||Devil's Advocate||Betelgeuse x Adam x Barbara

(𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐞𝐧) You Said it Yourself

Betelgeuse leaned himself against a bit of the roof, his hair a bright shade of blue with a hint of purple mixed in with it. Over a dozen things ran through his mind at once, with the most prominent thing being that the Maitlands and the Deetzes were completely fine with him not being there.

And he was just about to turn around and draw a door to the Netherworld to go through and leave them behind for the better when the concerned voice of Barbara rang out,

"Betelgeuse?"

He slowly turned and looked over in her and Adam's direction then looked away from the two of them, now focusing his attention on the ground below, silently hoping that they would just forget about him. Give up and go back inside. But that was not what happened.

Instead of going back inside and leaving him out there on the roof like Betelgeuse originally thought they both were going to do, Adam and Barbara opted to stand on either side of the demon, giving him concerned looks that he seemed to not take notice of. And his hair was now a full on shade of blue. Neither ghost could find the right words to say, a deafening silence befalling all three deceased that was broken when Barbara spoke up,

"Beej, we just want to make sure that you're okay. We're worried about you."

At that, Betelgeuse's hair immediately went back to its usual shade of green. But only for a split second before it became the previous shade of blue again. His attention slowly drifted from the ground three stories below and over towards Barbara, the latter of the two giving Betelgeuse a soft, warm smile. As was Adam, actually. And all that Betelgeuse seemed to want to do at the very moment was make a sad, disgruntled noise in response to Barbara's question, worrying both ghosts further and causing them to glance at one another before looking up at Betelgeuse again.

"So... you're not okay?" Barbara guessed, earning a sad nod from Betelgeuse. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Betelgeuse, unable to find an answer, remained silent.

Barbara turned and gave her husband a look that said 'what should we do' before looking up towards Betelgeuse again, an expression on her face that mirrored the one that Adam had on his. Betelgeuse had his eyes closed, not wanting to look at either ghost. Which Adam and Barbara took as a sign he wasn't interested in talking right now. But neither one of the two ghosts wanted to leave him be, exactly, choosing to remain put.

In unison, Adam and Barbara leaned against the railing at the edge of the roof and glanced down at the ground before again looking at Betelgeuse.

"Betel... please..."

"...I-," was all he could think of saying before falling silent again. However, a few minutes later he spoke up again, his tone of voice barely above a mumble. "There's nothing to talk about." 

"Bj, please. We at least need to talk things out. Like we said.... Ad and I are worried about you. Lydia, Charles, and Delia are worried about you. Please..."

"No you're not. You're all still angry at me."

"That's not true," Barbara stressed out, hand over top where her heart would be had she not died. "You know it's not. We know it's not. We're not angry at you anymore. We promise you we're not."

"You didn't do as much as forgive me for everything I did," Betelgeuse continued, paying no attention to what Barbara had said.

Barbara's arm dropped to her side, her giving Adam yet another worried look. One which he returned almost immediately afterwards. Turning and looking up at Betelgeuse again, both ghosts noticed he had his eyes closed again and still didn't want to look at either one of the two ghosts.

"What are you talking about? Of course we forgave you for what you did in the past. It's all good now. We've gone through this over a dozen times, Betelgeuse."

Betelgeuse opened his eyes and side glanced at her before his attention back towards the edge of the roof. "What are you talking about?" he repeated, his voice both quiet and barely above a whisper. "That's exactly what Lydia said to me before leaving me alone to go find you guys. Before she left me alone all because she wanted her mom back in her life."

Now Barbara was confused. Again, she looked at Adam then up at Betelgeuse. She opened her mouth to say something, and when not much of anything came to mind, she closed it again. Betelgeuse let out a quiet sigh, the blue in his hair fading ever so slightly. Though the Maitlands could still see it.

"I-..." Betelgeuse continued, pausing to think of what to say, then speaking up again. "She said that when I brought up our friendship."

Adam and Barbara each opened their mouths in unison, the both of them wanting to say something. But it was Lydia opening up the window that led into the attic and stepping out of it that caused the two of them to close their mouths again, them and Betelgeuse turning their attention over towards the teenage girl. Barbara moved off to the side, giving Lydia enough room and the teen immediately moved to lean against where the female ghost previously was standing.

"Is Betelgeuse okay? Delia said that she would've come up here immediately after lunch but then both she and my dad had to go out and do something really quick. So I came up here instead," Lydia said, Adam and Barbara nodding along.

"He went from talking about how he thinks that we're all still angry at him to how he thinks that we still haven't forgiven him to talking about you saying 'what are you talking about' to him," Barbara explained. Lydia turned her attention from Barbara to Betelgeuse and then back at Barbara.

"You said it yourself," Betelgeuse said quietly, turning Lydia's attention over towards him again. "You responded with 'what are you talking about' when I asked if we were still pals. If we were still best friends. And then you left me alone."

Lydia looked confused for a second, then shook her head a few times. "No, Beej, that's not what I meant when I said that."

"Then what did you mean?" he asked.

"I-...." Lydia started to say before she fell silent, unsure of what else to say. She had not even thought about it much after Betelgeuse had gone back to the Netherworld those few months ago, it having completely slipped her mind. She looked down before returning her attention to Betelgeuse and taking a much needed deep breath. "I didn't intend for you to take that as meaning that we were no longer friends, Bj. We're still friends, I promise."

"It certainly doesn't feel like we're friends anymore," concurred the demon, his hair becoming blue again. "It wouldn't matter. You don't care about me like the rest of your family."

"I-... what?" Lydia looked to Barbara, still confused. She rested a hand against her forehead and closed her eyes. Opening them again, she turned her attention to Betelgeuse. As did Adam and Barbara. "What do you mean it doesn't feel like we're friends anymore. I just want to try being friends with you again. I mean, you're here now. Everything's okay. Like Adam and Barbara said, they've forgiven you, my dad, Delia, and I have forgiven you. Everything that you did a few months back is all in the past and-."

"Wait? All of that was a few months ago?" Betelgeuse questioned out of confusion, cutting Lydia off mid-sentence and causing her to glare at him with a look of annoyance appearing on her face. "Feels more like a year passed by."