Daily Life With A Lilim Christmas Special Part 2

~Gift Getting~

It has been several days now since he and Ezraphel had gone shopping. They were now firmly in the second week of December and things have gotten very festive. The decorations had arrived and as he predicted Ezraphel went absolutely HAM with them. The house was now covered in generic and exotic decorations with centerpiece for the interior being the Christmas tree now decked out to the nines and somehow looking even larger than it was when they got it.

Fortunately for Stanley Ezraphel didn’t end up asking him for help seeming content with doing all the heavy lifting. It had less to do with consideration for him as it was Ezraphel being a perfectionist and not wanting his dumb ass screwing up her artistic vision. This wasn’t conjecture on his part either she basically said as much when he asked why she didn’t go through with asking him to help out. It was actually kind of insulting but Stanley couldn’t find it in himself to be offended.

He cared more about how she used a small army of Golems dressed as generic laborers to help with the exterior decorations. It was risky as all hell in his opinion but apparently things like this were par for the course among the DHC so no one really looked twice at a woman directing a bunch of laborers. No they were more interested in the decorations themselves which was admittedly very impressive.

Ezraphel said the DHC thought as such as well however the ‘competition’ wasn’t over yet. Apparently it won’t be over until the 25^th so there was room to make additional changes. The fact that this competition seemed to light a fire under Ezraphel was mildly concerning but he’ll choose to trust that she wouldn’t go overboard. Then he remembered who he was talking to and stipulated that any changes needed to go through him first and he wouldn’t make the same mistake he did with the Halloween decorations.

But enough about all that, today Stanley had a different quandary to deal with.

Seated in his office Stanley’s eyes were glued to multiple monitors. In one of the rare instances he did not have a videogame, YouTube, Twitch or any social media site open. Instead there were multiple tabs of Amazon webpages as well as multiple windows open and all of them were things outside the purview of his interest. To put it bluntly Stanley was locked in trying to find a suitable Christmas gift for Ezraphel.

Things were going about as well as one would expect…

“Ugh” he groaned taking his gaze of the screen for the first time in hours to wipe his eyes “I fucking hate this.”

As in it wasn’t going really well at all.

Stanley was never good with getting other people gifts. Sentiment was nice and while everyone will always say that the gift doesn’t really matter so long as the thought behind it was good he’s calling bullshit on that one. If someone’s getting him a gift then he’d prefer it to be something he could use in a practical sense or have personal value to him beyond that. Luckily for him he’s a simple man with simple pleasures that are easily identified for people who actually know him.

The problem came with applying this methodology to others. The only person he’s ever given an actual gift to in recent memory was his sister and it always boils down to either giving her to the means to buy what she wanted via money or just straight up asked her what she wanted and get it for her through a delivery. He could give the excuse that its better this way because not only was it more efficient but leave less room for error but in moments of self reflection he recognized for what it really was, laziness on his part.

At least he can take solace in the fact that his laziness comes from a place of love. He didn’t want to half his gift by getting something generic nor did he want to risk his sister not liking said gift being fully aware that he wouldn’t even know where to begin with getting something he felt she deserves. Cutting out the uncertainty by getting her exactly what she wants

The temptation to do this with Ezraphel was strong but he held himself back both for the reason one would think. Yeah he could ask what she wanted and get it for her but that wouldn’t just defeat the purpose and yes even the sentiment of the whole thing. And yes he can say sentiment was a large part of why he didn’t do it because he knew it would mean that much more to Ez. This was supposed to be his gift to her and he wasn’t about to copout by simply asking what she wanted. Tedious as it’s turning out to be Stanley wanted to be the one to think up a gift and give it to her.

There’s also another more practical reason that was he didn’t think Ezraphel had a wide enough scope of reference to get the most out what he’s offering. Knowing her she would ask of him something…predictable or even simple. Sure it would be what she wanted but that wouldn’t be satisfying to him. He wanted her first Christmas gift to be special, something that would not only be memorable but also practical that she would actually use.

It’s no wonder then that he was having such difficulties figuring out what he wanted to give her. It didn’t help that Stanley’s inclination towards being stubbornly economic was very much rearing its ugly head here especially after the expenses incurred with the decorations and tree. At least it wasn’t all encompassing like once upon a time, he still didn’t like spending a whole lot in one sitting unless it was worth the cost and

‘Ezraphel will always be worth the cost’ he reminded himself.

If he wanted to get a proper gift he couldn’t go the cheap route. Not only would it be indicative of how little he cared about her but it was a restriction on his options for gifts. He was having trouble finding something already no need to artificially increase the difficulty. To make matters worse he’s pretty sure that Ezraphel wouldn’t care so much about the gift as she would care about the thought behind it. And since Ezraphel was going to adore it no matter it needed to meet a set of prerequisites to satisfy his specific standards as it will set the tone for any gift giving going forward.

