Jackie hopped down the steps to the basement, her skirt swishing around her legs with each bounce. For some reason, the day had her feeling extra giddy and excited as if something wonderful was just waiting to happen to her. That feeling had pulled her out of bed extra early that morning, and although she had taken special care with her appearance, she was still showing up at the Forman's over two hours earlier than she normally did.
It wasn't because she was excited to see Steven, of course, she told herself, running her hands down along her thighs to smooth out her skirt. It was because she had been up early, she had run out of things to do in her bedroom, and she really didn't feel like being stuck alone in her big empty house.
Hell, Steven probably wasn't even awake yet.
Jackie nodded to herself and pushed open the door. She could just watch morning cartoons for a while. She took that last step into the basement, her heels clacking loudly against the cement floor, and stopped when she saw that the room wasn't as empty as she thought it would be.
"Steven."
Hyde had forfeited his normal seat on the chair, and was slouched down in one corner of the couch watching television. He looked over at her, apparently not all that surprised that she was there so early, and grunted his hello.
Jackie looked down at her watch. It was only just past eight. She didn't think that he got up that early during the school year, let alone during the summer. She shrugged, but couldn't stop a tiny smile from curving her lips at the idea that maybe he was the one excited to see her. So, Jackie flopped down on the opposite side of the couch from him and crossed one leg over the other. After a few minutes of nothing, she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye to see that he seemed to be ignoring her. His attention was still focused firmly on the television.
Well, that didn't seem right. Jackie crossed her arms over her chest tightly and couldn't help but feel more than a little miffed that he wasn't paying attention to her. She looked very pretty that morning. Her hair was perfectly curled and she was wearing a brand new absolutely gorgeous tank top. Plus, it never took him this long to make a move when they were alone! And she was there early, so they could do… whatever it was that they did even longer than normal.
Fine, she told herself. She would just ignore him right back. She turned her gaze to the television and settled in to pretend to watch the cartoon that she didn't quite recognize. She was sure that she had seen Michael watch it at some point or another, but couldn't remember what it was called. It didn't matter anyway, because she was starting to fume.
The cartoon was soon almost over, but Jackie couldn't say what it had been about. The irritation and frustration in the pit of her stomach continued to fester as the half hour passed, accented by the toe of her shoe tapping tetchily against the edge of the table. Hyde hadn't moved at all throughout the show, but instead stayed the very picture of cool, all slouched down comfortably at the end of the couch.
Jackie hadn't much cared about all of Hyde's ideas on Zen and coolness since he taught her about them all that time ago, but as the summer months continued to slowly progress, they were really starting to get on her nerves.
The tapping of her shoe sped up and echoed louder in the large room as her aggravation mounted. She wanted so much to stand up and blast him for ignoring her, but how could she? In all of the weeks that they had messed around, neither of them had really put into words what they were doing. They did it when they did it, but when others were around, there was nothing. It was simple kissing and a little bit of touching.
It could have been all imagined for as much as they had acknowledged it.
So, Jackie couldn't yell at him for it, but she sure as hell could just get up and leave. He would regret later that he had passed up his chance, but he would just have to deal. Maybe now was just the time to put to an end the incredible wrongness of the situation and then move on with the rest of the summer. There really was no reason to carry on the charade if he was just going to ignore her like this.
Anyway, she wasn't going to let him squash her wonderful feeling any more than he already had that morning.
Just as she was about to push herself off of the couch to leave, she heard Hyde sigh. She stopped as he got up and leaned across the table to flip the television off. He then pulled his sunglasses off and tossed them down onto the table.
The cushions sank underneath his weight as he dropped down beside her, his leg brushing hers and his arm stretching along the back of the couch behind her. He leaned into her, guiding her to sit all the way back in the seat.
She couldn't believe that after completely ignoring her for a half hour, he honestly thought that he could just sit down and do what he wanted. What nerve!
It took her a second to recover from the shock, but her hand finally flew up to his chest, stopping him from coming any closer.
Jackie opened her mouth to say something, but again, words failed her. This fling… or whatever it was, was not about words, and as he stared back at her, his clear blue eyes almost daring her to vocalize this, she realized again that there was nothing she could say. Anyway, with his hand now tangling in her hair with the fingertips lightly brushing along the nape of her neck, she suddenly didn't really feel like leaving anymore.
She raised one eyebrow high in warning, but the tension in her arm dropped, so he smirked slightly and continued to lean in.
