Author's Note: Inspired by the episode "Cat Fight Club" (2.25).
Jackie held out her hand to Hyde, waggling her long fingers encouragingly when he didn't react right away. Hyde was frozen, unsure of why he cared so much. He wasn't sure how or when, but somehow Jackie had managed to finagle her way into their basement life and had separated herself as Kelso's girlfriend. But here she was, sitting in the middle of the battered yellow couch instead of Kelso, impatiently waiting for her turn. Because somehow, for Hyde, Jackie had become her own person.
She pulled her hand away, and Hyde felt a moment of relief. But she only tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before reaching her hand back out to him.
"Hyde." Her voice was curt.
She had been right though. Jackie had made the conscious decision to take part in this and Hyde had no right to stop her, despite whatever compunctions he may have reserved for being the one to allow her to do this.
His mind was starting to turn foggy, but his last coherent thought was that if anyone was to introduce Jackie to this, it should be him. It had to be him.
So he passed Jackie the joint.
It started when Hyde and Forman had ditched Kelso at the dinner table with Red, grabbing Fez along the way, and making their way back to the basement. Jackie was curled up at one end of the couch, magazine in hand.
Why was she still here? Shouldn't she go home for dinner? Feeling concern and being curious about Jackie and her wellbeing had become an inveterate constant in Hyde's life, despite the tireless efforts he'd made to make it otherwise. He couldn't help but wonder if it was that damn soulmate voodoo because he had never given such thought for anyone before, much less those people who annoyed him.
Regardless, he shoved all that aside. "Scram, Jackie," he said as he made his way to the corner where he hid his stash.
Jackie was watching him curiously. When she saw the paper bag she got a mischievous look in her eyes. "No," she said.
Hyde shook his head. "No way." He knew exactly what she was getting at.
"Oh, come on," she whined, dropping her magazine on the table and sitting up straight. "And anyways, isn't smoking weed part of being Zen?"
"Not for you it isn't," Hyde countered. "And anyways, if you're doing this to impress Kelso, then that's no reason to do it."
Jackie crossed her arms and grinned devilishly. "Maybe it's not Michael I'm trying to impress."
Hyde ignored her, which caused Jackie to grow angry.
"No. Nope." She shook her head. "You don't get to decide what I can and cannot do. I want to do this for myself, and that is good enough reason as any."
"Fine," Hyde stipulated. "If you insist."
But still, when it came time to pass it to Jackie, he had difficulty. But he knew that Jackie had the right to decide things for herself, and if this was what she wanted, he had no business telling her otherwise.
After falling into a mellow haze, however, his reservations fell straight away. Jackie had taken to an Oreo, and he was eager to demonstrate what he'd taught her to Forman and Fez.
"She's Zen, man," Hyde found himself say at one point. He looked at Forman and Fez. "I've taken her under my wing. I'm running a Dojo of Coolness. Jackie, demonstrate."
"Oogly, moogly. Googly."
"Yeah, it's her first day," Hyde explained. Then he shot her a disappointed look.
Jackie took a deep breath. "Hyde says last names are Zen, and first names are not." She clapped her split Oreo together several times like cymbals. "Soooo." She dragged out the word. "I will be calling you all 'Hyde', 'Forman', and… um, 'Fez, the boy with no last name' from now on," she declared.
Forman started giggling like a little girl. Hyde imagined he had pigtails. "Hyde man," Forman said between gasps. "You're not teaching her to be Zen, you're teaching her to be you."
"Can't I be 'Fez, the man with no last name'?" Fez inquired.
Hyde held the joint, waiting for Jackie's response before passing it again to her.
She was jaded, Hyde could tell. The Oreo she had been dissecting had been long forgotten on the table and her fingers were toying absentmindedly with her bottom lip. Her eyes were staring off a nothing.
When all was said and done, when Forman and Fez had disappeared and Jackie was herself again, only then did Hyde feel the heavy weight he hadn't realized was crushing him lift off his shoulders.
He watched Jackie inquisitively. He knew it was the soulmate thing, but he also knew that it wasn't. He really never believed in any of this fantasy happily ever after stuff, and yet he was still drawn to Jackie, on his own accord with no coaxing from the proverbial 'fate'.
"Why don't you sleep over at Donna's tonight?" Hyde said. He suspected that Jackie was less than enthused by the idea of going home. He wasn't sure why, but he remembered that she hadn't gone home for dinner either. "We'll pick up our Zen lessons tomorrow."
"Okay." Jackie shrugged. It was another moment before she rose from the couch. She headed for the door, grabbing her coat along the way. "Good night, Steven."
Hyde remembered her comment about last names. "That's not very Zen," he scolded gently.
Jackie gave him a small smile and opened the door. "I know," she said before closing the door behind her.