So what were said prerequisites?

First of all, it had to be at a decent price range because while he wasn’t going cheap and Ezraphel was worth any cost the product needed to reflect the cost of quality. He wasn’t out here trying to get scammed after all.

Second, it had to be something that she can use as opposed to stashing somewhere never to be seen or putting it up on display. Stanley would say that this criterion came about as a means to vindicate both the time it took to find the gift as well as its cost. In truth he just wanted validation that his gift was good enough to be of legitimate practical use to her.

The third and final criterion was that the gift cannot be something she can recreate with magic.

That last one wasn’t as hard a hurdle to overcome as it would seem as while she can use magic for damn near everything nowadays there was a weakness when it came to creating objects through magic. Said weakness being that the more complex the object the more mana was required to maintain it and modern technology were among the most complex things she’s ever seen. She even confessed that recreating and maintaining the widescreen TV in their bedroom was a daunting undertaking even though she already had the ‘blueprint’ for it.

Ezraphel downplay it but he has noticed that she never tried to recreate a piece of technology of such sophistication again. The closest she ever came to doing it were some of the very fancy kitchen appliances that he would have refused to spend money on if she asked but she didn’t and now those things half ran on magical bullshit.

Luckily for him Ezraphel didn’t really care much for technology. Sure she was mystified by them originally but she’s more or less gotten used to it. At this point she has the same regard for technology as the average human on earth thinking of it as tools of convenience. Her reluctance towards creating advance technology gave him ideas and in fact he did manage to narrow things down to what he considers to be the ideal gift for her. Problem is that he was really reluctant about it and for good reason after all one does not simply gift Ezraphel a cellphone and expect things to be alright.

He’s actually been meaning to give Ezraphel a cellphone for a while now if only because it was such a staple of modern culture that the idea of a grown adult not having one seemed utterly ridiculous to him. He never got around to doing it though since she didn’t really need it. For the longest time the only person she knew in this world was him and she already had access to one of his spare laptops and even his tablet on occasion.

A cellphone just seemed like an unnecessary expense.

Then she made friends with Amelia the redheaded menace and ever since the two have become acquainted with each other Ezraphel has become more interested in the social aspects of earth technology. This was despite the fact that she could literally teleport or open a portal to the other woman whenever she wanted. Stanley couldn’t really do anything about Amelia’s influence steering her in that direction in the same vain that he couldn’t do anything about her situation with the DHC.

‘Now that I think about it the DHC might not be the only people she’s taking advice from.’

He did not remember showing Ezraphel how to navigate through Amazon in such a way that she could find the best deals. The DHC would find her lack of knowledge on the subject too suspicious for her to risk asking them but Amelia was perfect for it.

‘Yeah no she’s definitely taking advice from Amelia.’

Funny how he never really thought about stuff like this until just now but in his defense it wasn’t as if Ezraphel was giving him updates on what she got up to on her own time. Well she would if he asked but he’s not that interested.

“So…” he paused drumming his fingers against his desk “a phone huh?”

Now comes the age old question for anyone

“Haa~ but which one though?” he wondered aloud with a sigh.

Apple or Android?

He snorted ‘as if it were even a competition.’

With that he closed the majority of his previously opened tabs to open a new one to browse. Now that he had an idea of what he was getting her Stanley’s mind couldn’t help but to wonder what Ezraphel planned to give him.

‘Probably food or sex…or both.’

Definitely both.

Meanwhile…

Ezraphel had a problem.

Seated in one of the many spirit realms she made in the house this one made to resemble a Victorian era lounge room Ezraphel had called a meeting. Also present in the lounge were two women who could be considered to be her closest confidantes in this world. The first was Amelia her first and (currently) only human best friend from Earth and the other was ‘A’ the sentient Golem whose presence she was keeping a secret from Stanley.

“…and that’s the situation currently” Ezraphel finished her explanation while looking to the two “what do you think?”

Amelia shared a look with A who met her quizzical gaze with a blank expression. Despite this the partially corrupted woman could actually understand what the Golem was trying to convey without her saying a word or even making a facial expression. If she was being honest it was a little unnerving knowing what someone wanted to say without the doing or saying anything.

‘How did I end up in this situation?’ the redhead thought to herself.

Despite only knowing Ezraphel for just a few short months they kept in touch through the Lilim’s semi-frequent visits to her shared apartment with hr fiancé via teleportation. Amelia didn’t really mind it since the Lilim was considerate enough to pick appropriate times and didn’t overstay her welcome. Not that Amelia would ever consider the woman a bother as she had gotten to know Ezraphel a lot over their overall shared time together and she was genuinely good company to have around.

