Chapter Text
Lydia had learned to accept that she’d be up most nights.
Sometime in between her mother’s frequent hospital visits she had lost the ability to sleep and to stay asleep throughout the night. And if it wasn’t enough of an issue on its own, it had grown to become just another persistent flaw her father saw in her after her mother’s passing and had urged her to fix. But she couldn’t bring herself to care much considering her father practically lived on coffee (something she picked up from him later on).
Of course, she and her dad had been on better terms since then, and he’d made an active effort in making sure she got sufficient hours of sleep and lowered her caffeine intake. He wasn’t the only one either; every adult existing in the house frequently fussed over Lydia and her poor sleeping habits.
But habits die hard. Or so the saying goes.
Point is, Lydia was staying up late again. There was just something about all those late night hours spent in solitude that she grew particularly fond of. She’d settle on the top of her bedsheets and draw a few sketches of taxidermied insects into her notebook or improve her poetry. She was no Edgar Allen Poe by any means (not that she thought anyone could ever live up to that standard to begin with) but she was getting better.
And tonight in particular was even better to do all of that. Because what was better than a late night? A rainy, late night.
Lydia paused her activity for a moment, craning her head towards her bedroom window to admire the calming sight and sound of the storm outside. As a roar of thunder rang outside she couldn’t help but reminisce. She hadn’t heard thunder that loud since.. well-
Since the day she met Beetlejuice.
Lately, she’d found herself replaying those few days over and over in her head, recalling every little scenario before the whole cursed marriage incident. Her thoughts often cycled between missing his overly chaotic presence and wondering what went wrong, what she could have possibly done, before thinking, no, he definitely fucked up in some way. She wanted to be mad at him- hell, sometimes she was mad at him.
Other times she felt sorry for him.
But they had parted ways on good terms, right?
Lydia propped her head on her hand, gripping a pencil in the other.
She shouldn’t be losing her sleep over this, she lacked enough of it as is.
She sighed, glancing towards her bedroom window, fixating on the soft tapping sound of droplets against the glass.
…
She really shouldn’t be losing sleep over this.
Those couple of days co-haunting with him had been some of the best days I had since moving to Connecticut though, hadn't it?
She felt the corners of her mouth creep up into a small smile against her better judgement.
Undeniably. How unfortunate.
She wondered about what he was up to now. Maybe he’d actually gone on that vision quest and found his dad?
They’d be totally wreaking havoc together in the Netherworld to make up for lost time, she thought. She almost felt sad she was missing out. Almost.
Just then, the teen's pensive daydreaming was quickly interrupted with a loud- CLANG!
The fuck? She quickly put down her sketchbook and whatever she was doing and shuffled towards the window.
That sounded like it came from the roof.
She stood on the tips of her toes and squinted, trying to justify the wild thoughts that ran through her head.
Was she hallucinating?
She had to have been.
She slowly lowered herself back onto her heels.
Maybe the stupid tiles just needed to be changed.
Lydia averted her eyes.
Yeah that’s probably it, she attempted to reason with herself.
But she could’ve sworn she heard-
She shook her head. It’s just the stupid fucking tiles, Lydia. Nothing life-endin–
thump, THUMP, THUMP–
She whipped her head back around and a sudden gasp fell from her lips.
No way..
She planted her face and hands against the glass pane.
No fucking way…
Without thinking, she grabbed her bat-themed umbrella, shoved on her boots and practically sprinted out of her room, grasping the door handle to slam it shut before quickly remembering that the rest of the household could be asleep at that moment.
Mindfully, she inched it closed with a little too much precaution and snuck around the house like she was an assassin who had their paycheck on the line. She paused, peeking from the corner, spotting the Maitlands downstairs. They seemed caught up in their own world, busy chatting to each other about.. stuff or whatever– Lydia wasn’t a lipreader.
With all the stealth she could manage, she attempted to tip-toe her way upstairs to the attic, foolishly tossing her umbrella across the hallway.
