Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

       It'd been a month since the 'incident' as they so lovingly put it and things were going great. The first few weeks were hard, both families still adjusting to living together as well as recovering from the chaos they all experienced, but before they knew it, they were all functioning as one. Lydia started school and made some friends, Barbara and Delia bonded over their shared love of cooking new recipes and even Adam and Charles were able to geek out over woodworking. No one really even thought about the demon who caused all this. All they wanted to do was put it behind them. Which worked! Almost...

       Lydia was walking home from school, excited for the weekend and when she approached the house and it just seemed... wrong. There was a sort of bad vibe coming from the house. She approached nervously and opened the door to see all the adults huddled together whispering and surrounding something? Her view was blocked by the couch but from what she could see it seemed to be a bundle of black. Speaking of, a black liquid seemed to be all over the room, specifically coating Delia's boujee rug she'd bought recently. The air spelled like a damp cemetery, and suddenly she remembered when she last smelt that.

       "Dad? What's going on?" At the sound of her voice all the adult's heads popped up and she could see their faces all lined with fear.

       "Nothing Lydia. Stay there."

       "Dad you can't just expect me to stand here." She began to approach them, "what's going o-" Her voice faded as she looked at what they all were staring at. It was Beetlejuice, but something was wrong. He was passed out, his suit was ripped and soaked with the black liquid that was surrounding him. It dribbled from his lips, a stark contrast to his even paler skin. Even his hair was wrong, it was dark purple, maybe even black. His face was pulled in a pained grimace.

       "What's wrong with him?" She asked, her voice shaky, realizing then that the black liquid was his blood.

       
       "No idea. That other demon...Juno, she tossed him in here and left." Charles explained, his tone dark.

       "She said something about punishment and breathers before she left, but he passed out before we could ask questions." Barbara added. She stared at him with a pointed and hateful glare, looking around, Lydia realized all of them, except Delia who just looked scared, had that same look on their face.

       "Well he's probably hurt, we need to help him." Lydia tried to reach him but was stopped by Charles' hand.

       "No Lydia. This might be a trap. Don't try and help him.

       "As if he even deserves it."
       

       "Barbara!"

       "What? It-it's true. He manipulated us."

       "I just feel so bad, he looks in pain." Delia whispered. She bent down, much to the other's chagrin, and placed a gentle hand on his face. He was freezing, yet sweating, but he seemed to lean into the touch, a pained breathe escaping his lips. His eyes squeezed tightly as he curled into himself another pained mumble following. Lydia felt a wave of sadness go through her hearing his pain, upset she couldn't go near him when she realized what he dad was carrying. After the 'incident' he bought genuine holy water, salt, and an iron blade.

       
       "Dad..." She spoke slowly, almost scared to ask, "did you hurt him?" He stared at her for a second in confusion before looking at the demon harming substances in his pocket and back at her.

       "No no sweetie, this is just protection."

       They looked back at the demon on their floor just as he was opening his eyes,

       "Delia-" Charles warned.

       Beetlejuice's eyes flickered around the room quickly and widened with fear. Delia tried to touch him but he flinched aggressively hitting his head on the coffee table. In a moment of fear he clawed at her and ran into the corner, not before being hit with a nice big splash of holy water.
The water hit his many wounds and 'holy shit that hurts' he let out a pained cry and curled tightly into a ball. The water burned and all he could do was cry in a ball and wait for it to stop. But everyone kept approaching him.

       'Stop stop stop' he repeated in his mind, but they grew closer.

       "Stop stop stop" He whispered, tugging at him hair and rocking back and forth.

       "STOP" He sobbed, pushing himself further into the corner. The light bulbs flickered out leaving only the dim light from a window lighting the house. The approaching stopped, only for him to be met with yells and shouts, people and ghost calling him name, his curse tugging at him stomach, it was all too much. He sobbed in a ball, not even understanding what everyone was saying. He tried to escape from this corner feeling too trapped, but was met with burning. He peaked and realized Chuck has created a salt line around him, effectively trapping him. His cries became louder and the pain and fear and everything became too much.

       "Guys..." Lydia noticed the distressed demon. "Guys stop!" She yelled and slowly everyone went silent, looking at the shaking, crying demon in the corner. And that wave of sadness Lydia felt earlier, hit everyone, even Charles. His hands dug into his scalp pulling at his hair, black blood still coating his entire front and now dripping from his mouth and he sobbed, the holy water and salt causing his arms to sizzle slightly but the worst part. He was mumbling something, soft pleads to stop and weak apologies.