Every now and then Ezraphel would invite Amelia here without the grouchy man’s knowledge lest he make a stink about her presence. What they do mostly involves talking which allowed Amelia to get to know her new friend better. Now she was familiar with the other woman’s personality quirks as well as what she and Stanley got up to in their private time. Shockingly Amelia had no problems with this since it’s not as if she was shy about gossiping about what she and Liam got up to in their own private time.

Besides it wasn’t just inane gossip Ezraphel actually gave good relationship advice that has so far managed to improve her romantic life. So it’s only fair that Amelia return the favor, not that she would’ve turned down a plea for help from her friend in the first place. The other woman, Golem which Ezraphel created and somehow accidentally gave sentience was not such a shock since she became familiar with ‘A’ a long time ago.

So with that said one might be wondering what exactly this meeting of the brain trust was supposed to be about. simply put they were gathered here to help Ezraphel brainstorm ideas about what kind of gift she should give Stanley. It had to be something special considering that this was their first Christmas together.

Right off the bat Amelia voiced her stipulation “it can’t be related to food or sex.”

That seemed to give the Lilim pause before her expression turned to disbelief “eh? I can’t give Stanley food or sex as a Christmas gift?” she exclaimed.

“Girl you’ve been giving that man some combination of one or either of those things to him literally every day since the first month you met” Amelia answered with a slight deadpan.

“…”

The Golem said nothing however the seemingly pointed look she gave the Lilim spoke volumes.

“You’re right A I will be giving him food and sex on Christmas regardless anyway” she nodded to herself

“So with that out of the way what are your options based on his interest?”

“Airsoft and videogames” Ezraphel spoke easily enough.

“Of course” Amelia rolled her eyes in exasperation.

“…” A raised a brow towards the only human in the room.

Amelia scoffed “you’re I don’t know why expected more for him.”

“Stanley does wear his interests on his sleeve so to speak.”

“You know normally I’d say this narrows down our search and makes it easier to find him something but with Stan I think limiting the search might be bad.”

“How so?”

“From what you tell me the guy is an active collector for his interests. He has a literal small library of videogame memorabilia in his man cave and an airsoft museum showcase in his basement. Has he stopped adding to those since you started living here?”

“No we do still receive deliveries for his collections” Ezraphel informed.

“I thought so. If you’re going to give him a gift worthwhile then it will have to be something that he doesn’t have…and if he doesn’t have it then it might be something impossible for us to get.”

Ezraphel mulled over Amelia’s words and came to the sobering realization that she might be right.

“…” just then A got her attention and after a moment both women blinked in surprise.

The Lilim tilted her head somewhat “is that so?”

Amelia was rubbing her chin as she contemplated the ‘words’ “that’s not a bad idea actually and hey we still have two more weeks.”

Ezraphel couldn’t help but smile at that they were already off to a good start and they had plenty of time to figure out a proper gift for her Stanley.

~On This Christmas Morning~

It’s been a long time since Christmas has meant something to Stanley but with Ezraphel’s presence turning even mundane days to something special he knew Christmas wouldn’t just be another day he was forced to acknowledge only because everyone else made a big deal out of it. And you know what? Stanley could admit that the anticipation of this particular holiday got him in his feelings a bit and he made the decision to ease up on the reigns and be a little more lenient with Ezraphel for the duration of the month.

What this meant was that he would essentially be more receptive to her ideas and even if it’s little outside the scope of reason won’t kick up a fuss beyond ensuring that it wouldn’t blow up in their faces. Now the important part about all this was that he didn’t actually tell or even deliberately hint at this being the case. There’s being kind and then there’s being stupid because Ezraphel was the type to extract a mile if you give her an inch.

Unfortunately it didn’t take her very long to catch on to the deliberate leeway he has been giving her. He could almost identify all the times where she was testing the limits of what he would let her get away with and found him pliable. It all started after they came back from getting the tree and with decorations delivered. Ezraphel had opted to immediately take them to, in her own words, add a personal touch to them. He didn’t ask too many questions instead trusting her not to go and get them ousted.

Then he woke up in the very next morning to find that she had transformed the entirety of the house’s interior into a Christmas themed décor showcase. It had copies of the stuff they bought online but most of the decorations looked custom for lack of a better word. There were the Christmas themed drapes, sheets, carpet and…lewd ornaments. If he wasn’t already used to lewdness in general he would have been more put off by the Mamono spin on some of the Christmas paraphernalia.

As it was he was only vaguely annoyed by the sudden change and only because she didn’t give him a heads up about it. He didn’t think she would go this hard with the decorating but that was his mistake and he had no one to blame but himself because of course she would be literal when she said she was going to decorate the whole house.

The annoyance only grew when he woke up another morning took a shower and ventured into the walk in closet. He ignored the garish decorations on his way to his clothes only to find Ezraphel had made another change without his permission or consent. This time she switched out his regular wardrobe for one that was more holiday appropriate. What this meant was different variations of red, white and green clothing most of which often had some writing or image (or both) plastered on it.

