Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lydia’s day was boring.

Again.

School's boring as usual and she didn’t make friends. She wants friends but whenever someone sees her parade around the halls wearing black all the time, they stop and stare and whisper about her. It didn’t bother that no one talked to her, she didn’t bother anyone but that was seen as a weakness and bullies jumped in to ridicule and harass her. It wasn’t entirely fair but High School was a dog-eat-dog world and so far she was the one being torn apart.

Not that it impacted her at all, she had all the company she needed with Adam and Barbara. Delia is always too busy with her new patients and other clients so Delia couldn’t help her as much as she liked but she is definitely putting in the effort.

Crystals be damned. Lydia thought. People believe in anything these days.

Her father was busy too, investing in that gated community he was so keen on doing. Sucks to think that he's still going through with it, but it's okay. More people to freak out.

There were paranormal investigators snooping around hoping to get evidence of the paranormal awhile back, but nothing paranormal was to be expected in their house ever since the Beetlejuice incident six months ago.

Don’t even dare ask Lydia about the police officers that came by investigating the screaming coming from their house too. Between all the inhabitants in the house, it was an unspoken agreement to not mention Beetlejuice or the Maitlands to the authorities. Lydia, Charles and Delia stated to them that they were pulling pranks on the people who dropped by their house. It was more believable than to say a demon was summoned to scare off Lydia's stepmother and father.

While Adam and Barbara on the other hand? They're just a normal couple 'haunting' their house. Nothing new with them. They help cook, clean and help Lydia with her schoolwork. Having that extra set of parents was awesome, despite them being dead.

Now that she thought about it, Lydia has three moms.

She plunked her bicycle by the front door, not bothering to lock it up. Winter River is a small town and no one really wants to hike up an entire hill. Plus Adam and Barbara would see anyone coming up the hill they don’t recognize, notifying the Deetz’s as soon as possible.

Lydia laughed at that thought, it was super cool that they’re like a security system for the house. They would (try to) frighten whoever tried breaking into the house and one time it actually worked. One idiot tried to break into the front and that person was so spineless that the flickering of the lights was enough to spook them away.

They never even unlocked the front door.

With a twist of her key and a kick, Lydia belted into the open living room: "I'm home!"

“Welcome home Lydia!” Barbara’s voice rang from behind her ear. “You can’t see me but we can see you!” she said in a cliched spooky voice, trying to stifle a laugh by speaking that way.

She mastered that skill with ease and gave Delia plenty of frights. Though with Barbara’s more soft nature, she doesn’t do it as often as Lydia would have liked. It was pretty hilarious to see Delia a little frazzled especially when her head turns in every direction to find the source of the disembodied voice.

Adam was still working on that, though his knowledge on the Handbook of the Recently Deceased is coming along although with a bit of struggle. Lydia asked him about it one day and said that it was hard for him to grasp since it reads like stereo instructions. If Lydia were to meet an early end, she might as well learn as much knowledge as she could.

“Very funny Barbara," Lydia walked to the cupboard, throwing it open to see Barbara’s head with her hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles, "Found you."

“You still have to find Adam!” she phased through the wall and plopped to the floor with a silent grace, “You won’t find him this time!”

“He’s inside the smelly couch.”

“Oh darn it!” Adam howled. “How’d you figure that out?!” Lydia turned towards the couch and there stood Adam sitting on top it, pouting like a child.

“Well, as soon as I walked in, the couch cushions were rising and falling. Similar to that of someone breathing,” She pointed to Adam and that made him open his mouth like a fish, “And when Barbara was speaking the cupboard door shook. You guys have gotten a hold of your powers but I saw through them. Good try though!” Lydia strode and collapsed on Adam’s lap, “Sorry.”

“You are one observant kid.” Barbara scrunched her face in mock anger.

“How was your guys’ day today?” Lydia looked up to her ghostly father figure.

“Great!” “Awesome!” They simultaneously replied.

“Glad to hear it, my day? Boring. The usual.” she groaned, “Please help me stave off this boredom.” With a dramatic hand to her head, Lydia slid off of Adam’s lap and onto the floor.

“We could watch that new series on Netflix? I heard it’s pretty good.” Adam asked.

“Tiger king? No thanks. I’ve had enough of idiots having a platform to show their idiocy.” Lydia rolled her eyes to Adam.

Silence came after the comment.

Adam and Barbara shared a look, one of annoyance and one of agreement.

“Are you talking about the president?” Barbara asked.

A loud cackle followed by a muffled snort was heard that made the three turn their heads to the direction of the stairs, Delia stood atop snorting into her hand.

“Good one Lydia!” Delia said after her laughing fit. Lydia wanted to roll her eyes and hiss away from the bright pastel pink robe she was wearing.

“Hey Delia,” Lydia smiled, giving her a small wave. “Where’s dad?”

“In his study,” she replied, “He has a call with a new Real Estate partner. After everything that has happened, Charles doesn’t want to work with someone as snobby and perverted as Maxie. They’ve been working out the kinks with the whole gated community thing. He’ll be down for dinner.” Delia walked down the stairs and into the open kitchen, “He thinks they might have some buyers!”

Yeah sure, a call my ass. Lydia smirked, eyeing the bruise mark on Delia’s shoulder.

“That reminds us.” Adam cut in through Lydia's thoughts. “We were thinking pasta night? How does that sound?”

“Oh hell yea.” Lydia excitedly jumped from the couch, “Let’s do it.”

Dinner was a light affair.

Charles came down after the smell of fresh tomato sauce and spaghetti wafted through the house. It was full of light jests and small conversations, everyone eating their fill praising both Adam and Barbara’s cooking.

Everyone went their ways after everything was cleaned up. Lydia trudged up to her room, swinging the door open and casually throwing her bag into the corner.

With that order of business done, Lydia face planted onto her bed, blindly reaching for the photos on her nightstand.

Finding what she was looking for, she flipped over to look at them: an empty photo of the attic where Lydia attempted to snap a picture of the Maitlands to no avail, aesthetic spider-webs she found in the garden, the school she attended and the various pictures she took of the house when they first moved in. 

Though one photo caught her eye: A familiar pattern of black and white stripes and multiple others crowded around him. Written in permanent marker, Beetlejuice had signed one of the photos, albeit poorly. Lydia smiled at the poor penmanship and writing, it didn’t even read Beetlejuice, it read “Betlejoos”. The shot was of said demon laying down on the couch with his clones hovering around him. Lydia misses him, despite what happened. Beetlejuice, indirectly, saved her from jumping off the roof that night, and the whole kicking the adults out of the house was pretty cool. Even with scaring everyone off, the whole time Beetlejuice was with her she felt happy, it was the first time that Lydia had fun ever since her mom died. Though she later on abandoned him in favour of finding her mom, and in turn he manipulated her to almost exorcise Barbara.

It made sense, every action has a consequence. They both used one another to gain what they wanted. Beetlejuice wanted to be seen, and Lydia wanted her mom back. She sounded like a broken record in her head, but she really wanted to see her mom one last time. 

After Beetlejuice left, it took a couple weeks to get the smell of death out of the house. Unpleasant enough as it was, having the smell around felt like he was still there. Though Charles wanted it out as fast as possible, he and Delia multiple lavender candles that overwhelmed the smell out of the house. Every now and then though, she got a whiff of that dead zebra smell, making her think of Beetlejuice and the time they had together.

“Hey scarecrow, wanna call up some random people and have them come by for a scare?”

“Oh hell yeah, Dad definitely left his credit card here, let me go find it!”

I wonder what he’s up to now . Lydia thought. He said he’d be on a quest to find his father or something. It’s been a couple months. She stared at the photo some more, reflecting on the short few days they spent time together. It was pretty cool having a haunted house 24/7 but in the end Barbara was right in saying that a haunted house was no ideal living space for her age. She’s strange and unusual, sure, but that doesn’t mean she wants a house of her own. She lived off of leftovers and take out orders, while the Maitlands were too terrified to come down.

“You’re scared of everything! That’s why you’re in the attic.”

Lydia cringed at the memory, she really didn’t mean it but they wouldn’t budge on opening the book for her. She really believed she could’ve gotten her mom back but instead almost exorcised Barbara out of existence. 

Lydia placed the photos back  on her nightstand then started going about her nightly routine. Washing her face, brushing her teeth, combing her hair and applying a new coat of megadeth black nail polish she got at Hot Topic the day she and Delia went to the mall.

Lydia paused from painting her pinky, and sighed. Hopefully he did find his dad.

The past six months have been a whirlwind for the Deetz-Maitland household. Just thinking about Beetlejuice and her memories with the Demon made Lydia miss him even more, he left in a dramatic flash that she didn’t really tell him what she wanted to say. Other than to tell him he smelt putrid. She wanted to say more but he left without another word, screaming "tell my story" to the open air. Those moments, despite being chaotic, were precious to her.

Putting her nail polish back into it’s drawer and carefully opening her laptop to occupy herself while her nails dried. Pulling up Netflix and pulling up the first thing that came to mind..

Hopefully she can relax this weekend and get a good night's reprieve from her boring and mundane life.

Chapter Text

“AGHHHHHHHH"

B O O M

Lydia shot up from her bed, forced awake from the scream that shook her bedroom. Adrenaline now running through her veins, she frantically turned to the clock on her nightstand. The clock read out in its digital light: 3 AM. That’s not good. Maybe her father needed help.

She jumped out of bed in her pajamas, wrenching her door open and scrambling to the hallway. She looked around, trying to find a weapon she could use in case it was a home intruder and her father could be the victim. Lydia dove back into her room and picked up her baseball she kept in her closet.

Delia insisted that she keep one in her closet.

“NO STOP DON’T TOUCH ME!”

Wait, that’s not dad.

She fearfully walked in the direction of the attic, slowly bringing the bat up ready to take a swing whatever was going to start running down the hall. Whoever was screaming sounded like they were getting murdered. Hopefully it wasn’t Adam getting hurt since it was a definite males voice she was hearing.

No one came down from the stairs leading away from Adam and Barbara’s bedroom. Relieved she put the bat down by her waist and raised her arm to turn the knob… but it was stuck. Normally, the couple would leave the door unlocked for Lydia, Delia and Charles for them to enter but right the knob was not turning. She panicked as she tried to twist it to the left and right hoping for it to come loose from whatever lock was placed upon it.

They couldn’t have locked it could they? Lydia thought. She gave it another twist before banging on the door screaming for the couple, “Adam?! Barbara?! Are you guys okay?!” Lydie put her ear to the door and could hear movement and whispering, she pounded on it a little harder, “Adam?! Barbara?! What’s going on in there- Ah!”

A blast from the other side hurled the door and Lydia onto the floor. The door landed on top of her, knocking the wind out of her and temporarily dazing her. Her head span as she wheezed for air from underneath the door, ears ringing from the blast and her vision hazy as a blur rushed away on top of her. She winced at the weight stepping on the door, “No, don’t come any closer!” whoever this was, they clearly were found out.

“Wait, come back!” Lydia could hear Barbara above her but couldn’t see her, no doubt Adam was behind her, “If you can just stop for one minute we can help!” The Maitland couple both rushed out of the room giving chase to the blur who broke down the door. Lydia struggled to be free of the collapsed door, with a couple wiggles and a shove, she broke from her wooden prison. She crawled to the wall and lifted herself up to get her breath back, her vision came last as her other senses started bleeding in. Blinking and turning to the door, she gasped in shock at the black impact zone on the couple’s door. 

Once Lydia regained her balance, she took her baseball bat and followed the couple down the stairs. When she reached the landing, she spotted a familiar green haired, black and white striped demon.

"Beetlejuice?" Lydia asked.

Adam and Barbara had cornered Beetlejuice by the fireplace, casting the bat aside, she excitedly ran toward the demon until Barbara grabbed her arm. 

“What are you doing? Beej is back!” She pawed at Barbara’s cool touch, “Let me go!”

“Lydia wait,” Barbara said, fear written all over her features, “Beetlejuice doesn’t look… fine.”

“What are you talking about? He’s-” Lydia ceased her struggle to look at Beetlejuice. He was back, yes, but something was obviously wrong. His hair, usually a vibrant forest green, was stark white. His face contorted with fear and his clothing was also torn up, like some rabid beast got a hold of him. 

“Beej?” Lydia’s adrenaline had died down and now concern and panic took over. “Adam? Barbara? What happened to him?”

Beetlejuice’s eyes refused to look at anyone, instead they were hard set on the floor.

“Lydia we don’t know, he just appeared out of nowhere screaming at the top of his lungs.” Adam looked at Beetlejuice with a mix of confusion and fear. “And I don’t want to know what got him so worked up. I mean if something did this to him-”

“Adam please, you’re scaring Lydia.” Barbara cut Adam off.

“Hell to what I feel, this is my friend!" Lydia swore, “Beej you doing alright?” Lydia tried to reach out but Beetlejuice flinched away from her touch. “Hey it’s okay." She put her hands up, maintaining distance from him and making him see that she had nothing in her hands, "You’re in a safe place, please look at me.” Beetlejuice didn’t budge. “Beej I need you to look at me, there’s nothing here to harm you.” With slow movements, Beetlejuice titled his head upwards, “That’s bet- oh my gosh.”

Even with dead eyes and a pale complexion, Lydia could tell that he had been through the ringer. Beetlejuice’s eyes were puffy and the surface layer of dirt on his face streaked as if it were recently applied eyeliner. “Oh god your hair Beej." Lydia sighed, "What happened to you?”

“I.. couldn’t do it.”

“Do what? What couldn’t you do?” Lydia asked slowly, lest he get too excited and fly around the house, causing more damage with the possibility of having Delia and her father wake up.

If they haven’t already that is.

“I couldn’t." Upon locking eyes with Lydia, Beetlejuice started hyperventilating.

“Hey Beej, calm down it’s okay-”

“I could-…” Beetlejuice abruptly stopped breathing and collapsed, face forward with a thump on the hardwood floor.

“NO!” Lydia darted to Beetlejuice’s side, desperately trying to flip him over, “Help me!”

“Lydia look at him for a second, his hair.” Adam pointed out, “That’s.. new.”

Beetlejuice’s hair, now gone of its fearful white, now shimmered a metallic grey. It was hard to tell in the low light but it seemed that… he was asleep.

“Hello?!” A voice from atop the staircase.

“Oh shit it’s Delia! Quick help me hide him!” Adam was about to protest but Lydia had grabbed his hand and Barbara’s to create a human-ghost shield to block Beetlejuice from Delia’s view. “

“I have a weapon and I'm not afraid to use it!” a squealing Delia came down the stairs holding…. a large crystal above her head. Upon seeing the three standing in the living room, she took a deep breath. "Oh Lydia, it's you." Delia lowered the crystal. "I thought I heard a scream earlier. Is everyone alright?” 

“Yeah, I just had a nightmare. Barbara and Adam came and calmed me through it. ” Lydia squeezed the couples hands.

“Yeah!” “That’s what happened!” Barbara and Adam said in tandem. Lydia knew that Adam wasn't much of a liar, and if they were alive and could still sweat, they would definitely be sweating buckets. Also Delia looked a little hurt as well, after all they’ve been through, Lydia still runs to the Maitland’s for help.

“Oh okay..” Delia put down the crystal by the landing. “You feeling alright sweetheart?” she walked to Lydia and placed a hand on her head, “You know you can always talk to me right?”

“I’m okay step-mom, I promise.” Lydia tried to put on the happiest smile she could, “but I think we should all head back to bed. I’ll be okay. I’m pretty sure the sun is going to rise soon." hopefully Delia wouldn't notice her eye slightly twitching at the forced muscle movement.

Delia smiled sweetly at the mention of being called step-mom, “Alright honey,” she gave a quick hug, which made Lydia tense up. She was so close to spotting Beetlejuice and thankfully she didn’t comment on the snoozing demon behind her. With another smile, Delia started heading up the staircase, “Before you go to bed though,” she sniffed the air, “Could you open the window? It smelled like something died in here.”

Lydia paled.

“Yeah, we’ll do it.” Barbara waved at the retreating ex-life coach, her smile being a little strained and tight around the corners of her eyes and mouth, “Good night Delia.”

“Good night.”

The unusual trio waited until they could hear the door close from upstairs, then sighed letting go of each other. “You owe me big time young lady,” Adam fretted, “You know I don’t like lying to people.”

“I’ll make it up to you later,” Lydia sheepishly scratched the back of her hand, “Now what do we do about this?” she gestured to Beetlejuice still sleeping on the ground.

“Where are we going to HIDE him?” Barbara rubbed her temples. “It’s hard to hide someone like him, I mean LOOK at him.” 

“I’ll hide him in my room," Lydia said matter of factly "I’ll take him with me wherever, no one can see him unless me, dad, Delia or any breather who knows his name can summon him. It’ll be fine, sure he’ll cause chaos around me but it’s nothing strange for me anyway.” All the things Lydia could do with Beetlejuice will be hectic but so fun. 

“Lydia, we need to talk to your father and Delia about this.” Barbara spoke. She looked nervous with Adam who nodded in agreement.

“I know you care about him Lydia, but he’s a demon, son of that Juno lady that almost took you into the Netherworld." Adam shivered at the memory, the sheer willpower and aura that she emanated was cold and threatening. "She was terrifying, we don’t really know what Beetlejuice could do, he showed us some things, but there’s a lot of powers we don’t know about. I’m worried that he’ll do something to hurt you.” Adam grabbed Lydia’s hand. “I’m pretty sure I can speak for all the adults in this house, is that we want to make sure you’re safe. Besides, Beetlejuice gives us the heebie-jeebies.”

“If he doesn’t behave, it’s easy to send him back to the Netherworld. We’ll draw the stupid door and command him to leave. Simple.” Lydia really wanted her friend to stay, and she’ll fight whoever gets in the way. “Trust me, I think I have this planned.”

“It can’t be that simple, but…. fine. That still leaves the question about Delia and Charles, we have to let them know. This is their house as much as it is ours.” Barbara started to fiddle with her hands. “If he causes havoc and we can’t get him to leave, what will we do?”

"We’ll tell dad and Delia about him soon, but I’ll make sure he won’t do anything crazy. If he doesn’t do anything for a week, we’ll tell them. End of discussion.” Lydia turned her back to the couple to try and get Beetlejuice to budge, but he wouldn't move. He is knocked out for good. "I need your help. Adam make sure your door is back on properly, I don't want dad to find out that a door was blown off its hinges, Barbara help me carry him to my room.”

The couple looked at each other, sighed and went to their duties. Adam went upstairs to fix the door, and Barbara helped Lydia carry Beetlejuice. Surprisingly he was not heavy, guess being dead had its perks. Lydia thought it would be difficult to carry him up the stairs, but it was easier than she thought. Beetlejuice, even with his heavier build, was surprisingly lighter than she thought but still was heavy enough to leave her huffing from exertion.

Lydia blew a stray strand of hair from her face. She was not doing well in PE class but good thing that Barbara can carry most of the weight.

“I need to grab the mattress from the guest bedroom," Lydia grunted to Barbara. "At least he’ll wake up on a soft bed instead of an uncomfortable position on the floor.” Lydia opened the door to her bedroom for Barbara and left him leaning on Barbara to fetch the mattress. The spare room was empty except for the also empty dresser, closet, a twin bed and it's own separate washroom. Lydia pulled the mattress off its bed frame and dragged it to her room, it wasn't heavy considering she didn't need to actually pick it up.

This will probably be in my daily physical activity report, surprise Ms. Morgan.

Lydia carefully laid the mattress at the foot of her bed. Wiping her hair out of her eyes, Barbara threw Beetlejuice down onto the mattress in disgust.

"Barbara, be careful! Dad could've heard that!" Lydia hissed.

“Sorry, he started drooling on me.” Barbara shivered, wiping green slime off her shoulder. “Gross.”

A knock came from the door and Adam stepped through. “Hey got the door fixed," He walked over to the mattress, "looks like he’s still out.”

“You know, if you look at him, you’d think he’s actually dead.” Barbara sighed. “You sure you want him here?”

“Absolutely. Now go to bed you two, if he wakes up, he’ll be more comfortable with someone he knows.” Lydia yawned. “Oh jeez it’s almost five. Good thing it’s the weekend.” 

“Okay Lydia, goodnight.” Adam reluctantly motioned to Barbara to leave, “But if anything happens, grab us.” he smiled. Grabbing Barbara's hand, they turned to leave. The Maitlands stopped at the doorway to glance back to Lydia watching over the demon. "Be careful Lydia," Adam sadly said "Just gives a holler when he wakes up."

"Yeah, thanks guys." Lydia smiled softly, "I'll take it from here."

Lydia heard the fleeting footsteps and a door softly clicking shut before focusing her attention at her friend currently passed out on the mattress. She got up to close her own door before a whisper from the floor made her pause.

“Sure as hell didn’t think I would wind up back here again.” Lydia turned to see Beetlejuice now propped up on his elbows, smiling painfully at her.

“Hey Scarecrow.” He croaked.

Lydia smiled “Heya Beej, are you doing okay?”

"Like I just had an orgy," Beetlejuice coughed. "Better now though, thank you."

"Anytime, do you need anything? Water?"

"No, I'm good." Beetlejuice smiled sadly.

“I'm glad you're back." Lydia shut her door before moving towards her closet to grab the extra blanket she kept in there.

“Yeah, I heard you guys. I woke up after Diane left.” A chuckle came from him.

“So you really drooled on Barbara for the fun of it?” Lydia snorted.

“Ehh, gotta get my juices out somehow. Sorry for barging in."

“Don’t be sorry.”

Lydia came back to his side and threw the blanket on top of him. She also grabbed her extra pillow she sleeps with to give him extra comfort in case he gets stiff from sleeping with no back support.

 “I’ll be good." He said suddenly, as she laid the final touches to his makeshift bed, "Demons honour.” Beetlejuice crossed his heart and a little green glow shone marking his chest with an illuminated ‘x’.

“What was that?” In awe of the light glowing from his chest, Lydia reached out and touched it. It gave her a weird zap, similar to that of a static electricity discharge you get from rubbing your socks onto a carpet.

“It’s how I make a promise, it works both ways. Look at your chest.” Beetlejuice raised his hand and pressed where Lydia’s heart is. The same glow but had a yellow tint to it emitted on Lydia’s chest as well.

“This isn’t a trick is it?” Lydia furrowed her eyebrows in concern.

“It’s not you mutt," he ruffled Lydia's hair. "it’s how a promise is made with me. It’s not bad for you, it’s for me.” Beetlejuice smiled.

“What happens if you break it?” 

“I go.” he turned away from her, “I’m erased from your life.”

"What? No!" Lydia tried to pat it away, “Take it back.”

“I can’t, it’s the price of being a demon kid, we’re bad beings. Good things don’t come naturally to us.” His silver hair now turned a mellow blue.

“BJ I don’t want to forget you.”

“Haha blowjob.” A weak smile came from the demon.

“Shut up dead zebra, but seriously. I don’t want to.” Lydia rested her hand on her heart, clutching it.

“Then I’ll make sure I’ll be extra good.” Beetlejuice gave her another sad smile.

“Well.. fine. If that’s how it is,” Lydia rolled up her sleeve and undid the bracelet knot on her wrist, presenting it to him.

“What is this?” Beetlejuice took the item from her and inspected it and bit into it. 

“You don’t eat it you moron. It’s a bracelet. Give it here.” Beetlejuice returned the bracelet so Lydia could put it on his wrist. “I made this shortly after you left and if it does come true.. I really want you to have this. I really missed ya, ya big dummy.”

“Thanks pinhead.” The bracelet was black, made out of some type of rope with some trinkets on it. “Why is it called a bracelet when it should be called a wristlet?”

“It’s greek for 'of the arm'. Figured you would know that, since you lived for this long.” Lydia scoffed.

“Hey when you go around fucking around with ghosts and breathers alike," he winked, "you miss some things. Plus no one likes a know-it-all, nerd.” With a flick of a wrist a drink of iced tea appeared in his hand which he promptly sipped. His hair, now returning to its signature green.

Lydia wanted to ask about his hair later, she understood what the green meant since it was his normal state of mind. Red was anger, and purple was sad or was that blue? And the white… Maybe some other time.

“I don’t know what happened before you showed up,” Lydia said before climbing onto her bed to peer over the edge to speak to Beetlejuice, “But I’m glad you’re back. It really started to get too lively here.”

“You got Sexy and B-town here,” he flicked the drink out of existence, “They’re dead remember?”

“Yeah but it’s not as awesome as a demon.” she stuck her tongue at him, “Good night Beej.”

“Good night Lydia.”

Chapter Text

Lawrence doesn’t really have a need for sleep, because demons don’t sleep. Demons recharge by laying low for awhile. When he was younger, he would observe the newlydeads on their habits and get interested about the whole sleeping shtick. Lawrence tried it out for about 5 minutes until Juno came into his bedroom, berating him about him being lazy and stupid. ‘Worthless child,’ she would say, followed by ‘Your father was right to leave, if he saw you now, he would have fed you to the Sandworms!’ or, 'Stop with the blue, you’re such a screw up! You’re excess baggage no one wants to have!’ Juno would storm out, slam the door to go retrieve her booze leaving Lawrence alone with a shattered heart and a tear down his face. Juno would always bring up his father whenever she would yell. Leaving the impression that his father didn’t want or love Lawrence. It was also the only time Juno would bring up the missing father. Only in arguments, shouting, and her frequent alcohol binges would Lawrence get a mention of his father.

Lawrence always wondered if his father ever truly loved him once upon a time. After living for god/satan knows how long, memories of his childhood became fuzzy with his adventures through human history. Orgies and drugs a plenty.

When he departed the Deetz-Maitland household to find him, his search ended up fruitless, there was not even a mention in the multiple filing cabinets he rummaged through in his mothers office.

Lawrence waited until Lydia's breathing evened out before he slipped out of her room by phasing through her ceiling. He stopped until he reached the roof. Browsing through the roof, he made his way over to the ledge where he first met Lydia. He looked down to the ground contemplating what his next move should be, but nothing came to mind. So Lawrence turned his gaze skyward.

There were no stars in the Netherworld, all you could ever see were green clouds and an even greener sky. No sun or moon either, just a never ending cloudy day. Really helped with the doom and gloom atmosphere. It was always bustling down there too, sure there were work hours and rest hours, but there wasn’t a definitive day and night cycle. That what fascinated Lawrence about the breather world, there was sun. It warmed the dead skin that laid on Lawrence’s decayed face. The moon on the other hand was just as beautiful, although smaller, not warm and not as bright, but lit up the night sky beautifully. The stars too were like little snowflakes. Lawrence has been around for a long time, but one thing that remained constant that he cared to notice was the sun and moon. He heard a story once that the sun and moon were lovers, constantly chasing one another to reunite.

Sighing, he glanced down at his torn clothing and injuries. It wasn’t bad but it just made him look more of a homeless man squatting in a house that doesn’t welcome him. Lydia might vouch for him, but what the others? Chuck and Deborah? Adam and Barbara? Lydia can talk all she wants but what if they want him to leave? He shook when his head started to itch shaking until the thoughts went away.

I have to behave, I have to be good. Lawrence pleaded with himself to behave.

Lawrence doesn’t know how to be good though. He's a demon from Hell, everything about him screams chaos and bloody murder. So how does he be good? Will he have to help more newlydeads by guiding them to the Netherworld? Is community service available to people like him? Possessing a convicted felon might help, wait no that'll just be him and not the actual criminal be reformed. He sighed when no ideas came to him. He gave up cause that will be a question he’ll ask when the little gremlin gets up in the morning. He should probably get back down to the room just in case she wakes up and goes looking for him, but thought against it, she's a smart kid. She'll look here first if she ever wondered where he was. Lawrence smiled at the thought of his bffff and stood up. The glow from the ‘x’ he made glowing a little, making his smile grow a little more.

“God/Satan this kid might be the death of me.” Lawrence chuckled.

Lawrence stood on the roof till the sun rose, reds, yellows, oranges, blues, pinks and purples slowly coming into view illuminating the town while its denizens wake up to go around their business. Despite hearing birds for a few seconds, he picked up a distant chirp of a bird from the tree overlooking the house. He saw some squirrels running along the branches picking up nuts and whatever squirrels eat. It was a sweet sight to behold.

Lawrence witnessed cars going down the roads to get to wherever they needed to go, he also saw people going out on their morning runs, Lawrence wanted to scare them but refrained from doing so. He can't cause trouble on the first day he got here, so he took a (metaphorical) breath, inhaling his surroundings once more as if someone was going to take away this moment in a instant, then he proceeded to phase through the back to Lydia's room.

Lydia was still sleeping by the time he got there, if Lawrence didn’t see her chest rise, he would’ve mistaken her for being dead. Guess that what all breathers looked like, all peaceful while they slept. Lawrence backed away slowly before it got too creepy but who cares? It's only creepy if someone catches you. He then looked to the mirror and winked to it. It still amazed him that he appeared here out of all places, he didn’t mean to think of them but this is where he ended up. He needed a place to be safe, and he guessed that the safest place he instinctively thought of was here.

He cursed at himself for coming back, but Lydia made him happy in his brief time in this strange house.

Lawrence returned to his mattress on the floor and carefully laid down to not make any noise to wake Lydia. He wasn't really sure what to do next. Does he lay there until she wakes up? He looked at the open closet and saw the infamous yellow dress from the dinner party. Lawrence reached out and pulled the dress from its hangar with an extension of his arm. From his laid position, he pulled a chalk from his suit pocket and drew a small door to gain access to the Netherworld, knocking three times he stuffed the dress into the door and into the Netherworld.

"That was the ugliest effing dress I've ever seen," Lawrence scowled, "Welp happy birthday to whomever receives the dress!" He stage whispered into the floor, with one final knock the door closed shut. He chuckled, "The deed is done," Lawrence said to the open air "you're welcome scarecrow! Don't need to see that horrible fashion disaster ever again." He stayed there for awhile still bored on what to do next. Guess he'd try the whole sleeping thing.

“This is ridiculous, demons don’t sleep.” Lawrence's last words he spoke to the air and then promptly shut his eyes. "Night BJ."

Chapter Text

Beetlejuice loudly groaned from stiff joints.

Beetlejuice was no pillow princess, he was the one always moving and loved having some action in any shape, or with anyone he could. God he was so sore from laying down for so long. Resting and recharging was one thing, but he was productive when he recharged. Laying down for hours on end doing nothing? Beetlejuice did not enjoy that at all.

Beetlejuice stretched and scratched his belly before rolling off the mattress to crash into Lydia's bed to wake her up so they could start today's pandemonium, strangely enough he just kept rolling. He rolled faster, but didn’t hit the bed frame. Curious, he opened his crusted eyes to look where he was. He wasn’t in Lydia’s bedroom, but found himself laying on the floor of the attic.

“What the...” Beetlejuice slowly got up to search for Adam and Barbara. “A-dog? B-town?” The creak of the floorboards underneath his feet was his only reply. “Adam? Barbara?” Beetlejuice started noticing that something was indeed wrong, where was all their stuff?

Beetlejuice did not like this at all.

Throwing open the door, Beetlejuice zoomed out of the attic and down the stairs, finding them both in the living room but he couldn't be relieved just yet…. Beetlejuice instead and watched Adam polish a crib while Barbara polished her clay pottery. 

Beetlejuice’s mind raced. This is how they met. This was the day they died.

Did I go back in time?  Beetlejuice thought. Could I save them? Could I prevent the future?

If changed the past, Lydia would be in the Netherworld if he didn’t stop her from jumping off the roof the night they met. Maybe Beetlejuice could tell them in advance that a certain floorboard was weak and could tell them to avoid it. He was set on doing it and almost went through with it, but there’s one small problem. 

Beetlejuice. Was. Still. Invisible.

No one could hear or see him. Panic started to set in as he couldn’t think of anything he could do. They’re both going to fall!

From where Beetlejuice stood he could see himself behind the couch, smiling mischievously rubbing his gummy hands together as he waits for the couple to fall to their deaths. Instead Beetlejuice could ask this Beetlejuice to actually help the couple instead of ditching them when they couldn’t scare the new occupants of the house.

This is confusing the hell outta me, is he me and I'm him? Beetlejuice shook his head and glanced at the couple once more. Damn they're so adorable. Beetlejuice dead set on helping the Maitlands sprung into action and ran to the couch.

“Hey, Beetlebum.” Beetlejuice said in a cheeky voice which garnered no response. “Hey sexy, right here.” Snapping and waving his hand in front of the other BJ. “HEY YOU INVISIBLE FUCK. LOOK AT ME.” Beetlejuice tried shoving the fool and ended up phasing through hitting the floor. “What the FUCK.” he whispered.

“Ready, set, let’s— AGHHHHHHH” With the snap of the floorboards, the couple fell to their deaths.

“Goddamn it NO!” Beetlejuice got up, bolted and jumped into the hole without thinking. He thought it was going to be a short fall, but the hole was deeper than he thought. “This is so fucked up,” Beetlejuice cursed. He looked up and found himself waving at him, smiling devilishly. A sickening gurgle of laughter echoed in the hole made him nervous. Normally he would be glad to be on the receiving end of anything, for this though, it creeped him out to no end. The Beetlejuice at the top covered the hole, leaving him falling in darkness. He tried slowing his descent, or to at least float to the top, but his powers weren’t working. “Float up you fat sack of shit, FLOAT. This is not the time you fucking up right now.” 

With an elegance of a brick, Beetlejuice hit the ground with a crunch and a thud. He had landed face down on the ground.

“WOW, THANKS UNIVERSE.” He said muffled. Getting into a sitting position, he reached up to his face. His nose broken from the sudden impact, grasping the cartilage he twisted it, wincing at the pain when it was set back. “Now where am I?” Beetlejuice was a little groggy from the fall and couldn't see anything, just darkness. Not even a lamp or any light source indicating his location in the house. If he was still even in the house. “What even is this place?' he asked himself. "Gotta find a way back to Lydia."

Three knocks from behind him reared away his monologue, and a door swung open bathing him in light. Cautious of where it would lead, he reached into his pocket.

Of course, my pockets are empty too.  He tried every pocket to find any sort of weapon he stashed in there but nothing was in them. Not even his bag of crystal meth.

With nowhere else to go, he warily approached towards the door. Beetlejuice covered his eyes with his arm at the brightness illuminating from the door. Once through he put down his arm to find a kitchen and dining room set up for a dinner. A dinner Beetlejuice knew all too well.

This can’t be.  Beetlejuice was floored.

It was THE dinner, the dinner where he was summoned. The pig was off to the side, plates, cutlery and the big salad bowl were set up for the fated dinner. He didn’t want to relive this moment, but this was THE moment that brought him to this side of the mortal plane. Chuck and Denise were by the staircase talking about the dinner with that business man. Completely unaware what was going to happen next. He scrutinized the stupid man for trying to cash in on Adam and Barbara’s possession.

Beetlejuice tried to take a step to actually help with the scare but found himself rooted in place. Chuck went back towards the door and sauntered in the other guests for the party. This Maxie and his posse were the epitome of dirty rich kids. Then Lydia pranced down the stairs in that hideous dress he threw into the Netherworld.

The rest of the dinner happened quickly, Adam made people dance some conga line and Barbara possessed the roast pig to attack Delilah. The chaos was minimal at best, but it filled him with a little bit of pride since the Maitlands did try and scare. But Lydia was not happy, she climbed onto the table and started chanting his name.

"Beetlejuice!" she cried out grabbing the peplum of her dress.

"Oh boy oh boy oh boy," another Beetlejuice appeared, excitedly climbing out from under the table.

"Beetlejuice." Lydia looked at the other BJ, unsure if she should continue but upon glancing back to her father, Delia and the rest of the guests, she prepared to make the last one dramatic.

"We are going to be such a great team! Gimmie just one more kid!" The BJ from the table jumped and up and down, ready for the show.

"Beetlejuice."

Then the lights went out, and there he was, causing true chaos. People running and screaming while Lydia and himself smiled and watched on.

Lydia giggled and turned her attention to the rooted demon, skipping towards him.

"Scarecrow?" Beetlejuice shakily asked her.

She skipped to his face and whispered, “Having fun BJ?” Her giggle then turned into maniacal laughter which the table standing Beetlejuice gladly copied. This freaked him out to no end. This was his Scarecrow, his bffff, whatever was going on, Beetlejuice was not enjoying reliving these moments, it was not fun.

The laughing dup abruptly stopped laughing, then with a toothy grin from Beetlejuice and Lydia's psychopathic smile, snapped their fingers. A hole opened up beneath Beetlejuice's feet and fell through the floor. Screams of Chuck, Dawn, and the other guests of the party were bouncing off the wall, causing Beetlejuice to scream himself and become unhinged.

“Stop it!” He grabbed his hair and started tugging, Beetlejuice tried to drown out the screams by pulling out hair, he thought the pain of ripping out the strands of hair would distract him. They didn’t stop though, they just kept coming, getting louder and louder. High shrills of women he never knew and resonating bass of men shook every bone in his body. “Please stop! I don't want this anymore!"

A force threw Beetlejuice into the wall breaking through plaster, causing him to become winded. 

“You wanted me gone.” A red haired Beetlejuice warned.

No not the exorcism. Beetlejuice cried. Not this, not Barbara. Why did I do this?

“I had no choice-” Lydia cried.

Not this again. He sobbed. Anything but this.

“You wanted your mom.”

“It’s my fault she’s dying—“

“You messed with the wrong book, now look what you’ve done!”

Barbara’s scream reached his ears like fingers scratching a chalkboard. In a fetal position, he rocked back and forth sobbing his eyes out, he shook from head to toe. The scream of Barbara reached his ears again and kept coming. In a loop, the scream kept coming again, and again, and again. This never ending scene of chaos he orchestrated causing pain to everyone involved.

Footsteps were heard above and appeared in his field of vision, he looked up to find Barbara and Adam looking down on him. “You did this, you hurt us.” Barbara and Adam said in tandem. Beetlejuice gasped, the whites of their eyes have filled their pupils. “You never wanted to help us, you used us. Manipulated us. Harassed us." They looked possessed, and who was the one possessing them? Himself. He could see another Beetlejuice waving his hands around with the same possessed look on his features

“I just didn’t want to be invi—“

“Beetlejuice.”

Debbie, Chuck, and Lydia then walked forward having the same possessed eyes. “We wanted no part of this, the people you’ve scared, the people you’ve hurt. That little girl scout might be dead because of you.” Lydia snarled. The earth quaked beneath his hands and feet. “Look what you’ve done!" She stomped her feet, making the whole house shake.

