Disclaimer: I do not own That 70s Show. This story is written for entertainment and fanfiction purposes.
Author's Note: Not a creative title for this kind of plot, but I couldn't think of anything else. I don't know if this story had been done before, but the idea just came to me. I hope no one is OOC, but if anyone is, just let me know so I can fix it. Enjoy reading and don't forget to please review! :)
There were a lot of things that Steven Hyde hated about himself. It's a whole list. One of them was that he found himself having feelings for a certain Jackie Burkhart.
Yes, the rich and incredibly vain cheerleader Jackie Burkhart; she was everything he stood against for, but he didn't know why his heart had to betray him and draw closer to her. Hyde had never taken an interest in the annoying princess before, but a soft spot had formed.
Hyde didn't know when that happened.
Maybe it happened when Hyde almost wanted to kiss Jackie when she let them have a keg party at the house that her mother was trying to sell. Or maybe when Jackie had owned Hyde after failing miserably to try to persuade Kelso from breaking up with her. She made that cute little victory fist pump at him.
Then there was a time when Kelso first told the guys he was going to break up with Jackie for good and meant it. Days and days had passed, and nothing happened. It drove the guys insane that Kelso never kept his word, and Hyde hated that. He also hated that Jackie was so oblivious and went along with the relationship.
Hyde still remembered when he couldn't go to the Todd Rundgren concert. Kelso didn't even want to be alone in the same car with his own girlfriend. Sure, he was going to break up with her soon, but the least he could've done was to be there with her or break up during that moment, but no. The jerk had the audacity to leave his girlfriend and go to the concert with his friends.
"So, who's out?" Kelso asked Hyde, Forman, and Fez when they got stranded at a car mechanic's place.
They had to pay thirty two bucks so they could have the battery. But it wasn't that easy. The mechanic made a deal with them: one battery only for two concert tickets. That meant two people had got to go in their group.
"There's always Jackie," Hyde suggested, smirking.
It was obvious she'd be the perfect candidate.
"Of course, Jackie. I mean, Jackie's gone, but who else?"
"I don't know," Eric played dumb to humor him. "Jackie's date?"
"Come on!" Kelso protested. "You know I'm breaking up with her. You guys are chumping me out!"
"Hey, Kelso, it'd be a good opportunity for you to dump Jackie." Hyde pointed out as Forman and Fez nodded their heads in agreement.
"No, man. Not like this. I can't," Kelso shook his head, making the guys groan at his constant procrastination. "One of you guys have got to go. Eric?" He looked eagerly looked at the scrawny teen.
"What? No way, man. I drove us here, and I got Donna."
"Fez?" Kelso asked hopefully.
"And miss out on my first American concert?"
Kelso slowly turned to Hyde with a small smile. His last hope. "Hyde...buddy?"
"No." He had flat out rejected.
"Come on, guys! I can't stay stuck in the car with Jackie when I'm gonna break up with her!" Then it was as if a lightning bulb had gone off above Kelso's head. He had an idea. And when he had an idea, it usually wasn't a good one. "Let's Rock, Paper, and Scissors it!"
"This is so lame," Hyde muttered. He couldn't believe he was about to play a kiddie game. What a drag.
"Either this or I'm never going to break up with Jackie!" Kelso threatened which made them all do it.
As it had turned out in the end, Hyde had somehow lost.
Hyde thought it would be such a nightmare to stay in the Vista Cruiser with Jackie Burkhart for about two hours. He just knew it would be the worst time of his life.
"I just can't believe Michael left me here in the car," Jackie was angrily rambling on with her arms crossed over her chest. "With you. How could he leave you here with me?"
Right back at you, Hyde miserably thought and wanted nothing more than to die. He waited for some freak storm to happen and a lightning strike to zap him dead while Jackie vented.
"He didn't even want to come willingly to be with me. The four of you had to play your stupid childish game, so neither of you would have to get stuck with me. I expected it from you guys, but not from Michael. I mean, he's my boyfriend! How could he leave me like this? He should be here with me, not you. Ugh, if only this car weren't so old and ugly we wouldn't have to give the tickets away. And maybe if Eric had more money neither of us would be in this situation. We would be having a good time at the Todd Runddamen concert and-"
"Jackie!" Hyde harshly cut her off because he was almost losing his mind with her never ending rant. A headache was about to come on with her jibber jabber. He was massaging his temples to stop that from happening. He turned to her in the driver's seat.
Hyde tried to figure out a gentle way to break the truth to her. How could it be easy to say that your boyfriend already planned to break up with you any day now?
"Don't you think that this is a sign from...I don't know...a higher being that has a greater power than our own to show you that you and Kelso are not supposed to be with each other?" Hyde tried to say it in a way she could understand.
Jackie blankly stared at him as if he had two heads. "What are you talking about? Michael and I are meant for each other."
"But are you two really?" He dubiously asked her on purpose to have her think. "Had there been any times when you questioned your relationship with him? That Kelso had disappointed you in some way?"
Jackie looked like she was thinking about it for a second. "Well, yeah - I mean...sure. But we are a couple, and couples do have fights."
Hyde sure did know that couples had fights. He experienced that first hand. He had a lot of prime examples of his mother, Bud, and with men from previous relationships, she strung along in and out of his life.
The more he saw the fighting transpire between Jackie and Kelso, Hyde didn't want either of them to have that kind of life like his mother did. In the end, both of them would be miserable, and Hyde could tell from Kelso that he was on the brink of it to have his fill. Jackie wasn't there quite yet because she had got blinded by love.
"Don't I know it..." He mumbled but didn't think she'd actually hear him.
"What do you mean?" Jackie curiously asked.
As if he would give her personal details of his crappy home life.
