Page 101 of Love Limits

If Ash ever wanted to bring him here again, he would sign up in a heartbeat.

After thoroughly mauling him with those rounded paws, Ash scampered toward the end of the bench, then came back to him and repeated the motion. Apparently it was time to get moving. Zhong took the human responsibilities of stuffing Ash’s bag into the locker and putting on the lock that he certainly hoped Ash knew the combination for. He grabbed his own duffle bag and hiked it over his shoulder.

Ash raced ahead, but fortunately stopped a good yard or so from the door so they wouldn’t get hit when it opened. As soon as Zhong reached it they dashed through. This was also apparently why Handlers needed leashes.

Ash only darted a few yards ahead, though, and then circled back to dance around Zhong’s legs. Zhong hoped he wouldn’t trip on them, and fortunately when they walked through the more crowded part of the club Ash mostly followed at his heels. It was clear, though, that Ash was only following him out of affection, rather than control.

Ash led him down a hallway and into a large room, most of which was covered in thick blue mats. The side they were on held a few couches, tables, and beanbags chairs.

And the room was packed. He took a moment to observe it all, eyes darting from one space to another. For a while, it was just a melee of arms and legs, an endless sea of snouts and ears in constant motion.

Ash pressed against his leg, quivering with excitement, but didn’t rush him. Slowly, the dynamics of the space started to take shape. There were cuddly pups getting scritches from Handlers at the tables or snuggled up in little piles of cuteness on the beanbags. Moving toward the matts, there seemed to be watchdogs, observing and guarding the groups from the sidelines, along with a few Handlers spaced carefully to corral the group.

On the mats he was starting to distinguish playful puppies who just liked to pounce and move, while a few other clusters seemed to be wrestling and pushing each other to establish dominance. A few Handlers had waded right into the foray, tossing balls or petting their pups in the middle of the chaos.

There was a side room which seemed to have some sort of obedience course going on, but Ash’s whole attention was on the mat so he ignored that for now. He had the sense that Ash was more of a tumble on the mats and then lounge on the beanbags sort of pup.

He took one last look around. He was pretty sure he could handle this.

A few other people seemed to have stored their bags against the wall, so he found a vacant space and set his bag down.

Ready? he asked.

That was all it took to have Ash racing over to the other edge of the mat. Since Zhong could go faster on his feet, it was no problem to keep up. Then Ash stopped suddenly, almost blocking him with their body and sniffing at his shoes.

He squatted down and followed his instincts, petting Ash’s head and back. Ash leaned happily into his touch, but kept pawing and nuzzling at his shoes. This was apparently why Handlers needed toys.

Zhong stood and took the squishy ball out of his pocket, but one of the other people waved to get his attention. The man said something that he couldn’t understand, but then he pointed to a row of shoes against the wall.

He laughed out loud. Ash must have been trying to figure out how to tell him to take off his shoes since they’d been in the locker room. The fact that shoes was one of the few words that Ash could have signed by just bumping their paws together was not lost on him. Puppies didn’t talk.

He nodded his thanks to the other man then returned to his bag, Ash following eagerly at his heels. Taking advantage of Zhong’s bent position while he untied his shoes, Ash tried to lick his face, only succeeding about half the time.

Ash seemed satisfied with the shoe situation, bouncing along enthusiastically as they returned to the mat. Zhong was still a bit overwhelmed, so he found an empty spot on what was, at least currently, the quieter side of the mat and slid down to the floor, legs crossed.

He got another face full of excited Ash and adorable paws that he had to fend off of his neck. Ash was a lot heavier than a Pomeranian. And about a thousand times cuter.

Anyone who could bottle up this exhilarating bliss would make a fortune. Zhong almost, almost wondered if he would want to come back here even without Ash.

But watching his favorite person—pup—take off into a pile of pouncing puppies was definitely a huge part of his enjoyment.

Ash sniffed around another pup, trying to smell his tail while the yellow-masked man sniffed theirs in return. The other pup’s tail was, in fact, nestled in his naked butt, but there was still something completely innocent about it. They ended up chasing each other in a circle, and it was so dog-like that Zhong laughed out loud.

Ash pounced and rolled with their new friend into a larger group. They seemed to be on the more gentle end of the spectrum, not taking the playful aggression too seriously.

One of the other pups started tickling Ash with their bare fingertips that stuck out of their gloves. Ash rolled around, squirming happily, and then rolled over back to a happy crouch. Zhong found himself laughing with them.

Zhong thought about going over and joining in, but he was still learning so much just by observing. Every once in a while, Ash would look up and make sure he was watching them or dart back to nuzzle at his face before diving back in. Even while Ash wasn’t playing with him directly, he still felt very connected.

Plus, he was wearing the shirt. He was Ash’s Handler. Maybe it was presumptuous, but he felt like he belonged here.

Without any signal he could see, Ash’s puppy pile suddenly broke up and the four of them scattered in different directions.

Ash scampered back and he showered them with petting motions and praise, his hands flowing into meaningless doggy talk about being a good puppy and looking cute which Ash was probably ignoring anyway.

Then, when Zhong wasn’t expecting it, Ash started mouthing at his toes, finally getting a bit of sock between their teeth and tugging on it.

Zhong was laughing too hard to even attempt to stop them from pulling off his sock and racing across the room with it. Ash pranced around with their prize, then hunkered down, chin to the ground and tail in the air, protecting it.