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Beetlejuice has been back living with the Maitlands and the Deetz for a few months now, almost a year at this point. He has yet to stop flirting with the Maitlands, and nobody really thinks he’ll ever stop, really. Lydia though, after he found out she was actually 15 (and not 17 like he originally thought) he made it a point to not flirt or touch the kid (he still hugged her and shit, it was all platonic of course. Pedophilia is gross, and Beetlebabes is no exception. I’m lookin at you, Beetlebabes shippers), which actually made all the adults (both alive and dead) feel just slightly better about him hanging out with their collective daughter. Beetlejuice was (and still is) very young at heart, and constantly acted like a horny teenager going through puberty (which, if anyone ever asked and he told the truth, they would find out that in demon years, that’s exactly what he was. A teenager going through puberty, in a demon sense. Physically he looks around 35-40, mentally he’s around 12-14 (20 if he’s feeling smart), and literally he’s a millennia and a half old. So, pubescent teenager), which wasn’t really doing it for the rest of the household (minus Lydia, she seemed to like him. Sometimes).
The adults of the house were still trying to figure out exactly Beetlejuice’s whole “deal”. They didn’t understand him (and they never will, unless they’re a 15-year-old girl. Because that’s the only person he trusts with his whole “deal”), and they weren’t sure if they agreed with Lydia on this one. “Cmon, he’ll like them! And they’ll like him! Please!” The Maitlands shook their heads softly as Charles spoke up, “No Lydia. We will not introduce Beetlejuice to your friend. Let alone anybody who lives outside of this house.” He stated firmly, making Lydia pout. “But he’s been good! And we can let them meet Barbara and Adam first, to start it off, and then lead it up to Beej. He doesn’t have to be the first ghost they meet!” Barbara and Adam share a look, somewhat considering it now, Charles though doesn’t let up. “I said-“ Delia cuts him off: “That sounds lovely!” Charles lets out a sound of protest that Delia quickly shuts down, “And it’s about time we let Lydia’s friend come over, we can’t just keep saying no over and over!” Delia smiles, making Charles sigh and nod. “Yeah, it’s a good idea for us to meet them first before BJ.” Adam nods, and Lydia jumps in the air with a “Yes! Thank you so so so much! You won’t regret this!” And the girl rushed up the stairs to find her best friend and tell him the good news.
“Beej! Beej! Hey!” Lydia yelled, rushing into her room where she left the demon while she asked her parents. She found him lounging in the air, and she didn’t get a chance to see what he was doing until he quickly floated down to hear her out. “W-What’s up? What’d they say?” She noticed the slight stutter but didn’t mention it, he just did that sometimes (she didn’t know why, and she’d ask later, she’s been meaning to anyways). “They said yea-“ “FUCK YEAH!!!!” “But!” “B- wha- but?” “But they have to meet Barbara and Adam first, to ease them into ghosts.” Beetlejuice looked like he was going to argue, but thought against it and shrugged, “Yeah, that’s fair.” Lydia giggled, flopping onto her bed and grabbing her phone to tell her friend the good news. Beetlejuice watched from above, already bored. “What’s your- uh- your friend’s name again?” Lydia glanced up at him before returning to her phone, “Bennilyn, but I call them Benni.” “Weird name.” “Says you.” “‘Says you’ shUt up.” The two laughed before returning to silence, the only sound being the tap of the keyboard on Lydia’s phone (Beetlejuice remembers a time when correspondence was still a thing. When people still sent letters to each other. He does not miss that time). Eventually, Beetlejuice let out a sigh slash groan, “Alright, well I’m gonna go draw on the walls, byyeeeeeeeeeee.” He floated off and out of her room, Lydia sending a distracted “ok” his way (it was like she didn’t even register what he said, just that he said something). Beetlejuice simply frowned and sped up on his way to find the crayons, he had some things to draw.
