Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lydia has always suspected that her family already knew that she was gay but that didn't mean she wasn't going to come out and tell them. She was going to, but it was decided best that she wait to do so until the time was right. Every day that passed, Lydia wanted more and more to do so but the time was never right.

Then it was.

It was the first week of June when Lydia decided to come out. And what a better time than when the rest of the family was gathered in the living room to do so.

All four Maitland-Deetz adults were sat together on the couch in the living room and watching television together in the evening of the first Wednesday of the month when Lydia quietly crept downstairs and stood silently in the entrance to said room for a little while. Waiting, with that one thought still fresh in her mind.

A brief moment of silence passed by, until Lydia decided to take a deep breath and address her family. "Hey, uh.... guys, do you mind if I tell you something?"

Adam focused his mind on pausing the television and he and the rest of the adults of the Maitland-Deetz family turned their heads to focus their attention over towards the waiting teenager. However, just as curious as the others were, Lydia's dad was the first out of the four of them to speak up.

"Sure you can, sweetheart. Whatever it is, go ahead."

She smiled, but remained just as nervous as she had been. She moved to the front of the living room, plopping herself down on the black and white striped couch that her dad and Delia had been meaning to get rid of but hadn't had the time, turning her attention over towards all four equally still as curious adults and taking another deep breath.

'It's now or never,' she thought to herself as she closed her eyes, both relaxing and readying herself for this.

A few minutes had since passed by, Lydia finding herself starting to hesitate and think all of this was a bad idea. Granted, she was about to give up and head back upstairs - wanting to just forget about all of this and presumably wait another day to do so but a quick look over towards her entire family let her know that each one of them were starting to become equally as worried as the others were for her.

Lydia let out another sigh, giving herself more confidence that she knew she needed right now. It was Wednesday evening, after all. So of course she had to do it on that particular day. What other day was there that was better for her to do this? No other day, that was for sure.

Once more, Lydia closed her eyes and allowed herself to relax and calm down before doing this. One way or another, her family needed to know and there was no way she was going to back out of this and head back upstairs to just forget about it. No way in hell.

A look of concern flashed across Barbara’s face. “Lydia, you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I was just thinking, that’s all,” the teen replied, looking from Barbara to Adam to her dad to Delia.

“What about?”

Lydia didn’t answer at first. She was still readying herself for this one moment. This one shot she had at coming out to her family.

“Lydia-”

‘Again, it’s now or never. You can’t back out of this now, Lydia Deetz,’ Lydia reminded herself in her mind.

Half of her was telling her not to and just head upstairs again, whereas the other half of her was telling her to just stay in the living room and get this over and done with. Then she closed her eyes and took another deep breath. Opening her eyes again, she returned her attention to her family who were all now much more worried about Lydia’s wellbeing than they were curious about what Lydia had been wanting to tell them. Wondering what was taking the teenager that long.

“I’m gay,” Lydia finally admitted, her having, again, closed her eyes and relaxed herself.

She waited a bit, at least a few minutes, before opening her eyes again to take in her family’s reactions. The first thing that she noticed was that each and every one of the four adults had a huge matching smile plastered across his or her face. Lydia again looked towards each of the adults, taking in their initial first reactions.

For a while, not one of the four adults seemed to say a word. That particular silence lasting only a brief few moments before Barbara stood up, followed by Adam, then Lydia’s dad, and finally Delia. Barbara was the first to make her way over towards where Lydia was sat, sitting down next to the teen and wrapping her arms around her in a hug, which Lydia, although she was surprised and taken aback by it, returned it. Then her dad joined in on the hug, followed by Delia, and finally Adam.

The five of them stayed in that hug that for a little while longer before all four of the adults parted from it and surrounded Lydia. Adam and Barbara sat down on either side of the teen and Lydia’s dad and Delia standing behind the couch and behind where the Maitlands were sat (Charles behind Barbara and Delia behind Adam). Lydia looked around at each of the adults surrounding her, a smile crossing her face.

“I take it that you all took that well?” Lydia asked, hopeful. She waited, it taking a few minutes for one of the four adults to think of a response to Lydia’s question (of which Barbara was the one to do so. After a little while, that was).

“No, we knew for a while,” Barbara replied, letting out a laugh. “You kept daydreaming and mumbling and we kinda sorta figured that something was up.”

“Oh, well then... I kinda knew that you knew that I knew I was gay,” Lydia replied in a joking matter, to which her family responded with equal laughs (Lydia even joining in for a brief few seconds).

“You better be joking, young lady,” Barbara teased, the tone of voice that she used matching that of the one Lydia had used.