Hyde's mouth met hers, and once again, Jackie found herself surprised at just how soft his lips were. She thought that after all the time that they had spent kissing, she would be used to it now, but she wasn't.
She relaxed beneath him, falling further into the soft surfaces of the couch and the circle of his arm as he shifted to bring his weight more fully over her. His head tilted and his lips slid against hers, coaxing her to respond.
She opened her mouth just a little and darted out her tongue to dampen her lips. He reacted immediately, his own lips parting to suck the now moist bottom one into his mouth. She moaned as she felt his teeth start a little nibble, and she arched up into him. Her arms went around his torso to slide along the broad plane of his back and try to angle his body more over her.
His hand slipped under her skirt to travel up the length of her thigh to nearly her hip. From there, he shifted away from her, rising up to his knees and guiding her to reposition herself to lie down underneath him. The kiss didn't break as she followed his directions, stretching across the length of the couch and then pulling him down until he hovered over her.
She scooted down a bit until her head rested semi-comfortably on the edge of the couch, and then returned her attention to the mouth over hers. The bristly hairs of his beard brushed against her skin, scratching at it slightly, but despite the redness she was sure it would cause, she focused solely on the tongue that had slipped between her lips and was running along the line of her teeth.
Jackie's jaw parted and she flipped her tongue over the tip of his, inviting him to come in further. He complied, and Jackie moaned in the back of her throat as her mouth was filled with the hot leftover flavor of Hyde's morning cup of coffee mixed with the mellow taste that was just him. Her head canted to the side, her mouth opening wider, and she tried to bring him further into her.
Hyde's hands had settled just under her shoulders, bracing his weight above her, but as Jackie's fingertips danced along the broad plane of his back, she felt him shift slightly to the side. She arched up into him as his right hand ran down the length of her side and then curved up to settle around her stomach.
As their make outs had progressed, Jackie had come to learn that, surprisingly, Hyde's touch could be just as soft as his kisses. His hands were so different from Michael's; stronger, more calloused, but also more patient. Touching had become one of her very favorite parts of the hot summer mornings.
Hyde's hand ran over the soft cotton of her tank top to trace along the bottom curve of one breast. Jackie's hands clenched against the fabric of his old t-shirt when one thumb ran up the valley between her breasts and his palm tilted to gently cup one small mound. Her mouth broke from his and a ragged breath pushed from between her lips.
"Steven." The word came out as nearly a whimper.
Hyde quickly recovered her mouth, swallowing her heavy breathing as his thumb stroked across the small pebble of one nipple through two layers of cloth. His lips formed a seal over hers and he thrust his tongue deep into the crevices of her mouth. Her chest heaved beneath his hand from the lack of air and the heady filling that was making her heart beat faster and her thinking nearly impossible.
Jackie's hands slipped along his back, clenching bits of material before releasing them and starting the process all over again. She raised her leg to rub against the length of his thigh. The rough denim of his jeans scratched against her bare skin as the new angle had her skirt riding up high. Bracing her foot against the edge of the couch, she nudged off her shoe and then traced down the curve of his calf with the ball of her foot, soaking up his heat through the thick material.
Hyde's lips slipped from hers, dragging down the curve of her jaw at the same time that his hand left her breast, dragging down the flat of her stomach. She groaned in protest, but quickly swallowed it when his mouth latched onto her earlobe and his fingers pulled the hem of her top free from the waist of her skirt, the warm tips now brushing against her bare skin.
A warning signal went off in the back of her brain as the heat of his hand steeped into her, spreading out from it's spot on her stomach across her torso. This was the first time he had really gone for touching under the clothes, and for reasons more than just someone could come down at any moment, she wasn't sure that they should go any further. But as the pad of his thumb traced along the line of her lowest rib, those reasons faded into some distant memory.
Jackie brushed her cheek against his, feeling his beard scrape against her sensitive skin. His teeth worked around her earlobe, pulling at it lightly before releasing it to lick across the patch of skin just underneath. She shivered, arched up into him, and stretched her neck further, giving him all the access that he would want.
As his mouth continued its trail along the line of her neck, his hand traced ever widening circles over her torso until it came to rest over the underside of one breast. His fingers curved around the swell and his palm shifted until it completely covered one mound. She could feel the warm tips of his fingers tracing down the edge of her bra, along the inner curve of her breast, and into the small valley between them. His palm smoothed from one crest over to the other before flexing his hand and squeezing her softly.
