The sun was sweltering, casting shivering illusions over the paved parking-lot. From within the room though came a cool, air-conditioned breeze that hit him in the face.
Maybe it was that shock of cold that woke him up, made him shake his head and take his surroundings in, or maybe the loud car-horn from behind, or maybe it was just coincidence. Fact was that Hyde frowned and read and even understood the sign over the door. 'Divine Chapel of the Desert', and underneath '24hrs wedding-chapel, for those who can't wait for Forever-After'.

What the hell?

Looking down, he understood he was wearing fancy pants and a jacket over a black t-shirt - much too well-dressed for the way he was feeling. There was a woman next to him, wearing a nice blouse and skirt, hair done in a fancy style and he had two rings clutched in his left hand and the heat was just as obnoxious as the electric recorded organ from within and he didn't know who that woman was! If you asked him, he'd have said he'd never seen her in his whole life.
He knew he was in Vegas, knew how he got there. Knew why he got there. A sharp pain sliced into his brain, digging into that spot behind his eyes and setting up camp. A headache of epic proportions was building, and he needed a fucking drink.

"Are you ready, honey?" the woman asked, and Hyde shuddered. He was about to marry a stranger, give a ring to someone he didn't even know. He could still smell booze on his breath, could taste it between his teeth, and at a glance at the calendar, he understood that he had no fucking clue what he'd done the last five weeks. "Honey?" she asked him, looking concerned. Maybe she was a nice girl, and maybe she cared about him. But he was drunk, fucking drunk, still swaying – that wasn't the heat, he knew that kind of sway – and she was about to marry a nineteen-year-old drunk who couldn't have been sober for even a day during their acquaintance. So he didn't hold much hope.

He took a step back.

"Mr Hyde and Ms Leonard?" a man from the chapel called. "The Hyde/Leonard-wedding?"

"That's us, honey," the woman – his fiancé? Oh god! – said, holding out her hand to him. Hyde took another step back. "What is wrong, Stevie?"

He felt like he was going to puke right here on the front-steps of this oh-so-romantic little chapel. "Uh." His throat scratched like he'd gargled with acid, and the way he felt, it might not be so far from the truth. "Uh, sorry. Uh… um…" he wrecked his brain for her name, but it remained blank. "… darling", he chose, lamely. "I… I'm really sorry, but this … I … Here." He grabbed her hand and pressed the rings into her palm. "Find someone better, I can't do this." And with his world twisting and sending his brain in a hard spin, he turned around and left the chapel-grounds, happy that he found his Camino on the parking-lot and his keys in his pocket. He was sure he shouldn't drive, but staying was not an option and leaving his car wasn't one, either.

God, he needed a drink.

God, the last thing he needed was a drink.

Notes: Hey there, hi there, ho there!
My first fanfic in this fandom - I'm so excited! I hope there's still someone out there reading it, but it more or less wrote itself, so. Had to post it.
Just in case you missed the tags - this will end up Hyde/Jackie, since duh! But it will take quite a while to arrive, so I hope you'll bear with me anyway. I did some research and tried to find a timeline for when this is supposed to happen, but the show's all over the place with its time-accuracy, so I just dumped it all in 1979 and waved my hands.
Anyway - on with the show.