How was she able to do this?

Well in the pursuit of finding a hobby for the Lilim that didn’t revolve around him they discovered she had an aptitude and passion for fashion design. In an effort to nurture this he had bought her some materials for her to work with. After she befriended Amelia the woman was so impressed with her work that she decided to invest in it. As someone who was business savvy Stanley questioned the decision but the result spoke for itself.

The clothes themselves weren’t necessarily bad in terms of quality and didn’t look bad to his eyes. Take that as you will since it was coming from someone who was a fashion neophyte. Also pay no attention to the fact that the designer of said clothes was his girlfriend/wife because he can be impartial in these situations. For instance while he can objectively say that the clothes are high quality he can never wear a freaking red sweater with a stitched on image of himself cosplaying as Santa Clause with the words Bad Santa written under it and not feel absolutely livid.

He’s pretty sure Amelia had a hand in creating some of the more embarrassing taglines knowing he was going to be wearing them. His vengeance will be slow to come but swift in execution, she will never see it coming and when it does happen it will strike true and have lasting impact on her life.

Moving on, there weren’t strictly any major changes to the status quo following these changes. There were a few events of note to happen though such as Ezraphel getting a lot of social mileage from their neighbors thanks to the exterior decorations. After he found out the extent of her relationship with the DHC it’s as if some box had been opened and now more often than not Ezraphel was dealing with either them or other people in general.

Ezraphel wasn’t the only one in the household who suddenly found themselves busy. For all that Stanley seemed to resolve himself to staying indoors and ‘turtling up’ whenever Christmas rolls around the truth is that he actually kept himself busy. Much like the real world the online space gets a bump in traffic that not even he could ignore. His reasoning being that if he was going to suffer through this mostly corporatized holiday he might as well profit from it.

As such Christmas was the only time where he felt obligated to actively do livestreams. And if you think he’s having a good time there then prepare to have that bubble burst. The reason for his bad time this time around was due to the internet super sleuths and his no-life terminally online haters managing to find out that not only was he the guy who went viral for basically pulling off Arkham Batman in that airsoft arena but that he also had a girlfriend in Ezraphel thanks to that picture Amelia took of him and Ezraphel.

Fucking Amelia strikes again being a pain in his ass.

No he’s dealing with delusional weirdos who pegged him as an incel icon making noise about his ‘betrayal’ and another group decrying the whole thing using every excuse from photoshop to Ezraphel being a family member or escort/gold digger and it’s all so fucking annoying, predictable but annoying nonetheless.

It wasn’t anything new at this point but rather than ignore it as he’d done in the past he decided to address the shenanigans. He might have gone a bit too far though as not only did he confirm live that he was the ‘airsoft batman’ but that he also had a girlfriend and even revealed that he was getting his life sorted out. Hell to illustrate a joke about how having a girlfriend changed him as a man as part of a joke he went ahead and showed off some of the changes to his body without showing his face of course.

It ended up garnering a lot of positive reactions which came as a surprise since he was certain his audience was filled with only a bunch of toxic assholes at this point. But no there was a not insignificant amount of people congratulating him for not only scoring an actual girlfriend but getting his life back together. Apparently a lot of people thought he was spiraling and was just silently watching and hoping for a positive change and felt vindicated.

It was the most positive livestreaming experience of his career and appropriately timed all things considering. As cool as things were he was under no illusion that some of his antics could be considered stolen valor since he didn’t work at all for this transformation nor did he feel obligated to ‘earn’ it via his audience. At least that’s what he told himself as he arranged multiple Christmas giveaways for his audience.

Meanwhile time moved on until eventually Christmas day rolled around and in preparation for this Ezraphel basically forced him to adhere to a proper sleep schedule. She even went so far as to lull him to sleep before the midnight mark with careful application of TLC and milk that was uh, straight from the tap, so to speak. It was fucking embarrassing but not as much as the fact that he enjoyed it and he could only imagine what that woman had in store for him on Christmas day.

So imagine his surprise when he woke up on the morning in question only to realize that nothing had changed. He was alone in bed which was only a bit disappointing but not necessarily anything new. Rare are the times when he woke up alone but they happened if only because it meant Ezraphel had something planned that she wanted to surprise him with and thus left him alone.

As for what those surprises entail…

Stanley looked around the room, stretching his senses to see if he felt anything off. He felt nothing that he wasn’t already familiar with given how extensive the changes Ezraphel made to the bedroom was. As for the bedroom itself it remained unchanged from the night before.

“Hmm…” he hummed to himself while getting out of bed.

Rather than go outside to further investigate he decided to take his time by going through a morning ritual he only did on occasion nowadays. He showered, took a shit, brushed his teeth and shaved the beginnings of a beard before getting to the walk in closet. He ignored the gaudy Christmas decorations with practiced ease while making his way to the wardrobe.

