One morning, at the breakfast table, Izzy had just set down a plate of waffles for the rest of her family when Hyde walked in. He groggily rubbed his eyes and sat in his usual chair, grabbing several waffles while Red and Kitty watched confusedly.

"Steven, it's seven-damn-thirty in the morning, what the hell are you doing in here?"

"Red! Be nice." Kitty said, then paused, watching Hyde. "Steven, we're waiting."

Izzy set down a glass of orange juice in front of Hyde's plate. "He's been living in the basement again," she said, kissing his cheek and sitting down next to him.

"You know," Eric said, "I did notice a dusting of curly hair on the floor. But I just wrote it off as my changing teenage body."

Izzy scrunched up her nose. "Eric, that's disgusting."

"My dad got transferred, so I moved back in." Hyde explained.

"Transferred?" Red asked. "He's a bartender! Where'd he get transferred to, the jukebox?"

"Y'know Red, if it's cool, I'd kinda rather not talk about it."

Kitty shook her head. "Well Steven, it's important to get these things out in the open!"

"Kitty, let him do what's natural and keep his feelings bottled up!" He turned to Hyde. "Atta boy!"

"Well." Kitty sighed. "Welcome back, Steven. You know, maybe we can spruce up your old room, since I've decided to redo the basement!"

This made all the heads at the table look at Kitty in confusion. "What?" Eric asked. "You're redoing the basement?"

"Well honey, no one uses it!"

Izzy's eyes widened. "I do! We do! Every day!"

"It's my Batcave!" Eric whined.

Red chuckled. "I'll find you a good, cheap contractor."

"Oh, no no!" Kitty protested. "This is something I want to handle myself."

"This is gonna be expensive, isn't it?"

"Maybe."

Red sighed. "Don't you like anything cheap?"

"I like you."

"Ooh!" Izzy laughed. "Burn, Daddy!"

-

Down in the basement, the gang was all hanging out while Kelso was pacing the perimeter like a sheepdog.

"Man, I'm gonna miss it down here." He said, looking at the dirty walls. "Lotta good times. Broke my foot climbing out of this dryer. Hit my head playing handball with the soap in that shower." He grinned. "Me and Jackie totally did it, like, a bajillion times on this old sofa."

Eric and Donna, who were sitting on opposite sides of the couch, looked down at the cushions and immediately got up.

"Michael, that's private!" Jackie said, walking up to him.

"I got news for you," Hyde said. "It wasn't that private."

Just then, Kitty came rushing out of the back room, hastily taking the rubber gloves off her hands. "Oh my god, that is the biggest spider I have ever seen! I think it had a rat in its mouth!" She shuddered. "Okay, I think maybe the basement isn't the place for me after all."

Eric nodded, wide-eyed. "You know what, Mom, I think you might be right. I mean, not only is it bug infested down here, in all honesty I think it might be haunted."

Izzy, sitting in Hyde's lap, giggled and covered her mouth, saying in her best ghosty voice, "Get ouuut!"

"See?" Eric said.

Kelso looked around nervously. "That's spooky."

"I dunno, Mrs. Forman." Donna said, walking up behind Eric. "I mean sure, it's a pit now, but if you paint, fumigate, and get rid of Eric, this could be a great room!"

Eric scowled. "Hey- Hey. You're... You're not my girlfriend anymore, okay? So you don't get an opinion on my stuff now. Mom, don't listen to her, she's crazy."

"Oh wait, I disagree with you, so I'm crazy? I think the last time I disagreed with you was the sanest thing I ever did."

"Okay, are you referring to our breakup?" Izzy and Hyde shared an amused look. "Because I must remind everyone here that you wore my promise ring around your neck. Yeah. That is crazy! Ring? Finger. Finger? Ring!"

"Well, you're lucky I didn't shove the ring up your ass!"

"Mom!"

"Alright," Kelso said, his brow furrowed. "Who said 'get out'?"

Donna paused. "Anyway... Mrs. Forman, we have a bunch of decorating magazines at home, I'll bring them over."