“Oh, c’mon. You know I’m not.” Lydia winked, Barbara rolling her eyes and putting a hand on Lydia’s back. “I didn’t tell you guys that until now because I needed to find the right time and I thought now was the right time. So, does that mean you all support me?”

“Lydia, you know that we would’ve supported you no matter what and no matter when the right time you decided to come out to us was,” her dad replied with a small knowing smile appearing on his face, the other three adults nodding along as three matching small smiles appeared on their faces.

And then again on Lydia’s face as she once more looked around at her family. “Thanks, you guys, for supporting me.”

All four adults hugged Lydia yet again and parted from her after a while of doing so. Lydia loved that her family was supportive, and imagined how similar their reactions would be if she happened to do this any other day.

However things were short-lived when Delia, in an excited tone, piped up,

“Oh! We’re going to have to get you everything rainbow colored from now on! It’ll be a nice change from your entire black wardrobe, Lydia!”

The others laughed, agreeing with the living woman’s suggestion. Lydia, on the other hand, was not as amused.

Starting to get slightly annoyed, but still a little amused, Lydia grunted softly but out loud as she turned her attention solely over towards her stepmother. “I don’t think that I’m quite there yet, stepmom. Please just don’t do that! Please?!”

“Okay, okay!” Delia rolled her eyes. “I won’t.”

Lydia rolled her eyes in response. But, then again, maybe Delia was going to do it. Who knew.

Chapter Text

"Well... that went better than expected," Lydia said quietly to herself, a huge sense of relief washing over her and making her footsteps lighter than they usually were as she made her way back up to her bedroom for the night. Half of her was glad it'd all worked out, whilst the other half was still adamant that she should have still waited a little while longer before she did this.

And she was glad that she didn't wait.

As she made her way down the second floor hallway to her bedroom, Lydia could hear the chatter of the adults of the Maitland-Deetz family from all the way downstairs as the four of them themselves got ready to head up. Charles and Delia had gone upstairs not too long after Lydia had, which, of course, left the Maitlands downstairs to turn everything in the house off using their powers. And they couldn't resist the chance to talk before heading upstairs to the attic. Or that’s what they thought they were going to do.

Barbara sat herself down at the kitchen island, Adam joining her as soon as he finished turning off all the lights in the living room. But he couldn't help it but leave just one of the lights on just because. And even that was enough to make Barbara giggle.

"Barb," Adam said, directing the attention of his wife, who was unaware at the moment that she was distracted, onto him. "Do you still remember what happened? Before you and I met and started dating before getting married? Back when the two of us were still alive and in our teenage years?"

Barbara racked her mind, then laughed. "Of course I still do. I always thought I was gay until I came across you. Lydia coming out to us and her dad and Delia just.... reminded me of that I guess."

"Hah! Can you still imagine the face I made when you told me you thought you were gay?”

Barbara laughed again. “You made the funniest o face that was ever possible.”

Adam nodded, grinning from ear to ear before he, like Barbara, let out a few laughs. “That I did. Believe me when I tell you it still cracks me up whenever I think about it.”

Barbara gently moved a strand of her blonde hair that had since fallen out of place behind her ear. “I can imagine. Since the exact same thing happens to me whenever I think of that face of yours.”

“Who would’ve guessed-”

“Adam, Barbara, are you guys still down here?”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re still down here!” Barbara called back to the teenager. “Is something the matter, Lydia?”

The Maitlands turned their attention over towards the stairs. Just in time to see Lydia, tired as heck, stumble as she made her way down them and into the kitchen. She sat herself down at the kitchen island, directly across from where the Maitlands were sitting, and rested her head against the island - making inaudible grumbling noises.

“Lydia, did something happen?” Barbara reached a hand out, brushing it through the teen’s hair, which was splayed out all over the place, to smooth it out.

“Nightmare...”

“Another one? What happened?”

“I came out to you guys and my dad and Delia,” Lydia whimpered, tears apparent as she lifted her head up to look at Barbara. “And you didn’t accept me.”

“Awww... Lyd, c’mere. You wanna talk about it?” Barbara asked concernedly, standing up and moving around the kitchen island towards Lydia and helping her up.

She led Lydia over to the couch in the living room and sat her down on it before sitting down on it beside her. Almost immediately Lydia shifted a little and curled up next to Barbara, the older of the two females putting an arm around Lydia’s shoulder. Comforting the latter and soothing her. She may not be Lydia’s mom, but this definitely felt like the sort of thing a mom would do.

Barbara’s thoughts were interrupted, however, when Lydia shifted and looked up towards her again. “Barbara, wait?”

