The boys' summer was pretty much a repeating loop of that evening's experiment. They'd work, eat, sleep, and put each other under as a means of enhancing their sexual experiences (and torment). Once Nathan suggested they kiss with the posthypnotic suggestion that they'd be unable to pull their lips apart until they heard a timer go off. Nate thought that the timer had been set for fifteen minutes, when in fact it had been fifty. Whoops.

The biggest drawback was maintaining their encounters in secrecy. They took secluded camping trips, made late night trips to their respective basements, and so on. But since this summer vacation came at the end of their graduation, such sneaking around would soon be a thing of the past.

"College at last." Andrew's comment was met with both boys dropping their duffles and book bags to the floor with a thud. They were away from the prying eyes of home at last, in their own dorm room, humble though it was. Andrew and Nathan had already made the trip to the campus earlier to register as well as to clean up their new dorm room and build the space-saving loft bed to better accommodate two full-grown teenage boys living together in cramped quarters.

"I call the top bunk", Nathan said quickly.

Andrew grinned, knowing full well that they had deliberately neglected to construct a lower bunk. "Hey, I get the top bunk, man", Andrew said with mock menace.

"First one up there gets it", Nathan answered.

In a rush of taut teenage muscle, the slender boys grappled/ran to the bunk, arms and legs tangling and twisting around each other as they clambered up to the elevated bunk. Caught in an embrace, the twosome landed on the mattress in an affectionate tackle.

Pulling off Andrew's shirt, Nathan said, "God, I hope this thing doesn't collapse."

Working to undo Nathan's pants, Andrew said, "Not a chance. I made sure it was reinforced to support at least as much as--"

"Shut up", Nathan said back, yanking off his own shirt and kissing his boyfriend.

In less than two minutes, the boys were naked and kissing and caressing with a passion that surpassed anything they had enjoyed before.

"Is the door locked?", Nathan managed to gasp out between kisses.

"Who gives a shit?", Andrew answered. Nathan didn't respond, but surrendered to the moment. Both of them were high on the moment, the freedom of being away from home, to lose themselves within each other's arms with an abandon to which they were completely unaccustomed.

An hour later, Nathan lay awake while the naked Andrew lay sleeping softly beside him. Nathan watched intently as his boyfriend's chest rose and fell, listening to his soft breathing. With gentle fingers, Nathan stroked the hair at Andrew's temples, then leaned over to kiss him atop his head. Andrew made a contented humming noise and then rolled over onto his side, falling deeper into sleep.

Nathan rolled over the other way, pressing his bare back against Andrew's. He sighed as well, allowing his mind to wander, conjuring images of all the things the boys were now free to do together, and to each other. In his imagination, Nathan saw Andrew standing on the dorm room floor before him, close to the door. He was as naked as he truly was at that moment, his smooth chest, abs, and legs telling of hours spent running cross country. His impish grin and elfin looks made Nathan grow hard, and he knew he wanted him all over again.

Very softly, Nathan whispered, "Come here."

The imaginary Andrew started to take a step forward, but was suddenly stopped in his tracks. He tried again to make some forward progress, but his momentum was halted. Andrew could see there was nothing in front of him blocking his path, so he attempted to turn around to see if something was holding him from behind. Again, he could only move so far, then he was stopped. Then, he saw what was happening. Incredibly thin lines connected to Andrew's body became visible as he tugged his way back and forth, causing them to catch the light. Slender as spider webs, stronger than steel, the strings glistened here and there as the light reflected off them. Each time Andrew tried to move, the near-invisible strings, secured to his joints and shoulders, tugged him back harder. The imaginary Andrew made one more Herculean effort to move toward the bed, only to have his magical strings yank him both backward and upward, leaving him dangling on the tips of his toes, his arms jutted out at his sides, forearms hanging limp at the elbows like a marionette.

Nathan draped one arm off the edge of the bunk, making lazy arcs with his forefinger. In response to his playful conducting, Andrew's strings pulled and tugged at him, making him engage in a clumsy puppet dance. Despite himself, Nathan laughed aloud at his friend's imagined confusion. Beside him, the real Andrew grunted softly, then sniffed, going back to sleep.

Biting his lip to hold back any further outbursts, Nathan watched again as the puzzled dream Andrew stared upward, watching as the glistening strings pulled him this way and that, disappearing into the ceiling with no apparent anchors, pulleys, or any physical means of support. The puzzled, naked puppetboy looked up at Nathan perched atop the bed.

Nathan tapped his head. Silently, he mouthed, "It's all up here, buddy."

After making his fantasy boyfriend dance a bit more, Nathan waltzed him to the center of the room. With a bit more melodrama added to his gestures, Nathan's fingers directed the web-like strings to pull Andrew's arms out far to his sides. Then he had his legs pulled out to a very wide stance. Slowly, Nathan imagined Andrew's shoulder strings lower him gently backward, so that soon he was spread-eagled and leaning back on his heels, supported solely by his puppet strings, with no real leverage or his own.

