Disclaimer: I do not own That 70s Show.

A/N: Hey :) & Merry Christmas if you celebrate it! Honestly I've had this chapter done for a while, but it's been so busy for me the last few days I haven't even had time to open up my laptop and upload it. But it's Christmas and I didn't want the night to be over without me leaving this here and telling you all for like the millionth time how much I appreciate that you're reading and commenting so faithfully. It's been a hard year and if reading my fics has helped any of you escape as much as writing has for me, that's all I could ask for. And that's all for now. Hope you enjoy :)

Jackie could be damn annoying when she wanted to be. First she made a big deal of these stupid college trips, making promises she didn't need to make and wanting him to make promises he didn't need to make. And now that he finally caved she was being difficult and stubborn and damn annoying.

He wanted to leave her to go down to the basement by herself, to let her sit down there and have no one to be all smug to. But his body tugged in her direction and he couldn't stop himself from following her, no matter how much he wanted to.

"That's all you're gonna say?" he asked, trailing a couple steps behind her.

Her hair swished back and forth behind her as she bounced down the stairs. "What else do you want me to say?" she questioned, sounding frustratingly aloof.

"What else-'' He skipped a beat, then demanded, "What the hell do you mean? I just told you nothin' happened with me this weekend."

"And I said that's good to know," she unnecessarily reminded him, whirling around to face him and bringing her arms up to cross them against her chest.

Screw it. If she wanted to be purposely difficult she could do it on her own. He wasn't gonna give her the satisfaction of knowing she was getting under his skin. "You know what? Fine. I'm goin' to my room. And don't follow me!" he added as an afterthought halfway there.

He walked in but left the door open, throwing himself onto his cot. Man, she was infuriating. He was Steven Hyde. He didn't make promises. He didn't reassure people or ask for reassurance. But he'd done it cause that was what she wanted, and, okay, maybe the thought of her flirting with some older, more promising college dude freaked him out a little. But still. She didn't have to throw his own words back in his face.

As the thought crossed his mind she showed up in the doorway and flashed a triumphant and slightly guilty grin. "You care," she accused.

He scowled at her. "If you're comin' in here to gloat or be annoying just get out," he said, his tone less malicious than his words.

"I don't see why you're upset!" She walked into the room and sat on the chair across from the bed, pulling it closer so they sat right across from each other. "When I tried to tell you I wasn't going to do anything with anybody else you were being a jerk about it."

"You were trying to manipulate me into saying the shit you wanted to hear."

"I was reassuring you that I only have eyes for you!" she exclaimed, pressing her hands to her chest. "All I wanted was the same from you. We are dating now."

"Yeah," he said, "Exactly. We're dating now. You should just trust me enough not to fool around with other chicks. What the hell kind of relationship is this is every time I'm not in your sight I have to swear to you I'm not gonna cheat?"

Jackie blinked. "Well, with Michael-"

"Well I'm not Kelso."

"I know you're not." He wasn't meeting her eyes, so she leaned forward and placed her hands on either side of his face, forcing him to look at her. "I'm glad you're not. I-that's just all I know, Steven. I'm an expert at manipulating people. I do it without even knowing it sometimes."

"Well quit doing it with me." He took a deep breath. "We're together, Jackie. Together together. I'm not gonna go runnin' after the first thing with two legs and a nice rack just cause she looks my way. I'm not Kelso. I'm not gonna cheat on you. I need you to trust that, otherwise this isn't gonna work."

Jackie's thumbs stoked his cheeks. "Okay. I trust you. I do."

"Good." He put his hands over hers and took them off his face, placing them in his lap without letting go. He rubbed circles onto her hands with his thumb.

"Do you trust me?" she asked.

His eyes locked into place on her gaze. Did he trust her? His instinctual answer was I don't trust anybody. But he had to trust her. He'd drive himself crazy if he didn't.

"Yeah," he said. It was a half-truth, but he'd work on that. She didn't have to know about the doubts swirling about in his mind..

"Good." She smiled slightly, leaned forward. He did the same, meeting her halfway and kissing her softly. "Nothing happened," she confided. "I was miserable the entire weekend. All I could think about was you and what you were doing."

Hyde scratched the back of his neck. "Well...same here."

"Really?" she brightened up. "You were?" He chose not to answer her. "Fine. I'll go first. So we got there, we looked around, Donna seemed to really like it. But the tour was kind of boring so I went to watch the cheer squad practice. And I was sitting there and I couldn't even focus on how great they looked. I just kept thinking about how you said Good to know, and that there were gonna be all these skanky college girls, and they would be hitting on you because, well, look at you, and I got so worried that you would realize...I don't know, that you would change your mind about the whole dating thing, and-"

Hyde kissed her, blocking the rest of her words from leaving her mouth. She froze for a second then kissed him back, her lips as soft and intoxicating as ever. "Chill out," he told her. "I'm not changin' my mind."

