Chapter Title: Interire- to be lost

Chapter: 2/?
Rating: PG

A/N Sorry for the extreme lateness. I had this already to post about two weeks ago, but my Internet crashed and it's taken me this long to fix it. Next part should most likely be up by the weekend.

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Hyde snuck into the Forman's house a little before midnight through the basement door. He was lucky that he had an almost personal entrance to his room; it made sneaking in a lot easier and gave him the privacy an antisocial orphan needed.

"Hey." Eric, descending from the stairs, greeted his pal who was tiptoeing to his room.

"Forman, you still up?"

"I wanted to see how you were, man."

"I'm alright." Hyde said, peeling of his shirt.

"I thought you might wanna talk. I know jail must've been tough and getting probation has got to…" Eric trailed.

"I'm fine, Forman." Hyde cut him off tersely and Eric nodded slowly, knowing his best friend wasn't one to be open about his feelings.

"I covered for you by the way. My parents thought you were downstairs the whole time you were at the Hub." Eric said.

"Thanks man. I j-just needed time to think and stuff. Be alone."

"As opposed to being in a jail cell by yourself for three hours?" Eric remarked sarcastically. Hyde threw his shirt at Eric, who caught it. Eric laughed and responded, "Okay, okay. I understand, man."

"Well, I'm tired, Forman. I'm gonna get some shuteye. It's been a pretty long day." Hyde declared, as he walked towards his bedroom.

"Oh, my mom wants you to definitely come up for breakfast tomorrow."

"I don't think so." Hyde declared.

"Is the little convict afraid of Red?" Eric mocked, causing Hyde to glare at him. "In mom's words, you can't ignore Red forever and we have to have a 'family talk' about what happened. She wants you and Red to talk about and deal with what happened. " Eric said.

"I'm not family though." Hyde bit out, shocking Eric.

"Man, you know you're a part of this family. They, even Red to an extent, love you as a son. That's why this whole incident has got Red and Kitty so freaked."

"Or they're just pissed off because I'm the delinquent that let drugs into their house and near their precious children." Hyde claimed.

"Red's pissed- yeah. But this is Red. He's always pissed off." Eric declared.

"Whatever." Hyde said rolling his eyes.

"Just promise me you'll come to breakfast, man. The sooner we get through this- the better." Eric said and then added.  "Plus, Kitty's making pancakes."

"I'll be there." Hyde ended instantly with a smile and Eric smiled back.

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Hyde sighed the next morning as he slowly trudged up the basement stairs. He really wasn't looking forward to breakfast; knowing full well that he wasn't going to stomach any food due to the roller coaster bumps his digestive system was taking. After avoiding Red Forman all last night he had to finally go and 'get what he deserved', which would most likely involve the customary balding man's foot and Hyde's ass.

"Steven! Yay! You decided to join us!" Kitty exclaimed, as she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek and ran towards the grill to remove some pancakes. Eric came up from behind him and slapped him on the back before walking to the table and sitting down. Hyde looked around and noticed that Red wasn't present, as he sat down next to the Forman's only daughter, Laurie Forman. Laurie looked up at him once and smirked and then as he sat down her smirk turned into the most evil smile Hyde had ever seen.

Satan would've been proud.

"Where's Red?" Hyde mumbled.

"He's taking out the trash…felon." Laurie retorted, enunciating her last word.

"Laurie, shouldn't you be out scrounging for helpless victims and their blood?" Eric remarked. Instead of being offended, Laurie continued to smile at both seventeen-year-olds.

"I already am, little brother." She declared evilly, as Red walked in through the door, madder than he had been earlier that morning.

"What a dumbass!" He grumbled, as everyone inside the kitchen froze because of his harsh tone.

"What's wrong, honey?" Kitty asked sweetly, a hint of fear in her voice.

"Bob. Stupid-gets-everything-on-a-platter Bob!" Red yelled as he sat down in his chair in a huff.

Kitty paused watching as Red muttered to himself and fiddled with his cutlery and napkin. He didn't make contact with either of the children nor her. His attention fully focused on the knife in front of his plate. Kitty gulped for a second before grabbing a big plate of pancakes.

"Look pancakes!" She exclaimed. "Yummy, hot pancakes."

Hyde watched as Kitty placed the pancakes in front of him and then he glanced at Red, who only looked down as he shovelled food onto his plate. Hyde then looked down at the table and noticed that there was no plate in front of him.