Two minutes later and he was dressed in plain white shorts and a green sweater with hearts, snowmen, trees and reindeers patterned horizontally across the front and sleeves as well as a ‘MERRY XMAS’ around the stomach area. He left his room noting that nothing has changed beyond what was already changed for the holidays.

By the time he reached the stairs the familiar scent of a well cooked meal reached his nose. In what could only be a Pavlovian response his stomach growled and his mouth watered in anticipation. The thought had him scowling as he briefly thought about such a ‘weakness’ before ultimately (and hesitantly) forcing himself to move on and not think about it.

He arrived in the dining area to find the table already covered in an assortment of breakfast items, all Christmas themed of course. Ezraphel loved cooking and she loved trying out new recipes or generally experimenting with an old formula and the holidays were a perfect excuse to do just that. Stanley didn’t think there were that many Christmas styled foods but what did he know right?

Even now looking at the spread before him he could only wonder how she could come up with this stuff. Then, as if summoned by his thoughts Ezraphel entered the room with a bright smile on her face and a cheery “good morning Stanley” on her lips.

“Hey” he responded distractedly as his eyes took in what she was wearing.

You could call it a sexy Santa outfit but in actuality it was just a regular if a touch risqué outfit that just became way sexier due to Ezraphel’s frame and overall sex appeal.

Once she placed the latest meal on the table she flounced over to him with clear intentions. He glanced upwards to find a mistletoe floating above him and rolled his eyes. He didn’t even have time to sigh before he found himself getting glomped.

“Merry Christmas!”

*SMOOCH*

Ten seconds later and she ended their brief makeout session.

“Merry Christmas” came his less enthusiastic but just as sincere reply as he shook himself out of his slight daze.

Ezraphel didn’t seem to mind his grumbling merely giggling before directing him to his seat.

“So what’s all this?” he asked looking at the spread.

“I decided to go all out for this special day and made all your favorites!”

“I can see that” he commented.

The breakfast she laid out before him could be considered the culmination of Ezraphel’s culinary experimentation with Christmas themed foods she had been doing for the past couple of weeks. He noted that the particular items themselves happened to be the ones he reacted the most positively to. A feat in of itself since he liked all of Ezraphel’s cooking and never gave anything beyond generic (yet sincere) complements towards.

Even still Ezraphel went on to reintroduce him to said dishes as a proud chef would to an esteemed guest. It’s all stuff he’s heard before but he still paid rapt attention even if he didn’t really show it with how his eyes are purposefully lidded to give a facsimile of boredom with her antics. It’s all theatrics though because contrary to belief Stanley has never dismissed or ignored Ezraphel when she goes into her long spiels.

He waited until after she finished doing her thing before filling up his plate and digging in. They ate in relative silence though there was an air of anticipation with Ezraphel fidgeting in barely contained silence. He already knew why and while he could play the oblivious game he decided not to because even he was curious.

“So” he began with a casual tone “presents?”

“PRESENTS!”

She then teleported away along with the dirty dishes and he could hear the shuffle of plates from the kitchen. Stanley couldn’t help but roll his eyes good naturedly at the child-like display that reminded him of earliest Christmas he could remember. He immediately dismissed those thoughts and the complicated feelings that accompanied them before making his way to his office.

~Gift Exchange~

Once inside he locked the door behind him and went to his bookshelf filled with hardcopies of videogames catalogued by year and platform. He removed the Diablo 2 box set to reveal a plain old black plastic bag. After retrieving it he looked inside to find a relatively small item encased in Christmas themed gift wrap paper complete with a little red bow.

Heading outside with his little plastic bag he made his way to the living room where he was greeted with the Christmas tree which has become something of a centerpiece for Ezraphel’s decorating. The first time he saw the results of her personal touch Stanley actually froze in amazement. He even took a picture which counts for something because outside of Ezraphel getting her hands on it his phone’s camera didn’t see much use from him.

That’s not what caught his attention however, it was the multiple gifts sitting under the tree.

The first thought that came to mind was ‘are those real?’

He’s heard of and seen prop presents used in this situation to enhance the aesthetics but he didn’t believe Ezraphel would do something like this.

“…!”

Suddenly he felt arms wrapped around him from behind followed by a pair of familiar softness on the back of his head.

“Isn’t it wonderful Stanley?”

“Yeah great” he stated before gesturing to the presents “what are those?”

“Those are gifts Stanley” she answered slowly as if speaking to a child.

“Uh-huh” he ignored her sass “and where did they come from?”

“I made them.”

“Those aren’t for me are they?”

Ezraphel blinked “oh no, I made those for my friends. I just decided to put them there because it just seemed right.”

He fought the urge to ask who those ‘friends’ were and instead nodded “cool. By the way here,” he lifted the plastic bag over his head to her face then added “Merry Christmas.”

