Donna Pinciotti was focused angrily on the notebook paper in front of her. 900 words scratched messily across the white sheet. She read it over, again and again, never satisfied. Her book report on 'To Kill a Mockingbird' was due tomorrow morning, and though she had completed what was asked of her, she felt it wasn't 'above and beyond' like she had expected. She wanted to gain the respect of her English teacher so he would consider her for the newspaper, and she just couldn't focus tonight.

She had worked so hard on retaining everything about the novel. Even reading ahead of her class and finishing the book in days, only to read it twice after that. Even getting in trouble in her science class for reading the book instead of completing her assignment on 'The Structure of Cells.

Maybe, she mused, it was because the earlier conversation was weighing heavily on her chest

Hyde had called her. Though he tried to hide it, distress was evident in his voice. He explained to her that a deal he'd made for Edna went wrong and her 'boyfriend' (more like 'customer', as Hyde put it) was making the situation worse.

He needed a place to stay for the night and with the frigid Wisconsin freeze of mid-November, the sidewalk wouldn't be suitable tonight. After she suggested the Forman's, he explained didn't want to ask them since coming over so late bring questions he'd prefer not to answer.

Hyde said he would be there around midnight. The young teen looked at the clock on her desk and read '12:18 am'. She tried to ignore the rise of worry building in her stomach. Hyde had been looking pretty terrible at school recently. His black eye from a few days ago was finally fading away into a sick yellowish green color, but only to be matched with another new bruise on the side of his cheek, close to his temple. Eric asked about it, but Hyde said it was simply a bar fight.

Eric told her he didn't ask anymore questions after that, knowing Hyde was lying, and knowing he wasn't going to get much else out of him. "As long as he's still showing up to school..." Eric would say resigned to the brick wall that was Steven Hyde.

Worrying seemed to be something she did a lot lately. She knew Hyde was spending most of his time roaming around town when he wasn't at the Forman's trying to get away from Edna. She was surprised he hadn't wound up in juvi yet.

Throwing her pen aside, she made her way to the window. Peering through the fogged up glass, she let out a sigh of relief when a mass of curls buried in the collar of a puffy red coat became visible.

Donna, as quietly as possible, opened the window. Paint chips fell off of the frame, and years of sneaking in and out of houses was evident as Hyde soundlessly slipped into her room.

"Hyde, you made it. Finally." She whispered, with a too-brilliant smile.

"Yeah, man. Sorry it took me so long. I didn't take any main roads. Just kinda dipped through people's yards. The last thing I need to deal with is some lazy cop wondering what a 'kid like me' is doing out at 'twelve on a school night.'" as he spoke, he pulled off his jacket and boots, revealing a long sleeve Stones shirt. Chunks of snow and dirt caked ice fell to the floor. "Uh… Sorry."

"It's okay," Donna said, smile faltering, lifting an eyebrow, and throwing a stuffed animal and a flower pillow over the mess, "Dad won't notice."

"Cool.." Hyde muttered, deciding it was in his best interest to ignore her lie. A few moments passed and he took a seat on his friend's bed and decided to break the silence, "So, thanks for letting me come here tonight. Edna's extra crazy right now. Turns out the blow was fake. And I guess she's only okay with spending rent money on real blow."

Donna nodded and her eyes switched to the other side of them room trying to suppress any shred of sympathy she felt out of respect for Hyde. He shared things with her about his situation that he shared with no one else. She wasn't about to mess that up by showing him pity. "Well, that's Edna for you I guess."

Another beat passed and she assumed her nonchalant facade passed when he finally replied.

"Yeah, I guess. So what're you up to tonight. I can't believe you're still awake. You're usually out by now."

"I'm trying to revise this book report I wrote. I'm not too happy with it."

"Can I read it?" Hyde said removing his glasses.

"Sure, if you want to." The red-head crossed her arms after handing him the paper.

