Chapter Text
Epilogue
Eric was panicking. His journal was gone.
He assumed the worst happened and Laurie took it, until the worst really did happen when Donna said she saw Jackie giggling over a green leather book but wouldn’t tell her what it’s about.
He knew that was his journal.
But then it got worse.
He wouldn’t have suspected his best friend, his brother of treachery until Jackie and Hyde would be cuddled up on his chair whispering but then stop whenever he walked into the basement.
Once or twice would make sense, but it was weeks, and every time he came in the room.
At first he pretended nothing was wrong, but his anxiety grew with time. Were they going to give it to Red? His Mom? Laurie? The whole school? The local paper?
The not knowing and the waiting was driving him insane.
There wasn’t anything too terrible, but they were his innermost thoughts, they were sacred.
And a lot were nerdier than he’d like to admit.
On the other hand he could try moving to another country, his shame of being exposed to the whole town couldn’t travel across the Atlantic could it?
When the nightmares began to torment him he knew he couldn’t take it any longer. He’d submit to whatever humiliations they required to get his journal back.
Once again they were sitting in Hyde’s chair, his arms wrapped around Jackie’s waist. It was totally gross, he had realized they weren’t faking because he was sure they couldn’t pull that off for this long. But that wasn’t his focus today.
“Alright, I surrender. Please, just do whatever you’re going to do and put me out of my misery or tell me whatever I have to do to get it back.”
Jackie kissed Hyde on the cheek and stood, her cryptic words haunted him for days. “It’s too late, it’s already done.” Then she left the basement.
A few days later, Hyde found him sulking on the couch.
“You look like shit man.”
“Not if you’re a dead man. Whatever it is, I know I’ll never be able to show my face again.”
“God Erica you are so dramatic.”
“You and Jackie are planning on ruining my life all because of a prank gone wrong. How else should I act?”
“I’m tired of you,” Hyde said shaking his head.
He went upstairs to call Jackie, “It’s time, yeah come on over.”
Jackie rushed over to the Forman’s. She couldn’t wait to see the aftermath.
It was almost worth the anxiety, the boredom, and her sweet Steven getting hurt all for this moment.
For once she took a separate seat when she reached the basement. Eric’s anxiety was palpable.
“Alright, what did you do? I can handle it.”
“I very much doubt that,” Jackie mumbled.
“Are you ready to tell him?” Hyde asked.
Jackie nodded, “Go ahead.”
“We didn’t do anything to you man.”
“So you’ve hired or arranged someone else to do it, keep your hands clean from the dirty work,” Eric deduced.
“No you idiot,” Jackie repeated, “we didn’t do anything to you at all.”
No, his journal was gone, Donna had all but said Jackie stole it, she had been reading it.
“You stole my journal. It has all my secrets in there,” Eric accused, “Don’t tell me that’s all a lie and you didn’t so something to me with all that information.”
Jackie smiled wickedly, there was the Devil he always suspected was right there in plain sight.
“I stole it,” Jackie admitted, “but I couldn’t read it.”
“Why because it’s morally wrong?” Eric scoffed.
“God no. Because I didn’t want to know what kind of gross pervy nerd stuff goes on in your head.” Hyde agreed, “It’s bad enough we have Fez and get most of his inner monologue.”
“Donna said she saw you reading it and laughing.”
“Did she? Or did she tell you that because I asked her to?” Jackie asked.
Eric didn’t know what way was up.
“But-“
“We don’t have your diary. We stole it, didn’t dare read whatever thoughts you don’t share, and I hid it back in your room like five days ago.”
“What?” Eric was confused, they stole his Journal, but didn’t read it or do anything with it. That couldn’t be right.
:Back of your closet until the Christmas sweater collection your grandma sends you that you only wear if you see her.”
Eric ran upstairs to his room and found it immediately. He checked it. It definitely was his journal and hadn’t been tampered with. Cautiously he hid it and returned to the basement.
“But you just let me go crazy thinking you were going to do something to me”
“Yeah,” Hyde admitted simply.
“Why?” Eric shrieked, “I’ve been going crazy, I can’t eat or sleep. Donna is mad at me because I’m obsessing over it. Tell me why?”
Jackie smiled at their triumph, “Because there’s only so much we can do to you.”
“What?”
“We didn’t really want to humiliate you, but we wanted you to suffer,” Hyde told him.
Revenge was Jackie’s domain, “We could spread rumors, tell your embarrassing thoughts, but then we figured out who is your greatest enemy? Who takes moments in your life and ruins them, or makes them absolutely insane? Who is the person that causes the most problems for you?”
“It was easy once we figured that out, it’s you.” Hyde said, “We figured no one can make you feel as bad as you can make yourself feel.”
Eric sputtered, he couldn’t believe it.
“So all this time you planned to just let me drive myself crazy?”
“Not the whole time,” Jackie admitted, “We hadn’t decided yet, but we knew from the start we were taking your journal and from there figure it out, but once we were back you basically did the work for us.”
“You make yourself feel a lot worse than anyone else does.”
Eric remembered what Red always told him.
“So what you’re saying is I’m a dumbass?”
Red happened to be coming down the stairs, “By jo,” he said dryly, “the kid’s finally got it.”
The end.