“Mmm...”

“How did you, Adam, my dad, and Delia know that I was gay to begin with? Long before I came out to you guys.”

Barbara stifled a laugh, ruffling Lydia’s hair. “I thought you said that you knew that we knew that you knew you were gay, you kidder.”

“Hey, I was curious you know!” Lydia retorted, rolling her eyes in annoyance and amusement at the same time. Which Barbara did the same, albeit with a quiet laugh.

“Yeah, I knew. I was messing with you.”

“BARBARA!!!” Lydia shouted before she got herself involved in a tickle fight with the older woman and Adam joined in soon afterwards - leading to the mixed laughter between a living teenage girl and her sort-of ghost parents. One that seemingly lasted them pretty much all night long. Or at least a few hours.

Needless to say, Charles and Delia came downstairs the next morning to find the Maitlands and Lydia fast asleep on the couch curled up and, deciding not to bother any of them, went on with their day.

Chapter Text

When the Maitlands awoke, they'd gotten up and let Lydia sleep a little more before she herself had gotten up from the couch. But that wasn't going to keep the teenager from falling asleep again. Ultimately, she'd decided to stay in her pajamas all day, feeling as though it was a pajama kind of day. However, what she didn't know, was that that wasn't going to last that long.

Adam and Barbara sat across from Charles and Delia, the latter two giving both ghosts equally worried looks. Lydia had decided, that day, to sit beside the Maitlands - which was both unusual. Yet it wasn't at the same time. She had her head resting against the kitchen table and she appeared to be fast asleep. Had a lesbian teenager like herself not gotten enough sleep last night?

"She said that she had a nightmare. That it had something to do with us not accepting her when she came out to us last night," Barbara explained, Charles and Delia listening intently and nodding firmly as soon as Barbara finished.

"Well, now that she has. That'll never happen," Charles said as a matter-of-factly. "All we can say is that we still support her and are proud of her. Right guys?"

The other three nodded in agreement. In unison.

"Lydia?" Barbara ruffled the teenager's hair again, ultimately waking the teenager up.

"H-huh..." she mumbled in response, having been thinking nonstop about the girl she was into. She awoke, then face planted on the kitchen table and fell asleep again - going right back to thinking about that same girl. That same girl who was just as goth and weird as she herself was.

Then it hit her, there was something that she had forgotten to tell her family the previous night. Why oh why had she not even remembered to tell her family who she liked. She didn't do it on a Wednesday evening for absolutely no reason, did she? No she didn't.

"Lydia," Barbara repeated, jostling the teenager awake for real and causing the latter to sit up and glance around the kitchen table at the rest of her family.

Noticing that all four of the adults were giving her equally as concerned looks, Lydia tiredly mumbled out, "can I tell you guys something else..."

All four adults turned to each other, then back at Lydia. Barbara gave an answer.

"Yeah, sure."

Lydia sighed, then relaxed herself. Much like she did last evening. "Do you guys know why I felt like a Wednesday evening was the best time to come out..."

She paused, however, before she could continue, unsure of what else to say. Barbara took notice of this, putting a hand on Lydia's back and urging her to continue. But Lydia felt like she shouldn't. Opting to stay quiet. Which concerned the rest of the family even more.

"Go on, it's okay," Barbara spoke up, causing the teenager to turn and look in her direction.

"But, is it really?" Lydia questioned. "I'm still not sure if I should continue."

"Hey, I was gay too. Before I happened to meet and marry Adam," Barbara said, now resting an arm around Lydia's shoulder. "Before then, even I was unsure of how to come out to my parents. But I ended up meeting and dating Adam before that could even happen."

"You were gay too, Barb?" Lydia asked.

Barbara nodded. "Yeah. I was. For a while, at least. But it's best that I don't bring up the rest of the details. Which girl are you interested in, Lydia?"

Lydia focused on the kitchen table, then looked around at the rest of her family. "Her name's Wednesday, which is why I chose yesterday evening to come out. She's goth like me and she's into weird stuff."

"Does she know?"

"No... er well, I'm still working towards asking her out."

"You friends with her though?" was asked. Lydia, although still tired, nodding in response.

"I'll maybe talk to her later, though," Lydia said, now starting to feel a little bit nervous. "She said she wanted to hang out with me at the local cemetery later."

"Which is a good thing," her dad said as Barbara and Delia stood up and carried all of the now empty plates and coffee cups into the kitchen area. "Because you, Delia, and I are going to stop by there to lay flowers by the Maitlands' graves."

"We gave them permission," clarified Adam, Charles nodding in unison as he looked from Adam to Lydia and gave her a small smile.

