Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the slightly changed plotline.
I really liked this chapter because I got to work on Hyde and Donna's friendship. Out of all of the kids, I think Hyde and Donna's friendship was the strongest, maybe just second to Eric and Hyde's, like a big brother and little sister sort of thing, but the series kind of underdeveloped and stopped exploring it after the whole 'Hyde likes Donna' fiasco, which was kind of disappointing. I mean, Donna always went to Hyde for advice, even after she rejected him; they stayed friends and he was still a little protective of her, but the longer the series went on, the less it showed of it, and I was like, what happened?
So, I added in a bit of my own thoughts on how some of the gang members met, starting with Eric, Donna, and Hyde. I get to explore their friendship a bit more cuz this is my story, so yay! :)
PS: In the scene where Eric is telling the guys he kissed Kate, does nobody else think that Hyde looked a bit irked from the very beginning instead of proud like Kelso and Fez were? That's where I got my idea for Hyde's protectiveness of Donna.
Note: There's not a lot of Jackie in this chapter, just like in the episode; it's Thanksgiving and, as mentioned in a previous chapter, her parents make appearances for holidays to keep up their image, so she's with them. This chapter focuses a bit more on Eric, Donna, and Hyde's friendship dynamic.
Sorry about the super long author's note...
"Laurie's bus isn't here yet," Eric complained as he stepped outside of the bus station with his parents, hugging himself and rubbing his arms in an attempt to keep warm, "Dad, can we get in the car and turn on the heater, it's freezing."
"I'm not wastin' gas just so you can be comfortable," Red grouched.
"Well... can we at least wait inside?" Eric asked.
"I'm not goin' in that bus station with those people," Kitty said, looking around at the people outside with wide eyes.
"Well, it's freezing," Eric fired back, but his mother ignored him in favor of giving him the worst news he's possibly ever heard, "Eric, I forgot to tell you that your sister's bringing a friend home for Thanksgiving, so you'll be sleeping in the basement."
"The basement? Well, they should sleep in Laurie's room!"
Kitty ignored him again, "Red, I've been thinking, maybe this year we should skip the big turkey, they have small ones on sell at Piggly-Wiggly."
"This family doesn't scrimp on holidays," Red said grumpily, "Can you imagine my mother sitting down to a chicken?"
"Well, it doesn't matter, Red, she doesn't eat my cooking anyway," Kitty snarked.
"Dad, they should sleep in the basement!"
"Red, last Thanksgiving, she said her jaw wasn't strong enough to chew the turkey. And that was a magnificent turkey!"
"Dad, it's my room, I don't see why they-"
"I work myself to the bone-"
"Alright!" Red interrupted, his eyes wide with annoyance, "That's it! Now Kitty, don't get worked up over my mother, and you're sleepin' in the basement and we're all gonna have a happy damn Thanksgiving!"
"Mommy, Daddy!" Laurie yelled, running out of the bus station with her friend by her side, "This is Kate." She introduced before giving Kitty a hug.
"Hi sweetheart!" Red greeted happily, giving Laurie a hug as well, "Oh, let's get you in the car, you must be freezing." He said, rushing Laurie and Kitty back to the car, completely ignoring Eric's 'oh, come on!' expression.
"So, you're Eric," Kate smiled, "Your sister didn't tell me you were so cute."
Eric looked at her wide-eyed, his mouth opened slightly as he took in her flirty head-tilt.
"We are going to have so much fun this weekend."
Eric stared after her in a daze as she started walking toward the car before he speedily grabbed her bags and chased after her, "Wait! You can stay in my room!"
The gang sat at two small tables pushed together in the front of the Hub, away from the back filled with all the arcade games; the front seemed emptier than the back, most of the kids coming in simply for the games. Kelso, Eric, Hyde, and Jackie sat at one table, Hyde's arm loosely draped over her shoulder, while Donna and Fez sat at the other.
"So this Kate..." Hyde started calmly before smirking slightly, "Is she hot?" He ignored Jackie's eye-roll and smack on the chest.
"Of course she's hot," Kelso said, "All college girls are hot. I mean, you've seen the brochures."