It didn’t take long for the born-dead demon to find the crayons, especially since he’s the only one that uses them. He grabs the box and finds a wall that he wouldn’t be bothered at for a hot minute and grabbed some crayons and started drawing. He absolutely knew he would get in trouble for this, but the most he would get was a stern talking to and being asked to clean it up (he got worse when Juno was alive and he was living with her. And he never ends up cleaning the crayon off the wall, but he would leave a small can of paint the same color as the wall for Deliah to paint over it with. He knows she liked painting, and especially that she enjoyed painting the walls. She never complained about the setup, everyone else did though but that’s alright with him), but he didn’t care. Drawing on paper wasn’t that fun, but drawing on the walls was. He could draw as big as he wanted here and wouldn’t run out of space. Right now though, he simply doodled a few sand-worms and doodled them eating him. He frowned, purple tinting his hair as he quickly scribbled Juno over himself and move onto the next thing: random objects. A house here, a tree, the sun, some corpses, some clouds, a few stick figures, a dead guy, some butterflies, some dogs, some blood splatters; you know, the usual.
He got pretty far into his doodles when he heard someone knock on the door and Lyds run down the stairs. Ah, must be Benni. Beetlejuice continued to draw on the wall as he heard Lyds and everyone else downstairs. He ignored the purple tint growing onto his clothing. He ignored the purple until it changed his red crayon to purple. “O-oh, cmon BJ, get y-yourself to-together you-y-you f-fucktard.” (His stutter came back full force now that there was nobody around to hide it from, and it made more purple fade into his color scheme) At that point, he stood up and tried brushing the color off of him. Nope. He tried to pull at his hair to get it out. Nada. So, he decided to resort to violently shaking himself out, growling at himself for getting upset about Lydia and her friend downstairs without him. He shook himself out like a dog, he did that until he fell flat on his ass from the shaking. Grumbling, he stood back up straight and looked at himself. Some flecks of purple remained but he most mostly green. Eh, it’ll have to do. He was tempted to sit back down but instead, he crept out towards the main hall of the second floor, trying to sneak a peek of everyone downstairs. He made his way out, practically silent as he crept towards the railing. He kept low to the floor, peeking out between the railing to see everyone downstairs. It seemed like Benni could see the Hotlands just fine, and was in the middle of talking to them and Lydia. The kid was still wearing their winter coat, probably due to the cold temperature outside (Beetlejuice wouldn’t really know though, he can’t feel heat or cold all that well), and Barbara was seemingly trying to get them to take it off. Adam said something and they all laughed. Beetlejuice frowned. He wanted to be a part of it too- but Lydia said they’d let Benni meet the Maitlands first and then himself. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that he wouldn’t meet them anytime soon. He shook his head, dismissing the thought and quietly crept back to his crayon drawing. He snapped the red crayon back to red and finished the last thing he was doodling before snapping all the crayons to where they belong. With a groan and a sigh, Beetlejuice picked himself up and went to find something else to do while he waited.
He got an idea and poofed himself back to the crayon covered wall and snapped himself up some items. He knew he’d probably at the least get a few comments like “what the fuck” for this, but fuck them he’s bored. He snapped a dollhouse that was a replica of the house he’s currently in, and some small dolls that looked like Lydia, A-dog, B-town, Chuck, Delia, himself and Big Sandy(they look scarily like them all, the Beetlejuice one even changed colors with him, so it’s an even mix of green and purple all around it. It gained a few small purple spots at that) and placed them into the house (he put Big Sandy in the basement, like she was right now as you read this. Nobody other than him and you, the reader, knew she was there but that’s alright since she’s his. Plus they were all too scared of the basement, or in Lydia’s case wasn’t allowed in the basement. Since that’s where Barb and Adam died, they don’t go down there, it’s become Beej’s own little salvation from the rest of the house). He grinned at himself, ignoring the lonely feelings and the sad familiarity of this little game of his and grabbed the him doll, “O-ok, welcome b-bitchtits to this uh- th-this bullshit y-you absolute f-f-fucking child. Th-the Pretend Everyone Likes You G-game!” He announced quietly to himself (he fabricated this game one day after a particularly bad punishment from Juno when he was maybe around demon toddler age. He played it a lot during Juno times, he’d pretend Juno liked him. When she found him playing with dolls she didn’t like it and punished him. He continued to play it anyways), holding up the BJ doll. He set ‘BJ’ on the roof and grabbed ‘Adam’ and ‘Barbara’ and led them up there too, “H-hey love, what’s g-goin on?” He mimed their voices, not actually copying them this time. It’d be weirder if they found him copying their voices as he played with dolls that looked like them... “O-oh, Lyds is j-just ignoring me a-again.” (This game also helped him express how he felt because somehow it was easier to pretend it wasn’t himself talking, and instead a character. It was easier to vent as if he were someone else and then look back on what he said and analyze how he felt from there. Sounds familiar, huh fanfic writers? Eh? Ehhh?) He made the ‘Maitlands’ hug ‘him’, and made exaggerated kissing noises, “Aw, b-babe! She’s just ha-hang-hanging out with a-a friend! She’ll b-b-be back to h-hang out with you in no ti-time! Don’t w-worry honey!” He set the dolls on the roof and made ‘Lydia’ come up there too.
