Things have been kind of crazy lately but I wanted to thank everyone who reviewed my last chapter. The majority agreed with continuing this story. I wanted to say that I appreciate everyone who voiced their opinions. I think I made my stance on sexual assault/harassment clear last chapter so I won't harp on it. In that vein, I want to welcome everyone back and tell you all that you're all beautiful people and that I hope this chapter makes you happy.

Chapter 25: Cruelty in the Blood

For not the first time in Tina Forman's life, she thought about the cruelty that must be knitted into a boy's DNA when they were born.

"Tina." The sun was creating a blaze of light just over the horizon, that blue evening sky burning like the clouds had decided to warm themselves with a bonfire. Tina didn't look away from it, pulling her winter coat tighter around her, her knees safely tucked beneath her chin. "Come on, Tina. It's like 30 degrees out here."

"54," she corrected automatically, her toes wiggling against the numbing chill inside of her knit socks. Even though she was wearing a sweater under her thick, sheep-fur jacket, a scarf and a knit beanie and socks, she could still feel the chill creeping up her toes and fingers. In a way, she was grateful for it. She was tired of feeling like she was about to cry and she was also tired of feeling like she was stupid for wanting to cry in the first place. All a sad little merry-go-round of emotions that she honestly wanted to get off of.

"Shit," Eric cursed softly and she heard the scramble of uncoordinated feet on their roof's shingles as he hauled himself up from her window pane and onto the slope of the Forman household. This area had always been Tina's. When the pair were younger, she had been the only one crazy enough to scuttle from her window and balance her way across the ridge of their roof.

From that moment forward, this place had been hers. Her gaze slid along the rusty gutter running the length of the roof, catching on the forgotten pencils and crayons and cheap dollar-store jewelry that had slid into its breadth.

"Jesus Christ," Eric swore, sweating profusely as a shingle came lose under his foot and he dropped to all fours to crawls his way across the rest of the roof like a sweaty raccoon trying to navigate a buoy in rough seas. He ended up shuffling to a spot somewhere just behind her so that she had to look back if she actually wanted to have eye contact with him. His knobby knees bumped shakily against her shoulder, making her think that the position might be more aimed toward survival. If he went rolling off, he had her to go through first which would give him a foothold to stop his descent.

Tina sighed, rubbing a heel across her eyes as the sun dipped a little further. It would be dark soon and while a part of her enjoyed the numbing cold, a greater part of her realized that it was a school night and that if she froze to death, Red would probably still tear her covers away in the morning and force her onto the bus. If there was one thing that Red demanded from his daughters, it was a solid education. He had seen the way that females were treated in the military. Had seen too much of the backhanded comments and unwillingness to take the word of women even when they were performing aerial dives in Germany. Perhaps an education wouldn't dull the misogyny but he knew damn well that it would make it that much harder for them to simply dismiss his daughters.

"You know he's been waiting in the basement all day," Eric said quietly, his eyes drifting over the auburn mass of his sister's curls, across the wind bit cheeks and nose. Her eyes were set firmly on the horizon, her mouth thin. He knew that look. It meant that she was trying not to think about anything right now - especially not the curly-haired boy who had been sitting, quietly on the washing machine, his hands clasped, his shoulders slumped forward.

There was an indomitable core that ran through Steven Hyde. It pushed back against all rebuke, unwilling to admit to anything similar to remorse. In his opinion, such emotions were overrated and useless in the long run.

But today, Eric had seen him, glassy-eyed, watching the stairs in intervals that drove the group half-mad with its misery. The boy sitting in the basement that day had only looked like Steven Hyde, Eric decided, feeling somehow ashamed as he stared at him. Something essential had been ripped away and in its place was cold, sharp desperation.

"Who?" Tina snapped petulantly, her anger rising once more and with it a tang of confusion and humiliation. Because in many ways these emotions were ridiculous. Donna and Hyde had kissed before Tina had ever truly been in the picture. Even now, she could remember that she had been going out with one boy or another, unhappily slipping from one relationship to the next like a fish searching for the right mass of water to live.

But the image of him running his hands through her hair, his lips on Donna's. His eyes clouding over in the same dazed sort of wonder that he had looked at her with-

"I love you but you're really hurting me right now." Tina blinked, her grip loosening on Eric's foot, her fingers, uncurling from where they were clawing into his sock-clad toes.

Shakily, Tina turned away, shutting her eyes as an image of Hyde's perfect lips, his strong jaw drifting closer and closer to pair of lips that weren't hers. These images struck at well-timed intervals, knifing into her with the persistence of a magician revealing a trick - at times when her mind relaxed, just when she looked away.

Her voice was raw, a thing of the cold, bitter wind when she finally spoke. "How can you do it?"

Eric blinked, tearing his eyes away from the sturdy roof just over the hedges. He hadn't spoken to Donna since that night. In some ways, he thought that his being up here was incredibly hypocritical. Had he really even forgiven her? He forced his gaze to Tina's profile. "What?"

