Hey guys, I'm trying my hand at a That 70's Show fanfic so obviously, I'm disclaiming that none of the characters from the actual show are mine and that I make no profit from this. It will be a Steven Hyde/OC, my OC being Eric's little sister. There will be some Jackie bashing because I don't agree with her getting with Hyde and obviously there will be Laurie bashing. Anyway, I will be following the show to a point and then it will deviate from the original timeline. Not sure when that will happen but feedback is key so let me know what you think of it.
Also, Very IMPORTANT if you ever read (past tense) or decide to read (future tense (which I suggest you do (especially if it ever gets updated which would make me happy)) Suz Singer's The Long and Winding Road, then you'll recognize a small bit of banter. I have received her permission to use it, which is where I'm going to say 'thank you very much' again! And if you haven't read it, I suggest you do, even though it's only five short-ish chapters because if you read it and let her know you like it, she might go back to updating it when she gets the time. *Fingers crossed*
Last thing, the show was kind of screwy on dates and ages and times so I went to That 70's Show wikia and confirmed that Eric's birthday is officially March 19, 1960 instead of May like it aired in the show and then got corrected on, in later seasons. So, with that being said, though it wasn't clear in the show, Eric is turning 16 and is, at the moment, a sophomore in the show. This means his little sister is 14, going on 15 in May and a freshman. And Wisconsin driving age is 15 and a half so Eric can still have the Vista Cruiser.
Chapter Word Count: 1,795
Original Post Date: 31 February 2016
Chapter One
March 1976
"You do know Mom is inviting The Slut home for your birthday, right?"
Eric Forman, a skinny geek of a boy with a bad bowl-cut hairstyle, groaned and turned to look at his younger sister as the two of them sprawled out on the couch in their parents' basement that Saturday afternoon. "And before you ask," the girl continued, "I really did try telling her you didn't want a party but if she ignored me last month for my fifteenth birthday, she's going to ignore you for your sixteenth birthday, Eric. Though I was there at the store and made absolute freaking sure she bought you a cassette player and not an 8-track player for the Vista Cruiser."
He hugged her. "You are the best sister I could ever ask for," he sighed. "Thanks for trying, Beth."
Beth or Bethany-Anne as was her full first name, smiled, replying, pushing up out of the quick embrace, "Sure thing, brother-mine."
The two younger Forman children were close, both relationship-wise and birth-wise due to being barely fourteen months apart. While they were both skinny as a stick, Eric was about 5'10" while Beth had been stuck at 5' since she was in middle school. Her brother also had their father's dark hair and hazel eyes while she had their mother's blonde hair and blue eyes.
The basement door burst open and three teenagers trooped in. "Hey, guys," she greeted them.
Steven Hyde, the rebel of the gang, grinned brightly when he saw her. "Hey, B. Where you been hiding?" He plopped himself into 'his' chair to her right, next to the couch.
The blonde shrugged, angling towards him. "I've been actually studying and doing my homework," she retorted playfully. "Where have you been, stoner?" He raised a brow, still grinning. She rolled her eyes, smiling. "Whatever."
He ran a hand through his thick curls, his grin fading as he sighed heavily. "You're not using Zen right," he muttered.
She frowned now, insisting, "Yes I am."
The delinquent leveled her with a look, though she couldn't see it through the darkly colored lenses, arguing, "No, you're not."
Suddenly she grinned again, realizing, "You're just mad I'm using it on you."
"Lies!" he claimed.
"Oh would you two just get a room?" Donna Pinciotti, the neighbor girl and her brother's most consistent crush since they had been children interrupted them.
Beth flushed, retorting, "Sure, as soon as you and Eric admit you like each other." Her brother sputtered, choking on his Coke. He put his glass bottle down, smacking his fist into his chest to try and regain his ability to breathe. "I… uh… don't know what you're talking about," he coughed, glancing at the redhead who was sitting on the armrest beside him who was watching him carefully. "I mean… unless… you're… totally… into that?"