"Well thank you, Donna! And I think that ring looked nice around your neck."

"Donna, what the hell?" Eric asked, once Kitty had left. "What, we're not going out anymore, so you don't like my basement?"

"Well, I guess, now that I'm an ex-girlfriend, I'm free to tell the truth." She headed for the door, stopping just before it. "Free at last, free at last! Whoo!"

Once she had gone, Izzy looked over at Kelso. "Kelso, go get Eric some ice."

"Why?"

Jackie grinned. "For the wicked burn, Eric! Burn!" Izzy and Jackie high-fived, and then Fez came in with a dopey smile on his face.

"Hey Fez, what's got you so happy?" Izzy asked.

"Oh, happy day! Your friend Fez has taken his love of dance to its logical conclusion: I have joined a ballet class."

Izzy smiled and rested her head on Hyde's chest. "I used to take ballet. But ballet's expensive, and my dad is, well, my dad."

"Oh, really, Izzy Bee? Can you-"

"No, Steven, I can't put my leg behind my head."

"Damn."

Fez smiled. "It is really a very nice class. The music is so soothing, and-"

"Fez, man, no offense," Hyde said, "but you're like, one good cry away from being a total woman."

"Oh, really? Well, would a total woman..." He dug around in his dance bag for a moment. "Have her own pink satin slippers?"

Izzy giggled. "Fez, those are my old slippers, I lent them to you."

-

"Okay, Donna," Eric asked, sitting in the basement with his sister, Donna, and Hyde. "When did you stop liking my basement?"

Donna chuckled. "I never liked it. There were a lot of things I kept to myself when we were dating."

"Yeah?" Eric scoffed. "Well... there were plenty of things I kept to myself. Plenty."

Hyde looked up from the newspaper in his hands. "Like what, for instance"

Izzy giggled. "Yeah, I'm sure Donna would like to know. And me. And Steven."

Eric nodded. "Well, like... why don't you just start first?"

Donna nodded. "Okay. You know how when you eat and you smack your lips in that really cute way?"

Eric blushed, hiding a smile. "Yeah..."

"It's disgusting." Donna said curtly, turning back to her homework.

Eric stopped. "That's all you got?"

"No. You have tiny wrists."

"What?" Eric looked confused. "Izzy, do I have tiny wrists?"

"Eric, our wrists are the same size."

"Oh, good god."

-

"This whole basement thing is Eric's fault." Izzy mumbled, resting her head in the crook of Hyde's arm as the two laid in his bed. Both of them were reading comic books, every once in a while showing the other something funny that had happened.

"Hm? Hold on a sec, Harry was kidnapped by the Green Goblin."

"Shit, really? Let me see." He tilted the comic so she could read it. "Oh, no, that's not good!"

"Let's hope Spidey saves the day," he said sarcastically.

"He will. He always does." Hyde set down his comic, chuckling. "What?"

"You like Spiderman more than you like me!"

"No way!"

"You so do!"

"Lies! I do not!"

Hyde raised his eyebrows, a playful smile on his lips. "Prove it."

Izzy fought a smile as she leaned in, but before their lips could meet, she whispered, "Peter Parker isn't called The Amazing Spiderman for nothing," and pulled away, setting her head back onto Hyde's shoulder.

"Ah. You wound me."

"Sorry, baby."

He paused, smiling slightly at the nickname. "Mkay, what were you saying about Forman?"

Izzy sighed, playing with one of Hyde's curls. "If he could just take the higher road with Donna, they wouldn't be arguing all the time. And if they weren't arguing all the time, my mom wouldn't be messing up our perfectly good basement!"

"Well, Donna had to see him naked for two years. She has reason to argue."

"I concur wholeheartedly, but still! My mom shouldn't bogart our basement." She paused, dropping her hand from his hair. "Speaking of parents..." Hyde sighed and picked the comic back up. "What's going on with your dad?"

"Izzy Bee, I don't-"

"Please, Steven?"

He stopped. Then he put the comic on his makeshift side table. "Okay. He, uh... went to work for the police."

