‘Maybe I was overreacting.’

It’s been about a few hours since he came back with the sun was beginning to show signs of waning. Thus far things have been on the relative up and up. It seemed Amelia didn’t radicalize Ezraphel much to his relief though she obviously disapproved of the way he chose to handle her punishment. That is to be expected much like how he figured she expected him not to really give a shit about her opinion in this case.

As for Ezraphel a subtle vibe check on his part revealed the Lilim to be in better spirits than when he left. She even greeted him with a sandwich platter and drinks to tide him and everyone else over until dinner was prepared. That was ultimately a good thing and internally he thanked Amelia for being a friend to her. Externally he flipped her the bird when she made a vaguely disapproving noise and expression to match.

No words were exchanged because nothing needed to be said between them as they already knew what the other was about. Of course he was still leery of the two of them spending time together but that situation was out of his hands at the moment. He could only hope nothing bad comes from it…and after failing miserably to hope he opted to rely on distractions as a coping mechanism.

Luckily he found the perfect distraction with their chosen game of the evening, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Funnily enough he didn’t have to convince the others to take part in this one, heck he wasn’t even the one to suggest it. That honor belonged to Jamie, the evening MVP and they all unanimously agreed with his decision. They ended up doing five long matches each consisting of thirty rounds lasting for about three hours. It was during this time that Stan found himself once again realizing an undisputed fact of life…

Counter-Strike is still better than Call of Duty. It’s not even a competition really and Stan felt ashamed of the fact that he never thought to play old reliable instead of diving back into the bullshit that is Warzone. Playing Counter-Strike again after so long made him think back to a simpler time before shooters added gimmicks like perks, classes, kill streaks, vehicles, iron sights, going prone, leaning, sprinting, single player, voice acting and photo realistic graphics.

…was it mentioned this game, which has hardly changed since it was released back in 2012 still maintains upwards of 800,000 concurrent players on Steam, the largest global platform for PC gaming, at any given moment?

There is a reason for that as Stan experienced once again what it was like to play chess with guns. There are no sweaty plays in Counter-Strike unless you’re looking for a quick death. As a veteran FPS player who once dominated Counter-Strike lobbies it didn’t take him long to get back in the groove of things. There was still growing pains for the early games however as he shook off rust and was once again he was humbled by the fact that he could make rookie mistakes such as getting picked off early game, getting distracted, making bad plays and ultimately…flashbang himself.

Fucking up has never felt so nostalgic.

But as the games went on and he started getting into the groove again there is nothing quite like the butthole clenching rush of being the last man alive against a near full squad and clutching a win against the odds. Because as everyone knows in Counter-Strike every victory is a true testament of your skills…and every defeat is lag’s fault.

Stan wasn’t necessarily the star of the show here. There is an ‘I’ in airsoft but not in team and this was demonstrated by everyone pulling their weight and performing beautifully. Kendrick’s skills with the Desert Eagle were on point, Liam earned his title of Sniper God and even Kendall had her time to shine with an insane mad lad push with the P90 that was the stuff of legends. Then there was Jamie who acted as the leader and surprised the hell out of Stan with his performance.

At one point Stan’s pretty sure Jamie entered the flow state, opened his third eye, jacked into the mainframe and was listening to enemy comms because he beat almost as much ass as Stan did. As for Stan once he cleaned off the rust he dominated almost every match. The name of the game was chess with guns and he was the Grandmaster playing with M4s and AKs.

But no man is an island and while Stan snagged a few Ace and MVP status achievements what really stole the show was their teamwork and coordination. Really with how much of a well oiled machine they were as a unit you’d think they were an e-sports team but not even Stan could claim such a thing lightly. In any case with the success of their game time Stan was more than ready for a victory feast and Ezraphel did not disappoint.

“…hey Stan?” whispered Kendrick in awe.

“Yeah?”

“I know we don’t really see eye to eye but take this advice. Whatever kind of lover’s spat you’ve got going on with Ezraphel you should fix asap and keep that woman close you understand?”

“…yeah.”

The reason for this interaction came when they were all called for dinner and what awaited them was incredible to say the least.

