A/N: Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback! It meant a lot! I feel kind of bad as this is just a short chapter, but the next will be up soon!

*** Present ***

"Grandma, why do you have so many pictures of uncle Eric in the bathtub?" Molly frowned as she watched Kitty affix a picture of Eric and Hyde in the bathtub in alongside several other pictures of Eric at bath time, ranging from his adorable first bath in the hospital to a rather disturbing 12-year-old Eric Forman glowering at his mother as the photo was taken.

The second photograph in the envelope was from a few months after the first when Eric had first brought Hyde home from school. Kitty could remember it so well. She'd been aware of Steven for a while. He was Eric's dirty friend, but he hadn't come to play yet. Kitty didn't know his mother well, but she was sure that the woman either didn't care much for appearances or didn't care much for her son. It was kind of a sad memory when Kitty thought about what it all signaled regarding Steven's childhood, but at the same time that day had been fun and she was glad that Steven had felt at home eventually, because there was nothing she loved more than a house full of kids.

"Because bath time is fun," Kitty smiled happily. "But you know I think this is my favorite bath time photo. It's the only time I ever got uncle Eric and your Daddy in the bath at the same time."

*** 1967 ***

Hyde glared at his new friend as they sat together in the tub. This, this was his personal hell.

Eric glanced sideways at Hyde. His new friend didn't like to bathe very often and probably even less so with Captain Bubble Bath and Mr Squeaky. Eric didn't actually think it was so bad. He liked to take bubble baths, but usually not with his friends.

Just as Hyde was contemplating drowning Eric under the fragranced bubbles, Kitty appeared with her camera and took a quick picture before Red chased her away. "Kitty, you really have to stop documenting every time Eric gets in the bath tub. It's ridiculous."

"I agree. This is ridiculous," Hyde rolled his eyes. He didn't know how much longer he was expected to sit in the tepid water with his scrawny friend.

"OK," Kitty appeared with a smile after safely putting her camera out of the line of any splashes of water from the bath. "Who's first?"

"HYDE!" Eric shouted, aware that Hyde would probably attempt to scalp him later, but figuring it might just be worth it.

"OK Steven," Kitty smiled and perched on the edge of the bath, "you first. Give me your hand."

Hyde looked unsure as to what was going on, but extended his hand to Kitty. She snatched it before he could think about recoiling and it was then that Hyde noticed what was in her lap. She picked up the nailbrush first and went at his nails aggressively. Hyde just stared as she rubbed his fingers raw, not leaving a single trace of dirt behind. It was mildly irritating to his skin, but he didn't complain.

After the scrubbing Mrs Forman lifted her nail scissors and began to trim his fingernails. She wasn't the gentlest in the world, but it felt a whole lot better than when Hyde over bit his own nails and caused them to bleed. He could maybe even get used to Mrs Forman cleaning him up. Maybe.

Eric didn't seem to enjoy the process so much and squealed and jumped and splashed as Kitty tried to clean up his nails. "Eric, would you just sit still. Didn't you see how well Steven did? He didn't make any fuss, good little boy," Kitty smiled and planted a kiss on Hyde's wet blond curls as she continued to clip at Eric's nails.

After Eric's nails had been cleaned and clipped Mrs Forman held out two towels that had been warmed over the radiator for the boys to dry themselves with. Hyde was careful not to smile to avoid loosing face in front of Eric, but this was possibly the best feeling in the world. Stepping out of a bath into a warm and fuzzy towel. Nothing could possibly ever beat this he thought as he wrapped the towel around himself.

He was usually lucky if the towels at home were clean or dry. Mrs Forman's were both and so cozy. Hyde's parents didn't much like paying for heat, probably because the man added so much tax on top of what it actually cost to heat water. This meant that he usually avoided taking a bath until it became necessary and even then the water was tepid, the soap could have been used to starch clothes, and nobody would have noticed if a dog had used the towel before Hyde because it was that grimy.

This, however, was absolute heaven. He never wanted to let go of this towel. It was like being hugged by a giant, lavender scented bunny. But, he wasn't going to let on that he was enjoying this. The whole affair seemed rather feminine, especially as he and Eric were both standing naked, save the towels.

He must not have been hiding his smile particularly well however as Mrs Forman caught his eye and he saw a satisfied smile on her face that he was sure was a reflection of his own face. He quickly forced his mind to think about fifteen minutes ago when she had stripped him down and thrown him into some kind of communal bath with her skinny son. Yup, that brought back his scowl.

Against his will, a recurring theme of the days events, Hyde found himself being dressed by Mrs Forman in Eric's clothes. An ironed paisley shirt and khakis with a neat black belt. He almost felt like a republican, but he didn't complain and was relieved when Mrs Forman finally left him and Eric alone in Eric's room.

"You wanna play with my GI Joes?" Eric suggested as he scratched his head, clearly unhappy with how his mother had combed it into submission. Kitty had attempted to take the comb to Hyde's mop of blond curls, but had quickly given up after witnessing Hyde's spastic jerks away from her with each tug.

"GI Joe?" Hyde rolled his eyes. "You really are a girl Forman."

"What's wrong with GI Joe? He's America's movable fighting man!"

"Yeah, and what's the difference between him and your sister's Barbie?"

"Barbie's a doll and GI Joe is an action figure, God Hyde."

Hyde just gave his weedy best friend a mildly perturbed look. "K," He shrugged and reached for Eric's marine GI Joe. "Let's play Vietnam. You be America and I'll be the commies, that way I get to win."

"What the devils is going on in here!" Eric's dad appeared in the room and seemed furious so Hyde just shrugged and tossed the action figure at Eric. "We do not say things like that in this house! You better watch your tongue boy." Red as fuming and Hyde was mildly amused. "You think this is funny do you? Well will it be so funny when my foot is in your ass?" Hyde and Eric were trying to make sense of his last statement when Kitty appeared and began to tell Red off for his language.

However, they still both ended up in the basement clearing out old tools as a punishment for Hyde's suggestion that commies were not fated with a bloody defeat of manpower and ideology.

"You know it's actually kind of cool down here," Hyde mused as he and Eric sat sorting Red's tools between two different tool boxes. Eric kept throwing stuff in the wrong box, so Hyde's job was basically to reverse whatever Eric did.

"It's kind of cold," Eric twitched his nose. "Plus, the tv is only black and white."

"But it's cooler than the rest of your house. Less frilly." Hyde nodded sagely at his own observation. "Yup, less frilly. Plus, I bet your parents don't come down here much."

"I guess not," Eric shrugged. "Why do you care?"

"I don't, I just figure that this is a better place to hang out than your room."

"So we can celebrate communism and start a revolution?"

"Or we could just watch Gilligan's Island re-runs."

As Hyde wandered home that evening he began to reflect and he decided that the cozy towel hadn't really been worth three hours of tidying out the Forman's basement. He'd thought about going back to Mrs Forman for a bath again, but for now, he'd probably just stick to bathing at home. At least that way he wouldn't be threatened with an ass whipping if he cracked jokes. Although, he would definitely stop by the Forman's again. Mrs Forman's dinner had been the tastiest he had ever had. His mom didn't cook much or well. Mrs Forman cooked very well and she cooked plenty of food. Eric was real lucky, he had no idea.

However, he didn't really want to see Forman naked again, unless he himself was fully clothed and Forman was locked out of the boys' locker rooms, so perhaps he would make sure he was clean next time he went to see Mrs Forman.

A/N: Thank you for reading, worth a review?