Shawn (hypno)
by chester
Chapter One: Fantasy
He was an exceptionally handsome young teacher. He was about six foot, green-eyed, strong featured and manly. His hair was the first thing one noticed - long, in a style that wasn't quite popular now, tied back in a pony-tail, but when let loose touched below his shoulder line. He had come into teaching after doing some construction and factory work and he had the body of someone who had worked outdoors. He was hyperkinetic - always moving, laughing, excited. He was the type of young teacher that would tire the older ones whenever they had to be around him - full of energy, vibrancy and spunk.
He was also immature. At least that was the word put out by many of the more staid staff members. And he probably was - he had the naivete of a first year teacher and the self-confidence of an older one. For this reason he was not totally liked by the rest of the staff. He spoke too much, volunteered too much, got excited too quickly. That alienated a few, but the thing that really turned off the staff was his ego.
For most of all, he knew he was good-looking. For Shawn, there was an indisputable fact. He was, in fact, great-looking. He accepted it and wore it as a glove. He expected all the girls in class to fall in love with him. He joked about the fact. That he was similar in looks to a major teen heartthrob on television didn't hurt either, and he played on that resemblance as well with his students, making jokes and using expressions that this popular actor had used in his role.
Shawn taught next door to me and it was love at first sight. I couldn't do anything about it since I was deep in the closet to protect my job in the conservative community in which I taught. I tried to help him, mentor him, become friends with him - and that would have to be enough.
I was pretty sure he was heterosexual - he spoke of his girlfriend, but he put so much time in at school - the drama club, the ski club, coaching basketball, that he would hardly have had time for her. He did mention once that this business was straining their relationship.
You can imagine how disappointed and upset I was to find out that Shawn had been transferred to another high school last June. At the staff party to say good-bye to those who were leaving, we went off by ourselves and had a long talk - about his successes and fears, why some people didn't seem to like him, and so on. He was, I thought, somewhat conceited - the conversation always had to revolve around him, but since he was what I was interested in, it didn't seem to matter too much.
Besides all his other school functions he had also been involved in drama in the city. Our city has a number of amateur theatrical groups and he had gotten the acting bug at an early age and wanted to get back into 'little theatre'. He said he hoped to balance his school life with a personal life as well.
We talked about some of the roles we had played and, as usual, I brought the talk around to smoking. I have a fascination (read: 'fetish') with guys who smoke, particularly guys who look like Shawn and smoke, and often try to find out whether a guy smokes or not or ever has. I knew that I had never seen Shawn with a cigarette and he was so clean cut that he probably didn't but I led the conversation in that direction.
No, Shawn said, he had never even tried smoking. None of his friends smoked so it was never a thing he saw as cool. We talked about how lucky he was never to have started (damn!) and I threw out the question: would you ever smoke for a role in a play if it called for it? He said he would have to think about it, but he didn't know at this point. He didn't think so. He'd have to want the role pretty badly, he said. From there the conversation went on to other things, and we said good-bye and I wished him luck in his new school. I would miss him.
Shawn didn't entirely leave my thoughts, however. He continued to be my favourite fantasy figure. Many times I would get off by imagining Shawn hypnotized and made to smoke against his will. The imaginary site of Shawn smoking (particularly because I knew it was something he didn't want) would put me over the edge. Hypnosis had often entered into my fantasies, probably as a way of controlling people and carrying on my sexual preferences in a way that I could block out in them afterwards. I had actually hypnotized a number of guys over the years at parties and such, but had never been able to bring myself to do anything with them that would satisfy my desires, mostly out of fear of repercussions - I left 'the reality' to my fantasy life.
In the fall at his new school Shawn also took on the duties of directing the school musical. He called me a few times because of my knowledge of music and I was able to help a little. My feeling was that he had taken on more than he could chew - but this was normal for a young teacher who wanted to prove himself.
Unfortunately, for many reasons, most of which were out of his control at all, the musical had to be cancelled a few months into the rehearsals. I heard it through the school system grapevine and I knew that this "failure" was going to have a profound effect on him. He had portrayed himself, in his own eyes at least, as Mr. Perfect, and this 'failure' was going to bring him down a few notches. I figured he would be upset.
I called, but Shawn wasn't home, so I left a message for him to call me - maybe it was time to get together for a chat. While I was waiting for him to return the call, I read the daily paper and in the entertainment section I noted that there was a Triple X hypnotist performing in town that weekend. Wouldn't it be great if I could get Shawn to go to the show with me and then try to talk him into getting on stage. Then I could... My reverie was interrupted by a telephone call.
