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#not gonna tag delia either but bless her heart
tickle-bugs · 2 years
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For the warmup prompts can you do Beetlejuice and Lydia (platonic! I do not ship them romantically in any way whatsoever) with the dialogue of “I bet I can get you to say my name.” If not, I totally understand!
So for people who haven’t seen/listened to the musical the vibe is completely different from the movie LMAO less “this is our weird uncle beetlejuice the family won’t talk to him he’s wanted by the feds and can’t come within 500 feet of the house” and more “cool but still weird cousin beetlejuice who collects strange rocks, is always in danger of being actively actively on fire, and is wayyy too into dark humor”. It’s a good show! If you like comedy musicals with a rock lean to the soundtrack, you’ll probably like it. It’s got a Little Shop of Horrors sensibility to it, I think. 
If anyone tags this as ship w/ Lydia and Beetlejuice I will crawl out of your screen like the girl from the ring and gnaw on your bones I’m so serious
AU where the plot of this show doesn’t take like. A week LMAO. Basically Lydia hasn’t said BJ’s name yet but she also hasn’t decided what to do with her dad yet. So they’re at an impasse. Lydia regularly goes to hang out in her haunted attic and lament because Delia won’t go up there, thus making it safe. Beetlejuice keeps doing Say My Name-style ad pitches to get Lydia to summon him properly but he’s not very good at it. 
EDIT: FORGOT THE BODY HORROR WARNING OOPS!! It’s very mild but just in case anyone needs it <;3
Full-Time Spectres
Lydia’s life is far from conventional, perfectly so, but she’s started to adapt to the strangeness in the walls of her house. She doesn’t have the one ghost she wants most of all, but she’s got three that do just fine for entertainment and scheming purposes. She’s gotten used to the cold spots, the occasional flicker of the lights, and Adam’s habit of walking through walls rather than doors--he figured out that he could and never wanted to stop. 
Some things she’ll never adjust to, though, like her attic being strewn with scraps of brutalized board games.
Monopoly’s been pinned to the wall with a knife, Ludo sits perfectly still on a shelf with suspicious-looking green liquid in the shot glasses, and a chess board hovers in the air, eternally aflame. It’s a massacre and she doesn’t know where half of these things came from. 
“What’s, uh…what’s happening here?” Lydia kicks the door shut behind her. The door creaks open. She kicks it closed again with a frown.
Adam looks up and squints at the door. His eyes dart around as if he can see the schematics of it and diagnose the problem from halfway across the room. Lydia allows herself a tiny smile. 
“Adam’s teaching me to play checkers.” Beetlejuice beams, which is unsettling in itself. 
“Well, I tried to reach him to play chess, then a few other things…it didn’t go well.” Adam pushes his glasses up his nose and surveys the board in front of them. He captures one of Beetlejuice’s pieces with a triumphant little ‘aha!’.
Beetlejuice takes a long, pensive look at the board. Very thin tendrils of smoke curl out of his ears as he tries to decide which piece to play. Adam, sweet Adam, goes to help him make an advantageous move, but Beetlejuice shushes him. 
“What are you doing?” Lydia sidles over to Barbara, who fumbles with an old lamp. She sets it down before she can shatter it. 
“Well, it was going to be a surprise but…” Barbara gestures excitedly to a small nook in the attic. She’s rearranged various boxes of her former belongings to build a shoddy sort of booth. A heavy, ugly floral curtain hangs precariously over the doorway. 
“It’s a dark corner!” Lydia gasps sarcastically. 
“No—well, yes, but it’s supposed to be a kind of mini dark room? I don’t know much about them but I know you’re always taking pictures.” Barbara shifts awkwardly.
Oh. Oh. 
Lydia cradles her camera in her hands, running her thumb along the outside. The pebbled texture is a kiss to her fingertips. If she concentrated hard enough, she can remember the feeling of her mom’s warm hands over her own, showing her how to hold the camera. 
“If you don’t like it—“ 
“You made this for me?” She whispers. She tries to swallow the lump in her throat. 
“Still workin’ on it, but yes.” Barbara gestures lamely. 
“You…didn’t have to do that.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve got nothing but time. Might as well use it right.” Barbara shrugs. Lydia bounces on her toes.
