First I'm taking some liberties: In my version of S&H Hutch is the older one by 5 years. This is inspired by the fact that everyone I know (fans and non fans) always thought David Soul and thus Hutch was older than Paul Michael Glaser/Starsky and were most often surprised to find PMG was the older one (if only by 5 months). Also I think that if Hutch had first gone to college, had been married once already and had done some soul searching before deciding to become a cop he would simply have to be a bit older than Starsky who, as far as I'm aware, didn't go to college and ended up at the academy the same year as Hutch. I'm not sure about Starsky's army past, so I'm taking the liberty to keep that out or at least in the background also. So there's the reasoning behind my story's age difference between the 2. I have no idea at what age one can actually start at the police academy so the other liberty I take is that when the story begins Hutch is 25 so Starsky, according to my time table, has to be 20.

Kenneth William Hutchinson took a final look at himself in the dress mirror in his bedroom.

His blond hair, which was fine and slightly showing the first signs of thinning at the top, was combed to perfection. The icing on the cake, for the rest of his 6'1" lean frame was meticulously dressed in gray dress pants, a black turtleneck and a black sports jacket. He looked like a page in a fashion magazine.

He did have to hurry though, this being the first day at the L.A. Police Academy, he didn't want to give a bad impression. He would have been on time easily if it hadn't been for the phone call he got from his attorney who was handling his divorce.

Even though he was only twenty-five, Kenneth Hutchinson already had 1 broken marriage almost behind him. 15 months he and Vanessa had been together. Looking back, he wondered what the hell had possessed them to get married so young. Sure his folks had been about the same age when they were married, but those were different times.

And now Vanessa, whom he'd once considered the love of his life, was being such a pain in this divorce. Why she was putting up all these roadblocks was beyond him: aside from a trust fund from his grandparents he hadn't had much of an income yet.

You can't pluck a bald chicken. He shook his head at his own thoughts, took out his grandfathers pocket watch and realized he'd better hurry up.

Quickly walking thru' his living room, his eyes surveyed all its contents. Yes, he'd turned off the gas; yes he'd watered all his plants. Outside he locked his front door, got into his car, once a graduation gift from his father, and was on his way.

-----------------------------------

On the other side of town about an hour earlier, David Michael Starsky was already busy.

He'd been in the process of moving out of the room over his aunt and uncle's garage where he'd been living for 3 years for about a week now, finally having found a cheap studio apartment 2 blocks away, which he could afford off the money he made helping around in his uncle's garage.

This was his third move in eight years. First at the age of 12 from his New York home to his aunt and uncle's here in Bay City, then at age 17 to the room over his uncle's garage business and now finally totally on his own.

So every day of this past week had been spent moving stuff, throwing stuff away, painting, going to garage sales to look for some cheap furniture and thus making long days.

He was so caught up in what he was doing that his aunt Rosie had to remind him

"Dave, you don't wanna be late your first day! You can take the blue Ford today, your uncle is fine with that".

He'd shoved the three quart donut he had left into his mouth at once, stuck the care package his aunt had put together containing more donuts, some chocolate bars, a slice of cold meatloaf plus a can of coke under his right arm, picked up his books, swallowed a last gulp of coffee, kissed his aunt goodbye and run down the stairs while putting on his battered leather jacket over his blue t-shirt and faded jeans and had sprinted across the street on his blue Adidas toward the blue Ford his uncle Al had given him from the garage as a loan until he could afford his own car.

Miss Thelma, an elderly black neighbor who was the street's grandma, waved at him as he got to the car and unlocked it.

"You do good ye hear Davey, grandma says so" she called out to him.

She'd just loved her neighbor's nephew ever since he'd come to live with them eight years ago.

Over that period she'd watched him grow from a cute but difficult, skinny, teen with thick chocolate brown curly hair, into a very handsome, friendly and helpful young man who'd filled out and had matured into a very impressive physical stature at almost 6'0", which he often put to work for her without her asking, whenever some real physical chores needed to be done around her little apartment in return for some of her delicious soul food.

And what an appetite the boy had! He was going to make a fine policeman she thought to herself, smiling, as she watched him drive off, half a donut sticking out of his mouth.