Shawn said he appreciated the call. Yes, he was feeling down but felt that he had done everything that could be done and he didn't feel it was his fault that the show had to be cancelled. The final straw had occurred when his lead actor fell seriously ill. I never got a chance to ask him if he wanted to go to the hypnotist's show because he told me how he had rehearsals on Saturday and Sunday he was going to spend the day with his brother on his birthday. We chatted a bit longer, and I told him if he needed to talk, I would be available and then said good-bye. Damn. Another fantasy shot.
On Sunday evening I was feeling a little lonely. I had done marking most of the day for the English courses I was teaching and felt restless. I suddenly remembered the hypnotist's show that had been advertised and looked at my watch. Because it was in a bar, the show was on quite late and I still had a half hour before it started. I hated going by myself, and I was a little worried that some of my students or ex-students would be there - I can hardly go anywhere without being recognized by someone - but I thought - what the hell - I want to go, so GO!
I threw on some different clothes and took off for the bar. The show had just started when I arrived. I paid the cover-fee and tried to find a seat. There didn't seem to be any - at least in sight of the stage. I walked around the edge of the crowd finally finding a spot to the right of the stage where I had a decent view even though I would have to stand. The waitress brought me a beer, and my eyes turned to the stage where the hypnotist was quite far into the process of hypnotizing.
Zerko (what a name - a little too close to Jerko, for my liking) had three rows of people on stage at this point. In the next few minutes he would bring it down to the only the most susceptible, extroverted of the group to one row, and the show proper would begin. I was impressed that he managed to get this loud boisterous crowd to shut up during his induction. Maybe the show would be all right.
Zerko started tests of his volunteers and one by one, either sent them back to the audience or put them deeper into sleep. As he removed a poor subject from the second row my heart literally stopped and my stomach turned over. There, on stage, in all his beauty, eyes locked in hypnotic sleep was Shawn! My Shawn! I blinked. Were my eyes playing tricks? I looked harder since the lights were awfully dim at this point for the induction. No, there was no doubt. I couldn't be wrong. There was Shawn.
This was the kind of co-incidence that novelists used to get bad reviews for. But it was real! Throughout the rest of the evening, though there were about 20 people on stage, I only had eyes for Shawn.
Shawn turned out to be a good subject, no, an excellent one. Zerko recognized this immediately and used Shawn for many of his bits. Shawn was the one who forgot his name. Shawn was the one who found it impossible to stop rubbing his crotch without realizing he was rubbing, Shawn was the one who became the sex therapist giving a lecture. He performed beautifully, was quick at improvising and got right into his roles.
Then there was the second heart stopping moment when Zerko passed two lit cigarettes around and told them they were at a party smoking pot. Shawn was right in the middle and it took a few minutes for the "pot" to come round to him from either side. Each person inhaled deeply and then got quickly high from this 'premium' stuff. His neighbour handed Shawn the lit cigarette and...
Shawn passed it on without using it! Shit! Zerko asked him if he were not going to smoke it and Shawn replied that he didn't do drugs so he would just watch. Zerko compensated by telling him he would get high from the second-hand smoke.
Shit! I knew my co-incidence was too good to be true. If he had smoked I think I would have come right there! The rest of the show was somewhat entertaining, if a letdown, for me. Shawn, along with the others, went out into the audience to find their same sex dominatrix lovers (the first person they saw in white) and that provided a lot of laughs. Finally there was a fashion show in which the guys including Shawn paraded around as women on the runway.
On the way home I couldn't get Shawn's suggestibility out of my head. It made for some nice fantasies at least.
Chapter Two: Reality
Two weeks later and unaware that I had seen him on stage at the Triple X Hypnotist's Show, Shawn called to ask a favour of me. I had told him to call any time even if he just wanted to talk.
Shawn had been cast in a new production of the Edward Albee classic "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" as Nick, the young stud that sets older Martha's heart on fire with lust. A perfect choice, I thought. He would set many hearts a flutter in the role.
Shawn felt that the show was very difficult and certainly the biggest lead that he had ever landed. For the first time, he didn't appear to be so self-assured and seemed frightened about the fact that people had expectations of the role and his own inexperience. He knew that Albee had been a favourite of mine since college days and that I had, in fact, done a thesis - partly using the drama of Edward Albee. We had talked about Albee a few times and it was I, in fact, that got him to read the play originally - telling him it was one of the best American dramas written.
Could he possibly get some ideas and help from me to learn how to approach the part, Shawn asked? Certainly, I obliged, and we set a date for the following Saturday at a coffee shop near his house.
We met for a few hours and talked over many things in the play. He thought, finally, that he was getting a handle on the character. One of the other things that was bothering him though, he said, was that he was going to have to smoke at least one cigarette on stage because there was dialogue indicating it. He told me that he was really against smoking, found it repulsive, and was there some way around it.