Jackie pressed herself up into him, buried her face into the arc of his neck, and dug her nails into his back. Her mouth latched onto his pulse point, visible just below the line of his beard and sucked a little bit harder than she knew she should have. The heat in the pit of her stomach spiraled outward, and she knew for certain that this was that wonderful feeling that had inspired her to show up at the Forman's that couple of hours earlier than she normally did.
Hyde's hand released her, and Jackie was ready to groan in protest before the warning sirens went off again. His fingers smoothed over her ribcage and around to her back, and a second later, she could feel his thumb flick once over the clasp of her bra.
Jackie braced her hands against his chest and pushed him back a bit. "What are you doing?" she asked, the breathlessness of her voice dampening the control she was trying to convey.
His hand froze on her back as Hyde pulled away from her neck and glared down at her. "What do you think I'm doing?"
Jackie's eyes narrowed, and she was pissed that he was able to keep his voice so even. Her fingers tapped against his collarbone, and she raised her eyebrow in warning. "Steven, I don't really think that-"
"Jackie," he interrupted, pushing into her palms and lowering his mouth back to the base of her neck. "Why do you always insist on talking?"
The tension in her arms dropped as he sucked lightly at the juncture between her neck and shoulder and his hand on her back slipped away from the clasp. Her hands slid around his shoulders, one hand burying in his short curly hair and the other sliding down to explore his body.
Hyde traveled back up the curvature of her neck to lick along the line of her jaw. He kissed her chin once before moving to her mouth and pulling her bottom lip between his teeth. Jackie could feel his warm breath cool the damp trail he had left on her skin. Her tongue darted out to flick at the tip of his lip. Their kiss deepened when Jackie pushed past Hyde's lips and into his mouth. He moaned as she licked the roof of his mouth and then ran her tongue along the line just behind his teeth.
The wandering hand beneath Jackie's shirt moved again, tracing the span of her ribcage and the jut of her backbone. The fingers skimmed the outline of her bra before pushing underneath it to caress the bare skin of her back. Jackie bit lightly at his lip when she felt his hand drift toward the middle, but he paid her no mind, drumming his fingers against the bumps of her spine.
She felt him flick at the clasp once, and then twice, and her eyes shot open as it released and came undone.
Hyde pulled back an inch to give her a cocky smirk, and Jackie couldn't help her lips from curving upward slightly. He was really good at that.
But the smugness dropped immediately off his face at the sound of footsteps on the stairs just outside. His eyes grew wide and he jumped off of her, grabbing his glasses off the table, and turning the TV back on in one quick motion. He settled down into his chair, crossing one leg lazily over the other.
Jackie struggled into a sitting position, trying to straighten her skirt and fix her clasp before the door opened. She pulled herself to the far end of the couch, smoothing her skirt out over her legs, but was unable to redo the bra before Fez burst into the basement.
"Good morning!" His smile was bright and wide as he regarded them. "Ah, Jackie. I didn't know that you got here this early."
Jackie stared at him wide-eyed. She could only imagine what she looked like, hair mussed, lipstick smudged, skirt riding over her knee. And her bra. She quickly crossed her arms tightly over her chest. If any of the guys were to notice that her bra was not done right, it would be Fez. He had more than a little obsession with boobs.
"Ah…" She tried to come up with something intelligent to say, but could only draw a blank.
Thankfully, Fez was of the short attention type, and he turned toward the TV. "Oh, goodie. I got here just in time for Matchgame. I love the Matchgame."
As Fez was distracted by the pull of Gene Rayburn's next question, Jackie swiped her mouth with the back of her hand, trying to get rid of any excess lipstick. She shot a glance at Hyde, and was enraged when she saw him looking back, trying to hold in his laughter at her predicament.
"Yeah, so does Jackie," he said in that deadpan way of his. "Look at how excited she is about it."
Jackie's eyes went wide again as her arms snapped back down to cover her chest and she did her best to look natural. She smiled tightly at Fez.
"Jackie, you don't look very excited at all. You look kind of angry."
She opened her mouth to respond, but Hyde spoke up once again. "Yeah, that's just how excited looks on Jackie."
There was no mistaking the glare that she shot him. "Shut up, Steven," she told him through gritted teeth.
Fez cocked his head at the two, his eyebrows drawn in as though he were trying to figure something out. Finally he shrugged and turned back to the television. "How can you be angry during Matchgame? It is so funny. Plus, there is Richard Dawson." He pointed at the man on the screen and turned to his friends, his expression thoughtful. "I'd let him kiss me."
