The Whole Being Alive Thing

Human Interest

For as long as it takes you to adjust to your human state.

Those few particular words spoken to him by Barbara ran throughout Betelgeuse's mind on repeat. He was, for now, once again sat down on one of the couches and downstairs in the living room. Lydia, along with her dad and Delia, were sat down on the couch opposite the one Betelgeuse was sat down on. And the Maitlands had both opted to stand in front of the fireplace, their attention flicking from Betelgeuse, over to the Deetzes, and then back over towards Betelgeuse.

Earlier, Charles had called Lydia's school and they had said that Betelgeuse (Charles had to refer to him as BJ and say that he was Lydia's adopted brother who had just moved in with them - which in a sense, he was to be fair) could start there beginning Monday (which just so happened to be tomorrow). Lydia was asked to show Betelgeuse around the school and help him feel welcome there). When Charles brought that piece of information up not too long ago, however, Betelgeuse got a tad confused about all of that. Which was both natural and to be expected.

Not one word had been spoken by any one of the six of them, a brief moment of silence that was eventually broken by Barbara as her attention focused solely onto Betelgeuse. "Help you get your sheer strength under control first? Or start helping you get accustomed to being human?"

It may have taken Betelgeuse a while to respond, but he couldn't think of which of the two things to do first. Maybe help him get used to being alive first and then work on getting his strength under control - as well as any other strengthened natural abilities that may have stayed when he was first turned into a human. He thought back to his ma, and the words she'd spoken to him before all of this happened.

Let this be a lesson to you, Lawrence.

"Bj, you okay?" Lydia was heard asking in a tone of concern, cocking her head to the side as she looked at him. "You seem a little out of it."

He shook his head a few times, pushing that one particular thought to the back of his mind. It wasn't that he didn't want to think about it at the moment, but he knew that one of the rest of the family was going to bring it up at some point. Though he was unsure of when. They had all been so wrapped up in the fact that Betelgeuse was now alive and a breather - that that particular thing had been the least of their worries. Hopefully they would focus on helping him adjust first and then figure out how it happened to begin with.

"I'm fine, scarecrow." Betelgeuse's eyesight became clearer as he focused it on the rest of the family - all of whom were now looking worriedly at him. "What're we talking about right now?"

"How exactly you became human in the first place," was Barbara's immediate response.

Crap!

Betelgeuse's eyes darted back and forth - him unable to think of an answer. At the slightest instance of him starting to breathe heavily, Delia had stood up and hurriedly made her way over towards him to calm him down. She sat down next to him, her hand resting on his back as she calmly instructed him to take a few deep breaths.

In, out. In, out. In, out. In, out. Betelgeuse was eventually calmed down, closing his eyes and relaxing before his attention flicked to Barbara.

"Do you not want to talk about that?"

"I do," Betelgeuse replied. "But can we wait until later? I'd like it if we focused on helping me adjust to things first."

"Of course," Barbara merely stated, nodding.

Betelgeuse let out a sigh of relief, leaning backwards in his spot on the couch he was sitting on and resting his hands behind his head as Delia stood up and went back to sit where she had previously been sitting. When Betelgeuse felt himself lean backwards too much, he sat up before he ended up making a hole in the wall behind him. But he happened to sit upright too late. The moment he sat upright, he heard a crack behind him and turned just in time to see a huge crack forming up the wall and spreading all over it.

Barbara tilted her head to the side, carefully looking at the damage. "We can worry about that later. For now, we can just work on getting your strength under control before we focus on helping you adjust to being human. The last thing that we want is for anything else to get broken. So it's easier to control your strength before you focus on anything else."

Betelgeuse nodded, looking off to the side.

Charles stood up to take a call, stepping off into a separate room. A short moment later, he returned and put his phone back in his pocket. He coughed loudly, directing the attention of everyone else in the room onto him - all of them giving him curious and inquisitive looks. His eyes focused on the Maitlands as he spoke.

"The principal of Lydia's school called back, gave me Betelgeuse's schedule. He, Lydia, Delia, and I will go out and help him get supplies. This will be a perfect opportunity for him to start adjusting to being human." His gaze briefly flicked to Betelgeuse before focusing back over towards the Maitlands. "Given that he behaves whilst we're out, doesn't cause any trouble, and doesn't instigate Lydia into causing trouble with him."

In unison, Adam, Barbara, and Betelgeuse nodded.

Once outside the house and by the car, Betelgeuse couldn't resist spraying Lydia with the garden hose. He'd gone over, picked it up, turned it on, and aimed it at Lydia - who laughed hilariously and held her hands up in front of her face as a way to try and protect herself as she was sprayed. But that didn't stop

Charles, who had heard all the commotion, walked around the car and sternly addressed Lydia and Betelgeuse as he tapped his foot. "What did I say about behaving and causing trouble, Betelgeuse?"

He looked down for a brief second, thinking to himself, then looked back up at Charles. "Uh... not to? I was just spraying Lydia with that hose. It was all in good fun."

Charles sighed, resting a hand against his forehead as he walked over and turned the hose off before getting in his car. As Lydia and Betelgeuse went to get in the back, Lydia couldn't resist the urge to tease her best friend and punch him lightly in the arm - to which he did the same.

"When we get home," she said, trying not to sound sarcastic and failing. "I am so going to spray you with the garden hose."

"Not if I do it to you first!"