The imaginary Andrew looked to Nathan with concern in his eyes, which Nathan met with a caring smile. Holding a finger aloft, Nathan then pointed with great flair at Andrew's penis. Instantly, the semi soft member began to bob and weave slightly. It was then the helpless puppet Andrew saw the string, slim and gleaming, attached to his penis. His eyes grew wide and he shot a look at Nathan that said, "Don't you dare."

With two fingers, Nathan gestured for the string to pull up, up, up. Andrew's expression tightened as his penis was made fully erect against his will. Then Nathan jerked his thumb up and down, up and down, causing the magic string to pull at Andrew's penis, over and over with increasing force and frequency. Andrew's head lolled back, his ecstasy growing, the sensations exacerbated by his helplessness. His mouth hung open, his eyes squinted shut, as Nathan balled his hand into a fist and jerked it back and forth madly. Puppet Andrew's penis was jerking up and down with all the speed and ferocity of Nathan's gestures, his face now red with anticipation of his inevitable orgasm.

Puppet Andrew forced his eyes open and looked again upon his master, giving a slight nod to Nathan. Do it. With that, Nathan gave one final tug with his hand, and Andrew jettisoned a powerful load of semen upward in a thick stream, his mouth locked open in a silent scream of joy. The geyser of boy juice spewed above him, then spattered back down upon the helpless puppet, dispersing the fantasy now that it had reached its climax.

As the semen sprayed down upon Andrew, he disappeared in tiny shining starbursts, vanishing in a silvery glitter of bliss.

Nathan sighed, then rolled over in bed to press himself tight to his fantasy come true. His daydream having made him very hard, Nathan pressed his erection to Andrew's back, his stiff member pushing against the boy's firm, sculpted buns. Wrapping a loving arm around his friend's torso, Nathan lightly kissed Andrew's shoulder, then drifted off to sleep with his head resting upon the back of his neck.

The dorm room was a flurry of activity as the boys darted around each other, gathering books and homework papers, making sure each had his shoes, writing utensils, keys, etc. "Folder, Trig book, where the hell did I put that--?", Andrew muttered, squeezing past Nathan to the desk where they kept their pens and pencils.

"Toss me that folder while you're over there", Nathan asked. Andrew picked up a purple binder and tossed it over his shoulder without glancing back. Also without looking, Nate snatched it out of midair while moving quickly to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Andrew took a quick look at his day's agenda, jotted down on a sheet of lined paper. "Damn, every friggin' second is accounted for it seems like", he grumbled, shoving the note back into his pocket.

From the bathroom came a spitting sound, the rush of a faucet, the clink of a toothbrush landing in a glass. "I know, we hardly ever see each other anymore outside of class", Nate commented, giving Andrew a kiss as he zipped past.

"And it's not like we have all that many of those together this term", Andrew said. "Meet me for lunch?"

"Can't. World Lit study group. Oral presentations Friday. Tonight?"

Andrew frowned. "Industrial Design. Guest speaker at Evans Hall. Mandatory."

Nathan shoved papers into his binder, patted his pockets to verify the presence of a pencil. No luck. "I can't remember when was the last time I jerked you off."

"Forget that, when was the last time we hypnotized each other? I need you as my puppet buddy, man." Andrew tossed him a pencil. "And this", he said, lobbing over a small pocket sharpener. "At least I got us that spot doing cleanup for theater class. You know, the backstage rooms and all. We'll have time together during that."

Nate tucked his folders under one arm. "That's not for, like, two weeks, though. Any ideas until then?"

Andrew sighed, moving towards the door as he checked his watch. "Nothing comes to mind. The only time we're really together for any decent length is in bed, and then all we're doing is sleeping. We've been too bushed to fool around. God, I miss you and we're living in the same cracker box of a room!"

Nathan snapped his fingers. "Almost forgot! There is something I came up with." He pushed past Andrew and started pulling open the drawers of their desk. "I put 'em in here somewhere...they've been in here for like three or four days, I keep forgetting to mention it--"

Andrew checked his watch again. "Leave it for now, we can at least walk to class together partway. But let's get a move on, or we're gonna be late."

Nate spun around. "Found 'em!" Nathan held up the cassettes he'd picked up at the New Age shop off campus. WHILE-U-SLEEP self-hypnosis tapes. Andrew raised an eyebrow. "You want us to--", he leaned close to read the labels. "--lose weight and quit smoking?"

Nathan grinned. "Not exactly."

Two weeks later, Andrew and Nathan lingered in the makeup room after their theater class to clean up, as well as to familiarize themselves with the facilities in preparation for their upcoming work study. The had already swept up and returned the dozens of compacts and vials of foundation, powder, and rouge from the stage makeup workshop back to the plastic tubs where they were kept. Andrew looked at his watch and observed, "We're done early. That didn't take as long as I thought it would."

Nathan wiped down the last countertop before the long row of lighted mirrors. "Probably 'cause we were both working together."

