[IC] Stranger Beetles

[Metronome]

Beetlejuice watched the humans saying their goodbyes. He looked over at Ash, and smiled a little. "Well Ashy, I guess this is goodbye for now, huh?"

[Beetlejuice96]

"You're not getting away that easily, dearie. You said we'd talk after we got her back. She's back, now we talk." Ash replied, folding their arms a little. They never forgot a promise nor could anyone else hold a grudge like they did.

[Metronome]

His face fell. Damn, he was really hoping they'd forgotten. "Fine. But not here." He took Ash's shoulder and poof'd them out into the yard. Beetlejuice sat down on a stump, not really sure where to start. "Why don't, uh, you lead? I'm not very good with these things."

[Beetlejuice96]

Ash shifted their weight to one side, looking him over. Even now he was still their adorable, perverted Beetlejuice. They sighed softly. "Tell me the truth; did you actually care for me in the past?"

[Metronome]

Ah hell. Ash was really starting with the heavy hitters, weren't they? Beetlejuice squirmed a little, trying to come up with the right words. "Of course I cared for you. I always have, Ash. But...in a romantic sense? I...I don't know. I mean, that was so long ago. We were young, and dumb, and I was kind of a piece of shit, and a lonely one at that. It's just," He rubbed the back of his neck, trying hard not to dig himself into a hole, here. "I'm a lot different then I was back then, and I don't know if New BJ feels the same way that Old BJ did. A lot's changed."

[Beetlejuice96]

Ash listened to his words, letting them hang in the air for what seemed like hours before speaking again. "I understand if you say no or want time to think on it but...do you want to start with a clean slate between us? We can take it slowly, start off as friends and see if anything comes from it."

[Metronome]

Beetlejuice looked down at his hands, seeming to find a hangnail particularly interesting. "Uh...yeah. I think I'd like that. We can just see what happens, you know?" He finally looked up at them, his pale yellow eyes wide and nervous.

[Beetlejuice96]

Ash smiled kindly before walking over and gently kissing his cheek. "Sounds perfect, love. We can have a date when you and Lydia come to visit us. Sound good?"

[Metronome]

"Yeah," He said, smiling. "Yeah, we can do that."

The humans began pouring out of the house, and the gang was loading up in the van. "Well...see you then, I guess."

[Beetlejuice96]

"Take care of yourself and Lydia, darling. I'll be waiting until we meet again." Ash gave him one last hug before heading over to the van and hopping, changing into their cat form.

"Everything okay?" Lydia asked as she joined him.

[Metronome]

Beetlejuice was quiet for a moment before he looked down at her and ruffled her hair. "Yeah. Everything's fine, kid. Come on, let's get ready for bed."

[Beetlejuice96]

Lydia chuckled before heading back inside, glad for once everything wasn't going to hell. The weeks passed by with her understandably being grounded for running away but she knew it wasn't out of malice. Zach and Nate considered her even more of a badass for not only getting a tattoo but for taking down a monster they only dreamed about fighting in D&D.

"You've entered the Beholder's lair where priceless artifacts cover the ground in heaps. Upon the largest pile you spot G'lorth'ak resting. What do you do?" Lydia asked Zach, Nate and Beetlejuice. She had set up the campaign and they finally arrived at the main villain.

[Metronome]

"Evict that bitch!" Beetlejuice hollered.

[Beetlejuice96]

"Beej, you're a warlock. You have to either use a spell or plan something with your team." Lydia reminded although his idea wasn't all that bad.

"Maybe we can sneak attack him before he wakes up. Get the jump on him." Zach, who was playing a Rouge Bard, suggested.

[Metronome]

"Well, then I wanna turn him into a roach and eat him!" Beetlejuice said. Admittedly, he had no idea how this game worked.

[Beetlejuice96]

"Beej, you can't even poly- you know what, fine. Roll to eat him, but you're going to have to roll pretty high in order to-" She tried to explain to him. She didn't mind the campaign getting derailed as it was amusing to see what happened but this was a little ridiculous.

[Metronome]

Beetlejuice grinned and rolled the dice. They landed on a five and a...four? No six! And Beetlejuice definitely didn't use his powers to flip that one, either.

Admittedly, playing board games with a demon of questionable morals was probably a bad idea.

[Beetlejuice96]

Lydia went silent as she stared at the dice for a while. She snapped out of it, flipping through her notes to double check something, the sound of her dice being rolled behind the DM screen. "I...okay then." She said after a bit before looking up at the trio.

"Beej, you not only turn into a cockroach, but you're a size large roach that's able to devour the Beholder before he realizes what's happening. He is deader than dead. He's ultra dead."

[Metronome]

"So does that mean I win?!" Beetlejuice grinned, floating up into the air.

[Beetlejuice96]

"Yeah, end of the campaign. You guys get the treasure and are pronounced as heroes throughout the land." Lydia replied. She had hoped for a bit more of a fight but she didn't want to ruin his happiness. "I believe it's Nate's turn as DM."