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Seven Years Ago

Four days after Trick Dixon's eighteenth birthday party, most of his friends were still 'never drinking again.' That was okay by Trick though; sitting in a bar on his own meant possibilities, not loneliness. He ordered a double single malt scotch on the rocks - Talisker, his favourite, with its hints of smoke, salt and sandy beaches. It might as well have been made here in Cali, right outside this bar, where the waves lapped on the beach, the shallows looking two miles long tonight, still just about visible in the post-sunset glow. A breeze was blowing through the open door, scattering a light covering of sand over the floorboards. Tonight was surf music night. Disappointing there was no band, but the jukebox would do. Someone had put 'Rescue at the Mavericks' by The Torquays on.

'I love this song,' Trick said to the bartender, a fellow otter whose name he didn't know.

'I know.' Fellow Otter poured Trick's drinking, lifting the bottle a little high for effect. 'I loved your party the other night. And what you've done with your ears? Oh they just cry out "Ruffle me." '

Trick licked his lips and took a small sip. 'Don't they.'

Fellow Otter kept looking at him, as if asking permission. All Trick was keep what his mother had called 'That devil's smile' on his face. When Fellow Otter spotted a customer at the other end of the bar, Trick winked as he walked away, hoping Fellow would notice. He did. He saw a twitch of Fellow's tail. Nice.

Trick turned around and looked at everyone sitting at tables, a quiet night but a long way from empty. He thought about an hour ago, back at the great big beach house his father had rented for him and his mother and any friends they wanted for the next four weeks.

'Style me up, Kia. Like you did on my birthday. I'm going to Winslow's.'

The snow leopard had sighed. 'Theodore, that'll take hours.'

'Yeah, but I'm worth it, right?' Trick got off the bed. 'Come on, just do my face then. And that surf wax thing on my head.'

'Oh, go on then.' The snep already had a comb and the pot of wax in his hand. 'As long as you get down to your pants anyway.'

His heart already picking up, Trick stripped off, pulled a chair in front in front of the big mirror in the bathroom, and sat down. The bulge in his pants grew as soon as his friend began to preen his fur, a suggestively naughty look on the snep's face. Kia stopped, and tickled the back of Trick's neck. 'You wanna fuck? Coz if you do we've gotta do it before I get you ready. We'll ruin all my work otherwise.'

'Nah, it's okay. Just preen me, sneppers.'

'Pity. You already look as fuckable as you did on your birthday.' This whispered in Trick's ear, in a voice that would have done well on a drag show stage.

'Just a preen,' Trick said. 'You can fuck me when I come home from the bar still single.'

It proved an effort though, sitting there with a bulge in his pants while his friend styled his fur, giving a purr of satisfaction every time the look was right. It didn't take hours, but the snep couldn't stop at just touching up his head and face fur. Kia stroked Trick's back and tail with a heavy brush. Trick breathed deeply with every long stroke, wanting his friend's body more than anything in the world, but deciding a little control now would make it all the better later.

'Don't be drunk later,' Kia said, doing up the button on Trick's surf shorts, then all the ones on his blue and white loose shirt. 'I want my hung otter as soon as he gets home.' The snep ran the comb between his own ears a few times. 'Kyle's going to catch us before this holiday's over.'

'Kyle's asleep right now because he worked out too hard this afternoon,' Trick said. 'And when he wakes up, he's going to smoke a joint too hard too, then he'll scoff a whole seventeen inch pizza on his own and be asleep by the time I get back.'

'Because I'm going to make sure of it, aren't I?'

'Yyyup,' Trick said. 'That thing from when we went surfing on my birthday stuck, by the way. Everyone's started calling him Dolphin. That's really not a good nickname.'

'Why not? Just because you know he's a better surfer than you. He does swim a bit like a dolphin.'

'Dolphin's a sassy nickname.'

'Well, bless-him-love-him, your brother's just such a sassy otter.'

'Yyyup.'

Kia gave Trick a kiss, filling his mouth with a little too much tongue and saliva as usual. 'But I still do love him. And I think we should tell him.'

'You think we should tell him,' Trick said, deadpan but still grinning. 'That he's the one you love but you'd rather have sex with me.'

'Okay, maybe not tell him like that, but...how can I get him to be like you in bed? You think there's a way you can drop hints to him that I'd love if it he was just a bit more...y'know, a bit more you?'

'Listen, I'm always happy to share. I was a sharing the toybox kind of kid and I never grew out of it. I'm just nice like that. Why don't we ask him if he minds that we both enjoy you?'