Donna smirked but did not answer that because Fez, the foreign exchange student from who-actually-knew-where, spoke up. "Oh, Eric and Donna sitting in a tree," he sang out. Beth took one of the pillows from the couch and reached out, gently smacking him in the face. "You are so mean!" he pouted then grinned and leaned in, presenting his cheek, "Now kiss it better."
Beth laughed and sat back, watching him pout again. Standing up, she asked Hyde, "I'm getting a soda. Want one?"
"Whatever."
She rolled her eyes, calling over her shoulder, "I'll take that as a 'no'. Fez, Donna, soda?"
"Yes, please," the two called out in sync while Hyde shouted out, "Hey!"
Pulling out four glass bottles, Beth looked up as the sliding kitchen door slammed open. "And she said I wasn't cute so I told her she was a poor uggo who wouldn't amount to anything in life and do you know what she did?" Jackie Burkhardt and her doofus of a boyfriend had, unfortunately, arrived. "Oh, hey, Bethany-Anne," the cheerleader noticed the youngest Forman and dismissed her just as quickly. She pushed past her and grabbed her own glass bottle of soda out of the fridge and one for her boyfriend as well. The boy had already trooped downstairs.
The blonde scowled, snapping, "Just know, you're only barely tolerated here because Kelso, Hyde and my brother have been friends since they were nine-years-old. The minute you two break up, you're no longer invited here."
The brunet scoffed. "Please, I'm rich. I'll just buy everyone gifts and then they'll like me," she retorted.
Anger flared in the older girl and she scowled. "Throwing money around like it grows on trees is not going to make lasting friendships and overall is going bite you in the ass, Burkhardt, and I so hope I get to see it happen and see your pretty little rose-colored world shatters all around you." Spinning on her heel, she stopped downstairs, announcing, "That bitch is going to get punched one of these days."
She handed out the bottles to her three friends
Donna frowned, asking, "Why don't you like Jackie? I mean, other than the fact that she's a shrieking, vapid cheerleader who thinks she's better than everyone else."
Beth frowned. "I'll tell you later. Oh, speaking of later, could you help me with my English homework?"
The redhead nodded. "Yeah, sure."
"Who's better than everyone else?" Everyone rolled their eyes as Jackie made her presence known. "Were you talking about me? Because if you were, then you are so totally right!" She grinned then, bouncing on her toes.
Kelso spoke up, "Damn straight, baby." She preened and pressed herself against him, kissing him sloppily.
"If by better you mean we hate your very guts, then yes," Hyde verbally jabbed at the youngest girl. She broke away from her boyfriend and shot him a nasty look.
Beth tried not to smile but her lips curled up anyway. She settled onto the couch nearest Hyde and turned back to the TV for some mindless television as was their want for the weekends. A preview for The Man Who Fell To Earth came on and she mentioned being interested in maybe going to see it.
Hyde raised a brow. "It looks stupid."
She rolled her eyes at him. "Fine, I'll go see it myself. Jerk," she muttered under her breath.
He leveled her with a look. "Who wants to see Ziggy Stardust prancing around, pretending he can act? He can barely sing." He winced when she punched him in his arm.
"You shut your filthy whore mouth!" she shouted, teasingly. "David Bowie is the man!"
Jackie spoke up, "David Bowie is a grungy fag who can't sing and definitely can't act."
The blonde glared at the youngest brunet and turned back to Hyde. "Screw Zen. I'm going to beat her." She handed him her bottle and got to her feet, full intent of, if not actually punching the girl, chasing her out of the basement and locking the door behind her. The intimidation worked because the cheerleader looked nervous, stepping behind her boyfriend. An arm wrapped around the fairer haired girl's stomach, however.
"Come on," Hyde whispered. "She's an idiot, meaning not worth it." He pulled her back down and arranged her into his lap. It had been a long time, one year, six months and seventeen days—not that she had counted or anything—since she had last had the privilege of this particular thing and only done when he knew she needed to be honestly calmed down.
