THE RIGHT WAY AROUND.
Chapter 4 – Help Me to Help You.
A/N: I am so sorry for taking so long to update but life got in the way and then I had some computer problems and the site wouldn't let me update but I hope this chapter makes up for it. The response has been amazing and I cannot thank you all enough for the support I have received. I really appreciate reading them and it gives me the confidence to write more. I am tempted to write more Circle scenes if I feel the opportunity arise but I don't want to bother if you didn't enjoy the one in Chapter 3. Please let me know what you think. Thanks, and now back to the drama.
Disclaimer: I own nothing and after the crap the show spilled out in Season 8, I'm relieved to have nothing to do with the show.
FORMAN BASEMENT (the next morning)
Bursting open with a start, the door leading out to the garden swung against the wall, knocking the record player off its stand and onto the ground. Amongst the wreckage of several Led Zeppelin records and a very worn copy of Sgt. Pepper stood a dark-skinned man with a look that shot daggers at the sole occupant of the basement, the resident Zen master.
"Let me take a wild guess." Hyde started, with the shake of a finger, "You're in a bad mood."
Collecting himself, Fez gave a small, apologetic smile and proceeded to walk over to the man he had idolised for as long as he could remember and lay a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Now Hyde, you have been a dear and loyal friend to me for almost a decade-"
"We've only known each other for like 3 years."
"WELL IT FEELS LIKE LONGER, DAMMIT!" Fez shouted, exasperated. Once again feeling the need to take a deep breath, he continued. "Regardless of our loose timeline, I have grown quite fond of you and have always been willing to share my wisdom with you, especially when it comes to the ladies. Now after my intervention two months ago, I thought that you had seen sense once and for all but I see that this is not the case. Therefore you leave me no choice." By this point, Hyde was looking around the room, half-expecting to see someone jump out of the shower and tell him he was on candid camera. He was broken out of his daze, however, by the surprisingly strong grasp of his foreign friend and was moved against the dryer while Fez dug around in his backpack. After pulling out a bag of M&M's, a Kit Kat, a bag of Oreos, a copy of Playboy, and another bag of M&M's, he at last pulled out what looked like an old pocket watch. Bewildered, and a little unnerved, Hyde thought it best to keep his mouth shut.
Fez turned around to face him and held the pocket watch in front of Hyde's face. "Now, I want you to look deep into the watch until you have cleared your mind." Fez said, in the voice of a carnival hypnotist. Confusing Hyde's normal, blank, pissed off expression for that of deep concentration, Fez felt awed by his newfound ability to control minds. Oh, this will do wonders for my little men! he chuckled to himself. Shaking his head, he reminded himself that he was here for one reason, and for one reason only. Still amazed by Hyde's "concentrated" expression, he continued on, "Now, repeat after me. I have been an idiot and I must listen to Fez's instructions completely."
Hyde lost his patience and frogged him on the shoulder.
"Aiiii!" sounded from his friend. Hyde stalked around the couch and put his arms down on the lawn chair, leaning forward.
"Fez, what the hell are you doing with that watch? And why are you trying it on me? It's like waving a commie in front of Red." Hyde shook his head, dumbfounded as to why his friend would willingly risk a beating. Dropping the watch with a dramatic movement, Fez sauntered up to his friend in the most courageous walk he could muster however it looked to Hyde like Fez should be on a toilet.
"I'll tell you what I am doing, shall I? I am trying to play my part in the Jackie and Hyde saga by getting you two to work past your differences. I did it once before and I will be damned if your stupid, yet well-toned body will undo my work because I have already lost Eric and Donna's frenzied make-out sessions." His voice was now bordering on desperation. "I cannot lose yours and Jackie's as well." he finished, his voice breaking.
Did I screw up in a past life? Hyde thought to himself. It was the only reason he could come up with about how he had ended up friends with this guy. Laying a hand on his shoulder to calm himself as much as Fez, he said, "Fez, buddy. You gotta understand that Jackie and I are over. For good. Okay?" he asked gently. As icy as Hyde could appear, he had always had a soft spot when it came to Fez and his sensitive emotions. Fez raised his solemn eyes to meet Hyde's before speaking.
"If it's about what Jackie said to you last night, then forget it because she's just upset." Fez tried. However Hyde's eyes, still without protection, darkened and his grip on Fez's shoulder tightened. Fez sensed he had said one thing too many.
"Jackie told you about what happened?"
Fez began to shake nervously. "Um… well… you see she… I was… and it was all… Oh, I'm so sorry Hyde!" He lunged himself into his friend's arms. "Jackie was so sad and I didn't want to come out of the closet or she would think I was spying on her, which okay, normally I would have. But she was so depressed and lonely that I couldn't leave her alone and I thought you would hurt me if I came out when she started yelling at you. Jackie is a very scary woman, Hyde. She must be very controlling in the you-know-where." Fez laughed in his own perverted yet oddly endearing way.
However, Hyde was not amused. He wasn't sure he was even that pissed off. Well, he was a little but what else was knew? Truthfully, he was embarrassed that a 95lb cheerleader could give him such a multi-burn without taking a breath and that she would leave him with nothing to say, and he was even more embarrassed that now there were witnesses. Since he had been so consumed by his own anxiety, Hyde had not noticed that Fez was back to rambling out an apology.