If this is really him, he’s got some serious explaining to do–
“Lydia? Is that you?”
She froze in her tracks. “...yeah..” she mumbled, reluctantly dragging herself towards the staircase.
Barbara frowned as Lydia made her way to her and Adam, plopping. “Trouble sleeping tonight?” She asked, the concern clear in her tone.
Kind of hard to sleep when there’s possibly a big, dumb, idiot demon clambering his way around the roof, isn’t it?
“You could say that,” Lydia replied.
Adam smiled sympathetically. “Sorry to hear about that kiddo.”
“Anything we can do to help? I think we might have some cocoa powder in the pantry for hot chocolate.”
Lydia shook her head, her lips drawing into a thin smile. “No, but thanks anyway.”
Well fuck. What now? She couldn’t just walk upstairs now could she? Adam and Barbara would be absolutely suspicious of her if she headed up to the attic for no reason at all.
Unless..
“Hey um, do you guys mind if I stay up with you for a bit? We could do something like a– a movie night! Yeah,” Lydia stumbled over her words. “We can use those uh, those movies on DVD you guys have still have in the attic–”
“They’re actually on Blu-ray-” Adam corrected lightly.
“Yeah well…” She drawled. “Is that alright with you guys? Since I.. can’t really sleep, or whatever?”
The two ghosts seemed to consider what she’d said for a minute, trading glances with each other. Lydia was almost certain they would see through her half-assed bluff–
“Hm, well.. okay. We’ll allow it,” Barbara decided, and Lydia released a breath she didn’t even know she was holding. “But only if you think it might help put you to sleep, okay missy?”
She grinned. “Yes ma’am.”
Adam made a move to get off of the couch but not before Lydia swiftly stood up, gesturing for him to sit back down.
“You can stay here, I’ll get it.” She said, coyly, already making her way back to the staircase. “I’ll be right back, I promise.”
“Okay, sweetheart!”
“They should be in the box beside the town model but call us if you need help!”
Once Lydia was out of eyesight, she snatched the umbrella and made a mad dash for the attic, her feet stomping on the wooden floor as she ascended.
As much as she didn’t like using the Maitlands’ trust to go behind their backs, this was.. important. For reasons not completely clear to her yet.
Clutching the edges of the frame, she began to hastily unlatch the window, lifting it up so she could climb through.
The minute her boots made contact with the roof below, it echoed and was quickly followed by a faint startled gasp and the clambering of very familiar footsteps across the rooftop.
Lydia pursed her lips at this, unfurling the umbrella to shield herself from the pouring rain. She took two cautious steps forward, peering down at the birdbath below.
Better not slip.
She swallowed the bile that was slowly building in her throat and called out for him.
“Beej?” She paused.
“Beetlejuice?”
No response.
She sighed heavily. “Okay.”
Playing hardball, huh?
She called out. “Don’t make me do this. Please. It’s raining enough as it is.”
“…”
…This was tougher than she’d anticipated.
“I know you’re out here. Your footsteps practically rival the thunder.”
“Or maybe you're hallucinating. Lack of sleep can seriously fuck up someone’s psyche y’know.”
Low and behold, the demon peeked from behind part of the roof in all his sheepish glory.
Well glory would be an overstatement. Or an incorrect one at that.
He looked more roughed-up than she remembered. Tired bags protruding under his golden eyes and a depressed purple staining his hair and suit, the sleeves of which had more rips in them. Almost like claw marks.
She huffed a laugh through her nose before shaking her head. There he is.
“Don’t act like you’re any better.”
“Demons don’t need sleep, unlike you breathers.” He retorted before cautiously stepping out into the open light (or how little of it there was anyway).
“So.. what the hell are you doing here?” She asked, stepping towards him, wanting to lessen his misery a bit. The poor guy was practically getting drenched in the rain water.
But to her surprise, Beetlejuice took an equal amount of steps back. “Stargazing,” He quickly responded.
She raised an eyebrow. “There’s a storm going on. Right now.”
