Stanley was a paranoid man by nature but not cripplingly so. He wasn't hitting up conspiracy websites, wearing tinfoil hats and making smooth brain posts on the internet. His paranoia was more distant and only brought into focus when things that raised red flags came in close to home. Ezraphel was a walking red flag and so for months on end his paranoia has been pinging like an arcade pinball machine. Shit was so fucked up you'd think he was overreacting but the truth was that most times he's hardly fazed by things.
Ezraphel just presented that much of a danger to him or at least that was his mindset back then. He'd like to think that at this point he's gotten over his fear/suspicion of her but the truth is complicated. Stanley's experience with the Lilim has changed his perspective and not just on relationships. He's become much more vigilant of his surroundings and the people in it though the latter might have been a result of his becoming an Incubus.
Stanley found that his social interactions post Incubization were much smoother than when he was human. Smoother in the sense that he could somehow grasp the emotions/intent behind the person he was interacting and if he wanted to he could probably navigate socialization with much more finesse than he ever could as a human. Not that he would since it wouldn't be true to his character but it was something he took note of.
Now what this is all meant to say is that Stanley was no longer as socially inept as he once was. He can, he has and he will continue to be able to pick up social cues without the aid of some intangible magical psychic force. In other words even without their bond he can read Ezraphel when he really wants to and didn't need to consult their bond to confirm certain things.
He certainly didn't need the bond to confirm that 'Ezraphel is up to something.'
The thought pervaded his mind through his entire routine as something he could not brush off considering the situation. If something went wrong then that meant it would most likely involve one of his friends and he dreaded to think what would happen if either of them fucked up here.
'The hell?'
When the first thing he sees when entering the kitchen was Ezraphel and Amelia he couldn't help but feel his suspicions start to rise. Why? Because it is Stan's humble opinion that Amelia is sort of like the modern incarnation of Peg Bundy red hair and all. Sure she looks pretty and is always down for a good time but household chores seem to be her kryptonite.
Before Liam came into her life Amelia's apartment could best be described as the dwelling of a lazy college undergrad with the only sanitized area being the room where she does her livestreams (because you gotta maintain that brand image after all). Of course after a couple years together with Liam who actually got his post college life together she's allegedly not as bad as she once was but she still had an aversion to domestic work especially cooking.
"What's going on here?"
His presence seemed to have surprised both women who actually jumped at the sound of his voice as if it were a jump scare.
"Ah, Jesus Christ Stan!"
"Oh! H-hello Stanley, when did you get here?"
"Just now" he looked between the two women, Amelia looked at him with annoyance while Ezraphel gave him a somewhat shaky smile.
His eyes narrowed at her.
"What do you want Stan?" Amelia interrupted his thoughts.
"Just wondering what you're doing in here."
"What does it look like? I'm helping Ezraphel with breakfast."
At that Stan seemed to freeze in place before looking around as if searching for something which gained Ezraphel's curiosity.
"What's wrong?"
"Just waiting for Rod Sterling to come out and give his narration before I continue this episode of the Twilight Zone."
He got some water flicked at him for his trouble along with a deadpan "ha ha, now if you're done you mind leaving? We're trying to work here."
Stan gave a deadpan glare to his girlfriend "really? I'm not allowed in the kitchen but she gets drafted?"
The disguised Lilim could only shrug "what can I say? In the kitchen I prefer her company to yours Stanley."
"…"
"Wow~"
Stan looked between the two women before nodding with pursed lips and narrowed eyes "so it's going to be like that then?"
"Um, going to be like what?"
Stan ignored her question as he backed out the doorway "you do you Ez. You do you."
As he left the kitchen he could hear the follow up conversation briefly.
"I made a mistake."
"No you didn't he's just butthurt that your world doesn't revolve around him."
"…"
"Why are you looking at me like that? You don't actually think your world revolves around him right?"
Stanley scoffed under his breath as he hopped on the couch 'as if it would bother me if she branches out.'
Stanley would never allow himself to be that guy. Believe it or not Stanley wouldn't mind one bit if Ezraphel could branch out her social circle to get a life outside of his purview without his involvement. Even if her first actual friend ends up being Amelia he would welcome his girlfriend's social development. Frankly his reaction was more out of the fact that he figured out that Ezraphel was reaching out for a friend than because she didn't let him into the kitchen.
