A/N ok so bear with me because the thought process here is a little murky, the episode trials of m Kelso is the base for this but I had to change a lot around to make it fit, I know that I've done that, its intentional so suspension of continuity annoyance appreciated. The idea came from the scene in the breakfast club when they run from Vernon, that's it seriously, that made this idea pop in my head and now here we are! Yes, I'm glad too, anyway, let's go.
It had been a long day full of pointless conversations that didn't seem to go anywhere, so when fez angrily declared that he wanted revenge on the snapping turtles for what they did to him (and his ass) the six friends jumped at the chance to do something…anything else then what they had been doing.
On the ride over Kelso was acting strangely sullen, and after another stage sigh Hyde finally decided to ask what the hell his damn problem was?!
"you broke my egg!" Kelso whispered so Jackie, who rode up front wouldn't hear.
"you mean the egg you planned on throwing at someone after playing catch with it?" Hyde asked dryly
"yeah but, that was before I knew it was a test" Kelso defended
"Kelso man, the whole point of those tests was for her to see if you'd matured and changed for real, which you haven't" Hyde tried to explain to the man child pouting beside him.
"nah uh! Now that I know what's up I'm totally changed and mature!" Kelso declared
"dude, you failed every damn test until donna ratted her out! You lost her for cheating, what in your puny corn nut of a brain makes you think cheating on these tests is going to be the answer?" Hyde asked in an academically curious tone, he knew better than to sound like he gave a damn either way.
"cus now that I know she's testing me I can be different than I normally would be and get Jackie back, duh!" Kelso hissed
"did you hear a thing I just said?" Hyde asked curiously
"not really, Fleetwood mac was on the radio and I started thinking about what Stevie nicks looks like naked" Kelso explained unabashed as always for how sleazy he tended to be.
"whatever" Hyde sighed and did his best to ignore his friend for the rest of the drive.
He could have written a dissertation on all the reasons it would be hell if Jackie and Kelso got back together, but it wasn't his problem, and he intended to keep it that way. His quota of putting up with the relationship crap of his friends was well and met, and the only one that was allowed to talk to him about any problems pertaining to love lives was Forman, and that was just because he was basically Hyde's little brother, the others could fuck off.
They were almost done 'decorating' the rival school's gym, when they all stopped dead in their tracks and listened hard. There it was, the unmistakable sound of footsteps.
"I thought you said no one would be here!" donna hissed at Kelso
"they shouldn't be, school lets out at 3!" Kelso whispered back defensively
"there are still staff and after school clubs Kelso!" Eric told him irately
"really?" it was clear Kelso had no idea such a thing happened, as if in his brain once you weren't compelled to be at school the entire building was abandoned.
"well were screwed" Eric stated bluntly, however much they felt justified in their revenge for what had been done to Fez, they'd still committed trespassing and vandalism, which for a county as small as theirs, were a big deal.
Red was going to need extra feet for what he would do to them when the cops brought them home, and that was after the football team was done with them, as Jackie had just quietly informed them that it was most likely the snapping turtles themselves who were still at school since it was homecoming float time of year.
Hyde stepped forward and squared his shoulders "there's nothing else for it, were going to have to run for it" he told them seriously
"great plan Hyde, just book it through the halls and let them see us? No, we should sneak out of here and hide until they give up trying to find us and go home" donna said confident in her plan
"we'll be sitting duck that way pinciotti, it doesn't matter if they see us cus they don't know who we are and even if they track us down we'll be on our own turf by then" Hyde tried to make her see his reasoning, but as always, once donna decided she was right about something there was no convincing her otherwise.
"well for starters, shouldn't we at least get out of the locker room we just destroyed?" Eric asked nervously
"Forman's right, we'll decide where to go after we leave the scene of the crime" Hyde agreed with his best friend and decided to lead by example, and open the door.
Checking around carefully to see if the coast was clear he waved them to follow, they crept silently through the echoing halls until they were nearing a dead end where they'd have to choose either left or right to continue. Half way through another argument between Hyde and donna about the best course of action they heard voices yell out behind them.
"that's them! Get 'em!" they looked behind them and saw the defensive line of the varsity team barreling towards them, looking pissed.
"run!" Eric yelled in full panic and took off down the hall, the others right behind him.
"this way" called donna turning towards the left passage
"no way man, that's the main hall, we gotta go this way" Hyde argued urgently, sure that their only hope was the less popular classes, football players were usually too busy for electives and might not know their way around as well as they did areas where required courses were.
