The Hanging Academy

Section 7, Chapter 9

Two Days Later

I spent most of two days trying to figure out a way around the jail's visitation limits. Any time I wasn't coaching Holden and Hamish, eating, sleeping, or making love with one of my friends, I worried at the problem. I'd communed with Marshall again, and gotten nothing. Then I'd gone down to the Hall of Honor and stood there, looking into Maverick's eyes for over an hour. And gotten one word: Dean.

I went to ask Tina for an appointment.

The Next Morning

"You can go right in," Tina told me.

The Dean waved me to a chair as soon as I walked through the door. "I assume you want to ask a favor."

"It's about Andrew, my brother. As you saw at the meeting, he really has changed. So much so, that I now think of him by a new name, 'Andy' instead of Andrew. But he's still stuck in the past, worrying about what he did to me. Regret is good up to a point, but he needs to move past it. As long he's stuck there, he'll never get into the Academy because his focus is divided. And that will be a shame, because I think he has to ability to be second in his class, just as I was, or even first... unless another Maverick shows up to outshine him. But to free Andy from Andrew, I need to get physical with him. Hug him, wrestle with him. Maybe even fight him. And the jail visitation rules require us to stay on opposite sides of a table, and the only contact allowed is a handshake."

The Dean thought for several seconds, then said, "I see no objection, but I just don't think there's anything I can do about this problem..."

If the Dean can't help, why did Marshall send me to him. But the Dean went on. "...You may have forgotten that you have two very good friends outside the Academy, either of whom will be glad to help you in any way they can." He pressed a button. "Tina, there's a phone number for Mr. Smith's office at National Technical Services attached to his contract. Would you call and find out if he's willing to talk to Wynn?"

"Right away."

The Dean and I chatted about Holden and Hamish and my other friends for a couple of minutes, then the intercom buzzed. "Mr. Smith will be happy to speak to Wynn Cameron."

"Connect us, please." The phone rang, and the Dean pushed a button. A female voice said, "Please hold for Mr. Smith."

"Okay." The Dean answered.

There was a brief pause, then, "Hello, Wynn, Dean Porter. What can I do for you?"

I explained about Andy and the visitation problem. There was a short pause, then Benjamin said, "I don't immediately see what I can do, but I have a large legal department at my disposal. I'll put them on the problem and call you back within two days — and I'll be very surprised if they can't find a way."

"Thank you ever so much, sir."

"Please, call me Benjamin, just like before. And I'm really happy to do anything I can for you. And I can assure you that Calvin feels the same way."

"Thank you, Benjamin. I really appreciate that."

That's fine. Goodbye, and I'll be calling you back as soon as my team finds a way." I heard the click as the phone was disconnected.

"Is there anything else you need, Wynn," the Dean asked.

I smiled and shook my head.

"Try to stay loose. Tina will summon you as soon as Mr. Smith calls back." He nodded toward the door.

The Next Afternoon

Runner and I were enjoying the afterglow after making love with Puppy. Holden and Hamish had introduced him to a refinement on "both pleasures": one under his tail while the other sucked him off. Their near-telepathic connection meant they could get the timing just right, so this was Puppy's new favorite. We'd tossed a coin and I won, so I got to have Puppy in my mouth while Runner was in his tailhole.

The speaker made that crackling noise, then Tina's voice said, "Wynn Cameron, please come to the Conference Room at six PM." Runner and I exchanged a look. Should we eat dinner early? Runner shook his head. Right. Benjamin was coming earlier than he'd said. We'd celebrate afterward.

I looked at the clock. We had plenty of time. We continued stroking Puppy as he recovered from "both pleasures." Then we took a leisurely shower. Partway through, Runner sat on the floor and collected his fair recompense for me getting to suck Puppy. Then we washed off the new sweat, got out, and toweled ourselves dry.

The Dean was already waiting when I walked into the Conference Room a few minutes early. I sat down, one seat away from him as before. Benjamin walked in about five minutes after six.

"Hello, Wynn. I'm here with good news for you, although there's a bit of risk attached to our solution."

"Yes?"

"Have I mentioned that NTS's legal team is really sharp? Well, they are. Legally, Wynn Cameron became my slave when I signed the contract and paid the fee. Well, technically Wynn is Calvin's slave, but Calvin approves of this plan."