"How can you-" The words stuck in her throat as she let the image play a bit longer, the agony somehow needed. Like she wanted to flay herself open with it. "Them. You picture it, right? Them - them kiss-"

She cut herself off, turning her face into her shoulder, somehow unable to say the words even as Donna's fingers scraped through Hyde's curly hair in her mind.

"Them kissing?" Tina flinched, her muscles seizing in surprise at her brother's blunt words. Shivering, she turned to him, shocked to see a small, sad smile curling his lips. Her brother's eyes looked so blue in the evening light. "That first night - right after we buried those files - I honestly wanted to jump off a cliff." Tina's hands crept across the pumice shingles, feeling out her brother's fingers. His brows knit, his eyes staying on the hedges. "You just keep seeing it right? I never thought I loved her that much until I actually had to… to picture her in his arms, kissing him like she kisses me. I mean you say it, right? I love you. But then you say a lot of stuff. I just… it didn't feel real until that moment. That moment when I had to think about her being with someone else."

I blinked up at him, his face somehow more lined and jaded than I had ever seen it before. Her twin brother had always been the quirky one of their family, outwardly geeky, in love with things that Tina and her father could never fathom. In that way, it had been hard to pin down how seriously anyone should take him. But sitting on this roof, Tina thought that he might be the best brother that anyone could ever ask for. No matter how much he had condemned her relationship with Hyde, he would never have left her alone up here. He would have never let her sit in the cold.

His hair flopped forward over his brow as he gave her an abashed smile, his head tipping forward toward his lip. "Besides, who else would date me beside Donna?"

She could have said what she was thinking. That anyone would be lucky to have someone like him. But she shook her head, deciding that that would be too close to them actually enjoying each others company. "There's that girl in the electronics store."

"The one with the head braces?"

"She had nice hair."

"And a face full of acne."

"Personality should matter more."

"Not when I would have to get out a wrench and some pliers to be able to kiss her."

"Please tell me you're not going to forgive him." Jackie's bottom lip pouted out, her arms crossing as her toe tap, tap, tapped against the Forman's driveway.

From her place leaning against the sliding glass door to their kitchen, Tina sighed. She hadn't spoken to Hyde in a week and she hated herself for keeping track of that time-lapse. In all honesty, she hadn't even meant it to be that long. Twice in the last two days, she had tried to approach him and over a dozen times, she had caught the hopeful glint in his blue eyes and turned away.

"I mean he screwed Donna," Jackie bubbled, her face going petulant as she rolled her eyes to where all of the boys were playing basketball.

"They kissed," Tina snapped, sending a glare to the brunette to which she rolled her eyes. "A year ago."

"11 months ago," Jackie corrected, earning her another glare.

Tina's jaw worked, her shoulders tensing as she saw the red gleam of Donna's hair as she bounded around the hedge and into the driveway. Immediately, Hyde stiffened, Eric, breezing past him as he took a shot at the net. The curly-haired boys eyes ran over the redhead warily, his stance withdrawn as he took a step away from the area closest to her.

In all honesty, Tina Forman had come to the realization that while the whole thing was messy and convoluted… She liked Hyde. A whole lot more than any teenager should be liking anyone. And none of them had been together 11 months ago. Not even her brother and Donna.

Did that mean that she didn't want to rip out Donna's hair every time she saw her?

"Catfight?" she heard Kelso whisper excitedly, clutching the ball to his chest as Tina breezed past him.

"I do not see any cats," Fez mused, his brows furrowing as he glanced around the driveway.

Near the hoop, Hyde's shoulders were up, his eyes oddly downcast as he watched Tina approach.

He had been keeping his distance for the last week even as he always seemed to be hovering nearby. There was always a rabid attentiveness that came with Hyde and Tina being in the same room. The same kind of focus that came from a hound spotting a rabbit. And that concentration seemed to only have been heightened through the last few days, a desperation entering Hyde's eyes. He had grown to not want things. It was simple when you were as poor as he was. If you wanted things than you would constantly be disappointed. But if you didn't then you could lay back and enjoy your life.

But Tina was different. Hyde wanted her more than he wanted his next breath of air. He wanted her more than he wanted his mom to come back home and those debt collectors to stop calling. And having to stay away from her this past week had made him half-crazed, nearly insane enough to sneak pelt her window with rocks every morning, to beg her to speak to him again.

"Tina." Her name sighed from him without his control, a sudden exhale after a moment of not letting go. Her eyes were as blue as ever, clear, and fringed with winter.

Tina Forman blinked up at Hyde's hunched figure, his hands shoved into his pocket as his eyes ran over her with a startling hunger. At her back, she could feel the imposing stares of the gang. "Will you… Can I talk to you?" At Kelso's low whistle and Jackie's exasperated sigh, she pressed on. "Alone?"