“I’ve still, um, gotta clear out all of our junk. Adam and I don’t need it anymore, not really, and you need room to breathe. I know it’s not much, but--”
Lydia crashes into Barbara for a hug. She’s icy to the touch, but her touch is the most comforting thing Lydia can imagine. Barbara pulls her in close, cradling the back of her head with her cool hands. There is no heartbeat in her chest, but Lydia can feel that it’s not empty.  
A memory of her mother prickles at the back of her mind. She pushes it down. 
“Do you want help?” Lydia pulls away and looks towards the dark room, ignoring the twinge of grief in her gut. She can see its potential around the edges.
“It’s your surprise! You can’t help with that!” Barbara gasps, affronted. 
The curtain falls heavily from the hooks and thumps into the ground. A plume of dust kicks up and Lydia coughs. 
“Okay. Maybe you can.” Barbara scratches her head. Together, she and Lydia hoist the heavy curtain back into precarious-looking hooks embedded in the wall. As they back away from it, silently begging it to stay in place, Beetlejuice sits up ramrod straight. 
“Adam, Barbara’s throwing away your coin collection,” Beetlejuice gasps and points over Adam’s shoulder.
“What? They’re vintage!” Adam whirls around. Beetlejuice moves a bunch of pieces around, making a bunch of captures, and eats a piece for good measure. He winks at Lydia. She fondly rolls her eyes. 
“You know I would never.” Barbara says. Adam deflates. She kisses his forehead. He grumbles a little but accepts it.
When Adam turns back to the board, Lydia has the express joy of watching him go through the five stages of grief in real time. He looks from Beetlejuice to the board in sheer despair. 
“Why do you keep eating the pieces?” Adam puts his head in his hands. 
“Because, Adam dearest, it makes you mad.” Beetlejuice pats his shoulder solemnly. Lydia snorts.
“Well, I’m officially out of games.” Adam pats his thighs and stands. He ambles over to Barbara and appraises the curtain. He puts his hands on his hips and starts muttering about supports and tracks. Lydia tries to follow along but her eyes near-instantly glaze over. 
“Sooooo, Lydia.” Beetlejuice slides over to her. “Have you given my offer any more thought?”
“You still haven’t given me a convincing argument. Calling yourself ‘the worst of the best’ isn’t exactly a glowing review.” Lydia wrinkles her nose. 
“These two like me!” Beetlejuice points at the Maitlands. Barbara gives a teasing ‘meh’ gesture just to see him splutter in offense. She laughs softly. 
“I’ll admit, I’m coming around on him.” Adam chuckles. 
“Thank you, Adam. Mwah.” Beetlejuice blows a kiss in his direction. Adam turns a little pink and goes back to working on the curtain. Barbara whispers something in his ear that makes him turn even pinker. 
“They like anyone. I’ve met cardboard with stronger opinions than them.” Lydia scoffs, then turns. “No offense.” 
Adam and Barbara both shrug. 
“Fair point. Counteroffer: you hate your dad, I hate your dad, let’s kill him.” Beetlejuice gives his most enthusiastic jazz hands. Lydia stares at him blankly. 
“Denied.” She pushes his hands out of the way. 
“On what grounds?”
“On the grounds that you suck. Your fate hinges on me and you can’t even get me to say your name. You spend all your time cheating at board games because you need me more than I need you. That’s pretty lame for a big, scary demon,” Lydia says mockingly, curling her fingers into claws. When Beetlejuice gives her the finger, she gives two right back with a smirk. 
“Lydia, be nice,” Barbara chides, goosing Lydia’s side. She yelps and smacks her hand away. 
Beetlejuice gasps. Lydia slowly meets his sparkling eyes. 
“No.” Lydia points at him. Beetlejuice smiles slowly, wicked and full of mischief. 
“I’ll kill you. I’ll bring you back to life just to kill you--”
Lydia steps back, Beetlejuice steps forward, and all hell breaks loose. Lydia springs over a pile of Maitland junk and ducks under Adam’s arm. She shoves him into Beetlejuice’s path.
Beetlejuice simply picks Adam up and deposits him elsewhere like a Maitland mannequin. He squeaks and leaps out of the way of their chase.  
The two of them circle each other around an unbuilt dining room table kit, Lydia just barely keeping out of arm’s reach. She bolts past a dilapidated spin-your-own-yarn kit and dives through Barbara’s legs to hide behind her. 