No plate, no knife, no fork- nothing. This couldn't be a good sign.

"Hey, Hyde. You want this plate?" Eric asked as he pointed at an empty plate next to him. Hyde was about to speak in response when Laurie cut him off.

"I don't think that the criminal deserves a plate after what he did. We shouldn't be feeding and supporting him." Laurie shot back, looking at Red who still did not look up.

Kitty watched as both her children began to argue over the boy who she had taken under her care. Grabbing two jars she decided that she couldn't let this go through for much longer. She started the conversation about Steven's arrest as a way to bring her family closer and to make them get over the incident that had occurred the previous night, but she didn't expect what happened next at all.

"Red, what do you think?"

Hyde peered over Laurie's shoulder as Red finally looked up at him and made eye contact once attention to Hyde's future arose. Hours without seeing the boy, hours without saying a word and when he finally did it was to not only give him a proverbial slap in the face, but to make Hyde's recent fears a reality.

"Steven, we're kicking you out."

The words echoed in his head, amplified by Laurie's cheers of appreciation. This was just great.

Incoherent thoughts zoomed in Hyde's mind. He didn't know what to say- what could he say? He couldn't beg for Red to let him stay, to let him make up for his mistake. That was just uncharacteristic of him and something he would never do. He had too much pride for that. So, he sat awkwardly in between the Forman family as they separated into two teams. Red and Laurie vs. Kitty and Eric. Hyde felt an unnerving feeling in the bottom of his pit at the sight. His short imprisonment had led the usually close family into a heated battle- competing over what they should do to the orphan boy they had taken in.

"I don't want it in my house. I don't want it around you two. I just don't want it!" Red declared, pointing his fork at Eric.

Hyde felt the lump in his throat beat at Red's words. Rationally, it would seem that Red was talking about drugs, but in Hyde's mind he believed the 'it' Red was referring to was him. Of course it was him. No one wanted him. Hyde blinked, feelings rushed through him- changing over and over again from pain to hurt to fear to anger. Every emotion coursed through his body before he finally decided to give up. He just couldn't take it anymore, because he knew he was fighting a losing battle.

He wasn't wanted in this family anymore and he wasn't going to fight for that right.

"No, Mrs. Forman it's cool. If Red thinks I'm not good enough to live in this house, then I guess I'm not." Hyde choked out, before getting up from the table.

He was Steven Hyde, and he wasn't going to stay where he wasn't wanted.

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Eric sat on the side of the couch in the Forman's basement, watching as his best friend packed up his life into little bag. Not only was he losing his best friend, but he was also losing a person who was like a brother to him. Hyde was always there for him- ever since they were seven. Hell, Eric hadn't bathed with anyone else other than Hyde.  Eric's girlfriend, Donna, sat a few feet away from him- her expression sullen as the rest of the occupants of the basement.

"I can't believe this is happening." The attractive redhead spoke. "I know Red's a hardass, but this…this has gotta take the cake."  She said when Hyde retreated to his room to get his clothes.

"Cake? There's cake?" Fez questioned, but the annoyed glances and groans clued him in that there was no cake around. Hyde emerged from his bedroom, a pair of jeans in his hand and he began to tightly fold the pair into a ball. His best friends watched him, watched his every move as if it was his last in their presence.

Hyde was trying to remain strong, maintain his composure in front of his friends, but the hint of disappointment was clearly evident in his voice. Packing his stuff into a little bag, packing away his life again was hard to do when he had never expected to go through the experience again. Every time he walked into his room, distress ached him.

The walls, the bed, the space- where would he find life this good again?

"I'm sorry, but where are you supposed to go?" Eric asked. Hyde thought for a while before responding.

"The Fotohut." Hyde sighed, that was his only option wasn't it? The small, rundown business that Leo, who was stoned and illogical most the time, owned, which only provided room on the floor for him to sleep and a hose in the back for him to clean up.

"The Fotohut? That's just- it's so small. Are you sure you're going to stay there?" Donna asked. Hyde shrugged, pulling on his jacket.

"It's where I belong, isn't it?" He declared, as his friends sat in silence. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine. I guess…I guess I'll be seeing ya." He said, in a cold, distant voice. He opened the door and paused, taking a deep breath and looked back at his long-time friends. Not a word was uttered between them, not even Fez brought up something random and highly inappropriate. They just looked at each other before Hyde finally broke the stare and walked out of the basement and out of the Forman's usually welcoming home, into his own world.

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TBC