'Oh I don't know, Trick. Because you're his kid brother? Wouldn't it be too much like...ah never mind. But I think we should tell him what I really gave you for your birthday.'

'What have I told you?' Trick said, fondling Kia's tail and licking the tip of his nose. 'You gave me a new wetsuit, just like he saw. The rest was my present to you. Don't let the guilt in here.' He tapped Kia's forehead. 'You broke up with him, remember?'

'We're on hiatus.'

'And that never came with a condition you didn't see anyone else. Come on. This'll pick your relationship with him up loads when you get it back on track. New ideas. And this is Cali. Loads of brothers share partners. It's not the same as fucking each other. Even if we both had you at once. Would you like that? I can ask.'

'Ooooh no! So not ready right there. I think my heart would explode.'

'Death by otter double-team. Not a bad way to go.' Trick returned Kia's kiss and then took his friend's head in his hands. 'Okay, serious time. I'll think about what to do. I promise. I've got big plans, right here. I can wake Kyle up a bit, because I want him to be part of them, because he's my brother and I love him. You'll see. Things are going to be great. Tagging along for my birthday party holiday's already the best choice you ever made. I'm going to make it even better.'

'Dreamer.'

'I'm going to make our dreams come true. I don't need a star to wish on, sneppers. I'm just me. Now come on. Say what you know I wanna hear.'

Kia put his mouth next to Trick's ear, then purred softly. 'Uh-uh. You wanna hear that? Come home to me sober enough to make me say it. Why do you even want to go drinking tonight anyway?'

'I just do. I want to hear surf music and smell the bar. And maybe meet some new people.'

'Go on then. I still can't look at a drink. Have fun.' Kia pointed his finger like a pistol. 'Catch a snep!'

'Catch a snep!'

I've stolen my brother's boyfriend, Trick thought, taking another sip of scotch as the chord breaks in the middle of 'Rescue' kicked in. Kyle never had his own quirky substitute for 'have a good night' with anyone. Whatever I do, I can't turn my brother into me so our best friend will stay with him. I'm in big trouble.

And I love it. I'm Theodore 'Trick' Dixon, and I'm just getting started on this world. Then I want the next one too.

Fellow Otter had gone over the Jukebox. 'Rescue' ended and 'Summer at Dreampoint' by The Aqua Velvets started. What had the guy done, written down every song Trick had put on during his party?

Good. Everybody wants this otter. Trick took a contented deep breath. Kyle was a great guitar player. Trick had always fancied learning, so he could play music like this. Perhaps it was time he got his brother to teach him properly. It would bring them together a little more. Then the rest would happen. Kyle had to come here and live this life with him. Trick didn't want this dream without his brother.

He probably knows about Kia already, Trick thought. The style the snep had put on him for his eighteenth was a copy of the idea Kyle had used for a year already - dyed ears and a dyed stripe down his back and tail and front. Except Kia had just dyed it white-blonde on Kyle. It was like he'd thought up the stunning blend of blue and orange on brown fur, got ready to do it on his boyfriend, and then saved it for Trick. He'd done the double stripe on the arms too, circling them in a tattoo effect that rippled while he was swimming.

Maybe he should let Fellow Otter take his ruffle and see where it went tonight. First thing was first though.

'What's your name?' Trick said, accepting another double and putting ten bucks down.

'Sanford. Call me Sandy.'

'Theodore. Call me Trick.' The shook hands.

'I already know your name. The way your mom still calls you Tadpole is adorable.'

'Don't. You can call me Tad if you want to, loads of people still do. But the other? That's mom only. I wish she'd quit it.'

'Where did Trick come from? I never heard Theodore shortened to that.'

'I played a character called that once. School play. Everyone said I was just playing myself all the time. It stuck. Beware the Trickster in the Shadows.'

'I never heard of that play. Who wrote it?'

'I did.'

Sandy put the bottle down. 'You wrote and starred in your own play. As a high-schooler.'

'Yep. Senior year.'

'Special boy,' Sandy said, sliding Trick's drink to him and ignoring the ten bucks.

'Not so special really. We all just had to come up with the plot for a play and write two scenes and our drama teacher picked a winner. It wasn't really my play in the end, it was more like his. I just nagged him to change bits of it and we rehearsed a lot of the characters together.' Didn't we just. That story's not for tonight. Fellow Otter doesn't need to know how I worked out I was gay. Just that I am.

