Late night turned to early morning and Hyde still hadn't seen or heard from Fez or Kelso. Eventually they'd show up, he figured. Or rather, he hoped. In all honesty Hyde didn't blame Kelso for his being injured. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Simple as that. Hyde was just trying to protect his friend.
Which led him to see that he was actually a very protective person. Mainly of himself since he had been abandoned twice. But on his list of people to'watch over'Michael Kelso was one of them. So where the hell was the dumbass?
Hyde glanced over the door to see the clock read 9:47 a.m. He wasn't tired, but his eyes were squinting. If only he could reach his sunglasses on the night stand. Hyde stretched his arm and leaned, trying to grab them. A sharp pain went through his side from bending over and stretching the wound. "Ah!" He gasped, and quickly returned to his position with a hand on his bandaged area.
Jackie awoke with a start, once again tossing the coat off of herself and sleepily looking at her boyfriend. "Baby...whaddyah doin'?'" She obviously couldn't tell how desperately he wanted his Zen mask.
As he opened his mouth to say something to her, the hospital door opened and Hyde was forced to shut up. Kelso stood in front of the couple, his hands in his back pockets and a sheepish look about his face. He looked as thought he hadn't slept all night, Hyde realized.
A small smit of a smile appeared on Hyde's face, "Hey Kelso."
The goofball nodded, "Hey." He then looked to the once girlfriend of his. "Jackie...can we, yah know...have a minute?"
The girl looked to Hyde, who hadn't taken his eyes off of his friend, before leaving.
Once gone, Kelso took a few steps foreward, placing his hands on the end railings of the hospital bed.
"Where's Fez?" Hyde asked, noticing the brown skinned teen wasn't there.
"Oh, I, uh dropped him off at the basement...said he didn't want to see you in a hospital." Kelso kept his eyes on his hands as he spoke. "Look, Hyde. I -"
"Kelso, man." His mask was on. "It's all right, these things happen."
"No they don't!" Michael yelled back, crossing over to the window. "Not to us...not to you."
Hyde raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"
"Look, I just mean -"
"Do you know who I am?" Hyde continued. "I'm Hyde, the kid that got kicked around by his old man for forgetting to take the garbage out at night! I'm the guy that had to work to save up for a new pair of sneakers when I was eight years old! I'm the guy who's parents ditched him because they couldn't stand me anymore!"
"Hyde -"
"You say this stuff doesn't happen to us...to me!" His face was red with anger and his eyes stinging with tears. "It was supposed to happen to me! Why the hell not! Everything else in my life is shit! Hell, I'm surprised I even made it this far! Don't give me that sympathy shit. I'm your average screw up, Steven Hyde. Not some Goddamn Super Hero that can stop adamn bullet!"
"It was mine!" Kelso yelled back, "Jesus Hyde! All our lives you've been the one watchin' out for the rest of us! The one takin' all the shit while we sat back and watched! And for once you weren't gonna get hurt!"
"Oh yeah, I was just gonna sit back and watch to take one to the chest."
"IT WOULD'VE BEEN BETTER THAN THIS!"
Hyde glared at Kelso, wishing now more than ever that his eyes were behind those red sunglasses.
Kelso took in a deep breath, trying to rethink things. "Listen...Fez and I...we - we went to the next town over and bought a gun."
"What?"
"We're gonna get the guy that did this to yah, Hyde." Kelso went on, ignoring his friends' look. "I promise yah, I'll make this up to you."
"Kelso!" Hyde almost choked on his words. "Are you crazy! Killing the guy will getcha -"
"Steven," Jackie's small figure stood in the doorway, holding a cup of steaming coffee. "Mr. and Mrs. Foreman are waiting in the hall, they want to talk to you."
She sensed something wasn't right, and the young girl looked from one man to the other. Hyde and Kelso stared at each other, both minds filled with millions of questions for the other.
"It's okay, Jackie" Kelso answered. "I was just leaving."
