The Bug Princess

A Beetlejuice fan fiction by Lady Norbert

Author's Notes: First, my profound thanks to everyone who read and reviewed Cinderjuice. I was so completely shocked and blown away by the amount of positive feedback I received!

Special thanks go to Lais ("trashmudquinn" on Tumblr) and to FFN's own Bookworm Gal, both of whom were instrumental in helping me figure out the plot of this sequel. Thanks also to my best pal Andrea, who gave me an extra clue I needed, and to AddaTheRipper, who along with Lais is serving as beta reader. And to everyone else I met as a result of Cinderjuice.

This is loosely – and I do mean loosely – connected to Disney's The Princess and the Frog, which as you may know was originally called The Frog Princess. I'm not completely happy with the title, but it was the best I could find that wouldn't stray too far from the plot. As with the previous story, all the chapter titles will be quotes from that film; I won't be twisting any of them this time around, though, because that was actually much harder than I expected it to be.

This first chapter is dedicated as a thank-you to FFN's Megilien, who gave Cinderjuice the most incredible review. She mentioned wanting to see more of BJ and Lydia being, well, BJ and Lydia, so that's what you get here!

Chapter One: Little Smiles On Their Faces

The sun was creeping through the window of Lydia Deetz's third-floor dormitory room. She was sprawled on her back, one arm draped over her eyes to block out the light; however, this did nothing to discourage the alarm clock. Moments later, the coffin popped open and a miniature version of Count Dracula sat up, cackling maniacally.

The pale arm which had been draped so languidly across her face reached over to slam the coffin, while the owner of both the arm and the alarm made a series of disgruntled noises.

"Don't people always say 'you can sleep when you're dead'?" she muttered. "They lie."

"But Babes, you're only halfway there!"

Startled, she gasped and sat up, looking around wildly. "Beetlejuice!"

He laughed, lounging in her mirror. "You should see your face!"

"Were you watching me sleep again? You know that's weird."

"You love weird," he reminded her. "But relax, Babes. I only popped in to make sure that you actually went to sleep. No all-nighters, know what I mean?"

"I think I passed out around three," she admitted. "I was finishing my essay for Gothic lit."

"Well, you gonna let me in or not?"

"Beetlejuice…"

"That's my name." He smirked.

"Beetlejuice…" She dragged each syllable out a little longer.

He propped his elbow in the mirror frame, leaning his cheek on his hand and fluttering his eyelashes at her. "Saaaay iiiiiiit."

She finally smiled. "Beetlejuice."

"Yes!" He somersaulted through the glass with a faintly victorious pop.

Lydia yawned, shaking her head, and glanced at the time. "I'd better go get a shower. Class is in an hour, and then I have a newspaper staff meeting."

"Or you could ditch and spend the day with me."

"I could, but I won't, she replied, pulling on her bathrobe and gathering her clothes and shower caddy. "But you can hang out on campus and meet me for lunch. Besides, it's Friday."

"Ohh, weekend!"

"Right. And if I can get all my weekend homework done early…"

His eyes widened, and he gave her a delighted sort of grin. "Weekend in the Neitherworld?"

"Unless you had other plans?" she teased.

"Well, let me check my schedule." He pulled out a moldy date book and started leafing through the pages. "Let's see… meeting of the Sappy Face Ghouls at 5:30… putting a Gila monster in the Mayor's shorts at 7… tomorrow is Beetle Mania… Sunday I have an appointment at the slime spa for a massage and Dead Sea mud bath… I dunno, Babes, I'm pretty swamped."

"Oh, well. I'm sure I can find someone to spend the weekend with."

"Well, hey!" He tossed the planner aside. "What fun would those things be without you anyway?"

She laughed. "All right, then. Just hang out until I get back."

Beetlejuice floated around the room a bit aimlessly. As a senior at a small arts college, Lydia enjoyed the luxury of a tiny, private dorm. This had the advantage of there being no roommate to be scared by an early morning poltergeist. Of course, for Beetlejuice, this was also something of a disadvantage; he had thoroughly enjoyed spooking her roommate the previous year. Or at least, he had enjoyed it right up until Lydia figured out what he was doing. The wife had been decidedly less than pleased.

