NOTHING TO LOSE • A Beetlejuice Fanfiction • ON HOLD • Previously Bug Beverage

3 • The Ironic Backstory

"Kind of ironic, really."

"How is it ironic?"

BJ cocked his head to the side. He was still leaning against one of the walls in your hospital room, his back to the corner.

You vaguely gestured to your legs under the blanket. "Well, this."

He still didn't seem to understand.

So, counting, until now; A hallucination that didn't know your name until he had looked it up, that didn't know your nickname despite being literally inside your head, and that didn't even know why you were in hospital.

You smiled softly. This was the dumbest hallucination you had ever met - it was kind of refreshing.

"Well, I used to run around as a kid all the time, but now I can't do that anymore."

"Why not?"

"I have multiple sclerosis" you stated dryly.

You didn't assume that BJ knew what Multiple Sclerosis was or what it did to the body, so you decided to give him the whole wikipedia entry. Or well, at least half of it.

"Basically, it means that my brain is permanently infected. It's kind of burning parts of itself off, specifically the parts that connect the nervous system with the corresponding muscles.

So in my case, first I couldn't move my toes anymore, then my ankles. It's different for everyone. Your nerves lose connection with your muscles and you stop being able to move on your own.

It's incureable, which is why they seem to just pump me full of random meds to see what - if anything - works. So far, nothing has, and eventually I'm gonna die of either heart failure or suffocation."

You shrugged. You had made your peace with dying.

The only issue for you was how long it was taking, and that sitting in a hospital room by yourself with only nurses to keep you company all week long was getting exhausting.

Your parents visits had become rarer, and it was mostly just empty conversations and compensation through candy, but you didn't think that you needed to dump all of that on BJ just now.

He'd only just met you.

"But for now, it's only my legs that I can't use anymore, so the nurses help me get around and keep them from rotting while still on the body."

On that cheerful note, you decided to end your expostion.

"So your legs don't work like they used to before?"

If he hadn't been standing five feet away, you would have smacked him, but you couldn't help yourself - it was fitting, and it was funny.

"You don't know Looney Tunes, but you know Ed Sheeran?"

"Of course I know him, he's pretty hard to miss."

"Orange Juice, the meme man." You grinned.

He scoffed, then his eyes wandered back to your legs and he nodded solemnly, repeating your nickname as if confirming it.

Then he slapped his hands together without warning, making you jump.

"Taz it is."

You giggled. "Taz and Orange Juice. The dream team."