29.1 Awkward Reunion

'How the fuck did I end up in this situation?'

Was that even a question?

"Oh yeah, my girlfriend wanted me to be the bigger man and reach out to my estranged mother to patch up our relationship."

If it wasn't already obvious Stanley was nervous, incredibly so. That really stinks because he's been hyping himself up for this meeting for days now. In hindsight he was actually distracted trying to act natural in front of Ezraphel who was luckily too preoccupied with working on his birthday gift. They only had sex every other day because she sometimes pulled all nighters. Or rather she sneaks off whenever he falls asleep because she wants to be last thing he sees when he sleeps and the first thing he sees when he wakes up.

With that kind of dedication he could only imagine what kind of harebrain scheme she was cooking up. He's at least reasonably sure it wasn't a sex thing because Ezraphel wouldn't have Natalie working on it if it was. This unfortunately narrows the scope outside of his purview so he didn't have a guess as to what it was. It made him oddly excited to see the results of what she's been cooking all this time. Anything that could distract Ezraphel from sex was bound to be something big.

Before he could further ponder the nature of Ezraphel's birthday gift to him, Stanley arrived at his destination. After finding a spot to park the car Stanley took a moment to just stare. He never really questioned where his mother chose to have their meeting due to being preoccupied with other thoughts.

Now that he's actually here he couldn't help but think to himself 'why would she want to meet here?'

'Here' being a quaint little café at an intersection. Now that he thought about it when their conversation veered into a potential meet up she's the one who chose the venue that he reluctantly agreed to. As in, she gave him a name and address right then and there which suggests a level of familiarity.

'Has she been here before?'

The question made him wonder because as far as he knew there wasn't anything in the area that would be of relevance to his mother. You know, other than its proximity to his house, which had some mildly concerning implications.

"…whatever."

It didn't matter in the end.

He also he recognized the subconscious stalling tactic for what it was.

So without anymore preamble he got out of the car, locked up, set the alarm (taking a moment to reassure himself that Ezraphel's magical protection will prevent any kind of vandalism), and made his way into the café.

*Ting-a-ling* an overhead bell chimed as he entered through the door. The café interior had that cozy hipster aesthetic going on with random art on the wall and a three-seater couch in the corner among the chairs and tables. He spotted extra sockets on the walls for charging electronics and he didn't need to check his phone to figure out the place had free WiFi.

Being that it was mid Monday morning there were not many customers so he was able to find who he was here to meet. Likewise the sound of the bell alerted those inside of someone entering the establishment. Though barely anyone paid attention, save for the staff and those who happen to be expecting someone.

Like the woman sitting at the corner table designed for a group.

While he'd been surveying the room she has been looking at him since he came in. The moment their eyes met hers lit up in recognition with a tinge of disbelief and uncertainty. Stanley felt his pulse race but with a silent breath he made his way towards her. The closer he got the more he noticed the initial uncertainty vanish as recognition took root, giving way to certainty and disbelief. When he finally arrived, she got to her feet and briefly noticed the cup she had been nursing.

"Stanley?" she asked hesitantly.

'Here goes.'

"Hey mom," he replied awkwardly with a little wave of his hand.

A moment later, Stanley was enveloped in a hug that caused his brain to stall, rendering him frozen. By the time he figured to raise his hand up to reciprocate the hug, it was over, and the woman pulled away yet still keeping her hands on him. She let loose a sigh before giving him an once-over. She seemed to be at a loss for words before finally commenting.

"You're so big now," she said while looking at him.

As someone who was making frequent contact with people who were 6 feet in height or taller, one of the little known quirks that didn't come up was Stanley's height. It turns out the height boost he got from his Incubus transformation wasn't a flat one. Stanley has actually grown several inches in height after the inch or two he got from the initial transformation. He may or may not continue to grow incrementally, but he doubted he would ever not be short by modern standards.

This is partly because Ezraphel liked him that way, but the other reason is because of good old genetics. At least he can take solace that he is now firmly out of the dwarf range he had been walking on for most of his life. Although in this situation it meant that he was just as tall as his mother, who was five feet five.

It's clear to see that he inherited mostly from her side of the family, such as his hair color, eye color, and even complexion. He could point out the differences between the woman he was seeing now and when he last saw her nearly a decade ago. There were a few more wrinkles, worry lines, and noticeable more graying hair taking root in her otherwise brown hair.

'Is she using hair dye?'

"Stanley?"

The man blinked, "huh?"

The woman's expression turned wry "still getting stuck inside your head?"

He frowned and looked away. His eyes conveniently landed on one of the baristas, who has probably been watching this intimate moment between mother and son.

Stanley scowled at her, 'mind your own fucking business.'

He might have put some intent behind those thoughts because the woman averted her gaze with a light shiver. His mother must have seen the byplay because he felt a light smack on his shoulder, bringing his attention back to her. Upon seeing the look of disapproval on her face, his scowl vanished as memories surged, and he mentally braced for the admonishment.

"Stanley, stop scaring the poor girl."

"She should mind her own business," he muttered.

"Well can you blame her for staring at the handsome young man who just walked in looking like one of those online models?" She said this as she took a seat.

"Mom!"

'Da fuq?'

"Well, you can't expect me not to comment on how my handsome little man became even more handsome."

'Yeah,' he thought to himself while taking a seat, 'was hoping you wouldn't actually.'

He's gotten used to how he looked and even how people react to him. It's still weird when people point it out to him and especially give him compliments.

"So," the amusement in her tone and expression lessened as she directed her full attention to him "how have you been?"

And here comes the hardest part.

"Good," he answered a bit too abruptly, "I—ahem, I've been...good."

"Well clearly!" His mother half exclaimed

"Yeah…" he trailed off, unsure.