“For our final feast together I thought we could go back to the classics.”

Classics turned out to be an amalgamation of classic Sunday dinner meals for which the main dishes are rosemary lamb shanks, classic beef stew, breaded pork tenderloins and puff pastry chicken pot pie. Side dishes include buttermilk biscuits, garlic mashed potatoes, macaroni & cheese, parmesan baked potatoes and roasted veggies. For drinks there was an assortment of wines, fruit juices, water and milk. Desert she kept a secret for the time being not that anyone even asked considering the smorgasbord sitting before them.

As they actually started eating it became unanimous that Ezraphel once again hit it out of the park. And to compliment the good food they had good dinner conversation to go along with it.

“Stan did what?” Amelia said incredulously.

“You heard me” Kendrick spoke “man whipped out five grand and bribed everyone to play a game of 1v10 Rambo with him.”

“I don’t believe it. Mr. Frugal Investor over here actually flexed his wealth on you?”

“I didn’t flex” Stan defended with a grumble.

“Yes you did” Kendall scoffed.

“You did whip out five thousand clams Stan” Jamie commented.

“All for a game of airsoft too” Liam added “which I mean, weird flex but okay.”

“I needed enough money that none of you could justify refusing under the conditions.”

“You made the deal to give everyone a hundred dollars if any one managed to tag you.”

“Yeah and you all took the bait hook, line and sinker.”

“Didn’t figure you for a gambler Stan” Amelia commented.

In response Stan scoffed “oh please you all knew what happened in that arena, was I really gambling?”

“Why, what happened?” Amelia asked looking around the table.

“Yes tell her what happened” said Stan with a smug grin.

Jamie was the first to comment “Stan went Insane-O style.”

“He cheated” Kendrick refuted “I don’t know how or when but he definitely cheated.”

“Aw Kendrick is your bottom still sore from when I bent you over my knee and spanked you like the little misbehaving boy you are?”

Liam decided to answer “we only managed to tag him once.”

“Once?” Amelia reiterated with shock.

“Out of the entire game” Kendall added.

“How long did you play?”

“Two hours!” Kendrick practically yelled “we played for two straight hours and we only managed to hit him once.”

Seeing the confirmation on the others Amelia came to the only logical conclusion “you cheated.”

Stan rolled his eyes “no matter how many times you say it doesn’t mean it will magically come true.”

“There is no way you only got hit once in a two hour 1v10 in CQB arena, it’s impossible.”

“Not impossible just a skill issue and as your fiancé can attest not one that I have.”

After that zinger they talked a bit more about the insanity that was the airsoft game before moving on to other topics. Eventually they managed to finish the meal and moved on to desert which turned out to be apple pie. Following desert they watched a few movies before once again breaking off to do their own thing. This mostly involved packing their bags for when they will be leaving out early to venture to the airport.

At this moment Stan should have been on his laptop however curiosity got the better of him and after much deliberation ventured into the kitchen. It was there he found Ezraphel flitting about with seemingly what remained of their shopping ingredients and the leftovers.

This had him ask the question “what are you doing?”

Without looking at him she answered “I am preparing meals for the others to enjoy on their way back to their homes.”

Stan leaned on the doorway “so home cook takeout then.”

“I prefer the term travel meals Stanley” she then looked to him “is there something I can help you with?”

“No just doing a vibe check.”

Ezraphel tilted her head “vibe check?”

“Checking up on how you’re doing.”

“Oh, well I am doing…alright” she hesitated before returning to her task.

“You seem alright.”

“Spoiled your plans?” she grumbled.

“What?”

“I find it unfortunate that you insist on punishing me like this.”

Stan scowled “well what the hell would you have me do? Let it go? After how much you fucked up?”

The Lilim sighed “I understand why you are doing this and I…agree given the circumstances” she edged “but it is frustrating nonetheless Stanley.”

Stan snorted “it’s called a punishment for a reason Ez, it’s not supposed to be enjoyable.”

“And the one administering the punishment should not be this cordial.”

Stan rolled his eyes “we’re living under the same roof and you make my food.”