"Ew. Why?"

"He's developing high-tech handcuffs to restrain people with tiny wrists." He chuckled, wrapping his thumb and index finger around Izzy's wrist. "I mean, look at these! So little!" She was not amused.

"Steven."

"Look, I don't really wanna talk about this right now, okay?"

Izzy slowly nodded. "Later?"

Hyde let out a breath. "Maybe later."

-

That afternoon, in the Formans' driveway, Hyde, Kelso, and Eric were playing basketball, while the three girls sat on the hood of the Cruiser. When Fez walked up, wearing tights and a billowy, low-cut tunic, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared.

"Hey, uh... puffy shirt guy called, he wants his puffy shirt back!" Kelso jeered, a dopey smile on his face. Eric and Hyde slowly turned to look at Kelso, unamused.

"Things at ballet class have taken a turn for the worse." Fez said sadly. "Somehow I have become one of the girls. A hairy brown girl."

"Hey, uh, Fez," Eric said, "does that shirt come with its own bicycle pump?"

Donna rolled her eyes and stood up. "Well, you should talk. That shirt makes you look like a stick of fruit-stripe gum."

Eric looked down at his shirt, then back up at Donna. "God, what did you have for breakfast this morning? Carnation Instant Bitch?"

Kelso slapped a hand over his mouth to hide his laughter. Hyde grinned. "Okay, that one was out of the park!"

"Ugh! We are so bored with you two!" Jackie said, grabbing Izzy's hand and jumping off the hood of the Cruiser, pushing Eric and Donna out of the way.

"Right?" Izzy said. "I actually want to talk about Fez."

Jackie nodded. "Okay, Fez. Why don't the women at ballet love you?"

Fez sighed. "I don't know. They let me touch their thighs, but not their hearts."

"You know what might help? If you dress a little more masculine."

Izzy nodded. "I think I have the same tights, Fez."

"Oh, you do. I borrowed them from your dresser."

"Fez!" Izzy gasped. "Oh my god, keep 'em!"

"Hey, Hyde." Kelso said. "You know what my favorite ballet is?"

"The Nutcracker?" Hyde asked, throwing the basketball at Kelso's crotch, who then fell to the ground, groaning as everyone laughed.

-

Izzy, Hyde, and Eric all went down to the basement after their basketball game to find the contractor Red had hired, plus Leo, working in the basement.

"Hey guys." Eric said, closing the door behind him. "Don't you think it's time to knock off? You know? Maybe... forever?"

"Yeah, well, we're not done yet." The contractor, who Izzy later learned was named Theo, said. "Don't let us get in your way. Do whatever you'd normally do."

Izzy looked up at Hyde, her eyebrows raised.

-

"This is what you normally do?" Theo asked, grinning as the smoke curled around him. "I used to do this, too, back when I was being an artist."

Izzy's eyes widened. "I love art!"

"Me too, man! But I hate work."

"Me too!"

Hyde looked over at Eric. "Do you hear that, Forman? Theo's an artist. Who hates work. And who, at this moment, is very open to suggestion."

"Ohh..." Eric said. "I gotcha, Hyde. Theo..." He took a breath. "Cluck like a chicken, do it!" Hyde punched him in his shoulder. "Ow! Ohh. Theo, if you're unhappy--and I hope you are--you gotta be true to yourself. Give up construction, man! Go back to art!"

Leo looked confused. "You broke up with art?"

-

"Ta-da!" Theo said, gesturing to the new basement as Red and Kitty descended the stairs.

Kitty looked around confusedly. "You didn't- You didn't do anything."

Izzy, Hyde, and Eric all sat against the wall, watching the scene in front of them unfurl.

Theo nodded. "It's a commentary, man. See, you wanted to change your basement into something that it wasn't! So, instead of giving you something that you thought you wanted, I gave you something that you needed."

Kitty looked up at her husband. "Red?"

"Yes?"

"I think our contractor's on dope."

Theo held up his hands. "No need to thank me!"

"Oh, we won't." Red said. "Because you didn't do anything, hop-head."

