Page 44 of Love Limits

On the second snap, Ash looked up and he caught their expression of relaxed happiness.

Hang on, are you taking a picture?

Yeah, is that OK? I can delete it.

No, it’s fine. I, uh, actually really like it. They were blushing.

Zhong tilted his head to the side, curious to know more.

Ash toyed with a star, spinning it between their fingers, then set it down at the edge of the design. You know how I said that I’m into age play?

Yeah. I read a bit about it with Dustin. He decided not to mention the videos he’d watched. The blogs had been so much better.

Well, it’s kind of a thing that I do to relax. I mean, things like this or coloring or playing with toys. It’s fun being allowed to play with food, you know? And, I guess… I mean, I know you’re not my Daddy or anything. But in my fantasy, I’d have a Daddy who liked what I made and took pictures of it and put them up on the refrigerator. Or, like, the wallpaper on his phone.

That’s the whole fantasy? He liked seeing Ash relaxed and happy, which was why he’d taken the picture in the first place.

Yeah. Just relaxing and having my Daddy be proud of me.

Ash looked a little uncertain and Zhong wondered how much courage it took for them to say all of this. They knew he wasn’t in the kink scene, so it meant a lot that they shared it with him.

He considered for a moment, then flicked through a couple screens on his phone. He held it up for Ash to see.

Ash clapped their hands in delight. Mostly hidden behind all his apps was Ash’s sunny smile and their snack mix fireworks arrayed on the counter.

If that was all it took to make Ash happy, Zhong could definitely do it. Watching another adult play with blocks sounded boring as fuck in the abstract, but watching Ash create masterpieces out of food was something special. He could even get a couple pictures printed out for the fridge the next time he was at the drugstore.

Alright, time to eat.

Ash swept the crunchy snacks back into the bowl without a second thought. Over here or at the couch?

Let’s get pillows and sit on the floor by the coffee table so we can set up a game.

Ash practically skipped over and was already pouring over the new games.

Zhong carried over the two plates that he’d made, each with a selection of things from his fridge. Watch out, it’s hot, he warned as he set them down. For some reason, that made Ash smile more.

They finally got to play Hive, the game that Ash had asked about that first night. Naturally, they took to it quickly. Zhong won the first two games, but by the third he had hard competition.

Through it all, they chatted about their lives, each round bringing out another side of Ash’s personality. They talked about balancing art and career, and how their passion to create had actually bloomed in the past couple years. Once they started working full time as a nurse and weren’t trying to make a business of it, they had less time but more inspiration.

They’d also been inspired by the people they worked with each day, bringing their stories and faces into their art.

Zhong talked about how he’d always been more drawn to words. He explained traditional Chinese poetry, which was rich in symbolism. A child might stand in for the idea of innocence, and farm for opposition to war. The moon could be nobility, longing for home or a person, desolation, or eternity.

Ash asked if Zhong would find some of his favorite poems to share so that maybe they could illustrate some of them. The warm glowy feeling in Zhong’s chest felt like it could lift him like a balloon.

By the fourth game, Ash was yawning. Their strategy had gotten so good that Zhong was challenged to keep up with them, but they’d both fallen into a calmer, more reflective mood.

One more game? Ash asked when they finished. They flopped back onto the floor, their curls fanning out around them.

No, you have to be up early tomorrow. Ten hour shifts don’t match well with late nights.

Ash put their hands on their hips, which was hilarious since they were lying flat on their back. I don’t wanna go home.

I’ll pack you a lunch, Zhong said, his heart beating a little faster at the thought. He’d picked up something for them at the store today.

Thank you, Ash said sincerely. I don’t know how I got so lucky.