Andrew's eyes fell upon the makeup stores and then upon Nathan, his face lit by the repeating rows of large circular bulbs. Andrew began to snicker.

Nathan looked up at him. "What?"

"You wanna try something fun?"

Nathan tossed the moist rag into the sink and began to smirk. "Like what?"

The next thing the boys knew, they were seated side-by-side in two makeup chairs, blinking themselves awake.

"Um, okaaayy...", Andrew said, feeling a bit disoriented.

"Bud, we did the hypnosis thing to each other", Nathan said.

"I guess. What's the last thing you remember?"

"You asked me if I wanted to try something fun. And I--" Nathan lost his sentence in a burst of laughter.

Andrew, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, said, "What's up with you? What's so funny?"

"Dude, look at your face."

Andrew looked into the lit dressing room mirror and saw painted upon his face two candy-apple red circles. Both strategically placed over each cheek, both bright and shiny, of the type found on a toy soldier, or a puppet. "Sonnuva bitch..."

"Man, you look like a Raggedy Ann doll!", Nathan howled.

Andrew spun around to return a retort, when he too began to laugh. "Well, at least I've got company." Nathan's laughter died off as Andrew thumbed towards the mirror. Nathan took a good look at himself and found that he, too, had been made up with shining red puppet cheeks.

"Oh, man. I got it, too." Then he looked at his friend and the two of them burst into uncontrollable laughter.

After taking a moment to compose themselves, Andrew said, let's get this shit off ourselves. The two pushed away from the makeup tables and began to stand up. It was only then that they noticed that the puppet cheek makeup was all that they had on them. Anywhere. Both boys were buck naked. They froze, looked at themselves again, and once more lost it to gales of laughter. This time their fit lasted close to ten minutes.

"Oh, Jesus", Andrew gasped, wiping away a tear of joy. "Don't we look like two anatomically-correct fruity puppet dolls." Nathan snorted out another burst of laughter. "Come on, let's get this shit off and find our clothes." Andrew moved up close to a mirror and ran his finger across one of his painted cheeks. "Uh-oh..."

"What?", Nathan approached him, still laughing slightly.

Andrew ran two fingers up and down his cheeks. "Go like this."

Nathan did as bidden, then looked at his fingertips, expecting to see smears of red grease paint there. His fingers were dry. "What the hell--?"

"It's not makeup, buddy. It's nail polish."

"Well, damn. No wonder it looks like shiny puppet varnish. It practically is." Nathan looked at Andrew in the mirror beside him, their twin reflections those of naked college boys wearing nothing but bright red puppet cheeks that gleamed in the light. Unmoving candy-colored shells clung to their faces, making them appear just slightly unreal. Nathan turned to face his best friend, who moved close to him as he did.

The two boys began to run their hands over each other's bare arms, to gently rub one another's thighs. "Is--is it hot in here, or is it just me?", Andrew asked.

"It's not you", Nathan said. "Must be all the lights."

"Must be", Andrew agreed half-heartedly, leaning in to kiss Nathan's face. Nathan wrapped his arms tight around Andrew's back, his slender fingers massaging his spine.

"God, Andrew. How do you feel right now?"

"Fantastic. I feel so good--so happy, so, so--hell's bells, I'm horny."

"Me, too", Nathan admitted. He caressed the sides of Andrew's head with his hands, the soft brown hair falling between his fingers. "I can feel the warmth of your body right up against me. You feel so smooth, so good. I love you so much."

With no further prompting, the two boys kissed each other passionately, hungrily, and toppled upon the makeup counter in a twist of arms and legs. As they feverishly kissed each other's mouth, face, and neck, each boy grabbed the other's member, pumping rapidly. One atop the other, the two naked boys pumped and kissed, tongues probing, members throbbing. their warm young bodies pressed tightly together, producing a heat that neither of them thought possible.

"Too hot", Andrew said, beginning to pull away.

"Don't stop", Nathan said, pulling Andrew back down upon him. "We're so close."

Andrew surrendered, giving himself to Nathan, grasping him even tighter, causing the slim friend to whimper with pleasure. The whimper was smothered beneath more kisses. In response, Nathan gripped with equal pressure, his other arm wrapping around Andrew's back and keeping him close. The two red-cheeked young men pumped and kissed with growing intensity until they simultaneously fired a veritable geyser of jism all over one another. Backs arched, shoulder locked, Andrew and Nathan tensed every muscle in their bodies, their hips thrusting uncontrollable with the throes of orgasm.

Once spent, the duo clumsily let themselves slide to the floor, where they flopped onto their backs, gasping, holding hands. They were covered in each other's semen from chin to crotch, a thick glaze that still held the warmth of their passion. For several minutes, all that could be heard was the sound of their ragged breathing.

"So", Nathan said finally. "Is this what you meant by something fun?" The two began to laugh uncontrollably, still lying on their backs.

After regaining some composure, Andrew said, "Yup. I think so." He began to sit up, but Nathan placed a gentle palm upon his sticky chest, holding him down. Slowly, Nathan swirled two fingers around Andrew's chest, collecting spunk. He then placed his fingers slowly into his mouth and sucked them dry. Andrew grinned, ruffling Nathan's hair with his free hand and then kissing his boyfriend on the forehead.

