A/N : A combination on constant watching and re-watching of my new T7S Season 5 dvds and a sudden flash of inspiration led to the following story, which I managed to get written, beta'd, and posted, all in time for Halloween. Hope you like!
Summary : They seemed like total opposites from the first day they met, but he'd always cared about her, and she'd always looked upon him as her hero... How Jackie & Hyde might've first met one dark Halloween night
Disclaimer : I do not own That 70s Show or any of it's characters - I'm just playin' in somebody elses sandbox.
Jackie's Halloween Hero
April 1978 - Point Place, Wisconsin - Donna's Room
"How can you have so much junk, Jackie?" Donna asked rhetorically, since her friend was in the bathroom and couldn't hear her. It was a couple of weeks now since the girls had started sharing a room and still not everything of Jackie's had found a home. Most of it was spread haphazardly throughout the room, filling every available space and surface.
Tripping over another stuffed animal that had been left on the floor, Donna made a grab at the desk to stop herself falling and pulled a trinket box down with her. The contents spewed out onto the carpet and cursing she quickly gathered up Jackie's bracelets and rings, shoving them back into the little pink box.
"Donna, what did you do with your big clumsy feet now?!" Jackie complained as she stood in the doorway, her hands on her hips.
"Hey, if you didn't have so much stuff all over the place, I wouldn't trip on it" her friend argued, as she picked up the remainder of Jackie's beads and baubles.
"That's my special box, Donna!" the smaller girl protested, "It has all my important jewellery in it!"
"Yeah, this looks real valuable" the red head smirked as she held up what appeared to be nothing more than a flattened bottle cap.
"It is" her friend snapped, grabbing the item from her friends hand as Donna shook her head and walked away, "It's my anti-fear device" Jackie whispered, smiling to herself.
It seemed inevitable now, as she looked back, that she and Steven Hyde would end up together. They seemed like total opposites from the first day they met, but for reasons unknown to even him he'd always cared about her, and she'd always looked upon him as her hero...
31st October 1969 - Point Place, Wisconsin - Out In The Street
The little boy could barely breathe as he ran around the corner and came to a grinding halt, bending at the waist as he tried to get some oxygen into his lungs. His furry costume made him hot even in the cold night air, and the running definitely hadn't helped, but there was no way he was going to get caught.
His Dad, Bud, was supposed to take him trick-or-treating tonight, as he did every year, but it was a while since he'd left little Steven and his mother behind to fend for themselves. With Edna mostly drunk, or entertaining one of her many male friends, Steven Hyde, who mostly preferred to be called by his last name, would hang out at his friends' homes, being cared for by their parents instead.
For Halloween, it was Eric's Mom who had offered to take care of not just Hyde, but also Donna who lived next door, and Michael Kelso, their other good friend. She'd fast-shuffled her husband, Red, into taking the kids out but the moment he got a little distracted, Hyde had broken away from his friends, determined to cause more mayhem than Mr Forman would allow.
Basic trick-or-treating didn't thrill Hyde. Knocking on doors and smiling at little old ladies, who pretended to be freaked out by the sight of Eric the vampire, Michael the mummy, and Hyde the werewolf, or just oohed and aaahed at how cute Donna looked, dressed up as fairy much to her disgust. Her parents had pretty much forced her into that dress, Hyde was sure, since the red-head barely looked like a girl on a normal day.
Pushing his mask up on top of his head, Hyde stood up straight and let out a breath that curled like smoke from his mouth into the chilly night air. There was no way he was gonna get caught for his crime, not this time. Last year he and Kelso had been punished when the school Principal spotted them throwing eggs at the side of his house. This year Hyde had been smarter and gone alone to commit his crime.
Eggs on the front windows? Check. Dog poop on the front porch? Check. Toilet paper all over the front lawn? Check.
A good nights work, Hyde realised as he laughed, finally having sufficient breath to do so. Sure, Mr Forman would yell at him from running off, but so long as said he was sorry and played the 'but my parents don't care about me' card, he knew he'd escape without any severe punishment. Besides, even if the Principal suspected it was Hyde that had trashed his house - again - he had no proof, and without that, he had nothing.
Deciding it was time he headed back towards where his friends would be by now, Hyde checked nobody was around, pulled his mask back over his face and set off walking. He stopped after just a couple of steps when he heard a cry.
Turning around he spotted two larger kids blocking the path of a little girl dressed in a red cloak and hood. The boys who were dressed as two random monsters appeared to be trying to take the little girl's basket of candy from her and though she was putting up quite a fight it was evident even from this distance that she was upset and scared.
Seeing there was no-one else around to help, Hyde decided the hero would have to be him right now.