“It was only for a scare. Right Lydia? That was only for a scare, just a joke.. The girl scout wasn’t really in any real danger.” Beetlejuice laughed weakly whilst crawling away from the family. “Just a harmless little joke.” He hit the wall, and scrambling to cover his ears but Barbara's scream reached his ears nonetheless. Like a scared child he bunched his knees and hugged them rocking back and forth once more.

“It wasn’t, Beetlejuice." Chuck then leaned into his face. "You extorted, tortured and lied to us. Left us in shambles.”

A shift in the scenery bled through the walls, a darkened room with just a spotlight directed on him. Glancing down, he was standing dressed in his red tuxedo from…

Oh god no not the wedding. Beetlejuice tried to take hold of the blazer to throw it off but he couldn’t. His hands weren’t working. Everything was on autopilot. He was going through the motions of the wedding. Lydia came down the stairs in her red gown, but the whites of her eyes were still covering her pupils, everyone else had their eyes a stark white. 

Lydia reached his spot and smiled sweetly while grabbing his hands. He wanted to let go, he tried to, but it wouldn't budge. Nothing was working. Beetlejuice was panicking and his breathing became shallow.

“I do.” He heard himself and Lydia say, then the pain of switching from dead to alive took ahold of him. He screamed at the sudden pain, the cold that resided in his skin was replaced with warmth, his dead heart finally started pumping blood, which wracked his chest with pain. He fell over onto the sculpture that Adam dubbed  “bad art.” He couldn’t right himself and toppled onto the floor. He heard the birds again, pleasant as it was to hear, he was waiting for the inevitable. Turning to Chuck and grabbing the blade hidden in his suit jacket, walking slowly and raising the blade high above his head ready to strike down. Beetlejuice begged his body to stop moving to avoid the whole next interaction. He closed his eyes when he heard Lydia unsheathed the art from its stand, he took a deep breath as he waited for the pole to rip into his chest. 

He felt it go in, which was just as excruciating as it was the first time. Grabbing onto the pole, he tried to force it back out with no success. When Lydia removed it, he felt relief that it was a quick stab. But this time Lydia didn’t stab him once. Lydia kept stabbing into him over and over again. In different places too, not only just the chest, she went for the shoulder, the stomach, his thigh and wiggled it around so the wound would be bigger. The sound was horrendous, the metal entering and exiting wounds were wet and sloppy. Anyone with a weak stomach would’ve thrown up from the sound.

“Scare— Lydia.. ple-please stop it.” Beetlejuice moaned, feeling faint from the amount of blood he was losing. The amount of stab wounds was building up. He couldn’t take it anymore. Blood pooled onto the floor, and he knew he was going to die.

Who knew that human blood could be so crimson.  Beetlejuice's thoughts were becoming hazy, he was losing consciousness.

“Not Lydia, Lawerence,” a giggle from behind him snapped him out the lightheadedness temporarily. Turning around, the stature of Juno towered over him. 

Beetlejuice face twisted to fear.

“Mom, please.. Let me go." He uselessly clawed at the pole, "You got what you wanted. I’ll come back, just stop hurting me mom.” Beetlejuice spat out a mixture of green, black and red blood. Blood was forcefully entering in his lungs and was drowning in it. He was struggling to breathe and coughing out blood.

“Oh Lawrence,” she smiled sweetly “We’re just getting started.” She painstakingly removed the pole slowly, making him feel it this time. Everyone else gathered around him, reaching out a hand onto the pole aiming it to his head.

“NO LYDIA, ADAM, BARBARA PLEASE NO. I WANT TO LIVE. DEE JUST LET ME LEAVE. CHUCK ILL DISAPPEAR DONT WORRY ILL NEVER BE AROUND YOUR DAUGHTER JUST LET ME GO. MOM PLEASE IM BEGGING YOU.” Beetlejuice cried, he couldn’t move, the pain was too great and no matter what he did he couldn’t move. He had no choice but to watch and wait for the final.

“See you in Hell.” Lydia giggled.

“LYDIA nNnnNNoOooOOOooooooO!” With a grunt from Lydia, everyone shoved the pole through his skull.

Chapter Text

Lydia woke from her sleep a second time shivering, the room noticeably colder, bunching her blanket and curling in on herself underneath her blanket a bit more, she heard murmurs and felt a thump from the foot of her bed. She chalked it up as Beetlejuice tossing and turning, that explained the thumping against her bed. The murmurs she paid no mind since her dad does the same. Every once in a while, she would hear Charles muttering in his sleep when she passed by his and Delia’s room to get a late night snack. At least the sun was out, she wouldn’t flip out as much since she did get some sleep before the sun rose. The clock read 8:30, and it was the weekend so she could get more sleep. Shutting her eyes to get more shut eye, she plotted on what she wanted to do with Beetlejuice when she fully awoke. Maybe scare another pizza delivery man.

“N.. no. No please.” a soft breath came from floor.

Lydia’s eyes shot open, that did not sound good. The thumps were starting to become more aggressive and the temperature of the room dipped further.

“BJ," she cautiously spoke seeing her cold breath, "you okay down there?” shivering as she threw the blanket over her head. “What’s happening?”

“Please stop it, I don’t want this.” Lydia peered over the edge to find the colour of midnight. Beetlejuice’s hair was that of midnight, pure black, it was as if the stars were gone from the night sky. Just the seething darkness of the void. “Lydia…” Beetlejuice groaned. There was also weird strings all around his head.

Wait, that’s not string. Lydia swallowed, it was Beetlejuice’s hair all over the mattress and floor. He had been pulling and ripping out strands of his hair in a panic.

“Beej!” Lydia wailed as she rushed to his side, “You’re having a nightmare wake up!” Placing her hands on him, she shook him as hard as she could, but he was like ice. His skin and clothes were ice cold. Beetlejuice was emanating a cold aura in the room, freezing the hell out of the room even the walls were starting to ice over. With a shake and a mutter, Beetlejuice started grabbing, tearing at his already torn clothing, leaving Lydia to find an all too familiar scar. Beetlejuice scratched, punched, and dug into his skin. Skin and blood, or whatever blood Beetlejuice had, caked the floor and his fingers.

Lydia tried to grab his hands to stop hurting himself, that did nothing though. It was too cold and his strength was something she never experienced before. “Dude you have to stop you’re hurting yourself!” she screamed once more. Beetlejuice’s scratches were getting deeper and deeper and she had no choice. Running to her nightstand and grabbing the lamp, she lifted the lamp above her head and brought it down, smashing it on his head.

“nNnnNNoOooOOOooooooO!” With a sudden shift white hair and feral eyes, Beetlejuice bolted to a sitting position shoving Lydia away making her stumble towards the door. “I want to live!” He screeched, shaking the walls. He slipped on the mattress trying to scurry away from Lydia. “I don’t want to this,” he sobbed, “No more please.” 

Crawling towards the corner of the room, he took several breaths before he took a look around.

“wh.. what?” He breathed, “Where am I?” his hair had little blue and purple tips on the end mixed in with the white. “Please don’t hurt me.” 

“I’m not going to hurt you, don’t worry. You’re in my bedroom remember?” Lydia cautiously took a step forward.

“Your… bedroom..” Beetlejuice said incredulously.

“Yeah, you were having a fit while you were asleep. But it’s okay, you’re awake now.”

The sound of a door opening and footsteps came from behind Lydia’s door. Someone had woken up and is now coming towards the bedroom.

“Oh shit, that’s dad. Quick, you’ve got to hide.”

With the agility of a cat, Beetlejuice shot up from his corner. “Where do I hide?” he asked. “Should I jump out the window?”

“No,” Lydia whispered. Scanning her room, she looked at her opened closet. Beetlejuice followed her gaze and sighed with exasperation.

“Out of all places.” A soft slap of a facepalm came from the demon.

“Just get in the closet.”

“Never thought I would go back in there.”

“I don’t care for your coming out jokes! GET IN THE CLOSET.”

“Lydia are you alright?” Charles knocked on the other side of the door. “I’m coming in.”

“HE’S RIGHT THERE, BJ. GET. IN. THERE. NOW.” Lydia said with a hiss.

Beetlejuice dashed to the closet just as Charles opened the door. 

“Lydia?” Charles whispered.

“Hey dad.”

“Lydia your room is freezing. Also I heard a noise come from your room, is everything alright?” He put the back of his hand on Lydia’s forehead. “No fever, but your skin is cool to the touch.” 

“Must’ve been a radiator issue,” Lydia lied. “I didn’t notice until I rolled out of bed and hit the floor.”

“You fell off the bed?” Charles’ brows rose to his forehead.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just had a weird dream that’s all. Tossing and turning, the works.” She smiled. Please leave, she thought.

“Mind if I come in?” 

“Uh, sure!” oh no the mattress, “Don’t mind the mess, it was hectic trying to get all my school work together.”

Entering the room, Charles immediately knew something was amiss. “Why is there an extra mattress in your room?”

“I was jumping around before bed to get all my energy out. I asked Adam earlier to help drag the extra mattress for me. Didn’t want to cause too much noise and bother you while you guys slept.” 

“Then why is your lamp on the floor?” Charles pointed to the object in question.

“uhhhh…” Lydia had no answer for that, she lied to her dad all the time before, but now it was very hard to keep a straight face and to make up a believable story so he wouldn’t see…

Beetlejuice had the closet door slightly ajar watching the scene. Hair still white with a hint of orange. Lydia glared at him, hoping that he’ll get the message to close the door. But no, he opened the door and stepped out.

“Lydia.” Her gaze turned back to her father, “You know you can talk to me.”

Lydia nodded, but couldn’t focus on her father since Beetlejuice was getting closer to Charles. Her glare doing nothing.

“If you couldn’t sleep then you should’ve gotten me, I would’ve stayed up with you until you fell asleep.” Charles sighed. “I don’t have work till the afternoon.” Beetlejuice stopped moving. Looking to Lydia, he motioned a sleep gesture and pointed to her father. She shook a hard no. “We’ll also get that lamp replaced, you don’t have to hide. I’m not mad.” Lydia stared at Beetlejuice, and pointed with her eyes to the closet door.

“Sorry dad, just a little tired still.” Lydia feigned a yawn. The demon slipped back into the closet without a sound.

“If you want, but I’m always here to talk.” Charles smiled.

“Thanks dad,” she smiled back. “Trust me, the first thing I have any doubts about anything I’ll come straight to you.”

“Alright sweetheart, see you later.” Charles left the room with a smile, but Lydia didn’t dare move until she heard a door close.

“That was fun.” Beetlejuice called from the closet.

“Enlighten me on what the hell you were going to do to my dad?” Lydia turned to the closet.

Beetlejuice didn’t step out.

“Hey, you coming out?” Lydia tapped her foot impatiently.

“I thought you’d never ask Lyds!” a rumble came from the closet “Here I am!” Beetlejuice sashayed through the closet door dressed in rainbow, his hair was also an assortment of colours. “Out of the closet just like you asked!”

“Beej,” Lydia inhaled, her tone serious. “What were you going to do with my dad?”

“Oh shit okay, that’s the mood we’re in. Got it.” Beetlejuice ripped off his clothes to reveal his tattered clothes underneath, his hair shading to purple once more. “I was going to put him to sleep, and wisp him back into his bedroom. Nothing harmless I swear.” White now creeped along the purple.

“Beetlejuice, I need you to be very candid with me here.” Lydia bit her lip. “I don’t know what happened to you while you were asleep but something was up. Did you have a nightmare?”

“Demons don’t sleep, let alone have nightmares.” Beetlejuice brushed his collar as if there was dust on it.

“Okay that’s bullshit, you were bumping into my bed and when I woke you up,” Lydia gestured to the lamp pieces on the floor. “You screamed that could have woken the dead… Literally.”

“Is that what that was?” Beetlejuice’s hair now turned a bright orange.

“What was your dream about?” Lydia asked.

“Demons don’t dream.” Beetlejuice stated flatly.

“Stop with that, you clearly were dreaming. Just tell me. I have all day, I’m not going anywhere.” Lydia sat on her bed waiting for an answer.

“It was….” Beetlejuice started, “I.. It was all over the place. It started…”

Beetlejuice recounted his entire “nightmare” to Lydia, from his initial awakening to the eventual stabbing at the end. Needless to say, it was not the best introduction to the concept of dreaming.

“Jesus Christ, you alright?”

“Does it look like I’m alright?!” He turned to Lydia and bared his fangs at her, his hair with tattered with red. Catching onto his anger he turned away when Lydia slightly jumped. “I’m sorry.”

“Okay dude I know it happens all the time, but now it is very distracting. What the hell is going on with your hair? Is it like a mood ring? But for hair?” asking cautiously.

“Mood ring hair? That’s one way to put it.” Beetlejuice muttered, still angry, he turned his back to Lydia. “This has been around for as long as I can remember. Remember how we met?” Lydia nodded. “Mother didn’t always enjoy the weird hair, and you think that she’s a demon she wouldn’t judge the weird hair.” A harsh laugh came out.

“I remember, your hair was purple.. Did you ever figure out what the colours meant?”

“Don’t know, never bothered to check and wonder about them. Always had to move quickly to the next thing to make sure that the hair stays green.” The hair now shifting to a blue colour.

“It’s cool that your hair changes with whatever emotional state you’re in. Strange but unique.” 

“Not cool if you get your mother yelling at you every time it changes colour.” His mother hated the hair, and in all technicalities, Beetlejuice himself. “The purple she would yell about, the red always a slap to the wrist, yellow was always some type of punishment from locking me in my room not letting me leave for satan knows how long, or punishing me in the cruelest way possible.” He rolled up his left sleeve showing Lydia the multiple lacerations that etched into his skin like someone who carved their names into tree bark. “I said life was a rollercoaster kid, but the afterlife is a fight for survival. You may be dead, but being dead doesn’t mean you can't feel pain.”

Lydia and Beetlejuice stood in silence for a while until a sigh came from the demon, “Listen, I can’t stay, you saw how close your father caught me staying in your room. You tell smooth lies kid, but there is a limit to those. Trust me, I know from experience.” He rubbed at the phantom pain at his chest.

“I want you to stay.”

“I know you do, but Adam and Barbara were right. You have to tell Chuck and Doll that I’m here, and frankly I don’t want to stay and see their reaction.”

“Beetlejuice.”

This was the first time that Lydia has said his full name ever since he got here instead of his nicknames given to him by the girl. He looked over his shoulder to see Lydia inching closer to him. “I don’t know what the fuck happened when you first arrived, but something happened. And I don’t know what the hell you’re thinking but I am not leaving my bfffff alone. Look at me.” She grabbed his arm forcing him to look at her. “Something is bothering you.” She sighed again. “Look your hair is changing again.” To show him, she dragged him to her mirror for him to look at his new hair colour, a nice looking pink with some purple still sprinkled in. “I really want you here, and after this week is over we’ll talk to my dad with you in tow. I’ll also talk to Adam and Barbara to make sure this stays a secret between the four of us. Don’t bother with a rebuttal, I’m dead set on you being here.” Lydia reached for his hand and squeezed it. “You saved me, albeit for something malicious, but everything else after that was fun. Now for a change, let’s try to be normal.”

“Do we still get to scare people?” Beetlejuice asked.

“Of course we’re going to scare people, by normal I meant normal for us. We can scare people, and hey I know you want people to scream so maybe I’ll take you to school Monday?”

Beetlejuice fully turned to face her, “I think I’ll like that.” He smiled, hair now turning back to its signature green. “I have a couple things I wanted to try out, never did really try to haunt some kids at a local high school before.”

“You serious?” Lydia scoffed. “Never in how many years you’ve been floating around, you haven’t haunted a high school?” She asked dead pan.

“Well yes, but it’s been so long I can’t remember.” He snickered.

“There’s the demon, I’ve been waiting for! Now time for me to sleep again.”

“What why?!” Beetlejuice’s hair turned white again. “You just got up! You feeling alright?”

“I’m fine, I’m still tired. And don’t go soft on me dude, I woke up early, twice I might add because of you.” Lydia plopped back down on her bed and pulled up her covers. “Give me at least another 2 hours, I’m sleepy.”

“Come on Lydia!!! I’m ready to go!! Let’s do something!!” He pleaded.

“Nope, I’m going to sleep.”

“But what am I supposed to doooooooooooo?”

“Fine, here this will keep you occupied.” She grabbed her laptop for Beetlejuice to watch Netflix on. “This will definitely keep you sane enough until I’m ready to rise from my slumber. This movie will be perfect for you.”

Beetlejuice stood by her bed to see what she had planned for him.

“This movie, absolute tear jerker. And if you like singing, this will be perfect for you.” She shoved the laptop into his hands, only for it to plop onto the bed. “Right, can’t hold things yet. Want me to summon you?”

“NO!” He screamed.

Lydia looked at him suspiciously. “Why not? You never had a problem with me summoning you when we first met.”

“That was then, this is now. Things have changed Lyds.” Beetlejuice rubbed his hands together anxiously. “Here, I got a better idea. Just put it by… The dresser and I’ll watch it.”

“Okay…. I swear you’re making me get out of bed to do something for you.”

“No! No tricks! Please?”

“You never said please before… but I’m too tired to argue.” She put the laptop on her dresser, pressed play and walked back to her bed. “You will tell me what is wrong though.”

“Uh… how about we not?”

“…” Lydia eyed him up and down. “Whatever.” Like the tired teenager she was, she flipped away.

The movie started with a musical number, spotlights and eight people standing under them. Then the song began with them singing about a large amount of numbers and time.

“To hell with it.” Beetlejuice looked at Lydia then turned to watch the film, unbeknownst to him someone has been looking in from the doorway.

Chapter Text

20 minutes ago

Adam and Barbara sat in silence for hours, they didn’t know what to say. Beetlejuice suddenly returned. Before he appeared, the couple were sleeping until they were awakened by a scream then an explosion. This startled them from their sleep and they were ready to fight. Adam grabbed a baseball bat that was kept at his side of the bed, while Barbara grabbed the lamp from her night stand. Ready for action, the couple were about to swing until they saw the familiar stripes of Beetlejuice.

Adam rushed up from his seat, “What is he doing here?! He’s obviously here to cause mayhem again.” Adam started pacing around the room. 

“Before we panic, let’s take a minute to calmly collect ourselves.” Barbara rubbed her temple, “This has been one long night. And surely he’s not doing anything mischievous, did you see the state he came in? Maybe he wanted to come back? He did spend a long time here with Lydia.”

“He did come in looking scared… Maybe  he would run back to his… friend? Is that a word we can use to describe their relationship?” Adam returned to his wife, leaning onto her for support.

“It isn’t sexual that’s for sure, let’s be glad that they didn’t actually kiss during their ‘wedding’.” The couple really didn’t like to recall that memory from that night, they did murder someone after all. Even if it was a way of defending themselves. “Hopefully it’ll stay that way, but I’m sure they’re just friends.” 

“Should we tell Charles and Delia? It is their house, and I didn’t like lying to Delia. We should probably tell her at least.” Adam got up from his spot and walked towards the door.

“You’re right, we should tell her.” Barbara opened the door and headed down the stairs. “She still should be awake, let’s go.” As they hit the landing and turned the corner they felt a shift in energy. Barbara stopped her husband from proceeding any further, pausing to feel where it was coming from.

“Adam look.” Barbara pointed to Lydia’s door, it was slightly ajar and quiet murmurs from the occupants inside the room worried the couple. Leading the charge, she tip-toed towards the door with Adam in tow, the murmurs got louder until they reached the door.

“Does it look like I’m alright?!” a shout came from the other side.

Adam jumped and stepped forward to swing the door open to stop Beetlejuice from harming Lydia but was stopped by a hand on the shoulder. With a shake of her head, Barbara opened the door a little more to observe the situation in the room. Adam tried to squeeze in but was pushed away. “Hold on,” Barbara shifted to the other side so her husband can see. Beetlejuice and Lydia were talking, something was happening, something that made Beetlejuice a little angry. Tufts of red were in his hair, but quickly dissipated as he shook them off.

“Should we barge in? Oh wait no, he turned around, we should be good.” Barbara shushed Adam as they continued to eavesdrop on the conversation.

“What are we looking into? Is Lydia okay?” A voice came from behind the couple.

Both jumped at the sudden voice, clamping each other’s mouths shut, the two slowly turned around to find an amused Delia gazing at the spectacle. Her silk pink pyjamas stood out amongst the darkness. Adam managed to escape Barbara’s hand first “Gosh, Delia!” he wheezed, “We’re the ghosts, we should be the ones who should be scaring you!”

“Apologies, but it was hard to sleep knowing that Beetlejuice returned.” Delia said matter of factly.

“What?!” Barbara quietly exclaimed.

“Yeah, I mean it’s not hard to not smell him.” With that being said, Delia wrinkled her nose at the scent of Beetlejuice. “He has a very distinct smell, it’s like mossy wet stone with a bit of rot, earthy but gross.”

“You knew he was here but didn’t say anything to us when we were covering him?” Adam asked in disbelief. “I had to lie!” He sobbed.

“Yeap! Even though Lydia isn’t my daughter, I still know when she’s hiding something from me. And Adam don’t worry, both of you looked really guilty when you were speaking, don’t take it personally but you two are bad liars.” Delia giggled a little while the couple looked at each other.

“Maybe Beetlejuice was right, we really are helpless.” Adam pouted.

“Oh come on Adam, you two help Lydia with her homework every now and then. You cook for her after you guys figured out how to manipulate objects on the mortal plane, and you two are working on the small model town up in the attic. You two aren’t helpless, you just haven’t found your niche! Even in the afterlife you can still learn and do things that make you happy! You two still have each other,” For emphasis, Delia grasped their hands and joined them with hers, “Things could’ve been worse. The Netherworld could have separated you two. Plus I’m sure I can speak for everyone that we appreciate you two being here.”

Barbara and Adam looked at their hands connected to Delia’s, and with a soft smile Barbara raised her other hand and squeezed the hands that were interlocked with hers. “Thank you Delia,” Turning to Adam, a soft kiss on the cheek was placed, “Maitlands 2.0” she breathed. Adam looked at her with puppy eyes and returned with a dopey smile of his own.

“Now that’s a million dollar smile you two.” Delia released her hand, “Now I don’t to want be the bearer of bad news, but Charles is asleep and I have to get you guys back upstairs, we’ll discuss this more when he isn’t here. And maybe talk to Lydia about lying to me and address the demon in the room.”

“You’re not going to tell Charles?” Barbara gasped.

“Not yet, but I will eventually. I want to discuss this with Lydia before we tell him. He’ll be upset about being kept in the dark, but he’ll have to deal. Less stress for him to worry about right now.”

“I don’t like this.” Adam chimed in, “What if something happens to Lydia and Charles doesn’t know what happened to her?”

“I’m sure Lydia has a plan for that, trust me.” With a wink, she gestured for the Maitlands to head back up. “I’ll take care of things from here.” Adam and Barbara made one last attempt to get a word in but Delia shushed them, “We’ll be fine. Head on up, get some rest, you look exhausted.“

With no energy to protest, the couple trudged back up to their room.

Delia turned to eavesdrop on Lydia and Beetlejuice. Lydia was back in bed with her back to Beetlejuice, with the demon himself watching a film on Lydia’s laptop.

“You know it is rude to have someone stare at you while you watch a film.” With a flick of a wrist, the door opened shocking Delia. “Didn’t take you as a voyeur Daniella.”

“You’re not exactly subtle Mr. Juice.” She replied.

Beetlejuice never took his eyes off the screen despite the interruption, he chose to ignore the woman at the door. He didn’t want to stop watching it, it pulled him in. 

“Life support for what?” The guy in the beanie asked

“It’s for people with AIDS. People like me.”

Beetlejuice was floating about during this time… The people he guided were all frail; he didn’t think it would bother him. He did plenty of guides but this was one of the ones stuck to the back of his mind. All of them asking if they’ll ever find their loved ones on the other side. He would shrug and say anything is possible in the Netherworld. Some of them were kids..

All those people. His thoughts drifted.

“Are you doing okay?” Delia questioned snapping him out of his reverie.

“Peachy.” Quickly changing the subject, ”You’re taking this pretty well. I expected a lot of screaming.” 

“To be frank Beetlejuice, I’m doing a lot of internal screaming.”

Even though he wasn’t in the mortal world, someone saying his name was distracting. He felt it a couple times when he was talking to Lydia a few moments ago, but it felt broken. Whenever a living person said his name, It felt like someone hooked their fingers under his ribcage, taking him towards the person summoning him. Beetlejuice sighed and finally turned to the woman at the doorway. “Listen, let’s take it out of the room, let the kid have some rest. She had a long night because of my idiocy.” Beetlejuice tried to pause his film. “Could you pause this for me? I can’t really do it.” With a wave, he phased through the monitor. “I’ll be in the kitchen.” He phased through the floor without another word.

“Oh okay.” Delia paused the film and trailed after Beetlejuice. 

Delia walked down to the kitchen unsure of what to say to this man… person… demon? She rubbed at the crystal necklace to give her strength for the next few minutes, and also checked her outfit to make sure it won’t fall apart like last time. Wrap dresses be damned.

Beetlejuice was there on top the table when Delia arrived, she pulled up a chair. 

Delia contemplated what to say first, she tried to initiate something but every time she opened her mouth she would close it. Unsure of what to say, she sat there dumbfounded.

“Look, if you need to say something, say it, I have all the time in the world for questions.” Beetlejuice huffed sarcastically, he really did want to get back to that film. “You’re looking like a damn goldfish.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just you know? Last time you were here you tried to kill us all.” Delia took a deep breath before continuing. “Just a little overwhelmed with the energy you are emanating. Cold, fierce and a little angry.”

“A little angry?,” he hissed.

“And now your hair is red.”

“Fuck not again.” Beetlejuice flipped his hair down to see the red creeping up on the strands.

“Language.” Delia chastised.

“I’m a demon, I don’t need to be chastised like a goddamned child tuts.” He crossed his arms and looked away.

“Sorry, habit with Lydia. She got quite the sailors mouth from you after you left.” She smiled.

“Cool, another thing to blame me for.” Beetlejuice huffed, not liking where this conversation was going.

“Not blaming you for anything!” Delia soothed, “Just processing you being here that’s all!”

“Whatever,” Beetlejuice took note that a certain man was missing, “Where’s the other guy?”

“Charles? He’s sleeping in, doesn’t have to go to work until later today. He won’t be out of the room till 3.” The clock on the wall read 10. “You won’t see him for a while.”

“Good. I intend to.” He turned his back to her to look outside the window.

“You know it is rude for talking to someone and not looking at them.” 

“You know it is rude blah blah blah” The demon mimicked her voice, high trill and all with a miniature sock puppet he conjured up.

Delia knew Beetlejuice was difficult, but now this difficult was that of a child. But this was a demon, a child could be easily talked down and be put in the corner when they misbehave. Not like she could put him in the corner, he would twist the time out corner into some weird sexual innuendo.

Realizing that this conversation was going practically nowhere, she resigned to make her morning coffee. Black with 4 spoonfuls of sugar. Figuring that the demon would enjoy the beverage, Delia grabbed another mug of coffee for him. Unsure of how, or if, he drinks coffee, she placed a black coffee beside Beetlejuice.

“You don’t have to tell me anything right now,” Delia started, “Let’s just soak this up before anyone else awakes.” She sighed in content when she grasped her hands around the mug. A mug she painted herself that read ‘Sucks-Yes’. “Apologies, I don’t know what you take with coffee so I left it black. Cream and sugar are on the table there if you need it.”

Beetlejuice regarded the mug with a suspicious look. He grasped it, took a quick whiff, and frowned. Dissipating the sock puppet, he procured a small bottle with amber liquid inside of it. With no hesitation, he poured the contents from the bottle and filled his mug to the brim.

“What did you put in it?” Delia asked.

“Whiskey.” He shrugged, “Has a good burn, gets you going.” With a swig, he turned wheezing. “That’s the stuff.” 

Delia chucked knowing all too well of dumping alcohol into her coffee in the morning. “I can imagine.”

“See I know you understood the fucked up shit… You’re not going to tell Charlie boy up there about this are you?” His back was still facing her.

“Not if you don’t want me to, I mean so far the house hasn’t burnt down yet. Lydia seems delighted that you’re here also, I noticed. You spent time with her when you two ran us out of the house.”

“Don’t remind me.” He chuckled. “Would do It again too for the little brat.”

“Lydia changed after you left, and every now and then she would wander to the roof.” She didn’t mean to give up that information, but it was something that he should probably know.

Delia put down her mug. “I believe that the universe has brought you here for a reason, whatever that reason may be, I think something big is going to happen” Beetlejuice turned his head 180 degrees to face her in an effort to freak her out, he only found that she had an amused look on her face rather than surprise or fear. She was being serious.

“That’s for me to know and ONLY me.” His gaze didn’t seem to focus on Delia, rather than through Delia.

“We didn’t hang out yes, but know that you can confide in me without any worry. You may have been responsible for the whole pig business.” She shuddered at the memory, “but I am willing to forgive so we can move on, and hopefully become friends.”

“How could you forgive me so quickly?” Beetlejuice now fully turned, with a weird heat coming off him. “I don’t deserve it, I almost exorcised Barbara, almost killed your fiancé, blackmailed Lydia into marry me, your mentor is missing and you expect me to sit here and be safe despite you guys lying to me about loving me then stabbing me in the back when I was briefly alive while my guard was down?!” He knew his hair was turning red but continued. “This entire situation is fucked up, you don’t actually want me here. Admit it!”

“Beetlejuice, the table.” Delia calmly pointed to the table. Beetlejuice had gripped the table leaving cracks all around his hands. 

“Admit that you don’t want me here! You’re just lulling me into a false sense of security then hitting me and kicking me to the curb, well I have something to tell ya doll face.” He got up from the table to glower at her, “That ain’t happening again.” The smell of burning wood now filled the air, noticing the smell, Beetlejuice eased up on his grip and took a couple seconds to breathe.

“I believe..” Delia started slowly, “that everyone gets another chance to do some right when they have wronged people, unless they’re psychopaths who don’t feel remorse.” Beetlejuice lifted his hands off the table, “You did all those things because you wanted someone to notice you, I heard what your mom said,” saying that caused Beetlejuice to flinch, “While I understand that we did manipulate you cause we did want you out, we can let bygones be bygones and start anew. It’ll be awhile for us to actually have a decent interaction, I’ll still reel from the marrying Lydia part, but it’s as you said. A ‘green card thing’, and don’t worry about getting rid of Otho or whatever his name is," Delia waved her hands in front of her face as if she was getting rid of a dark cloud, "the bastard was manipulating me since I met him, if I knew then what I knew now I wouldn’t have fallen for it. So..” Delia got up and strode to the other side of the table, “Let’s start over.” She stuck out her hand. “My name is Delia, nice to see you.”

Beetlejuice stared at her, pulled a card from his suit pocket and gave it to Delia’s outstretched hand.

“Lawrence B. Shoggoth,” he replied “Guide to the dead, bio-exorcist, demon extraordinaire.”

Delia, disappointed by the lack of handshake, inspected the card. It was a yellowed business card. It had his name, titles and a photo of himself on it. Said photo was lewd in nature, but looked about the same as the person sitting in front of her. 

“Nice to meet you,” Delia shoved the card into her pocket. “Guide to the dead huh? Why don’t you tell me more about that?” She grabbed another chair to sit.

“What’s there to tell? When someone expires I head on over and help them enter the Netherworld and let Maria take care of the newly-deads.” Beetlejuice shrugged. “Needless to say, my guides haven’t been on point as of late. You can thank me for not letting sexy and doll face cross over to the other side for that. Sometimes, I ignore them. Got my hands fully occupied in baskets.” He winked at Delia who was listening intently. “I’m all for bedroom eyes Drisella, but those eyes are turning me off.”

Blinking, Delia leaned into her seat, “Oh heavens,” she laughed “Didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. Who’s this Maria?” Leaning forward once more Delia gave Beetlejuice her full attention.

“Maria, or rather, Miss Argentina runs the entrance down there you see.” He smiled “Argentina is a receptionist sort of, she greets you there on the other side and gets you lined up before mother….” Beetlejuice trailed off. “She.. Mother..” He was stumbling with his words, something that Delia took note of. His scalp started to itch, which was new. Irritated by the itch, he scratched vigourously. “Juno would process the newly-deads, all the paperwork goes to her.”

“Juno.. your mother, the one who almost took Lydia away.” Delia asked cautiously.

Beetlejuice took another swig of his whiskey infused coffee again.

“Well, lovely chat I got to have with you, but I really must be going to watch the film. Lydia said it will be a tear jerker, might as well cry my ugly mug out.” Beetlejuice swiftly rose towards the ceiling and phased through.

Delia was left with uncertainty, the energy of the room shifted the moment he started talking about Juno. Juno is a sensitive subject to him, and with her gone he had to be happy that she isn’t around to bother Lydia again. 

“I need you to press play for me again, and bring me the mug.” A voice from behind her echoed.

Looking behind her, Delia found Beetlejuice’s head talking to her. Flinching out of her seat to get away from the disembodied head, she knocked down the chair she was sitting on.

“Noted. I’ll use this trick more often.” Beetlejuice gave a sickening grin, “You have no idea how much fun we’re going to have here.” The head disappeared in a puff of green smoke and laughter.

“Universe, give me strength,” Delia whispered, grabbing a hold of her crystal. Righting the fallen seat and refilling the mug, she trudged upstairs for Lydia’s room. The door was open for her with the demon at the doorway.

“If you are going to stay, we’ll have to find a way to keep you out of Charles’ hair.” Delia approached, “Maybe you can help Lydia with her schoolwork.” Unfazed by his presence at the door, she put the mug beside the laptop, pressed the spacebar and headed out.

“Lady, I’ll have you know I can’t spell or read for shit.” Grumbled the striped suit man.

“Well, at least you’ll make her happy. She missed you.” Delia paused at the door, “Beetlejuice,” with the reaction of a meerkat, he looked at her with his beady yellow eyes “She did really miss you, and whatever you two did together made a lasting impact on her.” Delia sighed. “After you left she was different, happier even. Started taking more pictures and had amazing results as you can see.” She pointed to the photos on Lydia’s nightstand. “They’re really pretty, with all the macabre stuff she takes. Spiders and all that. Now that you’re here, maybe she can have a subject for her photos.” Delia took her leave then, leaving the demon with his movie. 

His interest for the photos got the better of him and sauntered over to the nightstand. All of them were mostly creepy locations from around town. The old house down the way, this house that they’re in, an empty photo of the attic, a still of Beetlejuice with his clones and signature… He took the photo from the pile and stared.

She kept it. Beetlejuice’s breath hitched. Sentimental little shit. Whatever was on the laptop was forgotten in favour of this photo, he got one of his clones to take the photo when Lydia was distracted by something else. His signature was crap but he didn’t care. Lydia owns a one of a kind collectible. From a demon no less. The denizens of the Netherworld mentioned he had changed when he was up here in Breatherville, he scoffed, laughed and then scared them away.

“One Song Glory,” The laptop speaker blurted out. Beetlejuice put the photo back into its proper place and sat to watch the movie. “I hope you’re right kid, this better be good.”

Chapter Text

“That will be two dollars eighty-six cents,” smiling, he handed over the caffeinated beverage over to the guest, “have a nice day!”

A grumbled thanks came from the guest as they left the cafe. All guests are usually either very preppy, which made his day, or there were the pressed/rushed people who had to get to their job, meeting, or whatever they had to do, which did bum him out but he had a job to do and onto the next customer to serve. Sure, there were the difficult customers every now and then but it was nothing he couldn't handle. There were a couple incidents with some individuals who came to the cafe looking to pick up dates. Usually with a wave of his hand, the harassers would stop and walk out of the store leaving a very confused victim but nonetheless glad they weren’t bothered anymore.

“Hey Jebidiah,” a voice came from his left, “nice work today per usual.” His coworker, Sam said, clasping his shoulder. “Still can’t believe after all this time you don’t want to move up to a more management role within the cafe, I mean Daniel wouldn’t be opposed to you moving up a station.”

“I like being a barista, I love interacting with the people!” He cheerfully replied.

“That’s what you always say! You’ve been here for 2 years and haven’t even asked for a raise either! Don’t you need more money to stay afloat? How do you live?” Sam raised their hands in the air.

“I live frugal, don’t need to spend a lot of money when you own a small flat and live alone.” Jebidiah winked before working on the next drink that was lined up.

“You amaze me man,” Sam shook, turning their head to the next customer at the till.

He smiled at his work, he did love being here, but was always moving away to the next place faster than someone could say ‘boo!’. Such is with being cursed.

He has been here for a long time and would constantly move to the next place as soon as anyone would get suspicious. This place in Indiana so far has been quiet, nothing has come from the past to bite him in the ass yet. No one asked questions and with the government being in a shotty situation, he was glad he could get a break from the running.

“Let’s grab some dinner before we head home,” Sam stretched leaving their apron in the lounge. “Got any preferences?”

“Nothing too expensive, I want to save money for my motorcycle,” Daniel wiped the counter. “We could grab some pizza?”

“Pizza sounds good!” Jebidiah exclaimed, “I’ll handle it, what do y’all want?” Phone in hand, he was ready to call.

“Papa Johns!” Sam and Daniel simultaneously screamed. 

“Hawaiian please!” Called a voice from the open washroom. 

“Pineapples don’t belong on pizza,” muttered Daniel.

“I heard that!” A woman left the washroom glaring at Daniel. Leanne was their youngest who worked at the cafe, keeping Him really hip with the times. “You can have your opinion on what should go on your pizza but I’m having a whole box to myself.”

“Alright, no fighting everyone, we all can have our own box, don’t worry about it!” He already pulled up the Papa John’s app ready to go, “Hawaiian for Leanne, Daniel? Sam? What do you want?”

“Garden pizza for me!” Sam rushed to His shoulder.

“You always order us food, especially in restaurants! You somehow always manage to pay the bill without any of us knowing and always refuse to let any of us pay you in return, how much money do you make here?” Daniel huffed.

“I don’t see anyone complaining, and who doesn’t love free pizza every now and then? Trust me Daniel, it’s fine! I got expenses to pay for it!”

“Get me the works, but there’s got to be a catch,” Daniel crossed his arms, “even at restaurants you take care of the bill and somehow get everyone to agree. I’m going to send my money to you. You won’t win this time!”

“And I am happy to oblige,” with a smirk, He punched in the orders and something for himself, “Also I can’t get the money if I don’t accept it.” He ran to the washroom before Daniel could grab His phone.

All of the cafe workers ate with high spirits, and with all the clean up done, everyone went home.