"Let's de-puppetize ourselves, man", Andrew said.

"If we gotta."

Andrew went to the makeup drawers while Nathan dampened some paper towels at the sink for cleanup. As Nate finished cleaning himself up, Andrew said, "Go check the coat rack."

"Howcum?"

Andrew held up a note scribbled onto a sheet of yellow scratch paper which read, "Go check the coat rack". It was in his own handwriting. Behind him, every drawer in the makeup cupboard was pulled open, with everything accounted for but one thing. No nail polish remover. Just an empty space where it had been.

Nathan stepped over to the far corner of the room, by the door, and stood before a metal bar of empty coat hangers. Taped to one of them was a pink receipt. He took it down and read it. A messenger's coupon. For one parcel. It's contents: two sets of clothes and a large bottle of nail polish remover. To be sent to Andrew and Nathan's dorm room. Nathan showed it to Andrew.

"This has stopped being something fun."

Nathan nuzzled Andrew's neck. "Oh, I dunno. Maybe it means we'll just have to live here now. Bare naked puppetboys, making love on countertops." Nathan began to nibble Andrew's ear lobe.

Andrew pulled away quickly. "Eek! Not the ear thing!" He shivered under the affectionate assault.

"What? I thought you loved that." Nathan pointed to Andrew's growing erection. "I know you love that."

"Nathan, we're naked and cheeked, and before we did our self-hypnosis trick, we messengered our clothes away. How do we get back to the dorm without getting arrested?"

Nate felt the slick surface of his puppet cheeks on his face. "Oh. Right. Or without getting our asses kicked."

The boys began a frenzied search of the premises. Everything was locked tight. The wardrobe room, the bathrooms (and with them the bath robes), the laundry room. Andrew ran a worried hand through his hair. "I said fun. Fun. Which implies I wanted to do something to us that would be fun."

"Too bad we've gotten so good at making ourselves forget stuff."

Andrew went and sat down on a small chair in the back hallway behind the stage. He must have left them some way out. But what--and where was it?

"Um, Andrew?"

"Yeah?", Andrew answered, now staring at the ceiling.

"You might wanna come look at this."

Andrew got up and walked back to Nathan, who stood in the dressing rooms again, before a small closet used for excess wardrobe. Nathan held the door open, and stared into the closet, his face blank. Andrew stepped up beside him and looked inside.

There, in the closet, were two costumes obviously pilfered from the wardrobe room. One was that of a rag doll; baggy powder blue corduroy overalls with gigantic canary yellow buttons, little black slippers, a red-and-white striped shirt with matching tights, and a red yarn hairpiece. Beside it hung a toy soldier's uniform, complete with blazing red jacket with criss-crossing yellow braid, white trousers with a broad red outer stripe, tall black riding boots, a towering red hat with black brim and yellow feather topper. In the back of the jacket was a giant silver wind-up key that strapped over the wearer's shoulders beneath the jacket. Taped to both costumes was another note simply reading, "Have fun!"

"No fucking way", Nathan said.

Andrew burst into laughter. "Way!! You get to be the rag doll!" He grabbed the costume and tossed it to Nate.

"Like hell! I'll look like a pansy. I want to be the toy soldier!"

"Too late. Already called it." Andrew was already jumping into the white trousers and working his way into the jacket. He couldn't get the pants to stay up, despite the fasteners, and the jacket sleeves were too long. The corduroy bib overalls hit him in the face.

"They're too small for me", Nathan said. "Give it up."

Reluctantly, Andrew conceded, and in moments, where once stood two naked college boys now were an adorable rag doll and a stalwart tin soldier. With a kiss for luck, the two locked up the theater behind them and made their way across campus, in broad daylight, back to their dorm. Andrew and Nathan waved cheerfully to passersby who stared at them, wide-eyed. Here and there, the boys passed a handful of classmates they knew, to whom they tossed off hasty explanations that they had just come from (or were going to) a theater class workshop on costuming (or characterization, or children's theater). It varied from person to person.

Back in their dorm room, Andrew shed his mop of yarn hair and Nathan tossed aside his tall hat. They shared an additional kiss, then saw the parcel they had sent themselves, waiting them on the bed. "Now wasn't that fun?", Andrew asked.

Nathan grinned, looking like an extra from The Nutcracker Suite. "Too much fun."

Andrew looked into his lover's eyes and saw something was amiss. "When did you remember?"

Nathan sighed. I started to remember us putting ourselves under while we were whacking each other off, but I tried to ignore it. Once I saw the closet door, I remembered everything."

Andrew nodded. "I remembered most of it when I saw the first note. Probably because I wrote it. I knew about the costumes, I just couldn't remember where we stashed 'em."

"It was still fun, though", Nathan said quickly.

