Page 59 of Love Unlimited

Marco laughed. Does your Daddy know that this place serves ice cream on their pie and in their coffee?

Nope! But now I know where to ask him to bring me when I want coffee.

There’s no coffee in that!

Oh, but there is! Ash took a sip, the cold, creamy ice cream mingling with the hot, bitter coffee without removing the joy of either. The whipped cream on top was so tall that they had to wipe it off the tip of their nose. And it’s delicious.

So, tell me about your Daddy, Marco prompted. You were telling me the puppy play didn’t work out but everything else did?

Ash paused to savor their first bite of warm berry pie before answering. And to give themself a moment to arrange their thoughts.

Nope, that still didn’t help. I actually have no idea where to start.

Let’s start with the fact that you have a Daddy now.

Ash grinned. I do! I mean, it’s only been official for about two months, but it was building for half a year before that. And it’s honestly the best relationship I’ve ever had in so many ways.

Marco nodded encouragingly.

I’m pretty twenty-four/seven about some things. Like asking Daddy for treats. They indicated the display in front of them.

Marco raised one eyebrow. And then bending the rules?

Only an itty bitty bit. Ash showed the space between their pinched fingers. And the thing is, Daddy just gets that. I know this sounds silly, but he makes lists of things that I need to be happy, like a scientist. But even without them, it feels like we just fit together.

That sounds great. I’m happy for you.

But you asked about the puppy play, and that’s the weird thing actually. My Daddy thought he was vanilla before. Ash signed vanilla with a V circling their wrist, just like the signs for coffee or chocolate. The term meant the same thing in English and ASL. But out of everything we do, the part that he said really worked for him was the puppy play. But we haven’t done any since the mosh a couple months ago.

Do you think he’s nervous about trying it again?

I know he is. But that’s actually not what I’m confused about. I know that he needs to figure stuff like this out on his own time even though it’s hard to wait. It’s like–they looked at the table–if ice cream is the Daddy part of our relationship, that’s all I need, and I can enjoy it with coffee or pie. Puppy play, age play… it’s just different flavors. Either way, I have such an abundance of ice cream in my life that I’m not asking for anything more. We’ll get back to puppy play when he’s worked through his own process.

Of course ice cream would be your base and the coffee would be the flavor... Marco shook his head. So does your Daddy know that? That you have enough ice cream?

Ash made a face. Maybe? I’ve told him as clearly as I can, but that’s actually the root of it. He thinks I need… bagels, too.

Bagels?

Ash sighed. He’s asexual. And apparently he’s gotten it through his head that I’m going to be disappointed if we don’t have sex.

And you told him that you don’t like... bagels?

Well, I do like bagels, but it’s not the most important thing to me. And yeah, I’ve told him several times.

That sounds complicated, Marco agreed.

Oh, that’s not even the beginning of all the complications.

Yeah?

Well, I haven’t mentioned Landon and Dustin yet.

Marco knew them both from the munch, but he’d talked with them even less than he had with Ash. You said your Daddy is Dustin’s best friend, right?

You remember a lot! Ash remarked.

Well, there aren’t that many Deaf, queer, kinky folks in the area, and things were pretty intense during one of the munches. It was easy to remember.