He made it back to his flat with no trouble, the flat was very sparse in furniture and personal items. It was comfortable, roof over his head and a bed to sleep on. Rent was not cheap but He made it work. I mean it was Him, He could muscle out the rent money from somewhere. And even if He was short, there’s nothing like a short wave of his hand and the landlord would leave Him alone. He only had to do that the first couple times, but nowadays everything was done by the books. Except for the disappearing thing. Dropping off his bag, He left again soon after. Heading towards the street once more, He scoured the street in hope of a sign to get back. He still had powers, sure but the one thing He wanted to do was to get back home, especially to the kid.

His ringtone cut through His thoughts.

“Hello?” He called into the phone.

“We need you to come in, put all plans you have tonight on hold. Come to the train station, we got something.” Then the line went dead.

Exasperated with the interruption, He begrudgingly turned to walk towards the train station. 

The train station was unnaturally cold by the time He arrived. Signifying a sense of the paranormal.

“Over here,” a man in a suit came up to Him, “Glad you could make it sir.” The man saluted him.

“For the love of all that is hell, don’t salute,” He smiled, “Just here to help,” He hugged the man, which was a surprise. “What’s the situation?” He let go of the flustered man.

“I see you went and made Ezronnann uncomfortable,” a high pitched voice from behind him reached his ear, “Go easy on him, he’s a newbie.” Despite presenting as human, He knew that behind the facade was a powerful entity.

“Jynvyn, nice to see you again.” He smiled going in for another hug, which Jynvyn easily dodged by side stepping letting Him to fall to the ground. “Still not a hugger.” He voiced from the floor, muffled from the gravel.

“Get up you sorry excuse for a demon, for a person such as yourself, you don’t emanate doom and fear.” Jynvyn scoffed.

“Because I’m not sunshine and you wound me!” He rolled onto his back clutching his heart, earning a snort from Ezronnann, which in turn earned a scowl from Jynvyn. “Now what happened?” He asked levitating back into a standing position, “I was doing something very important.”

“Trying to go back home? Yeah we know, you’ve been trying for centuries,” the demoness rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you give up? It’s obvious that you won’t be back, that curse got you real good.”

“I have someone to see.” He rubbed at a pocket watch hidden in a pocket.

Jynvyn eyed Him up and down, “You won’t find it.”

“No hurt in trying!” He cheerily sing-songed.

“Reports of an entity terrorizing the station, especially near the tracks. Caused a lot of our guides to get lost up here when a newlydead jumps onto the tracks” Jynvyn pointed a manicured finger towards the tunnel, “Gets worse the further down you go.” She studied both men once more then made a start towards the tunnel.

“Straight to business, always the one to get the job done.” He sighed, “Alright newbie, this is your first time yeah?” Ezronnann nodded. “Cool, mind if I call ya Ez?” The demon blushed and rushed to catch up to Jyvnyn, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

The tunnel slightly dark from the flickering lights stemming from disuse over the years. Exposed wires sparking every now and then causing Ezronnann to tremble slightly.

Poor kid, he must’ve recently died or just got assigned to this job. He thought. “It’s okay kid, just stick by me and you’ll be safe. No doubt it won’t be anything major.” Ezronnann looked to Him and gave a shy smile. “Take a deep breath, relax. How long have you been dead kid?”

“Eight months sir, going on nine.” Ezronnann replied.

“Oh jeez, alright, you’ve chosen an interesting job to do in the afterlife, why not set up to be a guide or work down at processing?” He asked.

“When I was alive I didn’t get to go out much, my low immune system caused me to be in the hospital a lot.” Ezronnann rolled up his sleeve to find darkened skin on his pale complexion. “One day, I got knocked into a coma and didn’t wake up for a couple years, so they took out the life support and I died.”

“Shit sorry, didn’t mean to reopen those wounds.”

“No it’s okay, I chose this line of afterlife work cause it will cause me to go out and adventure. Something I could never do.” Ezronnann frowned sadly.

“What’s with the name? Sounds demonic.” 

“Parents loved to play fantasy games, and I ended up with a demonic sounding name. Was cool in school for a bit, but turned bad when the religious clubs got to me.” Ezronnann awkwardly scratched his head. 

“Well, now that you’re here, it doesn’t matter. The Netherworld moves way too quickly for people to look on and judge, cause they themselves probably have died in more funnier ways.” He snickered.

“Shut up boys, we’re here for business. You,” Jynvyn sternly looked at Him, “Stop talking or get out, this is serious business. He huffed, pouted his lips and looked away.

“What do the reports say? What has this thing done to our guides?” Ezronnann questioned Jynvyn. Ezronnann was still on edge.

“Just lots of screaming and disappearances,” Jynvyn coldly replied, “Newlydeads and guides have been disappearing from this location starting about a week ago. We’ve lost three guides because of this thing, and the amount of newlydeads.” She thought for a moment, “About twenty.” 

“What a shame,” He sighed sadly, “they could’ve been useful on the other side, maybe they could be guides as well.” He rubbed hands together to generate some type of heat, damned body and temperature. “Heard you all had a little accident six months ago.”

“That’s old news, a new director has been appointed to take care of the processing and junk.” Jynvyn turned to look at Him, “Enough chatter, I feel we are close.”

Despite the air being cold when the three first arrived, it only got colder the further down they ventured down. Something was down here indeed.

“Get ready.” He said, “it’s here.” A growl escaped His throat, His passive nature subsided to a feral one.

“Here’s the demon I wanted to see,” Jynvyn commented coolly.

“Shut up.”

A crack of a whip echoed through the tunnel like lightning followed by a sound of something dragging on the concrete. 

The trio waited for whatever it was to come into view but never did, then it went quiet.

He dialled up his senses up to eleven. Obviously he can’t taste the creature, but there was a metallic tang in the air, reminiscent of blood. With the metallic air, the rust and the mustiness of the area reached his nose. Overwhelming, but necessary to the job. Hands were currently occupied, balled up into fists, he strained his hearing and all he heard was his breathing and the breathing of the other two present. His sight was last, scanning around the room, he could see nothing. Looking forward, there was nothing there to be seen, he turned to Ez, and found a slight distortion in the little light that was here.

He cried, “Behind you!” And barrelled the kid onto the floor, nearly getting hit by a concussive force. Scanning the area again, there was no movement, not even a shimmer. Looking down at the person underneath, He smiled, “Come here often?” He joked getting a flush from Ez, pushing Himself and the new kid up. He dusted himself off, “Alright, we got an Invisible. Here kid, hold onto this.” 

He swiftly gave the coat he was wearing to Ezronnann. “Invisibles, like their namesake, can turn invisible. Breathers don’t see this thing because it is not on this side of the mortal coil, but honestly, this is one of the lowest forms of entities when it comes to danger.” With a snap, he procured a pouch, “Ashes of the unborn, dark I know, but there’s a lot of uses for this thing.” He opened the pouch and grabbed a fistful of ash. Muttering a spell, opened his palm and blew the ash into the air. The ash wavered for a moment, then went hard right to Jynvyn. “Oh, fuck.”

Jynvyn was then hit with a whip that left a gash into her fine clothing and back. “Sunovabitch.” She hissed, “That was Siriano!” Jynvyn, gaze now fixed to where the ashes were floating, reared up a punch that connected to nothing. 

“How Effie White of you.” Ezronnann quietly commented, that got a solid laugh from Him.

“Shut up! Get it!” Jynvyn’s wail shook the wall.

“Alrighty then your majesty,” He breathed “lets get it done.” The ash swirled and latched onto the Invisible, “Lock and load.” He instantly appeared in front of the Invisible and landed a kick. This caused the creature to howl and backed up, this definitely hurt the creature.

Jynvyn let out a roar of her own and came charging towards the Invisible, her nails sharpening to claws. Scratching furiously landing blow after blow. “This dress was expensive, I’m going to claw your eyes out!” The Invisible hissed swatting the demoness away, pinning her against the wall. Only then did the Invisible turn visible to all of them, but something was off. Invisibles are skeletal, this was not. It was muscular, sporting demonic wings and a scaly tail with a crescent blade at the end of it. 

“Well this is new, okay newbie,” Ezronnann looked like a lost puppy, waiting for commands, “Looks like we’re up, drop the coat and help.”

“Alright sir!”

“Anytime will be a good time, come help!” Jynvyn struggled to free herself from the unknown creature’s grasp. “NOW!”

He rushed Jynvyn’s side and shoved the creature off, but the tail did land a slice on His shoulder.

“Oh blast it, that was my favourite dress shirt.”

“With all due respect, we have more problems than just clothing,” Ez hissed.

“Okay, you’re right fine. Back me up here kid.” Lifting Jynvyn back to her feet, “You alright sweetheart?”

“Peachy, now let’s get rid of the bastard so we can report to HQ that there might be new creatures we don’t know of.” Jynvyn breathed labourly.

The creature circled around them.

“Is it.. assessing us?”

“No time for that, stay alert!” It stopped abruptly in front of Him, and disappeared.

“Where’d it go?!” Jynvyn cried out.

“Quiet.” The air seemed to warm a little, “Did it just get warmer?”

“Sir! What’s going on with you?!” Ez exclaimed in horror.

“Wha…” Sparks of blue flame surrounded Him, “Oh shit, I’m in trouble.” More flames erupted from nothing forming a ring. The flames dance in the cool night, then they started circling him. Similar to what the creature did earlier.

His heart started pounding, ringing loudly in his ears. This was getting bad, He didn’t have experience to know that whatever happens next was going to hurt. The flames kept spinning the stopped again, then with a flash the flames pressed into Him disappearing.

“Huh, okay that was..” He collapsed.

“Sir!” Ezronnann rushed to his side and put fingers to his neck, “No pulse! What do we do?”

“Wait for it.” The tunnel started to shake, Jynvyn started backing away, “We need to go.”

“What are you talking about? He’s dead! We need to find a hospital!”

The creature reappeared looming over the corpse. Choosing it’s next target.

“Kid we need to go now!” Jynvyn grabbed Ezronnann and started running.

“We need to go back!”

“Listen to me!” Jynvyn turned slapping the young ghost. “That’s his curse, he’s not dead. He’s human but was once a very powerful demon. Something happened millennia ago where he lost his demon form and was cursed to live in the world of the living. Doomed to wander for eternity living life over and over again. In short terms he can’t die. He’ll just come back, and when he does…” Jynvyn looked to the corpse now twitching. “There will be hell to pay to whomever stuck the killing blow.” There was fear in her eyes, for all her strong stuck up self, she was nervous what would happen next. “We’ll just get in the way.” Energy now cracked in the air, wisping, whispering, ready to strike. The temperature of the air went up and down, growing cold and hot at the same time. “He’ll be fine! We need to go! Don’t you dare look back.”

Ezronnann and Jynvyn ran towards the exit, and Ezronnann turned back. The creature on their tail, but something behind made him gasp.

He was up  walking towards the creature with fire in his eyes. Face in a sinister grin, the walls folding in on themselves, the concrete and tracks dissipating to dust. A tentacle manifested and grabbed the creature with sickening accuracy. Pulling the creature closer to Him.

“Now, we ain’t done yet Mr. Flame. We’re just getting started friend,” a cruel laugh escaped his lips. “We’re going to have a lot fun beating you into a pulp. But I’m busy and want to go home, so I’m just going to kill you.” A portal opened up beneath His feet and a cacophony of tentacles sprung grabbing onto the creature. “Spirit nearest, hearts entwine. Love infernal, shade unbind.”

“Oh shit the spell, we need to get out of here. Dive for the entryway!” Jynvyn shoved Ezronnann and ran for the entrance as fast as they could.

“I summon thee, lend Ceres’ breath. Devoted soul.” He stabbed his hand straight through the creature’s chest. “Released from death!” His hand grasped the undead heart, crushing it under his palm.

The air singed with energy. The dubbed ‘Mr. Flame’ unhinged their jaw and shrieked a banshee’s scream. “Goodbye now, say hello to my love for me.” His eyes flickered red for a moment, engraving it into the soul of the creature. It crumbled to dust in his hand. Leaving the echoes of its last shriek reverberating throughout the tunnel.

A cackle from His throat drowned out the remaining shriek, and returned to the entrance with the tentacles still present.

“Get up, the work is done.” He coldly spoke to Ezronnann.

“Sir? You alright?” Ezronnann frighteningly asked.

“PEACHY!” His hair turned red, and flinched when he heard his echo.

“The creature is gone, calm down.” Jynvyn soothingly whispered in His ear.

The hair returned back to its natural brunette, and the air started to warm up back to its normal temperature. The portal of which the tentacles came from slicked back to whence they came. His feral posture soon relaxed from fierce to slouching slug, and it seemed to calm him down. “Right, sorry.” He breathed, “Sorry about that newbie. Lost myself there.”

“Who are you sir?” 

“No one you need to know,” His tone dipped to a growl, which then he turned to a soft smile and a laugh. “I’m just kidding. Go back to the Netherworld and report, I need to rest and hopefully wrestle a day off from my manager. Goodnight you two!” With the wave of his hand, his coat came back to him wrapping him without the aid of anything or anyone. He walked away with a click of his mouth and headed down the path towards his home.

“If you have to know,” Jynvyn walked to Ezronnann’s side, “He was once a powerful demon who resided in the Netherworld. No one knows how he got there, some believe he was born there, some believe he was a human that died so tragically that he met the devil himself and felt pity.”

“You never said his name once. What is his name?” Ez looked to the man walking away into the night.

“No one dares say his name unless you want his wife to find you. But I will tell you his last name.” Jynvyn shuddered. “He’s the demon Shoggoth." She grabbed a chalk from her bra and started drawing the door. "Come newbie, we got to report to HQ and get someone on clean up duty."

Chapter Text

“Why did you make me watch that?! That scene at the restaurant where they were all singing and dancing after that weird moo-ing protest scene? Genius! I’m so going to put that in somewhere for may next scare, and  I would totally fuck each and every one of them to the ground and the next day over, but that?! What the hell!” Beetlejuice threw himself onto the floor rolling around like a temper tantrumed child. “I didn’t expect her to dieeeeeeeeeeee.” He continued to roll around the room occasionally hitting Lydia’s bed where she sat.

Lydia woke shortly after the missing woman was found and brought back to the house, she rustled from her covers to find the demon sporting dark blue hair, sniffling and whispering “No.” every couple seconds. She quietly cleaned up the mess in her room, the mattress was promptly put back into the guest bedroom, but it will have to get a thorough cleaning. Hopefully Delia will help her. As for the lamp? Yeah that wasn’t salvageable, she threw it in the trash. Upon entering her room, the black and white striped blazer was thrown over his head. She may not have a good look of his face, but she knew from the whimpering underneath the blazer that Beetlejuice was definitely crying. It surprised her that the demon could get moved by it, but she did mention it was a tear jerker. Who knew that a demon could get emotional by something fictitious?

Lydia snickered shutting the door, “Oh jeez, I didn’t know you were getting soft Beetleman.”

“I’m not soft!” Beetlejuice sobbed, “I’m a demWAAHHHHAHHHHH.” He threw off the blazer and like a demented armadillo, he curled into a ball and rolled around the room crying along the way. After five minutes, he stopped in the middle of the room facedown letting his tears soak into the floor. “She…” he wheezed, “was beautiful. THE NETHERWORLD GAINED AN ANGEWAAAAAHHHH HHAAAAA HAAAAAAAA NOOOOOOO!!! YOU GIVE THEM HELL GIRL! FUCK YOU BENNY!!!!”

“Beej calm down, it was just a film! God and I thought I was dramatic,” Lydia rolled her eyes as she left the doorway to poke at Beetlejuice’s hair, “and you sir are the textbook definition of drama queen.”

“I am not…” Beetlejuice quietly squeaked, voice cracking from tight vocal chords. “I loved it, it was so good, you were right.” He lifted his head to look at the girl, “Certainly passed the time and was a tear jerker.” Even though he had a breakdown a couple hours ago, the tear stained face of Beetlejuice bore into Lydia’s eyes like a kicked puppy.

“Holy shit, it actually did get to you.” Her joking tone dipping low, “Didn’t think it would hit you THIS hard.”

“Shut up Lyds, I’m too emotional for this shit.” Beetlejuice rolled away again from Lydia and kept rolling until he faced the wall.

“Suit yourself, guess I will have to scare Delia by myself.” Lydia’s voice trailed off mischievously. “Maybe I could grab that spider in the basement and put it on top of her head when she’s meditating.” 

“Wait! We’re scaring already?” Beetlejuice called from the floor, turning his head 180 degrees. “And Deena is the target? Count me in Scarecrow! Let’s fuck up her day!” His hair now shifting to a lighter shade of green with some yellow specks thrown in. “Why not just one spider when it could be one thousand spiderlings?”

“Why stop at spiders? Let’s add it’s arachnid cousin scorpions into the mix.” Lydia grinned devilishly, “This is going to be fun. Look out world, the deranged duo is back in action to scare!” 

“Nice alliteration there kid. Deranged duo!” Beetlejuice rose from the floor with a triumphant scream and snapped his head back into place, “Let’s go!” He made a step towards the door before halting when a soft knock was heard on the other side.

“Lydia?” Beetlejuice froze in place, Charles' voice came from the other side. “You awake?” Panicked, Beetlejuice looked around, eyes darting around the room for a place to hide. “Who are you talking to?”

“The closet!” Lydia hissed, she tried to wrestle Beetlejuice towards the closet but he morphed into a small plush sandworm and landed on her bed. “A fucking plushie?! A sandworm no less? Dad is going to freak!”

“It was the least conspicuous thing I could think of!” Beetlejuice hissed.

“That’s not what conspicuous means!” Lydia ran a hand through her hair in frustration. “We’re going to have to roll with this.”

“Lydia?” Charles called again. “Can I come in?”

“Just shut up Beej, and don’t do anything.” Lydia hopped back into her bed and accidentally sat on the plushied Beetlejuice. 

“Your ass Scarecrow!” Beetlejuice’s muffled voice came from her backside. “Move!”

“Quiet. Hey dad, I’m awake!” She wiggled off of Beetlejuice and pulled the blanket over herself.

Charles walked into the room with a pleased smile when he saw the mattress and lamp where cleaned up. “Lydia, who were you talking to?”

“No one dad, I was just talking to the plushie I found at the mall a while back.” She held up Beetlejuice and showed it to Charles, who immediately shuddered.

“That exactly looks like the thing that ate that woman.” Charles unknowingly looked at Beetlejuice. “Is it still a little too soon for this?”

“Kind of but I saw it and I thought it was cool…” Lydia placed Beetlejuice by her side, and inwardly sighed “I could put it away if you feel uncomfortable dad.”

“No it’s okay. I’d have to get used to it,” Charles shrugged his shoulders. “Reminds me of Bee…”

Lydia stared at her father with wide eyes and felt Beetlejuice squirm underneath her palm. It was obvious that everyone was uncomfortable with Beetlejuice's name being called out loud, Charles especially was nervous for the first couple days after Beetlejuice left. Everyday Charles expected Beetlejuice to suddenly appear, every slammed door, every scream (whether out of joy or fear), washed Charles with terror. He would carry a crucifix, not like it could hurt Beetlejuice, for weeks. It took forever for him to relax too, taking about 2 months before Charles’ nervousness dissipated, and after 4 months of no Beetlejuice, Charles finally eased up on the crucifix business.

“Dad you okay?” Lydia stared at Charles who had a faraway look on his face. “Hey, earth to dad. You in there?”

“Sorry, maybe I’m still affected by it.” Charles scratched his beard, “I’m glad you are feeling good though Lydia. You are your mother's daughter.”

“I know, but dad are you feeling alright? Maybe you need to take the day off.” Lydia looked at her father who was getting paler as they spoke.

“No, I’ll be alright. Let’s talk about something else.” Charles gave himself a shake to clear his mind, “What are your plans for the day? I know you got some homework to do, and don’t bother Delia please. I heard you talking about it.”

“Don’t remind me about the homework!” Lydia knew something was wrong with her father but decided not to push further, “I’ll do it tomorrow, they’re just small assignments and I could easily get them done the day before. Saturday’s are for days off and fun times.” Lydia held up finger guns to her dad and immediately regretted it.

“Finger guns Lydia really? Ow.” Beetlejuice received a pinch for that little comment.

“We’re doing finger guns now?” Charles let out a small chuckle, “What do you have in mind for the fun times today?

“Since you said I can’t bother Delia, I’m going out to take some photos again. Maybe go out, take a walk around the graveyard. Grave rob someone's corpse.”

“As long as you don’t get caught then by all means.” Charles laughed again, “Do you want me to pick anything when I come home from work today?”

“Surprise me with snacks dad, I’m feeling adventurous.” Lydia smiled.

“Alright Lydia, call me if anything comes up and you can always talk to the others if anything is wrong. Love you.”

“Love you too dad, good luck with work!” Lydia jumped off her bad to hug Charles, which he reciprocated happily. “Get home safe.”

“That I will,” They let go and Lydia watched her dad leave her room and hear him leave through the front door.

“Since when did you get so cheesy?” Beetlejuice’s voice from the plushie made Lydia jump a little.

“Ever since you left and I got help.” Lydia started grabbing her things for her excursion outside with Beetlejuice. 

“Help?” He asked.

“Yeap” she popped the ‘p’, “I go to therapy because of your dumbass, now you coming to the graveyard? Maybe there are some ghosts there.

Beetlejuice curled into himself a little, “Was I that bad?”

Lydia stared at the small plush still sitting on her bed, “I was joking ya big dummy,” Lydia scoffed, “It’s grief therapy Bj, if I went to therapy because of you then something would be really wrong.” 

“That doesn’t answer my question.” Beetlejuice shifted back into his striped suit self, who is now sporting dark violet hair, “You and Chuckles tiptoed around the topic of me when you showed me off. Was I really that bad?” He shifted uncomfortably on the bed once more and looked out the window, taking a feigned interest in the decaying tree in the distance. “Fuck what is wrong with me?!” He fell backwards onto the bed, “You know what, fuck it.” With the smell of burning ozone, Beetlejuice vanished.

Lydia clasped her hands over her nose from the stench and ran out of the room, “Beetlejuice?! Where’d you go?”

“I’m here,” His voice echoed from behind her ear, “I just need to be alone.”

“Wait no, I can help!” 

“I know, but give me space. I need some time to think.”

“Beej?” No response. “Beetlejuice?!”

“Lydia what happened?” Barbara darted out of the attic.

“Have you seen him?” Lydia asked.

“Who?”

“Beetlejuice,” Lydia cried out, “He just took off, I don’t know where he went.” Lydia rushed to the Maitland’s bedroom to look. “Beej?” She yelled into the open attic. “He’s not here, where’d you go BJ!?”

“Why don’t you just summon him?” Barbara inquired.

“He said he didn’t want to be summoned Barbara!” Lydia’s panicked voice startled her, “He needs help, and I can help. He shouldn’t be alone!” Lydia pushed past Barbara once more. "Oh wait, the roof, he has to be there." she headed towards window to get to the roof.

“Lydia calm down!”

“No, I’m going to find and help my friend.”

“Lydia Deetz you hold it there for one minute!” Barbara’s raised voice certainly got Lydia’s attention and caused the teen to stop in her tracks. Lydia turned with eyes the shape of saucers at Barbara’s voice, she never yelled at Lydia like that before. “I’m sorry,” Barbara took a calming breath. 

Lydia, still high on adrenaline, stared at Barbara in disbelief. “You never yelled at me like that before,” Lydia ground her teeth. “What the hell Barbara, you’re not my mom!” She stomped towards Barbara. “What gives you the right to yell at me like I’m your child?!"

“Lydia I’m sorry for yelling at you, but right now you’re not helping Beetlejuice or anyone for that matter by freaking out and lashing out screaming into high heaven. I know I’m not your mother but I care about you.” Barbara walked towards Lydia and buried her in her arms. “Now what happened that caused this sudden anger. Did Beetlejuice do something?”

Lydia shook with anger, “He didn’t do anything. I don’t know what happened, he started acting peculiar and he just… vanished.” She said through gritted teeth, “He said he wanted to be alone, but he can’t be alone. I know what it was like, I can help.”

“Beetlejuice acting strange is just him being normal,” Barbara pointed out. “Lydia he’s been alone for a long time, maybe he’s getting used to being around someone who wants to be with him. I know you’re angry, but maybe he does need space. He’ll come down when he’s ready, he’s whatever years old, I think he could be mature enough to come down when he feels better.” Barbara withdrew and looked at the girl who was now looking down at the floor. “Now let’s go to the kitchen, I’ll whip up some coffee and breakfast, you look like you didn’t have your fix.” Barbara gave an easy smile.

“Fine.” Lydia stormed off to the kitchen leaving poor Barbara to go after the teen.

Chapter Text

Beetlejuice hated this, maybe what everyone said about him was true. Maybe he was losing his edge. 

It has to be the whole being alive thing, Beetlejuice theorized, It has to, this never fucking happened before.

He teleported to the roof and sat by the edge again like he did earlier, he could hear Lydia storming around the house calling his name, and every now and then that sensation, that gut wrenching pull of her calling his name would gut him but nothing would happen. She never said it more than once at a time, and he was grateful. He really didn’t mean to bolt out of there, but if the conversation was going to be like the scenario going on in his head, he would want to avoid it. He could handle rejection from the stupidly sexy couple, but not from Scarecrow..

He’s going to have to return sooner or later, but right now. He just needs some time alone. And that’s what he got.

For about thirty seconds.

“Beetlejuice?” Came a smooth voice from behind Beetlejuice.

“Of course you’re up here, here to show the world your exhibitionist skills A-dog?” Beetlejuice turned to see Adam hanging by the other end of the roof cleaning the nasty gutter that was riddled with leaves and bird shit. “Didn’t take you for that type.”

Adam turned back to the gutter to clean with his ears heating up a little, nice to see that the old BJ charm still got to sexy Adam Maitland. “What are you doing up here? I thought you would be with Lydia right now, I can hear she’s calling you.”

“Just playing a little hide and seek the demon, and so far I’m winning.” Beetlejuice conjured up an ice tea once more and sipped, “Freaking nerd didn’t come up here first, I’m insulted.” He said with mock annoyance.

“Right..” Adam hit the end of the word sarcastically, “Okay, if that’s the case. what’s with the hair?”

“Fucking hair, stupid emotions, giving me away and shit, ugh.” The demon grumped over his hair exposing him being a moody little bug.

“Is something wrong Beetlejuice? What happened down there?”

“Is that concern I hear Adam?” Beetlejuice said, still looking at the decaying tree the next hill over, “At least let daddy take you out first!”

Adam paused his cleaning and turned around, “Anything you want me to do for you?”

“A sit on daddy’s lap?”

“Beetlejuice I am not going over there until you tell me what’s going on.”

“Was that a yes?”

“That was a no Beetlejuice.” Adam crossed his arms, “Are you going to face me while talking to me or am I going to speak to the wall the entire time?”

Beetlejuice reluctantly faced Adam with a somber look plastered on the demon's face, “Fine, no wall, what do you want?”

“What happened Beetlejuice, why are you up here?”

“Nothing.” Beetlejuice pouted.

“Yeah and I’m alive,” Adam rolled his eyes and walked over.

“Wait stop right there!” Beetlejuice yelled, scooting away from the edge and Adam. “Don’t come any closer.”

Adam ceased his walking and tilted his head to the left, “Why?”

Beetlejuice sheepishly looked down to the floor with his hair staying that deep violet with some addition of red. “I don’t want you near me right now.”

“But you just said-“

“I KNOW WHAT I SAID.” The demon clenched his fists, shaking a little. “Just don’t come closer.” He started to fidget with hands and looked everywhere but at the ghost a couple feet away.

Adam knew he shouldn’t be perturbed with the moody demon currently avoiding making eye contact, this was the demon that forced him and Barbara to run in fear to the attic when he was summoned into the mortal but Adam was a sucker and loved helping people especially that time where he helped little Howard Jr. build his treehouse when H. Jr. was a child. “Is everything okay?” Adam asked again.

Beetlejuice’s fidgeting started to get more frantic, “I’m fine. Where’s Barbara?”

“Should be in the attic, she’s tidying up to get rid of the stuff we have stashed there. But you’re deflecting-“

“Was I that bad?” Beetlejuice cut Adam off again, startling the man.

“I’m sorry?” The demon’s question threw Adam off kilter.

“Was…” Beetlejuice ran his shaking hand through his hair, “Before.. was.. I bad?”

“Bad is a very general term, but where do you want to start? When you harassed both Barbara and I?” 

“I thought..” The sheepish demon fiddled with his thumbs, “People liked the kissing and the advances?”

“We do, but only when it is warranted. You can’t just go around kissing and groping people’s behinds like some sort of unhinged party.”

“Wait you don’t?” Beetlejuice looked up at Adam with puppy eyes.

“Of course not,” Adam threw his hands up in the air, “You haven’t heard of consent Beetlejuice? Or boundaries?”

“I’m sorry what?” Beetlejuice head now tilted to the side in question.

“It’s giving and getting permission to do something, and what you did before was not consensual. Barbara and I did not enjoy what you were doing at all. And boundaries are set lines that you shouldn’t cross in case you make someone feel VERY uncomfortable, usually those two words go hand in hand.”

“Oh god, I really was bad.” Beetlejuice’s face paled and the thought of his actions, “I really did all that.” 

“There’s more, you bailed out on us when you didn’t deem us scary enough, you tried to trick Lydia into summoning you,” Adam started listing the incidents on his fingers, “ran Charles and Delia out of the house when they had guests over” Beetlejuice winced for every finger Adam counted, “made Barbara and I take shelter in the attic with your antics on top of the harassment we faced from you, almost exorcised Barbara,” that last one made Adam pause to take a breath, “indirectly made Lydia go to the Netherworld, did the whole wedding thing-.”

“OKAY I GET IT, THANK YOU VERY MUCH ADAM SHUT YOUR MOUTH.” Beetlejuice cringed, closing his eyes.

"There's more-"

“YEAH I GOT IT. LOUD AND CLEAR. IM AN ASSHOLE, IM UNWANTED, NO ONE WANTS ME-“

“Beetlejuice stop!” Adam rushed to Bj’s side, “You’re hurting yourself!” He grabbed Beetlejuice's hands cause they were pulling at the hairs that progressively got more blue and darker in the purple shade.

Beetlejuice froze at Adam’s touch.

“Hey, you okay?” Beetlejuice opened his eyes to find Adam’s face very close to his, “I’m going to lower your hands now okay?” Adam slowly lowered their hands to Beetlejuice's side. “Alright, okay. Good.” Adam let out a calming breath. “Now let's try again, Beetlejuice. What happened down there?”

Beetlejuice just stared at, not saying anything.

“Hey earth to Beetlejuice, are you in there?” Adam waved a hand in his face, Beetlejuice didn’t even blink. “Hmm.. Must be out of it still, here, let’s sit. Come.” With hands still interlocked, Adam guided Beetlejuice to sit by the edge again. “Better?”

Beetlejuice nodded his head. Adam looked down at their hands and immediately let go, “Oh sorry, didn’t ask. Had an entire speech on consent and here I am grabbing you. My bad.” Adam flushed with embarrassment.

“No, it’s okay.” Beetlejuice finally spoke, “I.. lost control there.”

“Beetlejuice, are you sure you’re doing okay?” Adam looked worried now, which Beetlejuice didn’t think was possible. Here, a sexy (un)available guy was giving him the cutest look and he couldn’t do anything about it.

“No,” the demon finally relinquished, deflating from his uptight posture, “I was with Lydia but Chuck showed up. Had to hide, he didn’t see me but the way he talked about me…” Beetlejuice trailed off.

“What did he say?”

“Nothing, but that’s the thing. I know I am a beast, because hello.. Demon? Like being lonely is pretty much set in stone here Adam,” Beetlejuice waved his hands at himself, “I exude chaos, that’s just who I am.. Not like you can understand. You’re sexy, a nice person who is bothering to listen and not be afraid to run away when I tell them I’m a demon.”

“You’re right I don’t understand, I just recently died.. But Beetlejuice.” Adam grasped his shoulder, “Lydia knows what it is like being alone, when you left all she wanted to do was talk about you. We couldn’t though, what you did to us was painful. She might have had a good time with you but with us? We didn’t see that ‘fun’ side she experienced. You are scary though.” Adam laughed a bit.

“What should I do? I don’t know what to do.”

“An apology would be nice.” Adam stated.

An apology? Beetlejuice never had to apologize for anything before, everything moved so fast and not once had he ever had to apologize. It was usually to show up, get the job done, mess around a little bit and leave. But sticking around and saying sorry? He didn’t know how to do that. It’s a simple concept, but difficult in execution. What would he have to do?

“So I show them my dick?” Beetlejuice teased.

“Oh goodness me, no!” Adam reeled his hand back and covered his mouth, “Just try saying sorry first, and we’ll go from there.”

Beetlejuice squirmed underneath Adam’s gaze.

When Beetlejuice gave Adam silence and a diffident look Adam eyebrows shot up to his forehead in surprise.

“Wait, have you never apologized before?” 

Beetlejucie looked away, “No, I haven’t.”

Adam opened his mouth to say something but immediately shut it, he kept doing that for a few seconds and started to connect the dots. “You’ve lived how long and you’ve never apologized to anyone before? Not even to your parents?” On dropping the word parents, Adam promptly shut his mouth right after Beetlejuice flinched at the thought of his parents, “Oh jeez sorry Beetlejuice I didn’t mea-“

“Quit while you’re ahead Adam.”

Adam bit his lip, he knew he passed a line, here he was talking about boundaries and not pushing buttons. And yet he did it. “I’m such a hypocrite, I’m sorry.” Adam slouched in defeat, “I run my mouth off too much, sorry.”

“Okay enough with the apologies I get it now.”

“I’m not apologizing to just show you, I’m apologizing because I genuinely feel bad. And that’s the best kind of apology, when you apologize when you feel really bad from what you said or did.” Adam lectured, “That’s apology 101 with Adam Maitland.” Adam triumphantly smiled, pounding his chest in pride.

“Huh, now you’ve become a teacher instead of a student now.” Beetlejuice chuckled, “That’s definitely new, this is the Maitlands 2.0 I heard you guys talking about.”

Adam squirmed in embarrassment from the title, “You heard that?”

“Of course, it’s hard  to talk to someone when someone else is loudly talking in the hallway with the door open.”

“Oh my,” Adam pushed his glasses up, “Didn’t know we were that loud.”

“How Lydia didn’t hear you guys astounds me.” 

I can do it, just say sorry. Just say sorry. I can do it, just two words. Beetlejuice thoughts cut in. It should be simple .

“I’m ssss-“ He accidentally raspberried Adam and spit landed on the man, “Shit Adam.” A little bit of green saliva dirtied Adam’s face and glasses, “Didn’t mean to spit on you there.”

“Never mind about that, you were close! Just try it again, you can do it!” Adam cheered absently wiping the slobber with the back of his sleeve.

“I’m sss…. Adam I can’t do this can I just fuck you guys and be done with it?”

“Beetlejuice, you’re almost getting there!” Adam ignored the last comment, “I’ll be here.” Adam smiled a smile that closed his eyes and wrinkled his forehead.

Fuck he is really cute. Beetlejuice felt light on his feet with the look Adam was giving. 

“I’m..s. so.. sssss…”

“There we go! Almost there!”

“Sss… sorr…”

“Lets go Bj, lets go!” Adam cheered.

“Sorrythatididthistoyouilltrytobeniceriswear.” Beetlejuice blurted out.

Adam dropped his smile and turned to stare at the demon, but then started laughing and clapping. “You did it!” Adam hollered and jumped around. “You really did it! That wasn’t so hard was it?” Adam clasped Beetlejuice’s shoulder again. With Adam cheering and laughing, he failed to notice that Beetlejuice’s hair started to transition to pink.

“Guess I should apologize to Barbara too now huh?” Beetlejuice said with a lopsided smile.

“Oh yes we should, come! Lets go!” Adam lifted Beetlejuice off his feet, grabbing his hand and headed towards the entrance of the roof. “She’ll be thrilled!”

“I hope so.” Beetlejuice mumbled.

“What was that?” Adam turned to Beetlejuice.

“Nothing, let’s go show Barbara what she missed.” Beetlejuice winked at the man.

Maybe, this won’t be such a bad place after all.

Chapter Text

Beetlejuice didn’t have many memories of his father, and yet having Adam holding his hand triggered something long forgotten. 

He was young, eyes blinking, adjusting to the environment. 

“Listen up Beetlejuice.” A gruff voice called to the youthful demon. He squinted to see who was speaking to him but all he could see was a blur. He assumed it was his father. It couldn’t be Juno, she wouldn’t be holding his hand and certainly wouldn’t call him ‘Beetlejuice’ in a calm manner. It was serene, this presence, this person, his father.

He gazed about at his surroundings and he was not in the Netherworld that’s for sure. It was night, or was it day? Beetlejuice couldn’t remember but it was a place where it was continuously dark for a long time, the stars were out though.

And it was alluring. The stars painted the sky and the ground below. The terrain, white, clear, glass-like. Wind howling with carried noise from the bustling town and scurrying creatures scrounging for their meals. Strange blue lights coming from somewhere below the ground. With those details, bit by bit, the memory started to take form and became more solid.

It was cold, winter. Snow had recently fallen, as if it were like a fresh coat of paint, still crunching underneath their feet.

Beetlejuice looked up once more but still couldn’t see what his father’s face looked like, but only the frigid feeling of a cold hand soothing his shivering frame. 

“If you ever feel down, come to the surface and look up at the stars,” the hand squeezed, “it’s calming. Remember this moment, keep it in your heart and if you ever find someone worth it. Stand by them, you’ve got heart kid, stand like stone. Always constant and unmoving.” a calloused hand ruffled his hair, “it’s going to get arduous from here,” His father, face still obscured by a weird blur, knelt and put his hands on Beetlejuice’s shoulders. The youngling gaze wandered, not paying attention to his father.

The memory started to get hazy, like if static on the tv was slowly screwing with the signal.

“Look at me,” Beetlejuice turned, the static getting worse, “When the fire’s reduced to ashes, when the wind has blown its last, when the river has all but dried,” it felt like he was getting pulled from the memory, like someone was trying to force him out. “Know that I-“

He was forcefully wrenched from his reverie. Adam looked at Beetlejuice with a puzzled face, “You okay there?”

Still fuzzed by the sudden pull back to reality, he answered with a timid nod. “Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s go.” He put on a deceptive smile, one that hopefully tricked Adam, but it was a little too toothy. It showed his fangs, yellow from poor hygiene and gunk in-between the blackened gums.

Adam glanced at Beetlejuice and stopped moving, “You know you don’t have to do this right now. You could always wait later.”

“No, I’m afraid if I can’t do this now I won’t be able to later.” Beetlejuice stated nervously. “Let’s get this out of the way before I chicken out and disappear.”