The reception hall of the Police Academy building was buzzing with all the noises and voices of the new recruits.

Police officers were there to hand out schedules and maps to navigate the building.

At 9.00 am sharp all the new meat had to assemble in the auditorium to get their introduction speech before they were to have their introduction class.

Kenneth Hutchinson was standing somewhat isolated between all this chaos.

He seemed oddly out of place: slightly older than the other freshmen and certainly the best dressed. Two older officers passed him with quite a puzzled look on their faces and obviously talking about him in the process.

Kenneth decided to see what it said on the bulletin board that others had already discovered.

He already had received his map around the building and his class schedule. The bulletin board was not far from the entrance.

As he was walking over to the bulletin board he was nearly side swiped by someone who burst thru' the entrance.

He dropped his schedule and map and as he looked at them before picking them up he noticed they had brownish wet stains on them.

Irritated he said

"For crying out loud! Look what you did!" after which he turned to see who had been responsible for this mess.

His sky blue eyes met eyes the most unknown color blue he'd ever seen, in a face of what he thought was still a teenager.

Good God, what was the age minimum to become a cop? was what immediately came to mind.

At once his kind and responsible character took over as he saw the embarrassed shock in the kid's face.

He decided that he, as the obvious older one here, should be giving the right example so he softened his voice when he said

"I'm sorry, you just caught me by surprise there" followed by a nod of his head.

The youth sat squatting beside him as they both began to pick up the papers and said in a distinctive East-Coast dialect

"Geez man, I didn't see ya, sorry".

Kenneth picked up his schedule which was now covered in brownish coke stains.

"Well, I'm in section B, but that's all I can make out now. I guess I'll have to get me a new one".

He smiled at the youth and started to turn to find one of the officers that handed out the schedules.

After four steps he heard the youth's voice exclaim

"Hey mister, hey, hey you. Did ya say section B? Huh? I'm in section B, I can tell where we're supposed to go".

People around them were looking at the pair of them since the youth's voice had been louder than the rest of the crowd.

Blushing slightly and smiling at the others who just now seemed to be noticing this fashion model like man in their midst, Kenneth turned back to the youth who by now was waving his left arm holding the schedule. Under his right arm he was holding a brown bag and his books and his mouth was in the process of devouring what looked like a chocolate donut.

As he walked toward him, it dawned on Kenneth that there were probably no two other people in the reception hall whose looks and appearances were so totally each other's opposite.

"Well, what a coincidence" Kenneth told the youth.

He inhaled, a little ill at ease, slightly turning around to check if the crowd was still watching the two of them and started "Now that we know we're in the same section we might as well introduce ourselves. I'm….."

-----------------------------

A loud buzz rang thru' the reception hall and a voice over the speaker told everyone to go to the auditorium.

The crowd started moving and before he was aware of it, Kenneth had lost track of the youth.

Dammit , he thought to himself. Now the kid's gone and I've got no way of getting another schedule. He sighed and shook his head wearily. Why was it again, that he'd decided he wanted to be a police officer?

The speech was quite long, close to an hour.

It told of responsibility, honor, duty, and loyalty.

It told of the need for more blue on the streets.

It told of what it meant being a police officer: tact and insight first, weapon last.

No place for trigger happy gun lovers, then you were at the wrong place. Diplomacy before discussion. Etcetera, etcetera.

During the speech Hutch scowled the crowd, attempting to find the chocolate brown curly head.

After about twenty minutes he spotted the by now familiar youth.

Granted, the speech was not exactly exciting, but the youth had an almost dimwitted expression on his face as he sat thru' it.

Kenneth found himself thinking I wonder if he comprehends what is being said just when the speech told of prejudices and pre conceived ideas.

To his private embarrassment Kenneth turned his slightly blushing face away from the direction of the youth for a while.

You're just as much a rookie here as the kid is .

He looked back at the youth again, his own facial expression changing into something not as intelligent looking now as he watched the youth unwrapping a candybar and in his first bite practically chewing half of it off.

It's not even 10 yet! The kid's a bloody trashcan Kenneth thought to himself, remembering his own breakfast this morning had consisted of a large glass of water, a grapefruit and a protein shake.

