Lucy slammed her locker shut and leaned against it with a heavy sigh. Jackie stood next to her, checking her makeup in the tiny mirror in her locker, "So, I really miss Michael and I don't know what to do without seeming like one of those really needy girls."

"You are really needy Jackie," Lucy pointed out.

Jackie nodded, closing her locker, "Okay, true, but I'm not desperate."

"Just get back with him and call it a day," Lucy shrugged, not understanding the huge deal since they seemed to break up at least once a month.

Jackie nodded, "Oh! I know! I'll give him an ultimatum!"

"There's that divorce attorney!" Lucy cheered, high fiving the brunette.

Jackie raised her eyebrows, and whispered "Okay I'm going to go now. Have fun during study hall," she said teasingly.

Lucy rolled her eyes at her friend before turning to face Hyde, who had just shut his locker. "So, what do you want to do for study hall today?" she asked with an innocent smile.

Hyde smiled slightly, "Well, I had a couple ideas." He leaned forward to kiss her on the lips, pulling her closer by the beltloops of her jeans.

"That's a really good idea!" Lucy pulled away, with a teasing smile.

❁

Then the two spent the study hall in their normal spot underneath the football bleachers. It was relatively undisturbed except for some burnouts who shared their stash with Hyde and Lucy on more than one occasion.

Lucy stood against a beam of the bleachers, Hyde standing against one opposite to her. She took a drag from the blunt that her and Hyde were supposed to be sharing.

"You done?" Hyde asked, both amused and slightly annoyed with his girlfriend.

Lucy hummed innocently as if in thought, "Nope!" she finally said, taking another drag.

"You're not being very nice today, doll," Hyde said.

Lucy shrugged casually, "I'm just not a morning person."

"Clearly," he raised an eyebrow, trying to hide his amusement with how coy she was playing. He walked over to her and pushed her stray hairs behind her ear before leaning down to place kisses along her neck, sucking gently and eliciting a sigh from Lucy once he reached her sweet spot. One hand trailed down her back to rest on her the small of her back and pulled her closer, causing a surprised gasp and giggle to leave Lucy's lips; his other hand trailed from her neck down her arm, leaving goosebumps in its wake. His lips met her own for one deep kiss before he pulled back, blunt in hand.

"What?" Lucy furrowed her eyebrows with a confused smile as she leaned forward to kiss him again, but before she could he walked away with a victorious smirk. "Steven!" she whined, pushing off from the bleacher beam to follow after him, "Steven! That's not fair!"

"I'm just not a morning person, Lucy," Hyde smirked as he sat on the ground, smoking the blunt.

Lucy bit the inside of her cheek, "You can't just do that—"

"Do what?" Hyde asked, tilting his head. "What would you rather me do?"

Lucy could feel her cheeks heating up and looked down, "I meant stealing the blunt."

Hyde nodded, "Of course you did."

Lucy scoffed and shook her head before stomping off, "You're officially impossible, Steven Hyde!"

❁

The next morning, Lucy sat outside on the porch wearing the Zeppelin shirt Hyde gave her. She absentmindedly flipped through a magazine while her mom were over at the Pinciotti's, telling Bob all about Donna's afternoon drinking at The Hub when Eric and Kitty went for post-dentist ice cream.

Eric and Kelso were playing basketball. Eric talking about how this whole thing was actually good, because then Donna may realize that Casey is an ass. Kelso kept talking about how Jackie wronged him by kissing her coworker—even though he cheated many more times. Kelso purposefully threw the ball over in Lucy's direction.

"Oh hey Lu," he said casually, "You know this breakup has me really torn up."

Lucy hummed, not looking up, "I know, you call me at 3 in the morning to talk about it."

"Well, it's because I could use some comfort! But I guess someone just isn't a good friend!" Kelso exclaimed dramatically.

"Nope!" Lucy looked up with a grin, chewing her gum.

Just then, Hyde and Fez came walking up the driveway with a bucket. Fez smiled, opening his mouth to talk before Lucy interrupted, "Nope, don't care what it is, get it away from me."

❁

Lucy walked down to the kitchen to grab a soda and found Hyde standing in the way of the refrigerator.

