#ill tame the length dont chu worry

[ashton-ryder]

"The first drink with a new customer is always a litmus test," Ash back then as a bartender would've probably then top up his drink with three limes and some flair for the heck of it. Though it has been a long time ago from a very different life, while Ash hasn't forgotten it, it did take awhile to work back in the muscle memory. For a long time in those later years he was bartending for himself and he was one of those customers that needed the fastest way to numb himself.

Ash rested his head on his palm and elbow to the bar as he listened and watch Eric yap on, interjecting at amusing points with his own jokes, "oh that quarantine suite was huge, plenty of space for privacy." Conveniently leaving out his own experience of having quiet soft moments of privacy in the middle of the night with Jer. "Plus having to have a perfect first date in this building really limits a lot of things." As open as Eric was being with him, Ash felt bad that he couldn't reciprocate the sentiment, keeping his own.. situation to himself. But he can be here to be a listening ear. "Oh, so my boundaries are the only ones you won't respect, got it," he laughed and saw an opening in Eric's point to poke fun at without any bite or truth, only sarcasm. "Guess that's the benefit of having siblings." He wouldn't really know but he wished he did growing up.

He picked up the drink poured to him for the first time since it was offered to him, smiling at the scene Eric was painting for him, it sounded adorable at the very least. "Did she now? Guess we.. bonded over food in quarantine." Bonded was a strong word to use when all he did was managed to make her less scared of him by giving her all his food that he couldn't stomach. That evening on the rooftop was probably the one time they really bonded in any capacity. "Who knew Doom was always the ultimate wingman," sipping on the glass after raising it to the good pup, "you know how to sign? I couldn't really understand much of it when she did."

Ash paused for a long while after before deciding to add, "if I could give any advice to help you.. just let her build herself back together again." He can't fully grasp what Aggie has gone through himself, but there's the small part of him understanding the time needed to collect the broken pieces and put yourself back together. "That's all I got though, good luck dude." Terrible wingman, unlike Doom.

"Sure! It's so tricky though, cause one bartender told me about a guy who looked like a typical lone wolf from a thriller, ordered Cuba Libre with two lime wedges, and was disappointed as fuck when the guy just poured him a drink." Eric chuckled at the absurdity of the anecdote; obviously, their equation shouldn't include eccentric people, they tend to be hard to read. But the longer he thought about it... Two lime wedges were a bit too specific not to be a hint... or weren't they? Tricky. Zach would probably call him a final boss.

He wasn't good at hiding his feelings and thoughts when he didn't have to. Too tired of wearing masks and hiding way too many things from way too many people, he finally let go. So even if Ash did laugh at him a little (Eric just chuckled and shook his head at that, knowing there was no malice behind that reaction), he felt relaxed enough in his company to talk about almost anything.

Eric sipped his whiskey as he listened, putting a lot of effort into stopping himself from asking what he had learned about the guys on the beach. Even if they didn't know any relevant details, it was easy to imagine what Ash might have meant by that. The pre-outbreak world had seen enough violence for them to know what this one could be capable of, and when he remembered the fear in her eyes and her whole body when they were still on the beach... He quickly turned his attention to "Ziggy's sister" and Ash's question. "It was too crowded for a perfect first date," he joked back, shaking his head with a soft chuckle. "I might trespass and pour myself drinks, but having an autistic brother is a good lesson on respecting people's boundaries and giving them time. I've helped him open up, he's teaching me how to calm the fuck down."

He smiled at the other with a little shrug. It's not even that he wanted to persistently follow Aggie until she fell into his arms - it couldn't be further from a typical "I'm gonna make her mine". Something made him want to protect the tiny blonde, even if she would never fully open up. As long as she was safe, that's all that matters. "I ran into her with Doom the other day. We've played with him together, he knows all the fancy icebreakers and made her laugh. And she signs so we have talked a little." He playfully arched a brow. "She even mentioned sharing her bread with you at some point."