Kendrick ‘Kenny’ Wilson felt like he had stepped into the Twilight Zone where reality seemed to be the same at first glance however it was skewed just enough that things just seemed…odd. Stan Berkowitz walking in the room looking like a miniature fitness model and bringing in his Amazonian porn star girlfriend was definitely the moment when Rod Sterling was supposed to walk in and do his narration.

Now granted it’s a bit of an unfair reaction to Stan especially for Kendrick who was actually once an overweight slob who spent most of his teenage years playing videogames and watching anime. A bit cliché and it’s not as if he actually stopped doing that but he switched it up with regular exercise, healthy eating habits and socializing outside of the internet. So far be it for him to disparage Stan’s obvious lifestyle changes but in his defense Kendrick was a skeptic by nature.

Kendrick uses this natural skepticism as the main running point for operating his YouTube channel. Kendrick liked to think of himself as an internet journalist, commentator and critique. His bread and butter was making long form investigative videos primarily focused on influencers, streamers and other YouTube channels. Lately he’s expanded into short form videos and collaborating with Liam for a podcast that was moderately successful. He tries to be as inclusive and expansive as possible however there is a special place for gaming content.

Out of everyone in the group Kendrick has known Stan the least. As for how he came to know of him, like many children of the late 2000s Kendrick was very much aware of, supported and respected Stan’s channel AwesomeEpicGaming. To Kendrick Stan’s channel is and will forever be the most endearing gaming channel on the platform and Stan himself was something of a treasure on YouTube being one of the first successful gaming channels that didn’t have the backing of a company sponsor or feature an over the top personality or voice to supplement their gameplay.

AwesomeEpicGaming was built on the backbone of gameplay and sharp editing that were almost unmatched and ahead of the curve at the time. He was there for Stan’s first ever Twitch stream where he reintroduced himself to the internet following his channel stagnating despite doing timely uploads and much like the general audience Kendrick too was amazed. Yet that amazement was tempered by Stan’s personality.

The guy was an asshole plain and simple and Kendrick wasn’t the only one to call him out on it. Kendrick’s feelings towards Stan’s response to the criticisms surprised him more than the response itself. It really shouldn’t have bothered him as much but being the inquisitive skeptic he was Kendrick began an investigation into the man behind the AwesomeEpicGaming channel and what he found honestly shocked him.

Given that all his videos prior to his livestreams were done with no commentary and somehow neither Stan nor AwesomeEpicGaming had any social media presence there weren’t many who knew about him beyond the channel and his website. Sure there were a few who did investigate him but they were small channels and Stan wasn’t exactly making any waves during those times so no one had the inclination to look deeper than his website and a few old posts on some now defunct forum.

Stan was very careful about keeping his anonymity online but with the advancements in technology it only took a bit…well a lot of stubborn determination for Kendrick to unearth Stan’s online ‘secrets.’ His investigation led him down a rabbithole that took him weeks to traverse and months to put together in a video.

The result ended up being a video that was over an hour long history, review and critique of the AwesomeEpicGaming channel and the man behind it. See it is an unfortunate fact of life that internet personalities who gain even moderate success are prone to have people curious enough about their past that they would go out of their way to investigate them.

With Stan’s channel having a certain standing in the online gaming community and his identity being a hot topic of discussion with whole forums dedicated to discussing it there was already a community chomping at the bit to know more about him. So when Kendrick released that full in depth investigative video about Stan it blew up becoming one of his most successful videos to date. It helped that Stan was doing frequent livestreams at the time still riding the wave of his resurging popularity so more and more of his personality was coming out.

The whole point of the video wasn’t necessarily to bash Stan but to give an objective overview of the man’s channel and personality shown. Unfortunately Kendrick would be lying if he said that he hadn’t been more critical of the man than he probably should have and this had the unfortunate effect of reflecting negatively on Stan. It also didn’t help that at the time it became clear after a few streams that Stan didn’t exactly have the most likeable personality. Grumpy, condescending, nihilistic, mocking, argumentative and disrespectful were just some of the words that could be used to describe him.

His opinions, his beliefs, his stances on poignant issues and so on were some of things that were constantly being asked and commented on his livestream chat and let’s just say Stan wasn’t always mature about giving his audience and answer to these questions. More often than not he adopted the ‘South Park’ approach to answering any questions outside of gaming: don’t take anything seriously and maintain a neutral stance whilst trolling/roasting both sides of an argument.

His abrasive attitude, liberal use of curses, general trolling and having more than a few hot takes turned a lot of people off. Shockingly he was able to build a community that wasn’t completely filled with toxic trolls, unhinged incels and nihilistic neckbeards by being just as critical of them and their lifestyle choices as much as he was with everyone else. It was basically self depreciating humor but in those instances it also highlighted one of Stan’s draws outside of his gaming skills and entertainment value.