"'Scuse me," she said awkwardly, making herself known to the boy. The two hadn't really talked much about the previous day, trying their best to just ignore it.

Hyde turned around and moved out of her way, leaning against the sink and opening his soda, observing her for a moment before speaking up. "Look, I'm sorry about earlier, it's wasn't fair of me since you haven't ever—well you know—done...anything."

"Yeah, well, it's not a big deal. I already knew you were an ass before we started going out," she smirked as she shut the fridge.

"Okay, well, uh—good! So you don't have to try to look all hot to get back at me now," Hyde nodded to her outfit.

Lucy furrowed her eyebrows and looked down at what she was wearing, "I wasn't. Although that's a damn fine idea," she trailed off a bit. "Oh my gosh!" she nearly dropped her soda in realization, "You still think I look nice? Hot even?"

"Uh, no, I mean—" Hyde shook his head.

"Oh my God! The Zeppelin shirt turns you on!" Lucy whisper yelled, covering her mouth to hide her obvious laughter.

Hyde tried to defend himself, "That's not what I meant!"

Lucy pursed her lips, fighting a smile as she walked closer to him, "Yeah? Okay, sure Steven." She placed her hand on his chest and stood on her tip toes to whisper in his ear, "Karma's a bitch."

❁

Jackie called Lucy frantic on the other end of the line, explaining the odd ultimatum she gave Kelso. She wanted him to kiss another girl so that they would be even and could put the whole thing behind them.

"So I really need you down at The Hub right now!" Jackie begged after rambling on the other end of the phone.

Lucy sighed, "Fine, but I'm working a shift while I'm there."

"Oh right—okay, yeah that's fine you could use the money for a new wardrobe!" Jackie exclaimed, now giddy at the prospect.

Lucy chuckled and rolled her eyes, "Be there in ten."

Once at The Hub, Lucy couldn't even helped her obviously overwhelmed friend, who was more and more anxious about the deal by the minute. There was a group of preteen boys who thought it was okay to keep on throwing their drinks at each other, completely monopolizing her time. Lucy stormed over to the group of Junior High boys and took the cups of soda from them before pouring it all over their basket of fries. She then calmly walked over to her group of friends. "So what's up?" she asked, sitting down between the couple, taking a fry from the basket in the middle of the table.

"Well Jackie was just saying that she gets to pick a short, pale, poor girl for me to kiss!" Kelso exclaimed, offended.

"Well, yeah, logically," Lucy shrugged uncomfortably.

Just then, the bell on the door jingled and in walked Hyde and Fez. "Oh, hello, Kelso, quite a nice van you have parked at the Forman's," Fez said mischievously.

Kelso looked at the two dumbfounded, "Yeah, I know, I've had it for a while now."

Fez sat down at the table, "So what is going on with you guys?"

"Well, Jackie wants Kelso to kiss another girl, Kelso wants the girl to be hot, and I want to die!" Lucy explained miserably.

Hyde nodded and leaned down behind her seat, "Do you want to clock out?" he whispered.

Lucy shot up suddenly, "Yes please!"

Then Hyde backed up, pulling Lucy with him, "As much as we'd love to hear more ways that Kelso can shove his head up his ass, we really got to get going."

"Okay then, bye guys!" Lucy waved, nodding towards the other girl who was working the shift with her before darting out of The Hub.

Lucy closed the door of the El Camino and turned to face Hyde, "Okay, thank you for saving me, but what now? I can tell something is bothering you. My apron is too showy for you?"

"No," Hyde furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head, "Well yes, that and you're still wearing the Zeppelin shirt."

"Wow, you sure know how to make a girl feel special," Lucy teased.

Hyde shook his head, "No, you know that's not how I feel about y—" he would've said more before Lucy started placing soft kisses along his jawline.

"I know," she whispered, her lips meeting with his now.

"God, I love you," he mumbled against her lips.

Lucy pulled back suddenly, her eyes wide in shock and in that moment there were a hundred things she wanted to say but for some reason she couldn't speak. And of course, just then, Fez opened the passenger side door.

"Hello, can you give me a ride? Jackie and Kelso said they have things to discuss and do not like me watching them," he explained.

Without a word, Hyde started the car and Lucy turned on the radio to avoid the silence.