"Hey!" he called, and though the word was muffled by his mask the boys still heard him and took their attention off the girl enough for her to get her basket free from their grasp. Unfortunately she knocked herself on her behind at the same time as Hyde ran over, growling almost like the wolf he was dressed as at the two boys.
"Leave her alone" he told the two who he now recognised from school. he didn't know their names, all the other kids just called them 'Destroy' and 'Give Back', on account of their favourite activity being stealing other kids toys, breaking them, and handing them back in more pieces than they started.
"Ooh, look, it's a WolfBoy" one of them laughed, seemingly unfazed, at least for the first five seconds, until Hyde threw a punch at his arm. Though the fist that struck out was small, it had a force behind it that the other kid had not expected and in seconds he was running away in tears with his friend following on behind.
"And don't come back!" Hyde called behind them as they bolted.
It was only as the quiet of the night returned that he remembered the little girl he had saved. She was still on the ground when he turned to look at her, looking sadly at her overturned basket of candy and the patch of dirt she'd got on her dress.
"You okay?" the nine year old asked as he offered a hand to help her up. Okay so she was a girl and, not counting Donna who really wasn't real girly girl, he didn't have much time for those of the opposite gender, but she was upset and possibly hurt, and in all honesty, she looked really pretty in her Little Red Riding Hood outfit.
"No" she snapped, ignoring his hand and clambering up all by herself, wiping her hands down the skirt of her dress and hating the amount of dirt and mess she found all over her. She'd looked so pretty when she left the house with the baby-sitter, but all too soon the teen had become distracted by her boyfriend who she'd met on the corner of the street. She'd told her charge to go knock on some doors and come back to her in an hour. In that time the little girl had managed to get lost and then set upon by the monster boys who had tried to steal all her hard earned candy.
"Did those idiots hurt you?" Hyde asked her as she scrambled around on the floor, picking up the chocolate and sugary treats that her parents hardly ever let her eat usually.
"No" she repeated, trying to ignore the scruffy little WolfBoy that dared to think she needed his help.
"Is that the only word you can say?" Hyde challenged her and she stood up straight and looked him right in the eye when she replied.
"No" she said, sticking out her tongue, before bending to pick up her basket once again and looping it over her arm, "My name is Jackie Burkhart, and I'll bet I can say a whole bunch more words than you" she said smartly.
"Whatever" Hyde said, rolling his eyes, which were now more visible as he'd pushed his mask back up onto the top of his head. In all honesty, it was not helping him breathe. Realising his work here was done, he turned to walk away, knowing Mr Forman would be doubly mad if he was too late returning to his friends.
"Hey!" the little voice of the girl he'd saved called behind him and he turned to look at her, "What's your name?" she called her question across the few feet of distance between them.
"Steven Hyde" he told her uncertainly. Why would this little kid want to know his name? Hadn't she just been all snappy and weird with him a minute ago, and after he'd saved her from the bullies too!
"You wanna walk me home, Steven Hyde?" she asked him with a shy smile.
"No" came his immediate response, which he regretted in seconds as even from this distance he could see her eyes welling up and her lip quivering. She was a weird kid, that was for sure. One second all mean at him for no reason, and now wanting him to play the hero he'd been trying to be in the first place! He decided there and then that he would never understand women.
"Okay, okay" he changed his mind as she started bawling, "I'll walk you" he said as he hurried back to her side, the obvious irony of the Wolf walking Little Red Riding Hood home totally lost on such young children, "Where do you live?"
Jackie recited her address perfectly, but that didn't help much since neither knew in which direction to find the house. Jackie had never been out alone before, and Hyde rarely if ever ventured into the rich side of Point Place, he never had a reason to be there, and he certainly wouldn't fit in.
"How come you're out here by yourself?" he asked as they started walking in what seemed like the most likely direction.
"How come you are?" she deflected his question like a pro, not wanting to admit that Mommy and Daddy were too busy to take her trick-or-treating and had instead sent her out with a sitter that didn't care what happened to her at all.
"I ran away" he told her simply, with a grin like he was proud of the fact, of course that was because he truly was pleased with himself, "Can you keep a secret?" he checked and Jackie nodded violently, so much so Hyde was surprised her head didn't fall off.
"I threw eggs and toilet paper at the Principal's house, and left dog poop on his porch" he laughed, eyes dancing with delight as he explained what he'd done.
"Eeeew" Jackie backed up a step from him at the sound of his admission.