"Oh yeah, yeah", Andrew agreed. "Still, it'd be nice if I could find a way to make us forget everything totally until we wanted it to come back. Compelled to do something without knowing why, or what would come next. It'd be more exciting that way. It'd be hotter."

"Not that you don't look hot now", Nathan commented. Andrew looked down at himself in his rag doll costume, and raised an eyebrow. Nathan amended, "In a boyishly adorable sort of way."

The two elected to remove their elaborate theater costumes before wiping away their polished cheeks. There was no rush. Andrew undressed Nathan. Nathan undressed Andrew. It took the better part of an hour.

Andrew and Nathan stood gaping outside the door of their World Econ class. They had never seen such a glorious sight. Gently, tentatively, Andrew began to reach for it, to touch it, if only to prove that it was really there. Nathan gripped his shoulder, a silent caution not to rush, lest it vanish before their eyes. Andrew reached out, extended his fingers, and touched it. It was indeed real. Lightly, he fingered the object, and licking his lips once, he began to read.

"To all students of World Econ 101: Due to a severe case of strep throat, I am unable to deliver the lecture scheduled for today's class. Please continue with the previously-assigned reading and I will see you next week. Prof. Tillema."

Andrew looked to Nathan, and they both sighed. "Nathan, have you ever seen anything so glorious??" Nathan only shook his head, mouth-breathing.

A surly kid behind them jabbed Andrew in the shoulder with a pencil. "For Christ sakes, Tather, would you just sign the goddamn attendance sheet so the rest of us can get the fuck out of here?"

In a thrice, Andrew and Nathan scrawled their names and were gone so fast the paper on the door fluttered in their wake. They raced each other back to their room with a playful glint in their eyes. They had three hours to themselves. They knew exactly how they would spend it.

They sat on the floor of their dorm room, facing each other with eyes closed. "Deep breaths", Andrew said.

"I remember", Nathan said.

"We're gonna put each other under, we're gonna implant suggestions that we will consciously surrender ourselves to follow, and we will proceed on to the resulting delight." Andrew took a deep breath. "In through the nose, out the mouth. Feel your belly expand as you inhale, flatten as you exhale."

Nathan opened one eye. "I get all this, but do we have to be naked?"

Andrew open his eyes, leaned forward and took Nate's face in his hands. It's all about the mood, my man. It's all about the mood."

Nathan grinned. "Okay then, try this." He slid his bare feet forward and pointed for Andrew to uncross his legs. "Put the soles of your feet flat against mine."

"What for?"

"Just do it. Trust me."

Andrew did, and took a slow intake of breath. "Whoa. That feels--"

"Kind of intimate, huh?", Nathan agreed. "We just read about it in Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle."

Andrew sighed. "So Contemporary Lit finally pays off. Deep breaths."

Nathan breathed deeply. "In and out. Feeling more tired and relaxed."

Perhaps an hour later, Andrew and Nathan stood (fully clothed) at the edge of the busy quad. Students bustled to and from class, kids ate lunch on benches, played frisbee on the lawn. Andrew looked at Nathan. He was breathing hard, as if he'd been running, even though they had walked there. Nathan nodded. "You ready?", Andrew asked. Nathan nodded again. "We can always try this somewhere less occupied."

Nathan shook his head. "The risk is what makes it fun." He held up his hand. "Let's go for it."

Andrew clasped his left hand into Nathan's right. They held hands, looking into each other's eyes. They looked at their hands, clutched tight. "Do you think it took?", Andrew asked.

"One way to find out", Nathan said. "Pull." The two boys tried to pull their hands apart. They were stuck fast. "Are you really trying to let go of me?", Nathan asked.

"Yes, are you??"

"Yeah! I am!" Nate reached down and attempted to pry their fingers apart, but it was no use. They may as well have been welded together. He looked at Andrew with eyes filled with exultation. "Holy shit, we did it! It worked!"

Andrew swallowed. He began to speak, but saw a handful of students approaching, so he pulled Nathan to the side, behind a nearby tree. When the coast was clear, he said, "That's only half of it. Let's see if the whole thing works." Nathan nodded. The two boys kissed, long and full. As their lips parted, so did their hands, smoothly and easily.

Nathan held up his palm. "Try again?"

Andrew looked around the trunk of the tree, down to the end of the quad. Buildings all around, very few places to avoid being seen. Bright day. People everywhere. Andrew held up his hand. "It's what we're here for."

With the sound of a firm clap, they clasped their hands together. Andrew tugged his way, Nathan his. Their hands were stuck fast. They smiled, almost laughing at the lunacy, the danger, of their experiment. Nathan wiggled his eyebrows, Andrew winked in response. And they were off.

Andrew and Nathan strolled onto the quad as if it was the most natural thing in the world for two apparently straight boys to saunter along hand in hand. It felt so right for both of them that they even swung their arms back and forth slightly as they walked.

That is, until a group of three guys tossing a toy football amongst them came close. When Andrew spotted them, the boys were almost on top of them, but Nathan saw them in time. With his free hand, he grabbed Andrew behind the head and forced him down to the ground, where they tumbled behind a hooded trash can. Quickly, but with no small amount of satisfaction, Nathan kissed Andrew fully, and their hands came apart.