"I love your shirt Lucy," Fez complimented innocently as they drove off, causing Lucy to sink further into her seat.

❁

The three pulled up to the Forman's in the El Camino, Fez got out quickly to go see if Kitty had any chocolate laying around. Hyde and Lucy sat there in silence for a moment, neither looking at eachother. Finally, Hyde nodded with just a simple and awkward "So."

"Well, Fez kind of ruined the moment," Lucy sighed.

Hyde raised his eyebrows and nodded, still not looking up, "Yeah."

"I mean, someone should tell you it's not like in the movies! They know when someone is going to say they love them and they know how to respond! I mean, damn, they have a script! But in real life, you don't know it's coming and it takes you by surprise and instead of saying I love you back—because God, you'd have to be an idiot not to when you have someone who remembers how you like your coffee, and stays up to talk about pointless shit but neither of you get bored, and knows exactly how you're feeling before you even say anything—you just sit there like an idiot!" Lucy ranted, taking a deep breath.

Hyde looked at her with a smile and before he could say anything cheesy Lucy cut him off, knowing exactly what he was thinking. "Well of course I love you! God, I know you're not that dense!" she exclaimed, her cheeks flushing red.

Hyde grinned, leaning across the seat, lifting her chin up and kissing her slowly. He pulled away from the kiss, their foreheads still touching, "I love you."

"I love you too," she whispered.

Then there was a knocking on the driver side window. Fez with the bucket, "We have to finish putting the fish in the van!" he yelled excitedly.

The couple got out of the El Camino and went to work behind the hubcap of the van, Lucy staying a good two feet away, directing them on how to make it more efficient. Suddenly, their progress was interrupted.

On the other side of the van, Casey was talking, "So the guy's trying to tell me that his Z-28 is the same car as my Trans Am except for the decals!"

"How can people be so ignorant?" Donna shook her head

Bob came rushing out of the Forman kitchen, just having been talking with Red and Kitty, "I see you Donna! I see you!"

"Dad!" Donna exclaimed.

"Don't you dad me! You're not going anywhere! Not with this guy! You're grounded again!" Bob yelled, the rest of the Formans now following him outside.

Kelso and Jackie came over to stand by the other three teens, "What did we miss?"

"Shh! Just started!" Hyde whispered.

"Dad, I'm gonna do whatever I want with whoever I want whenever I want to do it!" Donna insisted.

"Ooh, classic line," Lucy nodded in appreciation.

Bob argued, "We have to have a talk right now Donna!"

Casey stood in front of Donna calmly, "Mr. Pinciotti, sir, let me just say you're making a lot of sense and I think that whenever I bring Donna home tonight, you two oughta sit down and really hammer this thing out."

There was a moment of hesitation and anticipation for the onlookers. "Okay, that sounds fair," Bob shrugged. The teens looking on all cursed in disappointment.

"You're—you're just going to let her go off with him?" Eric stammered

Bob sighed, "Well, what else can I do?"

"Oh! Good God! That's it! Everybody in the living room! Now! Not you," Red boomed, pointing to all the teens that wanted to follow Donna and Casey. Bob stayed outside with the kids, Fez offering him a cracker before Red demanded Bob come in as well.

❁

The other teens ended up waiting a minute before going into the kitchen and pressing their ears up against the door to hear what was going on.

Casey actually broke up with Donna. Hyde had to hold Lucy by the waist so she wouldn't go charging in their to smack some sense into the Kelso for dumping her best friend who deserved way better.

Then Donna came charging through the kitchen, slamming the door open and making everyone stumble backwards.

Lucy was quick to get up and run after her friend. When Lucy ran next door, Donna was already storming upstairs.

"Dee, wait!" Lucy called, running upstairs, out of breath.

Donna collapsed on her bed, Lucy sitting beside her. "I'm so stupid!" Donna cried.

"No you're not. First of all, the Kelso's are all idiotic. Second of all, if he was worth your time—which he's not—you still would be better than him," Lucy said.

Donna sat up and wiped her face, "It's just—I thought he really liked me, you know? But I guess he didn't. No guy has ever liked me," she laughed mirthlessly, "Except for Eric, and I screwed that up too!"