After a few silent minutes, Hyde handed her back he report and offered a smirk, "You know Donna, I think you just might be good at this."

Her fair cheeks flushed, "Shut up, Hyde. You're just saying that 'cause we're friends."

"Hey, exactly. We're friends. Friends don't lie about that kinda stuff. Only Couples."

She thought about this and gave him a side ways smile as he shuffled his feet. "Yeah. Well, thanks."

"Oh, um." He stammered slightly and picked up his red coat to fumble through the pockets, "I brought a thank you gift, you know for letting me stay as much as you have been lately."

"Hyde, you don't have to do that."

"No, no. It's just a bag." He pulled out a rolled up paper bag and a pack of papers, "You know, a special bag."

The red-head's jaw dropped, "Is that what I think it is? Hyde, I don't know… I've only done that stuff once before and it was defiantly not at home."

"It'll be okay." Once Hyde shut off the lights, he lit a candle on her desk, "Just so long as no one sees." He walked over to her window and opened the blinds before sliding it open, "Or smells. Besides, you know Bob smokes this shit. He's probably high or passed out right now. We'll be fine, kid."

"You know the sad thing is, you're probably right." She looked down, crossed her arms, and dropped onto the chair at her desk while Hyde looked out the window for a moment. Donna spun the chair around to face her desk and picked up a chunk of green stuff Hyde had left next to the candle.

Rolling the substance between her finger tips and watching flakes of a sticky, leafy substance crumble and hit the wooden desk, she tried to hide the growing smirk on her face.

"It was pretty awesome." The girl said starting to become giddy.

"It is pretty awesome, man. Who knows, you might even be able to look at your book report in a whole new way, and come up with something radical."

The corners of her mouth tugged downward while her eyebrows raised and she nodded slowly, "Who knows…"

"Hey, how 'bout some tunes?"

"Good idea," She voiced nervously and spun the chair around to stand. After Donna went to the other side of her room to put in a record , the curly haired male took that opportunity to sit at the desk and start rolling the joint they were about to smoke. Even though his friends were very new to smoking pot, (Forman hadn't even tried it yet. He had chickened out just after Kelso hit it at their first circle. Lucky for him though, Red had called him up directly after what would have been his turn. That would have been a disaster. A funny. Disaster.) Steven was only about a year or two into smoking weed, and he had been rolling his moms joints long before then, so whether he liked it or not he was an expert.

After placing a Clapton record in, the tall girl made her way back to the window, peeking out through blinds and admiring the snow caking the white painted seal. She shivered at the frigid air and crossed her arms, "Maybe I should find a jacket to smoke this."

"Yeah, or a bra." Hyde said licking the paper, gaze slanted towards her chest.

Donna looked down and quickly realized what he was talking about. Blushing furiously, she dodged into her closet to find a sweat shirt. As she sat on her knees, back facing him and rummaging through clothes she spoke, "Yeah, yeah, just keep your eyes and hands to yourself, Hyde."

"All done." Hyde said triumphantly and stuck his masterpiece in between his lips, "So we should probably get real close to the crack in the window and let as little smoke get in your room as possible. Oh, and jam some clothes or a towel in the crack at the bottom of the door."

"Damn, Hyde. You're good at this, you sneaky bastard."

"Yeah, well." Hyde shrugged and leaned on his knees, lips level with the open window and lit their joint. "Practice."

After Donna shoved some clothes in the crack at the bottom of her bedroom door she joined her friend next to the window. She sat down, and Hyde let out a harsh cough before finally turning his head to stifle the noise he was making. Donna smirked, " Think you could practice not waking up the whole neighborhood, Mr. bad ass?"

There was a devious glint in his eyes as his smirk matched her own, "Yeah and I should've never told you to put a bra on."

Donna's eyes widened a fraction and she immediately began to sputter, hack, and cough. Using the bottom of her sweat shirt she coughed into it trying desperately to make less noise. If her dad woke up and saw Hyde here. And smoking. At night. Hyde would be dead. And she would be grounded for life, in that order.