'So, special otter who wrote his own high school play, you just come in here for a quiet drink or are you meeting someone?'

'Quiet drink. But I think the meeting thing's just happened, huh?'

'Wanna tell me what your plot was?'

'Sure. It was like this...'

'Hey kid.'

Oh no. This wasn't supposed to happen tonight. Trick turned. He'd last seen his father a year ago. Tyler Goldman looked like he'd aged five, but he still looked healthy, and astute enough for anyone to know that it didn't matter whose conversation he interrupted. This wasn't so good. Trick had been expecting a shipwreck of an otter, now everything he'd heard turned out to be wrong. Or his father had turned things around in the same spectacular fashion he'd always been known for.

'Whisky, huh?' Ty said. 'Good boy. Enjoy it while you still can. Just remember, bit of a family weakness. Keep it in check.' He put a fifty down. 'Give the kid a bottle of that to take home with him when he leaves. I'll have a cup of coffee.'

The look on Sandy's face was one that Trick had seen a few times before and it was best described with what he knew Fellow Otter would say next: 'Your dad's Tyler Goldman?'

'Yeah,' Ty said. 'So hurry up with my coffee. We'll have that table right there.' He pointed to the centre table, where two labradors were having what looked like a romantic drink. 'Go tell 'em sorry, but you forgot it was supposed to be reserved this evening.'

Once they'd sat down, Trick decided he could still play this, no matter how off-guard his father had caught him. 'I was just getting along well with him.'

'Yeah? Well, I'm here and I want to spend time with you. You can meet fuckable tail some other night.'

'Except I wanted it tonight.'

'Don't play sad with me, kid. You had your party, didn't you? You telling me you didn't get at least one present from somebody?'

Wouldn't you like to know. 'Don't tell me,' Trick said. 'You didn't get my invitation. Your PA fucked up again.'

'I'm sorry I wasn't there, but strange though it may sound to you, I didn't think an eighteenth celebration full of drunk, horny teenagers was exactly the best place for a middle aged otter who's been going to AA meetings for the last three years.'

'Translation: there's a middle aged otter you're still scared shitless of, and her name's Shiva Dixon.'

'Your mother's a pretty amazing woman. Always told you that.'

As close as he'll ever get to admitting it. 'You know, Dad, I'm very disappointed you're sober.'

Even his father's perpetually rock-like face changed at that. 'Excuse me?'

'I came here with a plan. I was going to be the adoring son who got you back on your feet, despite everything in the past. That was going to be 'Hello World, here's Trick.' Then you were going to go all soft and put some good words in for me while I worked the circuit. Or better, you'd get your friends to do it so it never had to look like it came from you. I came here to use you. Now I'm going to have to work a whole lot harder thanks to you becoming a friend of Bill W's.' Trick downed the rest of his drink. 'Disappointed.'

'Well shit,' Ty said. 'My otter.'

'Yeah. The one you didn't raise. Look how that turned out anyway.'

His father's look softened a little, but his eyes could still have bored through a wall. 'I'm not scared of your mom, kid. She and I had a good long talk, right before you came out here and brought all your friends. You think she could afford the holiday you wanted? Guess who she asked.'

'I knew she would. And that you couldn't say no.'

'She and I are still good friends,' he said. 'That's why she told me all about you. She wants me to make your dreams come true. She used everything I ever did wrong as leverage. I'll hand it to her, she was good. She really fought for you. That's why I came here to tell you I'm not doing it.'

Trick waved his empty glass and caught Sandy's eye. 'Big surprise.'

Ty smiled. 'Yeah. I think you really were that prepared. And you still think you can win me round somehow. Play the game. Ride all the way to the gravy train and then ride that too. That's why I like you. So I showed up.'

Sandy refilled Trick's glass, three shots this time, and brought a pot of coffee as well.

'You enjoy your beach party?'

'Yeah. Thanks.'

'Es nada, kid. I might not be up for Father of the Year, but I got a heart. So listen, take it as sincere or don't, but getting on the twelve steps did teach me a thing or two. I know I made some mistakes. I'm not that good at apologies because half the time it's obvious I don't really mean them, but I'd like a chance. You came here to use me? I came here to use you too. I think we're talking the same language.'

'But I don't get a good word from you to help get my career going?'

'I'm not letting you trade on my name, and I'm not doing that nepotism crap. Let me tell you why. What would you rather have, the career Daddy helped you get or the one you got for yourself, because you actually were that good that you did it on your own name? That's why you're a Dixon, not a Goldman. That's why none of my kids have my name. Your brothers, your half-brothers, anyone I might not know about, they're their own person, like I had to be.'

