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Stage one- Denial
Eric Forman was not gay.
Eric was an extremely heterosexual man who was in love with Donna and had been his whole life, and frankly who was Buddy to assume otherwise?
Sure, Eric had spent most of his time with Buddy once they started hanging out. He'd been ignoring his friends, including Donna, so maybe that gave the wrong impression. That doesn't change the fact that Eric is 100% straight! Even if the flavor of Buddy's chapstick had rubbed off onto his lips and he could still taste it, it could be Donna's! He did after all kiss… both of them… in less than an hour…
Huh.
Stage two- Anger
Why the fuck would Buddy kiss him without asking first anyways? Like, come on, even Eric would have the decency to ask a guy if he was into dudes before kissing him- not that he would kiss a boy, obviously.
To be fair, Eric wasn't happy with how he reacted to the whole situation. Even if it did feel a bit intrusive to be kissed by someone when you were very clearly in love with your neighbor, but Buddy is gay and Eric supposes that it probably didn't turn out well every other time he asked someone. He had even tried denying being gay when Eric was confused...God the thought made Eric's stomach turn. Eric would have to make a note to try and stand up for Buddy when people made fun of him. No one messes with his friends, weird gay kiss or not.
Stage three- Bargaining
Eric Forman was still not gay.... At least not the way Buddy is.
Eric Forman has never had a crush on a guy, he was for sure in love with Donna! But- he just- he couldn't stop thinking about how much fun he had with Buddy. He tried not to think about the kiss- how else would they become friends again?- but it just kept coming up in his head.
It was seriously detrimental whenever he tried to have a very normal teenage make out session with Donna. He couldn't stop thinking about the way Buddy had grabbed Eric's face, Donna had always worn the pants in the relationship but she never took lead per say.
There was a point where Donna stopped trying to pull him to the side when they smoked, saying that he just never 'seemed into it anymore' and Eric realised that he'd never been the one to initiate in the first place.
Stage four- Depression
Oh God, was Eric Forman gay!?
Donna had a sit down with Eric and asked who the other woman was. She had compiled a shit ton of 'evidence' as she had put it. The first of which was, of course, the cherry flavor when he came back to the basement after hanging with Buddy. Apparently after that Eric had become super disconnected, and kinda kept brushing Donna off.
"It felt like you were making up for something."
Eric couldn't believe it, he was a little bit gay. Donna totally put all the pieces together- before Eric! They talked, Eric explain, and they talked some more. By the end of it Eric&Donna was no longer, simply Eric and Donna. Neighbors and bestfriends.
After the total acceptance from the redhead came the possible abandonment from literally everyone else. Red would probably kick Eric out. Hyde and Fez- probably not Kelso- would stop hanging out with him. And Jackie- yeah if Kelso stayed she probably wouldn't have an issue. But still!
God, Eric still couldn't believe he was kinda gay. He started closing off from the group, scared they would somehow find out. Donna was the only one he would really talk to, so the rest if the group figured it was fine.
Donna would hug Eric while he tried not to cry, he already felt emasculated. In a sign of support Donna had been researching.
"So, you think you still like girls?"
Eric sniffed, trying not to get snot in her hair.
"Yeah."
"There's a name for liking both, ya know."
He pulled away, brows furrowed.
"Really?"
"Yeah, it's called 'bisexual'. Seems fitting, right?" She smiled encouragingly, and Eric mirrored her.
"Yeah- yeah, that feels… right. I'm bisexual…" Eric smile slipped, "Oh god I'm bisexual."
Donna held Eric once again as he finally let himself cry and take it all in. She could tell he wouldn't be able to hide it from the group for long- he'd get paranoid and would probably forget and say something about Han Solo that wouldn't be passable as a joke- and one day she would tell them too.
Stage five- Acceptance
"So… bisexual? What uh- what exactly is that?"
Eric was in the basement for once, and Donna had helped him tell the group their newfound discovery.
"Well, Hyde, bisexual is liking more than one gender. Not gay but not straight either." Donna explained as Eric bounced his leg.
"Wait, does that mean Eric gets laid twice as much?" Kelso looked at him in awe, before Hyde interrupted.
"Man, he didn't get laid when he was straight, it's more like he's twice as much a virgin." Hyde chuckled, Donna smacked him upside the head.
"Shut up, guys. This was really stressful for Eric." Eric put a hand on her arm.
"Actually, Donna, I think I can speak for myself." He turned back to the group, "... yeah guys this was really stressful for me!"
The topic passed soon after, not many more questions coming from the group. Fez fistbumped him, Hyde hugged Eric before he left- which was a bit unusual- and Jackie asked if he would want to go shopping sometime soon.
"I mean, you should probably look the part!" She had said, Donna took her aside to explain why that was just not really great, but she was trying! That was something.
Eric laid in bed that night. Tomorrow was Monday and Eric planned to talk to Buddy for the first time since they hung out. He would explain himself, and explain him. Maybe even… try something? Eric was so new to all of this but if it triumphed over his relationship with Donna then it must be something worth trying, right?
That morning Eric woke up with a start. He wanted to look his best, even if Buddy already kinda liked him. Maybe Jackie had a point about working on his fashion sense? Especially if he's trying to be on the same level as Buddy.
Breakfast was quick, a piece of toast and out the door. And the car ride to school was filled with Hyde and Kelso asking dumb questions.
Finally, Eric just had to find Buddy and-
"Hey, Eric."
Eric whizzed around and there stood Buddy, scratching his neck.
"Oh- Buddy! I- uh actually was just looking for you." Eric smiled awkwardly as Buddy looked at him, eyebrows furrowed.
"Really?"
"Yeah! I wanted to talk to you about Friday."
"Don't worry, you don't even have to bring it up. I came over here to apologize-"
"But you don't have to!" Eric interrupted the boy a bit too loud, getting some strange looks. Right, middle of the parking lot.
"What do you mean? It was totally wrong of me to… ya know. You like Donna and I can respect that, I got the wrong signals."
"But… God, Buddy, I don't think you did."
"Ok, this is confusing. You're meaning to tell me that when I-" Buddy glanced around, "kissed you it was, what? Welcome? Eric, you freaked out."
"Well it's not like I ever thought about it beforehand."
"So then how do you know now?"
"Jesus, Buddy, please don't make me say it."
"Wait," A sly smile on his face, "was I your gay awakening?"
Eric hit his arm, but there was no real malice behind it, "Yes, ok? You kissed me and it stuck in my head and now I realise that I've had a crush on Luke Skywalker this whole time." He spoke through his teeth
"Weird, you guys look alike."
"Really?" Eric squeaked.
"Yeah, you're both cute."
Eric looked at his shoes, he had felt like this talking to Donna years ago. Wow, it's been that long, huh?
"Buddy, do you want to hang out sometime soon?"
The brunet looked a tad but surprised, but pleasantly so.
"Yeah, this Friday?"
"For sure."
And so what, Eric Forman was bi? He got a really cute boy out of it.