The reaction he expected didn’t come and instead of a squeal of delight followed by grabbing the present and ripping it open to the inside as he expected she instead slowly grasped the her hand over the plastic bag and the present inside.

“F-for me?” she stuttered with a shaky tone in her voice.

Stanley’s bros dropped as pushed himself out of her embrace to get a better look at her. Ezraphel seemingly didn’t even notice this as her eyes were glued to the gift she held in her hand with the kind of reverence that to him seemed a bit much.

“Yeah” he replied slowly.

She held the plastic bag to her chest with a “thank you Stanley!”

“It’s just a Christmas present Ez, you don’t have to be so melodramatic about it.”

“But this is the first gift you’ve given me.”

‘This sounds familiar’ he thought as she unknowingly echoed his thoughts when he was pondering said gift.

“It’s really not that deep.”

In response Ezraphel booped him on the nose with her finger “you should know better than to lie to me Stanley.”

“…” Stanley glared at her for a moment before looking away with a grumble.

Okay so maybe he was trying to downplay things because in reality he was anxious about her reaction despite knowing she would love his gift.

“But-” he tried again only to have that same finger from before press on his lips.

“No buts”

Seeing that things were not going his way he sighed tiredly “just open the damn present already.”

The Lilim grinned in spite of his tone “gladly and meanwhile you can unwrap yours.”

With that Ezraphel waved her hand and a sizeable gift wrapped present materialized in the air above him. He easily caught it with his supernatural reflexes while giving her an annoyed look however she was already walking away to sit by the coffee table to unwrap her present.

Stanley looked to his own present feeling a spark of curiosity because this gift of hers was by no means small. It was almost 4 ft wide and two feet lengthwise in his hands with a decent weight to it. He had a few guesses as to what Ezraphel might be getting him. He didn’t think sex, food or another demon realm adventure was on the table since he was getting the former two anyway and he shot down the latter early on.

‘Definitely not clothes’ he thought to himself ‘shit now I really want to know.’

He glanced at Ezraphel only to find her staring at him in anticipation. It made him feel defensive for some reason.

“What?”

“Aren’t you going to open your gift?”

“Aren’t you?” he shot back.

She glanced at her present then at him “you first.”

‘You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.’

Stanley knew exactly what was going on, both of them wanted to witness the other’s reaction to their gifts.

“You know what?” Stanley decided to get this over with and after setting the box down proceeded to rip open the wrapping.

Behind the wrapping paper he found a box that gave him pause. It was a nondescript cardboard box. He looked to Ezraphel with a raised brow only to find her grinning which gave him pause. Her gaze seemed to urge him to continue and so he obliged with curiosity and anticipation.

He opened the box and pulled out a rectangular styrofoam box then opened it to find…

“…what the fuck?” he muttered in disbelief.

Sitting inside the styrofoam mold was a model replica of the Mark 2 Lancer Assault Rifle, the iconic weapon from the Gears of War series.

‘…no fucking way she doesn’t know I already have this.’

Yet as he gazed at the replica he found the rather stark differences between his replica and Ezraphel’s gift. For one he could tell at a glance that Ezraphel’s gift was more than just a replica. He could feel the mana emanating from it which he noted was something he did not sense until he got through the styrofoam mold. The weapon had sections that were dimly lit with violet light as he remembered from the games revealing its power source to be magical in nature.

The most visually telling difference however was its size. The replica he owned was a large 4ft wide monstrosity that could have passed off as something used by fictional super soldiers with the size and physique of gym bros on steroids. Naturally it was unwieldy for someone his size but that was the point, it was merely a prop, one he put on a literal pedestal inside his office.

This on the other hand was far more compact, small enough that someone of his size could wield it and he did not fail to notice the barrel was painted orange. Tentatively Stanley picked up the weapon to inspect it with discerning eyes and with a slight tremble in hands. What he found was that not only was its size practically custom made to be wielded by someone of his frame but that the chainsaw blade while fake was not unresponsive as he was able to move it back and forth.

He then discovered a ripcord attachment and felt compelled to pull.

*VRZZZ*

“No fucking way” he whispered once again in awe staring at the moving fake chainsaw blades.

Letting go of the ripcord he flicked the side latch causing the magazine to partially eject allowing him to pull it off and inspect it. Just as he thought the magazine was clearly one where pellets could be loaded into it and for a moment Stanley nearly scrambled to find his speed loader only to remember where he was and froze. Then with a brief flash of mana his eyes turned towards a speed loader sitting within arm’s reach.

He didn’t even bother questioning this as he took it and fed pellets into the magazine with the practiced ease of an airsoft veteran. He made sure to count how much and found it capped out at 50, just like the second game onwards. After loading back the magazine into the rifle he took aim at a far wall or at least he thought it was but found actual targets instead as if they had always been there.

