Chapter Text
December 17th, 1989
Dear diary,
JD has.. gotten better, I suppose. There was still a glaring lack of therapy I had been trying to convince him to go to for months now, but he couldn’t exactly tell the therapist he had murdered three people anyway.
We haven't been caught, which is so shocking. JD tried to blow up the school, but ended up strapping the bomb to his chest and narrowly surviving. It had been classified as a sucicide attempt so there was no further digging into the other suicides, which was strange.
Youd think after a “suicide attempt” the hospital would force a kid into therapy, but JDs dad claims he’s perfectly fine. Even though he lost a leg in the explosion, he’s fine. Right, of course. He’s so fine. So great. People who are fine don’t need therapy.
He’s getting out of the hospital today after three weeks. He has one of those cool robot leg things, and an increased chance of getting cancer. He’s coming over in like, 30 minutes!! I think we’re going to do something to celebrate <3
Anyw
“Veronica!” Her mother called from downstairs, and she shut her diary with a start. “Your boyfriend's here!” She called teasingly, and the sound of the front door opening could be heard.
“Yeah, okay mom,” she groaned, rushing down the stairs. At the front door stood JD, in his usual trench coat and black jeans, but the foot of a metal leg could be seen at the cuff. It’s not that Veronica hadn't visited him in the hospital before - she had, obviously - it was seeing him standing with one leg missing.
JD finished slipping the shoe off his good foot, and looked up. “Veronica!” He beamed, immediately smiling.
“Hey JD,” she smiled, pulling him in for a little hug. “How’s being out of the hospital?”
He frowned, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. The majority of his body had burn scars, of all different sizes, from the explosion. Veronica thought he was still beautiful, but she could tell he was a little insecure about it. She hadn't seen him without long sleeves since the incident.
“I don’t know.. it’s been fine, yeah.” She gave him a look. There was no way he would be talking like this if he was fine. “My dads thinking about moving again,” he admitted with a gulp.
“Dude! You literally just got out of the hospital,” Veronica exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air.
“Well, it’s been like what? Months? This is record breaking for him, really. I’m sure we could call each other or something once I move in a couple weeks,” he sighed.
“Yeah. Yeah, okay. It’s going to be okay, JD,” she promised, grabbing his hand. He immediately pulled his hand away and Veronica bit her lip. The burns on his hand were still sore and she had completely forgotten.
“Sorry,” she muttered, motioning for him to come into the living room. “I was thinking we could watch a movie? The princess bride?”
JD laughed. “The princess bride? Who are you, Martha?” He smiled. “I actually rented back to the future two the other day, if you wanted to watch it.”
Veronica nodded slowly. “Yeah, sure.” She didn’t want to admit she had never watched the first one, but she was sure she could pick up what was happening.
“Great,” he smiled, pulling out the vhs from his trench coat pocket. He gave her a wink, snd lifted something else out.
“Jason Dean,” she grimaced, looking at the bottle of beer in his hand. “You know you can’t drink that stuff yet,” she sighed, running a hand through her hair. “Especially right after you got out of the hospital!”
“I actually turned eighteen last month, but we were a little.. preoccupied,” he smiled. “And it’ll be fine. Don’t act like you weren’t drunk and high when you broke into my house and-“
Veronica’s hand flew to cover his mouth, noting that her parents were in the kitchen, which was definitely in ear range. “When I came over to your house to do homework! And I was.. not drunk or high. Just a little loopy, right?” She smiled, not taking her hand off JDs mouth.
JD rolled his eyes, but sat down on the couch. “You do the honours, then,” he said, handing her the tape to put in the player. She slid onto her knees to put it in the vhs player under the tv, and slid it in.
“I’ve never seen the first one,” she said absently, sitting next to JD on the couch.
“I feel like you've never seen the best movies or read any good books,” JD sighed, shoving her playfully.
“It’s not my fault! It was rated 16 dude,” she groaned. “I never gave it much thought after it left theatres.”
“I went and saw it when it came out,” JD said. “Boston, I think. Yeah, I was in Boston.”