Adam stared unimpressed. “Okay, you were happy one second ago and now you’re back to melancholy, what happened?"

The demon shrugged, “That noticeable?”

“Of course, I mean the hair is a dead giveaway. It was fine earlier, now it’s back to… what is that blue? No purple.” Adam gave Beej’s head a little shake, causing both men to pause.

He didn’t mean to do that, it just happened. It was hair that changed colour, who wouldn’t want to touch that? It was filled with dust, grime, blood, and other odd bits of bugs and spiders. Not the best of hair textures, but nothing like a shower can't fix.

Can Beetlejuice even shower? Adam thought.

“My father was the last person who did that to me..” Beetlejuice spoke weakly, “Juno never did that, it was… Sorry, not appropriate, lets go to Babs.”

“Nono, that’s my fault. Didn’t ask, and your father huh? That’s the first time you ever mentioned him. What was he like?” Beetlejuice looked towards the doorway. “Barbara can wait.”

Beetlejuice nodded, “Don’t remember much, it’s all fuzzy. Just snow.”

“Snow huh?” Adam pondered.

“That’s all I remember, I don’t remember his face… I don’t remember if he actually loved me,” Beetlejuice looked to the floor, “It sucks, I don’t even know if I loved him too.” He let out a quiet hick.

Adam’s heart wrenched seeing him cry like that. “Ok look. I have only told Barbara this because it’s a sensitive subject, but when I was younger my dad and I didn’t have the best relationship. It got so bad to the point where he would just kick me out of the house and tell me to find somewhere else to sleep. Sound familiar?” Adam softly laughed, “He really didn’t like me, but I remember one day when we went shopping, I was confronted by a homeless man in the parking lot. As I was walking back to the car, this homeless man came up to me and started asking me for change. Being the broke teenager I was, I told him, ‘I'm sorry, I don’t have any change.’” His gaze now seeing through the demon remembering the past, “Now I’m sure he was a nice man, but he was definitely not having the best day. After I told him a second time, ‘I’m sorry, I really don’t have any change,’ He grabbed me and started reaching for my pockets. My dad, who was loading the trunk, grabbed the nearest thing and came running to my aid. He beat the crap out of this man with a piece of salami,” That got a laugh from Beetlejuice whose hair was turning back to green with some yellow mixed in. “He’s dead now, died of cancer. Wonder if ever made it to the Netherworld.”

Beetlejuice’s head snapped up and looked at the distressed Maitland, “Oh shit, sorry.”

Adam slowly looked at Beetlejuice with a smile, “No it’s okay, but what I’m trying to say here is that I’m sure your dad loved you. Even though you can’t remember.” Adam put a hand to his chin inquisitively, “When you think of that time he scruffed your hair like that, do you get a positive feeling?”

It took a moment for the demon to think, the memory was peaceful and with no Juno around. It was positive. “Yeah, guess so.”

“Then I’m positive your dad did love you!”

“You really think so?” 

“Yeah, and if your dad is like you, he’s got to be around somewhere. You’ll find him Beetlejuice, I know you will.” Adam gave Beetlejuice his smile that made the demon weak at the knees, “Can I?” Adam offered his hand to him. Beetlejuice nodded and gave Adam his hand to hold. “Now let’s get to Barbara, no doubt she has a question about what took so long, and she’ll want to hear your apology if you’re still up for it.”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Beetlejuice walked forward but stopped just when he passed Adam, “Thank you.”

“For?”

“For being nice, and not running away from me when I started acting weird.” Beetlejuice chuckled.

“Anytime, you know you’re an amazing conversationalist when you don’t try and get it in my pants.”

Beetlejuice mentally undressed Adam, “Beetlejuice that’s a no.”

“Fuck, do you read minds?!” Beetlejuice cackled.

“Nope, but the way your eyes are looking at me like a hungry predator, I got to say something before you say anything. Odds are, it’ll be a no.”

“You know me so well, it’s like we’re married A-dog!”

“Don’t push it,” Adam huffed, cheeks reddening, “You’re now at least calling me by a nickname,” Adam tugged at the demon's hand, “Now come on! I’m sure Barbara will find your apology unaticipating.”

“Should I get down on one knee?”

“No, but that would be funny, but no.”

“Look out Babs,” Beetlejuice purred, “BJ 2.0 has arrived.” 

“Oh goodness.” Adam slapped a hand over his forehead for implanting the 2.0 moniker to Beetlejuice. “Don’t say that to Barbara, she would never live it down.”

If things with Adam were going to be this smooth, Beetlejuice couldn’t wait for Barbara's reaction. Hopefully she would be just as kind. Then a slight jingle from his wrist took his attention away, the bracelet Lydia gave him still on his wrist. If he was lucky, he would squeeze two apologies into one conversation. He took a good long look at it this time, a long woven black and white rope encircled his wrist loosely. The four trinkets, a golden letter B, a small ghost looking creature, a green beetle, and oddly enough a banana.

The trinkets all had something to do with the demon this bracelet was referring to. The rope was woven in a way that it looked like his striped suit, and obviously the green beetle and the golden B was referring to his name. Although he wasn’t a ghost, the thought of having that on made him feel queasy and happy inside, and the banana must refer to his summoning. Thankfully he didn’t kill anyone, but looking at this this dangling piece of jewelry made him feel slightly awful.

What If she never wants to speak to me again? Will she want the bracelet back? Beetlejuice immediately shook those thoughts away. No she wouldn’t, she gave it to me. With the thought of the bracelet in his mind, the small cross over his chest glowed weakly. Right, I have to apologize, she’s my bfffffff okay how many f’s does this author want? Beetlejuice laughed and turned his gaze to Adam still leading the way.

Thank you Adam. Beetlejuice thoughtfully thanked the man, hopefully Lydia and Barbara will be just as understanding as you are.

Chapter Text

The atmosphere of the kitchen was more than not very lively with conversation. Every member of the household chatted about the mundane things or things  that sparkled debates. From television shows, what seasoning goes on eggs, politics and homework; everyone had something to say with the topic at hand. However, at this moment, the kitchen was enraptured in silence. Barbara and Lydia sat at the kitchen table not looking or speaking to each other. Barbara prepared a breakfast feast for Lydia, a stack of pancakes, eggs (over-easy), a lot of bacon, and a whole pot of coffee placed in front of the teen who refused to take a bite. Lydia’s glare has been fixed on nothing at the window for 30 minutes now and no matter how much coaxing Barbara tried to get her to eat, Lydia would not budge like a gargoyle statue.

Barbara nudged Lydia’s shoulder to rabble the teen from her stupor, “Lydia? Sweetheart you got to eat, it’s going to get cold.” Lydia huffed but kept her gaze towards the window, nothing of interest was out there so Barbara knew that Lydia was ignoring her on purpose.

“Barbara? Lydia?” Adam’s voice was heard from atop the stairs, “Where are you?”

Barbara took a relieving breath, “We’re in the kitchen Adam,” she called back, “Lydia hasn’t touched her plate and she won’t respond to me, could use your help!”

Two pairs of feet were heard scurrying from above signifying that Delia woke up.. She always left her room somewhat late so she could ‘align her chakras’. Something that never made sense to Barbara even when she was alive.

Adam poked his head into the kitchen, eyes filled with excitement, but soon turned downcast upon seeing Lydia’s back turned to him. “Are you feeling alright Bubba-diddle?” From Lydia’s solemn look in the glass reflection, it was  clear that Adam is not going to get a response. “Come on Bambina, what’s with the long face?” Barbara looked to her husband who was trying to get the teen to laugh or crack a smile at Adams stupid kid nicknames he insists on using on Lydia, but it wasn’t reaching her this time. He tried bopping her nose but she waved his hand away when he approached. Lydia still had her gaze firmly outside, not sparing a glance to the couple. “Right, okay. Barbara could I talk to you for a moment? It’s important.” Adam winked at Barbara and left the kitchen in an excited manner.

Barbara trailed after her husband perplexed on Adam’s cheery disposition this morning, which wasn’t bad, but it made Barbara suspicious what would happen next. Nevertheless, it was always a treat to see Adam in a good mood. She took one more fleeting glance at Lydia, “Please eat Lydia, we’ll be right outside if you need anything.” She left the room and quietly shut the door, leaving the teenager to what she wanted. Alone time.

Lydia sighed and went to look at the food on the table, she didn't pay attention to Barbara when she was cooking and it was nice having an extra set of parents but nothing could better her mood after Beetlejuice disappeared declaring some time for himself. Barbara’s response to Lydia’s outburst was completely sound but Lydia was adamant on not wanting to leave Beetlejuice alone. Especially when she knew she could help by being a solid presence by his side.

Another sigh left the girl, she would have to apologize to Barbara because of what she said earlier, she didn’t mean it but her emotions were running high and her usually calm and calculating demeanor was all lost to her emotions. Guess she would have to check in with her therapist again. Lydia knew that Barbara and the others care about her, but this was Beetlejuice. He obviously needed help and maybe Lydia, with her limited experience to what seems like anxiety and depression, could offer some counsel to him.

“Who am I kidding?” Lydia let out a breath of annoyance,, “I’m just a kid, what could I do? What would I have done?”

She cringed at the face Barbara had made when Lydia berated her for not being her mother, Barbara had flinched and wore a heartbroken smile at the end of it. Barbara doesn’t deserve that, she’s nice and sweet and Adam is one big nerd dad.

Lydia shook her hand and  reached for the fork and knife to start getting a headway into the pancakes, but as she started to cut, a clatter from the sink made her pause. Nothing, or no one, was there to make the noise and she couldn’t see who was there, but she could guess who it could be. More things started making noise in the small kitchen, the pots hanging above the marble island started to shake, the wooden cabinets trembled, her plate started to spasm simultaneously as the earth beneath Lydia’s feet rumbled. She wasn’t freaked out, sitting there calmly for Beetlejuice to stop and show up. 

“HEY KID!” A whirlwind of green gust brushed past her head and Beetlejuice erupted from the pancake stack spurting melted butter all over Lydia’s face and clothing, “Boom, splat, pow! Cream explosion, got ya wet!” He bellowed, doing a little celebratory head bob, presenting all his fangs to Lydia.

Lydia sat there undeterred by his tomfoolery, buffoonery and shenanigans, she calmly grabbed the napkin beside the plate and started dabbing away the mess on herself. “Cool you’re here, now could you please stop making the room shake?” She asked with a dead panned expression, “You’re going to break something and I’m not cleaning it up.” 

“Oh shit okay, that’s the mood we’re going for.” With a sharp jerk of his head, the room ceased its trembling. “Did I least get you?” Beetlejuice asked, “It was not my best work, but it’ll make do.”

Lydia, letting her emotions get the best of her again, slammed her fist on the table making Beetlejuice jump, “It was weak and your ‘work’ insulted me. I expected better, also I thought you wanted alone time.” Lydia shoved herself away from the table and headed towards the door, “I’m going to leave and give you some time for yourself cause you wanted it.”

Lydia stomped towards the door, arm extended to turn the doorknob until Beetlejuice screamed “Wait no, kid I’m sorry!” 

Lydia slowly put her arm back to her side, “Excuse me?”

“I said I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have walked, or rather, disappeared after freaking out like that. I’m sorry.” Beetlejuice floated out of the pancakes and hovered in the air. He waited for her response but didn’t get any, Lydia stood with her back turned to him. “Kid, I’m not great with apologies and I’m not sure what to do next. Throw me a bone here kid, I’m not going to beg.” Beetlejuice then plummeted to the floor in a messy heap of purple and blue, “Okay I’m going to beg,” He rose to his knees and started grabbing at Lydia’s pyjamas, “please kid I’m sorry I didn’t mean to, we can talk this out, please don’t throw me out.”

Lydia slapped Beetlejuice’s hands away, turning her head around to glare daggers at the demon. “I can’t believe you Beej. You should’ve stayed, I could’ve helped.”

Beetlejuice looked to the floor, “I’m sorry, I know.”

“You know?” Lydia muttered, “Do you know how that made me feel?” 

Beetlejuice shook his head.

“It was like back then,” she started softly, “It was when I felt invisible, I thought we were cool!” her voice slowly started increasing in volume, “It was the same when mom died, dad ran away when it got hard. Dad left some other person to deal with my grief and didn't even try to come talk to me personally! I thought this was different! You betrayed my trust, you rat! What the hell is wrong with you?! Where did you even go?!”

Beetlejuice flinched at the mention of the word rat, that’s what his mother typically called him when he was scavenging for food/clothing in the Netherworld.

“DON’T CALL ME A RAT!” He shook from anger, “THAT’S NOT NICE.”

“THEN MAYBE DON’T RUN AWAY FROM YOUR PROBLEMS AND TALK TO ME,” She yelled back, “Don’t drag Adam or Barbara in this either!”

Lydia had a right to be angry, and Barbara was caught in the crossfire while Beetlejuice disappeared. Beetlejuice continued to stare at the floor with Lydia still huffing in anger.

After a couple breaths of angry silence, Beetlejuice through gritted teeth whispered, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me kid, I’m a big screw up. I honestly thought I could walk in here and everything would be nice and nifty-“

“Well you thought wrong.” Lydia interrupted, hissing at him.

“Which I’m trying to rectify now Lyds. I’m sorry, truly.” He slowly looked up to her.

“Then why show up here? If you knew you were going to have problems and knew that I was going to be your friend still, then why come back?”

“A guide gone wrong,” Beetlejuice breath hitched, “and plus I didn’t know where I was going but here I am now but that’s besides the point.”

“Wouldn’t you just scare the recently deceased and shove them into the door?” The girl's features softened, “Isn’t that what you normally do?”

“With the exception of Barbara and Adam, yes that’s what I do. But this one was different.”

Beetlejuice threw the excess papers in the air with exasperation. “Not here either.” He rummaged through his mother’s multiple filing cabinets in hope of finding anything related to his father. He even tried getting to his own file, but couldn’t find that one either. “Must’ve been with the bitch when she went down with the sandworm.” Beetlejuice stormed through his mother's entire bland office like a hurricane and found nothing, the walls mocking him with their signature blood red. No luck with the desk either, “Nothing, where is that damn file?!” 

A knock came from the opened door, “Mr. Beetlejuice?” A shy voice came from the doorway. He looked up from his messy pile on the floor, it was Maria, or rather Miss Argentina at the doorway looking a little distraught. “You’ve got another guide,” her green skin against the red wall looked out of place, and clearly she was uncomfortable being in here. She handed Beetlejuice a photo of a smiling blue eyed young girl wearing a black lace dress sporting bright, long blonde hair. Nothing striking.

“A blondie?” Beetlejuice scrutinized the photo then stuffed it in his mouth, swallowing it whole, “Make sure no one cleans this up, I’ve got a system going.” He told Miss Argentina. Beetlejuice took a piece of chalk from his pocket and drew a door, and knocked three times. He stubbornly walked through and entered a chilly night in the middle of a suburban neighbourhood. “Right where is this kid?” He stuck his fingers down his throat and threw up the photo, flipping the photo to its blank side for an address but there were none. Just a crude drawing of a car and a tree on the back. “The fuck does this mean?”

A loud screech of tires from down the road captured Beetlejuice’s attention, a grey van came from around the corner swerving loosely, moving around in a couple circles then crashing into a nearby tree which caught fire immediately.

“Car crash,” he regarded the drawing once more, “Whoever drew this is a genius.” The photo now went back into his inner suit pocket where he kept every document of all the guides he did. He never did actually write a report, he usually told Maria what happened and she would write it for him. Beetlejuice knew his penmanship was garbage and reading comprehension was that of a five year olds.

Beetlejuice walked over to the burning vehicle and planned on shoving the kid into the Netherworld to get it over with. But a noise from the front seat made him pause his steps,, a disheveled looking woman who probably has seen better days, crawled out of the front seat of the vehicle and ran away from the scene, not bothering to check the car for other passengers. Beetlejuice eyed the woman and felt an awful familiar feeling about her but paid it no mind. 

He reached the vehicle when the girls started to cross over from the physical plane to the material, her blonde hair was not blonde, it was dyed black and her hair was cut into a short curly bob. The young girl's forehead was bleeding which meant her death was blunt force trauma to the skull.

“Hi, I’ll be your Guide.” Beetlejuice started his practiced script, “Your G-U-I— okay fuck it.” He spoke with annoyance in his voice, already pulling the NPR tote bag from thin air, “Time for the Netherworld kid, sorry ya died but this is the end for you.” Beetlejuice held out the bag waiting for the girl to take it.

The girl initially jumped when he appeared but relaxed after Beetlejuice opened his mouth, she started at the bag and at Beetlejuice, “Are you here to take me home?”

“No,” he grumbled, “the Netherworld, you know the land of the dead?” She shook her head no, “Whatever, there’s a book in there, a Toblerone, a t-shirt, new pants  and chalk there for you.” Beetlejuice shoved the bag in her hands, “Listen, I have stuff to look into so why don’t we just draw that door with that little chalk in your bag and we’ll be on our way."

Beetlejuice started to walk away, “My name is Lydia,” the girl said, causing Beetlejuice to flinch. He spun slowly to look at her once again, he didn’t get to look at the picture thoroughly because all the features he had to look for was a young girl, blonde hair and blue eyes. The girl in front of him was young and had blue eyes but the way her hair hung around her face and facial structure were very similar to Lydia’s, his Lydia, his bfffff whom he hasn’t seen in awhile. Her eyes were about the same distance apart, her lips plump and red were similar to his bffff’s. Everything about this girl's appearance screamed Lydia. “What’s your name mister?” This Lydia asked, looking to him in wonder. Beetlejuice couldn’t move though, couldn’t speak, all he could feel was his breathing getting quicker. He knew he didn’t need to breathe but he didn’t know what to do.

“My name,” Beetlejuice panicked, “My na…” His breath started to come shallow, “Lydia, I can’t, you’re not here.”

“Mister? Are you alright?” Blue-eyes dropped the bag and rushed to Beetlejuice’s side. “Mister?”

Beetlejuice shoved the girl away, “No don’t! You’re not Lydia, she’s safe. You’re… dead. Lydia is not dead!” He shrieked, “Get away!” Beetlejuice stepped back to get some distance from the girl.

“Mister?” Lydia asked once more, “Do you need some help? I’ll call the police!”

“NO! Lydia!” He tore at his clothing and reached his soul cross the way to get away from this child. He reappeared in a graveyard and rabidly grabbed at his pockets for chalk. Once he got a hold of one he made one quick, crude outline of a door, knocked three times and threw himself in. The swirling greens and mist pulling him back to the Netherworld, he landed back in Juno’s office, gasping for breath. “Shit, shit, shit!” He cursed and laid on the floor for a bit gathering his breath.

Beetlejuice slowly got up from the floor and took one more long breath before looking around. The entire room was clean, “Maria!” He yelled, “I thought I told you to not—“ His mouth clamped shut by a metal strip strapped to his mouth. He tried to claw it off but failed and was about to run out of the room, until a voice came from behind him.

“Lawrence you disappoint me yet again.” A chilling voice came from the desk, the chair with the high backrest was turned around but Beetlejuice knew who sat on it. “You failed to get rid of me and failed to do a simple guide because of your sentimentalism,” Juno’s voice called, “While I am impressed that I was out of commission for a while because of that sandworm but a simple guide? Lawrence you massive rat!” Even though they were inside, thunder was heard and electricity surged into the room, “You can’t kill me Lawrence, can’t get rid of dear old mommy.” Juno swivelled the chair to face Beetlejuice, her signature cigarette in-between her dead fingers, coming out of the gash on her neck. Juno’s form has not yet regenerated, it was a long process and Beetlejuice knew from experience from having his arm severed off from the American Civil War. There were odd bits of exposed flesh and pulsing veins through-out her body, and her leg, that was still missing, pulsated as it tried to regenerate.

Juno snapped her fingers that removed the metal strap from Beetlejuice’s mouth, “Now Lawrence, care to explain how you managed to mess up a guide? That child would’ve been easy!”

“It was easy mom, I just-“ Beetlejuice backed slowly towards the door, “she, she reminded me of-“

“The breather?!” Her voice echoed with that demonic deep voice of hers, “Sentimentality gets you nowhere, your father knew that as well.”

There it is, the absentee father mentioned once again. Beetlejuice shrivelled up from the sadness and anger because here he was looking for his ather, when all the answers he needed were right in front of him. His hair had shifted through a plethora of colours before eventually shifting to a shade of magenta.

This was it, he had to know. Juno knew, she knows what happened.

“Where is my father?” Beetlejuice mumbled.

“I did not teach you to mumble!” She hissed.

Beetlejuice’s breathing got heavier, he needed to know.

“Where. Is. My. Father?!” Beetlejuice demanded, his voice caused the ground to splinter, “Where is he?!” He stomped, leaving an indentation of his foot on Juno’s hardwood office floor.

Juno stared at Beetlejuice with an impassive face but curled into a threatening grin. “You want to know where your poor daddy is?” She cackled, “Daddy, isn’t here Lawrence,” Juno’s body started to convulse, “Daddy got himself punished, Daddy is not coming home, Daddy is not here,” She sang, “Lawrence wants to know where Daddy is hiding?” Juno started laughing, a sickening laugh one that made Beetlejuice’s bones shake, “Well you won’t find him. He’s been gone for centuries!” Juno leapt from the chair accompanied by extra arms she sprouted from her back, she crawled over to Beetlejuice, black and red sludge dripping all over the floor. With aid from an extra arm, she grabbed a hold of Beetlejuice’s shirt. Juno forcefully pulled him up, inches away from her face. “I’m sorry, Mr. Shoggoth can’t come to see his son right now,” she mocked Miss Argentina’s voice, “Why?” She mimicked Beetlejuice’s voice next, “Cause he’s dead!” Juno’s two toned voice shook the walls.

“You’re lying!” Beetlejuice screamed, his hair now edging towards the white side.

“My Lawrence, would you like to join him?” Juno flung Beetlejuice across the room. He was about to hit the wall but with the help of the tentacles he conjured, it lessened the impact. Beetlejuice was ready to block the next attack but was restrained by Juno’s many arms.

“You are your father's son, inheriting his worthless powers and not inheriting the spine to actually take the hit!” Her arms squeezed around his body, “Now Lawrence, as your mother I have to see you punished.” With a cackle she threw her head back and thrashed Beetlejuice around the room. She dragged across the floor and smashed his head against the wall.

“Let me go you crazy bitch!” Beetlejuice wailed out in pain.

Juno brought him back to her face once more, “Not until you’ve learned your lesson, and mommy is just getting started,” the office started to peel and a colourful living room rose out of the floorboards. That smelly couch that Beetlejuice and Lydia had laid on scaring the girl scout away appeared and ‘bad art’ came into being in the corner. Juno was taking both herself and Beetlejuice to Lydia’s home, he thought to himself that he had to get Lydia, Chuck and Danika out of the house away from Juno’s wrath. But with his mother’s cruel embrace encompassing him, he struggled. Adam and Barbara he would have to protect, hopefully he could quickly draw a door to the Netherworld and get Maria to get the two to safety.

After a few seconds of struggling, Beetlejuice bit down on the hand closest to his face causing Juno to howl. He broke free and slithered away to the staircase to get to the others. However he couldn’t get past the first step, an invisible wall broke his path.

Right, illusions. Out of all the things I didn’t inherit. Beetlejuice mentally cursed.

Beetlejuice turned back to his raging mother in fear of what she was going to do next but she wasn’t there, Miss Argentina was.

“Maria?” Beetlejuice had his guard up still, his mother is a master manipulator and could assume any form to get to Beetlejuice. She has done so before, “How’d you get here?”

“Juno isn’t the only one who could create illusions,” Miss Argentina rolled her eyes, “but no time for that you have to go.” Her voice, usually confident, was filled with worry. “I can’t hold her for long,” she shoved Beetlejuice towards the wall, “Draw a door and leave, we’ll keep Juno busy.”

“How are you going to do that?” Beetlejuice finally relaxed and retracted his tentacles, “Juno won’t budge no matter what you do.”

“A girl can’t tell all her secrets,” she gave a cheeky smile handing him chalk.

“LAWRENCE!!!” Juno’s voice came from behind the front door.

“Beetlejuice go! I can’t hold her for much longer!” Maria huffed from the exertion, “She can’t know I helped.”

Beetlejuice drew the door and walked through, he dared to take a look behind him. Miss Argentina was missing but Juno pushed through the front door and spotted Beetlejuice. She lunged towards the door and screamed, a ghastly shrill that shook him to his core. Beetlejuice got to the door to shut it but not before Juno managed to squeeze her head in.

“I’ll find you Lawrence!” Juno screeched, “I’ll make sure everyone you ever encountered suffers! That is my vow Lawrence, you hear me?!”

Beetlejuice landed a solid jaw punch at Juno but not without hesitation. He knew his mother meant business and she always followed through with it. He’ll just have to be smart on where he goes. He wrestled the door closed and went flying through the portal. He drifted towards a door ahead but a pain in his chest gripped him.

It felt like someone was tugging at his chest, similar to someone summoning him, but it felt like someone was adding weight onto him instead. He screamed from the pain and then crashed into the door and found himself on the floor looking at a very confused Barbara and Adam Maitland.

“Juno is back?!” Lydia hissed, at one point the two friends migrated to the table and the Maitland couple snuck their way in during Beetlejuice’s story. “After being swallowed by a Sandworm, she’s still alive?!” Lydia pounded the table once more.

“She’s a demon, she couldn’t be taken down that easily. No Sandworm on Saturn could get rid of her,” Beetlejuice sighed.

“But you said ‘we both got dead moms,’” The teen replied.

“Yeah I did, but realistically the Sandworm would at least put her out of the Netherworld for a while. Didn’t know she would regenerate so quickly.” Beetlejuice rubbed his head with his fingers, “For all I know, Maria is keeping Juno busy with all the paperwork that stacked up when she was away.”

“So the plan now is,” Barbara started slowly, “what do we do with you?”

“He should stay,” Delia entered nonchalantly, startling Adam and Barbara, “He obviously needs a place to stay, and where would he go anyway?”

“How long have you been listening in Delia?” Adam spoke uneasily..

“For quite a while, but I vote for him to stay. If he agrees to behave, like how he has done for the past day, he could stay.” Delia smiled.

“Before we get to that, I have something to say.” Beetlejuice stood up from his seat and walked to Barbara.

“Oh!” Adam jumped, “We’re doing this now! Barbara, Beetlejuice has something to say to you.”

Barbara looked to Beetlejuice with a raised brow, “Alright?”

“I’m sorry.” Beetlejuice said slowly, “I’m sorry about before, how I left you two to fend for yourselves, how I almost exorcised you Babs, molested both you and Adam. Don’t worry about it happening again, I, uhhh, had a chat about boundaries and consent from Adam, nice steal Babs I gotta add. And there’s a lot more that is very inexcusable, but I’m really sorry.” He turned to Delia next, “That also goes to you too Darci, sorry.” He rubbed his hands again in nervousness and head itching like no tomorrow, “There’s a lot of things I have to do to right my misdeeds but I’m willing to try and be…” he shivered. “Nicer. And Lyds,” he looked down to the floor, turning his body to face her instead, “I know you wanted to help, and I ran away.” He raised his arm, revealing the bracelet that Lydia gave him the night of his reappearance, “If this thing is to go by anything, I’ll be better.” The glow from his chest flashed for a second and so did Lydia’s, of course he didn’t mention no one else could see the glow apart from both of them, but the message was clear.

All three ladies of the room stared at Beetlejuice in bewilderment, with Adam swelling with pride like a proud father.

“I also vote for him to stay,” Barbara surprised everyone, “If he really wants to make it up to us, then he should follow some house rules.”

“I’m a grown ass demon, I think I can behave Babs.”

“Then I propose a buddy system then,” Lydia cut in, “Obviously Adam and Barbara are together, so will Step-mom and dad. So Beej, you and I are going to be essentially pals for this entire ride.” She smiled at Beetlejuice, “I accept your apology Beej, just don’t ever do it again.” Lydia got up from her seat and went to hug Beetlejuice, but upon inhaling near Beetlejuice she recoiled and stepped away, “You still smell as putrid as before, but we can fix that. You need a shower.” Lydia scrunched her nose and stepped back. “Beetlejuice,”

“Yeah Lyds?”

“Beetlejuice."

“WAIT LYDS NO! DON’T SUMMON ME JUNO IS GOING TO FIND OUT-"

“Lydia no-"

“Sweetie what are you doing-"

“Stop, think of what is going to happen-"

“Beetlejuice!”

The lights flickered as Beetlejuice transitioned from the material to the physical realm, thunder could be heard and screaming from each member of the household reverberated through the kitchen.

Something’s different though, the usual gut wrenching and hook under the rib cage feeling was smaller. Not as bothersome, but it was still uncomfortable. Something’s definitely amiss. Beetlejuice collapsed onto the floor clutching the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach.

“Beetlejuice!” Lydia ran to his side, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” his hair told her otherwise, his hair was FLUSHED with white as his yellow eyes were scanning the room, waiting for a door to open to the Netherworld.

But nothing happened.

Lydia helped Beetlejuice up, confused on why he was looking around.

“She’s not here,” Beetlejuice whispered.

“What?” Adam asked.

“She’s not here,” Beetlejuice said a little louder, “She didn’t show up!” He looked around, the green slowly creeping back into his hair. “Kid, she isn’t here! Juno didn’t show up!” Beetlejuice jumped into the air, hooting and hollering around the room, “Look at that, I’m here!” He nose dived into the plate of bacon for emphasis, splattering bacon and bacon grease everywhere. “Holy shit!”

“Language!” Barbara and Delia chastised.

“Sorry! It’s just, I’m so happy!” Beetlejuice floated over to Lydia and threw her up into the air, spinning around cackling. “Kid we definitely can cause true chaos now!”

Beetlejuice dropped Lydia to the floor and drifted to the Maitlands and gave them a bear hug, “A-dog you sly animal you did this, and Babs you’re awesome!” He floated slowly to Delia, cause she took a defensive stance when Beetlejuice floated towards her, “Delia, not going to touch ya cause you look like you’re going to sock me with that crystal you’re holding, but you’re not going to be disappointed!”

Three knocks from the wall took everyone’s attention from the celebrating demon, Beetlejuice immediately froze and hair went straight to white. “Spoke too soon Beej.” Lydia spoke running to the knife holder and grabbed the biggest knife.

A door from the wall flew open and sauntered in Miss Argentina in her red dress and green skin glory, “Beetlejuice, thank satan, I was hoping you were going to get summoned.”

“Argentina? What are you doing here?” Beetlejuice ran over to her and hugged her, which was definitely out of character. “Where’s Juno?”

“In her office, I diverted your summoning papers, you're welcome by the way, had them directed straight to my office. I self appointed myself as Head of Beetlejuice affairs in the Netherworld. Told you I had it handled.” She gently pushed him off her small frame, “Now you,” she pointed to Lydia, “You summoned him, try not to send him into the Netherworld.”

“As long as he doesn’t try to marry me again, we should be fine.” Lydia grinned.

“IT WAS A GREEN CARD THING!” Beetlejuice insisted, “I never actually wanted to marry you, I just didn’t want to be alone,” he grumbled.

“Yeah we know, you’re the loneliest guy on earth,” Lydia rolled her eyes.

“As for my business here, Beetlejuice, I’ve got papers for the little one to sign.” Maria snapped and a pen and paper appeared in front of Lydia. “One thing is important, do not do the summoning ritual again or else there will be consequences.”

“Like?” Adam eyes gliding over the contract.

Beetlejuice shuffled uncomfortably, “It’s a means of breaking the contract, if you’re unsatisfied with the work with the entity you summoned, the case worker assigned to the entity will be sent back to guide work.”

“Right, best be on your best behaviour dude.” Lydia yawned, “Where do I sign?”

“Bottom right,” Beetlejuice and Argentina replied simultaneously.

“Wait Lydia, before you sign that you have to read it.” Adam huffed.

“No one reads contracts anymore Adam, I mean the person who’s writing this doesn’t.”

“What?” Barbara, Lydia, Adam and Delia scratched their heads in confusion while Argentina facepalmed.

“Nothing, as long as Lydia doesn’t say my name three times again and I don’t quit we should be right as rain” Beetlejuice smiled.

“Sounds good to me,” Lydia signed the contract and it disappeared.

“Great,” Argentina took a deep breath, “but now I have to get back before Juno gets suspicious.” The first step she took was stopped by Beetlejuice’s arm on hers.

“Argentina, a word,” Beetlejuice pulled her to the side, “Just wanted to say thanks, again.”

“Don’t mention it,” she slapped his arm playfully, “Make sure you don’t fuck this up Mr. Juice,” Argentina cupped his cheek, “these are good people, and don’t tell anyone I said this, but I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks Maria.”

“That’s Miss Argentina to you!” Miss Argentina chastised, she jumped into Beetlejuice’s arms to give him a hug, “Stay safe up here, we’ll send updates every now and then.” she gave him a peck on the cheek and left through the Netherworld portal without another word.

Beetlejuice walked to where the door closed and rested his hand against it, “See ya Argentina,” he rubbed at the spot where she kissed him.

“Do you think that they had history together?” Adam spoke in a hushed tone to Barbara.

“From what I am seeing, yeah.” Barbara whispered back.

There is only one person in the Netherworld who Beetlejuice trusted, and that special person is Miss Argentina. When he was banished a couple decades ago she was the one who was constantly in touch, he had people in the Netherworld sure, but no one could compare to her. He patted the wall before he faced the four other occupants in the kitchen, “Well that’s over and done with. Alright kid, where do you wanna go for our first outing now that I’m back?” He smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes, the crinkle of his smile was also a little too wide, and his hair colour was a weird off-purple colour. 

“Beej, are you okay?” Lydia looked to him with worry apparent in her eyes.

“I will be,” He inclined his head toward the wall again, “Argentina will keep everything sorted.”

“Sorry for calling you a rat earlier Beej.” Lydia guiltily looked to him, “I didn’t mean to.”

“No problem kid, it was the heat of the moment.” Beetlejuice replied, smiling.

“Are you Jewish Beetlejuice?” Barbara asked.

“What makes you say that?”

“You wore a yarmulke during the…” Adam rubbed his hands nervously.

“Oh yeah, the wedding.” with the mention of it, everyone cringed and shrunk into themselves, “I think my father was Jewish, I don't remember.”

“Then it was really wrong for me to say that, sorry Beej.” Lydia rushed forward to give him a hug which she immediately regretted. “You still smell,” she scrunched her nose. “But now that you’re here you can shower, you definitely need it!”

“All part of the charm ya little brat, right Adam?” he wiggled his eyebrows at the man in question, he then licked his hand and gave Lydia’s hair a ruffle with said hand.

“Gross! Now we both got to shower!” She swatted his hand away playfully.

“Point the way kid,” Beetlejuice laughed.

“We’ll set up the bathroom in the guest bedroom for you.” Adam reached for Barbara’s hand and went with her towards the staircase, “The water will be up and running when you get there, just step in.”

“Thank you.”

Delia, even though she didn’t get what was happening but was a part of this whole fiasco anyway, watched with awe. Lydia was more relaxed than ever before and having Beetlejuice around would probably help her come out of her shell a bit more. And hopefully won’t cause trouble at school when she brings him along, maybe get some friends to bring home. Delia’s excitement for Lydia’s happiness was unparalleled, she couldn’t get her to smile before and getting to where they are now was indirectly caused by Beetlejuice, she’ll just have to thank him later. She got a look at the kitchen before she set off to clean it up, and to reheat the food when Lydia comes back downstairs from her shower with Beetlejuice in tow. She pulled out an extra plate for him just in case if he wanted some. One more mouth to feed couldn’t hurt.

Chapter Text

Her antique mirror, beat up as it was, still gleamed with the immaculate reflection of the person she once was. Every indent and gruesome hole she had was changed in the mirror, she could stare at herself all day, but she had a job to do. A request from the head honcho herself.

With the comb in her hand, she carved an eye into the glass. Pressing the carving, the mirrors' reflective surface shimmered and became liquid. She entered without fear, this was her domain. Her twisted visage swirling around herself reflecting on the mirrored, hallowed halls. It almost taunts her, how these mirrors illustrate her frame.

She was beautiful once, the most sought after maiden in Greece, but after her brother murdered her in cold blood. He got what he deserved and never saw him again. Nor her parents, but she was happy without them, she has been in the Netherworld for centuries and has never thought back of her old family nor her sinister younger brother.

Upon entering the Netherworld, she gazed upon her reflection in a mirror within the waiting room’s washroom. Her once youthful and radiant appearance, now marred and scarred by bloody holes continuously oozing from every orifice, her skin, crisped up to a leathery texture, her curly locks now permanently straightened from the heat, her luxurious linen cloth singed beyond recognition. When she was called, her caseworker explained the events leading up to her death, how her brother snuck Greek fire from the servants quarters and laid them throughout the house and lit the barrels while she slept. Her caseworker offered the chance of revenge, which she gladly accepted. Furious, she haunted her brother for days, inhabiting mirrors and all who gaze upon her cursed reflection. At the break of insanity, she eviscerated her younger brothers skin, carving it to look like her porous features, finally slitting his throat with her sharpened bronze mirror after 20 hours of torture. Before slitting his throat, she whispered into his ear “Sister’s home.”

Her caseworker, Juno, impressed with her work privately asked her if she would like to work for her. No longer being her beautiful self, she had no choice. She gracefully accepted doing Juno’s torturous work for centuries. And she got good at it, and she was creative with her torture. Sometimes acting nice and coy to initially gain trust from her victims then nicking skin down to the muscle and peeling so slowly they would be forced to stay awake. Her servitude to Juno was that of desperation and was grateful for her ability to get revenge.

She reached her boss’ study and spoke in her croaky voice, “I have arrived miss, what do you require?” The study was recently trashed and her boss sat in that weird throne she liked sitting in, she passed through the glass and elegantly sat in the seat in front of the wooden table.

“Two people you need to look into my dear,” Juno growled, “Make sure you find them and keep an eye on them, they must never meet and never know you’re there.”

“They won’t notice I am present,” her words forged like silver, flew from her mouth in a chilled icy tone, “Who am I tracking?”

“My despicable excuse of a family,” Juno ground her nails onto the table, “I’m sure you won’t let me down.”

“The deed shall be done,” she bowed her head, “Where might I find them?” 

“One is somewhere along the east coast of the new world, as for the other,” she pulled out a ripped photo from her desk of the next individual, “I have no clue, the bastard always finds a way to stay hidden after so many years. Look for this man and I’m sure you’ll know what to do with him once you are finished.”

“With haste my mistress,” she walked toward the still shimmering mirror.

