#especially the relationships between Lydia & Barbara- Lydia & Betelgeuse- and Barbara & Betelgeuse

[the-wager-au]

CAN I JUST SAY, to this day I still think cutting out "Children We Didn't Have" from the Beetlejuice musical was a huge mistake.

When I watched the musical and they sang "Ready Set" I got the strong impression that they just... didn't actually even WANT kids, but felt like they had to in order to accomplish what they thought was supposed to be an Ideal Life™️

And then when they got around to the second act, I found myself wondering "okay... so what are the Maitlands doing here...?" Because they kind of fell out of relevancy. They no longer wanted to scare ppl out of their home, Lydia wasn't rlly talking to them, and they made Zero mention of the regrets from their life or any current goal.

"Children We Didn't Have" not only makes it clear that this was a Genuine passion of Barbara's, but also connected her and Lydia's character arcs more solidly. Barbara 2.0 in comparison feels like, a weaker attempt at what the cut song did perfectly and emotionally, and removes the Maitlands' original big character aspect of "regretful would-be parents" by referring to Lydia as a friend instead of a daughter figure :/

Just. LISTEN TO THIS:

SHOULDA KEPT IT 🥺

[ninastasia0]

We Do Know Which Way’s Home (part 9)

Hey!! So I couldn't wait to update the story because I simply adore that chapter. It's like, one of the softest things I've ever written, so get ready for some super extra soft Beej'.

AO3 WATTPAD SPOTIFY

Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8

Chapter 9 I'm Still Standing

To Corazana's surprise, Delia was very invested in that whole exhibition stuff. The moment she rang at the door, the red-headed lady opened, took her in and made her sit in the living room. Charles greeted her and explained that Lydia and the three ghosts had to stay upstairs, just so Delia would have the time to explain the week schedule to the young artist. She nodded and payed attention to everything Delia told her.

"Of course I've invited some of my friends from New-York. They're really into underground artists, I'm sure they'll love it. Lydia showed some of the pieces you left here. Let me tell you that they're pretty good! Of course, you'll keep improving, but I think this exhibition will be an excellent first step in this cruel world. It's going to be a huge success!"

Cora couldn't help but notice she pronounced it "sucks-yes", which made her smile to hide a laugh.

"By the way, I almost forgot to ask, Charles and I are going to the restaurant tonight, would you be okay keeping an eye on Lydia?"

"Sure Mrs Deetz."

"Great, I'll let you go now. They're so excited to see you, I won't keep you away from them any longer."

Corazana rushed to the attic. She waited a second outside, just so she could hear if they were talking about her. She tended to be curious when it came to those things.

"It's been thirty minutes!" groaned the demon.

Lydia replied instantly, "stop complaining! That's an important thing to her."

"I missed her, Lyds."

"I know, dude. I missed her too."

"Hush!" murmured someone, probably Barbara, "I think she's behind the door."

The young woman opened the door with a very guilty face.

"You got me Barb'."

The four individuals suddenly turned to her.

"Sorry, I've just caught a few words."

They all blinked repeatedly before shooting her name with joy. Except Beej', because he screamed "DOLL!" very loudly instead.

"I'm happy to see you too. Did you receive all my letters?"

"Yes! Lyds read them to us," answered Beetlejuice.

"That's sweet."

She took the last letter out of her bag and handed it to Lydia.

"I guess you can read the last one even if I'm here."

"So you received my letter before leaving?"

"Read, you'll have your answer."

"Okay, okay. Dear Lydia, you'd be surprised to learn that I read your letter on my way to see you. COOL! There's nothing I would love more than hearing about that girl. Be careful though, Betelgeuse will try to steal her from you (joke, he doesn't stand a single chance)."

"HEY!" complained the demon.

"Hush, dude. I've bought a bunch of candies for you. What about a movie night, this evening? Anyway, I'll probably ask you in a few hours. Wouldn't it be great to do it with the Maitlands and Beej' this time? All together ... I'm sure they'll be flattered to be a part of our little ritual. Especially our local demon, he always seems so sad to be left appart."

She stopped her reading, and finished in silence. Her gaze went from BJ to Cora.

"Don't ask me why I pity him that much, I have no idea. The more I get to know him, the more he touches me. Not in that way, you know what I mean," she concluded.

Beej' elbowed Corazana with an amused smirk.

"I knew you would fall for me, doll."