"Yeah," Barbara said as she and Delia sat back down at the kitchen table. "That and Adam and I read through the Handbook a couple days ago and came across something that said that ghosts stuck in the living world can visit their graves whenever. We would come with you today but..."

"No." Lydia turned her head and focused her attention over towards the Maitlands. "You guys can totally come along. What better day to test that out than today."

"Well...." The Maitlands looked at one another, thinking things through. Then they turned their attention back to Lydia.

"I suppose we can..." Barbara said finally, a soft but small smile crossing her face.

Lydia stood up, moving around the table and giving each of the adults a hug before heading upstairs. A little and brief while later, she came back downstairs in her everyday clothes and sat herself back down at the kitchen table.

“Hey!” Barbara joked, lightly nudging Lydia and causing the latter to laugh. “I thought you wanted this to be a pajama day.”

“That was until my dad told me that we were headed out to the local cemetery today.” Lydia turned her attention towards her dad. “Dad, Wednesday said she wanted to hang out with me at one this afternoon. Can that be when we head out to the cemetery?”

Charles thought to himself, then nodded as he looked back over towards his daughter. “Yes, I suppose so. But just remember that we’re going to stop by the florists’ before then to pick flowers.”

“Yeah,” Barbara said. “It’s a good thing Adam and I are going with you guys. It’ll be easier to help you guys decide because we actually want our favorite flowers laid by our graves.”

Chapter Text

There was quite a bit of time before the Maitlands and the Deetzes headed out of the house to pick out the Maitlands' favorite flowers before going to the cemetery, so, whilst Charles worked in his office and Delia was doing whatever, Lydia decided to spend a majority of that time with the Maitlands. And they were totally okay with it, they always were.

Lydia was laying splayed out on her back across the Maitlands' couch in the attic, kicking her legs up in the air and looking up at the ceiling. The Maitlands sat down across from the teen girl, watching her and ensuring that she wouldn't fall asleep again. The more they did, the more they were starting to get a little more curious about Wednesday. They looked at one another for a brief moment, then turned their attention back to Lydia.

"So, Lyd. What's Wednesday like?"

Lydia sat up, turning and facing the Maitlands. "Guys, I already told you and my dad and Delia earlier: she's goth and into weird things like I am. That's why I realized I was gay to begin with."

Once again, the Maitlands looked at one another then back at Lydia as they nodded slowly in  response. They seemed fine with that as an answer.

"Barbara, before you and Adam met and got married... what exactly made you think that you were gay?" Lydia asked, turning towards the aforementioned ghost. At first, Barbara seemed a little taken aback by the question that Lydia'd asked, then she closed her eyes and relaxed before opening them again,

"Lydia, well... I don't think it's a subject I feel comfortable talking about."

"Hey, I came out to you guys and my dad and Delia yesterday evening right?"

Barbara nodded. "Yeah... but?"

"And earlier today, you said that you thought you were gay before you met Adam?" continued Lydia.

Again, Barbara nodded. "Where're you going with this exactly?"

"What in Adam made you realize you weren't gay?" There was a smirk present on Lydia's face as she looked between Adam and Barbara and waited for an answer from the latter of the two ghosts. "In terms of his personality or whatever. What part of his personality made you realize that you weren't gay?"

"I... well..." Barbara began, getting cut off when Adam spoke up.

"Can we change the subject, please?"

She pretended to be angry with him for that, but couldn't exactly keep herself from being amused with him as she playfully nudged him in the shoulder and laughing as he did the exact same thing to her. Lydia sat up, pleasantly amused when her ghostly parents got themselves involved in a sort of tickle fight with one another.

One that Lydia soon found herself involved in as well not too long afterwards.

The three of them laughed in unison, feeling as though they were an actual family for a brief moment. Only to stop when a knock on the attic door was heard, followed by the sound of Charles' voice.

"Guys, we were just about ready to head out if you were too!"

That caused Lydia and the Maitlands to look at one another as they stood up and made their way downstairs. By the time they did, Charles and Delia were already standing over by the front door. Quickly, the Maitlands summoned the Handbook for the Recently Deceased and recited something that would permit the two of them to leave the house. As well as a spell in the Handbook that would keep Sandworms away from them.

When Charles made it known that they were going to stopping for lunch on the way (Lydia had to quickly let Wednesday know to meet her and her family at the cemetery later than expected (Wednesday's response to that was 'your family's coming too?') Lydia quickly sent back a 'uh, yeah. Because they need to.', and that was that), the Maitlands scoured through the Handbook until they found another spell in it that permitted the two of them to be seen by other living people (seriously, how cool was that?).

