Work Text:
“Hey, what are you doing here?” Eric asks Hyde as he walks into The Hub and over to their table.
“Yeah, Jackie told us you two had a date tonight, and that’s why she bailed on our plans,” Donna adds.
Hyde squints behind his sunglasses. He hadn’t spoken to Jackie since this morning when she told him she couldn’t see him tonight because she had plans with Donna.
“Uh, nope. She told me she had plans with you.” Hyde contemplates this scenario and lets his mind wander to a place he usually steers clear of. “You don’t think she…” Hyde starts.
“No,” Donna shakes her head.
“Nah,” Eric agrees.
“She wouldn’t, would she?” Hyde asks.
“No way,” Donna stands up from the table to speak to Hyde face to face. “Come on, you think she’d cheat on you after how upset she was when you cheated on her? Sit down, have some fries, and then we can find Jackie.”
“No, okay, you’re right,” Hyde says and sits down as Donna asked. “But if she lied to you and she lied to me, I wonder where she is.”
“Where would she go alone on a Saturday night?” Eric asks.
“Nowhere,” Hyde says, “There’s nowhere to go alone on a Saturday night; that’s why I’m here.”
“Well, maybe she’s not alone,” Eric suggests.
“Eric, we just discussed this. There’s no way Jackie is cheating on Hyde!” Donna says, exasperated.
“No, no, that’s not what I meant!” Eric defends himself. “I just meant, what if she’s with her cheerleader friends, and she didn’t want you to know since, you know, she gave up cheerleading.”
“Nah, man, if she were with her cheerleader friends, she would just tell me,” Hyde says. He leans forward in his seat and puts his elbows on his thighs, his head propped up by his fists. “She wouldn’t be hanging out with Kelso, do you think?”
“I don’t think so,” Donna replies.
“Well, this is going to drive me crazy unless I figure out what she’s doing, and why she felt like she had to lie to both of us. The only thing I can think of would be her hanging out with Kelso!” Hyde exclaims, sitting up and looking angry.
“Hey guys, what’s up?” The group turns and looks at the newcomer. It’s Kelso.
“See, I told you,” Donna rolls her eyes.
Kelso pulls up a chair and sits on it backward next to Hyde. “Told you what?” Kelso asks, swiping some of the fries from Donna’s tray.
“Jackie lied to Hyde and Donna about what she was doing tonight. Donna told him there’s no way she was with you,” Eric explains.
“Nope, I just left Brooke and Betsy and came straight here. I’m meeting Fez,” Kelso takes another handful of Donna’s fries.
“Kelso!” Donna pulls her tray closer and swats his outreached hand away from her food.
“Maybe Fez knows where Jackie is?” Eric suggests, sipping on his soda.
“I doubt that,” Hyde says.
“Let’s ask him,” Kelso nods over to the door. Fez walks in and heads to their table.
“Hey! The gangs all here… wait, where’s Jackie?” Fez remarks.
“See, told you,” Hyde says while the others nod. “Well, I’m going to go find my girlfriend. I’ll see you losers later.” Hyde stands up from the table, and Fez takes his seat.
He gets into the El Camino and thinks about where to look for Jackie.
He supposes a good place to start would be Donna’s house. But Donna would have known if Jackie was home, right? So, he needed someplace else to begin his search.
First, he drives to the TV station to see if she’s there. She’s not there. Then, he drives to the mall to see if she’s shopping. It takes him longer in the mall than he’d like to admit, but he doesn’t find her there either.
He starts to drive over to the water tower to see if she went there for some reason before it finally dawns on him.
He knows where she is and why she lied to Donna and him.
It’s Saturday. She does her homework on Saturdays. He should have known.
He turns the car around and goes back toward the Formans’ house.
When he walks in, he sees Kitty hovering over the stove cooking dinner and Red sitting at the kitchen table, keeping her company while he reads the afternoon paper.
“Have you seen Jackie?” Hyde asks, closing the sliding glass door behind him.
“Oh yes, she’s in the basement. I think she said she was waiting for you. Is she staying for dinner?” Kitty responds.
“I’ll let you know,” Hyde says before going to the basement steps.
There she was. He saw her when he rounded the corner of the stairs.
Jackie was on the basement couch, surrounded by books and notebooks, fast asleep.
He pauses on the stairs, not wanting to wake her. He decides that she looks uncomfortable the way she was lying on top of books on the couch. He studies the situation for a moment longer before deciding he could move her without waking her.
He walks over to the couch carefully, slips one arm under her knees, and gently lifts her head to slip his other arm behind her shoulders. He then lifts her off the couch and carries her to his room.
She barely stirs, her mouth hanging open as she sleeps. Hyde can’t help but think how cute she looks and how horrified she’d be if she could see herself right now.
He enters his room, ducks under the vent, and places Jackie in his cot that wasn’t made up from the night before. He pulls the blanket over her and watches her settle into the bed. She was still sleeping, but she seemed more comfortable than she had been on the couch.
He kisses her forehead before quietly leaving the room and heading back upstairs.
“Jackie fell asleep studying, and I didn’t want to wake her up, so I moved her from the couch into my room. I hope that’s okay. I thought I’d let her sleep for a while.” Hyde relays to Kitty.
“Oh, the poor dear, she’s been studying hard for her finals. She’s so excited to graduate!” Kitty says.
“She should fall asleep in her own house,” Red retorts from the table.
“Oh, don’t listen to him. He’s being a big grump,” Kitty waves off Red’s comment.
Later
Jackie wakes up in Hyde’s room. She sits up, confused as to how she got there. Then she vaguely remembers falling asleep while studying and strong arms carrying her to bed.
She smiles to herself. She has the perfect boyfriend.
She hops off the cot, fixes her hair and wrinkled clothes in the mirror, and then walks out into the main basement.
Hyde’s sitting on his chair, watching TV, eating from a plate of food in his hand.
“Hey,” Jackie says, throwing one leg over the arm of the couch, balancing to sit. The rest of the couch is still covered in her textbooks.
“Oh, Jackie, you’re awake!” Hyde puts his plate on the table and stands up to hug Jackie.
This confuses Jackie. Hyde is not usually this affectionate.
“Are you okay?” she asks him.
“Yeah, I uh—,” he stammers, stepping back from Jackie and scratching his head. “I was a little worried when you told me you had plans with Donna, but then I ran into Donna and Eric at The Hub.”
“Oh,” Jackie’s lips form a perfect circle. She grimaces, “I’m sorry I lied to you, but it’s Saturday, and you would have convinced me to go out if I wasn’t busy. But I really need to study. I have finals on Monday.”
“Jackie, please don’t apologize for studying. I’m sorry that you thought you had to lie to me.”
“Well, I’m sorry anyway. Besides, I barely got anything done before I fell asleep.” Jackie looks down at her spread of schoolwork.
“How about I get a plate of food from Kitty for you, and then I help you study?” Hyde offers.
“Really?” Jackie asks, one eyebrow raised. “You’re going to help me study?”
Hyde bares his teeth and breathes, “Okay, no, I won’t help you study, but I can keep you company while you study.”
“Fine, thank you,” Jackie smiles and shakes her head.
“I’ll go get you that food,” Hyde says and leans in to give Jackie a quick peck on the lips.
Jackie watches him climb the stairs and then sits back down in her sea of books. Her last weekend of schoolwork, she thinks to herself, and then her whole life with Hyde is ahead of her. And she thinks she could get used to that.