I dove into the cold water. "What about using hypnosis?" I asked.
"Hypnosis"?
I told him that I was kind of an amateur hypnotist, that I had been doing it for years, and that I could help him get through the play and make suggestions that he wouldn't want to smoke ever again.
"I don't think you need to suggest that. There's no way I would ever start for real." Shawn replied. "Still, if you could at least get me through the scene without barfing, it would sure be helpful."
I asked him if he had any time right now and he said he did. His girlfriend was working till nine tonight so he had a few hours. "Fine," I said, "why don't we go over to my place and we'll start right now."
We each had our own car so I stopped and bought some cigarettes that were very light on the way back to the apartment.
The induction didn't take long. Knowing what Zerko had done and the fact that he was so suggestible, I had him "way" under in about ten minutes. I made sure he was very relaxed, felt good about me and my expertise, and tried a few tests.
My fantasies had always involved making "good" young men into "bad" young men, smoking being a large part of the image of "badness", but not the only part. I loved it when jock looking types would let their hair grow and buzz cut it, or let their beards grow for a few days, or grow a fu-manchu moustache, or bleach their hair, or get tattoos or nipple rings - that kind of thing. I didn't get off on the "real" bad things.
I had Shawn find it impossible to stop swearing when he woke up and when he woke he was "fucking" this and that and becoming quite crude. I put him under deeper and started work on glorifying his ego - telling him what a great actor he was, how he landed such a great role because he was so great and could be the finest actor of his generation and the most handsome one at that. He was taking it all in nicely.
Then I deflated him. I told him the one thing that people would note is that his smoking in the role was so phony - he looked like a wimp when he smoked. I painted this strong masculine image of Nick as a smoker and how he used the cigarette as a prop to seduce Martha and let himself be seduced by her. I imagined him reading the critics' notices that call attention to the weakness of Shawn's smoking in the portrayal - till he was almost begging to learn to smoke properly.
I gave him a cigarette and led him through the proper way of inhaling - brief at first and getting stronger as his body got more used to it. After we practiced for a while, I told him to forget that he was ever hypnotized and how he had just come over to work on the part and how he would ask me to teach him how to smoke. He understood how he would be immediately attracted to smoking, how enjoyable and masculine it would make him feel. He would start to use the cigarette as a prop in his acting.
When he awoke he thought he had just arrived and as I suggested, he asked for help with his smoking. He was surprised when the smoking came so easily to him and it didn't take him long to start playing with the cigarette and trying different ways of inhaling and blowing out the smoke. I told him he needed to practice each day and we would get together one more time next weekend.
What he didn't know was that I had also given him a key word that would put him under and that I had told him that each cigarette he smoked he would find more enjoyable than the last.
It took only a week for cigarettes to become an obsession with him. He was "practicing" a pack a day by the next Saturday and 'chain-smoked' as we sat at the coffee shop. He had many questions about his character and interpretation but seemed no longer to be worried about the smoking because it didn't come up in the conversation at all. Probably because I told him he would forget about it and relax into becoming a smoker!
I suggested we go over to my place and do a little practicing. He said he had to meet his girlfriend so I used my key word and put him under, telling him that this was far more important than his girlfriend and that he should let her know that the role had to come first. This was his big opportunity. When he woke, he suggested we go over to my place and he never again mentioned his girlfriend that day.
On my suggestion, I became Martha and we played out by improvising some of the scenes. Since he really did see me as Martha, he was not adverse to being sexually teased by me, kissing me, dancing with me and, at the end, climbing all over me. I was in heaven.
I taught him more tricks with the cigarette which he now wanted to have in every scene and suggested that a real man like Nick would probably smoke an unfiltered brand and often leave the cigarette dangling in his mouth, inhaling without taking it out. He was a wonderful student, and was giving a wonderful performance. He would be brilliant in the role, I thought.
We did this every Saturday for six weeks before he actually performed the role. He had learned to smoke like a pro and eventually became a three pack a day smoker.His girlfriend got lost somewhere in the middle of the rehearsal period, never to be heard from again. The distraught young man ended up sharing the apartment with me, a seemingly good way to save him money and also to have the luxury of having his best friend around him more.
I asked him under hypnosis after the play was over if he wanted to continue smoking or wanted me to help him quit. He was quite adamant that he loved smoking and enjoyed it more with each cigarette, so I let him have it his own way.
Now that we live together I have Shawn try on many different personalities and prepare for many different roles. He will probably never get to act any of them, except at home, but it sure gives me a lot of opportunities to join him in a romantic lead. His students probably no longer know what to make of him, he changes his 'look' so often, but I know that I am happy having my fantasy turn into this much reality. And Shawn sees no need to date very often for he is quite stimulated by the company at home.