A/N : Writing for this 'verse still makes me nervous, this is only my second fic based on T7S and I really don't want it to suck. All the positive feedback is really helping, you reviewer types all rock! It is likely that this story will be updated once a week, and I'm aiming for Sunday to be the regular day. Hope that works for all of you!
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 2 - Stupid Things

Hyde wasn't quite sure how this had happened, but somehow he'd ended up with Jackie sitting next to him in the El Camino as he drove towards work. She'd stopped crying a while back and they awkwardly let go of each other in the middle of the Formans' kitchen, wondering how they let themselves end up that way in the first place, after all, she had a boyfriend who was supposed to hug her when she cried, and he had a reputation to uphold that did not involve getting snuggly with people like Jackie.

Hyde had explained he had to go to work, and asked if she was going back down to the basement. She'd shaken her head and told him no, asking if he could give her a ride out of here. She couldn't face Michael, not until she'd figured out what she was going to say to him about Todd. She was going to have to say something eventually, she knew that, or the guilt would eat her alive.

As she rushed off to the bathroom to clean up her face, Hyde had gone to the fridge to find something he could take with him for a snack. It had occurred to him he could easily steal one of Red's beers that he found there, the alcohol would surely help him to stop worrying about Jackie. Still, Red would go nuts if he noticed a beer was missing and right now Hyde knew he needed to keep a clear head. Most times when Jackie cried and he was the one to comfort her, she got ideas he had to veto as fast as possible.

So here they were, in his car, headed towards the Fotohut. They ought to have been going via Jackie's house so Hyde could drop her at home, but she'd pleaded with him to let her stay with him. After all, the house was empty right now, and all she'd do was sit around thinking about Michael and what she'd done to him. She needed company right now, something or someone to take her mind off things that were upsetting her. Seemed Hyde was her nominated distraction, much to his discomfort.

"Things between me and Michael have been weird lately" she said suddenly breaking the near silence of the car, the quiet radio in the background having been the only sound up to now, "And when Todd kissed me... I guess I just gave in because I felt vulnerable, but I made a terrible mistake" she shook her head, looking sadly down at her hands in her lap.

"Jackie" Hyde said with a sigh, "Y'know, you have to stop beating yourself up over this, man" he told her, eyes flitting from the road to her face and back, "Kelso is my friend, okay, but he's not worth it, not after what he's done to you"

"But I love him" Jackie protested, causing Hyde to roll his eyes.

"Yeah, and Kelso, he loves women" he reminded her, "And even if one of them is you, you deserve better than that. Everybody deserves better than that" he amended, realising he was making it sound like she was so much more special than everybody else. That was a path he didn't want to be taking right now, since it usually led to her vulnerable self making a move on him, and that was just wrong.

Hyde drove into the space by the Fotohut, got out of the car, and headed inside with Jackie following a step behind. Once inside the building he prepared for custom he wasn't really expecting whilst she hopped up onto the counter, kicking her feet like a kid. The noise of her heels bouncing off the wood soon aggravated Hyde and he tried to keep his anger in check as he turned to face her.

"Jackie, could you stop doing that?" he asked her, nicely as he could manage.

"Oh, sorry" she said innocently, stilling her feet. She soon hopped down from the counter and began wandering aimlessly around the shop, "It's boring here" she sighed eventually.

"Yeah, well, if you don't like it, go home" Hyde suggested as he took a seat at the counter and pulled a comic book out from under it, opening it up and beginning reading.

"You know I don't want to be alone right now" she reminded him.

"Then go bother Donna, or Mrs Forman, or whoever" he told her, getting a little annoyed, "I'm not playing baby-sitter, man, it's not me"

"What is wrong with you today?" Jackie asked him, getting mad herself by now, her arms folded across her chest as she got in his way when he tried to get up and walk away from her, "First you mess around in front of Michael, like you're going to tell him what I did, then you're all nice to me when I get upset, and now you think I'm just some stupid kid?" she rattled off, overly loudly, "I don't understand you"

"Okay first, you need to calm down" Hyde told her, "And second, I'm sorry if I'm not as simple as Kelso so you don't understand, but here it is, made real simple for you - I don't want you hanging around me" he told her firmly, turning away just as soon as he'd said it and pretending to sort out packets of photographs on the counter. Jackie stared at him for a moment, eyes starting to water all over again as she did so.

"Well you know what, Steven Hyde?" she said, her tears evident through her quivering voice, "Maybe I don't want to hang around you anyway" she said, trying for angry but barely succeeding as she turned to the door and yanked it open.

"Fine" Hyde yelled back at her, "Why don't you just run and cry to your boyfriend? Or better yet, go kiss your cheese guy!" he suggested nastily.

With a squeak of a sob, Jackie ran from the building, again in floods of tears, the door slamming shut behind her.