What? The Dean nodded, so I shut up and listened.

"The standard powers of a slave-owner include selling or renting the slave."

"Your purchase contract forbids re-selling or..." the Dean stopped, then added, "without permission of the Academy."

"Exactly. The head of my legal staff contacted Mr. Wainwright." Benjamin looked at me. "Your brother's arraignment is tomorrow morning. Wainwright has reached a plea bargain with the DA's office. If the judge approves, Andrew Cameron begin serving it immediately, with credit for time served."

The Dean was smiling. So was I.

"Now, suppose Calvin rents Wynn to Andrew for one week..." Benjamin paused and looked at me.

"Then Andrew will be entitled to a conjugal visit from 'his' slave. We'll have a private room. And no limits on contact."

The Dean pressed a button on his desk.

"Yes?" Tina asked.

"Pull Wynn's purchase contract from the file. Make out our standard letter giving permission to re-sell a slave, and fill in the details for Wynn, but substitute 'rent' for 'resell'.

"I'll have two copies for you in fifteen minutes."

The Dean turned back to Benjamin. "Coffee? No, you prefer tea. And perhaps a pastry while we wait?"

Benjamin smiled and nodded, then turned to me. "You do realize there's some risk here? Legally, you'll be Andrew's slave. He can do anything he wants to you, as long as he doesn't damage you permanently. Even if he does, it would only be a misdemeanor, "vandalism of a slave". Even if he kills you, it would be "Intentional Destruction of Property." And nobody monitors those conjugal visit rooms. They have a computer with speech recognition for the word 'safeword' — if you can get it out in time."

"Andrew won't harm me," I answered, "not even humiliate me. He doesn't want to. And even if he did, it would wreck his chances for becoming a Hanging Boy, and he wants that more than anything. I'll be okay."

"Just wanted to be sure. My lawyer will pass the word to Wainwright and he'll tell Andrew."

A kitchen slave came in with a tray. "My legal deparment also checked up on Wainwright," Benjamin told us as he sipped his tea. "The scuttlebutt seems to agree on three things. First, nobody likes going up against him. One lawyer told me, 'He knows every trick in the book, and wrote two of the chapters.' Second, nearly all his clients and former clients are happy with him. Third, nobody has ever seriously suggested that he's done anything illegal or unethical. Just the occasional joke that he 'must be cheating' because he wins so often, but nobody has said, 'He did this unethical thing.' Looks like he's an honest weasel, even if that sounds like an oxymoron."

Tina arrived a few minutes later with the form. The Dean signed it, gave one copy to Benjamin and the other copy to Tina to file. Benjamin finished his tea, dropped the form into his briefcase, wished me "Good luck," and got up to leave.

"Go, have dinner with your friends. The kitchen will bake fresh pizza." I thanked the Dean and went celebrate with my family in the Caf.

Two Days Later

We went through the same procedure as before. Officer Odell must have remembered us, but he checked our IDs and papers just as thoroughly as the first time. And I had to go through a body cavity search to make sure I wasn't bringing in drugs.

Bruno wasn't happy about having to wait outside, but he sat down on a bench and did his best to look non-threatening. I went into the room, put a manila envelope on the bedside table, and sat in a straight-backed chair. A guard brought Andrew in a few minutes later.

"Wynn, it's so good to see you again."

"You, too. Now we can be together, alone, with nobody to tell us not to touch."

"Yes. Yes."

I hauled off and slapped him, hard. He curled his hands into fists. "What the...?

"That was for the slave contract and the tracker."

"Oh. Yeah." He stood there, looking down.

I slapped him with my other hand, rocking his whole body to one side. "And that is for whatever plan you had, that I short-circuited by running to the Academy as soon as I got the acceptance letter."

"And one for Purity Island," Andrew said, eyes still down.

"Yes," I said, and slapped him a third time, not so hard. "And this is for Purity Island, too." I grabbed him and kissed him.

"What?"

"Purity Island wasn't all bad. If you hadn't had me kidnapped there, I'd have never met Runner. Or Puppy. I figure I came out ahead on that deal."

"Yeah, I guess you did. So, did you arrange this whole rent-a-slave thing so you could slap me silly?"