Jackie smiled at him. Then patted his chest and grinned encouragingly. "Okay, now your turn!"

He tried not to roll his eyes. Jackie didn't let anything slip past her. A little give, a little take. He owed her that now with their new relationship status. He sighed. "A chick hit on me, offered to sleep with me, and the idea of it did nothing for me. Didn't want her at all. Then I thought about the guys that must be hittin' on you, and Fez put all this crap in my head. And I know I was an ass to you before we left so I thought maybe you would've done somethin.' Y'know, as revenge. And it...messed with my head."

"So that's why you reported to me when we got back?"

Breathing out hard, Hyde answered, "Yep."

"You know, it's good to be a little bit jealous sometimes."

"Oh yeah?"

"It is," she said to him earnestly. "It's nice to be reminded that someone's scared to lose you."

"If you say so."

"I say so."

"Whatever."

"Steven?" Her voice lilted up, which meant she was a little nervous to say whatever she had to say next, but too curious not to, and worried about his answer.

"What?"

"Do you think you'll ever go to college?"

"No," he answered immediately. "That's not my thing."

"But-"

"No, Jackie. I can't afford college. And even if I could, I wouldn't want to."

"You wouldn't?"

"Nope."

"But why not?"

"Payin' thousands of dollars to sit in a classroom to learn a bunch of crap I don't care about? Never in a million years."

"Yeah but then you could get rich," she drew out as if she were explaining the concept to a 3-year-old.

"I don't care about money, Jackie."

"Everybody cares about money."

"Not me."

"But-"

"Jackie. Drop it."

"Fine."

He couldn't believe he'd found himself here. It was starting to scare him, the situations he found himself in with Jackie.

"Jackie, we gotta get outta here" he said, his head bent and voice lowered to emphasize his desperation. "I feel like I'm suffocating in here."

"Steven, it's barely been an hour."

"This place is killing me. I can feel it."

Jackie rolled her eyes. "And you call me the dramatic one."

"Jackie."

"Fine. Can we just hit one more store?"

"No! You know what - you stay, I'm leaving."

"No, no, wait!" she lunged for his hand and forced him to turn back around to face her. "You can't just leave your girlfriend alone in the mall. It's not safe."

"This is Point Place," he deadpanned. "The only crime that's happening here today is the one I'm gonna commit if I don't get out of here in the next two minutes."

"Fine. Fine, we'll go."

"Great, let's go," he answered, relieved out of his mind, cause if she had decided to stay there was no way he'd be able to actually leave her here, and he couldn't handle any more time in this damn place. Malls were bright and loud and all the stores sold overpriced shit under the pretense that it was on sale. Not that Jackie even cared about that - she avoided the sale section like it would infect her with some deadly disease.

Hand in hand, he steered her towards the exit, swerving through disgustingly happy couples and running children and men who looked about as happy to be there as he was.

The feeling of sweet victory and sweeter freedom pulsated against his skin when he saw the exit sign ahead of them. So close.

"Wait!"

Dammit.

Jackie ripped her hand out of his to make sure he'd stop walking, and when he turned around, she was standing shock-still in her tracks, bottom lip pouted out in his direction.

"No," he said instantly.

"You don't even-"

"No."

"Steven-"

"No, Jackie, let's go."

"It won't even take five minutes."

"You say that every time."

"No, it's not a store! No more shopping, I swear."

"What do you want?" he asked, crossing his arms and standing his ground.

"Photobooth," she pleaded.

"Hell no."

"Oh, Steven."

"No, Jackie."

"Steven, please, please, please, it'll be so cute, and there's not even a line, so it'll only take a couple seconds. Come on, we're here already. Please, please, please."

He hated when she begged him like this. It made him feel like crap if he didn't give her what she was asking, but he'd already given her so damn much. He needed to surround himself with smoke and loud banging music that would be considered too rackety to be played for commercial purposes.

"Jackie." He pulled out his desperate please quit it voice.

"Oh, Steven, please, it'll be so cute. Please. If you do this with me I won't ask you to come back here for another month. Two months. I'll ditch cheer practice tomorrow and we can do whatever you want. Please."

As she spoke she slowly closed the distance between them, and now she stood right at his feet, head tilted up, eyes shining with hope, lips turned down slightly, and for good measure, she stood close enough for him to feel the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.

Lost again. He was 0 for about 7 now.

"Fine," he snapped. "But you're doing whatever I want tomorrow."

Jackie squealed and kissed his cheek quickly, then rushed off towards the photobooth, keeping her boyfriend right in tow.

She was right. There was no line, and she slid into the booth with all the eagerness of a 5 year old. Muttering curses under his breath, he got in next to her, still not quite believing what he had agreed to do.

She drew the curtain closed, and sat so close to him she was almost on top of him, smiling cheekily.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

He didn't bother answering. Jackie inserted the coin into the coin slot and instructed, "Okay, now smile!"

