─ PROLOGUE !

THE FORMAN BASEMENT | 1976

─"HYDE! OH MY GOD STOP!" Margot Byrne giggled as Steven Hyde pinned her down beneath him on the couch of the Forman's basement. They were the only ones there, thankfully, as nobody but Eric knew that they were... whatever they were.

He released her arms for a moment and she began to sit up, beaming and mumbling a thank you before  the boy pinned her down once more and placed one single kiss on her jaw, "Not happenin', doll."

The pair had been inseparable these past few months, which the group were well aware of. But none of their friends knew quite how much closer they got when they were all out of the room.

They weren't dating — Hyde doesn't "do dating."

But Hyde's soft spot for Margot had been lingering for years — so much so that the previous New Year's Eve he had found himself in a passionate exchange of kisses with the girl he'd come to call Stevie.

"I love Fleetwood Mac," he remembered her explaining, bright eyed and bushy haired on an evening in 1975 when their self titled album had been released, "Stevie Nicks... wow!"

Hyde had shaken his head, laughing at the beaming smile on her face as she spun the record with him at her side.

"Y'know, her name is Stephanie... I think I'm gonna start calling you Stevie since your middle name is Stephanie too." he stated, arm on her shoulder rubbing it soothingly.

Nobody had ever questioned their relationship, because Hyde was so good at pretending he cared about nothing and no-one, and Margot had sworn herself off boys ever since Patrick Short broke her heart in the seventh grade.

They were just close friends to everyone else, and initially that was the truth.

But as they developed, and their bodies did, they were drawn to each other for more reasons than just their similarities. They couldn't help their magnetism towards each other, but had avoided conversation about it in the weeks after their New Years kiss.

Instead, they'd found themselves in many a heated make out session that they would pretend never happened afterwards and continue their supposed fake flirting amidst their friends.

Eventually Margot coaxed Steven's feelings out of him, but they agreed that dating was off the cards and so they'd continue as they were:

Flirty friends who kissed... a lot.

And who had sex for the first time of many that same night they established they wouldn't officially date.

But today, Margot had something to tell Steven that she knew he wouldn't like.

"Hyde," she tried to begin, cut off by his lips harshly on hers as he scooped her up to carry her to his room, "I need to speak to you about something."

Hyde rolled his eyes jokingly, throwing her over his shoulder with his hand firmly grasping her ass, "I'm sure it can wait, princess."

She groaned, torn between the fact that she needed to talk to him and the fact that she found it really hot when he was like this. Damn him for so easily making her feel this way.

He prised open his bedroom door, slamming it shut behind him and rushing to his bed where he threw her down, crawling over her with one hand curling around her waist and the other sweeping across the side of her face as he pulled her up to kiss him.

"Baby," she pressed against his chest, trying to fight her own desire to kiss him as much as she tried to tell him to stop, "It's kind of an urgent thing."

Hyde sighed, sitting back so that he was just kneeled in between her legs but no longer leaning over.

"What could possibly be more important than this?" he smirked, his finger tracing circles on her bare thigh as her bed shorts had ridden up.

"I'm..." Margot began nervously, sitting up and bringing her face closer to his as she tried to form the right words to explain.

"You're not pregnant, are you?" his face twisted into a panicked expression, "'Cos i thought you were on the pill, man!"

She shook her head and leaned forward to kiss him. She cupped his face in both hands, biting her lip as she pulled away from his soft lips.

"No...I'm... I'm spending the summer in the UK."

Hyde jumped back. That was so long apart from her when they'd just started fooling around. He didn't like that, not at all, but didn't know how to show it so said nothing.

Margot frowned, "I'm sorry, Hyde, I leave next week and I'll be back the week before summer ends but... My mom wants me to come over for summer and I haven't seen her in forever so I can't say no."

Hyde shrugged, "Sure. I, uh, I get it."

"You get it?" she furrowed her brows, confused by his seemingly emotionless response. She knew he struggled showing emotions, but it broke her heart how void he seemed of any emotion at all, "You're not mad? I've gotta go, that's all. I wanted to tell you so we could spend this week together more, like properly—"

"No." Hyde interrupted, not elaborating on his one-word answer.

"No you're not mad or no you don't wanna spend time together?" she questioned, shrinking back from the boy so quickly that her back hit the headboard.

"Both. We're not dating so why would I be mad? And why should we spend loads of time together like we are dating? It's just sex, Stevie."

"Right. Just sex," her voice dropped, her heart feeling as though he'd just reached into her chest and crushed it with a single, bare hand, "Sorry, Steven, for thinking that I mattered a little and you might miss me at least a bit."

The frown on Steven's face told her that he did care, that he was upset she was leaving even if it was only for the summer. But his words still stung. All she wanted was to know how he felt, from his own mouth and not just his facial expression.

"Well you don't need to worry about that, Byrne. I'll be..." he paused in thought, trying to concoct a response that would hurt her slightly even though he didn't want to. He couldn't let himself show how difficult he knew he'd find being without her company and worrying she'd find someone else, "I'll be plenty busy, I'm sure."

A lone tear cascaded down Margot's face and she wiped it away quickly with a trembling hand.

"I'm not your boyfriend and I don't want to be. If you think I'm just going to sit around like a lost puppy waiting for you to come back, you're crazy." the words felt bitter on his tongue — he did want her to be his, he'd just been scared of hurting her, and now he was doing so anyway. He just couldn't help it —  the idea of her returning with stories of a boy she'd met in Britain hurt just as much.

He wanted to to save himself from the rejection.

"Alright."

"Alright?"

"If that's how you feel. If everything you said before means nothing and you really did only see this as just sex, I can't do anything about it. Clearly I got confused in thinking I was more than just some toy amongst many for you, Steven." she bit, standing up and walking to the edge of the room before turning back to face a stunned Hyde.

"Maybe you were." his heart wrenched as he spoke those words, but he felt that he had to.

He didn't want her to know how he felt because it was too late anyway. She'd be gone in a week and no matter how short her trip would be, Hyde couldn't shake the image of her falling in love with some British asshole in some big summer romance.

"I see. Well be safe, Hyde. I'm sorry I wasn't enough but I hope you find someone who is, I guess, since I can see this won't resume when I'm back. Don't string anymore people along, please." she fought against the hurt in her tone by lacing her words with anger, and Hyde hated it.

"Shame you never got goodbye sex, since that's all this was to you. Go pick another whore, I guess."

"Stevie—" he began, barely audible as he felt his heart ache in his chest, "It's only you, there was no-one else. Not since us. I swear."

"I thought there was no us. Quit lying." she snarled.

The door slammed behind her as Hyde's back slammed down on his bed. He'd just made a massive mistake, and he knew it. Fuck.

"She's leaving like everyone else does, and you've just pushed her further away? Asshole."

— AUTHOR'S NOTE !
hello here's the prologue before
she left to set the scene for chap
one n explain the way they act
to eachother! hope u enjoyed !!

in terms of the timeline — some
things will be a little off and it
won't always follow the story.
for example, Hyde's living in the
renovated basement room he
wouldn't be yet for the sake of
this ahahahah !