"Truth is we're not ah, actual siblings."
Ezraphel's head tilted in disbelief "eh?"
"Yeah we're really cousins. My parents, well mom, adopted him into the family."
"Oh, then what about his real parents?"
Natalie winced a bit "that is definitely not my story to tell."
"Ugh" Ezraphel huffed.
"And I don't think you should bring that up at all." Her expression turned grave "like seriously, do not under any circumstances even mention it to him and especially don't tell him I told you about it" she added.
"Is it such a bad thing to do?"
"Yes" she said with the utmost seriousness "the last person who mentioned it, he tried to fight."
That was the first and last conversation Ezraphel had pertaining to Stanley's parentage. Yet it wasn't the only time it was mentioned, Stanley himself had acknowledged that he was adopted. It was such a casual one-off mention with no emotional weight attached that the Lilim didn't think much of it at the time and it was never brought up again.
Stanley certainly didn't seem concerned with it at the time but as she focused on him now she found his emotions to be bubbling under the surface of his enforced calm. Then irritation managed to break through as he regarded his…aunt(?).
"She's not my real anything!" He hissed "you're my Mom" he jabbed a finger at the album in Ezraphel's hands "I don't know this other woman who happens to look like you."
Dana recoiled at his outburst "Stanley…"
He then grabbed the album from Ezraphel's hands and threw it to the storage bin before covering it back up. Afterwards he picked up a similar looking one and glared at both women.
"We're done talking about this. Now let's pack up this sh-crap and get the hell outta here. Ez, pick up that bin, we're taking it back."
Both women watched him stomp away for a moment before Ezraphel looked at Dana. However the older woman had her eyes on the storage bin the photo album was thrown in. Understanding what needed to be done, Ezraphel picked up the storage bin Stanley pointed out and walked away, giving Dana some much needed space to figure out her thoughts.
By the time she went outside Stanley was already at the car trying to figure out a way to fit the two bins inside the vehicle that was already partially crowded while making room for more. He had a look of frustration about him though obviously it wasn't directed at the conundrum before him.
Ezraphel placed the storage bin down and stood next to him in silence. Both were looking at the vehicle interior without seeing it.
After a bout of prolonged silence he finally spoke up "I think I mentioned before that I was adopted."
"You did."
"Wanna know how that happened?"
"My answer is the same in regards to your uncle, you should only tell me if you feel comfortable doing so."
He digested those words for a moment before eventually saying "there's not much to tell honestly. She had me, spent a few months failing to be a mother and decided to foist me onto her sister."
His blunt words finally made Ezraphel look at him. Stanley had a bitter look about him as he glared at nothing in particular.
"You know there was a time when that bothered me. It was after I found out the truth, I think. It was unintentional too since mom's dickhead husband didn't like taking care of someone else's kid and became very vocal about it as I got older."
He pursed his lips "when I found out I didn't really believe it at first because I actually resembled my mom but it kinda made sense at the same time. Honestly I just thought mom cheated on the guy, which is totally believable by the way, but nope when I pressed her about it she revealed the truth, she had a twin."
"It was like an epiphany, you know? I always felt like I never quite fit in with the rest of the family. Of course it was mostly because of dickhead and normal teenage angst but…anyway" he shook his head. "I was really curious about my biological mother but mom didn't really like talking about her. Not even Uncle Collin did, which was really weird and frustrating at the time."
"Then I finally met her at Uncle Collin's funeral. It was the first and last time I ever did." He sneered at the memory "that didn't go very well and I suddenly understood why they don't talk about her."
He scoffed "shit, here I am talking about her when I just said I wouldn't do it."
Ezraphel pulled him into a gentle hug that he returned with surprising swiftness.
"You know the worst part?" He asked while his voice was muffled "I don't even hate her for abandoning me. I mean I did at first and part of me still resents her abandoning me but I couldn't like, hate her for it because she made the right decision."
As he separated from Ezraphel he had tears streaming down his face but he wasn't sad, he was smiling
"Giving me away was the best thing she could have done" he said in a voice overwhelmed with emotion "because I have a real mom…who loves and cares for me" he paused and took a step back and glared through tear filled eyes that were no longer streaming tears. "And I am not going to fuck this up a second time."
After a moment he scoffed and started wiping his eyes "fuck, look at me. Grown ass man crying because of his mommy, gimme sec."
He turned his back to her as Ezraphel continued to stare. She has not said or done much since the discovery of his parentage. Part of the reason why was due to how shockingly unneeded her input was but mainly she was essentially stunlocked by the flashes of intense emotions emanating from him.
Emotions that he initially suppressed yet with a tentative control that became increasingly fragile with each passing moment he talked about his biological mother. Until finally it broke and she was drowned in a cacophony of raw passion that her heart racing and cheeks flushed.
"I Love You."
Stanley paused to look over his shoulder "what?"
"I. Love. You." She enunciated slowly and deliberately while looking him straight in the eyes.
"O-okay" he stuttered a little at the intensity behind her gaze and declaration.
"I thought I understood how much I loved you," she continued while crossing the distance until she stood over him "but I have just discovered an entirely new threshold of love I have for you."
"Uh, cool?"
Ezraphel leaned down and captured his lips in a searing kiss that practically drained the energy out of him. She wrapped her arms around him and lifted his limp body up. After a whole five minutes she finally separated her lips from his leaving a wide eyed, red faced man feeling lightheaded and gasping for air.
He said nothing as he stared into the smoldering red eyes of his girlfriend who let him down.
Then she cupped his face and leaned next to his ears to whisper "I am going to rock your 5 foot world tonight, Stanley."
*Gulp!*
She grinned with her eyes returning to normal and stood up to her full height while straightening her clothes.
"What should be done with those?"
It took a while for Stanley's brain to reboot before he blinked "huh?"