Beth sighed, her head tucking into the crook of his neck. The anger slowly seeped out of her and she closed her eyes, quietly inhaling the scent of sweat, cigarettes and something that just made up Steven Hyde. "Sorry," she muttered.
He shrugged and took a sip of his soda, wishing it were beer.
"Know another thing that'll make you feel better," he replied.
She grinned. "Circle time?"
"As you wish."
Beth kissed his cheek, laughing when the boy flinched, making a 'yuck' sound, and got up from his lap. He pulled a brown paper bag from behind the chest freezer and Jackie mad an excuse to leave. Everyone else sat around the coffee table and a beautiful big blunt was rolled for the six of them.
This was a perfect way to calm down.
That night when most everyone had gone home and Donna and Beth were upstairs in the blonde's room pouring over the younger girl's English homework, the redhead was ready to get some answers about the hatred between the gang's two youngest.
"I especially love having you around," Donna said. "It's not fun being the only girl around—well, besides Jackie but she's…"
"She's worse at school," Beth finally admitted, looking anywhere but at her friend. "I'm not sure if it's her or not, but her cheerleading friends have been starting these really bad rumors about me. Have you heard any of them yet?"
"That you're sleeping with Mr. Barnes? Yeah, but he's gay."
The blonde shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I've gone to him after class on a few occasions for help and because we were 'standing too close together to be appropriate' I was sent to the Guidance Counselor yesterday. I have to talk to the principal on Monday and if they think there might be any shred of proof that I'm screwing my teacher, he's going to get fired and everyone in this damn town is going to think I'm like Pam Macey." The blonde flopped back into her pillows and rubbed her face. "On top of that, those bitches are always saying the worst things because they think I think I'm better than them or something just because I don't want to scream shrilly about a school I don't care about and wave pom-poms all over the place. And I've never caught her doing it because whenever I look, she just stands there and watches and does nothing." She just wanted to go to sleep and wake up with a world without Jackie Burkhardt. "I'm worried it's going to get worse."
Donna frowned. "Worse, how? That's already really bad. Do your parents know?"
Beth shook her head. "Yeah, mom's getting someone to cover her shift at the hospital on Monday so she can be there with me when I go to the principal's office. I'm not sure she's told Dad yet or he might have forbid Jackie from coming into the house. Which would be nice."
"Kelso would be mopey and you know it."
Beth groaned, knowing the full extent a mopey Kelso could affect the mood of the basement.
"Alright, we should probably get back to work," Donna sighed. "I actually want to get to bed before midnight." The blonde mock saluted her friend and the two girls turned back to the assignment and started to work through it.
So here's the end of Chapter One. I know it's kinda short but right now I'm putting out feelers to see if anyone actually likes this. So let me know what you think without flaming me, please. And if you didn't read the header note, if you recognized a small bit of banter from Suz Singer's The Long and Winding Road, I received her permission to use it so don't go being a tattletale on plagiarism. And I still recommend you read the aforementioned story, even though it's only five chapters so far.
So yes, Beth and Jackie hate each other though Jackie isn't actually spreading rumors about Beth. She's just not doing anything to stop or deflect her cheerleading friends who think Beth thinks she's better than them because she actually studies really hard. No, the whole hatred thing is in fact because of plot, which will be revealed over the next however many chapters I bang out. I'm still working through season 1 on my computer so… it's looking like a nice long story. I might break it up, maybe. If there's enough demand.
As for Beth and Hyde being a little touchy-feely, remember, with a new character added to the storyline, he's not going to act entirely like he did in the show. In this, he grew up with Beth's near constant need for someone to either be touching her or showing some kind of affection so he's adopted to fit her when she really needs it. And she knows better than to really turn to him for that unless she really needs it. He saw that she really needed to be calmed down so he did it the best way he knew how by showing her a little bit of affection.
Anyway, I wish you all good health; good weather and I'll talk to you later, gaters.