Once again he simply rolled with it after taking aim with the crosshair pulled the trigger.

*Papapapap*

The first couple of shots gave him pause but he kept going. He adjusted his aim and position as he emptied the magazine firing unerring shots at the targets. As he finished firing the last pellet and the magazine clicked empty Stanley lowered the weapon and looked at it. Right then a single thought came to mind.

‘It works’ he thought caught in a suspension of disbelief ‘Ezraphel gave me an airsoft replica of a Gears of War Lancer…and it works.’

Looking towards Ezraphel he found her staring at him with an expression that was more than smug.

“You like?” she asked sounding very pleased with herself.

Stanley stared for a moment before closing his eyes and nodded “yep.”

“Excellent!” she celebrated.

But while Ezraphel was patting herself on the back for a job well done Stanley carefully put down the gift and marched over to Ezraphel with a look of determination.

“Um Stanley?” the Lilim had no idea what he was about to do so when he suddenly pulled her off the couch spun her into a dip she could only shout out a surprised “eep!”

“I don’t know how to properly express my feelings with words so just take this” Stanley said seriously without a change in his stern expression.

Ezraphel still holding onto her present could only get out a “wha?” before she was interrupted by a kiss.

This was no ordinary kiss however as Ezraphel could attest as she was bombarded with all the feelings and emotions he refused to express. Such passion would immediately overwhelm the senses of a lesser woman but Ezraphel was anything but. And while Stanley had passion he had merely adopted it she on the other hand was a being who was born from passion; she was molded by it and-

“HMMMMPH♥~”

A fatal error has occurred at Ezraphel.exe. The current application will be restarted.

By the time Ezraphel came to she was being deposited on the couch. She felt breathless with her chest heaving but most pressingly she felt needy with a fire that had been stoked

“Stanley~” she moaned feeling the ever present fire becoming larger having been fed through the searing kiss.

*Bonk*

Just as she got ready to pounce on him Ezraphel was hit in the head with part of the styrofoam mold causing her to recoil out of shock.

“What?”

“No horny” he stated.

“But-”

*Bonk*

“No. Horny.” He reiterated sharply his eyes narrowing dangerously.

Ezraphel opened her mouth to give an indignant retort only for Stanley to raise the styrofoam once again practically daring her to say something.

With that she pouted “you started it.”

He rolled his eyes “open your damn present already.”

Ezraphel kept her pout up for a moment longer before it melted away in the face of finally getting to her own gift which revealed a black rectangular box for the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. The sight caused the Lilim’s smile to freeze in place before it gave way to a frown.

“A cellphone?”

She sounded more confused than disappointed but that didn’t make seeing the lackluster reaction any less difficult for Stanley whose anxiety spiked because of it.

“Y-yeah” he half stuttered “I figured it was time for you to have your phone. I mean it would be weird for you to not have your own phone at this point.”

Ezraphel blinked then glanced from him to the box before tilting her head a bit “huh.”

“Well don’t get too excited” he grumbled.

A moment later and he was pulled into a hug “aw, don’t be like that Stanley. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the gift I am just surprised is all.”

Stanley pushed himself out of her embrace with furrowed brows “surprised?”

“That you’d trust me with this” she waved the box “unless you intend to impose the same limitations on this device as you did with the others.”

It shouldn’t surprise him that she figured out he put restrictions on certain websites for all the devices that she might get her hand on which was basically everything except his personal computer that was password protected. Yet for some reason he was because Ezraphel and ‘tech savvy’ was a concept he was still getting used to.

“No restrictions” he clarified stuffing his hands in the pocket of his pants “and I’d like to say that this isn’t me taking a gamble either since that would imply there were risks involved with giving you your own personal phone. At this point I’m pretty sure you’ve grasp the inherent dangers of having one with unrestricted WiFi access.”

At this Ezraphel’s smile turned wry as she answered “oh yes you’ve personally made sure of that.”

“The internet is a wonderful but fucked up place Ez. It has a tendency to consume people, chew them up and spit them out. I’ve seen it turn genuinely good people into some of the worst scumbags and I really don’t want to see what it would do to you.”

Ezraphel was touched, genuinely so but she knew that if it were only a few months ago she would have ultimately dismissed his concerns. Now though she fully understood what he meant having been exposed to the internet, even in this limited form, for months now. It also helped that Stanley wasn’t exactly shy about pointing her to numerous examples of the worst case scenarios of the effects of the internet on people.

Ezraphel has even picked up the unhealthy habit of doom scrolling as a result and from what she’s discovered her Stanley hit the target when he said the internet is a wonderful but fucked up place.

So when she said “I understand Stanley” she very much meant it.

“Great so open the box and let’s get you set up.”

“Will I be allowed to sign up for social media as well?”