He drifted over to her dresser, where several framed photographs seemed to jockey with one another for pride of place. Most were pictures Lydia had taken herself, like one of that stupid tree they'd relocated to the playground, and one of Doomie and Pinky, and a few creepy landscapes of places they'd visited (usually in the Neitherworld). Others had her in them – standing with her parents at her high school graduation, and visiting Burp and Prune at their school in the fall.

He was rather fond of the one on her bedside table, which was of Lydia with his human persona, "BJ." They were sitting on the porch of her home in Peaceful Pines, and his arm was around her shoulders as they smiled ridiculously at Charles, who was the photographer. Beetlejuice had never expected to enjoy pretending to be half of a cutesy human couple, but dang if it didn't confuse people, and there were very few things he liked better than laughing at other people's confusion. It was almost as much fun as putting snakes in Delia's hair. Almost.

He was startled out of his ruminations by the sound of a voice at the door. "I'm telling you, I heard a man talking!"

"You've said so many times, and we've never found any proof," replied another voice. This one sounded older, and wearier. He snickered to himself, recognizing them; one of Lydia's neighbors was constantly trying to prove that she had an unregistered male guest in the room (which, to be sure, she often did), and the resident advisor was getting tired of it.

Before anything else could happen, he heard Lydia's voice joining them. "Is there a problem, ma'am?"

"Don't act so innocent!" said the neighbor girl. "I know your boyfriend is in there!"

"He's not, but you're welcome to see that for yourself," she replied. Her voice was slightly louder, and he knew she was trying to warn him. Not that she needed to worry; as the door unlocked, Beetlejuice transformed himself into an oddly colored teddy bear, and lay tangled in her cobweb-patterned sheets.

"See, Tara? There's no one here," said the clearly annoyed RA. "I'm sorry we bothered you, Lydia."

"It's fine," she replied, hanging up her robe. "Actually, I think I know what Tara might have heard." She crossed to the bed and picked up Beetle-bear. "BJ got him for me – he talks. See?" She squeezed his paw.

"Hi, how ya doin'?"

Tara gave a small shriek. "That is the ugliest thing I've ever seen!"

"Really? I think he's cute."

"I am not cute!" he protested. Oops.

Lydia laughed nervously. "He responds to certain voice commands and phrases," she explained, sitting down on the bed with him still in her arms. "So it probably sounded like I was having a conversation."

"I see. Well, thank you, Lydia," said the RA, nodding. "I think we've taken enough of your time this morning. Come along, Tara."

Lydia managed – just barely – to wait until they were out of earshot before she started giggling, and Beetlejuice was quick to join her. She flopped onto her back after a moment, just sort of hugging him and trying to catch her breath. "Nice disguise," she managed.

"I should have thought of this ages ago, Lyds! I could have been creeping out your whole wing all this time!" She chuckled and propped him up on her stomach so he was able to see her face. "What's Tara's beef with you anyway?"

"Nothing personal. But ever since she was caught having her boyfriend stay over without following protocol, she's been trying to get one of us in the same hot water. She does it to everybody, not just me. I guess she's hoping that they'll lift her ban on male visitors if she can prove she's not the only guilty one."

"Well, technically, she's not," he pointed out with a teddy bear smirk.

"I know that, but they don't need to know it."

"Lydia Deetz, breaking the rules! I've been such a bad influence." He grinned slyly. "Hehehe. Good."

"Oh, shush." She sat up and made her bed, which was actually fairly impressive since she was still holding Beetle-bear in one arm. "Now, can you keep yourself out of trouble until I meet BJ for lunch?"

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"Or what?"

"Or you don't get your anniversary present. You didn't forget, did you?"

"Of course not! It's on Monday – only thing happening this week that's more exciting than Beetle Mania!"

"Thanks, I think." She smiled, however. "And it's a big one, too – ten years since the day we met! We'll have to do something really special this weekend to celebrate."

"Got it covered, Lyds, don't worry."

"Great. Okay, I've got to get to class." He pouted at her, which only made her laugh, although he couldn't help being placated by the quick kiss she dropped on his plush head as she settled him on her pillow. Scooping up her books and camera, she started for the door. "Oh, and Beetlejuice…"

"Yeah?"

She glanced back over her shoulder. "You're my idiot."

"You know it, Babes."