ＳＵＮＮＹ

𝔟𝔬𝔫𝔢𝔶 𝔪.

♜

"Man, I can't believe Hyde got busted for possession," Eric sighs as he fiddles with an Etch-A-Sketch. "I mean, I always thought he'd get arrested for, like, armed robbery or pimping. You know, something cool."

I take a puff of the joint. "I can't believe he got busted. Hyde doesn't get caught for anything. Something else happened."

"Not everything's a mystery, Ana," Kelso chuckles. "Do you think he's anyone's girlfriend yet?"

"Kelso, he's been in jail for three hours," Fez scoffs. "Of course he's someone's girlfriend. He has very pretty eyes."

"Well, if he was someone's girlfriend," Eric giggles, "he'd look like this." He shows us his Etch-A-Sketch, which displays a poorly-drawn Hyde with a bow atop his head. Kelso grabs it from him.

"'Hey, Curly Q! Would you like to perform an unspeakable act on me, or would you prefer that I perform one on you?'" Kelso mocks. "'Well, they both sound good! Dealer's choice.'" 

He passes it to Fez. "You have done a terrible thing with a children's toy."

A warm presence appears behind me and snatches it out of Fez's hands. I squeak as I'm pulled into Hyde's lap. I know that I should be more annoyed, but the weed dulls my emotions and I can't stop myself from relaxing into his chest.

"Huh," he says, squinting at the Etch-A-Sketch. "Bet you didn't want me to see this, did you?"

Eric quickly grabs it and furiously shakes the drawing off. "Hey, welcome back, man! We were worried about... I'm sorry."

"Curly Q is a, uh," Kelso stutters, "term of endearment."

"So when do we meet your new fella?" Fez smirks.

Hyde glares at him.

"Alright, well, I'm going to go draw on this some more," Eric laughs. "Anyone else want to come? Not you, Hyde."

He, Fez, and Kelso exit the room.

"They had to leave us to clean up, didn't they?" I grumble as I put the joint out and help Hyde  reorganize the room.

Once we're done, we sit on the couch together. A thick layer of tension and discomfort spreads over us before I speak up.

"So, you got arrested, huh?"

"Yeah," he says flatly.

"For being caught with a bag of weed."

"Yeah."

I cross my arms and look at him pointedly. "And how exactly did you get caught?"

"A cop saw me with it."

"Hyde, don't think you're fooling me. You don't get caught."

"Look, I don't want to talk about it, okay?" he grunts.

"Steven-"

"I said I don't want to talk about it. I'm going to the Hub."

♜

"God, this sucks!" Eric groans as Hyde folds some clothes on the couch. "I can't believe Red's kicking you out. I mean, I'm sorry, but where are you supposed to go?"

"Steven, if you want to stay at my place I really don't mind. I have extra rooms-"

"No, thanks," he says quietly.

I lower my voice. "I know that things are awkward between us, but I don't care. You need a place to stay."

"Princess, it's fine. Red said he doesn't want it near him, anyway. I'll just go to the FotoHut. I'll sleep on the floor, we've got a hose out back. Mrs. Forman made me a sandwich."

Fez timidly hands a half-eaten sandwich back to him.

"Man, this is so wrong!" Eric rambles. "Look, I'm not going to let you get kicked out for something that we all do."

"Hey, don't go dragging me into this," Kelso pipes up.

"I'm going to tell Red that I do it, too."

"No!" we chorus.

"Have you suddenly become the stupidest man ever?" Donna scolds. "I mean, is Kelso no longer the reigning king?"

"Oh, I'm the king," the brunette says proudly.

"No, this can work!" Eric explains. "If I tell Red, then he's going to be a hypocrite for kicking you out and not making me go with him! Because he can't kick me out, 'cause, you know, deep down, he loves me!"

I raise my eyebrows. "Eric, he's been looking for reasons to kick you out."

"Look, Forman," Hyde sighs, "I appreciate what you're trying to do, you know, but you getting in trouble is not going to help me get out of trouble, okay?"

"Okay."

"Okay. Everybody just stop worrying, alright? I'll be fine."

"Yes, it will be good for you in the FotoHut," Fez jokes. "Maybe it will help you develop some character. Get it? Develop?"

"Not now, Fezzie," I say when no one laughs.

♜

Donna and I share a look as we sit on the front steps of the Formans' home, watching Jackie hum and doodle on a notepad.

"Okay, what are you writing?" my redheaded friend says, snatching the pad from her.

I peer over and wrinkle my nose. "Jackie and Steven Hyde. Mrs. Jackie Hyde. Okay, Dr. and Mrs. Steven Hyde?"

"What's going on?"

"Okay," she grins. "Steven and I are in love."

"You do know that he once compared you to a tick, right?"

"Oh, really? Well, if he thinks I'm such a tick, why did he tell the cops the bag was his when it was actually mine?"

I immediately tense and clench my fists. "Are you telling me that bag was yours?" I hiss.

"Yeah!" she beams. "He went to jail for it! Isn't that fabulous?"

"No, Jackie, it's not!"

"You're the reason this whole mess happened!" Donna snaps.

"Oh, ladies, stop," she giggles. "My head is... whoo!"

"You have to tell the Formans what happened! Do you know that Red is kicking Hyde out?"

"Oh, Donna, that's perfect! When Hyde is on the streets, he'll turn to me, and as I care for him and buy him stuff, his love for me will grow."

"You sick bitch!" I sputter. "I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous, Jackie!"

"I'm going to tell them," Donna huffs.

She grabs her wrist. "No! No, you cannot ruin this for me, you moose!"

"Don't tell me what to do, Midget!"