"You… asshole…" She managed to make out through coughs. She quickly realized Hyde had told her that to choke her up on the load of smoke.

He just continued to smile and wordlessly took the joint from her.

Another beat passed, both were silent aside from the music playing softly in the back ground. The two young teenagers huddled close together and stared out into the snowy streets and watched as a single streetlight flickered on and off.

'This is comfortable.' Hyde thought as he took in the moment and relaxed into himself. Sweet and pungent smoke billowed out through the window and mixed with the coldness in the air. Donna sat so close to him, that their arms were touching. He tried to ignore the slight jump in his gut, or quickening of his heartbeat, as Donna was simply his friend and no amount of prodding would change that. Though, over the past few weeks, he began to notice the way she filled out her shirt, or the way her long hair spilled down her back leading to her ivory, sculpted legs. He imagined what they would look like in this candle light and quickly pushed the image out of his head, lest the unfortunate side effect of being a teenage guy take over.

He knew not dwell too long on those types of thoughts, anyway. Donna was risking her freedom by having him over on nights like this. He felt it would be wrong to press for something more than what she was already so graciously offering.

If even she did look extra saucy in that tank top earlier.

Finally, Hyde pulled himself out of his stoner's gaze and looked at Donna. His clouded, blue eyes were soft and the corners of his lip turned up.

She looked back at him, her expression matched his, "This is really cool."

"Yeah." was all Hyde said in reply.

Both teens looked out the window again, eyes glazed over, and relaxed.

"Eric's gonna love this." Hyde, never one to break the silence, at least not around anyone else.

"What? Oh yeah…"

He could tell Donna was deep in thought as well. But hell, this was only her second time smoking weed. People were usually either really giggly, or deep in thought. Either way it was usually pleasant, so he wasn't worried.

"Do you do this every night?" Donna suddenly asked, causing the boy next to her to furrow his eyebrows.

"What? No. I only kill brain cells on special occasions. You know, like at a party, or when Edna wants to have mother-son time, or when I'm sitting here with you."

Donna laughed, "Mother-son time? I wish this was how my parents spent family time."

Her friend nodded, "Yeah, it's cool."

While he could've taken that opportunity to explain Edna's version of mother-son time consisted of her being hung over or detoxing because she was out of pills and screaming at Hyde to find some weed to smoke with her before she 'busts his head in', he (wisely) decided against it. Even though Donna was his closest friend, there were some things better left unsaid.

"So, sitting here with me is a special occasion?" The redhead laughed, and there was that too-brilliant smile Hyde could of swore meant something.

"Well, yeah. You know, it's not everyday I get to be up late, chiefing with some foxy red head."

After punching him in the arm Donna spoke again, "You never give up do you?"

"Nope." He took the joint out of her hand and took a long drag.

"Well, I don't know if it's just the weed talking. Actually, I'm pretty sure it is…"

Hyde's gazed shifted to Donna and he noted how red her eyes were. "No way, man." Sarcasm was evident in his voice.

She ignored his comment, "I think it's kinda cool, that… never mind."

"What?"

"Never mind. It was stupid."

"Well you gotta say it now, Pinciotti. Stupid or not."

"No."

"I think you do."

"Hell no."

He leaned closer to her and nudged her with his elbow, "Come on, man. You-"

He was cut off by her lips pressed firmly against his. Hyde froze, unsure of what to do. Shock ran through his body and before he could respond she pulled away, her face tomato red.

Looking away, she spoke, "I was just going to say I think it's kinda cool that we're such good friends."

Hyde's jaw hung open. Really? "Since when do friends kiss each other like that?"

"Since I just wanted to see what it was like! God! Sorry!" An embarrassed Donna shot up from her spot beside the window and trudged off to her bed.