       "Please- I'm sorry please- lemme go- I don't wann- please" words stumbled from his mouth and everyone realized this wasn't a trap. Hesitantly, Charles dropped the supplies and kicked them away, Barbara and Adam backed away, pulling Lydia with them, and Delia slowly approached.

       "Hey Beetlejuice..." He flinched at him name being called and curled in tighter. "It's ok. I'm not going to hurt you, just gonna clean this salt up ok?"

       She looked at beetlejuice for confirmation and was met with scared yellow eyes. He gave her a slight nod and she wiped away the salt line, and Beetlejuice felt calmer. He relaxed slightly and watched Delia's every step. "Are you hurt?" She asked her voice gentle and he nodded again. "Can I help?" She walked forward her hand outstretched but stopped when he yelled,

       "NO- please... don't hurt me" He whimpered and tensed up again before letting out a hiss of pain.

       "Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you." She put on her gentle voice again and sat across from him. "How about we help get you cleaned up,and we can all talk this out?"

       "Just you."

       "Huh?"

       "...only you can help." He said, almost embarrassed. And when Charles looked at him he realized he didn't see the demon that hurt their family, instead he saw a scared, traumatized child. "Ok but if you hurt Delia I swear to god." His voice was loud, Beetlejuice flinched and covered him ears.

       "It's ok, Charles is just nervous for me. Not angry. Come with me." Delia stood up and shooed everyone off before holding out a hand for Beetlejuice to take.

       "We're gonna get you cleaned up in the bathroom. You're safe, don't worry." She almost expected him to stay there so she was surprised when his bloodied calloused hand met hers. The 2 walked to the bathroom, Beetlejuice keeping his head down, and Delia whisper yelling at everyone telling them what to do. When they reached the bathroom, Delia guided Beetlejuice to sit on the toilet seat while she grabbed rags and bandages.

       "You mind taking that shirt off?"

       Delia waited for the dirty comment but Beetlejuice was too tired. He unbuttoned his shirt which grew crusty with dried blood and pulled it down. When Delia turned she couldn't help but gasp. His pale torso was soaked with blood and scars. Claw wounds ran up and down his stomach but that's not what scared her. The amount of healed/almost healed scars he had were terrible. There was bite marks, circular burns, thick ropey scars and a giant hole in his chest. Some looked familiar to Delia though. Those evenly placed thin lines running along his arms reminded her too much if herself. Turning to Beetlejuice she realized he was embarrassed of these, so before starting she pulled down the sleeve of her sweater dress to reveal the scars.

       "You're not alone in that sense huh?" He looked at her, a small smile gracing his features.

       "I'm going to touch you now with this rag, I just wanna get all this blood off of you." She dipped it into some warm water and began gently scrubbing the dried blood off his skin. Once most of the blood was off she managed to get him to take a shower, which surpsingly wasn't that hard. Once he was in the shower, she grabbed his clothes and replaced them with a pair of Charles' old sweatpants and a purple sweatshirt he got from an old job event. She looked at the torn suit and figured she'd mess with it later before walking into the living room where everyone was talking.

       "Heys guys." They all looked up at her.

       "How is he?" Lydia asked hopefully.

       "Quiet. Very quiet, also very shaky. I don't know what happened to him since we last saw him, but he is scared, of all of us."

       The group sat in silence for a little, the only noise being the shower running in the guest room.

       "Guys, what happened?" Lydia asked quietly wanting the full story.

       "Well we were all just going about our normal day when a portal opened in the living room, his mother tossed him in the living room, he was already bleeding but he was still awake. He was scared." Barbara started.

       "Yeah, she said 'This is your punishment Lawrence. Go live with the breathers. They'll never love you.You brought this upon yourself.' before leaving." Adam added on.

       "God I thought we finally left this all behind. Leave it to him to mess things up." Charles spat.

       "Sorry..." a quiet voice startled all of them.

       While they were talking no-one noticed the shower stopping. Beetlejuice stood there, hugging himself. Everyone was slightly shocked at how he looked. Without the layer of blood and filth he looked almost human. His skin was still a corpse-like grey, a small fang peaked out from his mouth biting his lip and his ears were pointed out from his mop of wet purple hair. The sweatpants he wore were rolled up multiple times to fit, and the sweatshirt fit comfortably, its sleeves going down to his finger tips. Bandages peaked out from the hood, going up his neck, and everyone realized the extent of his injuries.