In brief segments of his streams when he actually puts down the controller to address his audience Stan displayed a shocking amount of wisdom and insight. It was clear that the man was intelligent and is able to articulate his words in a way that betrays his personality. Because of this most could look past his abrasiveness and just enjoy his streams if for nothing but the entertainment. Unfortunately his philosophy did not endear him certain groups of people it was long before a vocal minority tried to get him cancelled. Even more unfortunate was the fact that this vocal minority pointed to Kendrick’s video as the main driving force behind this movement and Kendrick himself was unwittingly roped into leading this so-called crusade.

At least it seemed that way to the troglodytes on Twitter.

As for Kendrick while his initial reasoning behind making the video was on the side of malicious the initial shock of witnessing his personality eventually wore off the more he watched of Stan’s streams. By the end Kendrick accepted that he didn’t necessarily have an issue with him and for Stan’s part when faced with the knowledge of his involvement in the video that seemingly spearheaded a smear campaign against him he did what he normally did and laugh it off.

More than that he reacted to and critiqued the video as his first reaction. It was actually kind of surreal for Kendrick to watch the man take the criticisms in stride while correcting inconsistencies, filling in plot holes and even give context to a lot of the speculations. He did so in a way that was honest too making no excuses for his shitty behavior, admitting his mistakes but not once apologizing for them. He also made jokes…he made a lot of jokes often at Kendrick’s expense.

Despite this he did not have any hard feelings towards Kendrick even going so far as to praise his skills, liked the video and subscribed to his channel all on stream. That was unexpected but not as much as when he gave him a shoutout. At some point Stan found Kendrick’s twitch handle, searched his viewership and confirmed that he was watching the stream. After a bit of dialogue between the two which consisted of banter Stan agreed to feature as a guest on his and Liam (whom he knew through Jamie) podcast.

Why did he do this?

First in his own words he respected someone who can look beyond the surface and be objectively critical of others. Second at this point he was already acquainted with Liam whom he got to know through Jamie and Liam happened to be a co-host along with Kendrick on a podcast. And last but not least he wanted to troll the haters, something Kendrick could get on board with because fuck those guys.

So as for where he and Stan stood now they were on friendly terms. Stan was an unapologetic troll he made fun at people’s expense and Kendrick was still critical of his behavior and was quick to point out his bullshit.

This time was no different.

“Bullshit” Kendrick stated bluntly.

With the others gone to procure groceries for the evening’s dinner Kendrick, Liam and Amelia were in the living room with the latter regaling the two men with the alleged origin of Stan’s girlfriend.

“Please tell me you don’t actually buy that.”

“Which part?”

“Where do I even begin?”

Liam decided to cut in “if it’s about the isolated communities there are actually a lot of those across the country. Some people even pay off the state government to make the communities a no fly zone so they don’t break the immersion.”

“I can buy that” Kendrick spoke “but you expect me to believe a woman like that got drunk at a club and wound up in the guy’s backyard?”

“It could happen” Amelia defended.

“I’m not saying it couldn’t but if it’s her first time in the city and a couple of guys saw her in the club and got her drunk…” he trailed off meaningfully.

The scowl on Amelia and frown on Liam told him exactly what they thought of his words. Kendrick didn’t like the implications either but it unfortunately made more sense than her stumbling drunkenly into his yard. No offense but that woman is way too beautiful to be left alone by a couple of guys willing to get her wasted.

“I think you should drop this” Liam spoke after a moment.

“Seriously?”

“People are entitled to their secrets Kenny. Besides, she seems like a good person.”

“She is” Amelia supplied with confidence.

“And Stan looks better than I’ve ever seen him before.”

“What if he’s getting played? What if you’re getting played?” he directed to Amelia.

“Hey don’t get me wrong Ezraphel’s story, at least the part where she met Stan, is definitely sus but I don’t really care” Amelia shrugged “I can’t believe I’m saying this but Ezraphel really likes Stan.”

“Really?” Kendrick asked.

“I spent twenty minutes listening to that woman describe the highlights of her many sexual exploits with Stan in very graphic detail. So trust me when I say even if she went for Stan for the money she’s sticking around for very different reasons.”

Kendrick couldn’t help but cringe at that information “that bad?”

“Apparently Stan is a sex God” she stated bluntly.

Kendrick jaw dropped before cringing “I can’t believe those words just came out of your mouth.”

“I can’t believe it either” Liam commented.