"… but you must know that I have never thought your sunglasses were cheap or belonged with gypsies. In fact, I think they really bring out your eyes and your massive head." Fez gasped. "No, wait! I didn't mean that your head is massive. No, it is perfectly normal head-size and it's something I would even kiss in admiration. Yes! I would actually like to kiss your head." Growing more nervous by the second, Fez leaned into Hyde before getting shoved off by a now extremely pissed off Hyde. "So you don't want me to kiss your head?" Hyde groaned and turned around, storming up the steps outside the basement leaving a very twitchy foreigner behind. Swallowing his terror, Fez spluttered out, "Oh, what a surprise. Mean ol' Hyde is running away!"
Silence.
Fez closed his eyes shut and when he opened them, he was confronted with the stony glare of Hyde's face.
"What did you say to me?" Hyde asked, as if daring Fez to continue. Figuring he couldn't be in more danger of a beating that he already was, Fez bit the bullet and took a deep breath before continuing.
"Like I said," he gulped, "you're running away from me. You don't want to talk about your relationship Jackie and you are being a coward as always." Fez stuck his chin out, showing Hyde that he wasn't afraid of him. Hyde took a step towards Fez, menacingly.
"Look here, Fez. The reason that I walked away from you is that I have spent the better part of the last 12 hours getting bitched at by Jackie and then bitched at by you and if there is any chance of the Point Place murder rate not increasing in the next day, I figure it is best that I don't surround myself with people who are looking to sign their own death certificate." Thinking the conversation was done, Hyde began to leave. But Fez wasn't finished.
"Well… well… if that's true, then how come you ran off to Las Vegas for a month after you and Jackie had a little problem? What, did you just want to admire the architecture at Caesar's Palace?" Fez said with a bit more confidence.
"Kelso was wearing a towel!"
Fez gasped. "Oh, no! He was wearing a towel! Why on earth would someone coming out of a shower do such a thing!" Fez looked patronisingly at Hyde.
"You. Weren't. There." Hyde said, between gritted teeth.
"AND NEITHER WERE YOU!!! Kelso told us all that he saw the Camino speed out of the parking lot while he was running from room to room in the buff! So that meant you were in the room for, what? All of 30 seconds?"
Boy, I've got some balls today. Fez thought. But for the sake of those little gems, I'll wrap this up.
With a sense of defeat in his voice, Fez tried to appeal to Hyde once more. "Just stop being such an idiot." Great start Fez. Oh, shut up! "This whole Zen act was funny once Hyde. Hell, I admired it more than anybody but even I have grown tired.
Hyde looked down, frustrated that he had grown so dependent on his shades. But truthfully, he was sad. Not bitter sad and not pathetic sad. Just sad. For as long as anything had mattered, Jackie and Fez seemed to ignore his shit and have blind faith in him. And now here he was for the second time in two days hearing that he wasn't worth it anymore.
Fez recognised that look. He had seen it when Hyde got Jackie's note that she was leaving for Chicago and he had seen it when Edna came back and skipped out on him with Bud.
"Dammit, Hyde! Stop feeling sorry for yourself! You screwed up, but so what? Jackie's dad is back. Her mom is gone. Her boyfriend broke up with her. She lives alone."
"Then do something about it!" Hyde bit back.
"What do you think I have been doing?" Fez exclaimed. "I'm not cut out for this gut-wrenching misery! You know, I've done all I can so I need to find Kelso before I do something un-Fez like and slap you." Fez cocked his head and took in Hyde's appearance. "On second thought, it looks like someone has beat me to it."
Hyde rolled his eyes and waved Fez off.
30 MINUTES LATER
HYDE'S ROOM
So I comforted Jackie at the Ski Cabin when Kelso cheated on her, I took her to Junior Prom, I went with her to Sizzler, I taught her Zen, I comforted her again when Kelso cheated on her with Laurie, I went to jail for her, I let her pursue me for months, I went out on a date with her, then I forgot about her, then I started making out with her, then I started dating her, then we had our own mini-dramas for a few months, then I cheated on her, then I got her back, then I pushed her away, then she broke up with me, then I got her back, then she left, then I found her with Kelso, then I went to Vegas, and then I destroyed our relationship with 3 words.
"Great job, buddy," Hyde said to himself, "It's all your fault. Sure, she's not completely innocent, but take a look at what she had to work with." Rolling off his lying position on the cot, Hyde sat up on his bed and wondered what the hell he was doing. He had broken a girl's heart more times than he could even remember but as soon as she, or anyone else stood up to him, he acted like the victim.
She's the victim.
"I know."
She's the victim!
"I know." He said louder.
SHE'S THE VICTIM!!!
"I KNOW!" Hyde yelled, but it was only then that he realised she needed saving this time and she needed him to show her she could trust him to stay with her no matter what, not the other way around. "So how do I fix it? How do I get her to talk to me if I can't even get in the same room as her?" he asked to anybody that was listening.
And just like that, the light bulb went off.
A/N: I'm not thrilled with this chapter because it feels so unrealistic but I will use the excuse that it is fiction so anything can happen. You can see that I am trying to redeem Donna and Fez who both lost my support in Season 8 with how their characters turned out. Hyde needs to suffer a little more lol. I know this is a bit out of character but that's why it's called The Right Way Around. I don't plan on dragging this out because this is only my first story and I want to write a few more for this couple before I attempt something big. Once again, please review!
Stay safe.