I didn't correct him on whose idea this was. "The exact opposite. So I could slap some sense into you."

"Meaning?"

"It's good that you repent of what you did before, Andrew. But you need to get beyond that. It's not enough to say, 'I'm going to stop being evil.' You have to find a way to grow into the you that you can be."

"Which has what to do with the price of slaps in jail?"

You planned bad things for me three times. I escaped all three times, and all three times I grew into a better, stronger Wynn. Now I've hurt you three times. You're taking society's punishment, here, in jail. Now you've had punishment directly from me. Can you forgive yourself now? Can you grow into Andrew Cameron, the Hanging Boy who graduated at the top of his class?

"I see. Or at least, I begin to see."

"Good. Then I can stop punishing you. And you can stop punishing you. Okay."

"Okay. So, that was the reason for this visit? To 'slap some sense into me'?"

"Partly. But... remember in the Conference Room, you said you would do anything to make up for what you put me through."

"Yes. And I will. Just name it."

"I want you to do one more thing for me. Get into the Academy and become a Hanging Boy. Be the best Hanging Boy you can be. Then we'll be square. All right?"

Andrew breathed out. "Whew! That's a tough order... But I'll do it," he said, and shook my hand.

"All right, then." I grabbed him and kissed him. "And remember, this is a conjugal visit."

"Meaning we can have sex?"

I bit his ear gently. "If you want to."

"Do I ever! Do you have any idea how sexy you look, standing there? Of course you do. You're a Hanging Boy. Being sexy is your whole life, up to the moment you dance your life away in a noose, and you're sexy then, too. Right?"

"Right. You'll be even sexier when it's your turn."

"I hope so. But I don't want to just have sex with you, Wynn. I want to make love to you. Please let me make love to you, Wynn."

I hugged my brother and kissed him again, stroking his cheek with one hand. "Yes."

Andrew deepened the kiss, pressing himself against me. I let my hands roam up and down his sides and over his chest, and he moaned. He turned his head and breathed warm air on my ear, nibbled it lightly, then slid down to kiss the side of my neck. He unbuttoned my shirt and worked his way down my chest to my nipples. He stayed there while I caressed his cheeks and neck, until I started to scream from the pleasure.

I was almost ready to collapse, but he finally switched his attention, kissing his way slowly down my belly, tonguing my navel, while his hands undid my belt and slid my trousers down. He grabbed the waistband of my BVDs and pulled them down to my feet, freeing my cock. It bounced up against my belly, and Andrew stared at it for several seconds. He made me think of one of Dr. Pavlov's famous dogs, nearly drooling.

Andrew guided me to the bed, and gently pushed my chest. "Sit down, please?"

I sat.

Andrew spread my legs and knelt between them. He took my cock in his hand and started licking it. It reminded me of Puppy, and I started to giggle... But the effect was a great deal more than affection. When I felt like I would burst from frustration, he tongued the hole in the end a few times, then wrapped his mouth around me and started sucking. His tongue moved in perfect synch with his lips; he knew what he was doing. The state I was in, it took less than a minute before I came, hard.

Andrew backed off as he heard the change in my screams, but his hand moved to swirl around the head so that I barely missed having his mouth around me. He coated his lips and chin with my semen, then looked up and smiled at me. "I've been wanting to do that since I figured out my real goal in life," he told me. "I wanted so much to give you pleasure." He licked my cum off his lips.

"Well, you succeeded! Wow!"

"Pretty good, huh? As I improved my behavior, I got more free evenings. I hired a male escort to teach me how, then went to hookup clubs to find males to practice on. I've gotten pretty good at pleasing femmes, too."

When I was able to stand up, I went into the bathroom, dampened a washcloth, and cleaned Andrew's chin fur where his tongue couldn't reach. Then I took his hands and pulled him up to a standing position. I pulled him into a hug, plastering my body against his. Then I kissed him again.

"All that stuff I did to you..." he said, "it was not only mean, it was counterproductive. Showing you that dungeon just tipped you off to my plans, so that you ran to the Academy and escaped me. And that whole thing with Purity Island... I still couldn't have you as my pleasure-slave. It hurt you and it didn't do a thing to make me happier."