“You are like the daughter I never had,” Juno elegantly lied, “Oh, and Skia my darling,” The mirror demon look to Juno’s reflection on the glass, “Make sure he suffers.”

Skia nodded and entered the mirror to set out to find the man in the photo. A friendly looking individual with soft features, a fat round belly, a huge bright smile plastered on his face, he's a very handsome individual she thought, but this is Juno's significant other. The photo is yellow and tattered with age, but the subject of the photo had his arms outstretched, reaching for something. Skia’s curiosity wanted to know who was on the other half of the photo, but if she dared question Juno she would be punished.

She had to make her proud.

No matter what.

Chapter Text

Lydia dragged Beetlejuice upstairs and deposited him into the guest bedroom so she could take a shower herself. The guest bedroom was sparse in its decorating: a red horizontal oak dresser that had six drawers with its own accompanying vanity, a queen sized bed, one lone window and a closet. There were no paintings in there, just a dull grey wall for this dull grey room. He huffed at this, he wanted to redecorate, but he had to be incognito just in case Chuck decided to do a surprise check in.

If he had his way, Beetlejuice would have the walls painted like his signature suit, he would get the bed geared towards the window so he could watch the sunrise from it, the dresser would stay where it was but he would undoubtedly change the material. According to a conversation he had with Miss Argentina, she claimed that oak was ‘inferior and should be traded in for a mahogany one.’ Beetlejuice would absolutely want one of those large bean bag chairs that breathers often rave about and place that in a corner by the bed. He would get a desk similar to the one that Lydia has in her room. He could figure it out whenever Chuck agrees to have him stay here.

Beetlejuice entered the bathroom with his suit jacket slung over his shoulder, and the bathroom was sparkly and spotless. The large mirror had no dust, the toilet had been recently cleaned, there were two sinks and it showed no sign of use, and the flowery shower curtain was gaudy at best. He did feel a little uneasy though, there was this weird scent in the air… Making him feel heavy, like something actively trying to tie him down, and not in the fun way.. He sniffed the bathroom and found the source of the smell coming from the little air freshener sitting on the linoleum toilet. Beetlejuice tried to pick it up but his hand was slapped away from an unseen force.

He knew only one thing in this world that could do that to any malignant ghost or hysterical demons running amuck in the world of the living:

Rosemary.

Fucking Rosemary.

Rosemary was typically used as demon repellent, (foreshadowing), and in the Dark Ages, everyone and their mother had strung up rosemary bushes all around their property. Which sucked ass, since it was the biggest demon cockblock known to demon kind.

He hung up his suit jacket on the door and dug into his pocket to retrieve his reacher grabber. After a minute of digging, he safely took the air freshener and chucked it out the open window. Now that it was gone, the weight on his shoulders dissipated. He was going to have to tell Lydia about not having rosemary plants nearby, it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation but the fact that something as harmless as a small plant could dish out so much force worried him.

The shower was running as Adam promised, he stripped down, carefully folded his pants and shirt and hopped in the shower. The water was a little cold for his liking. So he turned the knob to its hottest setting, and boy did that warm him up. He curled into himself from the initial shock of the heat, but relaxed after a bit.

Beetlejuice’s surface grime washed off a greenish-grey goop, needless to say he was a little peeved. Beetlejuice was proud of his collection, centuries of volcanic ash, bodily fluid, dirt, layers upon layers of dead skin, and soil, just gone. He was heartbroken to see all of his hard work go literally down the drain, he’d have to fix that in a bit by rolling around that graveyard Lydia mentioned before.

Now what? 

Beetlejuice thought after the water ran somewhat clear. He noticed the colourful array of bottles in the caddy that hung on the shower head, the green bottle on the left in particular caught his eye. The bottle, green tea scented it read, sounded appealing. So Beetlejuice popped the cap and took a sip. The first five seconds upon tasting it was delightful but when he tried to swallow, it burned his  esophagus causing him to gag and hack out breath.

“FUCK THAT BURNS!” Beetlejuice sputtered in-between coughs.

“Are you doing okay?” Adam’s voice came from behind the bathroom door, “You didn’t drink the shampoo did you?”

“Shit,” he whispered. “No, I just drank the water. I choked on it.”

“You’re supposed to wash your hair with the bottles in there, and not the entire bottle at once.” Adam giggled. “Put a dime's worth on your palm and lather it through your scalp!”

Beetlejuice, with the bottle in hand, did as he was told. The dimes worth of shampoo was squirted and he ran it through his hair. If the goop was green before, the suds bubbled a blackish-brown goo. Beetlejuice kept adding more and more of the stuff until the soap didn’t have a weird blackish tone to it, there were excess strands of hair that he accidentally pulled out by rubbing too hard but hair doesn’t stop growing after death. Therefore he didn’t complain over the loss of some hair strands.

After doing his deep shampoo rub, and if he had to make an educated guess, even with his reading comprehension being next to nothing, the bottle that’s similar looking to shampoo he just used was supposed to be used thereafter. It even had the same name. “There’s another bottle here, should I use it?” Beetlejuice asked Adam, already putting a handful into his palm.

“The conditioner? Yeah, run it through the ends of your hair and just wash it out after leaving it in for a little bit!” Adam said again, “There’s a towel hanging on the door if you need it and extra clothes on top of the toilet if you choose to wear them!”

Beetlejuice followed Adam’s directions but took a chance to peek behind the shower curtains, “Sneaking a peak there A-dog?” To his disappointment Adam wasn’t there, Adam must’ve sneakily stepped in while his eyes were closed when the shampoo temporarily blinded him.

“Nice try Beetlejuice,” Adam teased, “Did a little sneaky sneak!” He squawked a high pitch ninja yell followed by the sound of a falling object, “shit.”

Beetlejuice laughed, “Some things never change, do they A-dog?” Having Adam be his adorkable self is something that made Beetlejuice smile.

There was an extra red bottle with little beads inside that read…. Body wash. So for the time the conditioner is in his hair, he grabbed the red bottle and squirted that bottle onto himself a la Varsity Blues, whipped cream bikini style. He did the best that he could with his hands, but nothing beats having someone else touching you.

“Adam? Care to join me in rubbing this body wash on me?” Beetlejuice sang.

Another object fell to the floor, “NOPE.” Adam replied curtly, “Since you don’t need help now, cause I’m sure you know what to do next, I’m leaving.”

Beetlejuice chuckled to himself, he thoroughly enjoyed flirting with Adam, especially when he gets all flustered and turns that funny beet red that breathers do. It was comparable when he flirted with Barbara, the other boring but just as sexy Maitland woman. With her tough exterior, she still flushed crimson whenever he made a snide comment. She’s strong and independent from her husband but still full of love for Adam and Lydia.

Shaking out the slow build up of itchiness coming onto his head, he rinsed his hair to get rid of the conditioner and finished off washing the rest of his body. Beetlejuice turned the water off, shook his body to get rid of the excess water and stepped out. The mirror fogged up completely by the time he was finished, he gave it a good wipe so he could look at his face. The shower didn’t quite get rid of the green moss stuck on his nose, forehead and beard, but he was clean all things considered.

Underneath his pale skin, there was a hint of pink on his cheeks, his hair, now a mix of pink, yellow and green, laid flatly against his round face. Beetlejuice ran his hand through his hair and found the texture of his hair to be soft, not like before where his hair felt like velcro. His hands, usually caked in mud, are absent of all grime, even his fingernails were cleaned of its usual gunk embedded in them.

Beetlejuice took notice of his suit not being there where he set it down and went in a panic, not even thinking of grabbing the towel, he rushed out the room only to find it hung up in the closet. A note was attached to its lapel, it read:

Beetlejuice,

I know you will panic if your suit disappears on you, but you were in the shower for quite a while. Don’t worry I took it from the bathroom and ironed it for you. I don’t know if you want it cleaned but it’ll be in the closet here waiting if you ever need it.

You’re welcome,

-Barbara

If Beetlejuice didn’t steal some of Juno’s and Miss Argentina’s paperwork, he wouldn’t be able to tell apart from cursive F’s and T’s. Barbara’s S’s in particular had a funny tail at the end of it and her print was very petite, he had to squint for a couple words but otherwise he read it with some difficulty. Maybe learning how to read would actually help him get somewhere, Barbara might teach him.

Beetlejuice returned to the bathroom to retrieve the towel to pat himself dry and took a look at the clothes that Adam had set aside for him. A black shirt that had a skull on it, but the eyes were egg yolks and instead of crossbones it was cross bacon. There were blue sweatpants and an ugly orange sweater. There was white underwear, which would definitely be sullied later on and red and blue mismatched socks. Beetlejuice looked to the orange sweater in disdain. Orange was not his colour and having his hair shift orange sometimes disgusted him.

He decided not to go with the underwear, he always went commando. The socks he put on because no one wanted to see his grotesque feet. However pulling the sweatpants on made him tremble. It laid on his skin with just the faintest of touches, almost feeling like he wasn’t wearing any pants at all. They were lightweight and had a lot of mobility to them. The pants were made of fleece and it hung loosely around his hips making it dip a little, there were strings that tightened the pants which he tied up so he wouldn’t accidentally flash anyone with his dick.

The shirt is just as comfy as the pants, it was just his size and hugged his round belly in all the right places. Beetlejuice looked to the mirror and struck a pose, a little hobo rockstar chic never hurt anyone and he definitely made it work. He was very hesitant to wear the orange sweater though, but it was part of the outfit that Adam picked out so he shrugged it on. The sweater is just as soft and comfortable as the pants, it was loose and didn’t limit his motion in anyway. He definitely pouted at the loss of wearing his suit but damn it all to hell if this outfit wasn’t just as comfortable as the suit.

Beetlejuice didn’t bother drying his hair. It laid haphazardly on his head giving him a shaggy look. If he could describe his look, it would be: “striving rockstar, squatting at his best friends house.”

“Hey Beej,” a knock came from the door, “You done yet?”

With a wave of his hand, Beetlejuice flung the door open with his powers and called the person at the door to enter. It was Lydia, dressed in black sweats and a black top.

“Woah, who called in the rockstar hobo?” Lydia snickered upon seeing Beetlejuice in normal clothes, “I mean you looked like a dead zebra before but now rockstar hobo totally suits the look you’re sporting right now.” She laughed at the memory of her description of Beetlejuice the night they met.

“And I thought I looked sexy in this, considering that Adam picked it out for me.” Beetlejuice threw his head back with laughter, “What are we going to do now kid? Are we going to go ahead with the spiders thing? OH! Let’s write with blood and scare the hell out of the Maitlands!”

Lydia rubbed her chin in contemplation, “As much as that sounds like the tits,” she threw her hand in the air in frustration, “We’ve got to stay on the down low, Dad is going to come home in a couple hours so we can’t do anything too crazy. But it’s Saturday and anything is possible on a weekend,” Lydia eyed Beetlejuice’s outfit again and her eyes lit up, “I got it!”

Beetlejuice raised a brow, “Whatcha got in mind kid?”

Lydia excitedly ran out the door in the directions of her bedroom, “Scarecrow?” She came back with her laptop underneath her arm and a cable.

“You and I are going to gorge ourselves with junk food, B-Movie horror flicks and a sleepover night!” Lydia shook with excitement, actually it wasn’t even shaking at this point. She looked as if she was going to bounce off the walls any second now.

Beetlejuice put a hand on her shoulder in an effort to stop the wobbling teen, “Lydia are you okay?”

“Just fine! I’m just really excited, I drank all that coffee from that pot Barbara made earlier.. Not the greatest idea but I’ll be fine!” Lydia wiggled out of Beetlejuice’s palm and ran  out of the room again, “Come on! There is this one funny flick called Zombeaver and from what I heard, it’s hilarious!” Her ecstatic call from downstairs made Beetlejuice hesitate.

He glanced at the hanging suit in the closet. That suit has been on him for over a century and despite having actual clothes on made him feel naked. Every now and then he would have to patch it up due to his bouts of recklessness with other demons, humans and powerful poltergeists, but it was with him through thick and thin. Not even Juno could get it off him.

He rubbed at the clothing he had on. It felt too soft on him, he didn’t deserve the kindness that Sexy, Babs, Devon and Lydia are willingly giving to him. He felt…

Well quite honestly he didn’t know how to feel, this was entirely new. He had multiple one night stands and never had anyone stay with him for more than a couple hours. Adam and Barbara were still hesitant to have him around, Dorothy has her reservations about him but she is giving him a second chance, but Lydia?

She was genuinely, from what he could see, happy for him to be back. Although it bothered him a little bit that she defended him because everything has a price and Beetlejuice knew that too well. He fucked up multiple times in his undead life and with Juno constantly wishing he was never born weighed heavily on his shoulders.

“Hey Beej,” a hand arched over to his, “Put your hand down.” Beetlejuice turned his gaze from the closet to his hands, apparently at one point he had clenched them. He slowly unfurled them and saw that his nails had caused mini crescent moon indentations on his palm. Lydia stood in front of him with a sad smile, “This is a bit overwhelming for you, considering the last time everyone was nice to you, we stabbed you in the back. Literally.”

Beetlejuice stretched his hand before reeling himself back into the present, “Yeah, I know. Water under the bridge.” He tried to smile but it made him look more forlorn.

“Do you have something you need to get off your chest? The movie could wait you know.”

“Just overwhelmed, like you said. Don’t know what to feel, sure it’s good to be back but I don’t know if I should feel outraged or elated that you and your family, sans Chuck, are open to the fact that I’m currently staying underneath your roof.” Beetlejuice looked to Lydia with uncertainty, “Aren’t you guys nervous?”

“Well of course we are,” Lydia stated flatly, “But you wanted to try again and say you wanted to be better. We’re giving you the benefit of the doubt cause we trust you, well I don’t know about dad but we’ll figure something out.” Beetlejuice nodded but casted his gaze downward. “Now let’s go, no more mopey stuff, you’re getting soft and I have had enough of the soft stuff today.”

Lydia grabbed the door handle and motioned for him to come, “Hey Lyds?” He whispered.

“Yeah?”

“Can I have another hug?” Throughout this conversation, Beetlejuice’s hair had been on the lighter purple side but as he had his arms outstretched for a hug, the lighter purple shifted to a pink. There was a little bit of green thrown in there too.

“Of course, but only because you showered and asked nicely.” Lydia threw herself at Beetlejuice for his hug, squeezing him as tightly as she could.

After a minute, Lydia let and trailed out the door with Beetlejuice behind her. “The movie is going to be really bad, I hope you're ready for cheap scares and horrible practical effects.”

Beetlejuice laughed, it was a weak one but it was real, “It couldn’t be as bad as the Maitlands scare during that dinner, I am so ready.”

“Oh boy you’re in for a treat.” The teen laughed.

Chapter Text

Skia traveled through her glassy world, the mirrors and her reflection being the only company she needed during her travels to the Breatherworld.

And she despised it all.

When she emerged to the surface for the first time, she recoiled in disgust. The elegance of what was once her home now was a shadow of its former glory. She observed that no kings, rulers, or emperors ruled any lands. Other than that one kingdom in Britannia that still stood, but she loathed them upon discovering that they were only figureheads and no longer in specific control. No country crossed borders to pillage lands of other foreign kings and queens.

Skia also perceived that there were no small villages and large towns anymore, or even towering castles. Instead metal and concrete towered over her and some were high up in the clouds. All the buildings looked similar to each other, and with each visitation to the surface, her distaste for human construction grew. Gone were the marble temples and the colossal statues, and now stood square houses with no distinctive style and consideration of the higher class. All of these ‘houses’, the breathers called them, looked eerily similar.

Skia would have it burn to the ground if she had her way, and reinstate absolute control for the socially elite. However she had a job to do, and Juno wanted results.

She previously knew of Beetlejuice’s involvement with Juno’s disappearance for  a couple of breather months and wanted to get revenge. However Juno returned and tasked her to seek him and track him.

Skia hasn’t come across anything yet.

When Juno relayed to her that Beetlejuice would be along the east coast of the United States, she thought she would be able to find him due to his obnoxious hair colour, but she couldn’t. Beetlejuice had hidden himself well.

Skia had never interacted with Beetlejuice before, she always heard the denizens of the Netherworld talk about him in hushed tones. Whether out of fear or respect, she did not know. She has seen his revolting black and white striped suit once, but other than that, nothing was particularly striking about the demon. However, she would keep her distance for cautionary reasons, this is the spawn of Juno she is tracking and who knows what he might do to her if Beetlejuice takes notice of her presence.

Only she knows of Beetlejuice’s relation to Juno. Juno’s wayward son had a habit of getting himself banned from the Netherworld on occasion, but what had  gotten himself into this time that caused Juno to lash out and look for him she wondered. Maybe upon disclosing his location to Juno, she would finally know.

Skia took a turn to the left and saw a clear mirror with a woman scrutinizing her figure. As she walked towards the woman, Skia began to morph her figure into the woman ahead of her. The glass refracted its subject onto her, causing her shift from the top of her head to her feet. Her patchy, thin, black hair shifted into a healthy blonde. The body twisting into a plump figure with a red dress and red shoes to match. Her pasty white skin warmed up, matching the melanated brown skin of the woman. Skia eyed the woman up and down and started copying her movements when she was face to face with the mirror.

The room that this woman is occupying was a small enclosed space. Skia figured that only 2 or 3 people at best can fit in this small room. There were wire hangers hanging on the left and a large wooden door behind the woman.

Why must all breathers turn and show their behinds in front of the mirror? Skia thought. The woman was checking out her ass and constantly running her hand up and down, it was undignified and unlady-like.

Skia deduced that his woman was in a dressing room, so Skia hurriedly ducked away from the mirror and went on her way.

The amount of times she has appeared in dressing rooms with people in them in… compromising positions was too numerous to count.

Back then, there were brothels and other private chambers that such concupiscent activities could take place. Skia never frequented them, but the multiple suitors that have tried to get her into their beds, were routine for them. They reeked of sex and other floral incenses that agitated her to no end, their sullied pants and souls never interested her. For the hearts of men and women are easily persuaded by any sort of affection given to them. For the gods of yore  came down from their heavens and had children with mortals. Gods are just men and women whose godhood meant nothing if they couldn’t get anyone to their beds.

Her search went on for hours, no one ever matching the description of a messy, green haired, black and white suited demon lingering around mirrors. This is where her powers failed her sometimes, there were so many mirrors in the human world and a lot of them, like she used to, loved to gaze upon their visage. She never dared to take an appearance of another and go about to travel outside her territory, it was fact that no denizen of any realm could cross over to another realm and return safely. Although the multiple ghosts that have lingered in the mortal realm were recluse and stayed out of the way of breathers. Unless they were trespassing onto their territory, that’s when they would haunt their respective areas and do what ghosts do.

There was an incident with two breathers who entered the Netherworld and left without harm, but even so… Not one of the Netherworld denizens ever attempted to leave.

Skia wanted to find Beetlejuice as quickly as she could, but if this one was hard to find then the other would be just as difficult.

She hit her to the glass on her right, the impact leaving the glass cracking and weaving out like a rigid spiderweb. She was getting impatient. 

Juno wanted the location of the two.

And she would get them..

Skia glided from mirror to mirror, glossing over each place she went. Apartment buildings, small houses, a random mirror in the middle of a junkyard (which she smashed), an abandoned washroom, and still she found nothing.

Her breath started to quicken in agitation, Beetlejuice was never hard to find. His loud and boisterous self was usually a dead giveaway, and if he would be using his powers it would be easier.

Beings of his stature were easy to find, he radiated Netherworld energy….

Wait…

Skia facepalmed herself, she is an absolute fool! She was only looking for him, but not actually looking for him. Centuries of servitude and she learned nothing, she would have to report to Juno and receive punishment for how unbelievably simple this task is if she put her mind to it.

She just needs a map.

Coming back to her room in the Netherworld, she pulled out her multiple collections of maps and went for the newest updated one. The newer the map, the more accurate the spell will be. It might be the opposite for some but for this purpose, since the world always changes, a newer map would be sufficient.

With map in hand, and a match stick on the other; Skia whispered Beetlejuice’s name and set the map ablaze. The map flashed with elegant flames, a tapestry of ash and smoke enveloped the room. As fast as the map was engulfed by the fire, the spell was over.

The only thing remaining was one small square, swaying in the air. With her outstretched hand, the paper slowly spun and landed on her palm, still smouldering from the heat. The little piece outlined a small rectangular state that read ‘Connecticut’. With how new the map was, there was extra text at the bottom of the piece:

Winter River, Connecticut.

She crushed the paper and turned to her mirror, and drawing her runic eye, she stepped into her domain. The location engraved in her mind like a scar. She has a location, now to find what house he is staying in. 

Her mirrored landscape showed her the way, bleeding out all the unnecessary destinations she had previously visited. And found herself in a small suburban neighbourhood with an ominous hill with a house on top looking over the small area. The mirror she popped out of was laid on the back of a truck, seems like someone had moved in nearby, and so began her investigation.

Gathering her powers, she assumed the visage of the woman with the red dress she found earlier and walked around.

Men hounded her with pleas to join them in bed as she walked down the street, calling her names and other obscenities. But she trudged on, ignoring the men that drove nearby and when they got too close, she waved her hand and sent the men back to their obvious families.

Men never change. Skia smiled and went near every single house and felt no connections to the Netherworld. There was a small tug on where she would go though, and all of it was heading towards the direction of the house on top of the hill.

She quickened her pace, and if anyone noticed, she floated to the house and peered in the window.

She had found her target. Beetlejuice had forgone his suit and wore a hand-me-down outfit fit for a social outcast, he was sitting on the couch with a young girl. They were doing something that made them laugh but she turned her eye to the demon and eyed his atrocious attire. The orange coat he had on was revolting and the undershirt was horrendous, she would have preferred to have him wear the suit over this distasteful ensemble. But she found her first target, now for the second.

Juno’s significant other, or rather, the father to this wretched creature.

She would report later after she had found him, but for now… Skia drew another runic eye on the wood, which had glowed when she was finished. She marked the house so when she needed to return, any mirror in that house would grant her access to it.

Skia turned and walked back to the mirror at the foot of the hill and set out to search for the second individual.

Well, Mr. Shoggoth. I found your son, now to do away with you. Daddy is never going to see his child ever again. She shed her form and entered the mirror with a nefarious cackle. Her manic glee and excitement sent her into a euphoric state.

She hasn’t tortured anyone in a while.

Chapter Text

The movie was absolute dogshit.

The effects were garbage and there were major inconsistencies in the film that both Lydia and Beetlejuice pointed out every five minutes or so. The scares? It would be a compliment if you call it that. Albeit the plot was sort of interesting, an unknown chemical leak was released into a beaver community, leaving them to turn into undead wood and flesh loving mammals but there was no basis of an actual story. 

“That transformation with the girl?!” Beetlejuice said in-between fits of laughter, “Priceless! God that form was so ugly and those janky, busted looking buck teeth? Gnarly!” Beetlejuice rolled off the couch and started pounding the floor.

Lydia held up a finger to help her catch a breath, “That one dumb turning with the chick with the glasses, it was so sudden!” She snickered, “I’ll give the filmmakers that! Certainly caught me by surprise.” 

“Too bad there wasn’t much gore in the film,” Beetlejuice pointed out, “I for one would’ve sawed that dude’s leg off! It works sometimes, maybe it would stop the infection!” Beetlejuice conjured up a handsaw and comically went through the motion of sawing his leg off, which caused Lydia to cackle even louder. At one point, Lydia didn’t produce sound, she convulsed and had nothing but air leave her gaping mouth. Which in turn, caused Beetlejuice to roar like a seal.

The duo laughed for the entirety of the film, especially where you weren’t supposed to laugh. The Zombeavers were so unrealistic and the way that the infection spread was just dumb. Beetlejuice couldn’t help but sputter every so often at the cheap scares. The two gabbed about how horrendous the film, the acting and the special effects were, the characters were flat and the tropes that each of them filled was so stereotypical it hurt. Then Beetlejuice and Lydia had a brilliant idea to remake one of the funniest scares they saw in the film. Lydia placed her phone onto a high shelf and Beetlejuice stayed on the couch. Lydia positioned herself to the left of the phone camera while Beetlejuice laid down. With every take they took it got worse, they couldn’t stop laughing. A line was flubbed there, over dramatic acting from Beetlejuice and sarcastic screams from Lydia threw the two into hysterics. Even when they tried to get serious, they couldn’t. The tomfoolery was too much. 

Beetlejuice and Lydia’s laughter caused the Maitland couple to run down the stairs in alarm, but their jaws hit the floor upon seeing the demon and the girl. Beetlejuice’s laughter, like his voice was, deep and guttural, while Lydia’s was high and nasal. Adam has never heard Lydia laugh like that, and Barbara only heard Beetlejuice laugh like a sinister weevil.. not like some chortling teenage kid. Delia also came down to see what the commotion was, and upon witnessing the scene, she smiled to herself. Even she, Ms. Life Coach herself, has never seen Lydia laugh so hard and free. Having Beetlejuice around was a good idea, he made Lydia laugh and she no longer sulked in her bedroom and hung out exclusively with the Maitlands.

Lydia finally noticed her three guardians gathering around the staircase, “Oh guys!” She exclaimed, “You have to watch B-list horror movies with Beej and I next time!” The teen vaulted over the couch to reach them, “It’s not scary, and if this last one was anything to go by, it’ll be just as entertaining!” Her cheery laughter blending in with her words. “Maybe we should watch the remakeHouse of Wax next! That one is just as dumb if I remember.”

Beetlejuice however ceased his laughter to look at the figures Lydia was talking to, hair instantly speckled with pink tips. “Only if you guys want to of course,” he added in. He awkwardly scratched the back of his head and waved to the three figures. Beetlejuice got a small wave from Delia, but Adam and Barbara looked to one another in contemplation. 

Barbara spoke first, “Lydia?” she asked, teasingly. “Did you do your homework yet? I know you have homework..”

Lydia groaned, “Ghost-mom not you too! I’ll tell you what I told dad: ‘Saturdays are for relaxing and having fun, Sunday’s are for the work stuff.’ I’ll do it tomorrow, I promise.”

Barbara giggled, “I know, I’m just joking.”

Lydia rolled her eyes but the smirk on her face gave Lydia away that she enjoyed the tease from her ghost mom, which Barbara took to heart in the best way possible. “Whatever, anyway so you guys are interested in watching poor horror films with us?”

Adam shirked up a couple steps, “No thanks, I’m fine with just… upstairs.” He slowly backed up more steps, and then scampered away. Delia and Barbara shared a worried look and the former trailed after Adam, leaving Barbara in the room with two confused people looking at each other with their brows raised.

“What’s wrong with Adam?” Lydia asked the ghostly matriarch.

“Nothing to worry about,” Barbara giggled, “Adam doesn’t really like scary movies, but we could do something else that will get everyone else involved.”

Beetlejuice snapped his arm back on, “An orgy?” Lydia shoved him, “what do you have in mind?”

Barbara waved her hand and a loud screech was heard from the shelf. “You guys are having a sleepover right?” Beetlejuice and Lydia nodded slowly, with the former's hair shading into a curious bright orange, “Well, it can’t be a sleepover without a dance party!” The radio cracked to life and music filled the living room.

Barbara sauntered down the steps with her head held high, her face unnaturally serious as the beginning beats of a pop tune start to fill the room. A woman’s vocals were heard and the synth chords and the initial strum of the electric guitar coming out of nowhere. Horns blasting out their chords got Barbara jumping towards Lydia as the first couple lyrics of the song were sung:

Clock strikes upon the hour

And the sun begins to fade

Using her levitation powers, Barbara reached for Lydia and sent her flying towards the couch. Making sure she landed fine, Barbara joined her and started shimmying, swaying her hips right and left, dancing and hitting each beat of the song. Normally Beetlejuice would make a joke about how white people can’t dance, but seeing Barbara like this made him hold his tongue, and plus she was one pair of the couple who caused that conga line during Charles’ dinner, so he knew that she and Sexy had a sense of rhythm. Her hair bouncing which way and that, catching the light and the way she lit up with her smile and mouthing the words tickled the demon pink. Literally.

Lydia, who decided to say “fuck it,” danced wildly beside the woman, but opted to jump off the couch lest she bump into Barbara. Lydia also knew her stuff too, if you could call waving hands frantically like a chicken knowing her stuff, but she was having fun. Giggling and also singing underneath her breath to the song.

It's the light of day that shows me how

And when the night falls, loneliness calls

The music began to swell and both girls sang out the chorus proudly,

Oh, I wanna dance with somebody

I wanna feel the heat with somebody

Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody

With somebody who loves me

The voluptuous vocals of the singer shook Beetlejuice to the core, he has listened to music before but it was all the doom and gloom stuff down in the Netherworld, every song was a topic about death, not that he minded of course.  Okay not all the music in the Netherworld was bad, but they were all the same damn thing and even with his usual banishments or exiles to the breatherworld he has never come across a song of this calibre.

Dancing on the other hand was a different beast, yes he knew how to but never with someone else on purpose. He has seen newly-deads dance and even got a couple lessons from Miss Argentina when she had the time to. Dances down in hell were not fun per se, the music that Miss Argentina made him dance to was always in Spanish and so he had a grand range in terms of moves in his arsenal. But he hesitated, no one really knew of his ‘fairy activities’ as his mother so lovingly called it, and didn’t really get out much in terms of social interaction. Hence he wanted to find the socially liberal but physically conservative folk he wanted to meet, the people that get him. But right here this is worth it.

The song kept going, with its repetitive lyrics but musical drive, Beetlejuice slowly began shuffling in place. Doing light step-touches and shifting his weight from one foot to the other. It was painfully awkward, Lydia and Barbara were still going at it doing more complex moves with twirls, and at one point: Barbara grabbed Lydia and dipped her. The two started laughing and Barbara pulled her back up and continued dancing, Lydia and Barbara were completely in sync with their timing with the beats and the lyrics of the song. Every point and every twirl fit the song and they would die out together at the same time. To Beetlejuice, it was magical, he was no shirk when it came to his own style of dancing. The woman singing was also magical, each note, all the riffs and in his head, the person who is singing this definitely danced behind the microphone in the recording booth and onstage.

Beetlejuice didn’t realize he had his eyes closed for so long, the radio had moved onto a slower ballad. Lydia had her phone trained on him with a dopey looking smile on her face and Barbara had her hands clamped over her mouth to stifle her laughter that she was failing to keep inside. 

“What?” He asked cautiously, hair tipped with a darker orange. “Do I have something on my face?”

“Other than that green moss you call a face,” Lydia lowered her phone, “Then no, you’re still your despicable, green and ugly self BJ. Don’t worry.”

“Then what’s with that gizmo?”

“My phone?” She held up the item in question, “You were dancing and I wanted to get it on my camera.” Lydia began the playback of the video she took. Beetlejuice saw himself on the small screen awkwardly shuffling at first, and about 30 seconds in he saw himself close his eyes then began to…. moving is not the right word here, watching himself, it was more like writhing in tandem with the song more than dancing. Beetlejuice flushed with embarrassment, his scalp started to itch indicating that his hair started to change colour to a reddish-pink. Looking over to Barbara, she was glued to the small screen and wasn’t paying attention to him or his hair.

Barbara still had her mouth covered to stop her from bursting out laughing, but that failed; sounds of air escaped from her hands making sounds akin to farting. That only made her laugh even more and holding it inside added more hilarity to the situation. The laugh that was released from her gated hands is something that can be described as: a pig meeting a hamster.

Barbara’s laugh came from inside, shaking her whole entire body. She wrapped her arms around her stomach, crunching into herself. “Oh Beetlejuice, your dancing!” She wheezed, “What sort of dance moves is that?” Barbara tried to mimic Beetlejuice’s dance but laughed even harder. Beetlejuice flushed and even hotter pink as Barbara did Beetlejuice’s little side step touches, he was embarrassed but he steeled himself.

“Ooh yeah Babs? You like my dancing?” He smiled smugly and raised his arm, “Prepare to have your mind blown!” With a spark leaving his fingertips the radio sparked back to life and a lively instrumental of a Spanish guitar flooded the room. Beetlejuice struck up a dramatic pose, the room had darkened and a spotlight lit up his now changed appearance. He still had his white and black stripes but his clothes were replaced by a full ruffled sleeve top, a striped sash tied at the waist, and slicked black and white pants.

Barbara couldn’t believe what she was seeing and her jaw was metaphorically on the floor, while Lydia hit record on her phone again, hopefully to capture Beetlejuice fail and fall on his ass.

The song picked up in rhythm and the male Spanish singer sang:

Este amor llega asi manera

No tiene la culpa

Barbara didn’t understand what the singer was singing about, but she watched Beetlejuice shake his rump in time with the beats of the soft drum. With two stomps and a clap, Beetlejuice shimmied his shoulders towards the women and gave them a show. 

And a show they got.

Beetlejuice hopped onto the table and started to spin wildly, his head standing completely still while his body spun.

“Is this Gipsy Kings?” Adam rushed down the stairs to find Beetlejuice still on the table but now had his eyes locked on to the male. “What the…”

The song started to pick up in tempo a little and the pre-chorus got Beetlejuice to leap from the table and land, surprisingly gracefully, in front of Adam. The demon reached for Adam’s hand and twirled Adam in a dip with a flirtatious smile coming from Beetlejuice, “So A-Dog, care for a dance?”

Adam raised an eyebrow, “Well, not like I have a choice here.” Beetlejuice lifted Adam back up and with his fancy footwork, Beetlejuice cha-cha’d in front of Adam, giving him a gesture that could be translated as ‘show me what you got.’

Adam chuckled, “You have no idea who you’re asking to dance Beetleman.”

Barbara nudged Lydia, “You’re going to love this next part, this is Adam’s favourite song from Gipsy Kings.” She groaned in response since she hasn’t figured out a method on how to capture Barbara and Adam’s visage on a digital camera yet, but she had her phone trained on Beetlejuice still since he could show up on it.

Bembele, bembele, bembele,

Bem, bembele, bembele

Adam gave himself a second to stretch and then with the hit of the chorus Adam kicked his left leg over his head.

Bamboleo, bambolea

Porque mi vida, yo la prefiero vivir asi

Bamboleo, bambolea

Porque mi vida, yo la prefiero vivir asi

Adam joined Beetlejuice, falling into step with the shocked demon and continued dancing. Adam did a slide towards Beetlejuice’s left and both he and the demon leaned on each other, slowly coming to a crouching position. Adam swayed to the left and Beetlejuice went to the right, if Adam was alive he would be sweating from exertion. He missed the vigour and jive from dancing. “Any regrets Beetlejuice?”

“In your wildest dreams Adam,” Beetlejuice purred, “Let’s take it up a notch,” They leapt from their crouched position and ran towards each other, Adam jumped and was held up in the air by Beetlejuice with his arms outstretched supporting Adams back as he balanced on top of Beetlejuice’s hands.

Needless to say, Beetlejuice is very impressed with Adam Maitland being able to keep up with him in a dance, a tough latin dance of all things. Even though the dance they were doing wasn’t exactly salsa, cha-cha or flamenco; it was the sheer joy of having fun and having a dance partner who could keep up with his unique blend of dance that brought Beetlejuice to that thrill.

Adam effortlessly floated down back to floor and jumped on the table, where he kicked off the remote and other odd magazines and newspapers littering the table, sending all the materials around him floating in a whirling mess of paper. Beetlejuice stopped dancing to admire the man currently rolling his arms and busting his hips in a heated frenzy.

“Oh wow…” Beetlejuice whispered.

“Enjoying the view Beetlejuice? Come on we still have one more chorus!” Adam bopped to the final chorus, certainly giving Beetlejuice a run for his money. Beetlejuice just stared and his hair transitioned to a light pink all the while Adam, using his powers, vaulted himself off the table. Adam did a full rotation in the air and landed on his knees, sliding towards Beetlejuice with a delighted smile on his face. Beetlejuice on the other hand, his hair got stiff and went rimrod straight towards the ceiling.

Lydia still had the camera still on him and obviously she knew that his feelings for the Maitlands just skyrocketed. It could be the trick of the light or her imagination but she swears she could see little hearts that replaced Beetlejuice’s pupils.

The lights slowly turned back on and Beetlejuice’s outfit shifted to his usual black and white suit.

A squeal was heard snapping Beetlejuice out of his trance, Barbara had thrown herself at Adam, peppering him with kisses. “Adam that was amazing! I forgot how an amazing dancer you are!” She squeezed him in a loving hug.

“That was amazing! You didn’t tell me that you could dance!” Lydia put her phone in her pocket and ogled at Adam, “Where did you learn to do that?!”

Adam, flustered at how he forgot that Barbara and Lydia were there watching him and Beetlejuice dance, laughed nervously and readjusted his glasses, “Guess those dance lessons I had really paid off. Who played that song by the way? That is one of my favourite songs by them! I remember the time when this song was playing and I paraded down the hallway, much to my roommates chagrin.” He laughed at the fond memory.

“Beetlejuice did.” Barbara gestured toward him, “Who knew that he also had a taste in Spanish music too!”

Adam, like deer in headlights, turned to Beetlejuice. 

“Yeah, I did.” Beetlejuice sheepishly croaked like a gushing teenager, “ You got moves Adam, didn’t know you had that in you.” Adam looked to him with a timid smile which slowly grew. “I suppose you’re not as boring as I previously thought.”

“Well, yeah there’s a lot of things you don’t know about me,” Adam smirked, and for what Lydia yelled extra for, Adam kicked and jumped into a left leg split on the ground.

This definitely made Beetlejuice flush into an even hotter pink.

At this point, everyone could see the colour on Beetlejuice’s hair, skin and even clothes. The colour of his now wild, neon pink hair bled into the black shirt he was wearing, and having the orange sweater made the colour of his flush even more noticeable.

“Hey Beej,” Lydia spoke, “are you okay?”

“Yeah, your hair is turning a really bright colour.” Barbara walked to put her hand onto Beetlejuice’s forehead, “He does feel a bit warm, and that’s saying something cause I don’t usually feel warmth… Can you get sick Beetlejuice?”

All three turned to Beetlejuice, concern both written onthe Maitland’s faces while Lydia just smirked. “I’m fine! Just a..”  Beetlejuice tugged at his collar, “yeah, Babs just a little warm is all. I’m just going to sit… down.” Beetlejuice’s eyes rolled to the back of his head and fainted, landing on his back while his nose started to bleed a blackish green goo.

“Oh gosh there he goes being a drama queen-“

“Someone grab a towel-“

“Get him on the couch, and get that towel! Soak it with cold water!”

Barbara and Adam hurried to the kitchen leaving Lydia with the fainted demon on the carpet again. “Hey Beej get up, don’t be a Dramatic Dolly. I know you’re listening.”