Veronica nodded. The movie began to play, and they fell into a silence, occasionally looking up at each other or laughing. JD handed her the beer to take a sip and she did, even if it was disgusting. The Jell-O shots at Ram's party were much better, she figured.
They were about forty minutes in, and the main.. evil guy was going on some rant about how he’d murdered Marty’s dad.
“He’s just like you,” Veronica whispered in JDs ear, with a grin.
She expected him to laugh, but his face went white and he was looking around uncomfortably.
“I’m so fucking sorry Veronica. I really- fuck. I never apologized for what I did and- fuck. Shit. I really messed up and I know it’s my fault. I was kind of hoping that- I don't know. We could go back to normal, but I.. I screwed up so badly. I was really hoping the bomb would kill me,” he admitted.
His face was still pale, and the movie had been completely forgotten.
“Ronnie, I love you. Thats- thats not an excuse and I shouldn’t have manipulated you like that. I know I need to go to therapy but my dad won’t let me. I’m so sorry.”
Veronica grabbed his left hand- the burn free one- gently, and looked him in the eyes. “I’m going to talk to your dad. We will get you to stay here and maybe even get you some therapy.” She paused, pushing his hair out of his eyes. “If you feel.. like you want to die again, please talk to me. I love you, and I don’t forgive you for what you did, but I hope you can change. I trust you.”
JD wiped a tear that he hadn't noticed from his face. “Do you want to bake brownies?” He asked suddenly.
“What?” Veronica laughed, taken aback by the random question.
JD scratched the back of his head. “I don’t know, I just haven’t really eaten at all today and I was really craving brownies,” he smiled.
“Dude, why haven't you eaten?” Veronica asked, getting up. “And we’ll make brownies, I think I’ve got the stuff.”
“Well, I was like gone for so long in the hospital, and I haven’t gotten a chance to buy the groceries yet so there’s essentially no food in my house,” he frowned.
Veronica walked into the kitchen. Her mom was sitting at the table, and she didn’t really want her listening in to their conversation. “Hey mom. Could we use the kitchen? We were going to bake some stuff,”
“Oh yes! As long as you give me some,” her mother chuckled, leaving the table. She left a newspaper open to the crossword.
“Wait- go back,” Veronica said to JD, now that they were alone. “Why are you buying the groceries in the first place? What was your dad eating the whole time you were gone?”
He shrugged. “My dads drunk a lot, and then the other half of the time he’s blowing up condemned libraries,” JD said angrily, clenching his hand into a fist. “He’s got a good supply of beer in the house, I must admit.”
“You need a new dad,” Veronica mumbled. “Especially one that doesn't move every six weeks.”
JD nodded, with a touch of sadness, and opened the cupboard. “You got like a family recipe or are we just making it up as we go?” He asked, head in the cupboard.
“I think we’ve got a recipe book somewhere, but I honestly have no idea where it’s went,” she admitted. “Just get some chocolate and shit,” she said.
“We’ll need two eggs, Ronnie,” JD called from the cupboard, motioning to the fridge. Well, he motioned the best he could with the stack of ingredients he had in his hands. “And around a quarter cup of butter.”
Veronica saluted him mockingly. “On it, boss!” She giggled, running to the fridge. “Not your first rodeo?”
“Hm? No. Definitely not. I like baking. It used to help me calm down,” he explained, setting the majority of the ingredients on the counter. “Where are the bowls?”
They spent a good hour mixing together chocolate and flour, and occasionally getting distracted when either of them got some food on their face. When Veronica got a good amount of chocolate smacked on her nose thanks to JDs aggressive mixing, he leaned in to kiss it off.
One big mess later, the brownies were cooling and they both sat on the kitchen chairs. “I should go get the groceries, Ronnie. Would you give me a ride? I’d normally walk, but..” he sighed, gesturing to his leg. “I don’t have a car or my license so..” he smiled.
“Totally! I’ll deliver you a brownie when I come over tomorrow.” She smiled, standing up.
“Youll come over?” JD asked nervously. “I know you said you were going to talk to my dad and all but he’s super weird. I don’t know..”
“It’ll be fine. I promise. Let’s go out to the car?” She asked, extending her hand.
“Yeah. Yeah,” JD smiled, grabbing hers.