Hyde rolled his own eyes, shifting the arm over Jackie's shoulders slightly as she looked at Kelso stupidly. What a fantasy world he lives in.
"Okay, Donna," Jackie smiled fakely, removing Hyde's arm from her as she grabbed Donna's hand, "Help me play some music. Right now." She ignored Hyde's smirk as she led Donna to the jukebox; he knew exactly what she was going to say to Donna and it was a little irritating.
Waiting for the girls to be out of earshot, Hyde turned back to Eric, "So she's hot," He deadpanned.
"Oh, so hot," Eric immediately said, making Hyde chuckle a little, Kelso and Fez nodding in excitement.
Jackie looked at Donna sympathetically, rubbing her arms, "You okay?"
"Um," Donna looked at her strangely, "Yeah...?"
Jackie gave her a stupid look, "Donna, he has a collage whoreman sleeping in his bed."
"He's sleeping in the basement," Donna said simply.
"Donna," Jackie said impatiently to her naive friend, "Stairs are not gonna stop a high school horn dog. Barbed wire is not gonna stop a high school horn dog. A wall of fire-"
"Jackie!" Donna interrupted, "I get it!"
"Poor Donna," Jackie smiled, "So naive."
Donna rolled her eyes, leading Jackie back to the tables. "So what'd you guys wanna do?" She asked as they took their respective seat.
Eric shrugged, grabbing a fry. He was planning on dunking it in their plate of ketchup, but his imagination caught up to him and he saw Kate's face in the red substance, smiling seductively at him. "I hope it doesn't get too cold tonight. I sleep practically naked." Kelso pushed his own fry through the ketchup, smearing Kate's face across the plate; it was way too weird to look at and abruptly ended his fantasy.
"Yeah, well," Eric suddenly said, tossing his fry back into the red basket, "I guess I'm just gonna-" He gave a big, fake yawn, trying to ignore the look Donna and Hyde sent him as he did an over exaggerated shake-off as he grabbed his jacket and stood, "Just gonna- I'm tuckered out, so- I just- I'll go home!" He stuttered out before sprinting out the door.
Hyde scratched his temple with a single finger in annoyance; God, Forman was such a dumbass.
Hyde, Fez, and Kelso surrounded Eric as he sat on the lawn chair in the basement. Hyde sat on the coffee table, Kelso and Fez on the couch.
While Kelso and Fez were grinning in excitement, Hyde had to use his Zen to keep his pissed thoughts from showing on his face, acting proud of Eric instead of cuffing him on the head. He wouldn't tell anybody, but he was just as protective of Donna as he was of Jackie; she was his first friend after all, his baby sister. He hadn't met Eric until he had asked Hyde to walk him home in fear of her. Hell, Forman'd probably still be avoiding her if it weren't for Hyde; he was the one that convinced Donna to be friends with Eric instead of beating the hell out of him. And if Forman's gonna pull a dillhole move by going around and kissing other girls behind her back, and Donna finds out and gets hurt, Hyde was going to push his face in the dirt and make him eat it like she used to do.
"So you made out with a college girl?" Fez smiled excitedly.
"Kind of," Eric answered.
"Start talkin'," Hyde demanded, thankful no one could see the small twitch of his eyes or the glint in them behind his rose colored lenses.
"Yeah," Kelso nodded excitedly, "Tell it like a story. Like a sexy story."
"Okay," Eric grinned, "She, like, jammed her entire tongue in my mouth. And you wouldn't think a girl had that much tongue."
Hyde nodded, laughing a little with the guys, none of them noticing the irritated undercurrents in his chuckle.
"Sweet!" Kelso shouted.
"Oh, oh yeah..." Eric stuttered, realization suddenly forming on his face, "But I feel kind of guilty... like, dirty."
You should, Forman.
"Dirty is good," Kelso said, Fez nodding behind him saying, "I like feeling dirty."
"No, no, I mean I feel bad," Eric said, looking at Hyde, his only guy-friend with common sense, "I think I gotta tell Donna."
Hyde leaned a little more forward to Eric, thinking about how upset and hurt Donna would look if she found out; he didn't want to see that look on her face, it was almost as bad as Jackie's hurt face. Almost.
