As Ash spoke, he couldn't help but notice the way Mr. Hawkins' eyes seemed to narrow on him, then on something, or some<i>things</i>, behind him out of his field of vision. He couldn't be sure if he was actually listening to any words that spilled out of his mouth until the older man wrapped his fingers around his wrist and tugged him inside. Ash didn't shy away from his touch, though he did find it incredibly odd that the near stranger would be pulling him inside his house after such a strange and rather unwelcoming introduction. Was Miles' father always like this, or did Ash just happen to catch him on a particularly strange day? Once they were both inside, Mr. Hawkins' locked the door with a rather unnecessary sense of urgency, as if he were paranoid someone was going to slip in behind them when they weren't looking. Ash raised an eyebrow as he watched the man's erratic movements, trying to deduce why the man was behaving in such a queer manner despite knowing he wasn't going to come to any solid conclusions anytime soon. He knew absolutely nothing about Miles' father; perhaps the man was simply like this all the time, and that's why Miles had opted to not speak about him to Ash. He certainly wouldn't have been surprised.<br/><br/>"Don't worry, Mr. Hawkins, I'm used to people wanting to touch me." Despite his mild confusion, Ash was able to smile and chuckle at Mr. Hawkins' joke, or quasi-joke, perhaps, as the statement must have been somewhat serious, and throw back a little teasing of his own. The man had given him a smirk, and Ash mirrored him well. Molding himself to fit others' dispositions came naturally to him, although rarely was he ever in a position where he<i>wanted </i>to appease whomever he was with. Now that they were inside the house, the man seemed to ease up and he began to engage Ash in light conversation. Ash frowned when he heard about only a small fraction of Miles' injuries.<br/><br/>"Wrist fractures? Jeez. I told the kid to ease up on the masturbation, but you know teenagers." Ash snickered at his own boldness. It was most certainly inappropriate to make jokes about masturbation with his friend's father, especially one he didn't know all that well. He brought a hand up to his mouth to stifle his laughter, and thankfully after a few seconds his face had returned to its neutral, friendly mask. "I'm sure we can work something out. There's a pretty good speech-to-text program I use on my laptop at home; maybe I can download something like that for him and he can use it to complete his assignments. I'm sure as hell not going to write everything out for him. He's lucky I was willing to lug all these books around." Another quick smirk graced his lips as he looked around the room, able to see much more now that he was fully inside and his vision wasn't obstructed.<br/><br/>Ash couldn't find the commonplace evidence of suburbia around the Hawkins home; no shameless displays of Miles, no sign of the same Ansel Adams framed photograph every single family seemed to acquire and hang up on their wall just to fill the empty space. No personal photographs of any kind, really, or unique tapestries or rugs or anything that said anyone of any personality lived here save for the odd pieces he managed to catch glimpse of, particularly the Minotaur on the mantelpiece.<br/><br/>"I like that," Ash said simply, nodding to the eviscerated beast and smiling. "The Minotaur is such a brutal creature, I always found it odd that its depiction in art never seemed to quite reflect that ferocity. Perhaps it doesn't count if it's dead, but I still find it quite pleasing to the eye."<br/><br/>He followed Mr. Hawkins upstairs, laughing at the man's comments about his son. He didn't understand the severity of Miles' injuries, he couldn't. It was easy to think that Miles had fractured his wrists in an unfortunate but ultimately mild accident, and Ash didn't consider that his wrists might only be the beginning.<br/><br/>"Well, I've always appreciated a nice bite," Ash mused mildly, stepping up to Miles' bedroom door and knocking on it abruptly.<br/><br/>"Miles? It's Ash. I hope you're decent in there, young man. I have no desire to walk in on accidental nudity."