       "Beetlejuice!" Lydia ran to give him a hug, but he avoided it like the plague. "Beetlejuice?" Lydie frowned at the demon's behavior.

       "Please don't call me that." He mumbled, avoiding eye contact.

       "Ok... well Mr. Juice" Charles started while pulling Lydia to come back to the table. "Why are you here?"

       "Well uh, Chuck" Beetlejuice tried to put on a grin, but it ended up turning out like a wince, "My mother was angry at me. So angry that her and her goons uh... harmed me. And then sent me here as punishment. Although I'm not sure who it was supposed to punish more, me or you..." He looked around at the varied looks of horror, anger, fear and concern.

       "Your mother did this?" Adam asked, shock evident in his voice.

       "Well yea. Her and her goons."

       The room was silent, except for Beetlejuice fidgeting in the doorway.

       "I'm sorry Mr. Juice. I guess we're all just trying to process this and figure out..."

       "Figure out how to deal with me?" His voice almost sounded hurt.

       "It's fine." It wasn't.

       "I get it" He didn't

       "who would want a demon in their home?" Apparently no-one.

       "I can sleep on the roof?" He didn't want to, "stay out of yalls way?" it hurt, but Beetlejuice didn't let it show.

       "Yes that's perfect." Charles nodded,

       "As long as you promise to be silent." Adam and Barbara added on.

       "What? No!" Lydia looked around in shock, "He's clearly hurt! And you just decided to send him out on the roof. During winter?!"

       "He offered. Plus he's a demon."

       "Yea Scarecrow. Don't worry about Lil' ol' me" He attempted to give a reassuring smile, but the dark blue and purple hues in his hair gave him away.

       "Beej..."

       "Well. Glad to get that worked out. Bye." He snapped and in a puff of black smoke, he disappeared.

       "Thank God. I don't think I could handle being around him another minute." Barbara sighed.

       "You all suck!" Lydia yelled, tears streaming down her face. "He was just beaten halfway to death...for the dead, and you just send him off in the snow. You're unbelievable."

       But Lydia" Barbara exclaimed- "The things he did to us! He almost killed us and he tried to marry you!"

       "Yea but he also saved our lives from his mother, who is the reason he's here and hurt." Lydia looked around at the faces and realized everyone... even Delia disagreed.

       "I'm sorry honey..." She whispered, but Lydia ran away tears streaming down her cheeks.

       As soon as Beetlejuice got onto the roof, he regretted teleporting up there. His power was still drained from his injuries, the teleportation not making it any better. He collapsed onto the roof, and shivered as the snow soaked into his clothes.

       "Great. Snow." He grumbled.
 

       Cold was something so foreign to him, being a demon and living in the netherworld meant he was often burning hot. A small tear dripped down his face as he hugged his legs to his chest. He tried to not let it show while talking to the Deetz-Maitlands, but he was in incredible pain, his mother really did a number huh? A harsh sob racked his frame as he reflected on the day, he was so tired, so cold, he was in so much pain, a piece of him wished his mom actually killed him. He cried for hours, sobs turned to cries and they slowly turned into sniffles. By the time he stopped crying the sun was down, the moon replacing its spot.

       "Beetlejuice?" He flinched at the name, before realizing he felt no tug.

       "Yes?" He cursed at the way his voice broke. He looked up and saw it was Adam, peaking out the window, "Oh sorry was I too loud?" He meant to sound upset, but it just came off as hurt.

       "No no no...it's just..." the ghost walked out onto and roof and sat next to the curled up demon.

       "Are you okay?" This question caused a new wave of tears to spill out his eyes.

       "No." He whimpered and his hair darkened. A hand crept onto his back and for a second he couldn't breathe, paralyzed in fear, but then it slowly wormed its way around him and pulled him into a hug, which he immediately melted into.

       "I'm sorry Beej..."

       "Why-" he sniffled "why are you sorry?" He pulled himself from the hug and looked Adam in the eye. "I should be sorry. I am sorry. I dont- I don't wanna be here."

       At the sound of his voice, Adam's heart broke. The demon in front of him wasn't the one who they met months ago, he was so different, so hurt.

       "I know. I know Beej." He ran a hand through the other's dark curls and frowned at the ice that formed in them.

       "Beej, are you cold?"

