He started to fall, and expected to slip and land on the floor. But instead, instinct had pushed his hands forward to grab for anything at all. And, of course, the only thing to grab onto was the man in front of him. When his hands hit the stranger's firm torso, the first feeling that hit him was relief. He had not fallen on his face. Now he was only mostly a fool, not a complete one. It took a split second before the realization hit him that he was touching someone he didn't even know. He had just reached out and grabbed someone. True, the guy's abs were good for pressing one's hands against, but Ash wasn't out looking for nice abs to grab. He only felt worse when the guy reached out and steadied Ash further by grabbing his arms. His grasp was so strong, he felt like a pup in comparison. He looked down at his trapped arms, noticing how slender they were in comparison to the tensed forearms of the stranger. This guy could really hurt him if he pissed him off, couldn't he?
But that was not his concern. His concern was that he looked like a complete ass and had just ruined everything. If Ash could have expressed his emotions physically, he would have screamed and flailed. But, seeing as that was too freaky even for him, he simply froze. When he started to worry that he was lingering too long in the stranger's grasp, he took a quick step back and withdrew his arms with the speed of a spitting cobra. He even gave an involuntary apologetic bow, as if he were Japanese. What was that? Since when was he Asian? Ah, he was just so nervous. "Ah..I uh..sorry. Thank you." His own cheeks were fluffed up, making his face look a bit like a furry snowball. In his own embarrassment, he was unable to see the damage he had done to the other.
His right hand reached out to grasp the wrist of his left arm, which was placed firmly against his side. "Nice to meet you two," he said with another little bow of his head. Gosh, that was so dorky. He really had to stop that. Ash looked down to find Iliya positioning himself between them. He didn't look upset, so he guessed that was a good sign. He smiled at the kid before looking up to his..brother? Father? He didn't know how they were related. His smile faded and was replaced with a look of horrified worry at his question. Oh no, he had bothered him, hadn't he? He saw now the uncomfortable expression on Adrian's face, and he felt awful about it. "Oh, yeah, yeah I'm fine. Thanks." His words came out quickly and jumbled, and he looked down at his feet, wringing his hands from anxiety.
He bit his lip nervously, wondering if it would be too creepy to just run past the two of them and hide in the woods. Yes, it probably would be. Besides, they had been nice to him so far. He felt too guilty about ditching them after that. Ash forced himself to look up again, and gave another smile. "Um. Maybe we could look around and see if there's anything worthwhile left around here." The broken glass was just around the windows, so he figured it would be safe enough for Iliya too.