"Oh," Hyde said pleasantly, "Well, on behalf of men everywhere." He slapped Eric hard on the face with the back of his hand, being sure to tug at his nose painfully as he pulled his hand back, pulling Eric a little more toward him. Hyde smirked in satisfaction at Eric's wide-eyed, 'what'd I do?' look.
"Yeah, man," Kelso said, giving Eric a stupid look, "I mean, the right thing to do is to juggle them both until it all blows up in your face." Hyde rolled his eyes, sighing irritably through his nose.
"Look," Eric said, "You guys don't understand, I can't hide anything. The minute she looks at me, she's gonna know."
Hearing footsteps on the stairs, they all turned to see Donna hopping down them, smiling, "Hi guys," She chirped, and Hyde furrowed his brows slightly, thinking about how that happy look was going to vanish away, "Watcha talkin' about?"
There was a small pause, everyone staring at Donna for a moment. She only glanced back and forth between all of them, wondering what the hell they were looking at and what was wrong with them.
Eric suddenly hopped out of his seat, blurting, "I kissed a girl!"
The guys hopped up, shouting at Eric all at once, but Kelso's "Oh my God, you bastard!" rang the loudest. Hyde followed them up the stairs, looking back for a moment to see Donna's face.
He clenched his jaw a little; she looked completely crushed, her eyes a little watery, her face going a bit pink in an effort to keep the tears from sliding down.
He was gonna kill Forman.
Donna waited for the sound of the upstairs basement door before looking at Eric, her arms crossed, "You what?"
Eric looked guilty, but that just wasn't enough for her, "You know that friend my sister brought home from college?"
"The slutty one?" Donna said, her tone obviously upset.
"Yeah," Eric said, avoiding her eyes; he looked like he wanted to take it back, but that wasn't enough for her. Why wasn't it, she wondered. "Um... I kissed her."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"I-I feel guilty... because it was like... really kissing."
"So, what we do isn't really kissing?" Donna asked, her face even pinker. Did he not think what they had was a real relationship?
"I thought that you should know considering you and I... have a thing," Eric stuttered, "Right?"
That's it? A thing? Not, 'because you're my girlfriend', or 'because I'm your cheating bastard dillhole boyfriend'.
Donna gave an angry, fake smile, "Well, obviously we don't have a thing if you're going around kissing slutty girls, right?"
There was a small pause, Eric looking at her in a bit of fear. Good, he should be scared. Dillhole.
"Okay, you're mad," He suddenly said, and she rolled her eyes. He really needed to work on the foot in mouth thing.
"Mad? Noooo," Donna drawled out in a sarcastic voice that was quite obviously mad as she made her way to the stairs, "Why should I be mad? In fact, you can kiss whatever you want. Start with your own ass!"
"Why are you here?" Red asked grumpily, snatching the small plate of food from Hyde's hands as he looked around at him, Kelso, and Fez, "Why are you always here? It's Thanksgiving, don't you have families?"
A small pause.
The boys simultaneously lowered their heads with a rather dejected, "No..."
Red heaved an irritated sigh just as the basement door slammed open and Donna came storming out. Hyde watched her walk passed him for a moment; her face was even pinker and the tears were starting to slip, "Donna, you wanna talk?" She didn't answer; she just slammed the sliding door on her way out. How the hell can you slam a sliding door?
"Well, I guess Donna didn't take it very well," Kelso muttered.
"Take what well?" Red asked as he sat Hyde's plate of food on the counter. But Red knew Steven well enough to know that while he'd be able to glare him down, Steven will just stay quiet; and like he thought, the boy just turned back to his food, avoiding Red's eyes, so he turned to Kelso and the foreign kid. (I added this cuz I think, even before Hyde moved in, he looked up to Red as a father figure, so he wouldn't want to disappoint him, even if he had nothing to do with whatever happened)
They looked at him for a moment, grins slowly forming on their faces.
"Eric made out with Kate," Kelso giggled, before frowning, suddenly realizing what he said. But Fez kept his grin, so Red asked, "Anything else?"