"The containers Stanley" she clarified.
"Right, can you uh, clean them and…" he trailed off.
"Send them to your office?" She asked while snapping her fingers to perform a cleaning spell that got rid of the accumulated dust and grime from the containers.
"No, mom will wonder where they went."
Ezraphel tilted her head "are we going to drive her back to her home?"
Stanley opened his mouth to answer only to pause and look to the side to ruminate.
"Good question," he muttered. Eventually he looked back at Ezraphel and said "we're not taking her back to her place, we're taking her to our place."
Ezraphel's eyes widened "right now?"
"Yes."
"Is that wise?"
He shrugged, "I don't see why not."
He could think of a couple reasons why it was not a wise decision at the moment but it wasn't as if he hadn't been thinking about inviting his mother to his house for a while now. He could make all the excuses he wanted but his hesitation about the whole thing came mostly from nerves.
But thinking about his deadbeat biological mother made him appreciate his real mom even more and he wanted to capitalize on this feeling before inconvenient things like common sense can reassert itself at the forefront of his mind.
"If we are inviting mother-in-law back home we should tell Natalie, Thera and Anastasia."
Reasons one through three of why he didn't want to invite his mother to his house.
"I'll call Natalie and you…" he trailed off
"I will alert Thera" she finished only to stop when she saw the expression on his face directed at her "Stanley?"
"So, am I correct in assuming that mom being here was the thing Natalie texted you about earlier?"
"Um…"
"The thing that had you freaking out and looking around for something or someone when we first came here?"
Ezraphel comically sweating now "w-well I did say I would tell you before we left so…teehee~"
"..." Stanley's response at her attempts at being 'cute' was a deadpan glare of silence.
Seeing that it wasn't working, Ezraphel switched tactics. "I'll just be over here then" she said before awkwardly shuffling off to the side.
The entire time Stanley followed her with his eyes until she was out of his line of sight. He didn't bother turning his head and instead dialled his sister's number.
She picked up on the second ring.
"...you knew mom was going to be here."
It wasn't a question.
"You told Ez."
"And you didn't tell me, why?"
Stanley scowled at the good point she made. Whatever acting chops he might have developed post transformation wouldn't pass the smell test with his mom, not in that scenario anyway.
"...fine, I see your point."
'And there it is.'
"You realize I'm going to get you back for this, right?"
"How about right here right now?"
"After we're done out here I'm gonna invite mom for dinner at the house tonight."
Stanley was smiling now "you got about two hours to get the fuck outta there. And I might just ask her to stay so you're gonna have to find somewhere else to sleep just to be sure."
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened."
"And don't even think about trying to get answers from Ez" his eyes narrowed. "You won't." And before she could give a retort he interrupted "remember, two hours."
He then hung up and turned to Ezraphel who was looking at her phone with concern.
"How'd the talk with Thera go?"
"I relayed the information," she began. "She seemed to understand the urgency and will remain unseen for the rest of the night while locking the doorways to the other realms."
"Triple check that" he said immediately.
"I was going to do that anyways" she stated while rolling her eyes.
"So what's the problem?"
"Not necessarily a problem per se, Thera just sounded odd over the phone. I think she may still be processing the news."
"Existentional crisis huh?"
He said it casually but Stanley couldn't say he wasn't concerned about that. Ignoring things that were inconvenient to him was his go to method but in this case specifically, deliberate ignorance was really the best option here. Because how the hell was someone supposed to come to terms with the idea that their world was fiction and that the people they knew, including themselves, were characters written by anonymous perverts for entertainment and gooning?
'Nope, not thinking about it.'
Stanley already had a lane he was preoccupied with.
"Whelp I wish her luck with that. Let's go see how mom's doing. I was talking about inviting her home and we kinda just left her there alone after I dropped a bomb on her."
Stanley actually winced internally at that. For all that his attitude towards Lana Berkowitz was a mixture of apathy and general dislike he always felt his mother's feelings towards her were complicated. After all, they were identical twins and while Dana clearly didn't approve of the things her sister did he wouldn't say she hated her. The fact that he could imagine her sitting him down and making excuses for why she abandoned him said a lot.
'Whatever' He internally sighed.
The couple found his mother sitting on the lawn chair with the storage bin next to it. She was looking through the album with an air of melancholy and nostalgia.
The moment they approached Dana perked up looking at them "I forgot Collin had these. If you don't mind I think I will be taking this home with me." She said as she placed the album into the container and stood up with a little stretch.
"Sure, go ahead."
He certainly wasn't going to take those fucking things.
"I checked what was left of the other containers while you were out" she informed "there wasn't anything of value in them, at least I don't think so. You can check if you want."
"I will" he replied and went to do that when Ezraphel gave him a nudge before inclining her head towards the other woman with a meaningful look.
'Oh right.'
"Hey mom?"
"Yes dear?"
"You wanna, come eat dinner with us?"
Dana stared at her son for a moment "you're inviting me to dinner?"
"Yes."
"At your home?"
"Yees" he dragged out for emphasis.
"Today?"
"Right now" he confirmed patiently.
Her gaze went to Ezraphel with a raised brow "did you talk him into this?"
'God dammit Mom' he did not dare voice his thoughts.
"Nope" Ezraphel shook her head "this is all Stanley's idea."
Dana's other brow joined the first at her hairline as she shifted her gaze back to her son "really?"
"Yes really" he said with more patience than he was usually willing to show. "So what do you say?"
"Well…" her gaze slid to the container "I suppose I can't turn down an invitation like that." She chuckled, "I would love to have dinner with you and your girlfriend Stanley."
'Geez mom you don't have to say it like that.'
He shook his head and turned to the storage unit "let's get this place cleaned up and go."
They've been here way too long as it was.