Why the fuck would he want to help her in the kitchen? With how much she smothers him with attention he actually liked the fact that she didn't want him anywhere near her when she's cooking.
'Whatever' he took out his phone and began sifting through YouTube and his channel's socials to see what he missed yesterday.
About twenty minutes later and Jamie came downstairs "hey do you know Amelia's in the kitchen?" he thumbed behind him.
"Yep."
"Should we be worried about this being a sign of the end times?"
"You're over reacting"
At that moment lightning flashed and the sound of thunder reverberated throughout the house.
"…or not" he amended while looking around warily.
"Just to be safe I'm going to keep the TV on in case we need a head start on avoiding the apocalypse."
'If there was one this is the safest place to be.'
As Jamie turned to the local news station he leaned back "you see Liam this morning?"
"Nope" which was weird since he's usually the first one up.
"Not surprising, he and Amelia were going at it pretty hard last night."
This had Stanley look up from his phone "what?"
"It's not like I meant to do it. I'm not the fucking voyeur burglar eavesdropping on people's sex life. In fact you could say I was the victim here."
"What happened exactly?"
"Well there I was walking down the hall minding my own business innocent as can be when I was assaulted by the most horrible sounding screams I've ever heard. Like straight out of a fucking horror movie, shit was scary."
This would be the part where he would make a joke about Amelia being a discount porn star however in this particular context he began to worry a bit. It wasn't as if this was the first time Liam and Amelia had sex on their trips. Amelia didn't necessarily keep it a secret, not when she was blasting I Just Had Sex by The Lonely Island afterwards. It also used to be one of her only lines of defense against his verbal assaults and who could forget when Kendrick had the misfortune of finding a used condom in the garbage that one time.
Considering how long they've been doing these get together this was the first time that one of them had actually heard the couple going at it and from Jamie's description they went at it hard.
'And the next day Amelia is invited to help Ezraphel in the kitchen.'
Ezraphel being drawn to Amelia wasn't something that was above the realm of possibilities for Stanley. In fact he figured that the two would get along the most out of everyone as loathe as he was to admit. Stanley wouldn't claim to know much about Liam and Amelia's sex life despite the latter's attempts to make it public where she could. That was fine because Stanley didn't want to know about their sex life. So the question is did Ezraphel's presence have something to do with them having sex with such alleged fervor or was it a coincidence?
Obvious answer would be yes because of obvious reasons but Stanley was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. Ezraphel came a long way from the woman she was when she fell into his backyard, a freaking miracle by no stretch of the imagination given the glimpses he got of who she was before. The old Ezraphel was unironically a monster but of a different sort, arguably worse than even the malicious Mamono using the propaganda of love, lust and freedom to further their own agenda.
How did he know this?
There were times where he asked Ezraphel about her home. He tried not to be but he was truly curious about Eos and how it differed from the MGE lore. Plus with how little of that lore was currently published he wanted to fill in the blanks as it were and try to get a proper understanding of Mamono culture. Ezraphel was all too happy to explain, sing praises and in some cases wax lyrical about her home, Mamono culture and especially her family.
After all is said and done Stanley could safely say that his initial reaction to Ezraphel's presence was completely warranted. It also highlighted just how deep the differences between humans and Mamono ran. Even your average online connoisseur of 'culture' would run for the hills when faced with the pure unfiltered mess that was Mamono culture. Kenkou Cross could never truly capture the depths of their depravity and even then it would not have the same impact as an actual Mamono retelling her experiences let alone the experience itself.
His mind warred with his heart.
The logical side of him was compiling evidence that went beyond just his assumptions but at the same time a good chunk of said evidence was based on pure conjecture. There was such a thing as over thinking things and these lines of thoughts generally felt that way in the absence of concrete evidence. On the other hand his only defense against not totally being suspicious of her was basically taking a leap of faith and trust that she would do right by him.
'I don't like this…'
"Are you okay?"
Evidently his silent contemplation was noticed by Jamie who sent him a mildly concerned look.
"Yeah I'm good just" he trailed off but luckily the sound of thunder was there to bail him out "this fucking rain man."
"Yeah doesn't look like we'll be going anywhere today if this keeps up."
"We still have some time."
"I don't know, this looks like it's going to be one of those days."
"Tell me about it" Stanley muttered his mind on completely different things.