“Hey Beej what’s up-“ Wait that wasn’t him- that sounded like- oh. He looked up, eyes wide as he saw Lydia standing there, Adam right behind her. They looked at each other in shock, before Lydia starts giggling. Beej turned a mixture of hot pink and purple (so does the doll) and quickly scrambles up to his feet (he had dropped the Lydia doll and reflexively grabbed his own doll, clutching it between grubby hands) as Barbara shows up behind them, “I-I-I was- I- I w-was just- I w-wa-“ He was cut off by Barbara sighing, “Lydia, go downstairs ok, sit with Benni for another few minutes while we talk to Beetlejuice.” Lydia, still giggling nods and waves at Beetlejuice before hurrying to go back downstairs. He doesn’t wave back. Barbara looks around the hallway there were in (it was a dead-end hallway, a bathroom at the end of it. Otherwise though, it was an empty dead-end hallway that nobody really went down. Perfect for getting cornered in), before looking at Beetlejuice. She looked so angry, which made him jump. Sure he drew on the walls and was found playing with dolls, but he didn’t know why she was so mad. She’s never been this mad before, even Adam looked surprised at her anger.
Beetlejuice was trying to figure out what he did to make her so- “God, Beetlejuice, you’re so childish !” Oh... oh... that’s what this was about. He shrunk under her heated gaze, the pink fading and changing into a deep purple. “You- you draw all over the walls with crayons like- like a child! You’re playing with dolls - wait do those look like, oh they do! - dolls that look like us! You constantly throw temper tantrums, you just- gah! It’s like you don’t know how to act like an adult!” She yelled, loud enough to where Beetlejuice knew those that were downstairs probably heard some of it. The demon shrunk as she ranted, his grip on his doll tightening until the head popped off of it. He shakily dropped the rest of his doll and glanced up at the Maitlands. Adam has a hand on Barbara’s shoulder, trying to calm her down, but Barbara was looking straight at Beetlejuice. He flinched at that and looked back to his feet, where the headless doll of himself lay. He felt hot tears burn in his eyes and he let them fall, shyly looking back up at the married couple. “M-maybe I a-act li-like a-a-a chi-child be-because wh-when I w-wa-was gr-growing- growing up m-my m-m- my m- J-Juno didn’t le-let m-me b-be a ch-chi-child! A-a-and and y-y-you? Y-y-you’re a-acting j-just-just li-like h-h-her.” That made both Barbara and Adam’s eyes widen and faces fall in realization, “Beetlej-“ he ignored Adam and pushed past them, sniffling and wiping roughly at his tears with a dirty sleeve. He passed by the stairs and headed to the roof (he didn’t hear Lydia’s call of “Beej! Hey, you alright?” And he didn’t notice as she grabbed Benni and followed after him. Beetlejuice has a tendency of blocking things out that weren’t directly in front of him out when he was this upset). He floated out onto the roof and curled up in a small ball and cried quietly into his knees. He barely heard two pairs of footsteps coming towards him, and he looked up, expecting the Maitlands, but is greeted with Lydia and Benni.