"Hush," I said, covering his mouth with mine. "It wasn't all bad. Listen and learn the good side. Okay?"

"Uhhh... Okay."

"Because Dad bought Marshall for you, I met Marshall. And he befriended me and gave me a letter of recommendation to the Academy. And because Marshall let me watch you and him in the tent, I got his head. A lot of good came of that." I kissed him again.

"By showing me your dungeon, you pushed me to run to the Academy. And because I checked in early, I met Larry and Leo. They were my best friends for almost three years, and we loved each other until it was time for them to leave for their hangings."

I told him about how I would commune with Marshall whenever I didn't know what to do, stopping occasionally to kiss his cheek, his ear, his neck... How Marshall had helped me save Maverick from an early and ignominious death. And how Marshall had told me what to do to help free him from his guilt.

"And when you showed up at that party, with whatever plans you had for humiliating or hurting me, I turned to my roommate Maverick, and we worked out that having-sex-while-hanging trick. Which not only put my services out of your reach, it was incredibly good sex as well. Other students are coming up with even better variants, so you not only helped me, you helped the Academy as a whole."

Andrew had been rock-hard after pleasuring me. As I talked to him, he got distracted and he would start to soften up a little. In that tight hug, I could feel when that happened, and I would rub my pelvis against him to get him hard again.

"It's just too bad you sulked off after the first pair-hanging, when a private room with me got too expensive for your budget. You missed all those shows we put on. You would have loved those so much, you would have been so excited, you would have cum so hard! And you missed Maverick's own hanging, done before a Party just like our pair hangings. That's the only really bad thing that came of your evil plans: that you missed out on a really great experience.

"Andrew," I said, looking him in the eyes and breathing gently on his lips, "Please promise me that you will never miss out on a good experience again. Now matter how disappointed you are, there are always other good things. So don't let one failure keep you from other good things. Okay?"

"Okay," Andrew said, breathing hard.

"And let me tell you the best part. Because you're going to get some of the benefit from this one." As I talked, I kept my eyes on Andrew's, but my hands began removing his clothing.

I reminded him of how I'd met Runner and escaped from Purity Island. By the time I finished, Andrew was as naked as I was. I picked up the envelope and pulled out an 8"x10" photo of Runner in his party outfit, and another of him naked.

"Wow!" Andrew said.

"Yeah. Wow. Runner is my roommate now. It turns out he's a natural as a Hanging Boy: beautiful, smart as a whip, and the only he thing he loves more than trying out 'new ways to sex' is hanging."

"But how does that affect me? He'll be graduated and hanged by the time I get there."

"At least two ways. First, he's bound to invent new moves, new techniques to make hanging even sexier. It's just the way he is, always trying things and finding out what works and what doesn't. You'll get the benefit of the new moves he works out, you and everybody who comes after him.

"And second, remember that he's an escaped prey from Purity Island. He had almost no interaction with other anthros until I met him. He came here knowing nothing about our culture, history, anything. He didn't know how to read or do simple arithmentic. He's learned a lot, but there's still a lot more he needs to know before he can qualify as a First Year student at the Academy.

"Andrew, Runner is going to be there when you start at the Academy. And he'll want to have sex with you, both because you're my brother and because he wants to try sex with everybody at least once. He'll probably be a Second year student when you start. You'll get to see him, naked. Learn from him. Share a bed with him. Now do you see that my side-trip to Purity Island is going to benefit you, as well?"

"Oh, my. Oh, yeah!"

"Andrew... remember when you got a chit for a private session with me?"

"Like it was yesterday."

"Would you like to find out what would have happened if you'd come to me like any other customer, just looking for the thrill of sex with a boy who practiced hanging by his neck every day, or the pleasure to be gotten from somebody who always knew what you really wanted?"

"Wow!" Andrew leaned forward and I kissed him. "When I had that private session with you, I fucked you, and it was nice. But that's not what I want any more. Wynn, would you fuck me. Please?"

"I'll be happy to." I looked at him again. He needs me to take control. Dominant but polite about it. "And I'll show you something I bet you never learned because you were too busy being a top." I paused, standing just within his reach. "Andrew, would you undress me, please." As he reached for my shirt to unbutton it, I danced just a little. Not obvious, just a little motion, a little swagger; he had to pause and wait until his fingers could reach the button. As he undid my shirt, I was doing the same to him.

