Page 102 of Love Limits

When Zhong finally felt like he could keep a straight face, he walked a little closer and held up the little squishy ball that he’d brought. Ash perked up.

He pointed meaningfully at the ground in front of him, a command he’d seen people use with actual dogs when they were supposed to return something.

Ash responded by weaving around the room, awkwardly and hilariously trying to make sure that they didn’t crash into anyone while ensuring that Zhong was still watching them.

When Zhong didn’t move—he knew what would happen if he started chasing—they eventually came back. They weren’t going to give up the sock, though, as Zhong discovered when he tried to pull it from their mouth. He didn’t want to pull hard enough to hurt them, not when their eyes were dancing with such naughty delight.

He started walking off the mats and toward his bag. Ash went down on their haunches, their whole body and pleading little eyes begging him to stay.

He was going to just die of the cuteness. Adoration welled up inside of him.

I have treats, he signed.

Well, that changed everything. Ash raced toward the bag, somehow managing to make it back before he did in their scramble of grippy socks and paws.

He found a pack of M&M’s and put one in his hand. Drop it, he signed, his closed fist opening downwards to indicate the action. Ash dropped the sock and immediately picked it up again.

Cuteness overload. He could sense the doggy logic. “I put it down just like you told me to and now I get to chew on the sock again!”

He repeated the command.

With great reluctance, Ash dropped their prize and Zhong quickly scooped it up. Only then did he give Ash the treat, holding it in his open palm so that Ash could lick it off his hand.

His sock was now disgustingly wet, so he shoved it in his back pocket and took off his other sock to match.

He didn’t want to keep playing with the nasty sock, but he still had the ball from earlier. He tossed it onto the floor a few feet away, hoping that someone had cleaned the area well.

Ash scrambled happily after it, perky tail wagging, and snapped it up with their teeth. Yeah, this was going to get pretty gross and wet, too, but Zhong found it kind of charming.

Ash brought it back to him, eyes sparkling, and this time they dropped it immediately to get an M&M.

And that was how he spent one of the most enjoyable hours of his life, exchanging an increasingly sloppy ball for tiny pieces of candy while his heart glowed in his chest. When Ash got bored, he switched to potato chips and practiced a few other tricks with his smart little puppy.

Another pup crowded in who Ash seemed to know, and then they were off again, tangled in the crowd. Zhong didn’t have eyes for anyone else, though.

He leaned against the wall, trying to make sense of the whole evening. He could feel himself grinning, just watching those cute teal ears bounce and leap across the room.

He wasn’t sure why this felt different from age play. All he could figure out was that age play was fascinating by itself, but he mostly enjoyed it because Ash enjoyed it. He wouldn’t mind at all doing it again when it made them so obviously happy. But it was more like a puzzle he was trying to solve, tallying up the different causes and effects to give them that freedom they were seeking. The reward was getting the puzzle right, because he was kind of addicted to Ash’s smiles.

The puppy mosh, though, was a whole new world. Something that clicked inside of him just because it did. Because the puppies were so playful and all of their eyes shone with mischief and merriment. Because it felt like a community made of snuggles and delight.

And Ash was the brightest star of all, their joy wriggling through their body in every little pounce and wag of their tail. The way that they looked up at him, whether they were begging for belly rubs or stealing his socks or giving him their whole worshipful adoration… it was like he was everything to them. And they were everything to him in return.

He finally felt the reciprocal weight of everything that he’d read about. It had always been there, wanting to take care of people that he cared about, but he could feel it here in its purest form. He was giving Ash the gift of his care and command, and they were giving him the gift of their dependence and devotion.

This was what all of that kinky stuff was about. And it felt right.

Somehow, he wasn’t sure quite how yet, he had to find some way of keeping this.

He had no idea how, though, at least not in the long run. He could keep taking Ash to pup night, but ultimately this was where Ash would want to take people on dates, like they’d planned to tonight.

Maybe, since Ash had been poly before, they wouldn’t mind too much if Zhong stuck around and they could still play sometimes.

Maybe, if Zhong didn’t set his expectations too high, he could balance something out between Dustin and Ash, even if he never had someone to call his own.

Maybe Zhong didn’t even need to keep dating if he could just hold on to the edge of everything that made Ash so glorious and wonderful. He could be satisfied with the scraps.

Zhong put all of those gloomy hypotheticals aside when Ash wandered back, head down in exhaustion. Panting and sweaty, they rolled onto their back, paws in the air.