"Hey, glad you could make it! I was starting to wonder if you'd chickened out." Joseph said, clapping a hand on Kevin's shoulder.

Kevin smiled half-heartedly. "Y-yeah. Have many people come out?"

Joseph glanced back towards the field. "Yeah, plenty. Don't worry, I'm sure you've still got a chance."

"Um, about that," Kevin started, glancing away. "You... uh, you aren't going to be upset or anything if it turns out I don't make it?"

Joseph laughed. "No way. I'm just glad you're finally here, making the attempt. If you don't get on the team, it's no big deal."

Kevin sighed inwardly, the specter of disappointing Joseph having dispelled. He allowed himself a grin. "Good." He looked past Joseph at the other guys on the field, doing trick kicks and other ball exercises. "Because I really don't know if I'm cut out for playing like... well, them."

Joseph looked back at the field and shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Just promise you'll give it your best shot."

A tall figure hoisting a huge bag of balls over a shoulder appeared. He produced a whistle on the end of a lanyard and blew it. "Okay boys, gather up!"

Joseph jerked his head towards the field. "Come on, let's go." He turned, and broke into a quick jog. Kevin stood a moment, wondering how long the coach would take to decide he wasn't team material before starting a slow half-jog to the group.

Coach Jones was already into his introduction by the time Kevin arrived. "- so we'll be using them to help run this tryout session. Just as a heads-up, it looks like we've got a few more people here than spots on the team, so make sure you've brought your A-game today." Mr. Jones noticed Kevin approaching, and raised an eyebrow. "First off, we'll start with a quick warm-up exercise. Twice 'round the field! Hop to it!"

Kevin hesitated for a minute before he started running after the rest of the guys that had shown up. Some of them he didn't recognize - a couple, like Joseph, had been on the team before. Watching the others, it didn't seem like he was catching up much, and there was a good few yards between the last guy and him. A quick glance over his shoulder found Coach Jones setting up a couple orange pylons in the field - not paying attention to the running. Kevin allowed himself to slow down a bit to try and keep up a pace that would last him for the whole two laps.

Halfway through the second lap, Joseph came running past him. "Keep it up!" he said, accompanied by a slap on the shoulder that hurt a lot more than Joseph probably had intended. Kevin clenched his jaw, and started sprinting in an attempt to catch up to Joseph and the last of the stragglers ahead of him. He felt his lungs burning, his legs already turning to rubber beneath him. His heart was thumping away in his ears as he finished his last lap, slowing to a stop and gasping for breath. Kevin pushed his glasses up and straightened. Only a couple others seemed to be out of breath, while Joseph's teammates were already doing simple passing exercises between them.

"Alright, boys," Mr. Jones said, his big voice carrying well across the field, "your first exercise is footwork and passing. Take a look at Terry and Grant. Weave through the cones, then pass to Joseph over there."

Kevin watched as the first guy, Terry probably, seemed to effortlessly bring the ball through the eight cones on the ground and, with a graceful punt, sent the ball skimming over the ground towards Joseph, who stopped it under his foot with practiced ease.

"Enough showing off, Terry!" Mr. Jones said in a joking tone. "Your go, Grant."

Grant repeated the performance, though not nearly as quickly as Terry had done. His pass to Joseph bounced over the ground twice before arriving.

Kevin groaned to himself. He wasn't sure he could do that, and, as he watched some of the other new guys trying out do the exercise well, he figured he was already toast. His turn came, and he felt clumsy as he tried getting the ball through the bright orange pylons. He ended up hitting one with the ball and, at the end, kicked the ball towards Joseph, who had to jump a yard or two to one side to intercept it. He grimaced; seeing Joseph give him a thumbs up made him feel even worse. He halfheartedly jogged back to the group of guys who had already finished. He thought he heard one of them snickering at him. Kevin sighed and sat down on the ground off to one side and watched as the rest of the guys finished up their runs. Coach Jones made notes on a clipboard, watching each run carefully. For a couple runs, he nodded, but for the most part, Mr. Jones's face was hard to read.

"Good work guys. Next up, we're going to check your accuracy. Try to get the ball into the net from as far back as you can. Terry and Grant will be helping you out on this one, and you'll each get three attempts."

Terry and Grant stood near center field, armed with a bag of soccer balls. They tossed one to each person, one by one. Kevin watched as the first couple guys took one or two steps and pounded the ball into the goal from nearly center field. The guy before him had to get a bit closer, but still managed it on the first try.