He inwardly scolded himself for letting himself look like a wet and soggy mop when he finally met Lydia's breather friend but here he is, face red and blotchy, covered in snot and tears. "Wh-wha d-d'you want.." he sniffled, wiping at his face yet again. Lydia gave him a soft and sad smile, "Hey, sorry I laughed at you earlier, that was really dickish of me. But uh- you wanna meet Benni?" Beej shrugged so Lydia smiled wider and sat down next to the demon, pulling Benni down to sit with them too. "Benni, this is my best friend slash demon Beej! Beej, this is my friend Benni!" The girl smiled and Beej looked at the friend. They seemed nice, if not the exact opposite aesthetic of Lyds (they wore more pastel colors, the only hint of dark colors was their dark skin and the black cardigan they wore over their pastel overalls and shirt, a yellow flower crown sitting on their short blue afro lookin hair. The cardigan was definitely Lydia's, and Lydia was wearing a pastel pink hoodie around her waist that definitely belonged to the other kid now that Beetlejuice thought about it. He wouldn't be surprised if the two were dating honestly, and good for Lydia if that's the case), which he respected (and if anybody asked him, he wouldn't tell them, but he liked the look of pastels. Very different than the violently bright colors that dictate his moods. His favorite color of his hair was the pastel pink, but only when it doesn't show up near Adam and Barbara, because then it's embarrassing). He held out a dirty hand out to the kid and gave them a smile. "S-sup. I'm the g-ghost wi-with the most: Beej." They sat still for a moment before reaching out their hand nervously, "Uh, I'm Benni. No cool nickname." That made Beetlejuice snort, shaking the kid's hand before letting the kid go and wiping his face with his sleeves. A bit of purple faded from him, but not a lot.
"So, Beej, what happened with you and Barbara?" Here we go… "We heard her yelling, but we couldn't make out anything she said. We were gonna head up to find out what was going on but you had rushed past not long after and we followed you and now we're here. So what.. happened?" Beetlejuice shifted on his spot, placing his hands on the ground next to him and letting his legs spread out on the roof in front of him and stared at his feet. "Uh.. sh-she yelled at m-me." Lydia gave him a 'duh' look, so he continued, "For u-uh.. acting l-like a ch-child." At Lydia and Benni's curious looks he carried on, slowly starting to ramble: "Because I-I was playing w-with dolls and d-drawing o-on the wall and-and I throw fucking tem-temper tan-tanter-tandrum-tantrums or wh-whatever. B-but it's n-not my f-fault my m-m-mom n-never let m-me be a k-kid! It's no-not m-my fault I'm b-ba-basically a pu-pube-pubs-pubscent-pub- a tee-teenager going th-through p-puberty! That's pretty m-m-much how ol-old I a-am i-in demon y-years! She can't g-get mad a-at me like-like-like my mo-mom for tha-that! It's n-not- i-it's not f-fair that-that I ge-get yel-yelled at whe-when I'm j-just tryin-trying to ge-g-get the c-chi-childhood I w-was never a-allow-allowed b-back!" He was yelling by the end, red tinting the purple, but quickly faded as he finished, breathing heavily as he leaned into Lyds' shoulder.
The two teenagers looked at each other, processing the information for a moment before Benni spoke up, "Mr. Beej-" "J-just B-beej is fine k-kid…" "Oh, ok. Beej, your mom sounds like a cunt." Beetlejuice laughed, loudly too, and curled further into Lyds' shoulder as he laughed. "I m-m-mean sh-she is, y-yeah! Hahaha!!" Soon the other two were laughing as well. They soon quieted down, now faintly giggling. "Beej, can I say something?" It was less a question and more a statement, but Beetlejuice gave Lydia a 'go-ahead' motion, "Your whole wanting your childhood back is valid . You keep doing that, maybe stop drawing on the walls but you do you. You never learned to be a kid so you should do that while you can. I don't know what Barbara's deal was, but you guys should talk about it. Either way, you do you Beej." Beej stared at the kid for a few seconds before wrapping her up in his arms, "K-kid, have I e-ever told y-you how much I d-don't de-deserve you." Lydia chuckles, patting his back, "Yeah, all the time. And you do deserve me Beej." Beej just chuckled and hugged the kid, reaching out a hand and pulling Benni into the hug too.
The three of them hugged it out, quietly chatting until the demon fell asleep (Lydia learned that Beetlejuice has a speech impediment that makes him stutter when he isn't focusing on not doing it. She thought it was adorable in a friend way and said he shouldn't hide it anymore since it takes him so much effort to not do it. He vaguely agreed with her on the effort part of it, the adorable part though, not so much) on their laps. The kids laughed softly at the demon, leaning against each other and falling asleep as well. Benni's head tucked into Lydia's shoulder and Beetlejuice's head in Lydia's lap. And in a hallway covered in crayon sat a dollhouse that replicated the very same house it was in. Two paint buckets the same color as the walls rested beside it, a paintbrush resting on the closed lid of one of the buckets, and dolls resembling the inhabitants of the house scattered around the hallway. And a doll who's missing a head sat in the middle of the hall. And the doll was green.