       "I mean yea... but demons run warm. Ill- I'll be fine." He weakly tried to assure.

       "You're shivering." Adam frowned and peaked at the window. "Follow me."

       "What?"

       "Just come on." Adam led Beetlejuice inside, and observed the demon's state. He was shivering, the clothes he wore were soaked, and his eyelashes and hair had ice forming in them. His frown deepened as he went to grab a towel.

       "Here." He offered the towel, "I'll get you a blanket." Beetlejuice cautiously grabbed the towel and dried himself off.

       Adam watched as the demon dried himself off and he couldn't help the tears forming in his eyes. He felt bad for him, yet he felt guilty for feeling bad. Beetlejuice almost killed his wife...but he saw the fear in Beetlejuice's eyes, he saw the scars and he saw the hurt.

       "Adam." Barbara's voice startled him from his thoughts. "What is he doing here?" Her voice was low and angry. "He's supposed to be on the roof."

       "Barbara- it's the middle of winter do you seriously expect him to be out there. I mean it's freezing!"

       "Well he offered."

       "Because he's scared of us, and we won't let him sleep anywhere else." Adam's voice rose slightly but quickly quieted back down.

       "Adam how can you just trust him like that?"

       "Barbara, remember when we took that class on fostering traumatized teens..." He sighed as his gaze fell back and Beetlejuice who had the towel wrapped around his shoulders, cautiously looking around. "Well he shows all of the warning signs of trauma, and I guess I just felt bad."
Barbara sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder.

       "Oh Adam," She placed her other hand on his other shoulder and rested her chin on his head. "Always caring." Barbara thought for a second. "He can sleep up here for tonight, but if he even tries one thing-"

       "He won't Barbara. I mean look at him." The demon in question was now nibbling at his nails, his plum hair a fluffy mess. Barbara would never say it at loud, but he looked quite adorable. Adam smiled and pressed a gently peck on Barbara's cheek before going to give Beetlejuice the soft blanket. From where she was standing, Barbara watched the interaction. Adam was very gentle, yet Beetlejuice seemed to flinched with every movement and maintained caution the whole time. When the blanket wrapped around him, his hair lightened to a violet, with streaks of black running through it. Adam said something to him, hardly audible to Barbara, but Beetlejuice immediately relaxed. He went and layed on the couch in the corner of the room and fell asleep quickly.

Chapter Text

      Ever since Beetlejuice left, Lydia had nightmares every night. Well not every night, some times they were dreams of her and Beetlejuice, hanging out, being there for each other. But sometimes those dreams morphed into him in his red get-up. The blood that poured everywhere after she killed him. And it was then she'd wake up screaming, tears pouring down her face. But ever since he'd came back, those puddles of red turned into black ink pouring out everywhere from the demon. It didn't help that he hasn't shown his face ever since he'd gotten there. She last heard that he was sleeping in the attic, also that he hasn't woken up. That fact was slightly concerning, but she didn't think of it too much, just deciding to distract herself with school. As she was walking home Friday the same wrong feeling she had a week ago came back.

      Walking in she realized the house was shrouded in darkness. All of the lights were out, and Delia and her dad were sat next to each other in the kitchen.

      "Lydia sweetheart come here" Delia's voice was shaky as she spoke. From above a crash was heard.

      "What's going on?"

      "Beetlejuice woke up."

      "What? That's awesome!" Lydia began to run to the stairs but was pulled back.

      "Don't." Charles' voice was serious. "He's acting weird. He's scared of everything, and lashed out when someone even got near him." He led Lydia to a chair and sat next to her. "He's different. He's dangerous."

      "What do you mean? Beej is not dangerous... well if he likes you."

      "I'm sorry, but we can't risk getting hurt. Adam and Barbara are trying to tame him."

      "Tame him?" Lydia asked incredulously "he's not a dog."

      "You know what I'm saying Lydia."

      The Maitlands were cautious around Beetlejuice to put it simply. Even if he was just a sleeping purple mess, they stayed far away from him constantly. Occasionally he'd mumble something in his slumber and the 2 of them would jump as far away from him as possible.
They knew he was just restoring his power, and there was no knowing what he'd be capable of when he woke up. But when he woke up, they realized he was still hurt, both physically and mentally.

      He was mumbling in his sleep again, which was honestly a normal thing by now, the difference though, he woke up with a shout, and tears began running down his face.