Beetlejuice stops and visibly considers the consequences of doing the same. Barbara gives him a withering look. He tries to circle around her, but Lydia’s excellent at moving her around like a meat shield. Beetlejuice visibly starts scheming. 
Barbara looks at Lydia, looks back at him, and slides out of the way. 
“Barbara!” Lydia screeches in outrage but there’s not enough time to screech and run. He grabs her and pulls her into a bear hug. 
“Thank youuuu, Babs!” Beetlejuice grins at her. She shakes her head fondly and honorably discharges herself from the battlefield. 
“Hey Lydia…I bet I can get you to say my name.” He cackles evilly. Lydia hisses at him, but damn it, she’s already giggling nervously. He swoops his hands over her stomach, wiggling his fingers but not quite touching. 
“B-Beetlejuice!” She squeaks and rocks up onto her toes in lieu of running. 
“That’s one!” He singsongs, finally touching down on her stomach. She folds into his hands—unwise, really—and curses Beetlejuice to the high heavens and below. 
“Think we should help her?” Adam leans over to Barbara. They both watch Lydia worm around in Beetlejuice’s arms, not making much of an escape attempt despite the volume of her threats. 
“Nah.” Barbara moves a crate of nearly-unused embroidery hoops out of the way with tender care. The curtain collapses again. Both Maitlands sigh. 
“Beetlejuice, you fucker!” Lydia growls, but quickly loses it to laughter. He’s doing this infuriating little pinchy-thing to her sides, one that makes her leap clear off the ground each time. She tosses her head back and cackles, her whole face scrunched with the force of it. 
God, she hasn’t laughed like this since…well, it’s been a while. She’d forgotten that she could. 
“Eh, that probably counts. One more!” Beetlejuice finds a deathly spot on her lower ribs and decides not to leave it alone. 
“Beeeeeeeeeeeee--AHHH!” 
“Hm, yeah. See, now we’re gonna have to start over.” Beetlejuice tasers her sides, right at that spot, and feigns disapproval. Lydia makes a noise at a pitch audible only to dogs and demons. 
Crunch. 
Lydia’s foot connects directly with his face in a frankly-stunning high kick. He drops her roughly. Something goes flying across the room and hits the wall with a quiet thump. Barbara gasps sharply and covers her mouth in shock. 
Beetlejuice touches his nose—or rather, the space where it used to be, and a thick hush falls over the attic. Everyone’s eyes drift to the nose, now fallen among jars of the most rancid-looking kombucha on the face of the earth. It twitches plaintively. 
He laughs, loud and boisterous. His lack-of-nose whistles as he does. Adam picks up the fallen nose and gags before tossing it to Lydia and wiping his hands on his shirt. 
“Got your nose,” Lydia giggles weakly, depositing it into Beetlejuice’s hand. 
“Nice shot.” Beetlejuice chuckles, uncomfortably nasally, and shoves his nose back into place with an awful crack. He takes a long, wheezing inhale and gives her a thumbs up. 
“So…” He sidles close to her, bringing back the jazz hands. 
“No.” 
“Yeah, that’s fair.” He sighs. 
“Lydia, are you alright?” Delia’s voice curls faintly up the rickety staircase. She climbs up, but not all the way—Lydia can tell by the shuffling of her awful shoes. 
Everyone freezes.
“Lydia?” 
She opens her mouth to answer Delia and Beetlejuice squeezes her sides. She yelps and whirls around, but he doesn’t even have the decency to feign innocence. He just does it again, waiting for the precise moment she goes to speak. 
“Y-Yeah, I’m o-okay.” Lydia wrestles with Beetlejuice’s hands, her voice shaking with barely-restrained giggles. 
“Oh god, please don’t make me come up there.” Delia’s ‘whisper’ is anything but. Beetlejuice snorts. 
“I’m fine! Just, uhm, doing spring cleaning.” Lydia calls back, stomping on Beetlejuice’s foot. He doesn’t even flinch. 
“Okay.” A long, heavy pause from Delia. 
“You can go now!” Lydia yells. Delia’s heels click quickly down the stairs, back towards the dreary living. 
“You’re insufferable,” Lydia hisses at Beetlejuice, punching his shoulder. He holds his hand over his heart and gives a grand, sweeping bow. When he stands up, he smacks his head against the dagger in the wall. Lydia snickers at him.