'Sure. No help. Like your father never lent you your first million to start your venture.'

'Sure. Why do you think I deliberately blew it?'

'Because blowing a million deliberately got you your name known. Call it what you want. You had help.'

'There's something I just love about hearing the phrase 'blowing a million' from an otter who probably sucked cock before he walked in here and ordered his first legal drink on his eighteenth birthday.'

Nice, Trick thought. Roll with it. 'Let's talk about your chance, Dad. That one you want from me. Okay, you can have it. I'm not really bothered about much of it. At least you never abused me. How could you? You were never there to do it.'

His father's eyes looked deep and dark. 'I never abused any of my children, Theodore. There are some things you don't do no matter what else you might have on your record. This business I'm in, powerful people protect their friends when they do shit like that. Those of us with enough decency though, we get it stopped. Why do you think my life became hell for several years? I couldn't just shut up. What did you want, kid? Me bringing my death threats and my drinking to the home where your mom was trying to raise you?'

'Okay, sorry, that was low. Mom told me about all that stuff you blew the whistle on. I respected you for that.' It was true, he did. Trouble is, Dad, being that brave and honest doesn't buy your way out of everything else. 'But let's just talk about one little thing on your record. I want you to say something for me. I hear it go through my head a lot, when I think about how Kyle came out to you. He was holding Kia's hand. So, would you say "You did it with a snep? What the everloving fuck?"'

'Yeah, okay.' Ty waved his hand. 'Not a bad impression of me. Quite the little actor already, aren't you? I'll make things right with your brother. As right as I can get them. I just might need your help. And before you continue your little bargain, family reunions that mend ties aren't the same as you dreaming of topping the list of best paid movie stars. I want this for more than just me. Three years sober will do that to you. You know why I got sober in the first pla...' Trick's father looked like he was daydreaming for a moment, but Trick knew he wasn't. 'You fucked your brother's boyfriend, didn't you? The snep.'

Trick grinned. 'Yeah. On my birthday too.'

Tyler Goldman burst out laughing. The background noise of the bar just about isolated the noise of it from everyone else. Trick felt like he was caught in the perfect private moment.

'Gonna tell my brother?' Trick said.

'Course not. Are you?'

'Yeah, probably. When the time's right.'

'Was he any good?'

'What does it matter? Why couldn't you have smiled like that and just said that when Kyle poured his heart out to you? Where did this live and let live come from?'

'I told you. Getting sober makes you realise a few things.'

'Yeah, okay, I'll have that. As long as you'll admit one other thing.'

'What?'

'You like me just that little bit more than your other kids. I'm the one you don't mind making love to other species or another male.' Trick waited, knowing his father probably wouldn't answer. He didn't. 'Go on then. You were telling me why you got sober.'

'Because I love this business,' Ty said. 'Producing movies. That's the life I made for myself, and I wasn't done with the world yet. I could have my life back or I could let it run like a train with no fuckin' breaks. So I put the breaks on. The films are worth it.'

'Yeah. They're your real kids.'

'Your mother knew what the deal was. She wanted five kids. I gave her that. She wanted to raise them herself, without needing a man to do anything except write a cheque. I gave her that too. She let me have visitation whenever I wanted it but she knew I wouldn't want it that much. Just as long as everything was okay, I wouldn't interfere. I gave you all a decent life. Me being there wouldn't have made it better. Don't start with "My dad never came to my plays or my sports day" either. I bought my way out of that with your little holiday already.'

'I never cared about that. Just that I knew your world was interesting since I was about five, and it took me thirteen years to get close to it. With this little holiday.'

'Ah shit.' Ty looked at the ceiling. 'You wanna drive to Hollywood then? Get a tour of a studio? Meet some big names?'

'No. Anybody can get on that tourist show. You know what I want.'

'And I told you already, get it yourself. I could have broken into this business even without that million I blew thirty years ago, because I'm me. You're you. You think you're good enough to make it as an actor out here? Great. I respect that. Now you can prove it. I'm going to love watching you struggle like hell. Because every time you get that little bit stronger you'll remember the time I told you you could do this on your own name and you didn't need mine. I look forward to the day you sit an interview in front of me and I don't acknowledge I've ever seen you before you. But here's a concession: I'll be rooting for you. I promise. You want your shot? Fine. Here we are. Your first trip to Cali. Show me what you've got, boy.'