The staredown between Jackie and Hyde broke as they both looked blankly at Fez.
"What? He's just so debonair."
After a second, Jackie just rolled her eyes and put her attention back on the television, trying to ignore the smirk that would not fall from Hyde's lips. She crossed one leg over the other and pulled her arms tighter around her torso.
"Are you sure you're okay, Jackie?" Fez asked.
"Yes." She answered without looking away from the large woman on the screen who seemed to be taking forever to spit out an answer.
"No, I think you're right, Fez." Hyde shifted in his chair so that he was facing more toward Jackie. "Something really does seem off about Jackie today."
Her head whipped around. "Nothing is off!" She tried to calm her tone and looked to Fez. "I'm fine. I'm just tired of having to deal with this jackass all summer."
"Well then." Hyde raised an eyebrow from behind his sunglasses. "You could always leave."
Jackie let the moment pass, mulling over ways to cause him certain death. She knew that he knew that if she were to stand, then the outline of her undone bra would be more than obvious through her tank top. "I'm fine," she bit out.
The room dropped into silence, broken only by the scratchy laugh of Brett Somers coming from the television set, as Jackie continued to try and avoid anyone's gaze and Hyde continued to smile at her.
"What is going on?" Fez finally asked. When neither of them answered, the pitch of his voice rose slightly in anger. He always got that way when he knew they were leaving him out of the loop. "Tell me what is going on!"
"Nothing's going on with me." Hyde shrugged. "Is anything going on with you, Jackie?"
"No."
Fez stared hard at them, refusing to let it drop. "You two have a secret, and I want to know what it is. I can keep a secret, you know."
"You cannot keep a secret." Jackie threw him a quick look. "But there's nothing to be kept secret anyway, so everybody shut up and watch Matchgame." She pointed to the TV. "Look, Fez. Nipsey Russell is on."
But the foreign boy could not be distracted. "You guys are lying!"
"Fez, why would we lie to you? I can't think of a reason, can you, Jackie?" Hyde put on his best innocent face.
Jackie gazed at him incredulously. She couldn't believe that he was trying to get them caught, and all because he thought her bra was funny. What a jerk!
"Fine, Fez. Eric asked us not to tell you, but I just wouldn't feel right about it if I didn't." Jackie shifted her arms on her chest. "Eric is going to the mall this morning, but he didn't want us to tell you. Considering his fashion sense, though, I really feel like it's the right thing that you know. He really can't be trusted alone with that sort of thing."
Fez looked toward Hyde for confirmation, and then scrambled from his chair. "I can't believe he would go without me!" he cried, pounding up the stairs and out of the basement.
As soon as the sound of the kitchen door slamming shut echoed through the room, Hyde broke out into laughter. He doubled over at the waist, leaning forward into his chair, and pointing at her.
"You, jerk!" she exclaimed, standing up from the couch. She reached up into the back of her shirt, arched her back, and tried to pull the two sides together. "You almost got us caught!"
"Oh come on." Hyde stood and turned the television off before walking over to her. "It was Fez. There was no way he was going to catch onto that."
She removed one hand from her shirt and jabbed a finger into his chest. "You, Steven Hyde, are a jerk!" She then folded her arm back into her shirt to struggle with the bra, pushing her chest out as her back arched again.
Hyde stepped closer, sliding his hands around her ribcage and dropping a light kiss on her forehead. "Whatever."
The clasp snapped together, and with a smirk of satisfaction, Jackie pushed him back a step. She dropped down onto the couch with a light "Hmphf."
Hyde laughed and sat down beside her. His fingers circled her wrist as he began to pull her over toward him despite her slight resistance. "It doesn't matter now because he's gone, and he's not gonna give up until Forman takes him to the mall." He pulled her legs onto his lap and leaned into her. His mouth settled on her neck, sprinkling a trail of kisses up to her cheek.
She let herself relax into him, and his smell, and the scratch of his beard. "Fine, but you better keep your hands to yourself this time."
Jackie felt his chuckle brush across her cheek as he brought his mouth to hers. "Whatever you say."
His hands slid around to her back, and before she knew it, they were back up her shirt. His weight shifted forward, pushing her to lie back down, and with one flip of his thumb and forefinger, the bra clasp came undone again.
Hyde pulled back once more to give her that self-assured smirk, and she couldn't stop herself from laughing against his lips as her hands settled over his back and his warm fingers stroked against her bare skin.