Beetlejuice stuck out his tongue in a manner that resembled a cartoon character's death and laughed. He shot back up, hair already bleeding to his natural green.

“You’re an idiot,” Lydia continued, “Seriously, the sexual and emotional tension makes me want to gag myself with a spoon.”

Beetlejuice sat with his thumbs twiddling in a circle, “I just.. Look at me Lyds, I’m a demon, I look like Delia’s sculpture over there. Funny looking, grotesque and a little hard on the eyes.” He pointed to the sculpture hanging by the stairs which made him freeze, the same damn sculpture that punctured him right square in the chest. “Shit, it’s still there?”

“That thing? Well yeah, what else am I going to use when you’re going to misbehave.” Lydia poked him.

“Oh yeah.... misbehave.” Beetlejuice absently rubbed at the puncture scar. He stared at the sculpture with a flat look, but his hair betrayed how he felt. There are splotches of blue, red and white sprinkling his scalp.

Lydia paid attention to the spot where he was rubbing. Is it still there? She thought. She was only joking about using the sculpture as a tool but.... “We can put it away if you’d like?”

Beetlejuice shook no, opting to continue to stare at it instead of looking at her.

“Oh he’s back up!” Barbara’s voice came from the door with Adam behind her, “Lydia I thought I told you to put him on the couch!”

Lydia rolled her eyes and pointed at Beetlejuice and to herself, “yeah not happening, he’s still gross. I’m not touching him.” Lydia feigned a smile. “We’re just gonna head back into my room, call me down for dinner and I’ll grab Beetlejuice something too... make sure dad doesn’t find out.”

Barbara and Adam eyebrows were knit in contemplation and worry, “we’ll be fine. We’ll see ya later.”

Lydia tapped Beetlejuice on the shoulder and up he went, following her up the steps into her bedroom.

“Spare a thought Beej? Never knew you would get this quiet.” Lydia shut the door, “I’m actually serious about moving the sculpture and I was joking about using it as a stick.” 

“No, don't worry about it, it’s fine.” Beetlejuice grumbled. “I’ll learn to live with it being around... also don’t leave lavender around, it’s... not fun for me.”

“Lavender?” Lydia asked confused, “Like the flower or the scent? Delia likes having the scent around cause it ‘wards off negative energy’,” Lydia used her fingers to air quote. “They’re her favourite flower.”

“Yeah and on top of being a ward, it’s also a demon repellent.” Beetlejuice crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, “Delia has to find a new favourite then, it’s strong stuff.”

Lydia raised her brow, “what else shouldn’t we keep around you then?”

Beetlejuice sighed, turning to Lydia finally, “I’m not sure, people are crazy and believe in crazy shit. Anything could repel a demon with the right spell, herbal combination, and a shit ton of salt. The salt has worked against ghosts and demons alike for centuries.”

Lydia made a mental note, “I’ll let Delia know then.” 

Was this a mistake? Beetlejuice thought, Did I make a wrong decision by coming here?

“I’ll grab my laptop from downstairs and we can watch something here, don’t disappear again.”

“Not like I got anywhere else to be.”

Lydia laughed softly and left to grab her laptop to watch the next horrible horror flick starring Paris Hilton.

Chapter Text

Charles had one terrible day at work, these new clients were rough and getting them to buy property on the hill where they live was well…. interesting.

All the high and mighty rich folks want a place similar to his, one that overlooks the entire town of Winter River. Unfortunately for them, that title goes to the Deetz’s. Call him greedy, but their spot is the best in town and most clients try to persuade him to sell the house. He would turn them away and sell them properties closer to the top, some would react and tell him he’s hogging the area but he just wants to sell nice houses.

Charles isn’t classist in any way, sure he might smell like new money and dress fancy, but he’s a family man. Just making sure he provides money and food on the table for his family. Delia helps too, ever since Otho, or rather Kevin, disappeared she started investing into the crystal business. Delia sold crystals ranging from rose quartzes to diamonds and using her knowledge of the healing properties of them, she strangely helped people with their mystical uses. Apparently there was an entire niche specifically dedicated to that market. She started sculpting on the side again and sold them online for a good price. She usually works from home but she does have small meetings about her shipments of crystals.

Charles has never been more proud of Delia, falling more and more in love with her everyday.

Lydia on the other hand, with Beetlejuice’s departure six months ago, spent most of her days hanging with the Maitlands and moping around her bedroom. In the beginning she was recluse, taking about a month or two to get her to talk to himself and Delia. It broke his heart that she confided in the Maitlands at first, but who could blame her? He ignored her for months after Emily’s passing. He believed that he was doing both of them a favour by moving forward like Emily wanted. He couldn’t have been more wrong, when she held his hand before she expired he misinterpreted her parting words. Charles thought she was talking about him and herself but she was talking about him and Lydia. She knew she wasn’t going to make it.

He didn’t know what stung more, how Emily knew that was her end? Or how Charles seemingly left Lydia behind in order to move forward. Emily was his entire world and Lydia was all he had left of her. He couldn’t bear to lose her too.

Then Beetlejuice appeared and kicked him out of the house.

Beetlejuice…. The demon with the stupid hair. 

That thing wiggled in through the cracks of his model home. The thing that Lydia had spent time with. Charles gripped his steering wheel in silent rage. Beetlejuice tried to marry Lydia and within five minutes of being alive, he tried to murder Charles in cold blood. Yes, Charles deserved a lesson cause of what he did to Lydia but having some monster marry his underaged daughter? That was unacceptable. Having Otho be the stand-in exorcist was a big mistake, but that was all in the past. Beetlejuice was gone, Otho disappeared (hopefully not murdered, Charles mentally added), Lydia was talking to him again albeit more slowly than he liked and Delia happily stepped into the motherly role that was left vacant. 

Nothing could have been better.

Charles pulled into the driveway grabbing the grocery bags and headed towards the front door. Lydia said to surprise her with snacks when he got back so he got an array of snacks including some of her favourites:

Takis, Lays Barbecue chips, sugar cookies, sour cream and onion chips, that weird cheese in a can that she loves, whipped cream and two boxes of popcorn.

Since he was at the grocery store he also got Delia her favourite brand of chips, it was this healthy (although eating chips isn’t healthy) mix of root vegetables sprinkled with sea salt. He had tried it once but it wasn’t to his liking and grabbed his guilty pleasure Hickory Sticks and Cheezies. Delia could chastise him later about it but he won’t care. 

“Lydia I got your snacks!” Charles laid down the bags by the door.

Lydia actually was halfway up the stairs as Charles came in, clutching her laptop and a wire. “Hey dad,” she said slowly, gazing up towards her bedroom door. “I’ll put this away first and help, be right back.” Charles raised an eyebrow and watched her scurry up the stairs.

Delia came down shortly after with worry set in her brows, “Are those all for Lydia?”

“Majority of it is….” Charles rummaged through a bag and produced Delia’s bag, “Thought you would appreciate a snack of your own too.”

Delia squealed, running towards Charles grabbing the goodie and throwing it open. She inhaled the scent of oiled chips, delight blushing across her features. There was a dopey looking smile she had on, the type of smile that left Charles weak at the knees. “I’ll have one later,” Delia said, snapping Charles out of his ogling at her, “I’ll help you get these into the kitchen.” Delia placed her snack on the table.

Charles happily picked up the bags and headed towards the kitchen, pausing to take a look at the mess in the living room. “Delia, what happened here?”

Delia luckily had her back to him so he didn’t see the anxiety on her face, “Oh..” She turned around and put on her best smile, “Lydia and the Maitlands had a dance party, guess they forgot to clean up with all the energy they used.” It was a half truth/half lie, one that Delia hopes that Charles would fall for. She was never a good liar, she would always get fidgety when she lied. Her wrist was always flicking up and down, her mother always knew when she lied about anything since the flicks of her wrist would give her away. However since it was kind of true, Delia didn’t have the twitch. Adam and Barbara would never leave anything unkempt and disorganized, who knows how Charles might react if he knows that Beetlejuice is with Lydia right now.

Charles looked at the scattered magazines, newspapers and the remote strewn all over the floor, he sighed, “I’ll have to remind Lydia that she has a mess to clean up when she comes back down for the bags.” He continued to the kitchen and placed the bags on the kitchen island.

“Dad! What did you get me?!” Lydia ran into the kitchen, already lunging for the goods at the island.

“Lydia, what did I say about leaving a mess?” Charles placed his hand on his daughters shoulder, abruptly stopping her from making away with the bags.

Lydia rolled her eyes, “I’m not 7 years old dad, but I’ll clean up the mess anyway.” She wiggled out of Charles’ grip and trudged to the living room.

Charles watched from the kitchen door. He never expected to be a single parent, well not single for long. The point being though, is that it’s tough raising a moody teenage daughter. Call him a broken record, but none of this is what he ever expected out of life. 

He sighed and thought of Emily. She would know everything, she always scolded him, telling Charles off when became a stick in the mud. He was stern and he despised the way he went back to his old ways the second he uprooted their family here. Emily would know what to do when it comes to emotions. One of the momentos he has kept of their happy family was a picture of the three hung in the kitchen by the door.

At first he thought it would be odd to have a proud picture of the family right where Delia could see it, but she was all for it. She loved having that picture up and never compared herself to Emily. That’s why he fell in love with her. She was unapologetically herself and loved helping people.

Hell…. Emily knew how to get Charles to open up. That’s why it was so hard for him when she died, Charles lost his light. His beacon when he couldn’t find shore. His navigational North Star. He took a deep breath, Charles saw much of Emily in Lydia. She is her mother’s daughter and Lydia inherited her mother’s fierceness, the drive to help others, and her macabre love for the strange and unusual. The fairies, ghosts… leprechauns.. He laughed to himself, it was a wonder that Emily and Charles got married and had a child.

“Hey dad? You okay?” Lydia stood in front of Charles with a worried look. Charles didn’t realize he had been staring off into space, guess he was too caught up in the past.

“Just thinking about your mother.” Charles smiled.

“Mom?” Lydia’s eyes focused onto the picture by the door, “Wanna talk about it?” She pulled up another chair to sit nearby her father.

“I’m just… reminiscing,” Charles chuckled. “Remember the time where Emily ‘forgot’ how to drive. She would take her foot off the pedal when we reached the top of a hill, put the car in neutral and let gravity pull us down.”

“That was pretty wild.” Lydia smiled sadly, “Remember that one time where mom insisted on feeding me like a bird?”

“I had a very interesting conversation with her afterward, that crossed a line.” He laughed. “OH!” Charles squealed, “Emily would always tell me that life is too important to be serious then throw my phone in the trash, and she would always play that stupid murderer behind us game when she tried to unlock the door.”

Lydia and Charles laughed some more. Charles pounded the table while Lydia snickered and snorted. “Mom was wild, the looks we got from the neighbours always made me laugh when we got inside,” Lydia said after her laughing fit simmered down a bit. Her hair had gotten in her mouth and swiftly pushed it off to the side, “she made life less dark and more fun. Especially when she got me to come out of my shell and you, less insecure about things.”

“I miss her.” Charles admitted, glancing towards the picture again. “Where did we take that? It was so long ago.”

It was the three of them out by a lake with a cottage nearby. “That was nearby Lake Tahoe,” Lydia turned to the photo too, “It was for my birthday.”

That trip was an eventful one.

Emily had found a fictional podcast called ‘The Black Tapes,’ and she took the family on an impromptu trip down to Lake Tahoe. Emily knew that the podcast was based on fiction but for Lydia, the little girl believed every minute of it.

It was one of many surprises that Emily gave Lydia for her eighth birthday. Emily equipped Charles and Lydia with paranormal hunting equipment so they could camp out and hunt for ghosts or other ghouls. Or even hunt for the dual-protagonists missing wife. It was a blast, they spent hiking around the lake all day. Collecting weird bugs and odd sticks that looked like bones. Emily picked one up and whispered to it, using it as a dowsing wand to find gravesites. Charles laughed the entire way in utter disbelief that Lydia was buying the whole story. Lydia tried to pick up a stick too but was stopped since the object she was about to pick up was wrapped in poison ivy. They took the picture by a tree with some rope hanging down from it. Charles was hesitant to pose beside it, hence the tight-lipped smile he gave in the picture while Lydia was being carried by him with a delighted expression on her face. Emily was on Lydia’s left, not looking at the camera. Her gaze fixated on both Lydia and Charles, giving them a fond look.

After their adventures in the daytime came to an end, the family trudged back to their car to set up camp. They got their tent pitched when a park ranger came from the bushes, scaring both Lydia and Charles. The ranger informed them that they needed to leave due to a case of someone contracting the bubonic plague in the area. Although upset, they packed up quickly. Lydia had asked what the bubonic plague was and Emily was happily to oblige.

They flew from New York to Sacramento and rented a car so they could drive down to the lake. With Emily’s Lake Tahoe plan failed, they boarded into a nearby hotel so they could get into part two of Lydia’s birthday weekend extravaganza.

When they awoke the next day, Emily drove them to the Winchester Mystery House.

The house was just as unsettling as the legend said it was. Stairs leading to nowhere, weird twists and turns, unsettling staircases that turned which way and that leading only to the second floor, the hallway of fireplaces, the door that had a two story drop to the ground, the seance room, Sarah Winchester's bedroom, the loud groans of the wood freaking every tourist out. It was a weekend they would remember.

Their tour guide was the right person to guide them, he disappeared every once in a while making Lydia squeal when he would reappear from windows and latches underneath their feet. Emily and Lydia loved every minute. Charles was nervous about losing Lydia to the multiple trapped doors hidden throughout the house but the guide reassured all of them to stick together so that no one would become a victim to the mansion. The guide later opened a door and dared only the bravest families to come follow.

Only the Deetz's followed.

It was a small room that they were lead into, the guide was explaining how this area was a confusing spot for the ghosts haunting Sarah. There was one way in and three ways out. The guide asked the Deetz's if they could pull a prank on the other tourists. Emily and Lydia ecstatically was all aboard while Charles hesitantly nodded his head. Emily and Lydia would take one passage while Charles and the guide took the other two. The guide gave Emily and Charles specific instructions on how to get back to the group secretly. There were paintings where the others were that acted like a doorway back to them. Lydia was in charge of the signal, she had the duty to scream to scare the unsuspecting group.

The plan worked perfectly, much to the other tourists chagrin. They spooked them well, even causing another kid of Lydia's age to cry.

“I miss her so much,” Lydia whispered.

“So do I,” Charles responded, face solemn, “You have your mother’s visage.”

“I do?” She perked up.

“Yeah, you have her eyes and face.” He reached over and caressed her face, booping her nose. “Your fierce determination also comes from her too, while you inherited my need to protect family and my stubbornness.”

Lydia thought over her father's words… They haven’t talked much for a long time since Beetlejuice left but this conversation was more lively than before.

All conversations beforehand were shallow and complementaries only. They would pass each other at home, wave hello and a head nod once in awhile then Lydia goes to school and Charles goes to work. With Lydia’s schoolwork and Charles’ clientele keeping them both busy, their time for each other as father and daughter were diminished to zero. They don’t share the same meal times together either, when Lydia has dinner Charles is usually at work. When they are home and can eat together, their conversations went like:

“How was school?”

“Good, how was work?”

“Fine. Have any schoolwork to do?”

“Tons.”

That’s it.

That’s their entire conversation at the dinner table.

Charles wants to plan a day out with her tomorrow but he can’t, he is really close to getting this rich woman to buy a property at the foot of the hill.. He brushed his hand through his balding head, “We need to talk more, we don’t do enough of that.”

“Hard to do that when we’re busy.” Lydia commented.

Damn. Even Lydia notices. He thought.

“How about when everything is settled with this next client, maybe we can go for an outing. Just the two of us?”

Lydia flinched. “The two of us?”

“Yeah, we could go to the library or book a reservation at a restaurant. We can finally have a moment without Beetle-“ Charles cut himself off. “Without… him looming around us.”

“Uh.. sure.” Lydia looked to the doorway, she had to get back to Beetlejuice. He will be waiting for the snacks and he will get antsy when she takes so long. “We’ll go.”

“Perfect!” Charles clapped, “Let me know your schedule for the next coming weeks and we’ll see if we can line something up!”

“I’ll send it to you over email,” Lydia smirked, “Ever the business child of a businessman.”

“Don’t you start,” Charles laughed.

Lydia looked to the bags on the table and feigned a yawn, “Can I head back up now? There’s a movie that’s starting in…” she had to figure something out, Lydia looked at the time, “Five minutes! Oh gosh, sorry dad. Gotta go.” Lydia jumped out of the seat and hugged Charles, “Thanks again!” In a whirlwind of black, Lydia rummaged through the bag quickly grabbing all the stuff she assumed was hers and dashed out of the kitchen. She dug her heel to stop her speedy departure turning around, waving a salute with the bag she was carrying. “Love you.” 

“Love you too, enjoy your movie!” Charles called.

Lydia smiled and bolted up the stairs, slamming the door to her room.

Charles stood up and gathered the discarded bags that Lydia didn’t grab and pulled out his own devilish delights. He was going to have a movie night of his own. Delia liked rom-coms, so that’s what he’s going to pull up.

Lydia found Beetlejuice snoring on her bed by the time she got back.

“Hey dumbass,” Lydia threw the bags onto his sleeping form. “Look what we got.” Beetlejuice shot straight up as the bags landed on him.

“The fuck is this shit?” Beetlejuice groaned, “there lube in here?” His hair, ruffled from sleep and drool dripping onto the bacon and egg crossboned shirt. 

“Gross,” Lydia pulled the first chip bag out of the plastic. “Oooh Takis, my favourite.” She continued pulling out all the snacks, plopping them onto her bed. “Look at the array of shit we got!”

“OH DIBS!” Beetlejuice dived for the cheez wiz in the can and whipped cream. “This is gonna be good.” Beetlejuice produced a bag with still live beetles in them; opened it and sprayed cheese and whipped cream in the bag. “Darkling beetles, my favourite!” He shook the bag, mixing the beetles, cheese and whipped cream together.

“Don’t people eat the larvae when it comes to Darkling beetles?” Lydia stared.

“Yeap! I don’t give a shit what form it is. However the larvae don’t have the satisfying crunch of the adult beetle.” Beetlejuice reopened the bag and grabbed a chunk, crunching into them like potato chips. “Delicious.”

“I have to take a photo of this!” Lydia grabbed her camera and started flashing photos of Beetlejuice eating the beetles in grotesque positions, “Oh that was good! Keep going!”

The movie was abandoned in favour of Beetlejuice posing and mixing odd food combinations. They spent the rest of the day and night laughing their heads off and eventually crashed from exhaustion.

Delia checked in on them after Lydia missed dinner. There were bits of crumbs and discarded bags all over the floor. Delia smiled and quietly cleaned the mess without disturbing the two friends. She had to make sure Charles didn’t follow, but she mock-scolded him into sleeping since he had an important meeting tomorrow. Lydia had perched herself onto Beetlejuice’s stomach and the letters head was hanging off the side of the head. Delia quickly righted his head to avoid having him getting a sore neck in the morning. She noticed that his hair was a silver colour, this was a good indication for her. Since silver usually detoxes the body of negative energy and fills it with positive energy. Delia left the room with garbage in hand with a cheery smile.

Beetlejuice dreamt of happy things, how he and his little scarecrow scared the entire neighbourhood.

Lydia dreamt of introducing her mother to Beetlejuice, both of them hitting it off and talking like old war buddies.

Charles slept and dreamed with a happy smile, Delia held him and Lydia was nearby holding a picture of Emily as they stood on a beach.

Delia stayed up fairly late and was meditating when everyone fell asleep.

Adam dreamt of Lydia smiling, affectionately calling him ‘ghost dad’.

Barbara dreamt of Adam and herself dancing on the roof while soft music played in the back.

Everyone in the house slept well and had hopes for a better tomorrow.

Chapter Text

Sunday was a big blur.

Beetlejuice and Lydia slept for a large portion of the day. Lydia woke up at one point and took out her custom ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign, hanging it on the other side of the door.

They watched movies and ate more snacks. Beetlejuice added more insects and other weird creatures into his popcorn, which to his surprise didn’t creep out Lydia at all.

She did have to pause after a little while to get her small school work done. Lydia kicked Beetlejuice out of her room for an hour to get it done, so he decided to mess with Delia.

Unfortunately he couldn’t. With all the time they spent together, Lydia forgot to tell Delia that she couldn’t keep lavender plants around. Beetlejuice entered the doorway to Delia and Charles’ room (with the latter away at work) and immediately collapsed by the sheer volume of the scent of lavender wafting from all over the room.

Delia had decorated the entire room with the plant, some were by the window, some nearby the door and a small potted one hung in a corner of the room. How Charles managed to survive in this scent was beyond Beetlejuice. There was also a small humidifier on the dresser constantly spritzing the odour. Delia turned to wave but panicked when she saw him fall to the floor. She dragged him out of the room and down the stairs trying to snap Beetlejuice out of his comatose state. Delia deposited him on the couch and ran to the kitchen to grab some cold water. He came to after Delia dumped hot water on him since cold water didn’t do anything the first couple times. He slowly opened his eyes to Delia’s worried face.

“What happened?!” Delia gently cupped his face, “Are you alright? Your hair!” Beetlejuice’s hair had become a sickly muted green. 

“L.. Lave… Lavender,” he slurred his words, mouth loose. “Damn it feels like someone poured molasses down my throat.” Beetlejuice struggled to sit upright, “Can’t stand being near it.”

“Lavender? That’s why the small air refresher was thrown outside the bathroom window. What does it do?” Delia sat down beside him.

“Demon repellent, complete cock tease Deedee. Never keep them around.” Beetlejuice laid his hand on the door and slowly scrambled up.

“Demon repellent?” Delia covered her mouth, “I knew it was a plant that wards off negative energy, but going so far as a demon repellent… I’m sorry I didn’t know.”

“It's.. not your fault, now.. now you know.” Beetlejuice finally stood up, “small doses will be fine, just… don’t keep it around as much. Find a new flower to keep around.”

“Lavenders are my favourite..” Delia stared up the stairs.

“Yeah I know, Lydia told me.” Beetlejuice fell again and slumped on the couch, “Leave me here for a few minutes, I’ll be right as rain soon.”

Lydia found him not too long after she finished her assignments and dragged him up to her room so they could resume watching their cheesy horror films.

Then Monday came.

Lydia woke with the sound of her alarm blaring at six am. Beetlejuice would’ve slammed his fist on it but Lydia pulled it from the nightstand before he could.

“Shut it babes, I’m trying to sleep.” Beetlejuice growled, his voice a tone deeper.

Lydia ignored him and wrestled herself out from her sheets and went to her closet. She grabbed her signature pinned dress and went to the bathroom.

Beetlejuice lifted his eye mask as Lydia closed the door. He stretched, snapped the mask out of existence and landed on the floor with a huff. Apparently he had floated from the floor and hovered close to the ceiling at some point. No dream or nightmare plagued him that night. Beetlejuice groggily wiped the crust from his eyes and licked it. It was a good morning snack that he loved. Especially if he got a really good crusty bit. He looked to the dresser mirror, the clothes that had been lent to him were covered in stains. An orange stain was near the neck seam and multiple fingerprints were all over his stomach. It was nice having some dirt on his clothing again but not desirable since he had to put in the ‘laundry’. Curse the breathers and the obsession with cleanliness.

Lydia opened the bathroom door and out she stepped, regalia and all. Her black snap clip tucking her hair behind her right ear, black fishnet tights on and fingerless gloves. Looking like just how Beetlejuice met her, just without the sad look on her face and him not having purple hair. 

“What are you getting ready for? I’m pretty sure it is too early to do anything fun,” Beetlejuice gave her distasteful scowl.

“I have school today and move out of the way, I have to get ready.” Lydia walked past him to get to her dresser. “I’m taking you with me, so I set my alarm to get you cleaned up and get you something to wear.”

Beetlejuice tugged and looked down his shirt, sniffing the fabric, “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

“You’ve been wearing the same outfit for the past two days and if we walk in they’d call you a pedophile or something.” Lydia lazily flapped her hand, “Nothing is wrong for wearing the same outfit for a whole weekend but people actually change clothes everyday if you haven’t noticed.”

“Then why in all Hell are you wearing the same outfit I met you in?”

Lydia strode to her closet with a blank look and threw the door open, “You were saying?”

Beetlejuice threw his head back with laughter. Lydia’s wardrobe were variations of the pinned black dress that she currently has on. Some sleeves stopped at the shoulder, midway down, or down to the wrists with black lace on the cuffs. The length of the dresses differ but still feature multiple pins just in different places. Some, like the one Lydia was currently wearing, had pins around the collar. Some had pins running along the sleeves, cuffs, down the skirt in a zig-zag pattern or straight down the middle. 

“Someone call the fashion police because that shit is tacky!” Beetlejuice roared, “I mean come on Scarecrow, you’ll look like an actual scarecrow if you continue this. Where’d you even find these, I’m sure they don’t make these at any shop.”

Lydia slapped his shoulder, “For your information Beej, I make my own clothes.” She closed the closet and stood with her arms crossing her chest. “This is just my wardrobe for this spring, wait until you get to summer.” Lydia smirked.

“Okay, so how are we doing this? Am I coming along as me or as…” Beetlejuice reached into his pocket and grabbed a smoke bomb. “By shits creek, I hope this works this time.” He threw it to the floor and green smoke exploded from the small bomb.

Lydia coughed and started waving her hands in front of her face to fan out the smoke. She ran to open the window to air out the sulphuric smell and smoke out the room. The smoke flushed out the open window with a rush.

She turned around to find…

“What am I looking at?”

Beetlejuice batted his eyelashes at her, “Hi, my name is Betty, Betty Juice.” He pitched his voice higher but it was still rough as if… Betty smoked two packs a day. Beetlejuice forwent his two day old clothes in favour for a skimpy green skirt, a pink cardigan and a solid yellow t-shirt under it. His, or rather, her hair shifted to a light blonde with green streaks, there was a black and white headband holding her hair and was strung up in a high ponytail held by a black and white scrunchie.

“I thought I was tacky,” Lydia snorted, “A scrunchie really?”

Beetlejuice shucked out of Betty and back to his normal self, “Alright, was worth a shot.”

“We definitely need to have her around if we ever find a dumb jock at the school.” Lydia smiled into her hand.

“By the way, you still didn’t answer my question,” Beetlejuice snorted.

“I told you I’m taking you with me and I’d rather wear something you recognized so you don’t get lost.” Lydia trailed out of her room.

“Lydia, I’m thousands of years old.. I’m pretty sure I can handle myself just fine.”

He was wrong.

Now that Beetlejuice was in the physical realm and can be seen by everyone, Lydia had to give him a human makeover. She had him shave his unruly beard, which was weird for him at first. He was born-dead, sure he knew how to shave and trim his beard but to be clean shaven for the first time in millennia felt foreign. He reached to scratch it but refrained from doing so. On top of that, Lydia put some red sludge where his beard and moustache was with some  slimy beige-white colour on his face. Lydia gave him a mirror to assess the work she has done and found himself looking… alive.

The ‘makeup’ Lydia put on him created the illusion that he may be alive. Lydia had raided the basement and pulled out old clothing that Adam and Charles stuffed down there. She came back with a yellow collared button down, a horrendous diamond pattern tie on red satin, blue jeans, black sneakers and an itchy woollen vest. A brown shoulder bag was given to him so he could pass off as a student.

Of course Adam, Barbara, and Delia were shocked when they saw Beetlejuice looking normal. Delia offered to drive Lydia so she could avoid the bus. In the car Delia asked what Beetlejuice's name would be. She can’t be saying Beetlejuice’s name or else be open to ridicule. Lydia offered to call Beetlejuice by his first name but…

“How about Lawrence?” Lydia turned to the back seat.

Beetlejuice froze at the mention of his first name, he started breathing fast and shallow. He grabbed his knees and squeezed them with a white-knuckled grip. 

“Or not, I’ll come up with something on the spot!” Lydia calmly spoke. “Hey Beej, look at me.” He looked. “It’s okay, we’ll call you something else.”

Delia pulled over, “Beetlejuice, no one is going to hurt you.” Delia reached over to the back to grab his hand. “You can be a cousin of ours.”

Beetlejuice looked to the mirror and he could see the fear in his hair and eyes. “Cousin.. cousin name would be nice.. please.” His breathing became more erratic.

“Alright.. welcome to the family Dewey.” Delia squeezed his hand, rubbing circles with her thumb onto the back of his hand.

“Like Uncle Dewey? Cool.” Lydia laughed. “Don’t worry Beej, Uncle Dewey is really cool and sometimes you remind me of him.” Lydia also reached back and rested her hand on top of his other hand.

“Beetlejuice, I want to try something with you. Can you hear me?” Beetlejuice slowly nodded, “Good, close your eyes for me sweetie.”

Beetlejuice closed his eyes, “Very good, now focus on my voice for now.” Delia’s voice was quiet but honed in on it despite the bustling life outside the car doors. Something slipped over his eyes, causing the excess light from peaking through his lids, enveloping him in darkness, “No it’s okay,” Delia’s soothing voice came through again, “It’ll help you focus, sit back for me, try to get comfortable.” He leaned back onto the faux-leather seat, “Good. You are in a heightened state of fear and I need you to breathe slowly. Letting each inhale and exhale loosening you up.” He followed Delia’s instructions, he breathed slow. Each intake of air and expulsion of it made him sink into the carseat. “Very nice, now tell me what you can feel.”

“I feel like shit.”

“Not how you feel, what can you touch? What is the texture of the clothes you are wearing?” Delia breathed through her words.

Beetlejuice slowly wiggled his toes and flexed his hands, “The shoes… feel small for me, it’s a bit of a squeeze.” A hum from Lydia was heard, “The pants are rough but comfortable. This button down really pushes my gut in and the tie constricts me… This itchy vest feels…” Beetlejuice ran his hand through it, “Soft.”

“Very good,” Delia squeezed his hand, “Now, what can you hear?”

Beetlejuice focused, “I hear a rumbling, a little vibration on the seats too.”

“That’s the engine running,” Beetlejuice could hear Delia’s smile.

“There’s.. some taps on the window and I can hear the rushing of other cars pass by.”

“Now, what can you smell?”

Beetlejuice sniffed the air, “I smell.. Lydia’s lunch. An earthy smell, basil perhaps?” He sniffed again, “Something musty. Something wet.. Did it start raining?”

“Rain started pouring a few minutes ago, but that’s good how you picked up on that.” Lydia replied, sounding more relieved.

“Alright, I’m going to take off the blindfold. Are you ready?” Beetlejuice nodded, “Okay careful about opening them, a flood of light is going to disorient you for a few seconds.”

Delia took off the blindfold and Beetlejuice slowly opened his eyes. They were out of focus and the massive influx of light caused him to blink. As his eyes were adjusting, he could start seeing the darker colours of the car seat and Lydia’s black dress. Slowly, everything else started to pour in and the light dimmed. Beetlejuice could see Delia and Lydia’s relieved faces. When they saw that his eyes had adjusted they smiled. “What’s my hair colour?” Beetlejuice asked.

“Green but there is a bit of white still in there.” Lydia sighed, “How do you feel?”

“Better now. What was that?”

“That is what we call a panic attack. I read that slowly collecting your senses again helps with getting centred again. Did it work?” Delia gave him an easy smile.

Beetlejuice flexed his fingers, wiggled his toes, rolled his neck and shoulders, “Yeah, I feel pretty good. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Delia turned back to face the wheel, she adjusted the mirror so that she was both Beetlejuice and the road behind her. “We’ve got to get going, or else we’ll be late..” Delia looked to the mirror, “And Dewey?” Beetlejuice perked towards her, “keep her safe.”

The drive to the school was uncomfortably silent. 

No one said a word but Delia glanced at Beetlejuice every now and then to make sure he was doing alright. They arrived without another word, Lydia hopped out first and got the door for Beetlejuice. 

After stepping out, Beetlejuice stood at the front entrance of Winter River High overlooking all the teens and tweens scrambling around on their phones, while talking to their friends at high volumes. “Lydia,” he turned to her, “I can’t do this.” The building looked kind of worse for wear and the courtyard held a decaying statue of a fish spewing water. There was a lot of mold on the fish statue which made all the students keep at least a 2 meter distance from it. The surrounding grass was slightly green but held brown patches due to poor maintenance. Beetlejuice wrung his hands together and did that weird twisting neck thing that Lydia dubbed ‘raptor Beej’. Lydia had the same opinions as Beetlejuice and the only other high school was on the other side of town, which was something she had brought up to her father. Charles told her to stay for one year and if she didn’t like it, they would move her to the other high school.

“Oh shush, we have to get to the office to give you a visitors pass.” Lydia patted reassuringly to his arm, “Don’t have second thoughts, Beej.. Plus if you stayed home with the Mailtands, dad would have found out. He’s staying home cause his client got sick and wanted to do a Zoom meeting with him.” Lydia procured a burgundy beanie from her bag and threw it on his head. “Your hair’s turning orange and blue, I have no idea how I’m going to explain colour changing hair to these breathers.” 

Beetlejuice nodded and as much as it was tempting to teleport out of here, he had to stay. Plus Lydia was going to be with him all day and if anyone dared to bother her… Well he won’t be held responsible for his actions..

Lydia and Beetlejuice tread through the crowded hallway, the two unlikely pair got some stares from Lydia’s peers. At first, they stopped to laugh at Lydia’s dress but upon seeing Beetlejuice, they shut their mouths. Everyone then stopped to stare at the both of them. Beetlejuice glanced around and every time he attempted to make eye contact with someone, they would look away and walk in the opposite direction.

“Lydia, they’re staring,” Beetlejuice’s voice wavered. Normally was fine with people seeing him but for some reason, he didn’t like the glares he was getting. They were judgmental, scrutinizing every step he took. He pulled at his collar, getting very uncomfortable and he was perspiring from nervousness. 

“Mouth breathers,” Lydia rolled her eyes, “They stare at me all the time and don’t worry, the day goes by really quickly when you put your head in your books. But you’re here, so the day goes by even faster.” She turned to wink at him, “Of course we get to cause some shit while we’re here.”

Beetlejuice knew that was supposed to make him feel better but it just made him more nervous.

Before they opened the door to the office, Lydia turned to him with a mischievous smile, “If at any time you wanna set fire to the place, not literally” Lydia snorted, “lemme know and I’ll ask Delia to pick us up.”

Lydia opened the door and talked to the man at the front desk. Mr. Flett was his name. Lydia briefly introduced Beetlejuice as her cousin Dewey Finn, who is thinking of moving into the school. Mr. Flett growled and waved her off as he dug through his coffee encrusted oak desk for the visitors' pass. “Don’t cause trouble,” he grunted and dropped the pass onto Lydia’s waiting hands.

“All adults here just want to get out of here and sleep like the rest of us. It’s not new,” Lydia left the office with her head held high. “I just need to drop some stuff at my locker and we’ll get to our first class. Dewey and Lydia are going to make this school their bitch!” She triumphantly scoffed and strode over to the direction of her locker.

Her locker was a little ways away and some asshole actually took the time out of their day to write in permanent marker ‘dyke’, ‘bitch’, ‘weirdo’ and other obscenities. Lydia dealt with this on a regular basis and kept a small stash of cleaning supplies inside the locker. 

“Woah, I thought they only did this in movies.” Beetlejuice rubbed his thumb on the locker door, streaking the still fresh marker writing.

Lydia took an exasperated breath, “No, it's not really original anymore and it just gets old.” She yelled out the last couple words and everyone around them laughed.

“They’re not laughing cause of what you said is it?” The demon balled his hands in a fist.

“Well, look at what the loser club dragged in.” If there were two words that Beetlejuice could explain the existence of this person is ‘blonde bimbo’, “A gothic mistake and a marshmallow,” She gave Beetlejuice a once over, “Where did you shop at? The lost and found bin?” The two other girls she was with howled with laughter. “And you,” she pointed to Lydia, “Shopped at a hot topic lately? I knew everything they made was cheap looking.”

“Regina Brewster,” Lydia’s back was facing her, “Back from hooking up with the person who wears the mascot costume?” Beetlejuice snorted.

“Ew creep much? Ugh to think that goth was bad enough, now she’s a stalker.” Regina looked to Beetlejuice again. “And she’s dating a creep, who are you anyway?”

“I’m her cousin, Dewey.” Beetlejuice crossed his arms, “Dewey Finn.”

“Oh a family of weirdos, well that’s expected.” Regina flipped her hair, smacking the brunette girl in the face with it, “Coming from the family who lives in that creepy old house up on the hill.” 

There were three girls, Regina being the obvious ‘leader’ of this posse of three. The brunette girl's hair teased up to the sky and her clothing, or rather lack thereof, was horrendous to look at. The last girl wore a red scrunchie on her wrist. Despite having the most pleasing face out of the three, there was a permanent scowl on her face. Beetlejuice took note of this one, cause this was the chick who Beetlejuice witnessed a guy fall into an open trash bin while he passed by, staring at this girls flat ass.

Lydia slammed the locker door shut, “So do you have anything better to do, or are you just going to stand there and be a petty bitch all day? Why don’t you fail math again? Or I don’t know, make some other unsuspecting boy toy to fall head over heels for you again.” Lydia turned to the brunette, “Gertrude Williams, still following like a dog I see and Lisa Reynolds, you may be the prettiest one but your heart is cold like stone. You are the worst kids to walk this hallway and yet every boy falls for you, how is that? Money? Popularity?” Lydia looked to Gertrude, “Lack of clothing.”

Beetlejuice turned to look at Lydia, “Woah Lyds, nice.” He offered her a high five.

Regina yawned, actually yawned . “And we’re not 5 years old Dewey, high fives really? Lydia, why don’t go back to whatever cave system you crawled out of? You’re poisoning the school with your disgusting taste in men.”

“He’s my cousin if you didn’t hear him say that before and don’t talk to me about my disgusting taste in men.” Lydia didn’t reciprocate Beej’s high five, “You’re from the south right? Why don’t you tell your mommy and daddy how much you hate the goth girl, oh wait your parents are siblings.” Lydia snarled the last word with venom.

Beetlejuice sputtered, he knew that Lydia had bite but seeing her in action was something else.

There was a small crowd huddled around them pulling out phones hoping to record a cat fight. “Beej, I need a distraction.” Lydia whispered behind him, “What can you do?”

“Kill them,” he whispered back.

Lydia shook her head no.

“Look, the freaks are trembling,” Regina roared. “Sorry asswipes, you have to speak up.” Beetlejuice snapped around to glare at her, “Look the new kid has yellow eyes too! Look at him, he probably wears contacts to make himself look cool.”

