Page 54 of Love Limits

You think I’m intense?

You’re carefree about a lot of things, but you’re intense about relationships. I can see it already.

Huh. Maybe he was. Yeah. I guess… I like the idea of having someone who’s the center of my world. I guess that’s kind of intense.

Ash nuzzled in tighter. I want the same thing.

They got to the ideal partner question and Zhong looked to Ash for guidance. They had no idea. Sarah had been carefree, but Dustin was kind of intense. And Ash, who was apparently their new best friend who was currently sitting on the couch, seemed to be a bit of both.

Ash contemplated it, too. They started to sign and then stopped. What would you say if… I thought that you wanted to be intense so that your ideal partner could be carefree?

Zhong considered it. Yeah. That sounds about right. I like looking after people. He enjoyed making people relaxed and happy. He followed Ash’s recommendation.

The next one was about religion. Since he was Chinese, it barely even made sense as a question. He clicked “not at all” and then said that he didn’t care regarding his partner.

Then there was something about getting married and he skipped the question.

Really? asked Ash. Go back.

Zhong shook his head. I just don’t even know what that means for me. I mean, I love Dustin but marrying him would be weird. I suppose maybe if it were the right person and it meant a lot to them… He knew that marriage usually meant some financial arrangement that accommodated kids or something, but the idea of a “wedding night” and everything it signified filled him with dread.

Did you see the option for settling down without getting married?

That’s seriously on there?

Ash giggled. Yep. Go back and click it.

After that it got boring for a bit. Smoking. Debt. Politics. Stuff that he supposed he cared about, but at this point he was more interested in the algorithm. I wonder how they chose all of these questions. Like, what makes these the fifteen most important questions to start with?

A huge amount of data mining. One of their lead developers or owners or something even wrote a book about it. It’s fascinating.

I’ll definitely check it out. He clicked through the next few questions.

There was finally a good one. “Would you rather be normal or weird?” Definitely weird.

Ash offered him a fist bump.

He clicked through a few more until the next good one. “Choose the better romantic activity: kissing in Paris or kissing in a tent in the woods.”

Woods. Definitely woods. Though he could do without the kissing most of the time. Again, maybe for the right partner.

Ooh! Can we go camping? Do you have a tent? Ash asked excitedly.

Yes and yes. Let’s definitely go camping when the weather gets warm.

Ash threw their arms around him, then pulled back to sign. I knew you were going to be awesome.

Zhong found himself grinning. Really it was Ash who was awesome. He typically went camping with Dustin, but he could definitely go more often and maybe all three—or four?— of them would enjoy hanging out together.

The next one was about whether jealousy was healthy in a relationship. He clicked no. Jealousy never made sense to me, he explained. Maybe it’s because I’m ace?

No. It’s never made much sense to me either. Like, I can be poly or I can be monogamous, but I’ve never felt jealous. If my partner wants to be with someone else, there’s just more love to spread around I figure. And if they’re done with me, being jealous won’t do anything anyway.

Oh, cool. That sounds much less stressful.

Only somewhat. My last relationship was poly, but I was the third for an existing couple. And it was nice in a lot of ways, but I didn’t like being on the outside. I knew going into it that they owned a house together, but I’d never live with them. And when they moved, they just told me they didn’t do long distance and that was kind of the end of it.

Oh, that sucks.