Page 1 of Love Limits

Chapter 1

Zhong

November

My turn, Zhong signed, extending his first finger and thumb then pressing his curled fingers into his chest. He pushed Dustin’s feet off his lap and then lifted his own feet onto Dustin’s thighs. He loved giving massages, but since he’d been on the giving end for most of an hour, he figured it was time to switch.

Dustin rolled his eyes, since he’d already taken a turn too, but he started massaging anyway. His talented fingers knew just how much pressure to use so that it didn’t tickle or hurt. They’d started the tradition when they took a couples massage class together in college and they’d had plenty of years of practice since then.

Dustin worked his way across the ball of Zhong’s foot until he hit the spot just under it that made Zhong’s spine turn into jelly. Zhong let his head fall back, soaking in the sensation.

He wanted to absorb it into his skin.

It wasn’t just the massage, but the whole combination of things that made this feel like home and safety and love.

Ever since he’d moved out of Dustin’s house, he felt like he was trying to trap a little bit of it in a bottle. Hoard it for a rainy day.

Or just every damn day.

He didn’t think that his best friend had any idea how much he missed being here.

He closed his eyes.

Even with pale autumn light, he could feel the sun warming his cheeks through the big, bay windows. The comfy couch that he’d picked out with Dustin years ago cradled his back. Zhong had been simmering bone broth on the stove since this morning, and the scent danced through the room.

It was a little picture of heaven.

And of course, there were Dustin’s talented hands working through the last bit of tension that he hadn’t even realized was there.

That was what was really important.

He loved Dustin’s house, but really, wherever Dustin was would feel like home to him.

Now he just needed to figure out how to replicate it with someone else.

He was too much of a scientist to actually believe that he could manufacture the same conditions with another human, but he couldn’t help playing the game.

It was like a little checklist that he’d kept at the back of his mind, though recently he’d been thinking about it enough that the lists were starting to make it into his omnipresent notebook.

Maybe he could find someone else who had a garden in the backyard for him to take care of. Someone who appreciated the food he made. Foot massages and sunny windows were on the list, too.

Maybe there would be someone else who he fit so comfortably with that their presence was as natural as breathing.

So far, it had only been two people. Dustin and Sarah. But Sarah was married and lived five thousand miles away.

And Dustin was sitting on the couch with him, but their lives weren’t quite… compatible. Not the way that Zhong wanted them to be, at least. Not the way he’d naively expected them to be in college.

Life was stupid sometimes.

He startled when Dustin slapped him lightly on the calf.

What was that for?

Dustin stopped rubbing to sign with both hands. The on-again, off-again rhythm was how all of their massages went, since they used them as an opportunity to chat. You sighed. What’s wrong?

I’m trying to figure out how you can find someone to live with without going on dates first.

Dustin laughed like it was some kind of joke.