Okay, Beetlejuice had enough. “I’ll take care of it, remember that hallway scene from The Shining?” He whispered to Lydia and she nodded. “Good, it’s showtime, get ready for the fright of their lives.”

Beetlejuice coughed into his hand which made the lights go out. To avoid being detected of using his powers, he grabbed onto Lydia and ran into the crowd of now shocked teenagers.

“What the hell-“

“Who turned off the lights?”

“Looks like someone didn’t pay the electricity bill,” that got a laugh from everyone there.

He held Lydia close to him as he navigated through the surprised students. Beetlejuice made sure that the security cameras played a loop of the hallway moments before the blackout.

Once he felt no bodies bumping against him, he turned the corner and got to work. Summoning two clones and morphing their bodies into small children, Beetlejuice sent them to the other end of the hallway. Lydia brandished her phone from her bag, leaned over and hit start on her phone to begin recording the event. 

With a snap of his fingers, Beetlejuice made the lights on the opposite end of the hallway flicker while his two clones positioned themselves underneath a light. They were clad in black and white clothing, their pale faces twisted in a sickening grin. Every flicker of the light, the clones seemed like they teleported closer and closer to the now silent but terrified crowd. Everyone tried to scramble away from the clones but Beetlejuice put up an invisible barrier 5 feet behind them. Beetlejuice had his hands in front of him, jerking each way and that was similar to a puppeteer.

They wanted a fight, Beetlejuice thought, then I’ll make them fight for their lives.

The lights ceased its flickering, everything silent minus the huffing from the exertion Beetlejuice puffing out. Sounds of squelches and wet dripping was heard, then the lights flashed back on with the clones dismembered body parts littering the walls and floor with blood and guts. A blood curdling scream cut through the air as the realization of what is in front of them clicked in. The smell was absolutely awful, the scent of fresh blood drifted through the air and Beetlejuice heard a kid dry heave and wretch.

He turned to look at Lydia, who was snickering behind her phone. It was a gory sight but he was going to make an appearance so to make sure they won’t be bothered for at least the rest of the day, at the very least, cut school. Beetlejuice hated it here already and it hasn’t been an hour yet. Hell, the first period didn’t even start yet either.

Beetlejuice raised an eyebrow and made a gesture for him to get over there, he wasn’t asking for permission but if Lydia approved of it, which she did, then he was all for it. He cut out the lights once more, summoned his signature suit on top of his clothing and gave the beanie to Lydia before he teleported to where the kids were screaming.

With a summoned green, black and white spotlight coming in from the aether, Beetlejuice stood in front of the screaming kids with his head down.

He sported his own devilish grin and looked up.

“Boo.”

More chaos ensued, kids tried to push each other to get away from him and the disembodied parts of Beetlejuice’s clones. Deeming the screams he was hearing satisfying, he snapped and took down the barrier, letting the herd of scared children running for the hills. Beetlejuice made sure every person ran away from the scene before reverting back to his old clothes.

Lydia cheered and ran to Beetlejuice to give back the beanie before anyone could discover the very vibrant glow of Beetlejuice’s green hair. A high five was shared with the pair walking off to Lydia’s first class. The mess was easily cleaned by Beetlejuice sending the clones back to where they came from and the hallway was back to its boring pristine state before its corpse party. 

“If they don’t cancel school now, they might just have an assembly talking about what happened, however the adults don’t give a shit about us here so they’ll just think it’s apophenia or something, they won’t cancel school for a bunch of kids ‘claiming’ they saw dismembered bodies in the hallway where there is no evidence.” Lydia did sport a crossed look on her face though, “Did you really have to go that hard though?”

“I did say they were going to get the fright of their lives,” Beetlejuice shrugged.

Lydia sidestepped over some vomit that some unfortunate soul spewed on the floor. It mixed with the blood still spreading towards the two friends, “Oh that is gross, truly.” She continued to step towards her locker to retrieve her books before Regina bothered her, “So Dewey,” Lydia winked, “Want to see the video at lunch?”

“You bet your ass I will,” He was in a better mood now that he fulfilled his scare quota for at least two weeks, “So where to now?”

Her first period was English but the teacher, who was obviously hungover from a binge on the weekend, put on a movie and told the class to make notes about what they saw and they will have a discussion on the video next class. Lydia and Beetlejuice snickered and sat at the back of the class gabbing and eating whatever snacks Lydia had smuggled into her bag as she left the house this morning. He couldn’t mess around with a whole mass of people in an enclosed space but he threw his voice to a big muscled high schooler and caused him to fall unceremoniously to the floor at the obscenity Beetlejuice had whispered in his ear. The teacher didn’t even bother to hear what the guy had to say and sent him to sit in the hallway. It was fortunate for Beetlejuice that he told Lydia that his education was…. Minimal at best.

Beetlejuice could not read, spell or do anything with this magical thing called ‘mathematics’. He’s a demon and when you’re dead all your accomplishments you have gained when you were alive sort of did nothing down in the Netherworld. You were either stuck in processing, working as a guide for the recently deceased, haunt the breather world for all eternity, or head to investigations. Beetlejuice can’t technically haunt since he was never alive, well.. Once but that was cleared up after all that hard work with Maria. Processing was not an option cause he couldn’t sit still for more than five seconds. Investigations couldn’t handle Beetlejuice with his weird and unconventional tastes when it comes to other worldly entities. The only options that were left for Beetlejuice was Guide work and he loved it. Scaring newly-deads wasn’t as satisfying as living breathers but it was a good medium to get his scare quota… There wasn’t really a scare quota but he did love scaring the hell out of these very vanilla individuals.

Lydia’s second period was Social Studies, which was a class that Beetlejuice took a huge interest in. Of course, Beetlejuice has lived and witnessed human history through his very eyes. Albeit some details were fuzzy due to whatever drugs and wild orgy he was doing at the time. They were researching the causes of World War 1, which bored Beetlejuice. He was the guide who had guided the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Sophie the Duchess of Hohenberg to the other side. Franz was a bit of an asshole to Beetlejuice but Sophie was really nice. Franz was in disbelief and wanted to squash the rebellion and bring the assassins to justice, Sophie shied her husband to the door and gave Beetlejuice a sweet smile.

For the remainder of the class Beetlejuice fell asleep while Lydia said she’ll fill in the details of whatever he missed. Beetlejuice awoke to a weird buzzing noise, apparently that was the lunch bell. Lydia told him that the school was poorly funded and replacing the bell was low on the priority list. 

Lydia led him out of the classroom and led Beetlejuice to the cafeteria.

“The one great thing about this school, apart from you being here, is the cafeteria dude. He’s one of my favourite people.” Lydia waved at a hairy, serious looking, burly, tattooed looking man in a chefs outfit, “Hey Gerold!”

The man turned and a smile brightened up his features, “Lydia!” A thick, deep, German accent bellowed through the large crowd, “ Mein zaubermaus!” 

“Gerold always sneaks tasty surprises in my lunch,” Lydia turned to Beetlejuice, “Dewey, this is Gerold. Gerold, this is my cousin Dewey.”

“Lydia I can introduce myself to this man, so whatcha doing after work today and can I stir the sauce?” Beetlejuice wiggled his brows.

“Dewey!” Lydia elbowed Beetlejuice.

Gerold’s turned a deep red, “Well hello!,” his perfectly pearly white teeth shining, “Any friend of Lydia’s is a friend of mine. So I’ve got a question, one or two?”

“I’ll try number one and Dewey will try number two,” Lydia reciprocated Gerold’s smile. She dug into her bag for her wallet.

“No need for that, it’s on the house. If you keep bringing Dewey around, I’ll certainly keep providing my services,” Gerold winked at Beetlejuice, “What grade are you in Dewey?”

“I’m a senior,” Beetlejuice winked back, “hoping to restart my education since I left and eloped with this one dude a couple years back.” He elegantly lied, “Might be behind in the studies, but am old enough to kiss and fuck on the first da-“

“Alright!“ Lydia clapped her hands, interrupting him, “Thanks Gerold, you’re the be-“

“The best?,” Lydia had cut him out of whatever charm Beetlejuice had on him and chuckled, “ Ja, ja, I know.” The man went to his pot simmering behind him. “Today is gross Mac and cheese, but for Lydia it’s mashed potatoes with beef steak,” He plated that, loaded it onto a tray and gave it to Lydia, “And you,” he plated Beetlejuice’s food next, “Currywurst with fries. One of my favourites.” He pushed the tray to Beetlejuice. “ Genießen! Auf widersehen!” Gerold waved as the two went to look for a table to sit at.

Beetlejuice sashayed his hips away from the chefs table and Beetlejuice made sure to turn around and blow a kiss at the fumbling chef whose nose started to bleed a little bit.

“My spot is a faraway table where no one bothers me and from the scares you gave them today,” Lydia put down her tray on the table, “I think no one is going to be bothering me or rather no one at all for at least two days. Thanks by the way.”

“Anytime Scarecrow, so what is Gerold’s number so I could get a quick fuck in?” Beetlejuice made grabby hands for Lydia’s phone.

“You are not messing around Gerold, you might break his heart!” She playfully pointed her fork at him. She also procured that sandwich from her bag that she gave to Beetlejuice and he was right. It was a pesto sandwich, he had smelled the heavy basil. Lydia asked how he knew but Beetlejuice replied ‘I know my herbs.’

Beetlejuice set down his tray with a snort, “Yeah I know, my heart belongs to the boring Maitlands. Sorry Gerold, but I will be coming back. Maybe he’ll show me his bratwurst?” Beetlejuice suggestively licked his bottom lip with that elongated tongue he has.

“Gross!” Lydia threw her knife at him which Beetlejuice caught, “Now the video.”

Lydia pulled out her phone and pressed the playback button, it picked up where the lights first started flickering. The pair snickered and laughed as they could hear the screams of Lydia’s peers scrambling to escape. Beetlejuice could see Regina freak out and her picture perfect hair was becoming more and more disheveled. He pointed it out and Lydia zoomed into it and screenshotted the image for her future blackmail. It was a crude photo but you could obviously tell it was Regina’s skimpy figure. Her posse fared no better, Gertrude clung onto Regina, her makeup all streaked from the tears that flowed from her eye sockets. Lisa pushed and shoved the other kids in an effort to get away, her clothes becoming undone as she tried to make her escape.

Their lunch was passed with laughter garnering looks from other kids but dared not to bother her and Beetlejuice. Rumours started to spread about Lydia being a witch and Dewey being her warlock lover. Clearly everyone was either too stupid to hear that Lydia said that Beetlejuice, or rather Dewey, was her cousin. 

Her third period was study hall, so they both went to the library. People tried to sneer and rile Lydia when she wasn’t looking but Beetlejuice threw his voice in their ears and growled. Daring them to come and bother her. In a way, Beetlejuice had become a guardian for her in this weird animalistic kingdom called High School. He enjoyed it since he could scare to his heart's content and all these easy targets made him internally jump up and down with manic glee.

Lydia’s fourth period was math and she dreaded that class the most, so did Beetlejuice. All the numbers were in another language to him and since they were doing algebra right now, the letters that were mixed in complicated matters for him. He tried to keep up but crushed his pencil in frustration since all he could write was: I DON’T FUCKING GET IT. Lydia told him she’ll explain it later but Beetlejuice had no intentions of learning. He’s a demon for hells sake. The teacher was a stout looking woman with her glasses magnifying her eyes giving her the appearance of a bookish owl. It was literally the by-the-books appearance of a nerd that Beetlejuice has ever seen. He had tuned out and decided to mess around with this girl on his left instead. He had possessed the kid behind her and started kicking her chair, throwing bits of dry paper then escalating to making spitballs and spitting them at her desk. Lydia knew what he was doing and she laughed silently as the girl erupted and threw her book at the boy behind her. Which set Beetlejuice, Lydia and the entire class in an uproar of laughter. Beetlejuice relinquished his hold and the boy blinked back in confusion. He was sent to the office and that was the last special event that happened that day.

Delia picked them both up at the same place she dropped them off at the front of the school.

“How was school for you two? Learned anything interesting?” Delia smiled as the two bustled into the car.

Lydia and Beetlejuice shared a knowing look.

“Boring.” Lydia replied, pulling her phone out and scrolling through it.

Chapter Text

Where to begin?

This week has been the most eventful and fun that Lydia has ever had in a long time. Her best friend was by her side and they caused mayhem wherever they went. The school was just the first and she loved it. Although it was a pain to get up earlier each day to make sure Beetlejuice looked presentable to the general public. 

Ever since that incident on Monday, no one dared to bother Lydia or Beetlejuice. I guess that the witch and warlock rumour that everyone spread really scared everyone off. Including the three stooges, Regina, Gertrude and Lisa almost never came near her. They would still say hurtful comments within earshot but what could you do about that? Maybe mean is what you are and mean is easier than nice, it might get them far in life but Lydia scoffed it off, she has too much on her plate to care about stuff like that.

A kid did try to mess with her but Beetlejuice was behind them in an instant and stood there without saying a word. He just stood there, breathing down this kid's neck while the kid tried to rile up the other kids in the hallway against her. Lydia instead just pulled out her phone and hit record again, making sure to get this bully’s reaction before he had to scramble away from Lydia and Beetlejuice. With a grunt from Beetlejuice, the kid turned around and stared wide-eyed as he started to back away slowly.

Beetlejuice was called into the office an hour later but wasn’t punished. How he managed to sweet talk the principal into not giving him attention was something Lydia didn’t want to think about.

It was a great week but today.. 

Today is the one year anniversary of Emily’s death.

Lydia knew it was coming and told herself that she wouldn’t shut down today but here she is, rummaging through the box that is filled with Emily’s stuff that Lydia stored in her room. Beetlejuice said he was going to bother the Maitlands today so she was left alone to wallow in her sadness.

Thank goodness it’s the weekend.

She pulled out a framed photo of her mother and laid a hand on it. This was back three years ago when the family made an impromptu spring trip to Germany. In the photo she was in a long black jumpsuit with a black cardigan on her shoulders. The photo was taken in the airport and here, she was relaxed. Her hands were behind her shoulders smiling sweetly at the camera with her sunglasses on her forehead and legs kicked out as they were all waiting for their plane to get to Dusseldorf.

Lydia stood up from the floor and placed the photo on her dresser, took a seat, and stared longingly at it.

It was so sudden, her diagnosis… The doctors said it was breast cancer, they caught it way too late.. First it was the shock, then it was the chemotherapy.. She used to have long black hair and when it was falling out, it freaked out Lydia more than it should. Emily reassured her that she was getting better but the paler and paler she got made Lydia more uneasy about her condition. Then the medical bills that Charles and Emily had to pay off, Lydia remembers hearing from behind the wall the sounds of an argument coming from the kitchen about how they were going to pay the hospital bills. Then Emily stopped coming home, then it was the horrible hospital visits. Emily was a shell of her former self, she was bald and was bedridden the entire time. Her IV drips constantly giving her the nutrients and hydration she needs. It was hard to look at, Lydia remembers how she cried onto her mother's hospital gown and soaked it through. But the memory Lydia holds onto, it was how Emily smiled through it all, it was a small but soft smile the one that she gave Lydia when she was watching her play from a distance. Even in the hands of death she was the smiling and caring mother that Lydia wishes she could run and cry into her arms again.

Then she died…

Charles got the phone call as he came home from a long day at work, Lydia found him in the kitchen, crying into his hands, sobbing to Lydia how they were too late. They prepared for her funeral with sorrow and fits of crying. Then Charles stopped crying, hired Delia and here they were in Winter River moving forward just like she wanted.

Lydia was so angry.. She hated the world and blamed everything that had to do Emily’s death on it. Emily did nothing wrong and she just happened to develop cancer. It was all bullshit to Lydia, Lydia was robbed of a happy and long life with her parents. Emily would say that everything dies eventually but.. not like this.

“Mom,” Lydia spoke to the frame, “I know I haven’t talked to you in a while but I miss you. Every day..” Lydia adjusted herself on her seat, “Sometimes I get these crazy dreams about you, like that time I saw you leading me to a black door. I looked it up when I woke up and the interpretation couldn’t have been more right.. Maybe it was your way of telling me from the other side to get prepared for the depression that settled in after you died..” Lydia propped her head on her hand,  “Yeah I felt depressed but isn’t that what you feel when someone you love dies? Funny enough as it is, it gave me more comfort than sadness, I still think you’re watching over me, hopefully you heard me talking to you.” She absently started drawing small squares on her palm, “When I got to the Netherworld, I thought you would be at the front waiting for us there but when I didn’t see you I felt betrayed. So when I went looking and didn’t find you, I collapsed. Thankfully dad found me and got me to come home. You would’ve loved all the people I met. Miss Argentina is nice but you must’ve met Beetlejuice’s mother second.. That rotten bitch.. oops sorry.. But yeah she really is a bitch,” Lydia laughed softly. “It’s been pretty hard, dad fell in love with another woman, I wonder if you’ll approve but he seems happy and I guess that is what you want.. For us to move on and I guess dad is right… I need a mother. Delia is not you by any means but she’s trying..”

Lydia started feeling wetness from her eyes, “Remember the time where we fell down a hill, scraping our knees when we tried to catch a bus? That was awesome. Dad was so worried when we came back home.. Or that one time where you brought dad and I to this new cafe? The coffee and hot chocolate was so bad, yet you put a good smile and told the barista that it was good coffee. It really made his day it seemed.” Lydia’s voice started to get strained a little, “I can’t believe you’re gone and.. it seems like one big nightmare that I try to get out of by pinching myself or chugging hot coffee. It doesn’t seem real. I always think that Dad is pulling the biggest trick on me and I expect you to walk through the door every day… The possibility of that seems to get lower and lower each day so I have to deal with the fact that you’re not actually coming home.” Lydia’s tears started flowing down her face, “Constantly I think of, throwing myself off a building and joining you on the other side or fade into obscurity, drop out of school and just disappear from this life forever… I still feel that way..” Lydia buried her head into her hands, face down on the wooden desktop. “It’s so hard mom, I don’t wanna live in this world without you but I have to keep living for you, for dad. I’m trying my best here but everyday it’s so hard. I may put on a brave face but most of the time it is all a sham. I want to cry and lock myself in my bedroom for days… Every month that rolls on by, I shut down on the twelfth day. I don’t want to move, I don’t want to eat, I don’t want to do anything. I just want you here..” Lydia then hugged herself and cried harder, “I thought I would find you down there but when I found nothing.. I.. I.. I lost it. What the hell am I supposed to do now mom?” She clenched her teeth as the tears now heavily ran down, “I can’t do this anymore..”

“Hey Scarecrow, watching a scary-“ Beetlejuice threw the door open, “Lyds? Lydia?” He walked to her side, “Hey kid, are you okay?”

Lydia shook her head and whimpered.

Beetlejuice looked at her tear-running face and at the framed photo on the desk, “Oh. Shit.” He awkwardly put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to his chest, “What’s wrong kid?”

Lydia, in lieu of a response, leaned more into his embrace and Beetlejuice hugged her in full. He didn’t have to comfort anyone before and was never comforted in return, “Going to be honest with ya kid, I don’t know what I’m doing here.” He chuckled, “Is this alright?” He couldn’t see her nod but he felt it against his chest. Lydia sobbed and slowly put her arms under his to hug him back. Between the silence, Lydia screamed and sniffled, making a large wet spot on his borrowed t-shirt.

“You know,” Beetlejuice said slowly, “I wonder if my dad ever did this,” He doesn’t know what he’s saying but he saw a lot of newly-deads talk about something else when they’re sad. “Comforting me, I mean. I don’t remember much of him, all I can remember are little moments but I can’t remember his face, it’s just one big fuzz and no matter how much I try to pick up more,” Beetlejuice shrugged, “Nothing comes up, it sucks. I believe he was a nice guy from what I remember. When I teleported away, I remembered something, I was looking over a frozen wasteland with him and we were looking up at the stars and he told me to be like stone, he told me it was only going to get harder. He was right…” a sigh escaped his lips, “Then he disappeared one day, never found out why. Mom never coughed up anything either so ever since then, I had to live with her and you bet your ass I left as soon I could. Didn’t stop her from ‘gifting’ me,” He growled, “with that stupid summoning contract from birth. Apparently, since I was born-dead I had powers no one else had. Tentacles, extra arms, environment manipulation, the works, plus there’s the typical ghost powers and shit. Would I ever exchange this for anything? Hell no.” He thought for a moment, “Well, I would trade making cursed objects for the ability to read and write but you know I could learn but if the words would stop scrambling and if certain letters won’t look the same I would.. Well something but what could you do,” He could hear Lydia laugh at that, “When you get banned and roam the earth for centuries, learning to read isn’t on the top of your priority list or,” Beetlejuice peeled her away, “when you have orgies that last days you think of what the next position to please your partner with.” He wiggled his brows and sensually licked his lips which caused Lydia to shove him away.

“Never do that to me ever again!” Lydia screamed but sported a small smile on her face, “That was wrong on so many levels.” 

“Sorry,” Beetlejuice threw his hands up in mock surrender, “but hey I got ya to smile there. Feel better now?”

“Yeah,” Lydia wiped her eyes on the back of her hand, “thanks Beej.”

“Anytime kid,” a glow from the bottom of Beetlejuice’s vision caught his sight. The little green from his chest where he had crossed his heart glowed on his and Lydia’s chest. “Woah.”

Lydia felt herself relax a little, “Right.. I forgot you did this, guess its.. here to remind us of the promise you made? You have been good, the house hasn’t burnt down and no has been hurt yet so,” Lydia punched his shoulder, “Guess that’s going well so far.”

“To be honest, I thought it would be gone on the third day.” Beetlejuice chuckled, “But here we are.”

“Still wearing the bracelet?”

“Yup,” Beetlejuice rolled up his sleeve to reveal the bracelet still tied around his wrist, “Never took it off, other than taking it off before I shower. There a reason for these little things?.” He shook the bracelet for emphasis.

“Well,” Lydia took his wrist and pointed at the rope, “After you left I remembered that Mom taught me how to make bracelets, it’s black and white for a reason BJ because it’s inspired by you.” She held the first trinket which was a green beetle, “This one is obviously about you cause it is a literal beetle and if anyone saw this they couldn’t guess the second word. I’m sure you won’t like anyone trying to summon you every which way, and the other one,” she pointed to the golden B, "Obviously it's you again, to be fair if, you didn't come back I would wear it."

"Really pulling on my ego there kid."

Lydia rolled her eyes as she pointed at the third one, a banana, “This one is about the song that Adam and Barbara made everyone sing at the dinner party, remember?”

“They tried to make people scared but yeah I remember.” Beetlejuice snorted.

Lydia moved onto the next one, which was the ghost, “This one is about the time where we haunted the house for days until Dad and Delia came back with Kevin with that stupid soul box thing.”

“I knew it was bullshit from the start,” Beetlejuice pouted, “Wasn’t scared of that thing at all.”

“Sure you weren’t,” Lydia rolled her eyes, “Why’d you tell me you were?”

“Whatever, why does the last one look like a house?”

“It has a double meaning,” Lydia replied, “It's where I met Adam, Barbara and you. I mean it’s hard to forget when you live in a house like this, haunted by a demon and two of its old inhabitants.” Her face then fell, “Did you mean what you said?”

“Meant what?” Beetlejuice raised an inquisitive brow.

“About the promise and the forgetting thing? Is that real? Will I really forget you?”

Beetlejuice let out a soft “oh” and looked down to the floor, “Yeah.. I told you before, I’m a demon and everything we do is about contracts, deals and small agreements.. Wait, those are the same things but the point is, that’s how I make promises.. I can elaborate on it if you’d like?”

“Please, if there’s a way to make sure that it won’t break, then I’ll take it.” Lydia pleaded.

“Okay.. just like you said, the glow is a reminder about the promise and the price it comes with it. When broken, I’m erased. I’m gone. Back to invisible ol’ me. You’ll forget me, your memory wiped. Poof.” Beetlejuice felt his shoulder tense, “It’ll only affect you cause you’re the only recipient of the promise.”

Lydia's face brightened and she shot up to look at Beetlejuice, “Then I’ll get Adam and Barbara to help me remember! I can summon you back and the promise will be null and void right?”

Beetlejuice chuckled, “As much as I would love that to happen, it won’t. You think they would help you remember me? I did them dirty Lydia, Dolly too. They won’t help you, I’m sure they won’t. I scarred y’all. Made you fear me and everything I could do. So imagine my situation, you think that after everything I’ve done, I would be so easily welcomed back into your life after leaving you with such a heavy burden?” Lydia tried to speak but was cut off, “No. The answer is no kid.”

“But you’ve already apologized! What do you mean?” Lydia already cried today but she could feel the tears well up from behind her eyes, “I don’t want to forget you Beej!” She practically screamed that part and it hit Beetlejuice like a truck.

“I know kid, but that.. that’s up to me. I’ll be good Lyds, I promised.” Beetlejuice patted her head and laid his hand on there.

“I don’t want you to go,” now the tears came back in full force, “You’re my best friend.”

Beetlejuice sadly smiled, “You’re my best friend too wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Lydia threw herself at Beetlejuice again and squeezed him tight, “We’ll take care of each other.”

“When you can’t look on the bright side, I will sit with you in the dark.” Beetlejuice lost focus and saw a glimpse of a shadow in his mind.

“What was that?” Lydia looked up.

“Something my dad said I think, ‘When you can’t look on the bright side, I will sit with you in the dark.’” He spoke a little louder.

“Your dad’s fan of the Mad Hatter from Alice In Wonderland?” Lydia sniffled but smiled, “Why am I not surprise-“

The door to Lydia’s room was wrenched open, “Lydia are you okay, I heard crying?!”

Charles stepped in and stared at the two friends in shock. “What.. is he doing here?”

“Oh fuck.” Beetlejuice and Lydia swore.

Chapter Text

The cafe on a weekend were usually busy, teenagers came in to spend the day off with their friends, multitudes of university and college kids drop by to study and work on their multiple thesis’ and projects that their teachers assign during the weekend. Multiple business owners and mini social media influencers flounce to the shop for their strangely sweet caffeinated fix and go on to do whatever the hell they do.

Today though was by far the busiest day of the year, even on Holidays like Christmas it was never this busy. People would go to other cafes, the ones that had cafe chains across the country like Starbucks or something. 

A huge line up went out the door and down the sidewalk. There was no special promotion or new menu item, there was just an abundance of people that appeared out of nowhere. This caused confusion for everyone.

He was putting things in the freezer when he heard Daniel call for him and that’s when he saw the line up. Leanne, Sam and Daniel thought they got it covered but they needed His help if they were going to survive this.

They knew it was a hot day today  but there’s no reason for having a long line up but the pay is going to be big and the amount of tips that they’ll get when the next paycheck comes in will no doubt make Sam celebrate.

Thankfully and unbeknownst to them, he had his powers to help. If the orders piled up and things were lacking with the drink making, a little flash of from the hands will speed up the heating process for latté and coffee orders. Same with cold brews and other cold sugary drinks. If he had his way he would possess every one of his coworkers to speed things but he liked talking to some of the customers and having his focus on too many things at once would probably be overkill for him. They even gave good tips if he added in a special smile… 

His coworkers were relieved and said he worked like some kind of coffee demon since he was practically flying behind the counter.

Well they’re half right, minus the coffee part.

Not a human but not a demon either. It was like being stuck in limbo and forced to watch the day cycle though from a rainy beach shore. Over time though, He began to appreciate humans. How frail they were and how emotionally fickle they could be. Some were as sweet as candy, others were unsavoury as rotting fish.

He retained some of his demon powers when he was cursed and it was good that he looked completely human, if he kept his emotions in check that is. His usual brunette hair would sometimes change colour when he got angry or sad. It was subtle but it was very noticeable underneath a certain lighting. He had played it off a couple times saying that he was trying new hair products that worked similar to mood rings. 

The day went by rapidly and before he knew it, He was bidding farewell to the last customer of the night.

Daniel, Leanne, Sam and a new hire Alexander all collapsed after the door closed.

“Man, will it always be like this?” Leanne sobbed into the table, “It has never been this busy before, wonder what the occasion is.”

He shrugged and soothingly rubbed her shoulders, “No clue but we did it folks! We finished the shift and not one single incident!”

“Minus my fuck up.” Alexander rubbed his temples. 

Alexander was about His age, well human age, an older gentleman who was equally as enthused with working here. A little short, long hair tied in a ponytail, physically fit and round glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. Also he liked the colour green.

“It’s fine, you did well considering it was only your 3rd shift!” He chortled, “Besides we really appreciate you applying here. Little Lennie over there is starting college soon and won’t be here as often.” He pointed to the woman currently slumped in the bathroom.

“I am not little!” She screamed.

“You are little to me and always will be, Little Lennie.”

“Jebidiah,” Daniel sighed, “Don’t antagonize her, you know how she can be.”

“My name is not Lennie!” Leanne screamed again.

“Alright let’s not get anyone riled up,” Sam calmly put their hands up, “We all did well today but right now let’s focus on closing up and going home. I’m beat.”

“Agreed,” He chuckled, “Alexander with me, we’ll stock up the counters for the night.”

After the cafe closed, He went straight home. Not bothering to search for a way to the Netherworld tonight. He was tired, the curse and human limitations be damned. His use of his powers today certainly dried him up too and some good and long rest would be needed. 

His home was exactly that, frugal and small. The kitchen and dining room were one of the same, one bathroom, one bedroom and a living room. Minimal furniture and everything he owned was practical and didn’t take up much space. 

Of course having little to no belongings made disappearing easier.

Upon crossing the threshold, he went stiff. His instincts flared and the hairs on his arms stiffly shot up. For him, that usually meant someone or something is watching him.

Call it a ghost sense but something was amiss, the air was heavy and a smell of burnt flesh wafted through the air ducts.

He put his bag down and started to search the flat. The living room held no significance and nothing could hide there even if they tried. A simple flip of the light switch would banish anything to the light. Even a shadow demon would never enter a domain of another powerful demon, let alone the human world unless provoked.

No Lurkers either.

The bedroom was exactly how he left it that morning. Not a hair out of place.

Not a Boogey.

His hallway mirror shimmered a bit which piqued his curiosity. A mirror demon perhaps?

Mirror demons are easy to summon and simply countered, say their name a couple times in a dimly-lit or candle-lit room in the presence of a mirror and she would appear. To counter you either get a new mirror, cover the mirror with cloth to bar entry or have a water-salt solvent and brush it against the glass.

The most famous case of a mirror demon though was that of Bloody Mary. She was the most sought after demoness of the Netherworld way back in the 2000’s but after a while it died down due to the mythos and false eyewitness accounts of herself being in a different place while she was off somewhere halfway across the world. She either would be benign or malevolent considering her mood that day. Usually she was summoned and acted malevolently.

Her little maniacal game of scaring, and sometimes murdering, foolish boys and girls was unnerving. Countless times he was called in to investigate a death in front of a mirror and He would summon her and inquire if she had done it. And of course she said yes, it annoyed Him and the other workers in the Netherworld Investigations Unit to no end. Her kills were always gruesome too and to erase the exposure of the Netherworld to the human world was difficult. You had to keep the dead people with the dead and the living people with the living. Although there was an incident a couple months back but that was easily handled.

He was so thankful when the summons died down and the NIU could take a breather. Every now and again she would be summoned but not to the same capacity as before. 

He stared at the mirror and he could swear he could see a face-

Until his phone started to ring.

“Hello?”

“Hi, it’s me.” A small male voice came from the end.

“Oh Alexander!” He walked over to the mirror to investigate. “What can I do for you tonight? Everything okay?”

“I’m fine! I was just…” Alexander stuttered, “I was wondering if you were free right now?”

“Yes I am, give me 5 minutes to drop off my stuff and we can meet at the train station?”

“Okay!” Alexander sounded uncertain. “I’ll see you there.”

“Alright see you in a bit!” He hung up and continued to search before he had to head out. “What does he want I wonder?” He said aloud.

He would have to cover the mirror when he returns home, it sounded like Alexander was in a pickle.

Skia snickered as she watched the old man leave the house from the safety of the hallway mirror.

“I’ve found you.” She sang and dragged her sharpened bronze mirror on the glass, “We’re going to have a little fun.”

Chapter Text

“Oh fuck,” Beetlejuice and Lydia swore.

Beetlejuice knew when he was in trouble, his centuries with Juno taught him when to hide and to reel back on the antics and this is one of those times. He didn’t need some device to him that he was in deep shit but the facial expression and the tension heavy air brought back those repressed feelings back to Beetlejuice. Charles may be mortal but that didn’t stop the pit of dread picking up in his stomach.

“Chuck.” Beetlejuice slowly peeled himself away from Lydia, “It’s not what you think, I was just comforting-”

“What are you doing here?”

Charles’ tone was accusatory and demanding. Tongue tied, Beetlejuice didn’t know what to say. Lydia looked to him in fright, whether it was that of what Beetlejuice might do to her father or what Charles might do to Beetlejucie, the demon did not know. He could see Charles breathe heavily from his nostrils, flaring up as he breathed. He could see it in his brows too, furrowing down while Charles’ face flushed to an angry red.

“Lydia, step away from him.”

“Dad, it’s not what it looks like-” she stood up from her chair.

“Not what it looks like?” Charles’ voice cracked, “I come in here and see you two holding each other and you tell me it’s: ‘Not what it looks like’? This demon is back in my house without me knowing?!”

Beetlejuice put his hands in surrender, “Chuck I know you’re angry but why don’t we get everyone else in the living room to discuss my fate here?”

Lydia nodded, “Dad, please. Get everyone gathered down to the living room, we can explain everything there.”

“No,” Charles slammed his fist against Lydia’s door frame, “I want answers immediately!”

Lydia put herself between her father and Beetlejuice, “And you will get those answers,” she said calmly, “But now this has turned into a family discussion. Beetlejuice,” she turned to the person in question, “Delia will come and get us when we’re ready.” Lydia held her phone up with the woman’s name plastered on its screen.

Delia came into the room soon after, “Charles honey, we’re going to the Living Room.”

“Delia we are not-” Charles started before being manhandled by Delia into the direction of the Living Room.

“We. Are. Going.” she cheered, face fixed in a smile that was strained beyond humanly possible.

They could hear Charles’ protests fading away as they walked away.

“That was smart.” Beetlejuice shakily spoke after a minute.

“Speed dial,” she waved her phone in a mock salute, awkwardly laughing  “never imagined I would use it to ring Delia though.”

Now that Charles was out of the room, the comforting air that happened earlier dissipated. He didn’t know what to do now. What would he say to defend himself? The very clothes he was wearing were stolen from Charles’ closet and no doubt that Charles would use that as an excuse to kick him out. He is trespassing after all, he might just leave now to avoid any major conflict.

“Lydia, I-”

“We’re going to get through to him,” she grumbled, “No way Dad is going to ruin this for you.”

“Lyds, I can leave now and forget all this.”

“No,” the girl grit her teeth, cleaning herself up in the mirror as she spoke, “Dad is going to see you as you, this is not up for debate.” she walked to the door and leaned against its frame, “You saved me from Juno, I never got to return the favour but now I can.”

“But what about waiting for Delia?”

“I’m going to try and help her,” she left the room, stomping away as she went down the hallway and down the stairs.

They discussed what would happen if Charles ever found out, Delia would put herself in between Charles and Beetlejuice while Lydia, Adam and Barbara would serve as extra security for the safety of both men. They thought they were going to tell him slowly after that two week mark but finding out this early jeopardizes the entire plan.

He sat there for a few moments longer, psyching himself up for the no doubt heated confrontation that will take place when he walks out that door. It could go to the extreme of Charles freaking out and demanding him to leave, which will be the most likely scenario, or unlikely, Charles could be cold and tolerate Beetlejuice living in this house. Beetlejuice secretly hopes for the former, it would make this easier for him to leave.

“Dad, you are being so damn childish!” he heard Lydia scream, “Can you just shut up for a couple minutes so we can try and explain this to you?”

Beetlejuice hesitated before walking out the room, Lydia was going to be upset before he was called but this is about him… he might as well be present for the entire argument.

He has never heard Lydia yell like that before too. Not even from back then, she would curse at him for being an annoying shit but the way she yelled was from the gut. Her throat must have strained to reach that loudness.

“Lydia this the THING that almost killed us,” Beetlejuice heard Charles’ retort, “that almost killed ME!”

“Yeah, back then! This is now!”

Beetlejuice took his time reaching the staircase lest Charles lashes out and hurls himself at Beetlejuice. He could obviously defend himself but he won’t harm a hair on that man's head.

He can’t be cast out again, he’ll do it on his own terms.

“Dad, he hasn’t done a single thing since he came back! Do you see anything broken? Do you see anything on fire? Do you see anything wrong?” she grilled.

“What was wrong, there was a demon with my daughter!”

“He came to comfort me dad!” she protested.

“Comfort?!” Charles' anger now spiked, though Beetlejuice was behind him, he could practically see the steam coming out of his ears, “What sort of demon offers comfort?!”

By now, Beetlejuice was halfway down the stairs. Luckily for him, Charles was facing the others, not knowing the person they were yelling about was just a few steps behind him. Barbara, Delia and Adam were giving not so subtle hints of ‘DONT COME ANY CLOSER’. 

“Now Charles, don’t you think you should calm down-” Delia started.

“No! A Demon is a monster, a demon manipulates, a demon hurts,” Charles looked to Lydia, “a demon kills.”

Beetlejuice deflated, he is right. Barbara and Adam flickered their gaze to Beetlejuice in sympathy.

Beetlejuice has manipulated the Deetz-Maitland family since day one: he had used the opportunity of the Maitland’s sudden death to get himself summoned by the new family who moved into their house. He’s a monster for scaring a little girl with a heart disease that nearly killed her. He had hurt Barbara when he tried to exorcise her, he had hurt the Deetz’s by running them out of their home. He had manipulated Lydia, making her believe that she could get her mom back. He had almost murdered Charles in cold blood in the first 5 mins of being alive. No matter how many sorrys and half-hearted apologies he can give, the scars of what he did lingered at the forefront of their minds.

Maybe he should back out and disappear now when he still has the chance.

“So do humans!” Lydia counters, “ We manipulated Beej, We hurt him, WE KILLED HIM! We’re just as monstrous as he is! What we did to him was just as bad! We murdered an actual LIVING person! Did you not forget how long it took to clean the blood and bury the body that was left behind?”

He flinched.

He remembers being stabbed through the chest, seeing the other end of the pole through his bleeding chest. How it choked him of air, filling his now functioning lungs. It was sensory overload, it almost consumed him as he forced it back out.