As soon as the speech was over, Kenneth hurried over to the youth.

"Hi, remember me? We're both in section B and you've got the map" he told the kid.

Still chewing the youth replied

"Oh yeah, ok, let's see: if this is the auditorium then we must be here".

He pointed on the map.

"So now it's almost ten and we should be uhm, in 233 by then, which is uhm…."

Kenneth looked on nervously as people were leaving the auditorium in droves while this kid didn't seem in any kind of a hurry studying the map.

"You know" he told the kid, "Since you have your hands full, why don't you let me read the map, while we walk".

Those unique blue eyes looked up at him

"Kay, let's go".

They were almost the last ones to leave the auditorium so they were also the last ones to arrive in 233.

There were only two seats next to eachother left, so Kenneth realized he was obliged to be near this kid all day. Somehow he'd hoped he could get rid of him as soon as he'd found the classroom but no such luck.

He'd only seen the kid for little over an hour now and almost all of that time the kid had been chewing something or other.

Still there didn't seem to be an ounce of fat on the athletic looking youth's body.

The fortune of youth Kenneth gritted in his thoughts.

Even though he himself was only twenty-five, he was already experiencing that his metabolism was changing. That had been one of the reasons he'd changed his already healthy eating habits to an almost Spartan regimen which included fasts from time to time.

He glanced at the kid in the seat next to him.

Gee, his jaws aren't moving. He must've finished off the contents of that brown bag

They got pads from the instructor and pencils so they could take notes.

After five minutes of bumping into eachother Kenneth and the kid switched places

On top of everything he's a lefty Kenneth inwardly sighed.

The morning was too long for Kenneth Hutchinson as he found himself shaking his head and sighing several times when the youth next to him would again raise a hand and ask exactly what had just been explained by the instructor.

The instructor took it all much lighter than Kenneth who found himself feeling somewhat embarrassed by it all.

At noon a loud buzz made an end to the first session before lunch.

"Thank God" Kenneth whispered under his breath as he swiftly left the classroom.

---------------------------------

David Michael Starsky had been in such a hurry running from the parking lot to the Academy Building that he almost seemed like a marathon runner taking a refreshment when he received the map and schedule out of the outstretched hand of an officer in front of the building.

As he was juggling his lunch packet (almost half gone now at 8.50 am), his books, his opened can of coke and these new papers he was looking down instead of up as he entered the Building, immediately bumping into something or someone.

He came to an immediate halt and looked around him to find a tall blond man muttering and throwing his hands into the air while bending down.

David, or Dave as he was called, looked at the stained papers on the floor and with an embarrassed expression his eyes found the light blue eyes of the tall blond man squatting on the floor.

Now I'm gonna get sued the first five minutes I'm in the building!

"I'm sorry, you just caught me by surprise there" the man said, looking more friendly now than half a minute before.

Dave hunched next to the neatly dressed man in an attempt to salvage what could be salvaged.

Alas the coke that had spilled from his can had messed up the man's papers a lot.

"Geez man, I didn't see ya, sorry" he muttered feeling embarrassed as soon as the words had left his mouth.

I should've said Sir and I shouldn't have said Geez .

As they both got up again the man looked at the wet papers and said

"Well, I'm in section B, but that's all I can make out now. I guess I'll have to get me a new one".

He smiled at Dave, turned and started to walk away.

Dave finished the last gulp of coke, put the last half chocolate donut in his mouth and noticed with a quick glance at his own schedule that he was in the same section as the blond man.

As Dave was feeling guilty about the incident he felt obliged to help the guy out.

"Hey mister, hey, hey you. Did ya say section B? Huh? I'm in section B, I can tell where we're supposed to go" he called out with his mouth full of donut and as he did he noticed several heads turning in his direction, causing him to develop a distinctive blush.

He smiled sheepishly at the turned heads and saw the blond man approaching again.

"Well, what a coincidence".

That guy would rather not be seen with me, well too bad, if he wants to get to his section he just gotta stick with me . Dave had always been a keen observer and the blond man's body language betrayed his inner feelings.

