Page 11 of Love Limits

Either way, Diane didn’t make his brain take notice, if that was anything similar. He just didn’t know her well enough.

You don’t have to go out with her, you know. I’m sure you’ll find your perfect person out there somewhere.

Zhong sighed. I’ll try anyway. You were the one who told me that dating was exhausting and annoying. He hadn’t even gone on his first date, and it was already feeling that way. Let’s talk about something happier, though. Tell me more about Lena. And Ash, he added after a moment.

Well, Lena likes board games.

I like her already!

I thought you would. Dustin smirked. They knew each other well. Ash designs these fantastical clothes, but they’re not an artist. They work in a nursing home. They’re a little flirty, but I don’t think they mean anything by it. I think you’ll like their energy.

I’m excited to meet both of them. It had been a long time since Zhong had a good group of friends to hang out with. Maybe that was what was missing in his life.

Maybe he wasn’t romantic at all.

He considered it while Dustin talked more about Lena. He’d need to think about it later, when he had time to sort it all out.

But he was still pretty sure that he wanted someone special. Yeah, someone to live with and do special things with was essential. It was part of the list.

He was still looking forward to game night, though.

Chapter 4

Ash

Ash poked a few buttons on their phone while they waited at the stoplight, turning up the music on their Bluetooth hearing aids. They were in a good mood, and singing in their car added to that bubbly feeling. The small vibrations of their own voice in their jaw were drowned out by the heavier thumping of the sound in their ears, but it didn’t matter that they couldn’t hear themself. It just felt good to sing.

A moment later, their ringtone cut through the noise and “Mom” flashed on the screen. They looked away from the street for just long enough to accept the call instead of the Facetime invitation.

“Hey, honey.” Their mother’s cheerful tone came through easily, even as the syllables got lost. She could have just as easily said they thunny or say sunny, but this one was easy to guess.

There was never a time when phone calls weren’t an exhausting guessing game, but at least the technology had gotten a lot better in the past decade. Between multi-speaker hearing aids, Bluetooth, and video calls, conversations were merely frustrating now instead of pointless.

“Hey Mom,” they replied. “I’m driving now, so I’m not on video.”

“OK, I’ll keep it short, -en. I- just checking in. How wa- your date la-t week?”

“Sucky,” they replied lightly as they stopped at a traffic light. It had taken them a while to get over Soren and Maya, but now they were playing the tedious dating game again.

“I- -orry, -oney. Want to te- me about it?”

“Not much to tell,” they shrugged philosophically. It was fun when the dates were comically bad, but most of them were just a snooze. “Um… we got tacos at my usual place. He had really good hair, so I suppose there’s that? He was too pushy, though.” Ash wanted someone who could take control, but only in a gentle way. This guy had just been an asshole. A completely run-of-the-mill asshole, unfortunately.

“Anyone e-- -ook good?”

“I started chatting with someone. She’s a scientist, which should at least be interesting.” And she was a female Domme, which was a bit rarer. Maybe that could help them find the right blend of caring and command.

“You need to g- on better -ates.”

“You’re telling me,” they laughed. “I’ve only been on two and I’m already exhausted.” FetLife and OkCupid were limited, and dates with hearing people were exhausting. Did they really want to spend the rest of their life lipreading? Even if a partner decided to learn ASL, it would be years before they were really fluent.

“---at are you up to, —-?”

“I’ve got a game night tonight with some new friends. Well, one old friend who I don’t know well and some new ones.” The group had even been kind enough to schedule it for a Wednesday night when Ash didn’t have work.

“-at -ound- perfect -or you. Where did you -eet ---?”

“At the munch. They’re all Deaf and kinky, so I’m excited to get to know them.” Ash didn’t hide much from their mother. Now that they were an adult, she was more like a best friend.