The Halls of Academe Ch. 05

"Go to the Provost and tell him what Paul's done. Everything. He's threatened you, harassed us, and spread hate speech around campus. All this is grounds for expulsion, or at least suspension. We can get him out of here, fast."

"I can't do that." Nathan was sullen. "Why would some administrator care about my boyfriend problems?"

"Nathan, trust me, Dr. Evans will understand and support you." Before Nathan had a chance to react to this I went on. "Especially if you do what you were going to do and withdraw your sexual harassment charge against Dr. Ohlen."

Nathan shook his head, doubt clouding his eyes. "What if Paul comes back? What if he figures out I ratted on him, and tells my dad about me?"

"Don't give him that power over you." I went for broke. "Listen to me, Nathan. Come out to your father. Do that and you're free."

He jerked to his feet. "No. Didn't I tell you I can't do that. I've got to go." He walked toward the door.

"If you don't, he'll find out anyway."

He wheeled, eyes blazing. "Now's look who's talking blackmail."

I shook my head. "Nathan, people already know."

"What the hell do you mean?"

I told him what I had overheard in the cafeteria, weeks ago. "Don't ask me how they knew. But they did. How long before your father hears the rumor, if he hasn't already?"

Nathan's pale face grew even paler. "Christ. My life's over. I might as well off myself."

"No!" It came out sharper than I intended. "Think, Nathan. What's the worst that will happen if your father finds out?"

"He'll disown me. Throw me out. I'll be living on the streets."

I looked him in the eye. "You have my word. If your father throws you out, I'll take you in."

Disbelief crossed his face. I couldn't quite believe I'd said it myself.

"Why would you do that?"

I opened my mouth, and found the words without hesitation. "Those signs that Paul put up weren't the first time I've been outed, Nathan. It happened to me before. You can survive, if someone's there for you. I'll be there for you."

We stood in silence. Then I saw a tear start from his eye and roll down his cheek. The next moment he was in my arms, sobbing. I hugged him tightly to me.

"It'll be okay, Nathan. Trust me."

A couple of weeks afterward the hearing Drew and I had anticipated and feared for so long took place. It wasn't at all like we'd imagined it.

Nathan had followed my advice, gone to Jon and told him the whole story. Paul Heller tried to tough it out at first, but eventually admitted he had posted the hateful signs. He was suspended from Steelman and ordered to leave campus immediately. A restraining order was issued so he couldn't return, which must have eased Nathan's mind a bit.

What was supposed to be the sexual harassment hearing was now going to be Nathan's public withdrawal of his charge. Drew and I sat in Jon's office late one Wednesday afternoon, mostly in silence, waiting for Nathan and his father. Relations between Jon Evans and me were still strained. I wasn't sure whether things would ever be the same between us, which made me sad.

There was a knock on the door and Nathan and Elden Lewis entered. The senior English professor gave Jon's hand a perfunctory shake, and barely nodded hello to us. Nathan fidgeted, pale and silent.

We all sat. Jon asked Nathan if he had a statement ready. Nathan nodded, and drew a piece of paper out of his pocket. The few sentences he read were brief and to the point. He was withdrawing the charge he had made against Professor Ohlen. He apologized to Dr. Ohlen for the distress and trouble he had caused.

Jon said to Drew, "Do you accept Mr. Lewis's apology, Dr. Ohlen? If you do, this means you promise not to take any retaliatory action against this student. No trace of the charge will remain anywhere on your permanent record or in your professional file."

Drew nodded. "Yes, I accept this student's apology."

Just like that, it was over. A few minutes later we were walking out of the administration building, silent, still a bit in shock.

"Glenn?" A voice called behind me in the hallway. We turned. Elden Lewis was coming toward us. Nathan wasn't with him.

"Do we have to?" Drew muttered.

"Yes," I replied. I nodded to Elden as he caught up to us at the exit. Up close he looked haggard and worn, and to my surprise a wave of sympathy rose in me.

"I tried to get Nathan to come with me, but he wouldn't," Elden said. "He's withdrawing from school for the rest of this term."

"Understandable," Drew said, his lips tight.

Elden looked him in the eye then. "I know my son has caused you an awful lot of grief. I'm sorry about all of this."

A beat, then Drew gave a curt nod. I felt compelled to say something.

"I hope Nathan can get some help."

Lewis nodded. "All his life he's fought these feelings. It's made him crazy."

I kept my voice even. "He's been fighting them because of you. It might help for you to let him know he doesn't have to."

Nathan's father stared. Drew said, "C'mon, Glenn." He pushed the door open and left. Elden still stood silent. I waited a moment longer, then shrugged and followed.

"I'm glad you said that," Drew said when I caught up to him outside.