His turn came. Grant rolled a ball up to him, and Kevin started a slow trot towards the goal. Eight steps in, about a quarter of the way to the goal, he kicked it and cringed as the ball sailed away to the right.

"Again, Kevin!" Coach Jones shouted from the sideline. "It's okay to get closer if you need."

Kevin moved back to the center, where Grant passed him another ball. This time, he went closer to halfway to the goal before kicking, the ball veering sharply to the left this time, barely passing through the goalpost. Kevin stood for a second in shock before allowing himself a small grin as he started heading back towards the spot where the others were waiting.

Joseph had been on the sidelines for the last few minutes watching the tryouts continue. He was once again thumbing the capsule in his pocket, thinking about when he should use it. Just then, a stray soccer ball rolled close to his feet. He looked up to see Kevin walking back over to the other guys, and decided now was as good a chance as any to put his plan into effect. He kicked the ball at his feet towards Kevin. Not noticing the stray ball roll up to him, the end of Kevin's right foot caught under it, scooping it up where it got stuck on the back of his other leg. He managed a grunt as he fell onto his back and the breath was knocked out of him. Joseph was the first one to reach Kevin, whose face was contorted in a grimace as he held his right ankle in pain. Joseph knelt down to look at the injury.

"Joseph, I- I think I twisted my ankle."

"Lemme take a look." Joseph quickly checked Kevin's leg. "Looks okay to me," Joseph said, an oddly disappointed expression on his face. "How much does it hurt? Do you think you can walk on it?"

Kevin didn't get a chance to respond before they were interrupted.

"What happened here, Joseph?" Coach Jones asked as he made his way over to the two.

Kevin was the one who answered. "I think I twisted my ankle." Joseph was quick to speak up.

"It doesn't look that bad to me. I think he can keep going with the tryout." Joseph put Kevin's right arm over his shoulder and stood Kevin up. Kevin grimaced as he placed his weight onto his right foot.

"It doesn't seem like he's fine," Coach Jones said. "Kevin, I think you'd better get some ice on that. I'll take what I've seen so far from you today into consideration for next year's team, but I don't think it's a good idea for you to continue the tryouts on a bad ankle. I'm sorry."

Kevin let out a sigh. "Alright. Thanks for the opportunity, though, Coach." He hoped he sounded disappointed enough to convince Joseph that he wasn't somewhat relieved that he wouldn't have to go through the rest of the tryout.

"Come on, Kevin," Joseph beckoned, "I drove over to practice, so why don't I take you get that ankle checked."

"Sure," Kevin replied halfheartedly, "Thanks, Joseph."

Joseph waved a goodbye to Terry and Grant and helped Kevin limp over to where he had parked.

The wait at the doctor's office wasn't long. The doctor's examination showed that there hadn't been any bones broken by the ordeal, which was a relief to Kevin. The doctor suggested that he keep off his feet for the rest of the day, but otherwise told him that the ankle would feel better by the next morning.

"Man, I'm really sorry you didn't get to finish your soccer tryout today, Kev," Joseph said as he stepped into the car. He watched Kevin ease his way into the seat, feeling a little guilty over the 'accident', especially right after that decent shot.

"Oh well," Kevin replied, "I guess it really wasn't meant to be, then." He sighed. "And right after I started doing well."

"Hey, don't worry about it. You know, maybe I could get Coach to let you try out again. What do you say?"

Kevin shrugged, still looking disappointed. "Maybe. I don't know."

"I'm taking that as a yes! You hungry? Tell you what, since I pestered you to come out to tryouts and you showed, I'm buying. Then we can spend the rest of the night over at your house."

"Okay. That sounds good."

"Alright!" Joseph remarked, as he turned the key in the ignition and his car revved to life. He drove to the nearest UBurger, and before long they were sitting in the restaurant with delicious bacon cheeseburgers and two huge piles of fries placed in front them.

"I'm gonna go use the bathroom and wash my hands really quickly," Kevin said, getting up slowly. "Don't start eating without me!"

Joseph laughed. "Sure thing. Go ahead."

Joseph watched Kevin hobble his way into the men's bathroom before taking the capsule out of his pocket, once again. He had missed his opportunity to use it on the soccer field and now he didn't know when he'd be able to use it next, or even if he should use it anymore. He was starting to have second thoughts about what he was about to do, even if he had no reason to worry.