He turns around like a penguin, never one to do things normally, and makes a delighted noise at the pierced Monopoly board. He pulls the knife out of the wall and pokes his finger with it a few too many times, fascinated with the sharpness of it. 
He stretches, makes a bunch of vague measurement and aiming gestures, then lobs the knife straight upwards. It lodges into the ceiling with an enthusiastic ping! The blade warbles with the force of it.
Beetlejuice slaps the Monopoly board down on the floor and plops down in front of it. Adam bemoans the state of the attic ceiling as Barbara consoles him. 
“Wanna play?” Beetlejuice snaps his fingers and the board changes, shifting into black, whites, purples, and greens. Graveyard moss creeps along the edges of the board. Monopoly components spawn into existence on the board, appearing in puffs of fog and comically-quiet wails of the damned. 
“Sure.” Lydia sits opposite him. She pokes at some of the moss. It sprouts to meet her touch. 
“If you get stabbed, you lose?” Beetlejuice casts a cursory glance to the still-wobbling knife. The blade shifts slightly out of the ceiling. 
“Deal.” Lydia sticks her hand out to shake. Beetlejuice takes it with gusto. 
“You guys wanna play?” Lydia turns to the Maitlands. Barbara and Adam look at each other, communicating in that telepathic way of theirs. Barbara grins and leads Adam over to the board to sit. 
“I call thimble!” Adam reaches for it. Beetlejuice swats his hand. Adam reaches again. Beetlejuice swats him a little harder. 
“You can’t have the thimble. I’m the thimble.” Beetlejuice pinches it between his fingers. 
“Can I have the thimble?” Barbara leans close to Beetlejuice and looks up at him through her lashes. Lydia never would’ve guessed that a demon could blush, but sure enough, Beetlejuice’s face takes on the slightest bit of color. 
“I sense that I’m being manipulated.” He narrows his eyes. 
“Is it working?” Barbara smiles. 
“Yep.” He slaps the thimble into her hand. She passes it to Adam. He beams. Beetlejuice rolls his eyes but his gaze lingers on them for just a bit too long. 
“Well played, Babs. Well played.” Beetlejuice scoops up the racecar piece and frowns at it. Its tiny metal form melts and reconfigures into a small hearse. Satisfied, he places it right next to the cat piece—Lydia’s, of course. Barbara takes the top hat with pride. 
When Beetlejuice jumps Adam for his extra get out of jail free card—of which there are a suspicious amount in Beetlejuice’s version of the game—Lydia laughs and swipes a bit of Beetlejuice’s money. Adam’s hiccupy cackles are the backdrop for Barbara robbing the bank in broad daylight, taking as many bills from the tray as her heart desires. 
Lydia’s life is certainly very strange and painfully unusual, but she wouldn’t trade it for the world. She can only hope that her mom will love being part of the attic’s menagerie of ghosts and ghouls as much as she does. 
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armpit-of-orion · 5 years
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if u want to I’d love to hear some of ur hcs of beej interacting w charles and delia cause their dynamic gives me life and they’re his PARENTS
for sure! thanks for asking!
(also guys check my tag “beetlejuice headcanons” for more of my headcanons and feel free to ask for more!)
this got long as fuck, so I’m putting in a cut. 
also p.s. “Amanita” is pronounced “am-uh-NY-tuh.”
okay so maybe Charles and Emily always wanted a big family, but they had difficulty conceiving and it was hard enough for them to have Lydia, so they sort of gave up on the idea of a big family. so Charles doesn’t mind (read: is thrilled) when Beetlejuice sort of slides into their family.
Delia’s also always wanted to have a family; a spouse and as many kids as they could support. but her life didn’t seem to be heading in that direction, and by the time she hit forty she’d figured that her hope to have a big family was gone. so like Charles, it really isn’t unwelcome when her new family starts to grow.
now, it’s true that two kids doesn’t usually count as a “big family.” however, it’s also true that it does count as a “big family” when one of those kids is Beetlejuice.
(to be clear, Beetlejuice isn’t a child; in human terms, he’s in his early thirties. so when I talk about a parent-child relationship here, I mean parent-adult!child relationship. it’s more father/mother figure than just father/mother. just thought I should make this point clear since I ship him with the Maitlands, which would be not be okay if I was portraying BJ as in his teens/early twenties or something.)