"Hey, Donna. Don't be like that. Come on, man. It just… surprised me, is all. I just wasn't expecting a kiss from someone like you."

She sat up in her bed, Uh oh. "Someone like me? What's that supposed to mean, Hyde?" Rejection grated him from across the room and he cursed being so terrible with words, once again.

Hyde sat down beside her on her bed and rested a hand on her leg, "I mean, you're great. You're like one of the coolest people I know, man. Don't get me wrong I've always wanted to kiss you like that. I just never expected it."

When he couldn't read Donna's expression he began to recede. This is why he didn't ever try things like this with her. She was his friend and there was a sacred line drawn that shouldn't be crossed. Though he wanted to, God did he want to, he knew the consequences. Possible loosing her was one of them and that was something he couldn't take or even think about.

High school romance was fleeting and though he wouldn't say it out loud Donna was someone he wanted to hang around as long as possible, and he felt he had a better chance of obtaining that as long as he didn't fuck it up by sleeping with her.

Well, 'sleeping' with her.

When the silence was too thick to bear he settled for withdrawl, "Alright, I'm gonna crash." Just as he moved for his usual spot on the floor beside her closet , she grabbed his wrist.

"Wait Hyde. I'm sorry. I'm just acting weird 'cause I'm stoned I think. I don't know. I'm sorry about kissing you, it's just that I felt like it. I don't know why. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. I mean, we're so close already, is a kiss really that big of a deal? And I've never really kissed anyone before." She crossed her legs under her sheets and inched closer to Hyde, "So I just- I don't know."

"What, you want me to be your make out coach?" The look on Hyde's face was that of amusement as he tried to cover the excitement that bubbled up in his core, "That's so lame!"

"Alright fine, Good night, Hyde." Donna buried herself in the covers, and for the umpteenth time that night, the room fell silent, aside from the Eric Clapton record still playing. Hyde was still planted on the end of her bed and shifted uncomfortably in the awkward atmosphere. On one hand, he had his hot best friend practically begging him to make out with her. On the other hand he had the 900 pound 'awkward-the-next-day' elephant standing in the corner of the room.

What to do, indeed.

His gaze swept across her bed. She had her covers pulled tightly over her head and was curled up into a ball on her side.

The thought of being tangled up under those covers with Donna Pinciotti came to mind and suddenly the 900 pound elephant was only a few ounces.

Hyde slowly made his way underneath the covers and wrapped his arms around her from behind. Her eyes shot open and she turned her neck slightly to glance at him, "What are you doing?" She asked plainly.

When he caught her lips with his she was still. Never before had a boy kissed her so tenderly. She assumed his lips would be rough like him, but instead they were warm and seemed to pool into her own. It was something she couldn't describe, only feel. She breathed in and his breath was sweet which made her crave more. He slowly began to position himself over her, "Relax." He whispered agaisnt her hair, and she responded by crushing her lips against him. The warmth at her core was enthralling and every inch of her was on fire. Hyde's lips parted as he flitted his tongue over her lower lip. Donna smiled against him and brought her hands to his hair as her instinct took over.

Hyde broke away and caught his breath, "I thought you said you've never done this before."

"Shut up, Hyde"

When his calloused finger tips grazed her stomach she lost it.

…..

Hyde woke up, his eyes immediately falling to the clock on her desk.

5:00 am.

'Shit…' He thought scrambling out of Donna's bed. He quickly pulled on his boots and threw on his coat. Usually, Hyde was out of her house by 4:30, since Bob was always up by 5:00. He didn't want to risk getting caught leaving, as that would put Donna in a load of trouble. Sliding open the window, he heard Donna speak up, "See you at school, Hyde."

"Later." As Hyde hopped out the window, he felt a strange flutter in his chest. He couldn't determine if it was jumping out the window or from the adrenaline of trying to make it out of the Pinciotti's yard before Bob saw him. His breath became ragged as he ran through the snow, leaving large boot tracks behind him.