As soon as they had, Andrew leapt to his feet, Nathan right behind. Andrew punched Nate playfully on the arm, as if chastising him, guy-like, for catching him off guard with a sudden wrestling move. "You jerk", he scoffed, smiling. The boys with the football passed by without giving them a second glance. Andrew and Nathan fell together slightly, shoulders bumping, as they laughed at their narrow escape. Then, with a curt nod to each other, they slipped their hands together again easily, fingers interlacing as if they were meant to fit together.

The duo smiled as their palms made contact. It was almost as if there was a magnetic tug as their hands drew close, drawing them together like a natural force. They gave their hands a quick jerk and found them tightly glued once more, and continued their stroll.

They made it only a little ways farther when they came upon a study group clustered together on the lawn by a massive shade tree. Andrew stepped to the side, leaving Nathan alone exposed to the group, which he almost walked into. The students, upperclassmen mostly, looked up to see what for all the world looked like some kid frosh leaning against the tree, one hand resting behind its trunk. The study group leader, a lanky girl with straight blond hair, shot him a look as if to say "Do you mind?" and Nate nodded a quick apology, one hand up, urging them to carry on. He waltzed around the tree, as casually as possible, and ran right into Andrew's kiss.

It was long and tender, longer by far than need be, but it worked to release the grip they had on each other's hands. For a moment, they rested their foreheads together, smiling. Then they walked out from behind the tree with hands in pockets, ready to start their little game again.

They barely avoided two teachers squatting behind a bench. They waited until literally the last second before stepping around a column in front of the science building when its main doors released a crowd of students departing class. They experienced a close call when two kids on bikes tried to sail between them, causing Andrew to fake a startled stumble into his best friends in order to hide their hands. In fact, all was going well, the two boyfriends having a ball with their hijinks, until the infamous gossip girls appeared.

Jenny, Miffy, Kathy, Cindy, and Tammi (with an "i") always traveled together, despite being unafflicted with a hypnotic suggestion compelling them to do so. In fact, all they ever seemed to do was to walk and to talk. Incessantly and about anyone but themselves. They had been labeled The Gossip Girls by any other students unfortunate enough to know them, and they were headed straight for Nathan and Andrew. If these girls saw them holding hands, the boys knew they'd be outed to the entire campus before the end of the day.

Upon seeing the girls, or more importantly, seeing who they were, Andrew and Nathan bolted and ran as one man. More accurately, they bolted and ran as one man with his hands glued together trying to run in opposite directions. The two made it exactly three feet, respectively, before their welded-tight hands stopped them, and they snapped back, caught in full sprint, and slammed back into each other, collapsing to the pavement in a tangle of arms and legs.

Andrew and Nathan looked around furiously for some form of cover, someplace to hide. No good. They were out in the open with no means of camouflage. They tried to get up quickly, to simply run again (this time in the same direction), but they were too well tangled up. It was too late anyway. The girls were upon them.

"What is the matter with you morons?", Miffy sneered, towering over the boys sprawled on the grass.

"Yeah, walk much?", Jenny commented, crossing her arms, finding herself too clever for words.

Kathy noticed it first. "Wait a minute, are you guys holding hands??"

Cindy was mortified. "Oh my God, you are! Eewww, homos!"

Tammi (with an "i") snapped her gum. "Should'a known you guys were queer. You are like always hanging around together."

"Never see one without the other", Miffy agreed.

"IN-separable", Jenny said, snapping her fingers.

"Kinda like you five, huh?", Andrew said.

"What?!", Tammi said, scandalized. "WE don't wander around school holding hands, which is clearly the damning evidence here."

"Told you we should've sent out for the solvent", Nathan said, shaking his head. "But noooo, you had to walk to the hardware store and pick it up yourself."

Tammi scrunched her brow, not following. "Huh? What's he talking about?"

Nathan and Andrew exchanged a quick look, and that was all they needed to understand one another completely. Andrew looked back at the girls and said with confidence. "We're glued together, ladies."

Tammi put her hands on her hips, disbelieving. "Yeah, right", Kathy said.

Then Andrew and Nathan tugged at their hands in a valiant effort to separate them. It was readily apparent that they were not faking, and they truly were attached to one another. Andrew even threw a little extra effort into it, pulling his arm back harder than he had previously, causing Nathan to yell, "Easy! Easy! You're taking my skin with you!"

Andrew eased up. "Oh. Sorry."

Tammi looked at them with disdain. "You glued your hands together? How dumb are you?" She snapped her gum again.

"Frat prank", Nathan said.

"You two are so not in a fraternity", Kathy said.

"No", Andrew conceded, "but a friend of ours is. A friend who we told that all fratboys were fags, and well--" He waved their glued hands about. "See for yourselves."