"Nothing," He brusquely said in a tone to drop it. "Why do you always put up with Kelso? He didn't even tell you about the concert in the first place."
"I know, right?!" There was a fresh wave of anger that returned to a fuming Jackie. "How could he not tell me that? Was he just planning to go without me this whole time?"
Jackie's demanding look was to Hyde, and his expression was a dead giveaway. She was smart enough to have seen that. The brunette's anger fades to being upset and disappointed.
"He was...?" That was a look Hyde never saw on the cheerleader, and he wished he never saw her pain.
The worst part about her face was the tears that almost brimmed her eyes. He hated when girls cry. He didn't know what to do.
"Why?" She asked him so soft, broken, and hurt. "If Michael really wanted to end it, he would've-"
"Kelso's been wanting to break up with you, Jackie. Everybody knows," Hyde revealed the long kept secret. "He's too much of a coward."
"Everybody knows?" Jackie was perplexed and couldn't fathom what Hyde told her. "Just not me..." She said bitterly and sadly looked out the window.
Hyde wished Kelso was in his place instead of him. He wouldn't have to suffer like this. And wouldn't have told Jackie about the impending break up. But Hyde figured he might as well say it and let either of them do the job to finish their relationship off. At least the seed got planted in Jackie's mind. She could stop being so clueless about her boyfriend's true feelings toward her.
Hyde could hear her sniffling and noticed her wiping some tears from her face.
"Jackie? Jackie, are you crying?" He craned his neck to get a good look at her even though she faced the window. Women crying was his weakness. "Come on, man, don't cry-"
"I'm not crying!" Jackie stubbornly denied it.
"If you and Kelso do break up, there have to be some other rich boys willing to date you, and you can be bossy and bitchy to him." He tried to encourage her.
Jackie turned to him with tears glistening in her eyes. The sight made his heart skip a beat.
"Michael's the only person I had ever truly loved..." Jackie confessed that part to him in a small, soft voice. "How can I find another guy like that again?"
"There is a guy out there for you, Jackie," He spoke to her gently. "Someone who is not Kelso."
Jackie stared at Hyde in a way that she had almost believed him and trusted his words...but she shook her head. Her face contorted to anger at him and her lips twisted into a scowl.
"No. No, I don't believe you. Michael still loves me, and I love him. Look, Hyde, I already know you don't like me and your friends don't like me. I just never thought you would stoop so low to say something like this in front of my face!"
This was going all so wrong. Hyde didn't want to have their conversation blow up in his face like that. Jackie refused to listen or speak with him again for a while.
The concert was still going on, and Hyde would give anything like his soul to be in there. During the moments of dreadful silence, Jackie was the one who finally spoke to him again. Hyde couldn't believe himself when he was sort of glad to hear her voice. Sort of.
"So, I've been thinking and maybe...maybe you're right about Michael. That the signs were there all along, but I couldn't see it...or maybe I didn't want to..."
Hyde knew he didn't mishear anything and heard Jackie admit he was right. Of all people.
"It's just that I love Michael. He was my very first boyfriend. He always gave me attention and was always there for me before...he got tired of me," Jackie frowned, and the more sad faces she made, the more Hyde hated himself for pitying her. The more she opened up herself and showed vulnerability, Hyde discovered more to Jackie than being a rich cheerleader. "Maybe there's something wrong with me..."
The gang had a laundry list of what was wrong with Jackie Burkhart. Hyde would be the first to write it all down. But he couldn't hurt her any more than he already had. And he shattered her perfect world enough by breaking the truth to her that Kelso didn't want her anymore. So her perfect and handsome boyfriend phase was over.
"No, Jackie, there's nothing wrong with you." That's what girls wanted to hear, right?
"I know you're lying," Jackie said, not being dumb, but an appreciative smile appeared. "But thank you."
"Don't let Kelso know that you know about this, alright? He'll probably kill me, but I can take him."
"Okay. I always got the feeling everybody knew something that I didn't. I hated that."
"It's just that you deserve to know, that's all," Hyde said, being aloof as if it wasn't a big deal. He just hated to see her getting used by Kelso and would talk behind her back. He couldn't bring that part up to Jackie. That would feel as though it was a backstab for her.
"At least you're honest with me about this, Hyde," Jackie kissed his cheek, and it was like his body almost went stiff. He didn't expect that. "Thanks for telling me."
Good thing his glasses were on, and the dark lenses hid the mixed emotions of his eyes when he felt her lips on him.
"Any time." Hyde managed to say to her.
That's when his feelings for Jackie developed more, and the hate he felt for her became nonexistent like it was a distant memory. The night of the concert completely changed for him.
He started to fall for Jackie Burkhart.
Unfortunately, she's been together with Kelso since the concert. Hyde wondered if she was too afraid to let him go, and that's why she wouldn't break up with him. Kelso was her first love. Hyde didn't know what that was like.
The pressure was on for Kelso to dump Jackie already. It would do well for both of them. But Kelso would always put it on hold and made it worse for everybody.
Jackie didn't deserve Kelso.
But she also didn't deserve Hyde either.
They were both total opposites. She wouldn't want to be with a poor guy like himself. He didn't exactly have the Hollywood star look like Kelso. Jackie wouldn't want to be with Hyde.
His friends would believe that Jackie was way out of his league. But they were wrong. It went the other way around. He was too out of her league. A total left field.
But Hyde still didn't squash his crush entirely away. He had hope that Kelso would dump her for good. Then maybe that could give Hyde a chance to date Jackie.
Not out in Kenosha for disco dancing. Jackie was so happy when she found that while reading the newspaper. Her bubbly excitement was actually cute. Hyde would rather have his ears bleed than listen to the painful disco.
But if it made Jackie happy like that, he'd take the risk.
Problem: Steven Hyde didn't know how to dance.