“Well then I’m watching the fucking storm-”
“Seriously though, why are you here?” She repeated. “Thought you were going on a ‘vision quest’ or something.”
Beetlejuice seemed to shrink in on himself. “Just uh.. well– I-I wasn’t lying about the vision quest.” He started, holding up his hands defensively. “I-I wasn’t planning on coming back! Honest! Just–” His voice grew to a quiet mumble and he sat down on the tile (a little too close to the edge of the roof for her liking). “..it didn't go exactly how I hoped.”
Oh.
Lydia carefully took another step towards him.
“Sorry,” She muttered, frowning sympathetically.
He scoffed. “You don’t mean that.” He paused, picking at his cuticles. He let out a sigh. “What didja really come up here for, kid?”
“Well, I was happily dealing with my insomnia before and then, like I said, I heard your loud ass footsteps across the roof. Conveniently where we met too, I might add.” She pointed out. “I got curious, looked out the window and then there you were.”
She nudged her foot at the creases in the tile.
“Hm,” Beetlejuice hummed, seemingly in deep thought. “You sure you ain’t hallucinating?”
She snorted. “I wish. It’d be less cold.”
The two let silence fill the air around them.
She watched as he tightened the hold on the sleeves of his coat further.
His claws were digging into the sleeves..
“I missed you, you know,” Lydia spoke up after a moment. The demon seemed genuinely surprised at her words but gave a thin smile in return. “Whatever you say, kid.”
“I’m serious!” She insisted. “I mean you did some horrible things, I’m not going to forget that,” Beetlejuice’s gaze darted towards the ground below.
“But-” she continued, “You did some good things too.”
He seemed confused. “Did you hit your head on the way up here or something?- Lyds, I’m a demon. I don’t do good things.”
“But you did!” She insisted. “We made that haunted house together, and you made me feel more seen than I had in weeks! Without you I would’ve–”
“Lydia?” Adam suddenly called from inside the house. “Did you find it?”
Fuck. She cringed. “Uh.. yeah! I’ll be down in a minute Adam.”
“Ok kiddo, I just wanted to know! You were taking a little long up there.. but I’m not rushing you or anything!”
Lydia turned to Beetlejuice who just gave her a knowing glance in return. “You gotta go.” He said in a quiet grumble.
She bit the inside of her cheek, torn between continuing the conversation and risking the Maitlands coming up to check on her, or leaving, not knowing if she’d ever see Beetlejuice again.
Weighing her options, her hand that she was holding the umbrella with, outstretched towards Beetlejuice, who leaned away, eyeing her suspiciously. “Th’ fuck are you doing?”
“Offering you the umbrella,” She answered, pausing for a moment and before he could protest, she added. “Keep it. You look like a soaked rat.”
Reluctantly, he took the handle from her, holding it over his own head. She made her way back to the window frame, slinging her leg over the edge and turned back to him.
“Am I going to see you again?” She asked, softly.
He blinked, silently considering her question. He tilted his head. “Do you want to see me again?”
She took a deep breath, rubbing her frigid hands. “..yeah.” She responded. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.” She repeated, more sure of her answer now.
Lydia was almost certain Beetlejuice would deny her words like he’d been doing thus far but he eventually answered. “..’kay Lyds. If that’s what ya want.”
He turned his head to focus, right hand reaching inside of his striped jacket before he looked back at her. “Tomorrow?”
Her gaze softened. “Yeah. Tomorrow.”
His eyes shimmered with the slightest bit of hope in them and he smiled. “See ya ‘round, Scarecrow.”
Lydia swung her legs back over the window before looking over her shoulder. He was now gone, a few remnants of smoke remaining as proof he was once there.
She sighed, pulling the window back down, latching it. She walked towards the box of blu-ray movies and pulled out one from the box.
Death just follows me wherever I go, huh? She thought, recognising the title. A bittersweet chuckle escaped her lips. How lonely must he be?
“Adam, Barbara, I think you’ll like this one! It was one of Dead Mom’s favourites!”
She’d find out tomorrow.