— SEVEN !
007. fooling around

THE BYRNE HOUSEHOLD | 1977

—"SCOTTY, WE'RE HERE!" Margot exclaimed as she slammed the front door shut behind the group who had just entered, swinging a grocery bag full of snacks in her other hand.

Scott came striding down the stairs, a leather jacket slung over his shoulder and a beer in his free hand, "Hey guys," he greeted, eyes lingering for a moment on how Kelso's hand rested on his sister's waist, "Everything's all set up in the games room, go on through."

Margot shifted out of Kelso's grip, pacing over to her brother and pulling him into a hug as she kissed his cheek, "Thanks again for this, when's Kat coming over?"

He shrugged, "An hour or so. I'll hang upstairs til then, let me know if you need me before then, Mags." Margot nodded, twirling on her heel to lead her friends through the house to the family games room.

"Wait, Kelso can I talk to you?"

Kelso gulped, turning back and nodding as Margot linked her arm with his and walked back in her brother's direction with him, their friends stepping awkwardly into the dining room out of the way.

"Look I'm not gonna give you some massive big brother talk just... don't you dare hurt my sister, okay," Scott's face was serious, Kelso's face opposite him washed instead with awkwardness, "She can do what she likes, but if you hurt her you're gonna have hell to pay. I can't pretend I trust you so I've got my eye on you, Michael."

Kelso nodded, "Yes sir."

"Good. Now go on," Scott shooed them away, not in the mood to further the conversation any more than he'd felt obligated to. He wanted to protect his little sister more than anything, but didn't want to be annoyingly overprotective, "Don't make a mess."

"Thanks Scotty," Margot leaned forward to kiss his cheek again, "We'll see you in a bit!"

She twirled back around, "To the games room, guys!"

Even proclaiming that she owned a games room felt incredibly obnoxious, but she was grateful to have always had a place to go when she was bored (second only to the Forman's house).

Her and Hyde had also spent a lot of time here when they were... hanging out. Particularly before he moved into the Forman's place.

She led the group through to the room, perching herself atop the pool table as everyone piled in and sat down on her couch. Thankfully, Jackie hadn't been able to make it yet and was (reluctantly) coming later. Margot couldn't help but suspect she was only coming because of her sudden obsession with Hyde anyway.

"This couch is huge, man!" Kelso exclaimed, his dirty mind already flooding with thoughts, "We should totally do it here later." he suggested, nudging Margot's side as she shared an awkward glance with Hyde.

She'd hoped nobody would notice, but of course she wouldn't be that lucky, "Oh my god! You and Hyde totally did it on this couch." Donna smirked, before pretending to be disgusted and briefly standing back up.

"Fuck off," Margot blushed, scowling at the smirk plastered on Hyde's face too.

"So you did!" Fez interjected.

"It's okay, there was always a blanket to cover it," his tongue slipped out to glide over his lips once he had proclaimed this smugly and Margot subconsciously reached up and ran her forefinger along her own lips before realising and snapping her hand back down into her lap.

"Damn it Hyde!" Kelso simply scoffed.

Desperate to change the subject, Margot paced over to the record player in the corner of the room, putting George Harrison's 'All Things Must Pass' on — her favourite — before taking a seat back on the couch and handing each member of the group a beer.

"God it's been a while since I heard this," Hyde laughed, recalling the warm summer days during which Margot would perch herself on his lap on the couch as the sound of George Harrison's voice lulled through the room, "I haven't listened to The Beatles, or any of their solo stuff, in a long while, man."

He mentally cursed himself knowing that it would be more than clear that it was Margot's absence that had caused him to stop listening to The Beatles. Given that they'd been her favourite band — she often boasted about meeting them one winter when she was just eight and staying in England — Hyde had collected too many memories of listening to them with her in his arms to listen to them without her there.

"Leaving my records behind was one of the hardest things about going back to my mum's," Margot groaned, "Imagine me not being able to play this album all day every day... It was painful. Oh Georgie boy... I've missed ya."

The gang laughed at her swooning, sinking further into Kelso's lap as he grinned widely and kissed her neck, causing Hyde to roll his eyes.

Before the conversation could continue, a knock at the door sounded through the room. Scott entered, followed closely by Jackie, who was twirling her hair around her finger flirtatiously as she batted her eyelashes in Scott's direction, "Uh-- Jackie's here." Scott grunted, turning back to leave after mumbling, "Fucks sake," under his breath towards his sister.

"Hey Jackie," Margot smiled, shifting awkwardly in her current seating position as the brunette sauntered into the room, straight towards Hyde.

She sat on the edge of the couch to his left, smiling at him, "Whatcha been talking about?"

Margot fought with her internal desire to say something about her and Hyde to piss Jackie off, considering how irritated she was by Jackie's current obsession with him. Jackie could be such a sweet girl, but when it came to boys she was positively infuriating.

"Doin' it on this couch," Kelso smirked, running his palm along the arm of the settee as Jackie grimaced.

"Gross, I don't need to know what you and Margot do in here, Michael."

Another smirk spread across Eric's face as he gazed on at the unfolding conversation, "It wasn't about those two."

This caused Jackie's head to snap in his direction, a bemused expression on her face as her brows furrowed whilst she tried to figure out what he meant, "Then who?"

Donna and Eric continued to stifle a laugh at her expense as she scanned the room briefly to identify the culprits, particularly confused given that the gang didn't tend to frequent Margot's home in the time she had known them before the girl's disappearance.

The silence in the room was agonising, tension thickly veiling the room.

"Hyde. Jackie, it was me and Hyde."

The whole room registered the way Margot's voice trembled slightly as she spoke, despite the calmness her — albeit reddened — face displayed. There was a moment of quiet as Jackie's hand flew to her mouth, her eyes wider even than usual at this revelation.

"When did you sleep with Steven?" she asked, a hint of anger in her voice, though this anger was clouded by the utter shock prevalent in her tone, "You're dating Michael!"

Margot shook her head with a laugh, confidence rising in her chest as Kelso continued to rub her back, "Well, Hyde and I were fooling around before I left." she shrugged, something of a smirk curling at her lips as she folded her arms across her chest.

Hyde couldn't help feeling his heart drop at her dismissal of their relationship, but he knew that he couldn't complain when it had been him to initially belittle what had been going on between them.

"I don't... understand," Jackie bit her lip, "Why wouldn't you tell everyone and... what happened?"

Donna was suffocated by the tension in the air, deciding to interject, "Let's not make them talk about that, Jackie. We came here to have a good time, alright?"

Eric leaned across to kiss her, smiling into the kiss as the rest of the room nodded in agreement to her statement.

"There's beers in the mini fridge," Margot stood back up yet again, wandering over and pulling enough out for everyone, "Catch!" she began tossing them at each member of the group.

"Thank you Margot," Fez smiled as he collected his beer from the floor, having dropped it immediately after catching it, "Don't open that yet Fez!" She exclaimed in response as he pulled the tab and was covered in foam as it exploded in his lap.

"Jesus christ."

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