Fanfiction
Title: Broken Bird(1/?)
Fandom: That 70s Show
Ship(s): JH; ED; KB
Summary:He had been cordially invited to the wedding of Jacqueline Burkhart and Random Asshole. Hyde always thought the day she wore a wedding dress she would be marrying him. Post S8. JH after a fashion.
Spoilers: Season 8
AN: First 70s fic so please be kind. JH of course because there is none better. If you read my NCIS fic, I urge you to give this a chance-it's still me. Rated for drug use (of course) and smut/sexual situation starting next chapter.
Point Place, Wisconsin. Late June 1980 (Hyde)
He had always known she wanted to get married. He just hadn't expected her to say yes to the first random asshole who asked her.
She looked beatific as the sun set behind her creating the halo she'd always wanted. The diamond engagement ring-five and a half carats-rested too heavily on her dainty finger and burned dimly in the low light. Her new wedding band was yellow gold with diamonds. Hyde looked away as The Ass place it on her finger. At this point, he was unsure why he'd come at all. Watching the girl he still loved get married wasn't exactly at the top of his list of priorities. In fact, he was still trying to convince himself that this was some perverse burn. The brainchild of Kelso or Fez, hell maybe it was Jackie's sick way of getting back at him for the whole stripper-wife thing.
But somehow when she leaned into that kiss with that dirty bastard, he couldn't help but see the finality of the situation. She was married someone that was not him, and it stung. He hadn't even known about Ralph, or Larry, or John, or whatever the hell is name actually was-not until he'd seen the ivory cardstock in his mail. Too nice to be the junk mail he usually received he'd been tempted enough to open it and damn it he wished he hadn't. Right there in some elegant script he'd received the shock of his life.
He had been cordially invited to the wedding of Jacqueline Burkhart and Random Asshole.
All of Kitty's "basement babies" were there. Eric and Donna newly engaged (again), Kelso with Brooke and little Betsy, Fez fresh from LA where he'd grown quite a reputation even after 6 months of hairdressing for the stars, and him the burnout who married someone who was not the girl he loved and now had to watch as said girl married someone else.
Hyde had only met the arrogant son of a bitch yesterday. It was so un-Jackie not to flaunt a new boyfriend; then again she had only met her now husband three months ago.
After she had come to the realization that Fez was oh so very gay, they had gone their separate ways. He had moved to LA to pursue his hairstyling career, and she had been taken on as the cutest weather girl Buffalo had ever seen. She had met Larry in Buffalo. Sweet, caring Larry with a rugged side that was close enough to his to get her at least a little hot some of the time.
Buffalo, New York. Late March 1980 (Jackie)
She had just finished her evening report when her assistant-she couldn't get over that she had an assistant-called her name. She turned to see a strange man standing next to Shauna. "Ms. Burkhart this is Larry Sloan he's says he's a big fan." Jackie assessed him in one look. Early twenties, full head of brown hair, brown eyes-a little beady, heavy eyebrows, straight nose-a little on the big side, he was about 6'2'', and wearing a suit that said he cared about how he looked. As far as first impressions went, he wasn't half bad.
"Anything I can do for you?" Her tone is a little cold and she softens it slightly as she says his name, letting the unfamiliar syllables fall from her lips.
"I just need a moment of your time." His voice is slick, almost greasy.
"Only a moment?"
"Can't a moment be enough?" Despite herself she likes him-just an inking within her-because he is bantering with her like Fez never did. He is bantering like…and she doesn't allow herself to finish that thought.
"Sometimes a moment is all you need."
"Tomorrow at 7:30 PM I have a reservation at a restaurant and I desire a woman to share it with." He said this with the practiced ease of a man who was rarely refused.
"That's a little presumptuous of you. What if I have a boyfriend? What if I already have plans?" As an afterthought she added, "It's kind of a dick move."
She could see a muscle in his jaw jump as the anger at her comment registered. His reply is still smooth. "I would expect you to dump him because he can't be good enough to deserve you, and no plan of yours could beat this dinner."
Against her better judgment-and that little voice in her head that sounded like her ex-boyfriend-she agreed, and that was how it started.
Point Place, Wisconsin. Late June 1980 (Jackie)
She always knew she would get married. She just hadn't expected herself to say yes to the first random guy to ask her. Larry was nice and Larry was sweet, but he was not the love of her life.
Still there was a ring on her finger, a dress on her small frame, and a lumberjack in some frilly lavender thing. She should be happier that she was finally getting married. Larry would provide what Steven never had-stability-because Larry was boring, but he was always there. It had been such a whirlwind from that first night to now. Only three months ago she had been continuing the struggle against running back into his arms, and now this. Standing at the altar, holding hands with a man that would do. Married at nineteen to a twenty two year old with deep pockets, and a severe infatuation with her.