Nevertheless the blond man was trying to make conversation

"Now that we know we're in the same section we might as well introduce ourselves. I'm….."

A loud buzz rang thru' the reception hall and a voice over the speaker told everyone to go to the auditorium.

The crowd started moving and Dave joined them.

Before he was aware of it, the blond man disappeared in the crowd.

Oh well, someone else will show him the way. I can't believe that guy is gonna try out to be a cop

The speech was quite long, close to an hour.

After about fifteen minutes Dave felt like the man on the podium had swallowed a dictionary.

I sure don't have the patience. ….

Responsibility, honor, duty, loyalty….. the need for more blue on the streets…..the meaning of being a police officer: tact and insight first, weapon last. …..

Diplomacy before discussion…..".

Bits and pieces of the speech entered Dave's brain.

Now the man on the podium was giving a lecture on the law and the restrictions that came along with it.

You need to keep peoples attention Dave thought as he felt a yawn coming on.

Boy was he tired after finishing the painting in his new apartment.

That smell of paint couldn't have been good either.

Dave was beginning to feel a bit sleepy and it presented itself on his face in a rather numb and deadpan expression.

He shook his head and looked inside the brown bag. His stomach was growling something awful.

As quietly as possible he opened the wrapper and bit off a big piece of the candybar.

As soon as the speech was over, Dave was approached by the blond man from before again.

"Hi, remember me? We're both in section B and you've got the map" the man said.

Still chewing Dave replied

"Oh yeah, ok, let's see: if this is the auditorium then we must be here".

He pointed on the map.

"So now it's almost ten and we should be uhm, in 233 by then, which is uhm…."

The blond man seemed to be in a real hurry because he interrupted Dave

"You know, since you have your hands full, why don't you let me read the map, while we walk".

Dave looked up at the blond man thinking he sure was uptight and said

"Kay, let's go".

They were almost the last ones to leave the auditorium so they were also the last ones to arrive in 233.

There were only two seats next to each other left, so Dave realized he was going to be stuck to this hoity toighty guy all day. Somehow he'd hoped he could get rid of him as soon as he'd brought him to the classroom but no such luck.

The guy looked at him as if he smelled something bad and he didn't like the way the blond guy looked at his brown paper bag either.

He'd only seen the blond man sporadically this past hour but Dave thought he acted way too uptight for his age. He can't be that old if he's here to learn to be a cop!

Dave caught the man looking at him again with that odd expression on his face.

In turn Dave looked suspiciously at the blond man, who quickly looked away, still with the expression on his face as if he smelled something bad.

They got pads from the instructor and pencils so they could take notes.

After five minutes of bumping into eachother Dave grunted and suggested they'd switch places.

The morning was too long for David Michael Starsky as he heard his stomach growling, demanding yet more food. He watched the blond man next to him shaking his head and sighing like he'd been doing each time Dave had raised his hand to verify if he'd understood exactly what had just been explained by the instructor.

The instructor took it all much lighter than that uptight blond guy who acted kinda snobbish and embarrassed by it all.

At noon a loud buzz made an end to the first session before lunch.

Thank God Dave thought as he watched the blond man quickly leave the classroom.

Now, where's the cafeteria Dave mused as he studied the map to the building.

The recruits were seated on their knees beside the mats on the floor of the gym. On the mats the self-defense instructors were demonstrating yet again some new techniques which would help the rookies to control any violent suspects during an arrest. As soon as they were through showing the techniques they pointed at some rookies to try them out.

Kenneth and Dave sat next to each other. Having to sit next to each other for 3 months had actually been good. They had been almost forced to get to know each other.

Kenneth Hutchinson had found to his surprise that the kid, Dave or Starsky/Starsk as he soon began calling him, wasn't a teen anymore but getting close to celebrating his 21st birthday.

He sure looks like a kid he remembered thinking when he learned his actual age.

He found out that the kid would either be extremely talkative, to a point where you could almost not shut him up or that he would be practically mute.

He found out that Starsky's mood could also change from one extreme to another within the blink of an eye.

And when Starsky was mad, well, you'd better hope he wasn't mad at you. He'd practically explode.

