Part Four: The 'Big Talk'

They sat down, Kelso on the couch and Hyde in his usual chair, both quiet and uncharacteristically at a loss for something to say.

"So..."

"So."

They looked up and their gazes would have caught had Hyde not been wearing his sunglasses. Damned glasses... "Could you, um, maybe take those off?" Kelso asked.

They landed soundlessly on Hyde's lap. He looked up at Kelso, forehead creasing, eyes shining full of something that couldn't quite be placed.

"There's obviously something between us," Kelso said, with some difficulty.

"Pfft. What made you think that?"

"Hey! Don't do that!" Kelso threw his hands up. "Don't think you can avoid this all by being sarcastic and just blowing me off as if you don't care about any of this!"

Hyde sat up, feeling rather floored. Kelso was serious if he could use the phrase 'blowing me off' without laughing. "I like you," he said, voice soft and lacking any harsh undertones.

Kelso grinned. "I knew that's why you wanted to hit me!" he said. "Dude, that is so elementary school!" And Hyde grinned back, the tension between the two of them easing and melting away.

"Can we..."

"...try a relationship out?" Kelso finished for him and Hyde thought that maybe he wasn't that dumb after all. He nodded. "Yeah. Let's."

Hyde let out the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, feeling oddly happy. Was this how getting involved with someone was supposed to feel? Nah. That nacho cheese from the bar must have been funny or something.

"So... Is this it?"

"Well, what else could there be? We both know what we want and we happen to want the same thing." That nacho cheese must have been really funky if Kelso sounded profound.

"You know, Donna and Eric are going to be disappointed if we get done talking so quickly," Hyde pointed out, giving Kelso a pointed look.

"And we don't want to disappoint them, now do we?" Kelso responded.

Smirks spread simultaneously across their faces as they lunged for each other, knocking the couch cushions askew and muffling any stray words or noises with their mouths.

"Can we go to Leo's?" Hyde said afterwards, running his fingers lightly along Kelso's chest.

"Dude, if you wanted to get stoned we could just do it here."

Hyde shook his head, laughing. "No," he said. "It's not because I want to get stoned." (Well, it wasn't just that.)

"What, then?"

"There's someone that I want you to meet. I think we could both use with his words of wisdom right now."