"I�m sorry, Red," Hyde answered while looking to the hideously orange tile.

"No. No sorry," he yelled facing the �hooligan� who shared his home. "I just don�t understand it, Steven. You have now officially become, well . . . a dumbass."

Steven�s eyes shot up to peer at Red. Dumbass? He wasn�t a dumbass; Eric was a dumbass. It was the house rule. It was one of his childhood nicknames, Eric the Dumbass.

Red just gave a disappointed sigh and shook his head. Kitty watched with a pensive face as her husband left.

"Oh, sweetie," she chirped. Hyde�s eyes raised to look at her. She smiled tightly and tried her best to be optimistic. "Well . . . it really was stupid."

. . . at least she tried.

~*~

"A dumbass, he called *me* a dumbass, man. That�s not me. You. *You* are the dumbass," Hyde said as he pointed to Eric while Donna and Fez looked on.

"Oh, no. Oh, no, not me my good man. *You* are now the designated dumbass. Steven Hyde is the new disappointment. *I* am good, *you* are bad. Yes, Yes! Oh how the mighty have fallen," Eric finished grandly. Finally, expressionless, Hyde turned to Donna.

"You actually let him touch you?"

"Look, man. I�m sorry, it just feels really good . . . *knowing that I am no longer the dumbass*!" Eric grinned.

"How did you ever get laid?"

The slamming of the basement door drew their attention to Jackie, standing there in all her shocked glory as she stared across the room at Hyde. He chose to dip lower in his chair.

"Steven!" she yelled. Running the small distance she straddled his lap, a bundle of energy. Hyde made a face despite the fact having a wiggling and warm body on his lap wasn�t _that_ terrible.

"Jackie, would you get the hell off of me?"

"Of course not! Steven you *saved* my life, you are my knight and shining armor!" she nodded.

"Jackie, you may be a princess but not in the way you think. Now please get off of me, nothing happened okay? _Nothing_ happened," he said firmly as he eyed her. He was not in the mood for their whole group to find out he had taken the fall for Jackie, Eric would have a field day with that.

"Oh! You are soo sweet! Isn�t he sweet?" She smiled as she slid to sit on one side of his lap as she smiled at Eric.

"Oh yeah, he is a sweetie," Eric grinned and struggled not to laugh. "What has made him such a sweetie, may I ask?"

"You�re gone, Foreman," Hyde glared.

"Oh, well Steven--"

"You guys will not believe what happened!" Kelso shouted, bursting into the basement wearing his usual dim, overexerted expression. "I go to see Laurie and she tells me she�s tired of me and . . . Jackie�s here."

"Hello, Michael," Jackie responded off-handedly but Kelso had already continued talking, this time with false bravado.

"You heard right, Jackie. I mentioned Laurie. We are in an important relationship now."

"No you aren�t," Fez put in.

"Fez, yes we are, it�s very important," Michael tried to cover.

"No, you are just her plaything-whore . . . I�d like to be someone�s plaything-whore," he finished sadly.

"I am not a--"

"Michael, stop. It�s okay. I told you before, I�m in love with Hyde now," Jackie said as if they were in an established relationship.

"Hyde?" Michael exclaimed. "When did this happen?!"

"Kelso, she�s sitting on his lap," Donna pointed out.

He looked at Donna then to the �couple� in the chair, then back.

"Oh, oh this is crazy!" he said throwing his hands up in the air and pacing.

"Kelso?" a voice called out in faux sugar. The group looked to the stairs to see Laurie standing there, an evil little grin on her face. "Kelso, I�m sorry about our little fight, I was wondering if you might like to . . . make up?"

He looked to his friends with a look of told-you-so before he nodded.

"Yes, I would," Kelso said with to Laurie. She began to saunter back up the stairs and Kelso followed per usual. "I�m going to go now. To have sex. Lots of sex."

With that and a pointed glance at Jackie he was gone. She sighed and spoke.

"I am so glad I am in a *mature* relationship, my young indiscretions are totally behind me."

"Jackie, what are you talking about? You went out with him a month ago," Hyde reminded.

"Yes, Steven. In my *past*." Hyde just shook his head and began to scoot her off of him. When she stood he lifted himself out of the chair.

"Jackie, it . . . Forget it, arguing you is too much," he said, defeated by the long day and the ache for sleep. The group watched as he left them for his tiny basement room.

~*~

"Steven?" Someone whispered.

Hyde mumbled something in his sleep and rolled in his tiny cot.

"Steven?" The voice came a little louder.

This time he blinked, looking into the darkness and trying to make out a figure. After a few moments he saw a woman in front of him, his brow furrowed in confusion. When she moved closer she leaned over him and her hair brushed his cheek. He knew her then, she was close enough, Jackie.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in sleep parched lips.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Why?"

"Because you--"

"No. I don�t want to talk about it. It was just pot, and--"

"And you took the rap, you could have been put up in the joint!"

"Please stop using the lingo," Hyde said, sitting up in his cot causing Jackie to pull back. It was still dark and the only light was the small shaft from the partially open doorway. "What time is it?"

"Around two in the morning."

"Jackie, you should go."

"No. When that cop was--"

"Jackie, I don�t care. I don�t care about what happened, about what you were going to say or about you in general, okay?" Hyde spat out as harshly as he could.

"Then why did you do it? Why did you save me?" She asked, not perturbed by his tone and he could almost see her raised eyebrow even in night. He stared at her, barely able to see her face, but he still couldn�t think of anything to say except the first thing that came to mind.

"Because I wanted to." It wasn�t a smart aleck reply like he wanted, it was quiet and it was the truth. It did bring a smile to Jackie�s face. Hyde saw it and looked away mentally shaking himself from his temporary lapse. "Don�t get so happy, it wasn�t a big deal."

"Yes it was," Jackie grinned.

She leaned in quickly before Hyde realized and it was just a second after she had cupped his jaw that her lips met his. The kiss was soft but firm, surprisingly on mark for such little light provided but very pleasurable. Hyde responded without hesitation, caught up in sensation. He was the first to let his tongue slip from his mouth and brush the soft surface of her bottom lip and she granted him entrance instantly tangling in the moist heat. And then it was over just as it began.

Jackie stood in his doorway with a sly smile as she stared down on him in his cot that suddenly seemed very lonely.

"Good night, Steven," she said softly.

"Good night, Jackie."

The room was silent then as she left him. He laid back on the bed staring upward and not even noticing the chill as he tried to figure out what he was going to do after this.

The End.

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