When Stan stormed into his office he quickly booted up his PC with the intention of settling in and immersing himself in his Steam library catalogue of unfinished videogames. He didn't want to think about the last half an hour or so of his life right now or he'd just be perpetually pissed off which did no one any good. And so there he sat for the remainder of the evening yet even with him trying to deliberately distract himself there was a part of him that kept a metaphorical ear out for anyone attempting to disturb him.
Occasionally he would glare at the door whenever someone so much as approached it. So far he intercepted Natalie…and Ezraphel though unlike his sister the Lilim's probing attempts were less physical and more esoteric. Unfortunately for her Stanley was too locked in to overlook anyone or anything attempting to disturb him and more or less blasted 'intent' whenever he felt her presence.
He wasn't even that angry at her but he was in that mood where he was pissed off at everything and everyone. He was also self aware enough to recognize his volatile mindset and thus was determined to let this run its course without any interruptions. Somewhere in his mind he knew that his vehement rejection of her was negatively impacting Ezraphel, hell he could feel it like a dull ache in his heart but once again his anger won out and he merely ignored the feeling and her to focus.
And so he ended up spending all of the evening all the way up to the mid morning of the next day inside his office gaming. It was nonstop too meaning no breaks for drinks or snacks and the only time he paused was to load up another game. Thanks to his Incubus physique he was hardly hampered spending upwards of twelve hours straight sitting on his chair staring at his monitor screen.
The only reason why he stopped was so he could use the bathroom and for a moment he toyed with the idea of just going in a bottle only to discard it. Of course as soon as he pushed himself out of the chair he felt the effects of his decision and had to take a minute to get the combined stiffness and numbness from his body. He might have loosened up more than he meant to because nature went from calling to knocking to using a battering ram on his bladder.
"Shiiit!"
He yelled out immediately rushing to the door and opening it only to find not the hall but the bathroom attached to his bedroom.
'…roll with it' he decided before going to relieve himself.
During this brief period he thought about what his next move would be. The fact that he was thinking about it meant that his anger had subsided for the most part. He could think clearer and that meant he didn't have the excuse to properly address the elephant in the room.
Ezraphel really screwed the pooch on this one and the only reason why Stanley wasn't more concerned about it was that despite everything the Golem seemed to at least be sensible. At the very least she had both the tact and maturity to navigate through life on earth. This even extended to the relationship she pursued and currently maintained with that guy. At least that's what he got from her retelling of events. Now she could have lied to make herself look better but Stanley didn't think so because he put the fear of Him in that woman.
When he asked her to tell him everything she took that order to heart but more than her words it was her delivery. She spoke as if she was giving an oral report giving a detailed yet succinct description of events from the last time he saw her to the moment he caught her. It was honestly exactly what he asked for even if he didn't quite mean it to be, clouded by rage as he was when he demanded she tell him everything.
He was glad for it though, because it gave him clarity even if he didn't appreciate the when he initially received it. With a clearer mind though he could understand that while Ezraphel's unfathomable decision to keep A's existence a secret from him while allowing her to roam free (even under her supervision) was undoubtedly stupid and reckless, nothing terrible had really come from it.
As a matter of fact with the way how everything was described to him he couldn't really think of a way that him knowing about it would help the situation. Not to say that him knowing would be detrimental but A (and Ezraphel by extension) handled the situation so well that he could not see anything of substance he could have added.
With that in mind, could it be possible that he overreacted?
…FUCK NO, BRUH!
This was a secret that didn't need to be kept because even at his most terrible his reaction would have been significantly less visceral than yesterday. Everything he said in his rant to Ezraphel still stood including him breaking off the relationship if they were a normal couple. Keeping secrets at this point in their relationship was a red flag if he'd ever seen one and thinking about it made him genuinely weary of the future because they should have been beyond keeping secrets of this magnitude.
Did he still feel as if he would break up with Ezraphel now?
Not anymore and he's aware that in that hypothetical alternate timeline where they were normal people that him breaking up with her would have been in the heat of the moment. Maybe it would have stuck and he would have come to regret it but he'd get over it…and probably swear off relationships for a while. That wasn't the case here and while he didn't regret his outburst he didn't want this rut in their relationship to persist.
At the same time he felt obligated to dish out some kind of punishment lest Ezraphel develop the idea where she felt she could just get away with this kind of bullshit. Hell it might be because she already felt that way why she decided to keep this secret. Maybe this was her poking and prodding at him to see how he would respond, seeing what she could get away with because she's planning to do something even worse.
Shaking his head he zipped up and flushed before making his way to the bathroom sink. Turning on the faucet he lathered up with some available liquid soap before washing his hands. Afterwards he splashed his face with some water before using the soap to wash off the grime from yesterday. He also rinsed his mouth a bit before turning off the faucet to glare at his reflection.
He looked like a disheveled not-quite-mess which made him snort. Even now he still looked like the Hollywood version of unkempt which kind of pissed him off. He didn't look how he felt right now and that was messing with him more than he thought it would.
Eventually he calmed himself to get back on task 'pull yourself together Stan. We've been over this, she's not that kind of woman.'
He scowled at the thought of him rehashing old fears and it wasn't just of Ezraphel but of the reasons why he never bothered with entertaining a relationship in the first place. Being a simple man he wasn't built for dealing with complex social issues let alone complex relationship issues.
'And yet I have no choice.'
He was in too deep and so now the only thing he could do now was to suck it up and deal with it.
'…how am I supposed to do that?'