Though the boy had appeared scruffy and dirty, she'd assumed that was just his costume. If he was the type that messed up a Principal's house, he probably really was one of those kids from the other side of the town, the one's that Daddy called hoodlums and scum. Jackie wasn't supposed to associate with boys like Steven Hyde, and yet he'd done a nice thing tonight, he'd saved her when she was in trouble and he was sharing secrets with her too. Maybe Mommy had the right idea, maybe the poor people of Point Place weren't so bad, maybe they were just unfortunate and deserved the kindness and understanding of their betters.
"You don't understand" Hyde was telling her when she started listening again, "You're just a girl"
"I'm not just a girl" she protested, hands on her hips, basket swinging widely on her arm as she glared at him, "I'm Jackie Burkhart, and you have to be nice to me"
"Why?" Hyde wanted to know.
"Cos... cos..." Jackie thought hard for an answer and looked smug when she finally thought of one, "Cos if you don't, I won't share my candy with you"
Hyde opened his mouth to tell her he didn't care when he realised actually he kind of did. After all it was quite a while since he last ate, and candy was good even when you weren't hungry. Still, it was more than his reputation was worth to actually be nice to this rich kid.
"I don't do nice" he told her firmly, folding his arms over his chest.
Jackie's eyes narrowed beneath her red hood, as she turned from cute to almost scary for a few seconds. A moment later she was back to cute.
"You saved me from those mean boys" she reminded her new friend, "That was nice"
"I guess..." Hyde considered, shifting uncomfortably, still not really sure why he'd bothered to get involved when he saw the girl in trouble. He usually only fought off bullies for people who paid him, or for his best friends like Forman, and he didn't share secrets with strangers either, but he had with her...
"Does that mean you love me?" Jackie asked suddenly looking thrilled as she fluttered her little eyelashes like she often saw Mommy do when her Uncle Burkhart came to visit.
"No!" Hyde denied it hotly, not loving the fact that she immediately looked so sad, "Well" he considered, "maybe I like you, a little bit" he admitted, "You're kinda pretty" he told her, glad to see the smile return to her face.
It was a little pathetic, he thought, that this girl needed to be assured she was so cute all the time just to stay happy, but then he guessed she had little else to worry about in her perfect little life, and that wasn't exactly her fault.
"Jackie!" a male voice suddenly boomed from across the street and a little way down.
"Oh" Jackie gasped, "that's my Daddy"
"I guess we found your house" Hyde realised, slightly stunned by the size of the building, and by the severity with which Mr Burkhart was yelling in the street, "Wow, he seems mad"
"Sometimes he yells at me a lot" Jackie said sadly.
Hyde wondered at how worried she looked about a little yelling, after all his Dad did more than just yell, his Mom too sometimes. Still, he was glad to know this little girl he'd befriended tonight didn't suffer like he did. She was all cute and fragile, she wouldn't cope so well as him.
Mr Burkhart's further yelling reminded Hyde that Red would probably be marching up and down the street calling for him by now, getting angry and turning a weird colour like he always did when he got mad.
"I should really go" he said suddenly, turning to leave, but Jackie's hand caught the furry sleeve of his costume and pulled him back.
"Can't you come with me?" she asked in a small voice, looking so much more like the frightened little kid being set upon by 'Destroy' and 'Give Back', instead of the feisty little woman who'd told Hyde she didn't need his help.
"I can't" he shook his head regretfully, "Forman's Dad will kill me if I don't get back soon" he said, backing away from her.
"But... I don't wanna go without you" she said tearfully, "What if I get scared?"
"No way" Hyde shook his head, "You're Jackie Burkhart, remember? You don't get scared" he reminded her as he came back towards her and put a hand to her shoulder, "And hey, if you ever do" he whispered, reaching into a pocket inside his costume for a moment, "Use this" he said, pushing an object into her small hand.
When she looked, Jackie saw an odd-shaped metal disc, nothing more than a squashed bottle cap in reality, but she couldn't see that in the half-light.
"What is it?" she asked with a frown as she tried to puzzle it out.
"It's an anti-fear device" Hyde told her, as if she were stupid for not knowing, "Whenever you think something might get scary, you close your eyes and hold onto it tight and you won't be scared" he promised her with a smile.
Glancing across at her house, Jackie felt her fear rising and tested the theory Hyde had posed. She closed her eyes tight and squeezed the metal disc into her little fist. She thought of the new friend she'd made tonight, how he'd saved her, how held been so nice and everything, and he hadn't even gotten around to sharing her candy with him yet.
"Oh" she gasped in realisation, opening her eyes again, only to find that Hyde was gone, and no longer visible in any direction. What came as more of a surprise was that her fear of going home and being yelled at had also completely evaporated too.
Jackie looked down at the metal disc in her hand and smiled - it really had worked.
The End