But when he was in a good mood, he was the sweetest person you could have known.

Starsky had this weird sense of humor that had taken Kenneth all these 3 months to get used to, and he still wasn't sure he was on to it now. But granted: it had given them some hilarious moments together already.

Starsky's emotions could always be easily read on his youthful face. Those incredible blue eyes were really the mirror to Starsky's soul.

Kenneth had also found out that the at times childlike behavior and reactions of Starsky to things were most probably caused by the fact that he'd lost his father at a pretty young age.

He'd told Kenneth in as minimal a number of words as he could, that he'd been well on his way to becoming a little hood when his mother decided it might be best to ship her 12 year old off to her sister and her husband in Bay City, to a much quieter and nicer neighborhood than their own in New York, but way across on the other side of the United States.

It had been a sacrifice for his mother, but a good one, because David was saved and had begun to turn his life around during his teens.

He had learned more about his father and his work and by the time he was 16 he knew that's what he was gonna do in life as well: be a cop just like his deceased dad.

Now, as Starsky was being teamed up to colossal Jeremy Hendricks (a 6'5", 200 pound 22 year old rookie) to do the self defense technique, Kenneth watched him quite differently than he had that first day.
Granted, Starsky had not been to college, but he certainly wasn't stupid.

He'd had his education on the streets and had more than once already had to explain certain practices to Kenneth of which the latter had been totally unaware. One might call Starsky a bit naive from time to time. Kenneth wasn't sure yet whether that was caused by his age, or the tragedy in his young life or something else.

Kenneth watched as Starsky with his lean but muscular frame of just under 6'0" downed the gigantic Jeremy within a blink of an eye and sat on top of him with an expression on his face that made him look about 4 years old.

Kenneth giggled as he joined the rest of the rookies in applauding Dave's actions.

The kid might not be the biggest around here, but I'm sure he probably IS the strongest Kenneth thought to himself remembering he'd seen Starsky haul around equipment in his uncle's garage when they were down there 2 weeks ago which he wasn't even able to lift from the ground when he'd offered to help.

He sure was a compact powerhouse and most of the time seemed totally unaware of his strength.

He certainly is totally unaware of his physical beauty Kenneth Hutchinson, or Hutch as Starsky had soon dubbed him, was thinking to himself.

Just before all the new rookies had had their hair cut to a minimal length, sideburns removed etc. etc. Starsky's hair had been a very attractive, full head of chocolate brown natural curls which probably was one of the main reasons Starsky gave a much younger impression to those who first met him.

Just to mark the fact that this was their last night off in quite some time, some of the rookies including Starsky and Hutchinson had gone out to celebrate.

They'd quite successfully smuggled Starsky, who was the youngest, into the bar and he'd easily been the most attractive of the 14 rookies in the place, with Hutchinson being a good second.

Soon there had been 3 ladies who'd shown a definite interest in the young, dark and athletic Adonis in jeans so tight that Hutch was wondering how he would get his wallet out once it was his turn to treat.

But instead of getting in to the action that the attractive girls were promising him, Kenneth had noticed a slight blush on Starsky's bewildered face as if he had no clue as to why these ladies were hovering over him so.

The guy has no clue he's a babemagnet! Kenneth remembered thinking.

Instead he would learn in the weeks to come, Starsky always thought girls would probably not find him attractive as Kenneth would often find him staring after some cute ladies with a dreamy look on his face instead of approaching them and asking them out.

"I can't just ask them out! I don't even know them" he would tell Hutch in an embarrassed voice.

"Well, that's just the point now isn't it" Kenneth had sighed a little irritated,

"If you don't ask them out you're NEVER going to get to know them!" at which remark Starsky had gotten that now all too familiar blank look on his face which Kenneth now recognized as not being a stupid look but instead one of realization.

Yes, he sure could teach the kid something, at least in that department, Kenneth had thought to himself.

He had never had any trouble in smooth talking the opposite sex into a date.

Maybe that was one of the reasons Vanessa had turned into a jealous, nagging wife within two weeks of them being married. Oh well, by the end of this rookie training the divorce will finally be over and I'll take the kid on some charm lessons Kenneth thought as Starsky came sitting back next to him.

