Page 118 of Love Limits

He rinsed out the washcloth and started the process again, revealing their pinked skin under the foamy bubbles.

Turn, he instructed.

Yep, water everywhere.

He gave their back the same care and attention, scrubbing harder when their arms went floppy and their head tilted forward. Ash was his. Every bit of them.

When Ash was clean, Zhong helped them stand up and turned on the shower, making sure to keep their hair dry. They snuggled into him, boneless in their relaxation. There was nothing awkward about it, just smooth skin and gentle closeness. He hadn’t needed to worry about this at all.

Eventually, he urged Ash out of the tub. He bundled them up in a towel to stay warm, then wrapped a quick towel around his own waist so he wouldn’t drip everywhere. After that, he got to repeat the luxurious process again, wiping down Ash’s limbs with a smaller towel and patting around their face. They looked positively blissful.

He led them back to the bedroom and had them sit on the edge of the bed. Now for the next part of the plan. He’d been choosing their pajamas each night, but they’d said once that they wanted their Daddy to choose their clothes, too.

He was reasonably certain he was going to screw this up because their clothes were so creative and evocative, but he’d been increasingly noticing that in this Daddy thing, it was the thought that counted. In fact, the intentions were the entire thing.

He opened his closet which was, honestly, mostly Ash’s stuff now. It was an explosion of colors and fabrics, crowding out his two dark suits and handful of nicer shirts. He loved seeing them there.

Yeah, he really had no idea what to choose. Fortunately, he didn’t actually have to. His job was only to let Ash know that he was taking care of them. The clothing was the language and dressing Ash was the message. The details beyond that were unimportant.

He selected three items that looked different enough from each other to give them a choice and held up the hangers over for Ash’s inspection. Which one?

Ash pointed to the one on the left, a t-shirt with ribbons slashed through it. Awesome. He returned the others to the closet.

What would look cute with this?

Jean shorts, please. The dark ones.

Ha. He’d totally managed that Daddy-chooses-the-clothes thing without choosing the clothes.

He even knew where the shorts were. And the underwear. There seemed to be a lot of different styles of those, but he chose the ones on top.

Ash was just looking so happy sitting there that he had to give them a kiss. A full, wet kiss with his tongue burrowing past their soft lips and their hungry mouth merging joyously with his. Their fingertips dug into the skin of his shoulders as they plastered themself against him, and both of them were panting by the time he pulled back.

Wow. Ash wrung their hands in amazement. They grinned up at him, but didn’t try to initiate another kiss. Which made it just perfect. Because it meant that he could do it again, every day, just like they’d told him they would put on the list even though they’d never written it down.

He liked kissing. At least sometimes when his chest was overflowing with that tingly warmth and he knew it didn’t have to lead anywhere. It was warm and breathless and thrilling as long as it could be a thing unto itself.

He dropped another kiss on Ash’s forehead, then slipped the shirt over their head. Unwrapping the towel and helping them push their arms through the sleeve felt natural. It was Ash’s way of communicating that they cared about him, too.

He knelt on the floor to slide on their underwear. That seemed to go better with some maneuvering, and he looked up at Ash for permission. They nodded their head, so he treated that part of their body like everything else and made sure they were comfortable. It was just dangly bits.

He added the shorts, zipping them carefully, and he was done. Well, except for the knee kisses. That was part of the transformation of getting dressed into something special.

He stood up and checked out his handiwork. Ash looked fascinating, adorable, and a little bit edgy. Just like they were supposed to. They were also wearing a dreamy grin.

Alright, what do you want to do today? And tomorrow, actually. His whole plan had just been that bath, and it was a rousing success. Now they had the rest of the two days open. Well, except for grocery shopping. And some laundry. But those would both be more fun together.

While Ash considered, Zhong pulled on some clothes. Underwear. Jeans. T-shirt. Done.

I hadn’t thought about it yet. Want to take a walk and go out for lunch? I was going to call my mother this afternoon but that’s all I have planned. Ooh! And maybe we could invite Dustin and Lena over for a game night? Or… is that too weird? I mean… it’s your apartment.

Zhong shook his head. Of course it’s not weird. I think we should host a game night, but let’s do it at Dustin’s place. Unless you really want to do it here. There’s so much more space over there, though.

Do you want to maybe ask him first?

Zhong shrugged. I’ll make sure he’s not busy, but he rarely is. Landon should be there anyway and he’s on summer break now, right? You’re the only one with a complicated schedule. He playfully pulled one of Ash’s curls and watched it bounce back.

Ash shook their head at his logic. They still didn’t seem to understand his relationship with Dustin, but as long as it didn’t bother them, which they said it didn’t, he figured it would eventually make sense.