      "Beej?" Adam went against Barbara's protests and approached him cautiously. "Beej it's okay." He placed a gentle hand on the demon's shoulder and that's when all hell broke loose.

      An otherworldly hiss came from him as his claws swiped at Adam, leaving rips down he flannel. His hair went from its dark purple to bright as a new wave of tears poured from his eyes.

      "Adam!" Barbara shouted, before running to grab her husband and bring him away from the panicked demon. "Adam..." Her voice was laced with concern "Are you ok?" She observed his torso and saw that he wasn't harmed at all, even his shirt began mending back itself together. After confirming he was ok, her attention went back to Beetlejuice, who was rocking back and fourth in the corner he ran to. His eyes were distant and apologies tumbled from his lips.

      "Beej you need to breathe-" Barbara thought for a second, "Do demon's even breathe?" Her voice was shaky, not knowing how to handle the situation. "Adam what do we do?"

      He looked at her, stumped. "I... don't know" they were interrupted by a knock.

      "Adam? Barbara?" Charles' voice came through the door. "I heard a bang, is everything alright?"

      "Yes, Beetlejuice just woke up."

      At that Charles opened the door and walked in, Delia following close behind.

      "Beetlejuice is awake?" Said demon flinched in the corner, a small whimper coming from him as he curled into himself.

      "What's wrong with him?"

      "Honestly Delia, we're not sure" Barbara sighed, "he woke up crying and wouldn't let us touch him."

      "Well maybe he just needs some calming words."

      Delia approached the curled up demon, a soft smile gracing her features but her efforts proved futile. White streaks grew in his hair,

      "Please- no- get away!" He shouted, hands tugging at his hair. "Please don't hurt me- I'm sorry!"

      "It's ok. We won't hurt you." Delia kept her voice calm as she back away.

      "No no no nO NO" His voice gained volume as he spoke until he was screaming. The lights flickered and the room shook.

      "Delia."

      "Beetlejuice it's ok."

      "No..." He sobbed, his hair fading back to purple. "Imsorry" he managed, his voice weak.

      Then the lights in the room flickered off and his cries filled the room, Charles dragged Delia away and the Maitlands stood at the doorway, simply watching as the demon spiraled. Just like when they died, the 2 felt helpless.

      The couple stood like that for awhile, occasionally trying to approach Beetlejuice, but whenever they got close the lights would flicker and the shelves would shake. So they left, downstairs they told Lydia about everything that happened, and had to make sure she didn't try and see him, unsure of how we was currently.

      As for Beetlejuice, he finally began calming down, the fact that no one was in the room helping him. He calmed himself down enough to realize what he'd just caused, and then was filled with regret. He had another nightmare, those seeming to show themselves everytime he closed his eyes. In fact sometimes it feels as if he's stuck in a nightmare. This one though, it felt different. He couldn't shake the feeling of the hands touching him, hurting him no matter how much he pleaded. It felt as if everything that had hurt him in the past was coming back and taking its turn. Then the Deetz-Maitlands showed up, and they tricked him. Lulled him into a false sense of security before attacking. Right as the art was plugged through his chest, he snapped awake. And now he caused this.

      As much as he wanted to, part of him knew that he'd probably get kicked out. He hurt Adam and almost hurt Delia, the 2 adults who actually showed compassion to him.
'Leave it to Beetlejuice to fuck things up' his brain supplied angrily. 'Only he would be scared of the only nice people in the house.'
God/Satan it was annoying. As he stood up he realized he'd have to face the family soon. As much as he wanted to just break down again, he had to go. With a heavy sigh he approached the doorway and began to listen.

      "We can't have that demon in our house any longer."

      "But dad!"

      "No Lydia. He's clearly very unstable. I mean everytime he wakes up, we're all affected in some way."

      "Because he's scared."

      "I'm sorry Lydia but I have to agree with him. He almost hurt Adam and Delia in his panic" Barbara supplied.

      "But it's not fair. He's clearly traumatized and we're not doing anything to help!" Tears welled in her eyes as she turned to Adam. "Right?"

      "I'm sorry..." Adam's voice was quiet.

      "No... Adam." The tears fell as her voice shook.

      "He's dangerous. I mean I thought we could help him. But if this is how it's gonna be everyday... I don't think we can fix it."

      'Oh' Beetlejuice let out a soft exhale, he actually did it. He was broken. With this realization, he made his way down the stairs, where the family was talking.