I shrugged. "Fat lot of good it did. Nathan was terrified that Elden was going to disown him. Seems like that's not going to happen, at least."

"He might be better off disowned by that Neanderthal."

At the moment I'd had my fill of the Lewis family. "Let's go get some lunch. Off campus."

We were outside in the bright sun, walking back toward our building. Heedless of who might see, Drew put his arm around my shoulder. I smiled at him, my spirits lifting.

"We won, Drew."

"Yeah, we did." Drew lowered his voice as he drew me close. "God, I want to kiss you so bad." He felt me stiffen and grinned. "Don't worry, I won't. I know we're still in the real world."

We had a low-key celebration that evening at one of the nicer restaurants in town. It didn't seem right to be too exultant. Thinking about the two young men whose lives had collided with ours was sobering. There was Nathan, whose fear of exposure had prevented him from learning how to have a healthy relationship. There was Paul, who cloaked his anger and self-hatred under the guise of gay activism. In a hostile world it was so easy to turn against ourselves, become twisted and stunted.

One question still remained in my mind. Why did Paul hate us so much? Nathan either didn't know or didn't want to say.

I said as much to Drew as we finished dinner, and was unprepared for his reaction. He stopped eating, put his fork down and stared down at the tablecloth, his forehead on his hand.

"What? What is it?" I said, worried.

A silence, then Drew heaved a sigh. "I think I know why. But... you have to promise not to get mad."

I blinked. "Okay."

A silence. Then Drew met my eye.

"It was back in the fall, after we went to the lake the first time. You'd told me there was no chance for us, ever."

I cringed, embarrassed. "Don't remind me."

"Well, I was pretty broken up about it. And lonely. Wanted to be away from campus as much as I could. So I went down to the city one night to check out the bar scene.

"At the second place I went to this hot young guy started cruising me. Really was giving me the eye. I had to admit I was flattered. Took him back to my place, well, you can fill in the rest."

I said one word. "Paul."

Drew nodded. "In my defense, we weren't together then, and you'd told me we never could be."

"I get that. But a Steelman student—not a good idea."

He sighed. "I know, I know. Let's just say my brain wasn't doing the talking that night. But after we'd hooked up a couple of times I started thinking. Realized what I was doing wasn't smart."

Drew chuckled. "I actually told him that being with him could endanger my career. How stupid was that? He was plenty mad the night I ended things. Called me a fucking bureaucrat, and worse. I was scared he'd go right to the administration. But nothing happened and I figured he'd gotten over it. Little did I know..."

One more question. "So the morning the signs appeared. Didn't it occur to you that it might have been Paul who did it? Why didn't you say anything?"

He shook his head, abashed. "Couple of reasons. It had been months since I'd seen Paul and he wasn't the first person I thought of. At that point I was kind of fixated on Nathan as the cause of all my troubles. And if I mentioned Paul then, I'd have had to explain to you exactly who he was. Didn't seem like the right time."

I sighed. "It probably wasn't. Here I was thinking we'd dodged a bullet. Sounds like we've been dodging bullets all year."

Drew's expression was gloomy. "Mostly because of me."

Things were getting too dark. I decided not to dwell on the past. I caught Drew's eye, smiled, and raised my wine glass.

"Never mind. We survived. To us, and our future," I said.

Drew raised his glass. "No. To you, Glenn. Professor Reynolds. My hero."

"Aw, don't." I blushed.

"Why not? It's the truth," Drew said. "You were right about everything. It wasn't Nathan who put up the signs. You got him to tell who did, and you got him to drop the sexual harassment charge. You're amazing."

I shrugged. "It could have turned out a whole lot different."

Drew shook his head. "Yeah, right, if I'd gotten to him first. Though, tell me, Glenn, would you really have let him live with you?"

I thought for a minute, then nodded. "Yes. It wouldn't have been for long. You can bet that Elden would have taken Nathan back pronto. Better to have a gay son at home than to have him in the clutches of a sodomite."

Drew chuckled. "Well, I'm glad it didn't happen. Your bed would have been a mite small for the three of us. Listen, I have a small favor to ask you."

"What?"

"When we get back to your place, can you fuck me?"

I gasped, then laughed out loud, even as my cock hardened in my pants. "I think that could be managed."

I took my sweet time before I gave Drew what he wanted that night.

First, I made him strip and give me a blow job kneeling before me in the living room. I stood fully clothed, watching him work on my erection jutting out of my open fly, a naked slave doing my bidding.