You don’t go out of your way to be hostile against people who make your food. It’s the reason why he has no sympathy for people who antagonize service industry workers. Frankly they deserve everything negative coming to them.

She took a surreptitious glance at him “I don’t suppose there is anything I can do to alleviate my punishment?” she added with a sultry tone.

Stan was unimpressed “no.”

To that she frowned and turned her nose up at him “hmph.”

Some may question the legitimacy of his so-called punishment but they wouldn’t understand. Mamono in general are creatures of love and succubi even more so. The only other species who are more love-centric than them are the servants of Eros the Goddess of Love. It might not seem like it on the surface but Stan not giving Ezraphel his love and attention really does cause her discomfort.

He could feel it even now through their bond and it hasn’t even been a full day since he started. Not to sound like a sadist looking forward to her suffering or anything but things will only get worse for her the longer he kept it up and that’s the point.

Of course a vibe check wasn’t the only thing he came here for and since he wasn’t in the mood to be subtle he just went ahead and asked his question.

“So what were you and Amelia conspiring while we were gone? She didn’t give you any weird ideas did she?”

Stan observed that the question caused her shoulder stiffen before she glanced at him “w-what makes you think we were conspiring?”

‘Your reaction just now.’

Rather than say that he shook his head “what else were you two going to do?”

Ezraphel pursed her lips in response before once again returning to her task “we did not conspire however we did agree to keep in touch after this” she paused “if that is alright with you?”

“You don’t need my permission to make friends.”

“What about your approval of said friends?”

“Well of course I want to know who you’re hanging out with, wouldn’t want anyone being a bad influence around you.”

To that Ezraphel chuckled “oh Stanley I believe that statement to be height of irony.”

“Yeah, yeah I’m a bad influence yada yada. Doesn’t mean I’m wrong and you didn’t answer my question.”

“If you must know Amelia is of the mind that I should distance myself from you. In her own words she said I should not let my world revolve around you.”

“Yeah?” he said not letting any emotions show.

“And I agree.”

“Really?” this time there was a bit of shock and dare he say anticipation leaked into his voice.

“And since you refuse to be my guide Amelia has volunteered to be my traveling companion.”

“Traveling companion?”

“Yes Stanley, since you require space I will give it to you.”

He raised a brow at the small amount of smugness in her tone “that so?”

“That is so” she continued “while you ‘figure things out’ I will be preoccupied with going on excursions across the country with Amelia” she said almost triumphantly.

He nodded slowly licking his lips “and you both agreed to this?”

“That is correct.”

“Wow” he began eyes wide “that is…fucking fantastic!” he finished with a wide smile.

“Huh?”

“You know I was really starting to get concerned about you Ez.”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“As flattering as it might seem on paper I find your level of devotion to me kind of uh…off putting.”

“O-off putting?” the Lilim sputtered with indignance.

“Oh don’t give me that, you were literally forcing yourself to stay in my vicinity at all times even when you’d rather be doing something else. And when you couldn’t convince me to do that thing you force yourself to stay by my side instead of just going out and enjoying yourself” his expression turned uncomfortable “I was really worried your co-dependence on me was stifling you.”

“Y-you were?”

“Still am” he corrected “I’ve never felt comfortable with how content you forced yourself to be with me just sitting at home doing fuck all Ez. I’ve always wanted you to get a life outside of being my devoted stay-at-home girlfriend.”

“Wife” she corrected with a frown.

“Whatever” he waved off ignoring how pronounced her frown became “point I’m making is, I’m glad you’re taking that first step towards independence. I know I should be the one doing this instead of Amelia but uh...” he trailed off making a complicated expression before shaking his head “in any case good for you” he gave her an exaggerated thumbs up “and godspeed I guess” he ended lamely before turning away but not before leaving her with some final words “oh and for the love whatever random omnipotent being watching over us right now, please don’t fuck it up.”

Then he was gone leaving Ezraphel alone in the kitchen. Ezraphel stared at the doorway for a long while before turning away. With a flex of her mana she erected a privacy barrier preventing all from hearing what comes next.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! STANLEY YOU IDIOT!” The Lilim screamed at the top of her lungs.