Under the table his leg started bouncing.

His mother must have sensed something because she lowered her enthusiasm and reached over the table to grasp his hand.

"Stanley."

Her touch and her words made his leg bounce stop as he directed his attention towards her.

"What have you been up to since…we last saw each other?"

He took a deep breath and replied "nothing too exciting."

That wasn't what she wanted to hear. He knew that even if she didn't say anything... or so he assumed. Her expression did not betray anything, but the motherly patience of someone who knew their child had issues with talking to people and properly expressing themselves. It's funny because as an Incubus he had an instinctive ability to get around such hiccups in interactions but for some reason he couldn't summon up the effort to do it.

Maybe because said ability had a mild charm effect and he'd rather stab himself than mess with his mother's head.

In any case his mother wasn't having any of it "I don't care if you think nothing exciting happens in your life Stanley I still want to know. And if that is the case I'm… I'm actually glad your life is boring. Lord knows I'd take 'boring' over any kind of excitement any day."

Stanley frowned, knowing exactly what he's talking about "he's not giving you any trouble, is he?"

"Don't worry about it."

Why did she have to go and say that?

"What about-"

"This isn't about him, Stanley," she interrupted sternly "this is about you and your apparently boring life."

He didn't like that she was deflecting but he knew where he got his stubbornness from and decided to drop it. The good news is that the brief detour in topic to that asshole managed to distract from his nervousness and restore some of his confidence. With a clearer mind he began to mentally go over his life after their fight. He found that while a significant portion of his life was indeed a monotonous grind of waking up and playing videogames with eating takeout and drinking soda in between sessions there were outliers in the monotony.

The more he scrutinized these thoughts the more interesting tidbits he found himself confident in sharing. Since she seemed eager to know everything about his life he decided to just spill it. He basically gave her an abridged recap of his life following their fight, his subsequent dropout from college, and their estrangement. He ended up telling her a lot of things, maybe too much but once he started he just couldn't stop.

Because whether he wanted to admit it or not the fact of the matter was that Stanley felt vindication. He was right and while it wasn't exactly smooth sailing getting here he was sitting before her a young, wealthy, and successful young man in his mid-twenties. He acknowledged that she was well within her rights to be skeptical of his gamble as well as his unreasonableness in what he expected of her back then but it still chaffed that she didn't believe he could make it work.

That she didn't believe in him.

But everything had worked out for him in the end even if you don't factor in Ezraphel. Her presence was just the cherry on top. Whereas before he was content he can say without a shadow of a doubt that now, with her, he was happy. Stanley Berkowitz was happy, and once that realization hit he couldn't help but to recount the journey it took to reach this point.

So he told her:

How, after dropping out of college, Natalie put him up rent-free until he got back on his feet.

How he saved up to rent a cheap apartment in a shitty neighborhood and a storage unit for his belongings he refused to risk getting misplaced or stolen.

How he spent nearly every waking moment for two years ensuring the success of his YouTube channel.

How he got a million subscribers and a golden plaque.

How his email started blowing up with sponsorship offers.

How he created a website to funnel his affiliate links that got decent traffic.

How he eventually moved out of his cheap apartment in a shitty neighborhood into a not-as-cheap apartment in a better neighborhood.

How he got inspired to get educated on stocks and investments.

How he made it big on a risky investment with emerging crypto he did partly for the memes.

How he hired a financial advisor that helped him make smarter investments.

How he bought a car that he still uses to this very day.

How he eventually bought a house in a good neighborhood.

How he spent the following years cementing his financial stability through multiple investment routes, amassing an Airsoft collection, making actual friends online he would meet IRL every once in a while to play, and...

His mother listened to his story without once interrupting. She was seemingly content to hear him out. He watched her expression go through a myriad of minor and major changes, though she tried to keep it placid at all times. There was no judgment in her eyes even when she obviously had something to say about his choices.

"I met someone-" he coughed a bit.

"Stanley?" His mother looked worried.

He waved her off his voice hoarse. "I'm fine, I just—" he coughed once again feeling his throat sore.

'Fuck, how long have I been talking?'

He spared a glance at the clock and almost boggled. Fifty minutes have passed since he entered the café meaning that he had been talking uninterrupted for at least forty of those minutes.

'Damn'

His mother hummed, "I think it's about time you ordered something anyway."

"Yeah, okay. Do you want anything?"

"I would like a Brown Sugar Boba Milk Tea," she responded causing Stanley to raise a brow.

"You drink Boba?"

"I decided to try it a few years ago after watching a video on Facebook."

Stanley almost rolled his eyes 'figures she's using Facebook.'

"Alright," Stanley nodded.

"You should get one for yourself, Stanley."

He made a face at the suggestion "eh, I'm good."

His mother huffed "I doubt its price will make a dent in your expenses Stanley."

That wasn't the reason why he declined but he winced having realized that he literally just told her his rags to riches story so he couldn't even use the cheapskate option. Well he could but that would just be in poor taste.

So instead he says "I'm probably not going to like it."

"How can you say that without trying one first?"

Because Ezraphel is a culinary trend chaser who is always on the lookout for trending new food that she could prepare for him. As one of those 'trendy foods' influencers love to tout in recent years it was only a matter of time before she got to bubble tea or boba tea. It just so happened that Ezraphel's boba tea was the first time he actually tried one. Of course he enjoyed it very much which was a problem here because since Ezraphel's food is perfection there was no way a café-made product could compare.

She really did spoil him with food.

"At least try the mango grapefruit sago."

'The what?'

He looked to the menu and found that she was referring to a type of boba tea.

He looked back at her with a raised brow to which her smile widened "I promise you won't regret it."

His lips pursed 'I probably will but…fuck it, we ball.'

With a nod he went to the counter to order.