      "Hey ya'll" his voice was scratcher than normal, and his hair had darkened into a purple so deep it was almost black.

      "Beej!" Lydia bounded up to him and wrapped her arms around him, the family protesting heavily.

      "Hey Scarecrow..." He tensed up as she hugged him.

      "Are you ok?" Beej couldn't help but laugh softly.

      "No. No I'm not" He pulled away from the embrace and instead wrapped his arms around himself. "But uh... that's why I came downstairs." He gestured to the adults all watching him with contempt. "I wanted to apologize."

      "Apologize?" Delia finally spoke up, previously being completely silent about the matter.

      "Yes. I wanted to say I'm sorry for how I reacted to...everything. I understand you most likely want to kick me out again, or banish me or whatever, and I totally get that." He took in a shaky breathe that he really didn't need. "But I uh- I couldn't let that happen before I apologized for everything."

      He offered his best genuine smile and was met with various degrees of sadness, distrust and pity.

      "Ok well Beetlejuice. We need to talk to ourselves, but what would you like to say." Delia smiled back at Beetlejuice and gestured to the chair next to them. Beetlejuice in response, cautiously moved the chair so that he was a away from everyone else.

      "Well first, I need to apologize for what happened a few months ago." He faced the Maitlands, "I shouldn't have tried to manipulate you guys, and it was wrong of me." He spoke in a calculated voice, just like how he rehearsed with Ms. Argentina. "Barbara, I'm sorry that I got you almost exorcized, I was hurting. But that doesn't excuse what I did to you. Trust me I know how unpleasant those are." He moved to face Charles and Delia,

      "Chuck"

      "Charles."

      "Daliah"

      "Delia."

      "I kicked yall out of the house, destroyed your home, threatened and hurt you. Then manipulated you on top of that."

      "Yes you did?"

      "And that was so wrong of me. I'm so sorry. If I could go back in time, I never would've inserted myself in your life."

      He finally turned to Lydia, and his hair streaked with white and blue.

      "God/Satan Lydia..." his voice was choked."I messed up so badly and I realized that. From the second I met you, I lied and manipulated you. And although we did have fun, I hurt you and I never meant to. I was controlled by my anger and loneliness, which wasn't ok. And then I tried to marry you. Which ugh-" he shuddered, "was disgusting on my part. You should've never had to put up with that, and I regret it so much. I'm honestly so sorry." He looked at the entire group, "to all of you."

      He hung his head low, avoiding eye contact with everyone.

      "Well Beetlejuice, we all appreciate your apology" Charles spoke for the group, "although I think it's safe to say you aren't forgiven, what you did really hurt this family, and it'll take a lot for us to truly forgive you." Barbara seemed to agree with this whole-heartedly, while everyone else had varied views on it.

      "But your apology shows that you're getting better." Adam added positively.

      "Yeah..." Beetlejuice looked back at Charles. "So am I getting banished now?" He said almost calmly.

      "No no- at the moment, I think we're going to let you stay. But if you do, we have to set ground-rules."

      "Oh-"

      "Yes! I'll grab paper!" Delia said a bit too loud before bounding off to the office. After a minute she came back, a pink pen and notebook paper in hand.

      "This was we can hang them up for reference."

      "Ok..." Beetlejuice eyed the paper skeptically, the situation reminding him of his mother. It also seemed very cliche, "The stereotypical group rule-making, real lazy on the writers part" He chuckled to himself, and was met with various degrees of confusment. 

      "Alright...well, first rule, no destroying, scaring or hurting." Charles stared directly at the demon, Beej looked down at his hands.

      "Second, no touching others without their consent." Barbara piped in.

      "Consent?" Beetlejuice trailed off confused.

      "Yea, like without their permission."

      "I still don't get it..."

      "Beej did you never learn what consent is?"

      The demon shook his head 'no' and everyone went quiet.

      "Alright." Delia broke the silence. "How about we finish this list, and we'll talk later."

      "Alright, the next rule is no summoning under any conditions."

      Beej looked up and Charles and spoke up, his voice quieted and scared, "I feel these are all aimed towards me."

      "Obviously" Barbara looked at Beetlejuice, his hair staying a dark plum, "We're making these because you're dangerous" Her voice had a hint of resentment in it.

      "Oh yea..." He became focused on a thread from his sweatshirt. "But... what if I wanted to make a rule."

      "Of course Beetlejuice. What would you like to add."