He doesn’t remember dying, all he remembers the pain, the cold and the dark. Then a bright light and there he was, standing in the same place being directed towards the Netherworld.

“Am I the only one defending my case here?” Charles whipped to Delia, “Why is everyone standing around?!”

“Charles,” Delia answered in surrender, “We all knew… since the beginning.”

“Well not the beginning, beginning, I found out on my own,” she continued, “Beetlejuice has been a delight and very easy going conversationalist if you get past the rigor mortis exterior.”

“Adam? Barbara?” he looked at them next, “You knew too?”

The couple nodded, “He appeared in the attic a week ago,” Adam said, “Jolting all of us awake.”

“See dad?” Lydia stepped towards her father, “They know!”

“B-but,” Charles stammered, shocked at how clueless he was, “Wait.. a week?! He’s been here a whole week?!”

“Yes!”

“The scream in the middle of the night, the movie night, the snacks… the sandworm plushie.” Charles connected all the pieces together, “He was right under my nose.”

“He even came to school with Lydia,” Delia piped in, “There were no accidents from what I’ve heard and Lydia has even gotten better with her schoolwork with the lack of bullies harassing her.”

“Beetlejuice made them stop getting at me,” Lydia confirmed, “No one was hurt, other than their sheets that night anyway.”

“Lydia..” Adam scolded.

“I want him out.”

“What?”

“I want him out of here!” Charles fumed, “He clearly has all of you in some sort of… trance! But I won’t be fooled!” Everyone took a step back, “I’m going to banish him myself and have you all back to normal!” he rushed to the stairs but paused in his steps as he saw Beetlejuice in his flight path.

The demon had his gaze to the floor, hair washed with purple and light blue colours, even his beard and moss matched. “I know you don’t want me here,” he spoke, “But let me make this clear… I don’t want to be here.”

“Beej,” Lydia breathed.

“No Lydia, it’ll be fine.” Beetlejuice sadly smiled in her direction, “You think I wanted this?” he turned to Charles, gesturing to himself, “To come back to the place where I died?”

“I never wanted to come back here, I told you all myself: “I’ll never come this way again.” The reason I chose to stay is because of her.” he pointed to Lydia, “She welcomed me back and told me it was going to be okay.” A prick on the chest made him suck in a sharp breath.

“She’s just a child!” Charles met him on the step, “She can’t defend herself yet.”

“She stabbed me in the back didn’t she?” Beetlejuice countered, wincing from his chest pain.

“Beetlejuice are you okay?” Barbara asked, seeing the discomfort.

“I’m fine,” he lied.

“Charles honey, I think that is enough-”

“NO!” Charles cut Delia off, “I will not stop until this thing leaves this house and leaves my family for good. I’m going to call for an exorcist.”

Barbara paled at the word. She hates talking about let alone be reminded of such a dastardly thing. Luckily for her, she pulled from that but she can’t forget the pain. It felt as if there were a million daggers cutting into her body and she couldn’t break herself free from their onslaught. She could see Adam panic in the corner of her eye and Lydia, fearful of the damage she was causing. When Beetlejuice reappeared she was reluctant to forgive him but now seeing the more gentler side, Barbara was scared for him.

“You’re just like her.” Beetlejuice hissed, “You’re just like Juno.”

“I am nothing like her,” Charles leaned right to Beetlejuice’s nose, “You are her son.”

Beetlejuice shoved him away, “I am not her son, all of you heard her say that she wishes I was never born. Ah-” that sharp pain again gripped his chest again,, “I have no dad and I never had a mother to begin with.”

“Then you are just as threatening with or without her!” Charles argued, “You are not welcome here anywhere near my daughter!”

Thunder struck outside, shaking the house with a supernatural force. The Maitlands rushed to each other’s side, Lydia was speechless while her best friend and father stood at odds. Delia stood behind her, hand on her shoulder ready to pull her away. The flash of lightning warned of an oncoming storm despite being a sunny day mere seconds ago.

Beetlejuice scrunched his nose defiantly, “Am I threatening, Chuck?” Wind picked up suddenly and the walls and windows rattled from its force, “You threatened me with an exorcist and banishment from this house, the monster here is not me Charles…” A smash at one of the windows made everyone jump, “It’s you.” The demon now levitated above the steps, his dead yellow eyes focused on one man. His clothes peeling away to it’s familiar black and white striped suit, “I’m no monster and I refuse to be treated as such.” 

“Leave. Us. Alone.” Charles ground his teeth, growling each word.

“Dad, stop! You’re scaring him!” Lydia cried out.

“I’m scaring him?!” Charles’ cold stare went onto his daughter, “He’s going to rip this house to shreds and by God I will fight for it!”

“If you can just calm down for one minute-”

“Shush child!” Charles barked at her, making Lydia flinch at his outburst. Never in her life has Charles yelled at her so, not even when he was upset with her.

This is not her father.

“Beej is right,” Lydia breathed, “You are the monster.”

Beetlejuice shook from his anger at Charles, ready to strike him with his hand for snapping at his best friend but the sound of a jingle stopped him. The bracelet floated gently on his wrist, not making contact with him but just drifting.

I’ll be good.

Though he didn’t have a beating heart, the noise of one rang in his ears and the pain of a gripping vice circling his chest.

Demons honour.

The wind, thunder and rattling ceased and as fast that storm came by, it dissipated in a matter of seconds. “I’m sorry,” he croaked, “I’m not gonna hurt anyone. I don’t want to hurt anyone.” Beetlejuice slumped to the ground, holding the railing for support. His lips quivering and neck tightening from the tears he’s trying to fight.

“Then leave.” Beetlejuice sharply looked up to see Charles above him, face still contorted with fury.

“If that is what you want?” Beetlejuice asked.

“Get out of my house.” Charles nodded triumphantly.

Maybe I am getting soft.

He turned his gaze to the other members of the house: Barbara and Adam were holding each other; fear still prominent in their eyes. Delia was holding Lydia back and the latter was trying to escape from the grip.

“Beej don’t do it!” Lydia pleaded.

“I’m sorry kid,” his entire hair, face and suit now matched in its blueish/purple tint, “I don’t have a choice.”

With a snap and a gush of green mist-

“Beej no-!”

He disappeared.

Chapter Text

“Lydia please come out.” Delia softly knocked on Lydia’s door.

After Beetlejuice disappeared, Lydia escaped from her step-mom’s hold and collapsed over the spot desperately grasping at the dissipating mist. She looked to her father in scorn; hate and disdain directed towards him. She was panting, ready to tear into her father for making Beetlejuice leave.. Instead, she slowly got up and ran towards the stairs, painfully elbowing her father as she passed. She stomped all the way up, furiously pounding on each step before slamming her bedroom door.

“I know you can hear me.” Delia leaned onto the door after there wasn’t a response.

T H U M P

Something hit the door, making everyone flinch away from it.

“No.” a monotonous, uncaring voice replied, “I’m not coming out.”

“Lydia please,” Barbara pleaded, “We just want to talk.”

“We are past talking.”

“Sweetheart, please open the door,” Adam tried to put on his sweet ‘dad voice’ that usually got Lydia to listen to him, but it didn’t work this time.

“Leave me alone!” Lydia wailed, throwing another book at the door,  “Beetlejuice is gone and I can’t summon him because of Juno! This is all dad's fault!”

Charles spoke next, “Lydia that’s not entirely fair-”

“Shut up!” she barked, “Let me grieve for both Dead Mom and Beej! It could’ve all been avoided if you would have just listened!”

“Lydia-”

“Fuck. Off!” Lydia swore, punctuating every word.

“Now listen here young lady-”

“No YOU listen Dad,” Lydia punched her door making the others flinch back again, “I don’t give a shit what comes out of my mouth since you couldn’t control yours when Beetlejuice was here. I don’t give a rats ass about you because you couldn’t shut up for a couple minutes to let him explain!” Lydia punched the door again, “Swallow your damn pride for a bit so we don’t have to climb over it!”

Lydia’s voice echoed through the halls. No one has heard Lydia that angry before, not even 6 months ago. The shock had Adam and Barbara speechless. Delia had her hand covering her mouth, like a mother going to church. Charles was stunned at the choice of her words.

“You’ve got nothing to say? Then leave me the hell alone!”

It was cruel for her to say such things and she knows it but the inactions of Adam, Barbara and Delia showed their true colours. They never liked Beej and only tolerated him being around because of Lydia. She felt hurt that the people she loves failed to step up. It wasn’t fair for her to close out Adam and Barbara since they probably knew what it was like to be locked out of a house that was no longer theirs in the beginning.

“He is my friend Dad,” Lydia weakly croaked, “I was helping him and you made him leave. Did you even hear me when I mentioned that Juno would come after him?”

From the other side of the wall, Lydia retreated into her bed and curled up in her covers. She already did what had to be done to be left alone and if Beej was right, like he usually was when it comes to the basic protection spells, Adam and Barbara should not be able to come into the room.

An insidious way to earn solitude.

“Basic protection spell Scarecrow, with a shit ton of salt and an incantation you can ward off me and all other ghosts who come to bother you.”

“Why do I need protection? Wouldn’t I just be fine with carrying Holy Water and a crucifix?”

“Well yes but what happens when you run out of water? And a crucifix is just wood carved into the shape of one.” Beej floated around her, “This one is basic but still very powerful.”

“Probably will use it when you’re bothering the shit out of me.”

“Then you will be using it often babes, okay. Say these words when pouring the salt:

Dead voices floating these halls

Dead voices, halt your calls

Dead voices I stop thy entry

Dead voices, I cease your agency.”

“It sounds cheesy, the last one barely even rhymed.”

“I didn’t come up with it, blame the one who wrote it.”

With her door locked and the entrances salted, no one will be able to enter her bedroom. She’ll never be able to forgive her father’s cruelty to Beej and the inaction of the others.

“Barbara, can you try and phase through the wall?” she heard her father say.

“I tried that already,” if Lydia could hear a heart break, she heard Barbara’s for sure. “I couldn’t do it.”

“She must have used one of the many protection spells that were in the Handbook.” Adam quipped, “Beetlejuice has been teaching her some of them and I have told her a few things as well. Partially it’s my fault, I’m sorry Charles.”

“Lydia honey, please forgive your father. He was trying to protect you-”

“Spare me the lecture! Stop trying to justify it!” Lydia threw the blanket over her head, “I am sick of it!  I am not some little girl anymore. I know danger when I see it and I can defend myself! If Beetlejuice misbehaved I would have sent him back to the Netherworld! And as you saw, nothing fucking happened, he was fine! I had it all planned out but no! Dad had to be a selfish asshole and only did this because he was scared!”

“That’s not true.. I..” Charles faltered, “I was trying to-”

“Charles, please. I think that’s enough.” Delia laid her hand on his shoulder, squeezing it firmly, “Let’s take a break and collect ourselves before we say some more things we regret.”

“Yes,” Barbara regrettably sighed and moved to hover on the other side, “Sounds like a great idea.”

Barbara hated seeing Lydia like this but she had every right to be furious.

“But Lydia-” Charles stammered.

“Will come back around,” Adam finished, “Lydia,” he called, “we’ll be downstairs if you need us.”

Delia, Adam and Barbara dragged Charles down the hall, down the steps into the living room that was still a mess from Beetlejuice’s flight. Delia set Charles on the couch and let him be, picking up the scraps of pages that were torn from their bindings.

It reminded Delia of the time where she and the others had to clean up after Beetlejuice’s first departure. The entire house had to be cleaned thoroughly and she and Charles had to tear out the wallpaper since the demon had redecorated with his black and white striped colour scheme. It was far from their modern, model home that they had designed but Delia saw Beetlejuice’s personality through it. The avant-garde design of the sandworm-like couch and chairs still gives her shivers. Plus the way the pipe had protruded from the walls looking similar to that of a snake and unnerved her when she entered back in the first time. It was freaky and unconventional but there was an underlying weight of homelessness to it.

Now that she thought about it, Beetlejuice angrily exclaimed earlier that he had no family since his dad disappeared and his mother disowned him for essentially existing. She didn’t know much of Beetlejuice’s history and Lydia never disclosed any, whether Lydia knew of it or not, Delia didn’t and does not want to pry.

“Delia.” Charles hollowedly spoke, “Am I the monster?”

Delia paused, mid crouch to pick up another scrap of paper.

“Do you want to hear what you want to hear as your loving wife-to-be, or do you want the brutal honest truth as your loving wife-to-be?” She responded.

Delia straightened herself out, wiping her hands on her dress, “I’m going to tell you anyway with the brutal honest truth,” she stated flatly, “Honey, you were completely out of line. You didn’t have to raise your voice at him, you practically invited a conflict in by doing so.” She sauntered over to the couch and knelt in front of Charles, “Don’t expect much sympathy from me since this was, pardon my language, your fucking fault.”

“I’m not trying to belittle or chastise you,” she carried on, “but since you are busy at work it will be hard to manage your home life and your work at the exact same time and it is our fault for not telling you sooner but if we knew that you were going to act like this; we would have waited for another week.” Delia apologetically tilted her head to the side, “Though in this week, Beetlejuice has been… well himself , but he was kind and even helped Lydia with her schoolwork. Of course, Mathematics stumped him, but then again it does for most of us, but when it came to History, Social Studies, Biology and surprisingly excelled in one of her Music classes. He kind of reminded us, and we introduced him as, your cousin Dewey..”

“Dewey is more dignified than this.” Charles scoffed.

“Is he though?” Delia questioned.

Charles was about to object but clamped his mouth shut after the similarities between the two were uncanny. “Exactly,” she sighed, “Charles, after today I think we should take some time to ourselves.”

“Wait,” Charles exclaimed “you’re going to call off the marriage?”

“Oh heavens no!” She swatted at him, “What I want is that we should reconvene at a later juncture, cool our heads for a little bit.”

“But.. I need you here.” he pleaded.

“I know you do but for now, with emotions running so high, we need to have a moment of clarity and think what was said.” Delia climbed up to sit at Charles’ side, “You threatened him with banishment and threatened to call an exorcist honey, I don’t think that was necessary.” she reached to cup the side of his face, brushing her thumb over his cheek, “I’m going to go for a drive and will be back until all this negative energy gets dispersed.”

Delia gave Charles a quick kiss to his hair and got up to reach for her keys that were hung nearby the door, “Please take some time to reflect on what was said,” she reminded him, “Lydia did have a point when she said if you would swallow your pride for a bit and listened, we wouldn’t have been in this situation.”

She unlocked the door and stepped outside to see a semi-clear sky, a slight breeze sweeping the grass, and the scent of daffodils wafting up her nose. Normally she would yell that she loves Charles before she left the house but giving harsh love was something she needed to demonstrate. They were soon to be married and there were going to be many more of these fights and blips in their relationship. Everything can’t be seen through rose tinted glasses forever and there are going to lapses of anger every now and then. She may have been a little too critical, considering that the person she was defending was the person that almost killed them but that was all in the past.

Delia opened the door to her car, hopping in and turning the key into ignition. She gave one more look to the house with her rear-view mirror before stepping on the gas to reverse out of the driveway.

She let herself roll down the hill a little, not relying too much on the accelerator to speed her descent. Lydia did mention that her mom used to do it but the thought of it always scared her. Having gravity have its way is terrifying, how that woman did it with a child in the car was something that astounded her and it certainly left an impression on the young girl.

Delia sighed into her steering wheel, easing on the brake to slow her speed. She tried to dissuade the situation but Charles had silenced her. He was antagonistic and all the pent up aggression and anger squashed her. If she dared to speak up again, his energy would have probably made her faint.

Being attuned to the energies of the Earth and the Universe, naturally gifted her the abilities to sense Melodies. Similar to that of melodies in music, the Earth and the Melodies of the Universe were turbulent at best; one moment it could be a gentle wash of tranquility, only to turn sour and crash dissonantly with one another.

It would send chills down her spine but it made sense. The Melodies of the Universe were constantly changing and it was very taxing to be constantly picking it up, so she only hones in on that of the Melodies with the people near her.

Like people and apparently demons, Melodies can change. Before, Charles had an aching melody. Probably due to the fact that Charles was pining over the loss of his wife. But now it was strong, a forceful, in your face melody but with a light trill at the end. A suitable melody for a stern man with a spot always open for his family.

Lydia had two distinctive Melodies. One was very teenage rebellious, in your face and heavy angst cranked up to a ten and the other was a melancholic piano opera. Her first Melody is anthemic and angry, very fitting for Lydia since she was always so unafraid of expressing herself while still hiding her trauma. The second one feels like it is climbing for something.. A sense of helplessness emanates from it that surprised Delia when she first became attuned to Lydia’s Melodies. Her melodies might have something connected to her late mother; the passionate energy of being so unapologetically herself was something that her mother must have taught her. While the other Melody probably was related to the ache of trying to find her but can’t due to them being on different sides of the mortal plane.

Adam’s Melody is a simple phrase that Delia hums every now and then. The big twist though is that it drops to almost complete silence. For the first half it was very reminiscent of music you would listen to at the beach, easy going, sunshining, very vanilla… but the second half was dead. Almost like a void, an actual void, waiting to be filled.

Delia could lump Barbara’s and Adam’s Melody together since they were so similar but there was a deviation with Barbara’s Melody that was distinctly different from her husbands.

The beginning of Barbara’s Melody was indistinguishable from Adam’s but instead of the second half being dead, it was spirited with a motherly energy. It was that of a Sunday morning, walking into the kitchen with the radio playing soft, soothing tunes while your mother was cooking an extravagant breakfast. Delia always felt at home near Barbara and it was no surprise that they got along. Similar to Lydia’s, there was also an anthemic quality in it. Like a final, ‘no more insecurities, this is me’. 

Beetlejuice however… His Melody was haunting, it was as if you were constantly in a Halloween store 24/7. Like if you really listened close enough, sounds of screams and bats screeching could be heard. Though there are moments where Beetlejuice’s Melody was a reflection of Lydia’s. Though there was a nagging quality to it, as if it were a perpetuated child trying to get attention. But Delia has to consider that he is also a Demon and unlike Demons from multiple mythos, he was different; capable of showing genuine human emotion and simulating human behaviour. But that could be chalked up as mimicry.

Charles' words echoed in her ears again. There was truth within those words, Demons are mass manipulators. They can and will do anything in their power to ensure that they achieve what they want. Beetlejuice did get what he wanted, albeit for 5 minutes.

Delia shivered behind the steering wheel. She always felt like Beetlejuice was a powder keg ready to blow. Though being with them for a week, there was a slight revision to his Melody that Delia picked up. It was still disturbed but a certain note that was heard was raised upward instead of cascading down. It was minute but she was able to pick up on it.

She did have a theory, if Melodies can change and people can change, then why not Demons?

Delia shivered again.

She should have left the house with a light sweater. Her pink floral sundress offered little resistance. She checked the temperature on her dashboard, it said it was 63℉ (17℃), warmer than it should be but shivers kept coming. Delia focused back onto the road, she was coming across the cemetery now, of course with cemeteries they are usually colder due to the energies that surround that area.

You’re invisible when you’re me…

Delia slammed on her brake causing the car behind her to almost rear end her, blaring the horn behind her. She usually is a pretty good driver but the Melody that breezed past her ear made her freeze.

“I’m sorry!” she waved outside her window.

“Fucking learn how to drive wench!” the car sped by.

Delia pulled over to the curb, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes to focus on the Melody. 

A dissonant tune, almost teasing in a way. Rambunctious, unconventional, something that bounces between different genres.

Delia snapped her eyes open, stomping on the gas pedal to take the first right into the road leading to the cemetery.. That Melody only belonged to one person, Beetlejuice.

She couldn’t believe her ears, if Beetlejuice had truly disappeared, his Melody would have been taken with him. She strained to listen to it, trying to discern which direction it was coming from. She hopped out of her car as fast as she could when she found the parking spot.

If anyone were to look at her, they think she would be visiting a headstone for some relative. Of course it would be a bit strange to see someone hurrying into a cemetery, though they might consider her to be a late comer to a funeral… albeit in a pink, frilly sundress. There were other cars she passed as well but they were there for a service since she saw a couple people lug out a coffin from a hearse. She parked the furthest away from them, hopefully to avoid them since Beetlejuice might be taking shelter here. Which was a little peculiar since the only shelter you can get from a cemetery was from a mausoleum, he might have squatted in some for all the time he has roamed the planet.

She was very nervous about coming to cemeteries, graveyards and other burial areas, it usually filled her with unyielding grief and unforgiving regret. It wouldn’t come as a surprise for her if Beetlejuice did come to a place like this, there might be ghosts around to keep the Demon company.

However there was no one there.

No ghosts, ghouls or any other demonic entities. It was just her. 

Delia fought back a shudder. Despite being the daytime, it felt as though someone were about to jump her.

Cemeteries are huge mazes sometimes and she is so glad that this one isn’t like the one from her nightmares. This cemetery is on an open hill face, there was a neighbourhood to the right so if she were to go missing, surely someone would spot her. Though it didn’t feel like that, the air was cold and Delia swore that she could see her breath. The grounds were very well kept but the headstones themselves were overrun with moss and dirt, clearly the natural elements had made the writing on the stones illegible to read. Some had elaborate etches and designs into the stones but like the writing, she couldn’t discern what was a letter or a dove.

Delia thinks that they should hire someone to clean the headstones professionally, it is a shame that the only memory, apart from living relatives, are interred here; on a withering, sad stone from now to the end of time. Personally, she hadn’t attended many funerals, most of the people in her family had passed before she was able to comprehend the concept of mortality.

She hovered her hands over a couple stones, being mindful of where she is stepping. She didn’t want to accidentally step on someone’s grave.

Some of the headstones were recent too and she could see that some plots of land were being prepared to receive someone’s coffin. She doesn’t know these people who were buried 6 feet under and it saddens her that some, if not most, of the stones were dedicated to children. Some of them died at childbirth. Now with her interactions with a Demon and the Maitlands, Delia is shocked that all fascinations with the afterlife were false. There is no Heaven, not really a hell but a never-ending abyss of bureaucracy. It’s a bit controversial and if she were to preach to know the truth about death, she might as well be burnt at the stake.

She also wonders where Adam and Barbara were buried. Before Charles bought the property, the house still had the hole the Maitlands fell in. Their bodies weren’t there and were long past buried when they had arrived. Surely their family had taken their bodies and interred them somewhere.

Delia continued down the path, feeling the air dip cooler. She figures that the source of the cold front is somewhere close.

And she was right.

Further down, she could see someone hunched over a headstone.

A familiar figure with black and white stripes.

She eased her speed walk to a slow march. The gravel still crackling beneath her sandals.

The demon had his back to her, probably unaware that she was coming up behind him.

“I take it you’re going to send me back to the Netherworld?” he spoke in his gravelly voice. His hair and blazer had become a deep shade of navy blue and violet. “Don’t worry Devorah, I’m heading there soon.”

Or maybe not.

“No, I’m not.” Delia timidly spoke, “I just-”

“Just what Delia?” Beetlejuice hissed, “You chased me this far, might as well put an end to the whole charade.”

Delia carefully thought of the words she was going to use next, “It wasn’t a charade when we talked in the kitchen a week ago and it wasn’t a charade when we helped you calm down from the panic attack you had in my car.”

“I had my reservations about you but I put them aside since you wanted a second chance and I think what happened before you left was instigated by someone else and not by your desire to hurt anyone.”

Delia continued forward, stopping her advance when she reached Beetlejuice’s back. “I’m not going to send you back to the Netherworld, let alone back to your mother,” Beetlejuice flinched at the mention of her mother, “There’s no way I’m going to send you back to her after hearing what you said.”

“That I never had a family to begin with?” he lamented, “Father is a no show and Mommy doesn’t want me. I thought.. Even hiding right under Charles’ nose, I thought it would be okay.”

“And it will be okay,” Delia reached and squeezed his shoulder, “We can go back to the house and explain everything there.”

“I don’t want to go back there.”

Delia took back her hand and sat down next to him, smoothing out the creases of her sundress,  “That’s okay,” she smiled, “We can stay here as long as you want.”

Beetlejuice shrugged.

Delia leaned to get a good look at him but the demon turned away, blocking her view. She sighed and turned to the thing that he was staring at, “Oh,” she reeled back a little, “Is this-”

“It’s theirs,” Beetlejuice confirmed, “After they died, their phone rang thousands of times. They were already decomposing when people finally came into the house.” The demon bowed his head, facing the stones, “It makes sense that Adam and Barbara got to be buried together.”

Delia laid a hand on the headstone, a light breeze brushed her hair and she could faintly hear the sound of laughter.

She read the plaque on the headstones:

Adam Joseph Maitland

&

Barbara Rose Price

Interred here October 12th

Inseparable in death as in life.

“They have the most basic, suburban white names on the planet,” Beetlejuice chuckled.

“It’s kind of exciting how life is now.” Delia thought out loud.

“Exciting?”

“Yeah since I know what lies ahead of me in the afterlife, I think I can live life to the fullest.” Delia scrunched her nose in thought, “Maybe I can get back at my ex-husband.”

“Ex-husband?” Beetlejuice huffed, “You were married before?”

“Long story short, he had an affair with another man and bought a boat and sailed away to Rome.” Delia grunted.

“Wow, people turning gay,” Beetlejuice snorted, “That’ll make all the conservatives clutch their pearls in horror.”

“If my mother were still alive, she would have rolled in her grave,” Delia laughed, “I’m divorced and had pre-marital sex, looks like my mother will be put to death and the rest of my family will be stoned.”

“Matthew 5:32, Leviticus 20:10, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 and 1 Corinthians 7:8-9,” Beetlejuice quotes, “you have them stacked, now you’re just waiting for the stoning of Chuck’s family as well.”

“You know your verses,” Delia mused.

“I was there during the Council of Nicaea and all meetings afterward.” Beetlejuice waved his hand around, as if dismissing the subject, “It’s very amusing to watch people squabble over the principles they should and shouldn't keep. They talked about how Jesus is a divine being and might I add is the furthest from the truth.. I mean I should know,” Beetlejuice laughed, “I met the guy.”

Delia blinked, “You met Jesus?”

“Yeap,” Beetlejuice popped the ‘p’ for emphasis, “I met him.”

“Bullshit.”

“Not bullshit, he’s really nice. Like sickeningly nice, I see why people followed him though. Brave leader, good looking, charismatic and the herald of good morals, with albeit a little grey area. Also feeding the masses with the loaves of bread and a couple fish? Total truth.”

“No,” she rolled her eyes sarcastically, “That’s simply impossible.”

“He did. That guy was not only kind, but also wise and resourceful. Pretty admirable guy. Probably one of the many reasons that he was elevated to a Divine level.” Beetlejuice gestured to the headstones around them, “They all probably thought they were going to Paradise but instead found themselves in the Netherworld, doomed to be a slave to the machinations of death.”

“Have you had any encounters with religious cults and zealots?” Delia, now excitedly asked, “You must have.”

“Remember the Heaven’s Gate cult?”

“No way.” Delia’s eyes lit up.

“Guided all of them to the Netherworld,” Beetlejuice bragged, “The look on their faces when I showed up telling them that their leader was a liar.”

Beetlejuice smiled brightly but it instantaneously shifted to a frown. He shouldn’t be getting too comfortable, he was kicked out and here he was making nice to the woman who’s going to marry the man who forced him out.

“Beetlejuice?”

He shook his head, stood up and went to the direction of a mausoleum, “Thanks for everything Delia but I don’t want to go back.”

“There anything I can say to change your mind?”

Beetlejuice glanced down to see the glow on his chest, “No, it’s for the best.”

Delia didn’t want to force him to come back and let alone try to guilt trip him to, this became personal and what was said couldn’t be taken back. In the best case scenario of where she wants this to go, she persuades him to come back but after everything that has happened, the odds of that are extremely low. Beetlejuice said that he had died in their house and that must have traumatized him. With how he lashed out at Charles, Beetlejuice was uncomfortable with coming back.

He only stayed because Lydia told him it was going to be okay, it didn’t matter if they were on opposite planes of existence. They were best friends and she was willing to let him live in her home, trusting him that he won’t be the cause of damage.

And she was right.

“Did it hurt?” Delia called out, “Did it hurt when you died?”

Beetlejuice froze.

Delia waits for an answer as she continues to stare at his back. There were strings she could hear, cascading through the air but they were tremulous. Climbing keys and different Melodies dissonantly clashing over one another, vying for the main melodic line. It’s as if she were sitting in an empty theatre, listening to a haunting orchestra. Whatever she was hearing, it was coming from Beetlejuice.

Beetlejuice knew Lydia wanted him to come back.

Beetlejuice knew Charles wanted to keep him out.

Beetlejuice knew that Adam and Barbara were undecided on the matter.

“Unimaginably so,” he breathed out shakily, “I’ve experienced beheading, limb amputations, poison, being torn to pieces and tortured but death...“ Beetlejuice’s lip quivered, “When Lydia bashed my head with that horrible excuse of a sculpture, I didn’t even realize it went in until I looked down. It didn’t realize I was hurting because of the shock. Though after it was removed, my body screamed from the open gap in my chest. It felt awful feeling a draft through it too! And every single god damned breath I took became more and more shallow, even breathing became a chore. All of my senses dulled, hearing faded into a mush of sound, I struggled to keep consciousness until I woke up back dead.”

“I hated every single minute of it,” Beetlejuice clenched his fist, whipping around so suddenly making Delia flinch, “Death is pain not like anything you’ve ever experienced, it’s cold and it’s hungry. I hope you pray to whatever fucker you worship to give a swift and easy cause slow and tortuous is cruel.”

Beetlejuice snarled the last sentence in hate, he hated everything that happened to him. “I might as well stay invisible till the end of time cause everyone of you mouthbreathers enjoy making people suffer! You and everyone else on this asshole populated planet deserves every minute of-”

“I’m sorry.”

“Suffering and… wait what did you say?”

“I’m sorry,” Delia repeated, she absently rubbed her left shoulder, “I’m sorry that we did this to you.”

“That doesn’t excuse-”

“Doesn’t excuse our outbursts, yes.” Delia nodded, “I am not condoning or saying that Charles was right when he yelled at you but you have to understand that he is desperate to protect Lydia.”

“Sounds like an excuse to me,” he glowered at Delia. “Lydia can defend herself.”

“We know that,” Delia held her hands up, “But remember, Lydia lost a mother and Charles lost a wife.”

“Everyone dies eventually.” Beetlejuice argued.

Delia huffed, she could feel the bubbling of anger but she took a breath and it went away. “Yes but to them, Lydia lost the only person who understood her and Charles lost his life partner.”

“You said that already.” Beetlejuice exasperatedly sighed, rolling his eyes at her.

She took another deep breath as the bubbles came back, “After Emily died, Lydia became recluse and Charles tried everything he could to scrounge up the pieces that Emily left behind, he became the sole caretaker and it was impossible to give the attention and care that Lydia needed. He left her-”

“He left her behind,” Beetlejuice interrupted again, “Yeah we know, we don’t need another fucking synopsis on what happened to them.”

Delia’s nose flared and her eye twitched.

I am getting tested. Calm down Delia.

“Straight to the point then.” She calmly continued, “Charles was left a widower and had to move out of the area that caused so much pain and I SWEAR TO THE UNIVERSE BEETLEJUICE INTERRUPT ME AGAIN I WILL GO THE NETHERWORLD MYSELF AND RETRIEVE MISS ARGENTINA TO HAVE HER AS A MEDIATOR AND DRAG YOUR GREEN, BLUE, PURPLE, RED, DEAD, COLOUR OF THE RAINBOW DEPRESSED MOOD RING GAY PANSEXUAL ASS BACK TO THE HOUSE IF YOU OPEN YOUR GODDAMNED MOUTH AGAIN.”

Beetlejuice’s mouth was open so that he could voice his reply but Delia’s outburst made him hold his tongue. He didn’t expect that would come from her, in fact it didn’t sound like a threat.. It sounded more of a promise, Beetlejuice doesn’t know what Delia is capable of and frankly, he doesn’t want to find out.

“MAY I CONTINUE?!” she screamed.

Beetlejuice nodded.

“Thank you,” she smiled sweetly.

Beetlejuice looked away to avoid her gaze while a chill ran down his spine.

“When your spouse has left, for whatever reason,” she stressed the ‘whatever’, “It sucks. It really fucking sucks. You don’t know what to do next and you become that person in the grocery store, that person when you drop off your child to school, that person at work, that person who gets stares no matter where you go, the person who is always the topic of every conversation, the person whose life is stuck in a loop. You want to be visible? Then fine! But being visible means you have to endure all this bullshit!” Delia stomped and angrily strode over to him “This is what Charles had to go through every single goddamn day before he moved here, so imagine that Beetlejuice,” She stopped right at his nose, “Losing a wife and then having a little girl, who is the carbon copy of her mother, who was almost taken away from one measly mistake! Just because you didn’t have a good relationship with your parents doesn’t mean everyone else does! This is not about you!”

“Life moves on for everyone Beetlejuice except for the people who lose someone they love,” Delia drilled her finger into his chest, poking him, shoving him back, “They live. Every. Hour. Of. Every. Goddamn. Day,” she poked him with each word, “Living. Seeing. No one! Constantly looking in the mirror trying  to see one ounce of the person who you were before! And all they see is someone holding onto their stone hearts,” Delia felt her eyes water, “No one knows what you’re going through except for those who actually know the feeling of losing a loved one! And accepting help is one thing but to actively get help is degrading when you’re not ready for it yet! Charles and Lydia have come so far from last year and I’ll be damned to see them go down that rabbit hole once again because of some close-minded, selfish, jerk like you!”

Beetlejuice was forced into the wall of the mausoleum, taking the verbal assault that Delia was giving him. He could see the tears welling up in her eyes, threatening to fall any second. It was very intense, more intense than when he had turned human. She was not intimidating in the slightest but the words of truth spewing out of her mouth made him recoil.

His silence though made Delia huff from anger. She was hoping that Beetlejucie finally got the message. “Charles protected Lydia because he is afraid of losing her too. He did what was acceptable when he perceived a threat and you’re absolutely correct, he overreacted but not without reason. You are a dangerous individual Beetlejuice but witnessing how you and Lydia treated each other for the last week, it proves that you are capable of change.” Delia steeled herself before continuing on, swiping away the tears in her eyes. “And so does Charles, You both reacted immaturely and I, for one, have had enough.”

She reached forward, making Beetlejuice flinch for a blow that was going to land. Instead, she had laid her hand on his cheek, swiping her thumb over Beetlejuice’s cheek, “Adam, Barbara, Lydia and I gave you a second chance and that is still ongoing. Don’t let Charles ruin that for you.”

“He may be my fiance but that doesn’t excuse him for being an idiot.” Delia grabbed Beetlejuice’s hand, “Even though it has been only one week, it felt very natural to have you around. You helped Lydia with her homework like a big brother should and it feels like you were, are, a family friend. I’m not asking you to come back Beetlejuice but you are still welcome there, no matter what my dumbass of a fiance may think.”

The demon continued to look anywhere but Delia’s gaze and his mind raced, trying to think of some sort of comeback but nothing came to mind. Delia had grilled him of the things he didn’t know about Lydia and Charles' plight. There were a lot of things that Beetlejuice didn’t know about but he didn’t need to know them. All that he cares and wants to know if people want to say his name three times and get a quick fuck in. Everything else didn’t matter, as long as he got what he wanted, he left everyone in the dust.

“You’re friends, best friends, with Lydia.” Delia’s voice dipped low and soft, “I’m surprised that neither you or her have discussed this.”

“The… topic has never come up until now.” Beetlejuice quietly admitted, “We talked about other things..”

“And the topic of Emily never came up?”

“Before the…” Beetlejuice swallowed, “before we met up in the living room, I was on my way to the Maitlands when I heard Lydia sniffling in her room.” he started fiddling with the loose strands of fabric on his cuff, “I thought she was watching a film but she was at her dresser staring at a photo.”

“A photo?”

“I’m guessing it was her mom,” Beetlejuice tugged at the fabric. “I comforted her as best I could before Charles came in.”

Delia’s face settled into one of skepticism, “Is that what really happened?”

“Don’t start with that D, I know my boundaries.”

She looked at him up and down, quickly recognizing the hair change. It settled into a very uncomfortable looking yellow that matched his sour expression and a muted red. She only saw the red hair once but back then it was more vibrant, more firelike. Thankfully this time Beetlejuice isn’t going on a rampage, which was a nice change of pace.

“Then that settles it.” Delia shrugged, “A misunderstanding.”

“If Charles isn’t going to listen, then I don’t want to waste his or my time.” Beetlejuice sneered at the thought of going back, “It’s pointless.”

“It won’t be,” Delia smirked, “If Charles isn’t going to listen then you are going to tell him.”

Beetlejuice tilted his head in confusion, “Did you not hear what I said? I said-”

“Charles isn’t going to listen, I know.. But you can possess people right?” a sly smile crept onto Delia’s features when  Beetlejuice’s brow furrowed further.

“Of course I can?”

“Can you or can you not? That wasn’t a firm answer.” she teased.

“I’m a demon, of course I can.” Beetlejuice snarled, “What are you planning?”

“If Charles won’t listen then possess him. Simple.” Delia popped the ‘p’, “Remind him that you are just her friend and while you hold him down, Lydia can have her say. Set the record straight.”

Beetlejuice relaxed his face into an inquisitive smolder, “Are you… giving me permission to possess your fiance?”

Delia nodded her head, “Yes, if that will make Charles listen to you but that will be used as a last resort.” she stated, “If he does listen then there will be no need for such a step, if not… you have my permission to possess him.”

Beetlejuice’s brows shot up. This was not an outcome he thought this conversation was going to take. In a perfect world, he disappeared into the world, living as a wandering demon like he had done centuries before. He would go from one corner of the globe to the other, doing whatever he could to drown out memories of Lydia and her family. And in that world, Lydia forgets all about him and thinks of it as some teenage, imaginary friend. Delia and Charles would have erased any evidence of him and the Maitlands would enjoy their afterlives without the constant annoyance of having to entertain a nuisance. He would eventually crash in some remote location where no one could reach him: Saturn.

There on Saturn he would live the rest of eternity fleeing in fear from Sandworms. The danger will have him occupied for millenia and make him forget all about his time on Earth. And maybe, after so many years of running, he would give up and be consumed by one. By then he would reflect and shed one tear for his useless existence, the soft glow of his promise fading slowly as he finally embraces the frigid fingers of death.

But Delia proposed a future that made him ache for it. A future where he wouldn’t have to run, the possibilities of it were low but this was close and he would be damned if he didn’t take that chance.

“You got yourself a deal Delia.”

Delia smiled before taking off her shoe and throwing it at him, “NOW YOU GET MY NAME RIGHT?!”