There were better outcomes that she'd had planned in her head. White weddings with Led Zeppelin and curly-haired babies who spewed conspiracy theories, but those dreams were a figment of a past life now. The life she was embarking on looked more like the life she had dreamed of before Steven. The life that involved nannies and an absentee mother-the life she had lived as a child. The life she had hated with a vehement passion.
Donna gave her that look again. The look she'd been getting from everyone. The look that said, "You're crazy. Why are you doing this? You don't know him. We don't know him." The look that conveyed all of the things she was feeling.
Tired of being a circus attraction Jackie snapped at her maid of honor. "What?"
"Jackie… no one wants you to do this. Even Hyde said-"
"Don't talk about Steven with me, Donna. I am getting married to Larry. We are in love, and I'm not sure why everyone feels the need to break us apart." The words sounded weak even to her own ears, and she knew that the real reason she couldn't have Donna doing this was that she was just as unsure about Larry.
"Jackie, he gives me the creeps. You're my best friend, and I just don't want you to get hurt." The blond leaned down to hug her, but Jackie shrugged away from the embrace.
"You didn't care when it was Steven's stripper who was hurting me so you shouldn't care if my fiancé does!" The outburst was sudden and jolted Donna.
"Jesus, Jackie, where the hell did that come from. I was being nice to a guest."
"And Larry is a guest who's never hurt me as badly as that damn stripper so you better get used to it. Not every decision I make will make you happy, but if it makes me happy that's what matters."
"Wow that was deep- in a vapid way. How did you do that?"
"I have a lot of talents, Donna." Her voice was pure venom, and she reveled in the shocked look on her best-friends face, and the felt like a horrible bitch. "That came out wrong."
"No, Jackie, I get it. I'm sorry. I didn't ever mean to hurt you." This time when Donna leaned down to hug her she accepted it.
"Now I have to get married." She was beaming on the outside-even if she cringed internally at those words.
Point Place, Wisconsin. Late June 1980 (Hyde)
He had managed to stay sober until the ceremony, but was determined to make full use of the open bar. He wasn't leaving this wedding if he wasn't shitfaced. He knew he was close when he actually asked Jackie for a dance. He, Steven Hyde, Curmudgeon extraordinaire, asked a bride to dance in a public setting-that's when he knew he had to stop drinking. To his credit her new husband gave a small nod though Hyde did not enjoy the way he was being assessed.
Jackie looked at him coldly her voice all business. "Are we going to dance?"
"That's the idea, princess. Let's go old school." He placed a careful hand on the small of her back and took the other in his-just like Kitty taught him nearly five years ago. He could feel her body respond to his touch and was saddened to remember how well they fit together. He started to rotate them in a slow circle in time to the music. "You look…great." But great wasn't the word-radiant, sexy, hot, beautiful, but he kept getting stuck on the fact that this was for someone else.
"You're still scruffy." They both laughed a little at her bluntness.
He spun her away from him giving them both a moment to breathe. "I hope you're happy." He said it with everything in his heart because he really wanted her to be happy. He wanted her to have what he could never give her.
They were swaying together again when she spoke. "Larry and I are moving back to Point Place. The station offered me a job, and he can do business anywhere." Just when he thought she couldn't hurt him anymore, she went and did this. She looked into his eyes, and he knew he was caught.
(Jackie)
She'd always known why he wore those damn sunglasses all the time. They hid his eyes. His expressive, beautiful, azure eyes. She'd always loved those eyes, and she derived a sick pleasure from it now as she watched the hurt swim in them. It was justice for all the times he'd made her cry. At least, that was what she told herself.
He gathered himself quickly, "So, we'll see you in the basement this summer?" She merely nodded. With that the song was over, she was a bitch, and she'd hurt Steven.
He dropped his hands from her as soon as the song ended and walked away. She was left standing in the middle of the dance floor looking more like a lost child than a beaming bride.
Larry came up behind her and wrapped both arms around her shoulders. "So was the infamous Hyde?" Again she could only manage a nod. She had the silly urge to cry, but instead turned to her new husband and they danced for a while more until it was time for the next wedding thing.
(Hyde)
He needed to leave, to get the hell away from her. He's thought she'd lost the ability to hurt him like this, but he'd been wrong before. He decided he could have another drink; maybe he could just drink enough to forget this, but then he had an idea of something that was better than alcohol at making you forget.
He'd always viewed getting toasted alone as a special treat, a little form of meditation, but he'd never done it in the bathroom during a wedding reception because he couldn't stand to remember who was marrying who. Now it was just sad. He rolled himself a joint haphazardly, and took a drag. He held it in as long as he could relishing the dull burn that told him he was going to forget-at least for a little while.
AN: So, first time writing Jackie or Hyde. I could really use some feedback as I've only written for a few other fandoms