You know what really sucked about his situation right now?
There wasn't much he could do to enforce consequences here. The only reassurance he had that she was taking it hard was the distant feel of her emotional turmoil that could be felt through their bond. It was chipping away at his resolve even now. Then you combined that with the knowledge of how she handled A and Stanley was finding it hard to stay mad at her. The raging fire of his anger had reduced to a small bonfire which was perhaps the perfect state for him to have a conversation with her.
So it was with this thought that he made his way to the door and placed his hand on the knob.
"Ez, I want to talk, let me in."
There was a moment of stillness as if the very space held its breath waiting for a response. He received it in the form of his senses picking up a shift behind the door and he opened the door to find he was now in their bedroom. The lights were off, the blinds blocked the window and the TV was on showing an episode of early SpongeBob with the sounds muted.
With a frown on his face he went ahead and turned on the lights and set his sights on Ezraphel. The Lilim lay on the bed 'hidden' under thick bed covers surrounded by candy wrappers and an empty gallon tub of ice-cream with a silver spoon sticking out of it. He raised an eyebrow as he took in the rather slovenly scene before approaching.
Cartoons, candy and ice-cream. He didn't need to be a genius to figure out these were Ezraphel's go to comfort items. There was one other thing and he's sure she has it underneath those covers not that he cared about that thing right now.
Standing at the foot of the massive bed he spoke "Ez, we need to talk."
"…" she didn't answer.
Stanley almost sighed "I'm not mad anymore."
That got a response as her body shifted under the covers before he face barely peaked through.
"Y-you're not?"
"I'm upset" he clarified "but I'm not mad. Now I'm mostly just confused. Why'd you keep it a secret?"
"…no" came her reply in a faint voice.
"What?"
"Don't wanna."
"You don't want to tell me the reason why you kept A a secret?"
"Nuh-huh."
He stared at her for a moment before speaking "it's really that stupid huh?"
"…" she seemed to curl in on herself under the covers.
Stanley's frown became more pronounced at her silence "you're not even going to deny it's a stupid reason?"
"…" once again she remained silent.
In response he clicked his tongue "fine, don't explain."
He could hypothesize what her reasoning might be and that would have to do for now. He might have pressed her further in better circumstance but this right here was new. Childish as she was acting right now with their close proximity he could feel her emotions more clearly. To put it bluntly Ezraphel was devastated to the point where she was literally hiding from him. He's pretty sure that she would break down and cry if he so much as raised his voice.
He couldn't help but pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration 'now I'm starting to feel bad.'
Even worse this reaction necessitates that he talk her down, have a heart to heart and reassure her that despite this rough patch that they're going through things will be alright, that they will be alright. Given her mental state it would take time for him to get through to her and it was guaranteed to be a very emotional conversation.
'…yeah no, fuck that' he thought after which he started stripping.
As he stripped he noticed that Ezraphel's body shifted and he felt her staring. She didn't say anything though even as he took off his shirt, kicked off his shoes, pulled off his socks and hopped out his pants leaving him in an undershirt and boxers. Taking off said undershirt revealed a decently toned body reminiscent of the mythic 'swimmer's build.'
"W-what are you doing?" he heard Ezraphel stuttered.
'Speed running through your depression.'
Of course he didn't say this and instead went with "I'm going to fuck you."
"O-oh."
"Take the covers off."
"…n-no thanks I…" she paused to swallow "I-I'm good."
You know he would have been shocked that she of all people was refusing sex except for one thing.
'Ez, I can literally smell your arousal" he tapped his nose.
He's pretty sure given a few more seconds and she'll be leaving stains on the sheet, it wouldn't be the first time. Mamono were weird like that.
When she spoke her voice was at a higher pitch "w-well b-be that a-as it m-may I will have to d-decline."
Stanley was not at all impressed with her 'resistance' which was made sufficiently clear by his deadpan expression and question delivery "are we really doing this right now?"
"I have no idea what you mean."
'She lost her stutter'
And in exchange gained a breathy almost anticipatory cadence to her voice that absolutely reeked of lust.
Internally he sighed 'I guess we're doing this.'
A moment later he lunged he grabbed at sheets and pulled "GET OVER HERE!"
"KYAA~" yelled the Lilim as she was pulled towards him.
Once she was close enough he lunged managing to clear the gap in a single leap to mount her while she was still under the covers and the two proceeded to wrestle with each other. Stanley had the upper hand as Ezraphel was confined under the thick covers which he made no attempts to get her out of. Instead he worked to get her even more tangled in the sheets. With some difficulty he managed to roll her upper half in the sheets effectively turning her into a sheet burrito.
"Stanley~" came the familiar if muffled whine from the Ezraphel burrito.
"See this is what you get for being difficult."
"I'm sorry"
"Too late for that, you like the sheets so much there you go now you're a sheet burrito."
"I don't want to be a sheet burrito~" she wiggled pitifully unable to get herself untangled.
She only got her legs free if only because he focused on tangling her top half. Why that is became very apparent when he seized her shapely thighs earning an "eep!" from her as her body went still.
"So, looks I have you at my mercy" he noted while lightly rubbing her thighs causing her body to shudder "question is what are you going to do about it?"
As he said this he let go of her legs and folded his arms while kneeling before her.
"…" without saying a word Ezraphel opened her legs revealing to him that she wasn't wearing anything.
'And there's the stain.'
"Nice~" he nodded approvingly his boxers already painfully tight.
Time to blow off some steam.