'Show you what I've got?'

'Yeah.'

'Alright, sure. Even if you're making it sound like I'm in my pants at some porn audition and that's the cue for me to drop them.'

Ty shrugged. 'Well, seeing as you brought it up, would you have what it took down there if you had an audition like that?'

'It's your DNA, Dad. You really in any doubt about the "you betcha" on that one?'

His father laughed again. 'Well, here's the other thing then. You're a man now. So I wanted to tell you, man to man, that I know how this business can work. You know why you're lucky to have an old bastard like me as your old man? Look at what's on my record. So I'm here to promise I won't judge you. For anything you have to do to make it. Anything.'

How was he supposed to answer that? A moment later, it was obvious. 'I wouldn't have cared if you did.'

'Atta boy.' His father put a hand in his jacket pocket and took out an envelope. 'You were right about the goddamn help. Yeah, I had my million. I'm not giving you my name, my recommendation, anything else, but here. Just so long as you know that once you open that, that's it. That's all the pay it forward you get. Fatherly duties complete.'

It wasn't money, Trick knew. There was a bulge in the envelope. 'Mind if I think about this?'

'Just open the goddamn thing.'

Trick opened it, and a moment later wondered how he hadn't worked it out before. It was a key, attached to a keyring and a tag with an address on.

'Happy birthday, kid. That oughta help get you started. Here.' Ty put another fifty on the table. 'If you can't wait until tomorrow to go try that key out, get a cab. I don't want your story starting with a DUI.'

'That's...' Trick was staring at the address. 'This is a house right on the beach.' Prime real estate. Several million. Shit, negotiation over. His father was still the master. 'Thanks, Dad.'

'Before you get up, I don't want a hug. I don't want anything. Not even a drink. Just enjoy it, and try not to burn it down or flood it before you've got insurance. I made sure there's a bed and a sofa and a TV. And I stocked the fridge for you tonight as well. Why don't you stay in the bar until fuckable tail over there gets off shift and go christen it?'

Because forget him. I want to christen it with a snep. I want to think about you saying what you said to Kyle and Kia while I do it. Then I have to figure out how to tell my brother you bought my a house for my eighteenth birthday when all you gave him was...

'What_did_ you give Kyle a year ago, Dad? Remind me.'

'I sent your mother a cheque. She put it straight in his college fund.'

He won't be going to college. Not if I can talk sense into him. 'How much?'

'A thousand bucks. I think.'

Trick nodded. 'This making things right with him's off to a good start then. Soon as I take him in that house and tell him where it came from, tell me, how many ice ages do you think it'll take before he even acknowledges you exist, let alone talk to you?'

Tyler Goldman smiled from ear to ear as he got up. 'Persuade him to. You want this life badly enough, you're going to have to close harder deals than that. You're either tough enough for this world or you're not. But I've got a feeling you might just survive. Have a good night, kid.'

* * *

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. If you're new, welcome. If you've been with me for a while, welcome back.

After posting three long-ish stories on here and deciding to make them part of my self-published catalogue, I've taken the decision to upload my stories through Patreon from now on. If you like what you've read here, there will be a couple more posts of this story before I switch over to Patreon for everything.

I know that not everyone can find spare cash for supporting a furry author every month, even though I'll be keeping my tier prices relatively low to begin with. I understand. If you like what you've read here, please do check out my profile where you'll find three other longer stories you can read for free - they will last you quite a few hours, I promise! *I won't be taking these down. * And they _are _good, or so I've been told. If I can't persuade you to support me in some way after reading them all, well, I guess that's just a sign they could be better. Speaking of which...

What I'm also going to do is re-draft them, improve them, add some new material, and get them ready for publication, then post the new versions on Patreon for people to read before they hit the ebook stores. If you just want to support me occasionally by a one-off purchase when the books go live, that's great; I'm thankful for anything.

Okay, I'll make one last _sort of _free offer too: if you're _really _hard up and you love my work that much, then you can ask to be on my advance reader team and get it for free that way, but this will require a conversation with me first. What I ask for in return is a bit of comment and analysis to help me improve the book, so the ARC team is for readers who have good attention to detail and are good communicators. Email me at athleteraccoon@gmail.com if you think that's you.

Oh yeah, you might need a link. Stand by for that - for a couple of reasons I'm holding off making it live for another week or two. When the time comes, you'll find me there as Todd Aldrington, my fursona name and pen-name for all furry material.