She rolled her eyes, even though she couldn't help but smile a bit.

Lydia looked up to her babysitter, "so, you're staying here tonight?"

"My parents aren't home and yours asked me to keep an eye on you. So, yeah, I'll be there."

Corazana barely heard Lydia whispering "cool" before she run out of the attic. Facing her surprised expression, Barbara felt the need to explain the situation:

"She's like that since she met that girl at school."

"Well, that's great, I guess. Will I have the pleasure to see you guys tonight?"

"Unfortunately, Barb' and I have some stuff to do in the Neitherworld. Somehow, Miss Argentina managed to lose files and asked us for help."

"You could never say no when it comes to give a hand to someone, I know you guys pretty well."

She had no idea who was that Miss Argentina, but she preferred to stay out of the whole after-life thing. Somewhere in her mind, Corazana associated being too curious about it and dying earlier than expected. And she clearly wanted to have a long and peaceful life.

Well, peaceful ...

Actually, being friend with three ghosts and a gothic teenager wasn't the best definition of "having a peaceful life". Not the one she expected at least.

"So ... It'll be BJ, Lydia and me?"

She wasn't really expecting an answer, something crossed her mind. The last time she'd been alone with the two of them, things had been quite hard. Sure, it had been a few weeks ago and since then, their relationship had evolved for the best. Still, she could feel shivers down her spine remembering the traumatic event she had experienced that night. He seemed to understand what she was thinking about because he lost his grin for a second. Before anyone noticed it, he put his "asshole face" back on, like he loved to call it.

"That's cool, I have a bunch of films we can watch."

The weird thing she noticed during the day was that Lydia, even though she told her how much she wanted to see her in her letters, almost didn't show up after she left the attic.

"Y'know how teens are," chatted Beetlejuice as they were chilling in the living room.

It had been an hour since Lydia's parents had left the house. And the young gothic was nowhere to be seen.

"Sure, but I'm supposed to keep an eye on her, and I thought she would enjoy a horror movie night like we used to have."

"Maybe she has somethin' on her mind, dontcha think?"

"You're probably right."

And for the first time in ages, Beetlejuice was indeed right. Lydia came down a few minutes later and unrecognisable. She, apparently, had tried to do a new kind of make-up but had given up after one eye, because the other one was still clean.

"I need your help," implored Lydia.

Cora let go a little laugh, "Oh my- bichito, what have you done?"

"I don't know..." her voice was about to break, "Wednesday and I are going on a date and I'm not ready. I look horrible."

"No, don't you dare say that. You're nothing but beautiful, bichito."

Lydia loved when she called her that, because it meant "little bug". Corazana made her sit on the couch next to BJ and went to her own suitcase to find her stuff.

She went back to her, "come on, close your eyes."

As she started saving her makeup, Corazana noticed that the demon was watching all her moves very carefully. They eventually shared a gaze but she immediately looked back to Lydia's face. The young girl wasn't saying anything, too stressed to find something to joke about. Which was quite unusual.

"Tell me more about that Wednesday girl, what is she like?"

"Dark. Taller than me. She likes to talk about death, which is pretty cool since half of the people living in my house are dead. She doesn't show her emotions, but that's cool because she talks a lot so I still manage to guess how she feels. And she asked me on a date this morning ... That's why I haven't been there today ... I'm sorry."

"That's okay, Lyds, I had someone to pass the time with."

Lydia opened an eye to look at Beetlejuice, then her babysitter.

"You guys are okay now?"

"We could say that. And I'm done. You're all good for your date, my dear Lyds."

She checked herself in the pocket mirror Cora handed her. Her eyes started sparkling.

"Oh my god, it is perfect."

"You better tell me how it went when you come back."

"Tell us!" added the demon.

"I will, but you gotta promise not to tell my parents. I don't want to be interrogated before knowing if it's a serious thing between her and me"

"I'll be as silent as a grave," promised Corazana.

BJ bursted out laughing, "jeez', that was a good one, doll!"

And again, the shared gaze! It was so weird to have those moments of complicity with him, but that was somehow so pleasant.

"I guess I have to stay here in case your parents call and I have to act like everything's perfectly normal?"

"Hm, yep. Consider this a random babysitting night, but for Beetlejuice, not me."

"Thirty dollars the night is okay if it's you, Lyds. But for him I'll need double."

"Because I'm twice as handsome as she is?"