Once my top was bare, I pulled my brother into another hug, and rubbed my chest against his, my belly against his belly, my crotch against his erection. That's hard enough to be uncomfortable, but he still wants me to set the pace. I then went back to my little dance while he took my shoes and socks off, I took his off, and so on until we were both naked.

"Would you sit down on the bed for me, Andrew?"

He did, and I put my hand around his cock. Not rubbing, just keeping it warm and hard. "I want you to close your eyes, Andrew. Imagine a big yard with a lot of people sitting around, like when you hanged Marshall. Can you see it?" I did this once for Jimmy Pellis, when I wanted him to be thinking about me as a person. This time I want Andrew to be thinking about himself, about his future.

"You're standing on a platform, the same kind Marshall was hanged from. All the audience sees is you, standing there with your fur gleaming in the sunlight, like a golden god. But all you see is the noose. Your noose.

Looking down, I saw drops of precum. Andrew was ready. I tapped his thighs, "Up." He pulled his legs up to expose his tailhole; I spread lube on it and my cock, then pressed against his pucker and slowly pushed into him. I went on with the fantasy I was creating.

Andrew was breathing hard, and I could feel the pulse in his cock. I went on: "Your buyer leads you onto the hanging platform, and your best friend pushes the lever to raise the platform. Now you have everybody looking up at you. Your friend puts the noose around your neck and makes sure it's set properly.

"You say the last line of your script, then close your eyes and get your breathing under control. Your buyer pulls the lever and the platform sinks away from under you. The noose tightens around your neck. You've done this many times, but this will be the last. You open your eyes and see every single person looking at you. You are in control, you know when to thrust your hips as if making love to someone, when to move your whole body like a flag waving in the wind, when to reach for the ground as if desperate for one, just one more sip of air."

I sped up, thrusting deeper and faster in Andrew's tailhole. "You are in your element. You are never so comfortable, so at home, as when hanging by your neck. You play the audience like a virtuoso plays a Stradivarius. Within minutes, they are more out-of-breath than you are. The males have painful erections, the femmes are dripping wet. And still you build the emotional tension until they have to get some release. Some start rubbing themselves, others pair off in various ways."

He's almost there. I thrust hard and deep, pressing against Andrew's prostate with every stroke. At the same time, I spread a little lube on my fingers and played with the tip of his cock. Slowly at first, then faster to match my own need.

"And, eventually, you know it's time: neither they nor you can take any more. Then you begin working on your very last and very best orgasm. As it hits, you run out of breath and feel everything fade away in a glorious white blaze." A twisting motion around his cock as I came inside him, and my hot semen hit his prostate. Andrew cried out in pleasure as he came, jet after jet of white semen spurting from his cock.

We lay together on the bed for a while, resting. Then I persuaded Andrew to get up, and I cleaned us both. Then I sat down next to him and kissed him lightly.

"Say, do you remember the time..." Andrew started recounting a prank the two of us had played on a neighbor, back when we still got along — before puberty turned Andrew into a schmuck. I came up with a reminsicence of my own, and we traded stories both of us knew until the double beep reminded us that our time was almost over.

I had one last thing I wanted to tell Andrew: "And Andrew, don't ever make the mistake of thinking you can do it by yourself. Maverick was the smartest student I've ever known, and he'd spent years learning everything he could about hanging from the publicly available material. He was beautiful and in fabulous shape. But he came in thinking that he could do it all without help, and it nearly got him hanged in his first year. There's a constant dynamic tension in our relationships with the other students." I reminded him of about what it said on the webpage, how they draw a name from the bottom five in each class to be hanged at the monthly demos or at a party. "So there's competition, to be the best or at least not among the worst. But there has to be cooperation, too. We have to help each other, learn from each other, or we never realize our full potential. Andrew, please remember that you need other students and that you need to help them even though you're in competition with them. Okay?"

"Okay, Wynn. I'll remember. And I'll remember what we did earlier, too; that was incredible."

I kissed him again, rubbing myself against him, then we heard the triple beep. I opened the door. A guard took Andrew by the elbow, and he walked away, still looking dazed by the intensity of "both pleasures." I joined Bruno and we made our way back to the limo.