After he was sure he was no longer visible, Hyde pulled a cigarette out of the pack in his coat and lit it.

Something was wrong.

That fluttering in his chest was still there. He could still feel Donna's lips pulsating against his own. Her fingertips gliding across his bare back. Hands pulling on his curls.

A shiver ran through his spine. Yes, wrong indeed.

'Get a hold of yourself, man. It's just Donna."

He took another drag of his cigarette and looked ahead. He was almost out of their neighborhood and onto a main road. There wasn't enough time left for him to go back to his house to get fresh clothes, and he left his other change of clothes at Donna's house. Hyde was pretty sure that being classified as the 'poor dirty punk' gave him license to wear whatever the hell he wanted to school, but for some reason his mind was else where and he had a nagging pull at the back of his head that kept him from walking to school.

Instead, he made a detour. He needed to go somewhere away from any cops. Somewhere away from any one he knew, away from Edna or her drug dealers. Somewhere the Forman's would never be, because the last thing he needed on top of all this weirdness was Kitty being disappointed in him for skipping class, or Red belting dumb ass at him from less than a foot away. (Because as the morning progressed he already began to feel like more and more of a dumb ass. And Red solidifying this would not help the matter at hand. What ever 'the matter' was.)

So he settled on the park.

Not a place he ever went to before. Hyde wasn't one to skip school either, much to his class mate's surprise. School was his oasis away from home- School, Eric's basement, and Donna's room.

But he needed to shake off whatever this weird feeling was. He needed to be Zen before being around his peers again. And right now, he was no where near Zen.

The thought of Donna's skin pressed against his surfaced in his mind again as he walked through the parking lot in front of the park. This was not how he planned on last night turning out. He figured; make out with Donna, wake up the next morning, it would be a little awkward but they would get over it and possibly make out again some time.

He never saw this weird sensation in the stomach and chest coming. Hell, he had never had this weird sensation before. Of course he always wanted to make out with her, she was hot! But there are plenty of hot girls, plenty he made out with, and those sessions were never followed by this.

He vaguely wondered if she felt this too.

He even hoped… Oh shit.

As Hyde dodged low hanging branches, venturing off the trail his heart began to lift. Maybe this feeling wasn't so weird. Maybe this was a good thing. Maybe she did feel it too. After all, Donna was not the type of girl to just kiss anybody. As far as he knew she had no reason to lie to him, and she was no Pam Macy. She had standards, at least he thought so.

Then again, there was no guarantee she felt what he felt. Actually, it was probably the least likely thing to ever happen. Steven Hyde was pegged a trouble maker. Dirty and poor. Donna Pinciotti was smart, talented, and beautiful. She could have any guy she wanted, why she picked Hyde to make out with last night was beyond him.

"Or maybe it really was the weed.." Steven mumbled out loud to himself.

Well, there was no point in getting worked up about something that would never happen. Any feelings he had, he needed to push down. Bury somewhere in his mind and never dig them up. If he valued their friendship at all, he decided, it was the best thing to do.

Hyde came to a green painted bench and glanced at the large tree trunk behind him. Names were scattered across the bark, engraved moments in time.

A thought came to mind as he noticed a blank spot. He dug through his pockets and pulled out a dull switchblade.

He knew he could never have Donna, what friendship they had right now was more than enough, and last night would be a secret tucked away in his mind for ever.

But maybe.

He finished his etching.

He could share it with this tree, if no one else.

(A/N) Okay, that's all. Just a little story about how I think Hyde may have developed feelings for Donna. I know it seemed random, Donna kissing Hyde like that but I hope it made sense, since she was obviously extremely stoned, and this was set before Eric and Donna really began to evolve, and come on, has no one else ever been in that situation? It's likely. (lol)

Thanks for reading, I hope you guys enjoyed, even if it was a little weird. All feed back welcomed! The good, the bad, and the ugly!

Yay for editing!