He had done enough research to know what had to be done, but that chance had been blown today and it would probably be a long time before another opportunity came around again. He held the capsule between his right thumb and index finger, watching the red liquid inside swirl around in the light. He looked down and saw Kevin's burger and an idea suddenly popped into his head. He didn't know exactly how well it would work this way, but he knew this was his last chance before tonight.

He looked up to see if Kevin was on his way back yet, knowing he didn't have long to execute his plan. Kevin hadn't left the bathroom, so Joseph quickly took the top bun off of Kevin's burger, carefully opened the capsule, and poured its contents onto the bun, letting the liquid seep into it as it miked with the ketchup and UBurger's special sauce.

Just then the bathroom door opened, and Kevin walked out. Joseph saw this, quickly placed the bun back onto the burger, and bunched the two parts of the capsule into a napkin to throw away.

"Okay," Kevin said, sitting back down at the table, "Now we can dig into these amazing burgers." He picked up his burger and took a big bite out of it...a look of surprise came to his face. "Wow, that is a juicy burger," he said right after he swallowed. "I've never had the deluxe before; do they use a different sauce? It tastes like... almost like a steak!"

Joseph nodded his head quickly, a huge bite of burger already in his mouth, too. He watched on as Kevin took another big bite of his burger, hoping that his plan would be successful. All he had to do now was wait.

* * * *

It was a quiet drive back to Kevin's house, Kevin wincing occasionally as the car hit a bump or sudden dip in the road. Joseph helped Kevin inside, holding his friend up with an arm clasped around his back, and Kevin's arm over both shoulders.

"Hey, Joseph, you wanna try out this new game I got? It's called Amazing Crash Siblings, and you can fight people over the internet with it using these awesome characters."

"Sure, sounds good to me," Joseph replied as he followed Kevin's halting trot towards the couch where the TV was set up. Kevin had the system started and the game running within seconds. He lurched awkwardly around on his injured ankle, but still managed to get Joseph the controller.

"It's pretty easy," Kevin started explaining, "all you have to do is-"

Joseph was inundated with a seemingly endless torrent about controls, strategy, and which character was the best. He was struggling to keep up with Kevin's speed but eventually got into a game. He selected the large monkey character, while Kevin chose some kind of brightly coloured round marshmallow. Just like that, they were fighting. Two minutes later, the screen erupted in a spray of fireworks while a booming voice proclaimed Kevin's chosen character the winner. He turned to see Kevin grinning toothily.

"Well? What'cha think?"

"I think I need more practice."

Kevin laughed. "Well, maybe. It's not that bad, you'll get the hang of it. Come on, let's do a couple more practice rounds and then go online and kick some butt."

The practice sessions quickly passed, and, before Joseph knew it, they were fighting some person using a short, fat electrician character. It was only because of Kevin's skill that they managed to win, but only barely.

"Yeah, good one, Joe!"

"Was that... Antonio from the Amazing Siblings' World games?"

"Yeah! Cool, isn't it?"

Joseph couldn't help but grin. "Yeah, this game is kinda neat." He glanced up at the clock and saw it was hours later. "Hey, Kevin, when are your parents coming home? I think I gotta move my car."

"Don't worry about it," Kevin answered, "they're away for the next week and a bit."

"You're home alone?"

"Yeah, it's actually kind of nice not having someone nagging me about cleaning up dishes constantly." Kevin started another game. "Hey, do you wanna stay over tonight?"

"Sure, I'll let my mom know and get my stuff. After we own this noob!"

Joseph was startled when the person on the other end proved to be more challenging than either him or Kevin had expected.

"Shit!" Kevin shouted as his marshmallow went flying off screen, bursting into a flash of light.

The match ended, their internet competitor taking first place.

"Dammit!" Kevin shouted, in a voice that surprised Joseph. "I... I gotta train up some while you go get your things. Damnit, that jerk..."

Joseph left, wondering at the sudden, uncharacteristic outburst of anger as he walked over to his house. It occurred to him that it could be the start of his plan coming to fruition. He would keep a close eye on Kevin tonight to make sure.

It was a simple matter to convince his mom to let him stay at Kevin's, even though his parents weren't home. After all, they were just next door, and they'd been friends for years. He came back, armed with a sleeping bag and a change of clothes. The two of them settled in for a long night of gaming. The game seemed to bring out the competitive side of Kevin, all he seemed to want to do was find new opponents online and defeat them mercilessly. Joseph watched Kevin all the while, looking for the smallest signs of change.