“I know right” Amelia spoke looking just as amazed “but Ezraphel makes for a very compelling storyteller” her gaze went to Liam “you could probably learn a thing or two. I know I did~” she capped off with a flirtatious look to her fiancé.

‘And that’s my cue to leave.’

Kendrick got the hell out of there and left the couple to it. Thankfully he didn’t have to wait long before the others finally arrived. Jamie, Ezraphel, Kendall and Stan returned with arms full of slightly damp grocery bags earning shocked looks from Kendrick, Amelia and Liam as they gawked at the volume of groceries.

Amelia summed up their reaction pretty much “that’s a lot of stuff.”

“That’s right, gaze upon the fruits of your ignorance” Stan spoke up after dropping his grocery bag on the counter “by the way you all owe me and I will only accept cash.”

With that he took out the receipt and slammed it on the table.

Kendrick was the first to take a look at it “Jesus…”

It wasn’t even the total cost that elicited the reaction but the contents.

Amelia took the receipt next and her eyes practically bugged out before looking to Ezraphel “are you seriously planning to cook all of this for the weekend?”

“That is the general idea, yes” spoke Ezraphel as she began unpacking everything.

“I think you overdid it” she passed to receipt to Liam before going over “let me help you with that.”

Liam who was now standing with Stan, Jamie and Kendrick in a loose circle didn’t even look at the receipt proper.

“When you asked us to chip in for groceries we didn’t expect…this.”

“Ezraphel said she wanted to make a feast, so she’s making a feast” Stan replied with a grunt.

“A feast huh?”

“I think it’s great” Jamie commented with an impassive expression yet his eyes danced with amusement “Stan swears by her cooking too.”

“Really” Kendrick looked to the man.

“I still would have gone and bought stuff for her to make even if she agreed to let you guys order takeout” he admitted with a shrug.

Liam raised an eyebrow “that good?”

“I literally cannot picture myself eating anything that hasn’t been prepared by that woman. I feel I should warn you guys, you might just become addicted.”

“Ominous” Jamie commented.

“Damn, now I’m looking forward to trying her food” Liam admitted.

“You think I’m joking but just you wait.”

“…” Kendrick said nothing as he looked from Stan to Ezraphel.

“Hey what the hell do you guys think this is?” Kendall exclaimed with annoyance “quit standing around like a bunch of jackasses and help us pack this shit.”

After around ten minutes of packing away the groceries Kendrick’s attention turned to Ezraphel who was looking through the kitchenware that was generously left out by their host.

“This just won’t do” the woman frowned picking up one of the utensils “this won’t do at all.”

“What’s up?” Amelia questioned.

“These utensils are an affront to me” she stated with the most pronounced of frowns.

“Uh…” Amelia didn’t know what to say to that except “okay?”

“No, it is not okay” she glared at the things before sweeping them into a drawer to be forgotten before marching off.

“Um, where are you going?” Amelia called out.

“To fetch my kitchenware” she answered not pausing in her stride.

Stan opened his mouth before realizing what she meant and closing it with a roll of his eyes.

Kendrick noticed this but waited for her footsteps to fade before asking his question “so what’s that about?”

Stan massaged the bridge of his nose as he explained “she got into cooking, became a frequent watcher and subscriber of various prolific YouTube Chefs and is now a kitchen snob.”

Kendrick wasn’t the only one to snigger at that but their mirth was interrupted by Jamie’s announcement “excuse me ladies and gents but I have to go take a shit.”

Amelia scrunched her face in disgust “did you have to make an announcement out of it?

“That was me giving you a warning.”

“And we appreciate that thank you” Stan commented.

“Don’t blow up the toilet” Kendrick spoke with the utmost seriousness.

“I shall take your words under advisement and put them in a folder under the title shit I already know.”

As he left Kendall turned to the others “any of you brought Lysol?”

When she got negative confirmation Kendall swore and the others could only lament this fact.

“So…” began Amelia “what do we do now?”

The three boys and two girls looked amongst each other before Liam broke the silence “LAN party?”

“LAN Party” Kendrick reiterated with a nod.

After a round of nods they all went about setting up.

Author's Notes: For some of my Eagle eyed readers you might have noticed that two previous chapters are missing. They were part of the Halloween special that was supposed to have been published over the weekend before Halloween but the story became too ambitious and I wasn't able to finish it. Since it didn't make sense to me to delay the actual story for a multi-part Halloween special posted after Halloween and the uncertainty of being able to finish it while writing the other chapters I decided to take the pressure off me and delete them. I'll probably post the entire thing in the future after the end of the second volume like I did with the specials in the first but until then it will be a Patreon exclusive.