Tammi shook her head, still feeling superior but apparently satisfied with the explanation. The Gossip Girls, tossing off a few more forgettable remarks they were sure were glib and inspired. Andrew and Nathan stood, hand in hand, and waved a mocking goodbye. As the girls turned the corner, the boys burst into laughter and dashed into the covered walkway that ran along the West side of the quad. Hidden there by brick columns and shadows, they kissed again, long and lovingly, hands in hair, fingers tracing lines up and down each other's backs. After nearly a minute, the boys pulled apart. They smiled at each other, Andrew gently brushing a shock of hair out of Nathan's eyes. Then they looked down at the 20-some yards that remained of the quad.

Andrew grinned at Nathan. "Race ya." And the twosome bolted with all speed the rest of the way.

Reaching their destination, the two boys leaned against the wall at the end of the quad, laughing hysterically. They had made it. They had nearly gotten caught in the process, but they had made it. It was an insane idea, but it paid off in thrills sought and risks taken. Nate said, as he caught his breath in between guffaws, "You know the only thing that could've made this better? Made it more intense?"

Andrew wiped a tear from his eye. "What's that?"

"If we could get ourselves to forget the suggestions we'd implanted in each other, and THEN do this stunt."

Andrew burst out laughing again. "God, can you imagine?? We feel this irresistible compulsion to come out here, we have the sudden urge to high five each other--"

"Or whatever."

"Or whatever, and voila, we're stuck together with NO fucking clue of how to undo ourselves." He laughed some more, but then contained himself. "Somehow I think it's funnier just imagining it. But boy, would we ever feel like a couple of puppets. Dragged along, made to do what we're told, whatever the ol' strings command."

"Too bad there wasn't some way to get even more into making ourselves puppets that wouldn't lose anything by us remembering our hypnotic suggestions." As Nathan said this, a strange look came over Andrew's eyes and he stared intently across the hall at nothing, his mouth frozen in the beginnings of a grin. "What?"

Andrew snapped out of his momentary daze. "Huh? What's the matter?"

"I was about to ask you that. You had this look just now."

"Oh, that. It's nothing. I was just thinking."

Nathan lightly rapped his knuckles on Andrew's head. "Knock it off. Little wooden heads aren't supposed to think."

Andrew smiled. "Can't help it."

Nathan opened the door to the dorm room and saw Andrew seated on the floor, intently staring at a carved piece of wood, which he supported in the inside crook of his elbow and held in place with his palm. He was running a tape measure along it's outer edge and nodding. "So what's that?", Nathan asked.

Andrew jumped up, obviously having no idea that Nathan had entered. "Oh, hey." He fumbled awkwardly with the piece of wood, whatever it was, as if searching for some way to conceal it.

"That a new assignment for your Woodworking/Practical Design class?"

"Something like that, yeah."

"Can I see it?" Nathan really had no great interest in Andrew's shop project, but his friend's furtiveness made him curious.

Andrew let Nathan take it. It was similar in shape to an old-world table leg, bulbous on one end, trimmed at the other, but that it was only 11 inches long. It looked more like a designer softball bat, if designer bat's were called for in pee-wee league. Nathan scrunched his nose, puzzled at what such a thing would be used for. "This the leg of an end table or something?"

"Not exactly."

Nathan turned the piece over in his hands and saw that it was hollow. "It wouldn't be a very sturdy table if it was", he observed.

As unobtrusively as he could, Andrew reclaimed his work and tossed it into the corner. "So what's the word on the work study?"

Nathan produced two work study forms from his pocket. "We's in."

"Man! That is awesome! I am so impressed with you."

"Don't be too much. I don't think anyone else in the student body wanted to earn their credits by helping a cranky drama coach clean out an old college theater."

"But you spend all the time there doing just that", Andrew smiled, giving his boyfriend a quick kiss for emphasis.

"This is spay-shull, though. This is for us two to go ballistic-crazy with cleaning without any cranky drama coach supervision." Nathan sported an evil grin. "Gonna take an awful lot of time."

Andrew grinned too. "Just the two of us, all alone in a big ol' theater with no one else around? What a hardship!" Nathan tackled Andrew, the two of them wrestling playfully to the floor, their work study sheets fluttering in their wake to alight in the far corner.

"Aisle 15."

Andrew and Nathan blinked. The librarian never looked up from her busy work behind the counter. The boys looked at each other. Did this chick really know the entire library that well, or was she just blowing them off? Andrew cleared his throat. "I don't think you heard us. We're looking for in-depth texts on brainwashing techniques, proven incidents of mind control, and--"

The librarian looked up, and with one hand, slid her glasses down to the end of her nose. Her lips a thin line, she said, "Nonfiction. Aisle 15. History/Historic commentary & discussion." With that, she returned to her work. The two boys might as well have been invisible.

Andrew and Nathan shrugged, then Nate leaned forward. "Well, thank-yo--"

The librarian had fire in her eyes. "SSHHHH!!"

Nathan backed away, hands up in surrender. He turned to Andrew. "I think we should look in aisle 15."

"Yeah, I had a hunch."

