"Is that how you say hi to people on a date?" Asher says, and kisses him.

"It's how I say hello to you." 

"How rude," Asher says, "when have I ever given you the impression I don't want to kiss you."

"Never, but you're excellent for hugging." 

That sounds like an opportunity for a hug.

"How is Richard Gere doing?"

That is an opportunity for a hug, and an excellent one at that. "Hasn't texted me since the thing I sent to you." 

"Then you should turn off your phone and snuggle me and argue about Stephen King."

Sasha will absolutely turn off his phone and snuggle him and argue about Stephen King! 

In the next month, Lev does not appear to be a stalker or interested in getting freebies!

Lev shows up on time for the ninety-minute shows every Tuesday and Thursday. He mostly wants to talk to Luna about books and movies. His taste in fantasy and science fiction is wide-ranging; he's self-aware of how awful it is. He drops hints, occasionally, about what his life is like, and sounds like he might want Luna to ask about them. He never turns his cam on. The kinks he mentioned in their second show show don't come up; he wants her to strip, to touch herself, to say she likes him and she wants to touch him, to talk about her fantasies, to moan his name. 

Lev texts her a fair amount, but he doesn't freak out when she takes a while to respond.

Lev doesn't always show up to her shows, but he usually does, and he's a pretty big tipper. Once, when Luna puts up a countdown to her riding a dildo, he fills it immediately. 

Luna's cam score rises, and more people come into her room. She's making more money than she ever has before, and not all of it is from him. 

He buys Luna two new dresses, several books, a vibrating buttplug, an art tablet. 

Sasha sends Asher sanity checks every so often, bitches to Marlo about clients, reads and draws and opens commissions on his art. He continues to not ask about Lev's life; he is not paid nearly well enough to be a therapist. He shows off the vibrating plug at a show; he wears the dresses on camera where Lev will see them; he has opinions about the books.

One show, Lev opens with, "I didn't get anything done today because I got nerdsniped by a math problem."

"What math problem is this?" 

"So if you have some number of bags-- like, the kind you get at the grocery store-- how many different ways are there to stuff the bags inside each other? Like, there's one way for one bag, and also one way for two bags, and two ways for three--"

"Wouldn't there be two ways for two bags, or do you mean a different thing than I'm thinking of?" 

"It's easier if there's a picture-- maybe I should turn my cam on?"

"If it'd help!" 

He does!

Lev has chin-length dark curly hair and a big nose and a somewhat uncomfortable expression. 

That tracks! Luna leans forward. "You said it was easier to get with pictures — do you mean that only 'the first bag inside the second inside the third' and 'the first and second bag both inside the third' count as separate ways or do you mean something else?" 

"Here, I'll show you--"

He sketches this on a piece of paper:

He thinks about it. "And for four there'd be... three? I think?" 

He breaks into a huge smile. "You're missing one!"

(He sounds ecstatically happy.)

"I'm not a math person but there's — hold up —" and he grabs a piece of paper and draws this: 

"That's really good --I should teach you about graphs, they're faster to draw for this problem-- do you want a hint?"

"Sure!" 

"You can move one bag in your third picture to get the fourth one."