Hey guys! Thanks for reading and for all your feedback; I can't tell you how much it means. I love Hyde and Jackie, so if you have any ideas for more stories please reach out, I'd be happy to write them!
Jackie Burkhart was a lot of things. She was bossy and loud and, most of all, she was sure of herself. It didn't take long for her to realize love was not something she would get from her parents, so she made up for it by being her own biggest supporter. Even with Michael "serial cheater" Kelso, her ego hadn't taken a blow. She had been sure he was cheating, not because of her, but just because he was an idiot. This self-reliance was the only true foundation in her life: until that summer with Steven, that is. She hated it, but she had never felt less sure of herself than she did in his arms.
At first it scared her and she tried to ignore it, but then Donna and Michael returned and she couldn't help the bubbles of self-doubt that rose in her chest. She hated that she felt the need to ask for reassurance, like when they were trying to convince Donna and Eric that they needn't tell Michael. "She sickens me," he said so casually that, despite the evidence to the contrary, she fully believed for a second that he was telling the truth. She played along of course until Donna and Eric had left, but she knew she couldn't get those words out of her head until she asked him. She felt immediate relief when he said that she didn't actually sicken him, and she hated that just hearing him say that calmed the beating in her chest.
What had happened to the unshakable Jackie Burkhart? How had she allowed the feelings of Steven Hyde to crumble the house she had built around her heart and make her feel terrified? What would be left if he abandoned her? Would she ever return to the self-assured Jackie she was so proud to be? Time would only tell, and anyway, there wasn't anything she could do about it now. Steven, whether he knew it or not, had power over her and she was fundamentally changing because of him. She hated losing control, but she was learning to just enjoy the ride as long as it was with her scruffy little burnout.
