Author Notes: Since this fic is a sequel to Fate (picking up the story the next morning), it continues in the same Alternate Universe version of S6, where Donna did go off to college in Madison. I was writing this story as the first half of S6 was airing, so some events from the canon S6 are incorporated, while others are not. In this story, Eric and Kelso both work as waiters at the hotel, and Joanne is out of the picture - but Brooke does not appear.
Many thanks to M3 for her ongoing help and encouragement, and for being the little devil perching on my shoulder when I needed one.
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: Fanfiction.net does not allow NC-17 stories in its archives. This story, as I originally wrote it, was an NC-17 story. Since the other episodes in this series are archived here at Fanfiction.net, I decided I would make an altered version of this story which (I hope) meets the site's restrictions. I altered the sex scenes, making them shorter and less explicit. If you want to read this story in its original form (which I'm told is much yummier), it can be found at That '70s Fanfic Archive (find it with Google).
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters (except for the original ones), and I'm not making any money.
I woke up gently. Hyde was still asleep, facing towards me and smiling softly at his dreams. The angle of the sun coming in my window let me know I was up earlier than usual. I glanced over at my clock to confirm: I was awake nearly an hour early. That meant I didn't have to move right away. I didn't have to deal with the day yet; I could lie here watching Hyde sleep, and think about the unbelievable night that just passed.
Hyde had come to me. Even thinking that I'd blown him off for Donna two years ago because he wouldn't have sex with me, he'd come to me last night. And we'd fixed the misunderstandings, and we'd declared our love, and we'd fallen asleep in each other's arms...in my bed in my parents' house, just down the hall from their room. Oh God. Hyde had to get downstairs before anyone else woke up.
I shook his arm gently. "Wake up."
He opened his eyes and looked puzzled for a moment, like he couldn't remember where he was. Then he focused on me and smiled. "Hi Eric," he said in a soft, rough morning voice.
I kissed him. I couldn't help it. He was all sleepy and rumpled and warm. He kissed me back, and I instantly forgot why I woke him up. His lips were soft against mine, and his morning stubble was rough against my fingertips when I caressed his cheek. He tasted good, even first thing in the morning. We'd never kissed in the morning before.
"What time is it?" he whispered after a while.
"Shit." I glanced at my clock; another ten minutes had gone by. "My parents are going to wake up soon - you've gotta get out of here!"
"Right." He climbed out of my bed and found his pajama top on the floor where we'd thrown it in the night. He pulled it on. "What happens now?" he asked as he did up the buttons.
"I'll look out in the hall and make sure the coast's clear."
He gave me a look like I was a little dumb. "Yeah. I mean what happens when I walk out of this room and real life starts up again?"
"Oh." Like, can we tell anyone about this without getting killed? How can we hide this in such a crowded house? I ran my hand through my hair a little desperately. "That's one hell of a big question. We don't have time for it now..."
"I have to know now." He finished doing up his shirt, and turned his steady gaze on me. "I have to know if last night was real, because I have to face Jackie today."
"Jackie," I repeated. I couldn't believe I'd forgotten about her. Yesterday Hyde had said he loved her; I wasn't sure if he'd meant it, or if he'd just said it because he was mad at me.
"See, if this is real," Hyde went on, "I have to break up with her today. Otherwise I'm sneaking around behind her back - and you know, I don't want to be like Kelso."
"You, uh, cheated on her once already," I pointed out. He closed his eyes like I'd hit him. I don't know why I said it - it just seemed like a relevant point. Sometimes I don't think things through before I say them.
"Yeah." He opened his eyes again. "OK, so I'm already pretty far down the road to being as much of an asshole as Kelso was. That's why I need to talk to her today."
"Oh my God, you can't tell her about us!" I yelped.
"I'm not dumb, Forman. Just tell me: from where you're standing, is this real?"
I looked at him, standing there in my dad's cast-off pajamas, his hair fuzzy from sleep, glaring at me with his arms crossed, and I realized that he was giving me one more chance to back out - because he was still afraid I didn't really love him. "It's real," I said.
"All right. See you later," he said evenly. He opened the door a crack to peek outside, and then he was gone.
Jackie must have been watching the driveway, because as soon as I opened my car door she was there, saying, "Eric, I need to talk to you!"
"What? Jackie, I just got home from work, I have to change my clothes, I'm tired..."
She stomped her foot in that oddly girly way she has. "I need to talk to you now. Eric, Steven broke up with me!!"
"Oh." The first feeling that flashed through me was sheer joy - he chose me! Of course immediately afterwards I realized my awkward position here. Did Jackie know I'd stolen her boyfriend? "So what do you want to talk about?"
"Eric!" Her voice got higher-pitched and a little desperate. "Steven dumped me! Just like Donna dumped you!" She stopped herself, making a little round 'o' with her pink-glossed lips. "Oh my God, Eric, they've decided to run away together!"