"Always." What a schmuck, Hyde chastised himself. What kind of guy said that? She was a witch. She pulled words like that out of him on command. And here he was, following her, dying as she walked gracefully away, leading him through their garage and into the yard just behind. There was a cropping of trees just behind it, shadowing them as she stopped and turned once more. God, how could she look so good when he felt like digging a grave and climbing into it?

Tina bit at the inside of her cheek, letting the silence stretch between them. How did you start this out? He was staring down at her like she was some kind of teacher and he needed to ace this next part to pass the test. Like he was willing to sell her his soul if she asked for it. Her heart rabbited against her ribs.

"If you ever even think about kissing another girl, I'll cut out your heart and sell it in the black market," Tina blurted out, blinking up at him rapidly, her lips clamping together. That wasn't what she had wanted to say. Maybe later on in the conversation as a joke but not right away. Her brows furrowed together as she felt a hot flush creep along her cheeks.

A slow, creeping smile ran tugged at his lips, his eyes still anxious even as he smirked down at her. "If I ever get close to another girl, you won't have to. I'll cut it out for you." His smile dropped, his expression wavering for a moment as he stared down at her. "I think I'd even do it right now if you asked me to."

The trees around them rustled, a smattering of leaves shivering free as they stared at each other.

Hyde gave a soft cough, one hand rubbing his nape as he glanced away. "Or, you know something less morbid."

The tinkling sound of Tina's laugh surprised him, his eyes widening as she let out a soft giggle. It made him laugh too - like an automatic response that was programmed into his DNA.

Her eyes snagged his once more, that laughter dwindling to nothing as she stared up at him like she was trying to read a textbook about genetics.

"Why'd you do it?" she suddenly whispered, her brows crinkling up in confusion as Hyde flinched. "Why'd you kiss her?"

"I - I don't-" That hand was back to rubbing at his neck, his brows furrowing as well before he squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, sending his curls into his face. Sighing, he blinked, finally meeting her eyes again. "It was back when you were all into that jock. That fucking meat for brains caveman who used to pants all the nerds."

Tina's eyes widened, her eyes taking in his defensive posture, the annoyed tick in his jaw. "Freddy Jennis? I only went out with him for a month."

"Yeah, right after that bleach-blonde sleaze," he growled, his eyes blazing a shade deeper behind his sunglasses. Was he talking about Todd? Tina's eyes went widen, confusion parting her lips. Grunting, Hyde's hands scrubbed along his face. "You didn't even know I existed. And I had to watch while all those gorillas pawed you up-"

"You didn't even tell me-" Tina started.

"I didn't say that I was thinking rationally, alright?" he snapped and her once Tina saw a bit of embarrassment creep into his eyes. "I just thought - I mean I was going crazy, okay? I wanted to tackle Freddy every time I saw him and then you stood up for him at that rally-"

"You said that he had the I.Q. of a worm!" Tina hissed, remembering that night vividly. It was one of the single worst moments of her entire life. Hyde's face lit by the bonfire, the hurt cast starkly in the light of the flames. If you want to stand up for this trout than I guess I thought too highly of you, Tina, he had snarled, his disappointment almost palpable before he had stalked away.

"I was trying to tell you that he had been tonguing Stacy Burns behind the locker room!" Hyde snarled and Tina jumped, taken aback. "That's why I tackled him. But you wouldn't even let me get a word out."

Tina's jaw snapped shut, her gaze narrowing. "So what? You decided to go shove your tongue in Donna's throat?"

"No - I - Jesus, Tina." He tugged at his hair, his blue eyes crinkling in irritation before he took a deep breath. "You have to understand - I've been crazy about you since then. Even before then. For you… For you this is new but for me… I would have rather eaten live rats than watch you go out with all those losers - guys who couldn't even see - I mean, damn, Tina. You're a fucking goddess. I've worshipped you since the day I saw you stand up to that whole table of jocks for me. How could I just stand there while all these guys treated you like trash?" His breath sawed out of him unevenly, his hands reaching up like he was about to touch her before slowly lowering, his face pinching up in pain. "So I did something stupid. Donna was just… there. When I came back to the house, she was outside and we started to talk and… and I just thought that maybe if I kissed her, maybe then it wouldn't be so shitty. Maybe it wasn't that it was you but that it was a friend. Maybe that kiss would make it all go away. So I went for it." A humorless laugh croaked from him. "And somehow it made me feel even worse." His hand rubbed his face once more, looking more like he was trying to claw his own skin off than anything else. "And now this."

A cool breeze riffled through Tina's hair, her eyes staring blindly up at Hyde as he gave a long sigh. For a long moment, thick silence hung between them, blanketing them.

Hyde's eyes were beseeching as he glanced up. "Say something?"

"You're so…" her voice faltered, her hands reaching out on their own accord and curling into the denim of his collar, pulling him down until her lips hovered over his. "Dumb."