Figuring that they were all ready, the Maitland-Deetz family headed out for the day.

Floating into town right behind the Deetzes, the Maitlands certainly did expect there to be quite a bit of whispering from people around them. And that’s certainly what they got (mostly from confused whispers from other grownups around them, there were even several excited whispers from children).

Seeing this, Lydia quickly ushered the Maitlands away from all the onlookers that were staring at them and they continued on their way. But that did nothing to soothe the situation at hand. Especially when the Maitlands decided that both they and the Deetzes should stop at their favorite restaurant back when they were alive.

The Deetzes stopped, Lydia turning on her heel to face the Maitlands. “Do you guys see any restaurants around here?”

Barbara pointed in a random direction at the same time as Adam did. “Sure there are. You see that restaurant over there? Adam and I ate there all the time back when we were both still alive. Wanna give it a try, you guys?”

Charles and Delia looked at one another, thinking things over for a moment. Then they both turned their attention back to the Maitlands. And, surprisingly, it was Charles who provided a response.

“That place doesn’t look very fancy. We were thinking of trying somewhere that’s much more formal, if that’s okay with you guys. That’s okay with you, right?”

The Maitlands each gave Charles matching pleading faces, almost as though they were little children. With a quiet sigh, Charles groaned in response and rolled his eyes. This was Adam and Barbara’s first time out of the house since they’d died, wasn’t it? So it seemed only fair that they got to choose where they had lunch.

“Okay, fine. I guess we’re going there, then.”

Chapter Text

The Deetzes had to admit, bringing ghosts into a restaurant with them had been nothing but a bad idea. Lydia was standing over by the entrance to the restaurant, watching amusingly as the Maitlands phased in and out of the door over a dozen times. Charles was not at all happy about that, but he knew why the Maitlands were doing that.

Yet that didn’t seem to stop Charles from shouting at them. No, it did not.

“Adam, Barbara, stop that right now!”

Lydia turned her head in her dad’s direction, looking worriedly at him. ‘Dad, this is the first time they’ve been out of the house since they died. Just let them have their fun.”

“Fine!” her father grumped out in response, yet still he stayed stern. “But knowing the two of them, they’ll probably be at that for ages and we won’t be able to get anything else we have to do today done.”

Lydia turned her attention over towards the Maitlands. “You heard him. You guys really do need to stop.”

The next time the Maitlands phased into the restaurant, they stopped short of and pouted at the Deetzes. Lydia stepped forwards, leading the Maitlands over to their table just as soon as they were called. The Maitlands sat down next to Lydia, whereas Charles and Delia sat opposite the three of them. And when the waitress came by asking them what they wanted to eat, the Maitlands face planted onto the table one after the other and then stayed that way for literally the entire meal. Only getting up when Lydia tapped them on the shoulders.

As the five of them began to make their way over towards the local flower shop so that the Maitlands could pick out their favorite flowers, Lydia couldn’t help herself but be concerned for her ghostly parental figures.

“Hey, are you guys okay? You’ve been quiet nearly the entire time.”

Barbara looked over at the teenager, giving her a soft smile. “I assure you that we’re both fine, Lydia. There’s not a problem.”

Lydia nodded, looking ahead again.

They finally made their way to the local flower shop, Charles and Delia deciding it best for them to wait outside whilst Lydia and the Maitlands went inside of the store to look for the ghosts’ favorite flowers. And it soon became apparent that literally every single type of flower in the shop was a personal favorite of the Maitlands. And that, of course, had to make things even more difficult.

“Guys, hurry up!” she called out. “We’re going to be late if you can’t decide which flowers you want laid on your graves!”

Barbara, followed by Adam, phased through one of the shelves of flowers and turned her attention onto Lydia with an amused yet apologetic look in her eyes as with Adam. “Sorry about that, Lydia. We forgot to mention to you and your dad and Delia that we liked pretty much all types of flowers. So it’s kinda sorta hard for us to pick.”

“Just pick one type of flower each and let’s go!” Lydia rolled her eyes, making an annoyed sound.

The Maitlands phased back through the shelves and continued looking for what flowers they wanted. Eventually though, they exited the store - Lydia clutching a bouquet of white roses and a bouquet of yellow roses in her hands. She handed them to her dad and Delia and they went on their way to the local cemetery.

When they got there, Wednesday was already there and waiting for them. Moving one of her braids, a rare smile crossed her face as she turned her attention over towards Lydia and her family.

“Took you long enough,” Wednesday deadpanned. “It’s so nice to finally meet your family.”