Theo gasped. "Look!" He gestured out to the basement. "It's art! I moved everything in this basement two inches to the left. I call it Basement, Two Inches to the Left."

Red scowled. "Isabelle, is this what I can expect from your future as an artist?"

"Oh, no, Daddy. I have talent."

Hyde chuckled. "Damn right she does."

"The commentary... Man, it's wild, huh?" Leo asked. "I mean, it's like, where are you?"

"Alright." Red said, walking over to the two. "Mrs. Twins' Mother would like you to leave now."

"Okay, you don't get it." Theo said excitedly. "But when your life shifts two inches to the left, you're gonna call me. Oh-hoh, yes! You are gonna call me!" And with that, Theo left the basement.

"And if you like our work," Leo said, "tell your friends, okay?" He left, following his cousin out the basement door, while Red and Kitty just sighed and went back up the stairs.

"Oh, well, look who finally got his basement back!" Eric said, jumping over the back of the couch to sit down.

Izzy scowled and sat down next to him. "I think you mean, our basement?"

Hyde chuckled, turning on the television before sitting on Izzy's other side. "Out with the hippie burnouts, right? Walk tall."

Izzy paused, then turned to Eric. "Hey, d'ya mind giving us the room?"

"Wh- huh?!" Eric's eyes were wide. "I just got my basement back and now you two are gonna- oh my god, ew."

Izzy watched as he rushed upstairs, then she turned to Hyde. "Steven."

"Hm?"

"It's later."

"I said maybe, Izzy Bee."

She sighed. "Where's your dad? Really?"

Hyde picked up a tennis ball off the side table and started nervously fidgeting with it. "Fine, if you must know."

"And I must."

"He and my mom got back together."

Izzy sat up, looking at him. "No way! Steven, that's great! So, where are they?"

He clicked his tongue. "I can't tell ya."

"Why not?" Izzy asked cautiously.

"Cause they won't tell me."

Izzy stopped, feeling her heart drop. She couldn't imagine what Hyde must be going through, and in an instant she felt guilty for prying. "Oh. I'm... I'm sorry, Steven, I- I shouldn't've-"

"No, no... You're good. I didn't wanna tell anyone, cause I knew you'd all go all after school special on me."

"Well that's my job, Steven. I'm your girlfriend, I'm supposed to care."

He looked down at her, brushing a lock of hair out of her face. "I know."

"And hey, I got you something!" Izzy jumped up, trying to change the topic. She headed over to the bookcase at the back of the room.

"What? You didn't have to get me anything."

"I know that, but..." She lifted up Eric's Candyland game and pulled out the canvas from behind it. "Here." She said, handing him the painting and sitting back down.

He took it, looking over the picture that was in front of him. He felt the urge to run his hand over it, feel the texture of the paint, but he knew Izzy would absolutely deck him if he did. "It's a city."

"It's New York. And, you see that?" She pointed to a little blur of red. "That, my lovely man, is-"

"Holy shit, is that Spiderman?" He asked, laughing.

"Indubitably!"

"So you do like Spiderman more than me!"

"He's spectacular, Steven! What do you expect?!" She paused, their laughter fading. "Do you like it?"

"I- I love it. It's..." He searched for the right word. "Spectacular." She smiled and put her hand on his cheek, turning his head to face her. She lightly pressed her lips to his, and he set the canvas down on the coffee table.

Placing his hands around her waist to deepen the kiss, he broke off for air, laughing.

"What's so funny?" She asked, kissing him again.

"Nothing! It's- just-" He said between kisses. "I knew you liked him more!" He poked her stomach, making her pull away and laugh. "I knew it, Izzy Bee!" He poked her again. She fell back onto the couch and he kept poking her. "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!"

"Stop, Steven! Seriously, stop!"

He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her up onto his lap. "You're spectacular." He mumbled, kissing her neck lightly.

"Hey Steven, can I tell you a secret?"

He hummed in agreement, still focusing on the nape of her neck.

"I like you better than Spiderman."