"Yeah, something like that," sassed Corazana as Lydia was checking her watch.

"Shit, I'm late."

"Language!"

"BJ's taught me, bye guys!" she shot on her way to the front door.

"Be careful!"

"I will!"

The door closed. They stayed on the couch without saying a single word for god knows how long. Finally, they decided on a common agreement that exploring the house would pass the time. That house was strange. No matter the distance you walked, it never seemed to end.

"How long have you been here?" asked Corazana, "I knew the people that were here before the Maitlands, they never noticed a ghost chilling in their house."

"I lost the count, but I've been here since the day I died. I thought I was just waking up from a fucking long nap, but nope, here I was. Dead, invisible, bored. And your previous neighbours were so dull. Huh, even I didn't want to trick them. But thank god, the lovebirds replaced them. They're a couple of nerds, but Satan do I have fun with them! They were even much more fun to observe."

"Oh, so the voyeur stuff is not new."

"Doll, have you taken a good look at me recently? I'm dead, and I was invisible for decades. Of course I watched people. What did you expected me to do? Bake ghost pies? C'mon."

"I get it but ... don't you care about what you do? Even a little?"

They ended up in Charles's office. The room was very different from what Cora had imagined. The most surprising was the wall full of vinyls, a giant collection.

"I did care, during the first years, decades or something ..." his voice was so soft suddenly. Who was he worried to disturb? They were all alone.

"What changed?"

"Nothing, that's the main problem, doll. No matter if I watched or not, people still couldn't see me. So the first time I stumbled upon a naked person, it was an accident. The second time too. And after that, I was just pretending it was still one but I waited at the exact same spot and time. After fifteen years or so, I didn't pretend they were coincidences anymore. I had just become a creepy old ghost."

"You're not that old."

"I'm at least a century older than you."

"No I mean ... You don't look that old. On the contrary."

He shrugged his shoulders, "I died young."

Cora knew by the way he said it that she wouldn't learn anything more about him tonight. But it was already quite a lot. Both were standing at different sides of the room, looking at Charles collection.

"I almost destroyed it all last year. I'm glad I didn't after all."

He took one off the shelf and floated to the record player. Soon, Corazana recognised the singer.

"Elton John! I love him!"

"I know."

"How do you know?"

Beej' remembered her walkman, "lucky guess."

She started moving a little. Dancing a little. Like no one else was watching.

"Come on, Beej', let it go."

"I don't dance."

"Me neither."

She reached out her hand, he considered it a second before taking it.

"I'm a terrible dancer."

"Who cares?"

« Don't you know I'm still standing better than I ever did

Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid »

Alone in the big house, both were dancing together on rhythm. First a little shy and awkward, and soon they didn't care. Swinging, dos-à-dos, tapping feet in parallel away from the other's. Then the demon caught her hand and made her twirl. She smiled, giggled, didn't try to hide her mouth this time. Maybe they were bad dancers. No, they surely were, but how much fun were they having doing it anyway. Barely even friends, yet that was the exact moment Corazana started looking at him differently.

« I'm still standing after all this time

Picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind »

The music started to fade away. Corazana tried to catch her breath the best she could.

"My god... that was unexpected..."

"What was unexpected?" asked Beetlejuice, who wasn't panting at all.

She was still breathless, "sharing... sharing a moment like that... with you."

"Oh. You enjoyed it?"

"I adored it. Are you smiling?"

"No. Am I? I can't feel it."

"You're smiling."

"Wow. Weird. Does it look good?"

"It does. You can't feel anything?"

He shook his head no. Corazana took a step in his direction, opening her arms a little.

"May I?"

"Sure thing, doll," Beej' didn't even finish his sentence before she hugged him, "you're warm."

"You're not. But that's okay."

"You think so?"

"Yes. I don't lie."

"I do. Dontcha think I smell bad? Everyone says I do."

"You have a funny smell, a bit weird," he did feel something: her breath against his dead skin, "you already know what I think, why did you ask?"

"I care about your opinion."

The moment he started to hold her tighter, she stepped aside. Corazana looked at BJ's hair, it looked way more lighter than usual.

"Feeling peaceful?" she asked.

"Certainly."

"It's surprising."

"What's surprising?" he asked.

"How far we've come since we've met."

He smirked, not knowing where to look, except not at her directly.

"I'm pretty selfish, doll, if I act better towards you, it's just because I need company."

"Maybe that's enough for me to like you."