Hello, It's Me ? Steven Hyde

"Hey, Liz," Eric greeted his sister, walking through her open bedroom door. After taking a quick glance around the room, he let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God Laurie's not here."

"Right?" Liz agreed, glancing up from her book. "I can actually enjoy some peace and quiet for once."

"Yeah, well, sorry. I'm about to ruin it," Eric said, drawing his lips together as he sat down on the edge of her bed.

She raised a wary brow at him. "Why?"

"So... you know how me and the guys were planning on getting drinks at that one bar downtown?"

"Oh, God. What'd you guys do?" Liz groaned.

"Nothing, nothing!" Eric assured, holding out his hands so she wouldn't freak out. "I promise you, we didn't get in trouble. But, at the bar, we ran into... into Hyde's dad."

The wariness on Liz's face immediately melted away, replaced by both surprise and concern. In a soft voice, she asked, "What? He's back?"

"Yeah. Apparently he's been back for a while."

"Oh my God..." Liz breathed, glancing down the fiddle with the cover on her book. "How is, uh... how's Hyde taking it?"

Eric shrugged, glancing to the open door, almost scared their friend would be standing there. "Not too great. He kinda just stormed out. He didn't even get any beer."

"That bad, huh?"

"Yep." He sighed before shaking his head. "I feel really bad for the guy, you know?"

"Did you talk to him?" She asked. When the only response she got was a 'really?' look, she drew back. "Yeah, sorry. Stupid question."

"Look, the best thing we can hope for is that he just bottles this up so much that it never bothers him again."

"A comforting thought," she commented dryly.

Eric held up his hands in innocence. "Well, you know it's true. Just... don't tell him I told you, okay? I just had to tell you in case he seemed off. But he could be fine. I haven't seen him since he stormed off."

Liz crossed her heart in a promise. "I won't say anything unless he does." She then paused, scooting closer to drop her voice. "Well... what did his dad look like? Did he seem like an alcoholic?"

"Surprisingly, no. Actually, he didn't really look like Hyde at all," Eric said, his eyebrows furrowing at the thought. He was quick to shake it off before admitting, "I mean, if I didn't think about how he ditched Hyde as a kid at all, he actually seemed like a pretty cool guy."

"Oh, yeah? What makes you say that?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

He crossed his arms, trying to hold back a chuckle. "He gave us beer even though he knew we were underage."

"Oh, you jerk!" Liz hissed, throwing a pillow at his face.

❁

The next day, the twins hung out in the basement with Donna, Kelso, and Fez. They were all gathered around the couch, looking over Kelso's shoulder.

Kelso's eyes lit up as he flipped the page of his Playpen magazine. "Hello! She is just my type: naked."

"I, too, like the naked ladies. I find them so... naked," Fez said with a laugh.

Liz sighed and shook her head. Turning to her best friend next to her, she muttered, "Men."

"Yeah, that's realistic," Donna scoffed at them. She then pretended to be the girl in the picture, "I think I'm gonna change the oil in my car, but first I'm gonna take off everything but my cowboy boots!"