Beetlejuice starts to see Charles as a father figure before he starts to see Delia as a mother figure.
that’s because he first sees Lydia as his sister, and he tries to relate to the people around him the way Lydia does. since Lydia doesn’t really see Delia as a mother figure (she starts to later, but not right away!), BJ doesn’t see Delia as a mother figure at first either.
BUT since Lydia only sees Charles as “Dad,” that’s exactly how BJ sees him too!
(I mean Lydia has known Delia, Adam, and Barbara as people other than her parents, but Charles has only ever been “Dad” to her, and it’s hard to see your parents as being actual people, not just your parents, especially when you’re young.)
Charles panics a little at the realization that he’s somehow adopted a demon who’s at least twenty times older than he is, and that panic manifests as him trying to engage Beej in traditional father-son bonding activities.
the fishing trip doesn’t go well, as Charles wasn’t aware that Beetlejuice does Not Like water, and it hadn’t occurred to Beetlejuice that fishing might involve him being near water.
they try to play catch, except Beetlejuice misunderstood the point of the game, so when Charles tosses him a baseball, Beetlejuice opens his mouth and somehow manages to swallow the ball whole. Charles is too disturbed by whatever the fuck that was to try again.
but! they figure out that they like going on walks in the woods together! Charles likes to try to identify the plants and wildlife they see, and it’s a good way for Beetlejuice to get some fun snacks.
Charles is (mostly) used to seeing BJ eat random bugs, but on one walk he sees Beetlejuice pop a couple of wild mushrooms into his mouth, and all Charles’s logic flies out the window for a moment.
he starts yelling at Beetlejuice to spit them out, and in his shock and confusion, Beetlejuice does the opposite.
Charles is in the process of dragging Beetlejuice home and has started to dial 911 before Beetlejuice can even react.
“Whoa, Chuck, what are you doing?”
“That looked like one of the deadly Amanita mushrooms. They’re extremely toxic; we have to get you to the hospital right—”
“Uh, Chuck? I’m dead. Those angalida—”
“Amanita.”
“—indochina mushrooms aren’t gonna make me more dead.”
“…oh.”
Beetlejuice makes fun of Charles for forgetting that he’s, y’know, dead, but he’s secretly touched that Charles cares about him enough to panic like that.
and Delia! Beetlejuice starts to see her as a mother figure before Lydia does.
(actually, Delia being all “mom” around Beetlejuice helps Lydia warm up to the idea of Delia being a mother figure to her, too!)
they both have a ton of self-esteem issues, but they work on that together!
also they do spa days! sometimes Lydia joins in, but it’s usually a mother-son bonding thing. they do foot soaks and homemade face masks. Delia always has to make extra face mask …goop? (idk what to call it) because BJ will eat it. he likes the ones with honey best!
they talk a lot about stuff! Delia’s awesome to talk about sex with because she’s so nonjudgemental and open. once Beetlejuice stops trying to shock her or make her uncomfortable they actually have pretty deep conversations, and she helps him develop a healthier attitude about sex.
Delia starts teaching him how to meditate! it’s really hard— especially when you have ADHD— but it’s also really helpful and rewarding as long as you keep at it! and Delia never gets mad about how long it takes or about how BJ struggles to sit still or keep quiet for just ten seconds. she doesn’t give up, and after a couple months of five minute sessions he’s actually able to meditate a little!
also Beetlejuice makes her a necklace! (the Maitlands had a jewelry-making phase.) it’s the ugliest thing ever and Delia adores it, and she actually manages to make it work with some of her outfits. (she’s that good.)
during the weekdays, while Lydia’s at school and Charles is at work, Beetlejuice usually spends time with the Maitlands. but if Delia’s home, BJ will follow Delia around the house (like how my family’s dog follows my mom around lol). most of the time he doesn’t even try to distract her or engage her; he just wants to be in her presence! (once Lydia gets home though, he’ll leave Delia in favor of following Lydia around.)
Delia quickly becomes someone Beetlejuice goes to for comfort or emotional support. Lydia, bless her heart, does her best, but she’s not the most emotionally mature person (she’s fifteen! that’s okay!) and she has plenty of her own problems too, and BJ recognizes this and turns to Delia as a result. Delia’s hugs are awesome and help him forget about Juno.
in conclusion Charles and Delia are Beetlejuice’s parents and they love and support each other thank you and goodnight.
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