Donna ignored him and turned down the left hallway, while Hyde chose to trust his instincts as always and went right. He caught sight of Kelso, Fez and Forman following Donna and felt a pang of annoyance, just because you say something confidently, doesn't make it a good idea. He was torn between wanting to save his own skin and not wanting to abandon his friends to a definite beating, and was about to turn around and catch up with them when a voice at his elbow shocked him.
"don't slow down Steven, we need to hide!" Jackie squeaked in a terrified whisper, as a rival cheerleader she would be known to their pursuers and he didn't even want to think about the penalty they would assign to her if they caught her.
They rushed down the deserted hall, their shoes squeaking on the ugly tile floors as they dashed for safety. Hyde scanned classroom after classroom for a good place to wait out the guys chasing them, and finally saw a placard next to a door that felt right. Grabbing Jackie by the shoulder he pulled her into the empty room and carefully shut the door, he knew it would be a dead giveaway to lock it, so regretfully he left the bolt unfastened and turned to find a decent place to wait until they could escape.
A quick glance at the windows told him they were not an option, a few too many horny students breaking in for some privacy, had led the school to weld the frames so that they only opened about four inches, and even Jackie couldn't fit through a space that small.
"where are we?" Jackie asked in a voice so soft he was surprised it came from her.
"were in the drama club room" he told her with a smirk, it was the best he could have hoped for under the circumstances, it was out of the way, unpopular and had a shitty location by most standards. But for them it was ideal.
"good idea" Jackie nodded approvingly, she saw his thinking right away and couldn't fault it.
They headed to the back of the room and opened the door there, to reveal the storage closet, it was crowded with old costumes from bygone plays, but it was big and gave ample hiding places, if the team came looking there, they had a decent chance of going undetected.
They inched their way through the dusty props and costumes, looking for the best cover that wouldn't be too uncomfortable for an extended stay, and finally decided on the far corner where the prow of the 'jolly roger' from the production of peter pan resided. Hyde grabbed an arm full of animal costumes and dumped them on the ground for them to sit on, gesturing grandly for Jackie to take a seat.
They sat silently for a while, each thinking of things they didn't feel like sharing, until Jackie inevitably broke the silence.
"do you think they're ok?" she asked sounding legitimately worried about their friends.
"their chances aren't good to be honest, you don't use the most used class block in a school you don't go to if you want to hide" he told her honestly.
"they should have listened to you instead of donna" Jackie murmured sadly
"yeah, I know" he agreed, then turned to her with a curious expression like something had only just occurred to him "why did you follow me and not her?" he asked his unlikely companion.
Jackie shrugged and didn't look up from her boots "I guess because, I trust your judgement?" she said uncertainly.
Hyde smirked "and I didn't even have to take care of an egg" he joked with a bitter edge.
Now Jackie turned to him, her eyes narrowed suspiciously "how did you know about that?" she asked flatly
"uh" there was no good option for what to say "cus I'm not dumb and that's a pretty well-known parenting exercise" he lied with his usual talent, however, Jackie was a lot sharper than any one bothered to notice and had an uncanny ability to file information even while she talked a mile a minute, seemingly totally self-absorbed.
"it is yeah, except for you to have recognized it at all you would have had to have paid attention to what Kelso said, and we both know you didn't do that, so how did you know? Tell me the truth" she demanded, her eyes hard with anger now and he wasn't sure if it was for him or not?
With a sigh, Hyde broke one of his cardinal rules and ratted out a friend, but he consoled himself with the fact that this particular friend had done the 'ratting' first even while having an obligation to Jackie.
"donna showed up while we were playing catch with the egg and gave Kelso the low down on what it meant" he told her the truth gravely
Jackie did not move or speak after he told her this, she just stared at nothing as she absorbed it.
"it's not a big deal man" Hyde tried to tell her, but felt bile rise up in his throat, as he choked out such a complete and utter lie.
"of course, not, I shouldn't be surprised really, I mean sure, when I first told her I was thinking of getting back together with him she said she'd kill herself! Why wouldn't she decide to turn around and help him?! She treats me like I'm stupid for even thinking about it to my face, pointing out all the awful things he did to me that made us break up, and then turns around and tells him about the tests! God! Why would she do that?!" Jackie seethed, hurt and furious that her so called best friend could so easily betray her like that.
She hadn't forgotten what Michael had done, she remembered the gory details every damn day! But for the sake of the times he had made her feel special and like he cared she had wanted to see if he'd grown up enough for them to have a chance, maybe her tests were dumb? But it was all she could think of, because if she'd sat him down to talk to him it would have given him the chance to lie and she desperately needed some truth out of him, which was precisely what donna had taken away!