"I'm pretty sure that's not happening," I said, calmly trying not to choke.
"I don't know what's happening!" she wailed, and wrapped her arms around my neck and started to cry.
And that's how I ended up sitting in the Pinciottis' kitchen, watching Jackie devour a bowl of butterscotch ice cream.
"It just came out of nowhere!" she was saying, waving the spoon in the air for emphasis. "In the car, while he was driving me to school, all of a sudden it's 'Look, Jackie, I need to break this off.' What the hell?"
"Um, yeah." Lucky for me, she didn't need me to say a whole lot - just nod my head or shake it, as appropriate. I was afraid if I said anything more, my nose would start growing like Pinocchio's. I touched it, just to make sure it was still normal-sized.
"God, did he ever really like me? I mean, he always said he didn't, but I thought he was just being, you know, surly." Her dark eyes were wide with confusion and hurt. I felt like a first-class asshole for what I was hiding from her - I mean, I didn't like her, but this situation was messed up.
"I shouldn't have put him off all summer," she went on, berating herself around another mouthful of ice cream. "That's what broke us, I know it. He didn't want to get together again after that, Michael talked him into it.... Eric, he's your friend, he must talk to you! Did he meet another girl? Is that what it's about?"
I could safely have said 'no' - it was the truth - but I was evasive anyway. "What did he say? Do you think he met someone?"
She shrugged, flipping her hair back listlessly. "I don't know. He went through the 'it's not you, it's me' routine. He said he's not cut out for a steady girlfriend." Suddenly she looked up at me with new hope in her eyes. "Oh my God, Eric, that's it! He's scared of commitment because of the mess his parents made of it!"
"Um." I started to squirm. We were getting to the place where I had to outright lie to Jackie, or else take the dangerous and stupid step of telling her the truth. "I'm not sure that's it..."
"No, Eric, don't worry," she said, her voice taking on a steadier, more confident tone. "I know Steven. I'll get through to him. I'll get him back."
She had no idea she was issuing me a challenge.
Dinner was strange: Mom and Red and Hyde and me, broiled skinless chicken and corn and baby carrots, and no awkward silences at all. I'd expected many awkward silences, the kind that usually accompany huge, life-altering secrets. Instead, Mom was full of bubbly, nervous excitement about Red's doctor appointment tomorrow. It was the crucial six-month checkup where they'd tell him if he'd recovered from the heart attack and could go back to work. Dad was being gruff about it, in his usual don't-jinx-it way. Hyde was this calm, neutral presence, smoothing over their moods with talk about people at the hotel, some work he was doing on the El Camino, and complimenting Mom on her cooking. Me, I was kind of nervous and kind of giddy, watching him and knowing for the first time that it was OK to think he was gorgeous and amazing. I mostly kept my mouth shut, except for laughing a little too loud at some funny things he said.
After dinner I went downstairs with Hyde. As soon as we were in the basement, I grabbed him for a kiss. He kissed me back, but then he pulled away with a frown. "Not out here - people walk in all the time."
So I followed him to his room, where we could close the door for a little security.
"Jackie came and talked to me," I said.
He raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah?"
"I felt like a jerk. She was all upset and I couldn't tell her why I was the last person she should be talking to. But then she brought herself around to thinking that you're afraid of commitment because of your crappy parents, and now she thinks she's going to get you past that and win you back." I said it almost like it was a joke, but really I felt a little guilty for letting Jackie go away with that idea - and a little worried, deep down, that I might lose him back to her after all. I wanted him to quickly reassure me that there was no way that he'd go back to Jackie, and that he wasn't afraid of commitment, either - I wanted him to say he was committed to me now.
Instead, he shrugged it off and changed the subject. "I was thinking at dinner," he said, "it's about time for me to move out of here."
"What?" I dropped down onto his cot, making the springs squeak. "Why?"
"It doesn't feel right." He sat down beside me and put his hand on my leg. "Kitty and Red have been really good to me. I don't want to be living in their house and sneaking around behind their backs."
Crap. What was he doing, thinking about ethics and consequences when we were supposed to be riding the happy buzz of the first day after we told each other 'I love you'? But he was right - I saw it and I hated it. "You can't move out now," I said anyway. "It's two weeks 'till Christmas! Mom would be so sad, and besides, I bet it's impossible to find a place right now. Wait until January."
He shrugged. "Yeah, but if I start looking now, I might find a place for January."
I nuzzled his cheek, feeling sad like we were saying good-bye. "Jesus, I'll miss having you down here."
Just then the basement door to the driveway banged open loud enough for us both to hear, and Kelso called out "Hey, guys! Guys? Anybody home?"
Hyde shot a slightly pissed-off look through the wall in Kelso's direction, then turned to me, kissing me quickly on the cheek. "See, there'd be some advantages to me having my own place," he whispered.
"Yeah," I agreed, and we went out to meet Kelso for another fine evening of hanging out.