"Your son is a whore," Fez giggled.
Red used his thumb to point behind himself to the sliding door, silently ordering them out as Eric came up the stairs.
Hyde immediately walked toward the door, but Kelso and Fez hesitated a minute, looking at Eric with wide-eyes before rushing to follow Hyde.
While Red blew up at Eric, Hyde ignored Kelso and Fez as they sat on the chairs on the porch, jogging over to Donna's house. He used her kitchen door, ignoring Midge as she asked what happened to Donna, making his way up to her room.
He didn't bother knocking (though he should probably learn to, considering that little incident), quietly opening her door. She was sitting at the foot of her bed, hugging herself with a lowered head. He didn't say anything as she sniffled, sitting beside her and putting an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him, her cheek against a spot between his shoulder and chest.
She sniffled again, "I kind of wish he didn't tell me."
"Well," Hyde mumbled, scrunching his face slightly, knowing what he was going to say was a bit hypocritical compared to what he thought before and said to Forman, "Would you have rather him be honest with you or find out later because of some rumor?"
She was quiet for a moment, her face still hidden as she wiped it a little with her hand, "...The rumor thing would just hurt more, wouldn't it?"
"Mm," He murmured, kneading her shoulder before sliding his hand up a little to gently pull her hair back.
She finally lifted her head to look at him; seeing that heartbroken face, he thought he just might actually kill Forman.
"He looked really guilty," She muttered, "And he looked like he would do anything to take it back, but it's still not enough for me and I don't know why."
"It's because you trusted 'em," Hyde answered, still playing with her hair in a way that he knew comforted her; something he discovered when they were little and she was crying about a fight her parents had, "You trusted him to be reliable and dependable and to not hurt you, but he did the opposite. And you know what," Hyde suddenly smirked, "You should totally give 'em hell for it, man."
Donna let out a breath through her nose that was a mixture between a giggle and sniffle, giving him a small smile.
"Okay, what he did was stupid and dillhole-y and I'm not gonna defend it," Hyde said truthfully; he'd never defend this, thinking about how his dad did this to his ma almost every week, "But Forman really does care about you, man. He's just a really stupid, scrawny little neighbor boy who let his hormones take over his head," He said with a deadpan-ish tone, making Donna laugh a little again.
"See, sometimes," Hyde smirked, "He can be really smart, but he's gotta foot in mouth thing goin' on and talks before he thinks, and other times, he's just as stupid as Kelso. When you mix that up, you get a genuine dumbass. That's why Red calls 'em that every single day. He's a dumbass and scrawny dumbass neighbor boys need to learn their lessons by having pissed off saucy red heads give 'em hell."
Donna nodded sarcastically, giving a full smile, her tears dried up, her face just a little pink now, "Okay. Give 'em hell."
"That's right," Hyde nodded once as she leaned her head on his shoulder, ending the conversation in the same manner they always end their serious talks, "Thanks for the heart-to-heart, Hyde."
"Get bent."
Donna sat at her kitchen table with her mom's arm around her. She didn't mean to worry Midge, but she was too mad to talk and just stormed passed her when she first came home. So, when Hyde left out the window (the freaking delinquent), she decided to go back to the kitchen to placate her mom a little. And that's when Eric opened the kitchen door a bit cautiously.
"Look, Donna, um..." He stuttered, "Can we talk?"
Midge tried to stand, "I'll just leave you alone."
But Donna grabbed her arm, gently pulling her back into her seat; she never got a chance to tell her mom what happened and she thought that this might fall under the category of 'give 'em hell', "No, mom, stay," She said in a falsely pleasant voice before looking at Eric, "We don't have secrets in our house. We don't sneak around on each other like a little horny rat kissing other girls!" Donna held back her smile at the dramatic gasp Midge let out when she whipped her head around to look at Eric.
Eric lowered his eyes as he sat in a chair before looking back up at her, "Look, Donna, um... please come to my house for Thanksgiving desert. You always do... please don't let some stupid thing I did ruin that..."
"Well," Donna quipped, thinking about what Hyde told her, "I can't depend on you, so why should you be able to depend on me?"
