Author's Note: Hey, y'all. So, I'm re-watching the series and this little missing moments type of story came to me in the middle of 3x03, Hyde's Father. Enjoy! (Sidenote: I did originally have this story as K+ cause it's fairly innocent...but then I remembered...drugs! Hahahahaha.)

Anger coursed through Hyde as he sat on that couch, hearing the man next to him talk about how great his life was, and he fought hard to not scoff. No doubt Bud was thrilled about how great life turned out when he didn't have to tow around some kid. Screw responsibility and anyone depending on him, right?

He forced a smile and turned towards the dillhole. "Wow, Bud. You're doing great now, huh? Color TV? Man. I remember when I was a kid, I didn't even have a father." Hyde dropped the smile and slammed the coasters against the coffee table before getting up and leaving the room, the swinging door practically coming off its hinges with the force of his anger. He made a hard right, intent on starting a circle in the basement and cracking open a beer—now. He didn't even make it two steps down before he heard her voice again.

"Steven! Oh, good, I found you. There's a showing of…"

"Not now, Jackie," he said brusquely as he quickly went around her and continued his descent.

"But, Steven! I didn't even…"

"I said not now!"

He continued down the steps but small hands stopped him by his shoulders.

"Hey, Steven. What's wrong?" Jackie asked, her voice soft and curious.

He sighed and turned towards her. "Nothing, man. Just…I'm not in the mood to talk right now, okay?"

She cocked her head as she looked at him and chewed her lip in thought. Just as he started to get uncomfortable with her intense stare, she seemed to come to a decision and grabbed his hand. "Come on," she said, pulling him down the steps with her.

When they finally entered the basement, they found it to be empty with the exception of Kelso snoozing on the sofa. Jackie let go of Hyde's hand and told him to stay put before walking over to the wagon wheel coffee table and swiping the stash from their hiding spot underneath it, in a small alcove in one of the legs. She then turned and walked quietly but quickly towards Hyde's room, grabbing his hand again and dragging him along the way.

After pulling him inside, she shut the door and sat him on one end of his cot, sitting herself down on the other.

"A half-circle is all I can offer, but it'll do you some good, I think."

Hyde's lips turned up briefly and he huffed a small laugh. Was this chick for real? "Jackie…look, man. This is great and all, but I do—"

She started to nod as she grabbed the lighter from the shelf by his bed and lit up the joint, taking 2 quick puffs. "I know. I know," she said. "You don't like me and would rather be here with Eric or Donna or anyone else, but just let me do this. Okay?" She passed it to him and scooched back, making herself comfortable on his cot.

"Why, man? I mean…I haven't been real nice to you, you know?" Hyde said as he took a puff. "It's not like you owe me anything."

Jackie shrugged. "Because I like you."

"Jackie…"

"No, hear me out, Steven. I like you because I think you're really sweet and funny and nice. And I think you deserve more than what you got. And I think you deserve great people to be around. So…" She paused and smiled sweetly, shrugging a shoulder. "Here I am."

Hyde grinned and shook his head. Even though this chick could be crazy, Hyde found her attempts at being cute kinda endearing. "This doesn't mean anything, okay? But thanks, man."

Jackie nodded and looked around the room. "You know, you could really spruce this place up."

"No, no." He shook his head. "I don't spruce."

"But it's so dreary and sad."

"So? I like it dreary and sad. It suits me."

Jackie tilted her head again as she looked at him, hearing the anger re-enter his voice. "What happened?"

Hyde shook his head again. "Nothing. Don't worry about me."

"Steven, did you even hear me earlier?"

He nodded once.

"Then you should know that worrying comes with the territory."

It might be the stash or the strange intimacy of the situation, but Hyde found her to be less annoying than usual. And it might be because he was too pissed about earlier or too comfortable in the moment, but Hyde started to care less and less about keeping his mouth shut.

"My dad's upstairs."

"Your dad?" Jackie asked, confusion marring her features. "What's he doing here?"

"The Formans invited him."

She quirked an eyebrow as a silent request for him to continue. Hyde took another puff and figured…why the hell not?

"We went to that bar last night, right?"

Jackie nodded. The guys had mentioned going to a place Fez had heard about that didn't check IDs that often. And then Eric had suggested they play it safe and get fake IDs anyway, spending the rest of the day coming up with goofy names to put down.

"Well, it turns out my deadbeat father is the bartender."

Jackie grimaced. From the little she knew of his upbringing, Hyde's dad was no good…basically a useless alcoholic who had run out on his family when Hyde was still young. "Oh, Steven. I'm sorry."

"Whatever, man."

She shook her head. "Zen later. Now's for talking."

Hyde chuckled. This chick, man. There weren't many like her. "Forman spilled the beans and his mom got it in her head to invite him over for drinks."

"Isn't your dad an alcoholic?"

Hyde nodded. "He's having a soda and cheese. It's just so dumb, you know? He's been in town for a year and didn't even think about contacting his own son? And then goes and brags about his new life with his fancy color TV when I didn't even have a father, man!"

Hyde stamped out the end of the joint and got up, feeling the need to move. He started pacing the length of his room, not realizing he started ranting along the way. "Every day since I was a kid, I'd wake up and add another day to how long it's been since he took off. I've got another count going now too with Edna splitting. If you don't want kids, then you don't have them. Simple as that. What you don't do is have a kid and take off like a spineless wimp when crap gets hard. And you don't run off with truckers named Ted and leave your kid to live on nothing but crackers and packages of ketchup!" Hyde paused and looked towards Jackie before swearing under his breath. "You weren't supposed to hear all of that."

Jackie shrugged a shoulder. "Like I said. You deserve more than what you got."

"You're very calm about all of this."

"Maybe I just understand more than you think. And maybe I deserve more than I got too."

Still wrapped up in anger at the deadbeat upstairs, he only gave her words a passing thought before letting them go, figuring she was just being crazy like usual. Chick had everything a kid could hope for, didn't she?

Still, he recognized her efforts to be a decent friend and appreciated it. "Come here," he said to her in a soft voice, not letting his anger get misdirected towards her.

She stood with a confused expression and made her way to his end of the room.

"Again, this doesn't mean anything. Got it?"

She nodded.

He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. "Thanks, Jackie."

Jackie grinned, hugging him in return. "You're welcome, Steven."

He reluctantly folded one arm around her, hugging her back, before letting go. "I'll clean up here. All right?"

Jackie nodded again and pranced out of the room, leaving behind the smell of her shampoo. If he had to guess, it would have to be a combination of oranges and some type of flower—not two things he thought would go together, but on her, it worked.

He used to wonder what it was about her that always had the guys at school falling over themselves to get to her, or even how she kept Kelso around for so long. And he wouldn't admit it to himself—at least not for quite some time—but he now started to wonder less.

Author's Note: Hope you liked! Please leave me a review to let me know :) [Also, I'm still working steadily on Ch. 15 of The Right Road Lost, which will be up soon!]