An angry expression crossed Hyde's face and he slammed his fist hard into the counter. God, he hated this, he hated himself, and he hated this situation. He hated Kelso for ever having cheated on Jackie before, and he hated Todd the tiny cheese guy for encouraging Jackie to cheat now. Most of all, Hyde hated that he cared at all about the little brunette that had just run out the door, but it was becoming increasingly obvious to him that those feelings he thought he'd buried once, right after their first and only date, were rearing their ugly head once again, and confusing the hell out of him.

"Hey, why do I have to pay?" Kelso complained as he, Fez, Donna, and Eric bundled into The Hub, "I totally won at Monopoly! The loser buys the burgers" he said, casting a look at Fez.

"Oh, but Kelso, because you won, you have all the money" he explained, "And the person with all the money gets the honour of buying all the food for the lowly poor loser people" he said, completely straight-faced as the others hid grins behind their hands.

"Damn, that actually makes sense" Kelso complained as he went over to the counter to order food for everyone and pay for it as instructed.

"Back in a sec" Donna giggled as she headed for the bathroom. She was surprised to find Jackie in there, standing by the sink, tear-tracks evident on her cheeks.

"Oh, hey Donna" she said, immediately she saw the red-head. Her hands went to her face in an obvious attempt to remove all evidence she had been crying, but it was too late for that.

"Jackie, what's up?" Donna asked her, looking concerned, "It's not about that stupid thing Hyde said about you cheating is it?" she checked, "Cos y'know, it's true, we all know you cheat at board games" she smiled.

"This is not about Steven Hyde" Jackie said, almost angrily, "He means nothing to me, absolutely nothing" she insisted, "I love Michael Kelso, and only Michael Kelso" she insisted, her hand gesturing to her own heart, "No other man comes close, not Steven Hyde, not my boss, not anybody" she said over-dramatically, only serving to make Donna all the more suspicious.

"Jackie, did something happen with you and Hyde?" she asked her, unsure of how best to phrase the question, after all she knew she could end up making Jackie even more upset, and surely she wasn't in love with Hyde... again!

"What are you saying, Donna?" the shorter girl asked, hands on hips and eyes flashing angrily, "Are you accusing me of cheating on Michael with Steven? Because you know I am so over him" she protested, wondering even as she said the words if it was a lie.

In all honesty, she wasn't entirely sure what the truth was right now, but it was far too late to be contemplating what might've been between her and Steven. He'd made it clear a long time ago that nothing would ever happen between them and she'd agreed with that, and after his yelling at her today, it was abundantly clear she meant very little to him.

"I'm not accusing you of cheating, Jackie" Donna shook her head, "I'm just... I'm worried about you. You're acting a little weird"

Jackie looked down at the ground and then back up at her friend.

"Oh Donna, I did cheat" she admitted tearfully, "Steven saw me at the mall, I was all upset over Michael not coming to pick me up on time and... and Todd kissed me"

"Todd?" Donna frowned, "Who's Todd?"

"My boss at the Cheese Palace" she admitted sadly, "It's crazy, I don't even like him, at least not that way, but I was feeling all emotional and abandoned and when he kissed me I might've kissed him back" she said, looking totally ashamed.

"Jackie!" her friend exclaimed, "After all those times you punished Kelso for cheating and now you go kissing the cheese guy!"

"I know, it was stupid, Donna" Jackie told her, "I know it was wrong, and I feel awful" she said, glancing away. She actually felt worse about something else, the fact her feelings for Hyde were slowly bubbling their way back to the surface.

After kissing Todd, she'd realised something, that she couldn't be happy with Kelso. If Michael were so great, she never would've cheated, and certainly not with a freak like Todd. He was a nice guy and all, but he wasn't anywhere close to her type. Not that Steven ever had been either, but even he was cooler than her boss.

"Y'know you have a choice, Jackie" Donna told her, "You can keep this from Kelso, and hope Hyde can keep a secret, even in the Circle" she said with a dubious look, "Or you can be what Kelso never was when he cheated - honest about what you did, and genuinely sorry for it too"

"I know" Jackie nodded, "I have to just admit what I did and apologise, and pray that he forgives me" she forced a smile, "He will forgive me, won't he, Donna?" she said hopefully and the red-head shifted uncomfortably.

"I'm sure he will" she said, with less confidence than she really felt.

Nevertheless, Donna supported her friend in her decision and duly told Eric and Fez they had to leave so Jackie and Kelso could talk. Neither boy looked impressed, but were not willing to argue too much when both girls glared at them. The combined wrath of Jackie and Donna was not something they wanted to face.

"What's up, baby?" Kelso asked as soon as he and his girlfriend were alone.

"Michael, I have something I have to tell you" she began her confession, as she watched her boyfriend stuffing fries into his mouth, grinning like he was about to be told he'd won the lottery or something. Instead he was about to hear a much uglier truth, and Jackie hated that she'd made such a hypocrite of herself, cheating on the man she had punished so much for committing the same crime.

Right now she just wished she was anywhere but here, preferably back in the Formans' kitchen, wrapped in the arms of Steven Hyde, being told that everything would be okay.

To Be Continued...