Stanley twitched, closed his eyes, banished thoughts of worst case scenarios and took a deep breath before replying “you’re a grown woman of sound mind with proper contextual understanding of the modern world” his eyes opened with a kind of defiant determination “you can do whatever you want so long as it doesn’t get us in trouble with the government or blows up in our faces.”

“So like usual then?”

“Basically.”

“Good thing I am not planning to garner any attention then.”

Stanley looked at her for a moment “yeah that’s not possible.”

Ezraphel pouted “I am not an attention whore Stanley.”

“…”

“…not that much at least.”

“Alright let’s for a moment just disregard your inability to remain inconspicuous without using magic-”

“Hey!”

“-it wouldn’t be possible anyway because…well…” he trailed off with a cringe tinted with guilt.

Ezraphel obviously picked this up “what is it?”

“You know that one picture Amelia took of us that one time as a joke?”

“Yes, what about it?”

“Well people found out I was the guy you were with and there were a lot of people asking questions about it so I…kind of admitted that you were my girlfriend during a livestream.”

“Oh” Ezraphel’s expression remained unconcerned, more curious really “and that is bad?”

“Not to toot my own horn here but I’m kind of a known quantity online and-”

“I am aware” she interrupted lightly.

“You are?”

“I have glimpsed the name of your online persona before and searched for it out of curiosity” she arched her brow “you are quite the controversial figure in certain spaces Stanley.”

“Right so basically I don’t think it’s possible for you to remain an unknown at this point.”

“You are worried I will come under heavy scrutiny due to my affiliation with you.”

“You already are” he stated with a sardonic grit of his teeth “I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve got some fans based on that one fucking picture.”

Ezraphel leaned back with a hum at this information. Even with her Stanley not-so-subtly influencing her against the idea Ezraphel would be lying if she said that the thought of becoming ‘internet famous’ wasn’t a tantalizing prospect. She also agreed with him that it would be virtually impossible for her to just be ‘another pretty face’ on the internet. If it wasn’t through her affiliation with Stanley’s online persona then it would by virtue of her being…well…herself.

Ezraphel was a self admitted attention whore even if ‘not that much’ was really in reference to the fact that she didn’t jeopardize her public cover for personal gratification. Though if she were being honest Stanley’s presence acted as a deterrent in of itself for not indulging in this aspect of her personality.

“It’s not as if I have to make a social media account so soon and even if I do it doesn’t mean I have share pictures.”

“There is that” he nodded.

“Don’t worry Stanley I’ll make sure to get your opinion before I do something like that.”

His shoulders sagged a bit with relief “I guess that’s all I can ask.”

“Great!” Ezraphel chirped then held up the box “now can you help me in figuring out how to operate this contraption.”

“You know how to use a phone Ez” he stated with lidded eyes.

“Correction, I know how to use your phone and only barely since you don’t like it when I do.”

“That’s because you keep filling it with thirst trap pics and nude selfies!” he hissed out.

“Well now you won’t have to worry about that since I can now just send them to you instead.”

“Anything you send is going to be recorded by a third party somewhere out there.”

That gave Ezraphel pause for a moment before she shrugged “then they will forever seethe, mald and lust with envy at something they will never experience for themselves.”

For a long moment Stanley could only stare at a genuine loss for words. Or was it that he had so many things to say but couldn’t properly articulate yet the indignant expression spoke volumes. Abruptly he locked his mouth shut did an about face and picked up his airsoft lancer.

As he began to load pellets into it Ezraphel’s smug expression gained a tinge of nervousness as her danger sense tingled. When he loaded the magazine the tingling was proceeded by flashing lights. Then he turned around with that expression and that’s when the klaxons started blearing.

“N-now Stanley-”

“You know I might as well practice on a moving target anyway.”

“Meep!”

Later…

After an impromptu chase around the house and the subsequent cleanup afterwards Stanley spent the rest of the morning helping Ezraphel navigate her new phone along with its accessories. In the afternoon he accompanied her when she delivered her gifts to the neighbors. Afterwards they went to the city simply enjoying the sights and came back home in the evening where they spent the remainder of their first Christmas together eating a hearty meal and watching classic holiday movies together before taking it upstairs where Ezraphel revealed the second part of Stanley’s Christmas gift.

In the words of Stanley that night:

“Best. Christmas. Ever.”

~The End?~

Author’s Notes: I’m still caught between being satisfied and not with this ending. I wanted Stanley and Ezraphel’s first Christmas to be bigger than what it turned out to be here but at the same time the story was built on shared intimate moments between the two and I can’t be mad at that. Next one is promised to be larger in scope since this technically takes place during the second volume after the weekend trip but before he got the hospital call.

Anyway the plan now is to proceed with a New Year’s special which I am happy to say I have already started posting on my Patreon. Can’t say I have any need to make that one public on or around the New Years but I will say that it will be somewhere in January.

Consider this my last post of the year and look forward to more to come.

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