In aisle 15, the boys slowly made their way down the rows in search of the reference books they hoped would show them how to elevate their hypnotic playing to a new level. Andrew pulled a small bag of chips from his jacket pocket and began to munch on them.

"I'm not even sure if these will help much", Nathan whispered. "These historic accounts probably won't lay out a how-to for us, I'd imagine."

Andrew nodded, placing chips in his mouth at regular intervals. "Chip?", he offered, between bites. Nathan shook his head, eyes scanning the shelves. Andrew asked again. "You sure?" Nathan nodded. Andrew tapped his buddy on the shoulder. Nathan waved him away, eyes still glued to the stacks. Andrew tapped again. Nate finally turned around.

"Look, I don't want a stupid potato chi--" Andrew was smiling, holding a thing potato chip between his teeth, extended to Nathan for the taking. Nathan grinned. "Well, maybe just one."

Nathan leaned in close, taking the chip from Andrew's mouth into his own, their lips lingering as the brushed together, the duo quickly melting into a kiss. Nathan rapidly munched down the chip but did not dislodge from his boyfriend's mouth. Andrew let the bag of chips drop to the floor as he put his arms around Nathan. Nathan in turn grabbed Andrew by the shoulders as he pushed him against the shelves behind them. Their search for the reference books was forgotten. The two boys rolled against the shelves, standing up, moving down a stack at a time, lips locked, tongues delving deeply into the other's mouth, hands groping and massaging shoulders, arms, waists, and asses.

On one forward roll, Andrew grabbed Nathan by his shirt collar and pulled him forward forcefully, bringing their lips together with fervor, his hands bracing Nathan's head, finger massaging his temples. Nathan gripped at Andrew's hair, fingers sliding down to caress his boyfriend's neck, then further down to grasp his shoulders.

Andrew turned Nathan around and pressed his back against the shelves, his own body pressing tightly to his friend's. Nathan's arms fell to his sides, his fingers gripping the bookshelves for support. Andrew's lips never left Nathan's, his tongue pushing and prodding. Then Andrew's hands found their way into the waistband of Nathan's pants. Smoothly, Andrew reached in to clutch Nathan's rear, one hand sliding easily around to the front of his jeans, groping, searching for the hard, strong erection--

"Andrew."

Andrew pulled back. He recognized the tone in Nathan's voice. Something had caught him off-guard. Had someone seen them? Had they been making too much noise? was the librarian on her way over? "What?", Andrew whispered. "What's wrong?"

Nathan pointed behind Andrew, to the opposite row of shelves. Andrew turned around. There, on the shelf at eye level, was a gap in the otherwise tightly-wedged books. At least one and a half feet wide. On the shelf beneath it, easily three books were missing. Two up and to the right, another gap, eight or nine inches wide. On the bottom shelf, two more blank spaces. One to the left, another far right.

Nathan braced himself against Andrew's shoulders. "Leggo, leggo." Nate leaned in close to the recently vacated shelves. "The books we want are gone. Someone took our books."

Andrew smoothed down his ruffled hair, tucked his shirt back in. "How do you know they're the books we wanted?" Nathan tapped a tiny sticker label along the edge of the shelf, marked for library student assistants. It read: "History of Brainwashing and Mind Control in Concentration Camps and on Prisoners of War."

Andrew hunched forward, rereading the label to confirm it. "Son of a bitch. Who the hell would want to take this shit?"

"Somebody who wants to become a human puppet, maybe", Nathan commented. Then he frowned. "You're not seeing any other marionettes on the side, are you?"

Andrew slapped his shoulder. Then, a light coming on behind his eyes, he suggested, "Psych books. Everything on the subject can't be taken out."

In short order, the boys found their way to the Psychology section. There were the books they needed on in-depth hypnosis and mind control, the power of suggestion, and indoctrination. Or at least they found the shelves where those books would be.

"They're taken out." Nathan exhaled through his nose.

"What, all of them?", Andrew balked. "How can every book we need be taken out?"

"Dunno, but they are."

As Andrew and Nathan left the library, the nearly collided with a determined student moving quickly down the steps. He grunted a quick, "Scuze me", and kept on without stopping or looking back.

"Well, somebody's in a hurry", Nathan said. Then, as an afterthought, watching the student with the armload of books bustle away, he mused, "Isn't that Alan Eisenberg, from back home?"

Andrew looked a bit dazed. Nathan nudged him. Andrew blinked. "Hmm? You say something?"

Nathan scrunched his brow. "I said, isn't that Alan?" Alan was a childhood friend of Andrew and Nathan's. In kindergarten and grade school, the trio was inseparable. They went on trips together tot he mall and to movies, had camping adventures in each other's back yards, and played at soldiers in the woods near the edge of town. By junior high, the trio began to drift apart, with Alan becoming increasingly studious and the puppetboys becoming more into puppetry, among other things.

Andrew's eyes squinted as he focused on the departing Alan. "That's him alright", Andrew said. "What's more important, he's got our books."