      He flinched slightly at his name, "Just that... I would like if you didn't say my name." His arms wrapped around himself like a hug, "It gives me an uncomfy feeling and you can accidentally summon me."

      "Oh alright... Beetle?"

      Beetlejuice smiled and let out a soft laugh, his hair lightening to a pastel purple, before sinking back to its previous plum. But it was enough to show he was getting better.

      "Alright well does anyone else have any rules to add?" Lydia looked around, and no one said anything.

      "Ok! Then we're done, Beej follow me." She grabbed his hand and lead a very confused Beetlejuice upstairs.

      "Be careful up there." Charles shouted after them.

      "He seemed genuine." Delia said with a positive smile.

      "Yes... he did." Charles' voice seemed almost disappointed. "I just-" he sighed "he did so much to our family, and I want to be angry at him...but honestly I just feel bad for him."

      "I think that's how all of us feel." Barbara agreed.

      It had been a few days since the family and Beetlejuice made their rules, and things were going surprisingly well. The Maitlands adjusted to having the demon around them, even giving him lessons on consent. Although when Lydia was at school, Beetlejuice mainly just stayed in the guest room, always quiet.

      It was when Lydia was home that everyone saw more of the demon. Lydia often was leading him around showing off cool things she's found or telling him about how life had been. Beetlejuice would simply follow her around, a small smile on his lips, his hair lightened to pale purple or blue when he was with her, a small but noticeable change from his normal dark, almost black hair. They all realized his hair represented what emotion he was feeling, almost like a mood-ring, and all they needed to to figure out was what the colors meant. And Lydia was the number 1 person concerned with it.

      "Dad..." Lydia spoke while coming downstairs. She was hanging out with Beej for the last few hours, but Charles believe he heard him go upstairs to sleep.

      "What's wrong Lydia?" He looked at her face, which seemed laced with worry.

      "It's just... I'm worried about Beej. I mean he just hasn't been the same since he came back. Sure he's happy and all, but it just seems so fake. And his hair is always purple or blue." She sat down next to her father on the couch and layed her head on his shoulder. "He's just so...depressed now, and I don't know what happened."

      "Well Lydia-" Charles let out a tired sigh. "He's probably been through alot since the last time we saw him. And just like it's taking time for us to get used to him, he's probably getting used to us." He turned fully to face Lydia, "and it's safe to say all of us need that time to heal, and you can't rush it. But if youre worried, I will make sure to look out for him when you aren't here." Lydia smiled at her dad and was met with a quiet huff of laughter.

      "What?"

      "Nothing, nothing. It's just-" he laughed again, "I'm sounding just like Delia right now."

      "Yea you kinda are." Lydia teased before giving her dad a tight hug. "I'm going to sleep now, thank you dad." She walked up the stairs and he leaned back into the chair. Now to fulfill his side of the promise and actually look after said demon.

Chapter Text

                                                                                                 4 Days Earlier...
       Beetlejuice had been moved into the guest room after hanging out with Lydia, and promptly fell back asleep in his new bed. Sleeping was something he seemed to be doing a lot of. Which was only slightly concerning. In the first day, he woke up, and discovered the Deetzs' were nowhere to be found. So cautiously he floated up to the Maitlands and knocked on their door, and was met by Adam, a small, kind smile on his face.

       "Morning Beej...is everything alright?" 

       "Yea uh" his voice was rough and quiet, "where is everyone?"

       "Oh, well Charles and Delia are at work, and Lydia is at school."

       "School?" Beetlejuice trailed off.

       "Yea?" Adam eyed the demon and realized he was genuinely confused, "It's where younger people go to learn."

       "Oh...huh."

       "Beej was there anything like that for demons?"

       "No, uh- well I guess there was something similar to that, but I never went."

       "What were you doing? Too busy scaring people?" He joked, but realized too late it was not the right joke to make. The demon's eyes glazed over and his hair went the same shade of black it was when he arrived, yet it flashed right back to normal within a second leaving Adam to wonder whether or not he was just hallucinating. 

       "Uh yea...I guess" Beetlejuice offered weakly, "well cya sexy-" he tried to pull Adam in for a kiss just like he had months before but was met with a yell, "Beetlejuice!" Barbara pulled Adam away from him and looked at the demon, rage evident in her eyes.

       "We talked about this!"

       "What" He looked at her confused, "what do you mean?" 

       "No touching people without consent." 