"Look, Donna, please, okay?" Eric begged a little, "I'm really sorry and... I feel really bad-"
"GOOD!" Donna yelled, slamming her hands on the table as she stood, walking around the counter as Eric dejectedly walked out the door; she slammed it behind him.
"Ohhh..." Midge sighed sadly, "Poor thing."
"Mom!" Donna complained.
"Oh!" Midge looked up at her with one of her ditzy smiles, "Of course, I meant you, honey."
Donna widened her eyes in exasperation.
At least Hyde was on her side.
"Donna," Eric said quietly in a little bit of excitement, seeing her sitting on the piano bench, "I am so glad you came."
"I only came because my mom made me, okay," Donna quipped.
"Hey, Donna, alright, you made it," Hyde grinned, holding up two paper plates with a slice of pie and forks on them, "Got you some pie."
"I don't want any stupid pie," She mumbled, storming passed them to Red's study, taking the hallway there to get to the dining room so she could leave through the kitchen.
"What, I didn't kiss 'er!" Hyde yelled after her, but his eyes stayed locked on Eric's, and Eric winced a little at the disappointment in them; he didn't like disappointing Hyde, who was like the big brother of the whole group. He immediately stormed after Donna, ready to fix this whole mess.
Hyde watched them for a moment before looking at Bob and Red slouched on the couch, belts undone due to all the good food Kitty cooks for the holidays.
He mocked Bob's voice as he held out one of the plates to him, "Hey there, Bob, want some pie?"
Bob looked at him for a moment before undoing his belt a bit further and grabbing the plate, "Oh, yeah."
Hyde grinned, taking a seat next to him to eat his own pie.
Donna slammed her kitchen door shut, angrily tossing her coat on one of the chairs before turning to face the fridge, arms crossed.
Her door suddenly opened again, Eric storming in, "Hey, Donna!"
"Oh, don't get all tough with me!" Donna yelled.
"Yeah!?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay..." Eric consented nervously before toughening up a little, "No, look, we need to talk."
"I'll start, get out!"
"What'd you want me to say, I already apologized! You just wanna forget about us because I kissed some girl?"
"Why'd you do it?"
"... Well I have a good authority that I'm dumbass."
"...So you liked it?" Donna asked angrily and a bit nervously.
"Yeah..." Eric muttered, "I liked it."
"No would've been a better answer," Donna said, turning a little before looking back at him.
"Look, Donna..." Eric said, walking a bit closer to her, "That kiss was great. But if I could take it back, I would. Because it's not worth ruining what you and I have."
"Eric, you are a dumbass," Donna muttered, a little more placated as she gently shoved his arm; she didn't think she needed to keep up the 'give 'em hell' thing after that line.
"So, is that like," Eric started, calmed a bit, "'I forgive you, dumbass', or... 'get out of my house, you dumbass'?"
"Let's go with the first one," Donna smiled slightly and Eric placed a hand on her lower back, pulling her closer. He kissed her, softly at first like always, but she was a little caught off guard by his tongue and she ran her hands through his hair, kissing him back hard in excitement.
"Wow..." She said a bit dazedly when he broke the kiss, "Tongue."
Jackie giggled a little when Steven told her Eric's revenge plan against Kate; humiliate her by having the guys hit on her, letting her know that they knew how much of a tramp she was.
They were laid back in her bed, his arm around her shoulder, her head resting against it.
"Serves her right," She muttered, "Stupid home wrecking-"
Jackie suddenly cut herself off, and Hyde looked down at her to see her staring at her bedroom door, obviously deep in thought.
"Steven," She said a bit hesitantly, "You wouldn't... do that... right?"
"Jackie-"
"I mean, Eric really likes Donna, and he didn't care about Kate, but he kissed her anyway and-"
"Jackie," Hyde interrupted, shifting a little to look at her better, "Listen to me, okay. I wouldn't do that to you, alright. Never. I like you too much for that."
Looking at his naked eyes, Jackie knew he meant it. So she smiled a little and kissed him, letting him lean her back on the bed.
Wew, this chapter feels long...
Yay, friendship chapter! ;D
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