Disclaimer: I don't own That 70's Show or any other pop culture references I might make.

Author's Note: Ok, so this isn't really a Jackie/Fez story. I was toying with the idea that it could be but a Jackie/Fez friendship just works better. And, come on, all of you know that Jackie/Hyde have sizzling chemistry and the IT factor! So yeah, this is Jackie/Hyde. I don't know if there's much happening in these chapters – as in, I know where it's all leading but I don't know if you guys find this boring – but the next chapter will have a return of Eric and Donna and some of their drama, so maybe things will speed up? Please do drop a line if you find this boring.

Enter the 80's

II

Hyde was smirking to himself, sitting down for dinner inside the Foreman's house, when he saw his spitfire of an ex come storming in.

"Mr Foreman," She demanded, her energy and anger pronounced in each stomp. "Mr Foreman!"

"What?" He grumbled, as he finally came downstairs. His look of paralysed shock had Hyde chuckling to himself, as Jackie threw her arms around Mr Foreman and hugged him. "Oh god, Jackie," he sighed, still making no move to either hug her back or to remove her arms from around him. "What's wrong now?"

Kitty chose to ignore her husband's attempts to catch her eye or his desperate gestures to get her attention. It was partially because Jackie was one of the very few kids that Red actually owned up to liking and partially because this was just plain funny. She instead eyed Hyde. That fluffy-haired boy was up to something; she couldn't remember the last time he was openly and genuinely enjoying himself, and he had that look on his face – that smirk – whenever he'd come up with a plot to get Eric into trouble, or knew something Laurie was up to. Or maybe it was just Jackie? She'd always thought it was so cute how these two had ended up together, the one so materialistic and snobby and the other the complete antithesis to her. It was just so darn romantic, really.

Instead, she kept the smile to herself, along with the hope that maybe they would get back together (because they really were just too darn cute) and made a lot of distracting noises as she went about setting the table.

After hugging Red for a little while longer, very tightly, Red mentally noted, she let go. Taking a deep breath in and out, she ran her fingers through her hair and stared at him, hands on her little hips. "I want to work with you at the garage."

The statement left all three people in the kitchen gaping at the little brunette. Kitty was surprised to be the one to break the silence. "Work at the garage?"

"Yes." Kitty knew that look on Jackie's face well enough. It was the stubborn one, where she got what she wanted or she whined and screeched until she did. But this request was ridiculously out of character for the spoilt girl.

"Why?" Red asked, stepping a few steps away from her, in the hopes that it might stop any further unrequited hugging from taking place.

"Fez," she spat the name out, "wants me to pay rent."

Wasn't she paying rent anyway? "Why does he want you to do that, dear?" Kitty asked instead.

"We broke up," Jackie said, oh so tragically. She should really be on the stage, Kitty thought. It would be too much work for her, of course, but she still had all of the dramatics down to a T.

"I thought you were working at the hairdresser's?" Hyde decided to speak up, that same smirk gracing his face. Kitty was going to find out what hand he played in this before she went to bed, she decided.

"Fez had me fired," Jackie's voice went to new, histrionically tragic heights. "And I don't want to be homeless."

And all of a sudden, Hyde felt like a jerk. Jackie had hated being alone in her house but she'd still been too proud to tell anyone. She was terrified of being broke, thanks to a father who got caught doing illegal shit and a mother that abandoned her. And without fully realising the consequences of his actions, he'd managed to bring both on her again. Sure, he'd just wanted to mess around with Jackie a little when he'd told Fez to be a man and stand up to her, telling him convincingly that Jackie found these qualities attractive. He hadn't expected Fez to follow up through with it (couldn't he remember how much Jackie hated Kelso standing up to her?). Further, he hadn't expected Fez to get her fired as well! Paying rent was fair enough but leaving her unable to pay same said rent? That was a little harsh, cruel even. And he'd been the cause of it. Yeah, he definitely felt crap enough to be thankful of the glasses covering his eyes, as he felt his smirk disappear completely.

"Then get a damn job." Jackie stared at Red, her startled expression matching those of Kitty's and Hyde's.

It didn't take long for Jackie to snap out of it, and she did so by snappishly replying, "It's what I'm doing."

"Jackie, you're the most stubborn, irritating girl I've ever come across. And you're too damn good to just work in a garage. Go get a damn job, the kind of job that you want to do and that'll give you enough money to buy all the stupid dresses you love so much. You're stubborn enough." Hyde had to hand it to Red. Even as he insulted Jackie to the nines, he was complimenting her and speaking gospel truth. Nobody was quite as stubborn or quite as irritating as Jackie, and these were attributes that could be very useful in some careers. Goodness knows William had admired her, as much as he'd been infuriated by her; same as him, now that he thought about it.

One look at Jackie, though, had Hyde snickering again. Her mouth had fallen open, her eyes wide and open and she was the personification of shocked. Oh hell yeah, Hyde was snickering because this made him feel a little better. If anyone could get a job in the drop of a pin, it'd be this irritating little bundle of sarcastic comments and faux zen-ness.

An enraged growl, flouncing, stomping steps and a slammed door later, Hurricane Jackie had left the building and Hyde let his snickering fill the sudden silence. Red's look of long-suffering, the dramatics of Jackie, it was all too much for him to keep the laughter in. It might have had something to do with the dope he'd smoked just before coming up too; it always did make everything seem hilarious. Whatever it was, he allowed himself to laugh as Kitty placed all the food on the table, a smile twitching at her lips too.

Dinner finishing, and the conversation had turned to Donna and Eric returning from college for the weekend. Hyde wouldn't admit it to himself but he actually kinda missed the whiney Foreman and looked forward to this visit. He couldn't wait to share this latest drama with him, even if he would look disapproving, talk about unresolved feelings and make irritating references to Star Wars.

"Steven, would you mind helping me with the dishes?" It wasn't really a request from Kitty, Hyde knew, but even if it had been, he would've done it.

"Sure thing," he replied, lazily getting out of the chair and taking his plates to the sink, ignoring the gloating expression on Red's face.

They'd only been doing the dishes for a couple of minutes when Kitty spoke abruptly. "So Steven, do you want to tell me what hand you had in what happened today?"

Oh crap. "I have no idea what you mean, Mrs Foreman." His throat was far too dry and he was just hoping that his voice didn't sound as raspy as it did in his head.

Apparently it did. "Cut the crap, Steven. What did you do?"

Sighing, he admitted defeat. No way was he going to mess with Mrs Foreman; she was just too damn scary when she got going. Kind of like Jackie... And so, he started the story with how he Fez turned up at his store dressed to the nines in a red dress, heels and a boat load of make-up...