He did not smile as the countdown started, trying not to cave at how happy and excited she was, flipping her hair over her shoulder and flashing an expert grin at the camera.

"Steven, you have to smile!" she insisted, maneuvering herself around to get ready for the next picture. She lifted his hand and slung it around her shoulder, keeping their fingers interlaced and leaning back against his chest.

"Smiling wasn't part of the deal," he reminded her, keeping his face still as the next picture was taken.

"Baby, come on, please," she pleaded, twisting to face him, slipping her hands around his neck and forcing him to look at her.

The camera caught the moment his features softened - as they usually did when he was looking at her - and the way she gazed at him adoringly, her hands rested intimately on either side of his face.

The clicking sound of the photo being taken shocked Hyde out of his reverie, but he didn't stop looking at her. The prettiest girl in the damn world. His girl.

"So you won't smile?" she asked sadly, with a softer but playful tone.

"No," he told her, and dipped his head to kiss her.

He felt her gasp against his lips, not expecting his kiss, but her body reacted instantly, her fingers scratching against his neck slightly, bringing his face closer to hers. That made him smile - a tiny smile as he kissed her.

When they exited the suffocating box, Hyde was the one to grab the strip of paper that the machine produced.

"Now we're leaving," he said, heading straight for the exit. But he stared at the pictures the whole way, holding the paper in his left hand and Jackie's hand with his right.

"Let me see," she huffed, craning her neck over to look at the pictures.

They were cute. Or at least she was. He looked more than miserable in the first two, tolerant in the third, but the last one...

She was smiling in it too, a little. It was something only he would be able to tell, having memorized her face, her smile, and every single one of her kisses. They looked like - well, like two teenagers kissing in a photobooth, acting like nothing else mattered except that they were kissing each other.

"Steven!"

Hyde let go of her hand, ripped the bottom picture off, then handed her the remaining three.

"Steve Hyde, you didn't!"

"I'm keepin' this one," he informed her. "It's the least I can get after agreeing to go in there."

Jackie, as usual, latched on to any hint of underlying romance in his words. "Oh, Steven," she cooed. "You want to keep a picture of us? That's so-"

"Don't say sweet," he interrupted her, and took a deep breath of fresh air as they finally left that godforsaken place behind. "I'm keepin' it to remember why I agree to do all this crap with you. If you look close enough you can see you pushing your tongue into my mouth," he lied. "It's giving me tons of ideas for what we can do tomorrow when you ditch your practice."

Jackie narrowed her eyes at him, scowling. "You're such a pig. Why can't you do anything sweet for me without thinking of sex?" she huffed.

"Why can't you ever do things for me that involve only sex?"

"Oh, I am never sleeping with you again," she declared, walking faster towards the El Camino.

"You sure about that?" he inquired, following right on her heels.

"Positive. You disgust me." She waited, but Hyde didn't answer. "I can't get you to do anything for me without giving something in return - you're my boyfriend, Steven, sometimes you should just do stuff. And you never buy me flowers. Or anything else for that matter. I'm a pretty girl, and pretty girls deserve pretty things. And don't even get me started on your idea of dates. A joint in your room with a box of pizza is not a date, Steven. You have to at least take me out of the house. Oh, and your beard is so scruffy and scratchy it doesn't even make kissing you fun."

She had arrived at the Camino, whirling around with her arms folded and leaning her against the passengers door, glaring at him. He towered over her, looking down into her eyes with a raised eyebrow. "You done?"

"Yes," she nodded, swallowing nervously but meeting his hard gaze.

"Okay," he said, but didn't step away. She got flustered so easily. His eyes flickered down to her lips. She licked them reflexively. Smirking, he licked his own lips and slinked his arm around her waist. Her expression stayed mostly stoic, but Hyde knew her, and her body knew him, and he could feel her gravitating toward him, noticed her breaths getting shallower.

Hyde kept staring at her. He could have stared at her all day. But he didn't have to do it much longer until she blurted out, "What the hell are you waiting for?"

"Huh?" he asked, feigning ignorance, eyebrows lifted in question.

"Kiss me," she said, not sounding ashamed, just tired of waiting.

His arm around her waist slammed her body into his and he kissed her, trapping her between him and the Camino, until neither of them could breathe anymore.

"I'll get you flowers if it's such a big deal," he said. "Now quit complainin.'"

He walked around the car to get into the drivers seat, and on his way, quickly pulled out his wallet and shoved the picture he tore off into it. It would be nice, he thought, to have that picture always with him. And as he started the car and drove out the parking lot, turning the familiar road to get back home, he made a mental note not to get any sexual favors from Jackie tomorrow. He knew she was just throwing words in his face, but he'd feel a whole lot better if she knew they weren't true.

And when she started rattling off about how going into the photobooth for the first time was such a monumental moment that they had to remember the date so they could celebrate the anniversary of it, he agreed. He was beginning to accept there wasn't much she could ask of him that he wouldn't agree to. And for the most part, it was worth it.