Page 19 of Love Unlimited

Hang on, Zhong had a side?

That room used to be an office for Dustin’s ex. He waved at it dismissively as they walked. Though maybe Lena’s using it now. The door was open so they both peeked in, exploring by the light of the moon. There was an antique wooden desk with some binders and books stacked on it, a partially full bookshelf and an empty one, and three potted cacti in the window.

Does Dustin like cacti? Ash asked.

Ha! Remember that day when you and Landon worked on the garden with me?

Yeah… It had been a ton of fun. Zhong and Landon both knew so much about plants, and Ash had just enjoyed digging into the dirt and learning from them. They knew Zhong came over pretty frequently to work in the garden out back and take care of the decorative plants in the front. The day Ash joined in, Dustin had only come outside once. Dustin brought us sandwiches, they recalled.

Yep. That’s about his interest in plants.

Gotcha. So that means this room is Lena’s. She adored the little things. The bookshelves in her apartment had been covered with tiny decorative pots filled with prickly, round succulents.

Either that or she’s just putting them all over the house. There were some in the kitchen and the living room, too.

Oops. Ash hadn’t noticed. They’d noticed the comic books, though. Lena had recently disclosed that she liked to read them as a middle, so seeing them on the shelf and knowing what they were for felt a bit intimate and naughty.

OK, but I want to see your room.

Zhong ruffled their hair. So impatient. He led them to the next door and flicked on the light. Not much to look at.

Except that it belonged to their Daddy, and it was in Dustin’s house.

Ash took a moment to look around. It could have passed as a guest bedroom, simply furnished with a queen-sized bed and polished walnut furniture. But the little details were noticeably Daddy’s. The one decorative shelf held some older Star Wars figurines. The bookshelf was overflowing with an eclectic array of books. A painted wall-hanging with Chinese characters down the side seemed to tell the story of a tiger turning into a human. And two of the framed pictures on top of the dresser showed Dustin and Zhong being ridiculous and adorable together. The third picture was a posed family portrait, with an adorable, chubby Zhong about eight years old and what looked like his three siblings, ranging in age from preschool to high school.

The room didn’t look lived-in, but it definitely looked like Zhong’s stuff.

I can show you my office in the morning. It’s upstairs. You’ll like the light up there.

Of course. Because Zhong had an office here, too, that he’d chosen because it had the best light. Even though he’d moved out five years ago. Dustin obviously had no use for most of the gigantic house he’d inherited from his aunt, but keeping entire rooms dedicated to your old housemate was… not typical.

Zhong didn’t often talk directly about his relationship with Dustin, but Ash had been putting the pieces together. A big part of why Zhong worried that he wasn’t enough for Ash seemed to be that he hadn’t felt like he could be enough for Dustin or this other person from college, Sarah, because of his disinterest in sex.

He claimed that he didn’t know whether he loved his best friend or was in love with him, but either way, he’d been hurt each time Dustin started dating someone else and spent less time with him.

Ash was getting the feeling, though, that the affection they felt for each other was a lot more mutual than Zhong realized. Obviously, Zhong knew some of it. He still supposedly cuddled with Dustin, though Ash had only ever seen them hug, and had slept in his bed before Lena came onto the scene. Dustin and Zhong shared inside jokes and well over a decade of traveling and living together.

Frankly, a lot of things that Zhong mentioned in passing sounded more like a romantic relationship than he probably realized. Ash knew how important Dustin was to Zhong, but they hadn’t fully understood Dustin’s level of dedication until now.

Ash paused to consider if they were feeling jealous or concerned but… not even a little bit. Zhong was Ash’s Daddy. Zhong loved them most of all.

It was OK if he loved Dustin, too, because Dustin was Lena’s Daddy. They weren’t in a competition. And Zhong had plenty of affection to go around.

Not to mention that it would be hypocritical, since Ash had just been flirting with the other couple.

But it raised an important question. Were Ash and Lena getting in the way of the relationship between the two men? Ash was never far from Zhong’s lap when the four of them were together, just like Lena always settled at her Daddy’s feet. They practically had assigned places for game night, where Dustin and Lena took the couch and Zhong and Ash got the side with the two chairs, but only used one of them.

Should Ash back off a bit and let Dustin and Zhong spend more time together?

Zhong waved something colorful in the air, breaking them out of their thoughts. Are these good for PJs? He held up a pair of Ash’s undies that he must have found in their bag, as well as a faded Yoda t-shirt, a few sizes too big, that they’d never seen before. So he did have clothes he kept here.

Perfect, they signed. That shirt looks soft.

Zhong looked at the shirt affectionately, and then gave that same sweet smile to Ash. It’s the softest one I have here. I got it in high school and it used to be my favorite.

That right there was why Ash never needed to worry. Zhong put his love into everything he did, and even if he gave that same loving look to Dustin, there would always be plenty more for Ash.

Let’s go get you ready for bed. Zhong picked up the things he’d collected and opened a door to what must be a bathroom.