Timeless (Beetlejuice x Reader)*COMPLETED*

Chapter 2

"So. What troubles you, Mr. Shoggoth?"

"Please, call me Lawrence," the man sitting next to me replied, smiling at the ground.

I returned his smile. "Alright, Lawrence. So, what's on your mind, Sir?"

He heaved a deep sigh, running his hand over his eyes in a tired, frustrated way. "Family matters."

I nodded knowingly. "I completely understand. My family wants me to return home to Italy straightaway so they can marry me off to some lord whom I have never set eyes upon."

He looked up at me, a twinkle in his eye. "Well, if you don't mind my saying so, whoever they wish for you to marry, should you agree, would be extraordinarily lucky. After all, you are not only beautiful, but you have substance, something not many women these days possess."

I was taken aback by his blunt speech, but pleased by his compliment, all the same. I felt my face heat up slightly with happiness.

"You flatter me, Sir."

"But it is the truth."

"Well, I thank you all the same."

I looked him in the eye and smiled.

"You know, you really ought to study psychology, because you have an extraordinary gift of avoiding a subject," I said playfully.

He feigned surprise by clutching his chest and gasping dramatically. "My dear (Y/N), how could you say such a thing?" he cried.

I laughed, trying to ignore the little dance my heart had done when he had called me his dear (Y/N). After a few moments, the two of us grew serious once more.

I impulsively placed my hand on top of his, which was resting on the bench between us. He looked up at me, and I noticed a slight trace of a blush on his face.

"Lawrence, if you do not wish to speak of your dilemma, you do not have to. I only hoped... I only hoped that I could help in some way."

Lawrence looked down at our hands, which were now intertwined. Neither of us had noticed up until this point, however.

It was a few moments before he spoke.

"My.... my father left my mother and me when I was just a baby. I never knew him, and I grew up without a father, without someone to teach me a trade; without anyone to teach me how to do anything in life.

"After my father left, my mother started drinking heavily. She was always drunk when I was growing up. She wasn't ever there to support me. And now she's claiming that I have robbed her of funds, even though the account I have been drawing from to attend school was the account her and my father had set aside for me to attend school. She claims that I'm a failure, that.... that she wishes she had never... never given birth to me...."

His breathing became ragged as he held up a hand to his eyes, which had filled with tears. I grasped his hand more firmly, tears glittering in the corner of my own eyes.

"Lawrence, Lawrence, look at me."

He took a deep breath and his eyes met mine.

And I never will forget that that was the moment that I knew.

"You are NOT a failure."

He was the one.

"You are amazing."

The one that I needed.

"And you ARE going to prove your mother wrong."

The one that I was in love with.

He gave me a sad smile, and rubbed his thumb across the back of my hand, our fingers still interlaced.

"Thank you, Miss (Y/N). You have truly given me a gift tonight that I haven't received in a very long while."

"And what is that, Sir?"

"Hope."