Lucy furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head, "You could never screw up what you and Eric have. Eric has liked you since he first saw you, I doubt that this last year has changed all that. I mean yeah, you hurt him and I'm not sure how much more time he needs but—he'll never be over you!"

Donna bit her lip and nodded, sniffing slightly, "God, I can't believe I went out with a Kelso!" she laughed.

"I know!" Lucy laughed, "What the hell were you thinking?"

"Something like God he's hot," Donna shook her head.

"Can't blame you there," Lucy shrugged, hugging her friend.

❁

A mere hour later, Lucy walked into the kitchen, practically summoned by the commotion coming from her family.

Eric sat in a chair while Kitty was pacing, Red looming over the boy, "Let me get this straight. Donna wanted to get back together, and you said no?" Sure their parents got frustrated with some of Eric and Donna's relationship when they were together, but it was a silent agreement that she was the best thing to happen to him.

"I said no," Eric said monotonously. Lucy paused in the doorway, unable to think of words.

"You said no?" Red repeated again.

Suddenly, Lucy could think of a word, "Dumbass!" She yelled from the doorway in unison with her mother.

Eric sighed, "Look, I have my reasons, okay?

"What could they be? What could they possibly be?" Kitty yelled frantically, while Lucy fully walked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter in utter disbelief.

"Casey dumps her, and she comes to me. I'm not a rebound," Eric insisted calmly.

Red began yelling, "So you're too proud to take her back? And what do you have to proud of? You're not an athlete! The only smart thing about you is your mouth! And look at you!"

"Red, he looks fine it's just he's so darn stupid! I'm just, I'm very upset!" Kitty yelled.

Lucy shook her head, "Oh my God, your stupidity could wear off on me!"

"Stop okay! I already feel bad enough as it is," Eric looked down forlornly.

"Well you should!" Kitty chimed.

Eric snapped up, "Well I do! I love her." Eric stood up from his chair, "God, why do I always have to screw these things up, you know? Why does everything always have to be my way? That's why we broke up in the first place."

Kitty's voice began to raise, "Uh huh, well, we've all known that for a year!"

"What the hell are you even doing here?" Lucy yelled frantically.

Eric nodded, "I have to go tell Donna how I feel."

"Then go!" Red exclaimed.

"Yeah! Go be a romantic shit and get the girl!" Lucy encouraged her twin, pushing him towards the door. Eric ran towards the Pinciotti's to get Donna. His parents and twin looking after him in complete exhaustion.

❁

Donna was nowhere to be found, and Eric was distraught to say the least. The three teens sat on the couch, watching late night sitcoms to distract Eric. Eventually, the phone rang and Hyde got up to answer it before coming back and telling Eric it was for him.

Lucy shot up in anticipation, "Donna? Can I talk to her?"

"Jackie," Hyde shrugged, "Complaining about Kelso going m.i.a. I think it was for you but I don't think she'll stop talking long enough to find out."

"I'll call her in the morning." Lucy hummed, looking at the clock, "Well, it's almost midnight, I'm going to go to bed."

Hyde kissed her forehead, "Alright, goodnight."

"Goodnight. Are you sleeping on the cot?" Lucy asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

Hyde shrugged, Lucy standing up and pulling him up with her, rolling her eyes, "Come on."

Hyde hesitated before following her upstairs. Lucy made him wait outside while she changed into pajamas, knowing full well he wouldn't keep his promise that he'd look away based off the look on his face.

Once in bed, the two laid close to eachother, foreheads nearly touching. It wasn't such a big deal for him to be in her room, especially if he came up so late, her parents would never know; usually he just moved into Eric's room in the morning. They just talked about dumb stuff as they always did, even when they weren't dating and would just stay up late on the phone.

Do you think fish can see air like we see water? What do you think about Area 51? JFK was totally an inside job (Lucy typically switching to how JFK was the best looking president). We should go to New York sometime. No, Los Angeles.

Lucy finally laughed when Hyde was adamant that the moon landing was staged. "It's true," Hyde said simply, slightly offended.

"I can't even begin to tell you how wrong you are, so whatever you say," she scoffed, leaning closer to give him a quick kiss as an apology for laughing.

The two laid there in silence for a moment. "God you're beautiful," Hyde said in awe.