       "...I don't know what that means" 

       "Not even a bit?"

       "No." A simple look made it evident that Beetlejuice was obviously telling the truth. 

       "Here just..." Barbara sighed and let him into the room. "Sit down." 

       "Ok?"

       "Ok, so if someone touches you where you don't want to be touched, how do you react."

       "I deal with it." He shrugged nonchalantly.

       "Ok but say you were uncomfortable with how or where they were touching you?"

       "Like I said. I'd deal with it." 

       "God you really are hard to work with..." Barbara groaned under her breathe. 

       "Say I were to go up, when you didn't feel like touching anyone, and I went a gave you a hug, or whatever." She sat down across from him, "you wouldn't like that, would you?"

       "I mean-" his voice cut off, and he seemed lost in thought. "Like I said... I'd learn to deal with it." His hair darkened, 'not a great sign' Barbara thought. 

       She stared at the demon whose eyes were focused to the ground, glazed over. 

       "Beej?" Adam asked cautiously. 

       But Beetlejuice was too lost in his mind to hear. Memories of demons, ghosts and otherworldly beings shrouded his head. Their wandering touches that always burnt, the harsh words, and the pain whenever they left. It all came back to him. He never liked those touches, but he had to deal with them. 

       "Do as they say.." He mumbled, barely audible to even the best of hearers. 

       "What was that?"

       'Do as they say' the 4 dreaded words said by Juno whenever she'd hand him off to the highest paying creature. 

       "Nothing." He coughed. 

       "So we've discussed touching someone without their consent or permission, that it doesn't feel nice." She took another look at the demon, who seemed to watching intently, yet in his eyes there was a glazed look. "Due to that, it is wrong. A person should never be touched, especially sexually without their total, 100% permission."

       "What-" His voice broke as he spoke. 

       "What do you mean? I just explained it."

       "What...what if you're being forced by someone else?"

       'Oh.' 

       "That's even worse..." She trailed off, an inkling of knowledge about this situation growing in her head, but really hoped she was wrong.

       "Huh." He seemed to go back in his head, his expression unreadable. From the outside, he seemed quiet, but on the inside, his head was storming with hundreds of thoughts. More memories of his clients ignoring his pleas to stop, and to just let him go. 

       And as he got deeper into his mind, the Maitlands grew more concerned. 

       "Beej?" Adam asked, cautiously approaching him.

       "Beej, what's wrong?"

       The question seemed to hang around in the air, only broken by Beetlejuice's rough voice.

       "It's not normal...it's all wrong" He choked out. 

       "What's wrong?" 

       "Um..." He seemed to hesitate, not wanting to let his guard down. 

       "Beej. Its ok, you can talk to us. If we're gonna be living together, then we need to communicate." Barbara watched lovingly as her husband calmed the demon in front of them. It was moments like these where she was reminded why he was so perfect. He always saw the best in people, and was so good at making people comfortable. 

       "So can we trust eachother." His voice cut through the silence again, and he was met with a small nod from Beej. 

       "I was 8,984 when my mom first sold me." He started and the atmosphere froze. 
"She said I was no good at being a demon, so the only thing I was good for was this. She continued to sell me away for quick money, and I just had to learn to endure." His hands were fidgeting before settling on scratching his arms absentmidedly.
"With the amount that it happened, I kinda thought it was normal. And everywhere I went after, it just kept happening. I always thought it was just how things were...but-" His voice broke, interrupted by a choked sob.

       "I'm the problem now."

       His hands seemed to move quicker, the scratching growing in intensity until there were bright red lines marking his arms. "I'm sorry-" 

       And with cautious movements, Adam pulled in the demon's claws away from his arms, and wrapped him in a tight hug. It was risky, but he remembered in the past just how much he seemed to go out of his way for casual touch. And for a second, Adam was sure he messed up, Beetlejuice tensed up, his breathe hitching. But as soon as it happened, it stopped and he leaned into the touch, his sobs slowing to small hiccups and sniffles.

       "I-I'm sorry" He managed, "I didn't know."

       "It's ok Beej. As long as your promise to make an effort to improve."

       "Yea, yea I do."

       A few months ago Beetlejuice would've fought back, he would've joked and learned at them, calling this whole situation stupid, but he was different.
He was hurt, and sensitive. He still had room to grow, but he was making progress, and each day a sort of confidence was growing in the family. The confidence that Beetlejuice would be able to stay.