Then I took him to the bedroom and ordered him to climb onto the bed and kneel again, facing away from me with his head down, hands behind his back. I stripped off my clothes and bent toward his ass sticking in the air. I parted his cheeks to expose his asshole, winking at me out of the blond thicket that lined his crack. The next moment my tongue was snaking down the valley, wetting down the hairs and smoothing the way to its goal, the soft, velvety musky skin of his anus. The second I touched the soft flesh he moaned. Soon Drew was writhing on the bed, going crazy as I gave him a thorough rimming, pressing my face into his hole as if I could actually fuck him with my tongue. My own cock was rock hard with the degrading thrill of the act. Here I was, my face buried in another man's butt, kissing his ass, and loving it.

I stood, wiping the spit off my face, feasting my eyes on the V-shape of his muscular torso. Drew twisted his head around and smiled in anticipation as I grabbed the lube and greased myself with slow, twisting strokes. Then I climbed onto the bed, took my cock, lined it up and sank it in with one slow, steady push.

"Oh fuck." Drew's head snapped up, his eyes closed and his mouth opened. His triceps bulged as he braced himself on the bed with his hands.

I stayed upright, my hands on his back, so I could get a good view of my rod sliding in and out of his hole. I power-dicked him for a while, pulling all the way out, letting the glistening head of my cock just touch his rosebud until he was whimpering with need, then plunging back in up to the hilt.

"Unggh! Yes!" Drew cried in delight every time I hit bottom.

Later I turned him onto his back, holding his legs open with my hands. Now my cock penetrated him underneath his balls, which swung back and forth as he jacked himself off.

"Fuck me, Glenn."

"Uh huh," I breathed as I thrust slowly and steadily into him. I held back because I was on the verge of shooting, and I wanted this to last.

It lasted long enough so I'll always remember how Drew looked in that position, helpless on his back, legs wide apart, jaw slack and eyes glazed. His hairy chest heaved, his muscles rippled and strained beneath his skin as he raised his head now and then to watch my cock split him open. His hand never stopped moving on his own rod, except to go to his mouth to replenish the spit he was using to lube himself.

We said very little. All of our communication was through the connection created by my cock in his asshole, the sparks of electricity it generated sliding against the sides of his chute, pressing against his prostate. I could feel everything he was feeling, his own pleasure as well as mine. I know he felt the same way.

I was amazed at how Drew abandoned himself to being fucked. He wasn't bottoming as a favor to me-he was reveling in his role. He wanted my cock up his ass more than anything in the world. Even in his subjugation he was taking the lead, showing me new possibilities, as he had done over and over during the past year.

Finally it had to end. I was almost sorry when his hand began to move faster and faster on his cock, and a low animal growl began to rise from his throat.

"Oh shit, I'm cumming!"

I stepped up the pace of my fucking until my cock was a piston in his ass. I saw the white jets squirt from his purple mushroom head over his chest and stomach just as I went off the edge myself, emitting strangled cries of ecstasy as I emptied my load deep into his bowel, fighting not to topple over onto his body.

As I started to come down I thought of a way to finish him off. I took my hand and scooped his sperm off his body, then pressed my sticky palm to his face. I felt his tongue as he ate his own load, but wasn't going to let him get off that easy. I shoved each of my fingers in his mouth for individual cleaning and didn't let him go until they were all licked. Finally I withdrew my hand and patted his cheek, then bent and kissed him long and deep, tasting my cum on his lips.

"Good boy," I said.

Drew smiled, the picture of exhausted contentment. "Thanks, Mr. Chairman."

I pulled out reluctantly. We lay side by side on the bed, wrapped in each other's arms. After a while Drew raised himself and smiled into my eyes.

"You're an incredible top. I want to be your bottom all the time from now on."

"Oh, no," I said, shaking a finger at him. "Me do all the work? I already do that in real life. You aren't getting off that easy. You stick with me, we switch off."

"Damn," Drew said in mock disappointment. "For a moment there I thought I had you."

"Well," I said, "I'm not going to be chair next year. Maybe we can renegotiate the contract. If you're still around."

Drew's smile disappeared. "Don't joke about that. I intend to be around for a long time."

My heart gave a jump. I looked at him with a steady eye. "Do you mean that, Drew?"

"Yes."

I hugged him, squeezing my eyes shut to keep the tears from starting, holding him so tightly that Drew protested, laughing as he tried to extricate himself.

"Hey, hey. I'm not going anywhere."

I let him go and looked away so he wouldn't see my emotion. "Every time I hold you I wonder how many more chances I'll have."

I felt Drew's strong hands on my face. He turned me so that I was looking into his deep blue eyes. "Listen to me, Glenn. We have all the time in the world now."

I believed him totally, trusted him with all my heart.

Drew believed what he was saying too, I'm sure of it.

Neither of us could have known then how wrong he was.

TO BE CONTINUED...