"did he at least take care of the egg?" Jackie asked with a glimmer of hope
"umm, not exactly" Hyde evaded
"he threw it at something, didn't he?" she guessed with certainty
"well no, I actually broke it accidently when I tried to toss it back to him after donna told him what was up" he couldn't help but smirk at the memory of the look on kelso's face
"accidently?" Jackie asked dryly, clearly not believing he hadn't done it on purpose
"well maybe I thought it would be sort of funny for it to break at that particular moment?" he allowed magnanimously,
Jackie just nodded slowly, she couldn't really blame him for it honestly, and to be fair she saw the humor from his perspective.
"do you think the others are ok?" Hyde asked absently, mostly for something to change the subject from the one that was making him uncomfortable. Again, Jackie merely shrugged, their fate was anyone's guess.
As it happened they were not ok, donna had led them to an empty classroom as well, but theirs was an English class and had only desks to hide under, which meant they were huddled together behind the teacher's desk as it offered the best cover.
"aye, we should have listened to Hyde!" Fez lamented miserably
"no, he would have been reckless and cocky like he always is and led us straight into those guys" donna claimed irritably, the three guys had been complaining since they had taken cover and she was more than a little sick of being questioned for her choice.
"besides, even if they do catch us I'm sure we can talk our way out of it or something?" she claimed
All three of her friends turned to look at her disbelievingly "donna, if they catch us they will beat us to a fine pulp" Eric told her seriously
"don't be such a coward Eric, you'll survive one little fight" she cooed condescendingly at him
"yeah, it's easy to be brave when they can't hit you donna" Eric snapped angrily, if she were in their position she wouldn't be so sure of survival, even a bunch of football players wouldn't hit a girl and she knew it, they would be the ones to bear the brunt of whatever happened.
"I can't believe Jackie followed Hyde!" kelso said for the 8th time since they'd realized the tiny brunette was with them.
"I guess she's smarter than I thought" spat Eric angrily
"so now you think Jackie has better judgment than me?" donna asked offended he would even imply such a thing
"she knew enough not to end up here just waiting to be killed" Eric stated bluntly.
They all dissolved into arguing then, and as tempers rose, silence was forgotten.
Whereas back in the storage room, Jackie and Hyde hadn't spoken in quiet some time.
Finally, Hyde decided to glance at Jackie and saw to his horror, her eyes were full of unshed tears.
"hey man, are you ok?" he asked softly
Jackie shook her head but didn't say anything, if she did she knew the tears would fall for sure and she was tired of crying in front of Hyde.
"seriously Jackie, you can tell me" he admitted the truth softly,
"all I wanted was to belong somewhere again, but she just proved that not only is there nowhere that I do, but that I'm not really a friend in any of your minds." She finally says with heartbreaking sincerity, and Hyde saw her point.
To the others, she wasn't even really a person, they forgot her as soon as she left unless they were insulting her. They wouldn't treat a stranger the way they treated Jackie, it was an unpleasant thought that led to a personal revelation for Hyde.
If you were to ask him who he would call if he needed help with no explanation the answer was Jackie? Sure, she'd make him spill his guts later, but he knew as well as he knew anything that if he called her and said he needed help, she would be there as soon as she could. She had his back, even when they bickered like small children he could be sure of her taking his side against the others when it came down to it.
"I don't know how, or when it happened doll? But you are my friend" he told her seriously
Jackie turned to him with a look of total confusion in her huge eyes "I thought you wanted me to 'die away from you'?" she pointed out, quoting his veterans day haiku back at him.
"well yeah, when I thought you were just using me to get back at Kelso, but…when we were on that date, we just 'were'? you didn't make me talk, you didn't push about anything, you didn't tell me how I was supposed to be acting you just were there with me, and that was pretty cool ya know?" he explained thoughtfully, he hadn't ever really considered their odd relationship before and found it sort of interesting.
"yeah, I know" Jackie murmured looking down at her boots again.
"what I mean is, when you aren't acting the way you thing you're supposed to, you're pretty cool to be around, I mean, you're fun to hang out with when you're going full tilt, bit I liked how we could just chill together and ya know? Just 'be' for a while" he elaborated, trying to get his point across, and if she'd been looking, Jackie would have seen the smug smile on his face as he recalled the part of her only he seemed to be aware of.
"do you regret taking me on that date?" Jackie asked out of nowhere seemingly, in a small vulnerable voice.
Hyde was startled by her question, and gave it some actual thought, he was again surprised at the answer he came up with.