As we drove back to the Academy, I reflected that I would never leave it again until it was time to go to Benjamin's place for my very own hanging. I could hardly wait!

Next Morning

The caf was beginning to clear out by the time Hamish and I got there. At a table in the corner, Marcus and Zuchter were just finishing, and Puppy was licking up the last of a bowl of fruit salad, his favorite breakfast. Puppy saw me, and sprang upward and jerked at the leash. He looked reproachfully at Marcus for holding him back. I came over and hugged Marcus and Zuchter, then knelt down to hug Puppy and receive the usual excited face licks.

Zuchter grinned. "Everybody loves his hair like this."

I laughed. "I'm sure. Have Holden and Runner been in yet?"

Marcus shook his head. "Haven't... oh, there." He pointed, as the two boys walked in.

Hamish got there first, running across the room from the serving line to throw his arms around his brother and give him a long kiss. I hugged Runner, and had barely touched lips with him when the speaker in the room crackled to life. "Wynn Cameron, please come to the Dean's office."

I blinked, and finished kissing Runner. "I'd better go see what he wants."

Holden, holding Hamish's hand, said, "We'll wait for you."

I bit my lip. "I don't know how long I'll be. I'll try to get Tina to let you know if it's a long meeting. I don't know what it's about."

Tina directed me into the office, and I entered, feeling a little nervous. Usually I had some idea what might be up.

At least the Dean was smiling as he directed me to a seat. The Dean went directly to the subject. "I watched the videos of Runner's sessions at the party. Very impressive."

I nodded. "Yes, Sir. I was pretty amazed myself."

"I can see you prepared him well..."

"Several of us worked on it, Sir, not just me."

He nodded. "How did you let him know what approach to take with each of the sailors? I've also reviewed video from the main room, and I didn't see you take him aside and speak to him in the middle of the party. Some sort of prearranged hand signals I missed?"

I shook my head and opened my mouth to speak, and was suddenly overcome with laughter. Aware of the Dean's puzzled look, I worked to get hold of myself. "Sir... I know you can read whether I'm telling you the truth or not, but you're going to have a hard time with this. I didn't tell him anything about them, in particular. We did give him a lot of examples beforehand of different positions and things different femmes liked, to supplement what he's already learned from movies, so he had different formats to choose from, and we did give him some tips on reading sexual interests. But nothing specific about Ms. Bailor or Mr. Pellis. There wasn't really any time to do that, with everything going on."

The Dean stared at me for a long time, and finally said, "What?"

"He figured it out on his own. He's been doing stuff like this more and more lately. Reading us, I mean. It seems to come naturally to him."

He was silent again for a time, and at last managed, "Indeed." He leaned forward. "The generic lessons you gave him... Were they really as detailed as it appears they must have been? Spoken scripts, and so on?"

My earlier laughter bubbled up again as a brief giggle. "He didn't get that from us. I could show you clips of the movies they came from."

The Dean sat back, doing the characteristic tapping with the pen he was holding. "I'll need to think this over. I believe I'll watch the videos again, with this new information in mind."

"Yes, Sir. I was just thinking, to give the whole thing some sort of context... Runner is just very..." I searched for a word. "Unusual. Special. You're probably thinking this is all very odd, because so many things suggest Runner was born to be a Hanging Boy, in a place where they don't have any. And somehow, here he is now, at the Academy. That seems to stretch the laws of probability, but I don't think that's quite what's going on. He wasn't born to be a Hanging Boy in particular. He was born with so many special abilities — and I'm sure we haven't even seen all of them yet — that he could become anything he wanted to be, and really excel at it, whatever it was. It just turns out what he wants to be is a Hanging Boy. And so he's here."

He nodded slowly. "Okay, I'll accept that. At least I can't argue with it. I don't know enough yet."

I smiled. "You'll have years ahead of you to get to know him, Sir. I think that time will be very valuable, to both of you. You'll be able to give him what he wants most of all, making him a Hanging Boy, and he'll give you back everything he can, which is a lot."

The Dean leaned forward, with an air of ending the interview. "Thank you, Wynn. For the information." He smiled. "And for bringing a jewel back with you from the island."

I grinned. "Always happy to help, Sir."