After hours of gaming, Joseph still hadn't seen any, and was starting to think that maybe his plan had failed, that he hadn't given Kevin enough, or that it had somehow been wrong. He jerked awake from a punch in the arm.

"Wake up, goof. You're gonna fall off the stage if you keep nodding off like that," Kevin sneered at him.

"Ugh, I think I'm done, Kev." Joseph yawned. "I'm gonna crash."

"Okay, let's just finish this battle."

Even with Joseph's clumsy plays, their team still managed to win. He caught Kevin doing a fist pump.

"Alright, where do you wanna sleep?" Kevin asked, turning off the system.

"Down here's fine with me," Joseph answered. "Plenty of space. Plus, then I don't have to go upstairs."

"I thought I was the one with the ankle problem." Kevin joked.

"Oh, sorry about that," Joseph said, "Do you need any help getting up the stairs?"

"Nah, I think I'll be fine," Kevin replied, "Besides, my ankle isn't hurting as much any more. Hopefully that means it'll be as good as new by morning."

"Yeah, let's hope so," Joseph added. "I guess I'll see you in the morning, then."

"Okay. Remember, the downstairs bathroom's just down the hall so you can wash up for bed," Kevin said as he began his ascent up the stairs.

"Thanks," Joseph called back.

"No problem!" Kevin replied, as he reached the top of the stairs. He walked down the hall to his room and, upon entering it, switched on the light.

Kevin's room was mostly tidy for that of a teenager. His bed was unmade, as it usually was, but there were only a few items of clothing on the floor. He switched the light on his bedside table on and turned to his dresser. He opened one of the drawers and pulled out a clean pair of boxers. After spending hours in the sun sweating up a storm, he decided a bath before bed would be a good idea. He walked back into the hallway and into the bathroom.

He shut the door behind him and turned the faucet on. As the water warmed up, he stripped off his grubby clothes. The cool tile of the floor was smooth against his bare feet. He stuck a finger under the water to check the temperature and, finding it warm enough, put the stopper in the tub.

The water pooling, he sat on the edge of the tub and brought his ankle up to look at it. There seemed to be no sign at all that he had twisted it and a few experimental flexes provided no twinges of pain. Overall, he felt good, better than he had in weeks. Maybe it was from the running around he'd done today, or just being outside, but either way, a bath would be a good end.

He stood and gingerly stepped into the tub, seating himself against the back and stretching out his legs. The warm water embraced him, and he closed his eyes. The heat from the water soaked into his bones, easing the tensions of the day. He thought about the guy who had beaten him in the game and frowned. He'd have to get better and reclaim the points he'd lost in the battle. There would be time for that tomorrow. He let the water come up to his belly before he shut it off and sunk into the comforting warmth.

A knock at the door jolted him from his relaxation. "Hey, Kev? You got an extra blanket somewhere? Your floor is a little hard."

"Uh, give me a couple minutes," he said, standing. "I was... just having a bath." He grabbed for a towel and wrapped it around his waist, water dripping off him.

"Oh, okay," Joseph replied. "I'll just wait downstairs."

Kevin quickly dried himself off, hearing Joseph's footfalls moving down the corridor. He secured the towel around his waist, holding the ends together with one hand and opened the bathroom door, peeking out first before remembering his towel. He walked to the linen cupboard at the end of the hallway, and pulled the spare blanket from one of the shelves, bundling it up under his free arm. He tried to close the cupboard door, while trying to hang onto the blanket and his towel, with limited success. Half of the blanket slipped out and spilled out onto the floor before he finally tossed it aside, smacked the door shut and grabbed what he could of the blanket before stalking down the hall to the stairs.

"Here," Kevin said, awkwardly tossing the blanket at Joseph.

"Thanks. Good night, bud."

"Mm." Kevin got two steps in before his friend called after him.

"Lookin' good!" Joseph said, in his joking tone.

"Shut up."

Joseph's laugh followed him back up the stairs.

His bathwater had grown cool, so he gave up on it and let it drain while he slipped on the boxers and brushed his teeth. Kevin went back into his bedroom, put his glasses on the table under the lamp, and fell onto his bed, a growing wave of exhaustion finally catching up with him. He pulled the blankets over him, shut his eyes, and gave in.