Jackie screeches and tackles her to the ground, and I bolt into their kitchen, where Red and Kitty are conveniently already seated.

"I have to tell you guys something," I spew.

They look at me strangely and I waste no time in telling them the truth.

"The bag wasn't Hyde's. It was Jackie's. She told Donna and me."

"Well," Kitty scorns. "Red, it turns out that you were wrong about Steven, and you wanted to kick him out."

Donna stumbles into the kitchen and sits next to me. "Did you tell them?"

"Yes," Red confirms. "Thanks for telling us the truth, Anastasia."

"And we know it wasn't easy for you," Kitty adds as Hyde walks in with a duffle bag, "especially with all of the obvious tension between you and Steven."

"I- I don't know what you're-" I stutter.

"Cut the crap, honey, I know everything."

He furrows his eyebrows at us but ignores it, tossing the keys onto the table.

"Uh, Steven, wait," Red calls. "You can stay."

His eyes light up for a moment, eliciting a small smile from me, before he takes the keys back. "Cool."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Kitty chides. "Isn't there anything else you'd like to say to this brave and noble young man?"

"You're right, Kitty." Red stands and stares at him silently. "Dumbass! Do you realize that you put your entire future at risk?"

The rest of us watch silently as he lectures him for a good thirty minutes on his stupidity.

He finishes with a flourish. "If you ever do anything like that again, I will kick your ass so hard, your nose will bleed!"

"And we love you," Kitty adds tenderly.

"So, uh," Hyde mumbles. "Just so I'm clear, everything is back to normal, right?"

Red sighs. "Yeah, yeah, everything's back-"

"Alright, Dad!" Eric yells as he bursts in. "I have something to say!"

"Eric, for the love of God, don't!" Donna warns.

"Dad, I do it too! That's right. So you can't kick Hyde out."

"Honey," Kitty whispers, "We already decided not to kick Hyde out."

"Oh. Then... yay."

"So," Red smiles. "You do it, too? Since when?"

"Since... when? Uh... about a week ago tomorrow."

"Uh, what? Yeah! Coming, mom!" Donna calls fakely.

"Okay, now," Kitty whimpers. "You're both smart boys. What were you thinking?"

"Oh, uh, the problem was, we weren't thinking," Hyde covers.

"And you know with the times..." Eric starts.

"Yeah, the times were, like... And, uh..."

"Peer pressure," I whisper.

"Yeah, peer pressure."

"Oh, don't try this blaming society crap on me!" Red groans. "Anastasia, do you do this too?"

"No, sir," I lie easily.

"Good. Do you know whose fault this is, Anastasia?"

"Yes, sir," I nod, knowing full well that he'll blame himself. "It's not your-"

"No, it is mine. The problem is, I've been too lenient! So from now on, no more fun. Fun time is over!" he stomps out.

Eric frowns. "So where was I for fun time?"

♜

"Take it back!" Kelso yells.

"No," Donna shrugs. "Confessing to Red makes Eric the king."

"Hey, I shot my toe with a BB gun once."

"Okay, fine, you're the king."

"Thank you!"

"I mean, when I say 'For the love of God, don't,' then for the love of God, don't!"

"You're right, Donna, I'm sorry," Eric admits.

"Alright, I think we're all ignoring what's really important here," Jackie sneers, holding Hyde's face close to her chest. "We're in love."

He spares a glance at me and swats her hands away, towering over her. "Okay, you know what? Enough of your girlie fantasy crap. None of this would've happened if it wasn't for you, so get this through your little Easy-Bake Oven head: I don't love you. I don't like you. I can barely stand to look at you."

"Oh, Steven, you're such a bad liar," she gushes, hugging him tightly.

I know that he doesn't like her back, but the interaction still brings a sick feeling to my stomach.

Red enters, sniffing the air furiously. "Don't mind me. I'm just here to install this smoke detector."

"Smoke detector?" Kelso frowns. "Does that detect... any kind of smoke?"

Donna grins. "Long live the king."

♜

"We haven't done this in a while," Michael mumbles.

We're in a new location now, having migrated to my bed rather than the minimally less comfortable couch.

I hum in agreement while we lay curled up under the covers. It could definitely seem suspicious to anyone entering, but we aren't doing anything except for cuddling.

"What's going on with you and Hyde?" he asks softly, playing with my hair.

"You picked that up? Even Fez didn't say anything about it."

"Yeah. I guess I'm watching you more."

I chuckle. "Make sure Laurie doesn't see you doing that."

"Ugh, Laurie. She's hot, but really annoying. That's a talk for later, though. Tell me what's happening."

I flip myself over to face him. "We had a talk about our relationship status and he basically friendzoned me. I probably overreacted but, me being me, I'm too much of a bitch to apologize. It hurt, you know?"

"I know," he smiles comfortingly. "I've been rejected a lot, too."

"Yeah?" I giggle. "A pretty boy like you?"

"You really think I'm pretty?" he teases.

I laugh but quiet down as he tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear and inches closer to me.

I glance down at his lips, bring a hand up to his cheek, lean in...

The thought of Laurie flashes through my mind. I can't do that to her. But then, the thought of Hyde appears.

I rush forward to close the space as quickly as possible, but my lips make contact with Kelso's hand.

"Sorry," he says sheepishly. "I forgot that I had a girlfriend."

"It's okay," I smile in the same manner.

"Let's not be awkward because of this, okay?" he grimaces. "I don't like being in awkward situations."

"Sounds good."

"Okay. Now turn over so I can spoon you."

♜

I'm yelling at myself because I'm trying not to ship her with Kelso more than I ship her with Hyde FUCK

As always, thank you for reading! Feedback, comments, and votes are appreciated!

Love you guys,

Lissy