Beetlejuice oneshots 🪲

Pool Day

(A/N I wanted to write a chapter taking place in warm weather since it's freezing where I live) 

Lydia didn't mind trips to the pool, at least once she started to relax. She sat on her towel with a book and a bottle of water and spent the afternoon soaking up sun as she got lost in the story. Her focus was broken, however, when a tall shadow appeared in front of her, blocking the sun. Lydia slowly removed her sunglasses and glanced up. 

She sighed at the sight of Beetlejuice, standing on the edge of the pool with his arms crossed and staring into the crystal-clear water. "Are you still scared to go in?" she called to him from her towel. "Come on, you've been doing this for half an hour!" 

"As if!" he yelled back, looking at her over his shoulder. "I don't get 'scared,' Lydia, I'm the one who scares other people. So, keep that to yourself, please." He didn't go in, though. He just stood there, stalling. Lydia wanted to push him in, but she contained herself. 

Barbara, who was nearby, applying sunscreen (a little too late, Lydia could tell— she didn't even know ghosts could burn) to Adam's back, looked over. "Is he afraid of the water again?" she asked. "I swear, this happens every time." 

"I'm not afraid!" the demon growled back at her. 

Lydia dog-eared her page and closed her book, watching him amusedly. "What even happens if you go in? Do you, like, shrivel up? Or do you just disintegrate?" 

"Ooh, I want to see that. Go in!" urged Adam, met with a glare by Beetlejuice. 

"Tell that to your blistered back," he retorted. 

"My what?" Adam whirled around. "Barbara! You said it looked fine!" 

Lydia finally stood up, going over to stand at the pool's edge with Beetlejuice. She glanced down at the water, which didn't look the slightest bit threatening. "Watch this. It's easy!" Crouching down, she slowly dipped her feet in the pool, before climbing in up to her waist. She held her arms out at her sides and looked up at him expectantly. 

He just shook his head. "It's probably freezing. Not that I'm scared of that," he added quickly, looking at Barbara and Adam, who were too busy arguing about Adam's back to be listening. 

"It's not even cold. Come on, BJ! Stop being such a—" She reached for his ankle and he jumped back with a startled yelp, his hair starting to turn white, which everybody knew meant that he was scared. His hands shot up to his head to cover it and he glanced around at the other three. 

"Sorry about that, you guys," he said, switching his voice back to its regular low, gruff tone. "I don't know what came over me right then." 

Adam, whose attention had once again been caught, pointed upward. "Your hair is white." 

"I— I know that, Adam," he grunted. "Thank you for that." 

Barbara stood up and slipped out of her pool cover. "I think I'm going in, too. What's the point of coming to the pool if you don't even go swimming? It's like going to an all-you-can-eat salad bar and just getting lettuce." 

"You have such a way with words," her husband said admiringly. 

Beetlejuice rolled his eyes as the ghost-woman slowly made her way down the steps on the side of the pool to join Lydia. He didn't know what they were trying to prove— it wasn't like he was scared, he was just... averse. That was all. 

"Aw, hey, the water's great!" Barbara turned to look at him, swimming backwards. "You guys should come in!" 

"Maybe in a bit," Adam replied. "I want to sit in the shade for a while, you know?"