Mount Hump:
It had been about half hour since he walked out of the basement and Hyde found himself parked in the one place that caused him both happiness and grief. Just a mere three years ago, he and a certain dark-haired princess had parked in the very same spot on Veteran's Day. Granted, while nothing extraordinary happened between the two, that occurrence was the beginning of a long history between two people who despite loving each other, did nothing but hurt one another. This wasn't the first time Hyde found himself parked in Mount Hump, in fact it had become his oasis when things got too hard to deal with.
Life had become too inconsistent for Hyde's liking. His friends going off to college, starting new jobs in new places and relationships with new people...Hyde didn't like change, and that much everyone knew. The only things that had remained the same were his ability to run away from his problems, Zeppelin, and this spot. 'Two out of three isn't too bad' he thought. Besides, the band was still together as far as Hyde was concerned..Plant, Page and JPJ. But Zeppelin without Bonham was like Hyde without Jackie. Anyone else would just be an imitation that fell short to the original.
Sadly enough it took Hyde three years, a fake stripper marriage and a fallen drummer to realize that his life isn't as great as he thought it was. So as he laid back on the hood of the El Camino, he pulled out a cigarette from the carton and thought of the times when his life was better.
FLASHBACK-
"Steven I'm so proud of you! Working in an office, wearing a suit. I knew you had potential" said Jackie as she followed him into the small space he called a room. Rather than answer her, all he could do was flop down on his bed, exhausted, and try to tune out her shrill voice.
"See the SATs were right, and that means that we'll be rich. Oh we'll have a beautiful wedding with horses and doves and-Steven are you even listening to me?" Jackie asks seeing her boyfriend's face buried under his pillow.
"No, now stop talking" he uttered.
"Well excuse me for trying to plan our future together" she said while folding her arms across her chest and rolling her eyes in typical Jackie fashion.
Hyde reluctantly moved the pillow away from his face and sat up on the cot. "Stop with all this future talk. We agreed that you wouldn't talk about it."
"No, you agreed! But things are changing and in case you haven't noticed, they're changing fast so I'm sorry if it scares you, but your future is happening right now and having a plan for it is only logical."
"Logical? Sorry babe but you're not one to preach on logic. And the future doesn't scare me, I just would rather take it as it comes, it's more fun that way."
At this point Hyde got up from the cot and started undoing his tie and un-buttoning his shirt.
"Steven?"
"Huh?"
"Do you see a future with me?"
He stops. Not this again!
"Jackie, we've been over this already."
"Yeah but you never answered. And now I can't help but think that deep down you don't see yourself with me so I would rather you tell me now so I can count my losses."
He turns to look at her on the other side of the tiny room. Her arms are still folded but not in the manner that says she means business, but they serve as a defense mechanism. He sees that the idea of not being with him scared her, and frankly it scared him too. He couldn't bring himself to say it but she was his constant, his safety. As long as he had her, it didn't matter what changed around him because he knew she would help him through it. He wishes nothing more than to give her that reassurance, tell her that they would be together in the long run, that he would give her the wedding of her dreams...but he didn't know if they would or he could, so he didn't tell her.
"It's not about that and you know it."
"Then what is it about?"
"Jackie, stop."
"No Steven! I want to know that all the time and effort I've put into our relationship has been worth it. I don't want to wake up one day to you realizing we're not right for each other."
"We already aren't right for each other" he states matter-of-factly.
He looked over to her and saw her expression; a mixture between shock and sadness and he knew she had taken it the wrong way so he walked over to her, cupped her face with his hands and said, "but we work" right before placing a kiss on her forehead.
"For how long will we work though?"
Her constant pushing always drove him up the wall. When she wasn't asking for gifts, she wanted words he couldn't speak and promises he wasn't sure he could keep. He both loved and hated that about her. He loved it because it made him want to be better, yet he hated it because it was a constant reminder that things were changing.
"Is what we have not enough for you?"
"Don't do that! Don't make this about me."
"It clearly is about you because I'm perfectly fine with how things are going."
"Damn it Steven stop settling. You always just settle for what's convenient at the moment. Please look around you. Everything and everyone is changing and no matter how much you wants things to remain the same, they're not going to...I'm not going to."
"Settling? So what now we're settling?"
"No, you're settling. I love you and I'm more than willing to spend the rest of my life with you. But if you don't see it happening for us, then please tell me so I don't settle."
"Jackie, we're kids. Why do we need to decide this now?"
"We're not kids Steven. We stopped being kids a long time ago you just don't want to accept that."
He had in fact realized that they were no longer dumbass kids passing the time in the Forman basement. Life was indeed passing them by and he hadn't caught a grasp of it, wasn't sure if he wanted to yet. There was nothing wrong with wanting to stay young forever. That is unless your ninety-five pound girlfriend demanded you grew the hell up.
"Jackie," he began, his voice in that husky tone he used only when things were serious, "are you happy?"
"What?"
The question caught her a bit off guard. It wasn't so much the question itself but rather that he asked it. Her boyfriend very rarely, if ever, wanted to discuss feelings. It was one of the things that everyone knew about him, yet there he was, standing just a few feet away from her, asking whether or not she was content.
"With what?"
He let out an exaggerated breath. 'She really loves these little games' he thought.
"With us. Our relationship. Are you happy?"
"I'm not unhappy" she responded.
"Yes or no."
"I don't know."
"Then who should I ask if not you? Yes or no?"
"I...um..I'm not sure."
He remained silent this time and just stared at her and he wasn't surprised when she did the same. This was their thing, trying to get the other to cave in, push each other's buttons to see who could last the longer. It didn't matter what they were doing, holding their breath, arguing...hell even sex was a competition between them. Who could last the longer?
Well, Steven Hyde would be damned if he lost this time and sure enough, a few minutes later, Jackie caved.
"Fine! I'm happy okay? I am happy, you know that, but-"
"No. No buts. For once just let that be it. You're happy, I'm happy. Let's just...be happy okay?"
Happy. Steven Hyde is happy. Although she wasn't fully satisfied with the answer, she let it go because at that moment everything seemed okay and if two people are happy being together, that means they will be happy together in the future...right?
End of Flashback-
Taking the last drag from his cigarette, Hyde sat up on the hood and couldn't help but smile. Things with Jackie hadn't been perfect, far from it. It had always been a love-hate relationship with them, no middle ground and the times that Hyde spent thinking of their time together made him realize that maybe it was time to grow up and finally take some responsibility for his past actions, and he knew just where he needed to begin.
A/N: First of all, I want to apologize for the long delay. My computer crashed and I couldn't update! Another chapter should be up before the end of the this week. Secondly, I know this chapter was pretty much all about Hyde but the next few won't be so stick around and hopefully you guys are still enjoying the story and don't forget to review!