"nah man, I regret a lot of shit I've done with chicks – Kat Peterson springs to mind – but I had a good time with you that night, and – god help me – I'm sort of glad I got to know you the way I do now" he told her hesitantly, he wasn't the sort of guy that shared his feelings, but after what she'd gone through lately, today especially, she deserved to hear the truth.
"thank you, Steven," she whispered with a small smile.
"now I've got a question for you" Hyde said pointedly
Jackie held her small hand up in the shape of a gun "shoot" she said, pulling the trigger.
"what the hell are you thinking even considering taking Kelso back?" he asked, not cruelly as donna had, but genuinely concerned for her wellbeing
Jackie gave a halfhearted shrug "I just wanted to feel like I had a place to belong again, ya know? I did try to stand on my own, I also tried to be there as donna's best friend, but no matter what I did everyone was just waiting for me to leave, but…I don't have anywhere else to go. So, I figured if he could show even a glimmer of giving a damn about me, my old place would be better than the nothing I have right now" she confided in Hyde, showing once again the trust she held in him that no one else seemed to.
"that's not true man" Hyde told her
"really? How so?" she asked disbelievingly
"Jackie, as long as I'm there, you…. have a place" he told her, trying to sound casual.
"I do? How do you figure?" she snorted, sure he was placating her because he was stuck in there with her for however long.
"yeah, you do!" he said more firmly "you don't need kelso to have a place in the basement, you are MY grasshopper got it?! And I say there's always a spot for you, and not on that moron's lap!" he spat, the mental picture making him angry.
"you know how much crap you'll catch from them for saying that don't you?" Jackie pointed out, a bit sad that such a small thing as her inclusion would cause an inevitable argument.
"I don't give a fuck what they say!" Hyde growled "every damn on of them does whatever the hell they please when it suits them, but goes and whines about 'messing up the group' when it's something they don't like! To hell with that, I may be a dirt bag, but I'm no hypocrite!" he snarled angrily, years of pent up frustration with his friend's double standard, boiling to the surface.
Jackie didn't know how to respond? It wasn't that she disagreed with his synopsis of their behavior – far from it – but to agree she would have to bad mouth the very people she wanted so badly to be included by?
In the end, she simply said "you're not a dirt bag Steven" in a low sure tone
"I can be" he countered realistically
"so? I can be a bitch" she shot back
"knock it off!" Hyde snapped, he didn't like anyone calling her a bitch, not even her. He knew what a real bitch was like, and Jackie was too damn caring to be counted in their ranks.
They stared each other down for a long while until finally Hyde spoke, his voice low and intense.
"why did you follow me instead of the others?" he asked again, and this time she knew she had to give him the real answer.
"because I knew you wouldn't leave me behind to save yourself, because I knew you'd make sure I was safe, because I knew I wouldn't be afraid of what would happen if I was with you. I didn't even really think about it, I saw them going one way, and you the other and I didn't even hesitate – I just followed you, because the other choice didn't even register as a choice" she told him thoughtfully, trying to work out what she had been thinking while she explained it to him.
"I'll never ditch you Jackie" Hyde promised quietly, to show her faith in him was well placed.
"I'll never ditch you either Steven" Jackie returned his promise with soft sincerity, and held out her small hand to him to seal their promise.
Hyde took her hand in his and held her gaze as he shook on their vow,
"so, what does this mean exactly?" Jackie asked with a frown
"it means that the next time you walk into that basement, it won't be as Kelso's chick, or Fez's goddess, or donna's last resort, you're going to be there for me because you're my friend and I want you there, and if they have a problem with that, then were going to go hang somewhere else and not let what they say bother us one damn bit!" he told her firmly
"even if I drive you nuts?" Jackie checked, worried he wasn't considering all the information needed to make such a decision.
"I'm no picnic myself grasshopper, but in case you haven't noticed – you and I always end up hanging out, which makes me believe, if we're not trying to be mean to each other we could actually have a hell of a good time." He hypothesized with a grin for all the fun they could have on their own, they were both clever and ruthless and brave, things the others were not.
The sky was the limit with them as a team – scratch that, they'd always been a team under the surface, with them as an official team, a unit, partners etc. Etc.
"what if I fall for you again like I did the last time you were nice to me?" Jackie asked with a playful smirk
Hyde considered her question with a serious expression, before giving her an answer.
"I'm prepared to deal with that eventuality" he told her stoically, then let the smile he'd been hiding break free.
A/N so there it is, hope you enjoyed it, let me know if I should continue it for another chapter (which I can) or if its better ending like this? I'd love to hear what you all think because I'm not sure about this one?