Kenneth patted Dave on his thigh as he looked into the beaming face of Starsky.

He sure looks like a kid to me Kenneth thought as he smiled at his new, unexpected, friend.

--------------------------------

The recruits were seated on their knees beside the mats on the floor of the gym. On the mats the self-defense instructors were demonstrating yet again some new techniques which would help the rookies to control any violent suspects during an arrest. As soon as they were through showing the techniques they pointed at some rookies to try them out.

Kenneth and Dave sat next to each other. Having to sit next to each other for 3 months had actually been good. They had been almost forced to get to know each other.

Starsky watched and listened intensely as the instructors gave the demonstration.

Still his mind wandered off just a little as he gave a quick glance to the blond man sitting on his right.

He'd finally been introduced to the guy, his name was Kenneth William Hutchinson.

He was 25 but within a week Dave had learned he was already in the middle of a divorce!

The guy had studied and had a college degree, a real brainiac which explained his sometimes superior behavior.

Still, he hadn't been out much, Dave had found out to his amusement.

When on the streets the guy could sometimes be so out of place, not even his smart brain would keep him out of trouble.

This guy had some crazy habits too.

He admitted to voluntarily drink goat's milk and eat desecrated liver, whatever the hell that might be .

He would always make faces whenever Dave would join him in the cafeteria with a tray filled with hamburgers, fries, ketchup, mustard, relish, candybars and cans of coke.

Sometimes the guy had water for lunch, for LUNCH.

How could a big guy like that just have water for lunch and not keel over from hunger Dave had thought.

When he had told Dave that from time to time he'd even fast to cleanse his body, Dave had just stared at him not getting that at all.

Who would voluntarily NOT eat? The thought of that alone had made his stomach growl for more.

Still, it probably worked for him. Dave had noticed that Hutch was quite a ladies man. He could smooth talk just about anybody.

Uncle Al could sure use his silver tongue in his garage, he could make a lot of lemons sell like they were Formula One cars. Still, what's the point in talking ladies into bed or marriage if you're getting divorced 15 months later already , Dave had thought.

Maybe things came too easily for this golden boy, so it wasn't worth as much to him as it would be to me, since I couldn't get a date if I got arrested.

That didn't mean Dave had never dated or had any girlfriends, but all the girls he'd gone steady with had pursued him, not the other way around.

He had the feeling that whenever he went after some girl, that particular girl wasn't interested in him.

This blond guy came from Minnesota, he'd told Dave, on one of the rare occasions when he talked about his background a little.

You almost had to tear the information out of him. Dave had thought,

He'd make a good spy..

He was from a well to do background, they weren't filthy rich but the guy had said he had a trust fund.

What the hell is a trust fund. David had thought at the time, not wanting to look stupid, but still not having been able to resist asking a couple of minutes later.

This Kenneth Hutchinson may have money, but his family didn't sound like the Waltons. Dave had thought.

He had been surprised to hear that from age 12 on, Ken Hutchinson had never been hugged by his father again, that his father had said he was a man now and that they should dispense with the physicalities and just shake hands from then on, whenever they'd wanted to show affection.

That's sure different from our family , Dave thought, as he thought of how his whole family, parents, children, grandparents, uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews were always hugging and touching eachother even when they were just saying hello.

The guy, or Hutch as Dave had soon begun calling him since Kenneth had sounded so uptight and Hutchinson was such a mouthful, had already had college wrestling and judo experience, but he always did things by the book.

He was easily surprised as he'd soon found out during an earlier self-defense session last month.

They'd been paired together in a free exercise.

Which one could down the other first.

Well, Hutch was trying out all these book moves and Dave had just used his explosive bodystrength and had practically launched Hutch up in the air, causing him to land flat on his back a split second later.

Hutch had looked up at Dave in sheer shock, which caused Dave to feel instantly guilty.

Geez I hope I didn't hurt the guy, I certainly didn't mean to was all that Dave could think at the time.

Hutch had later exclaimed in a voice higher than his usual one from clear amazement he didn't know what had happened back there.

Yeah well, I might not be as big as him, or as smart, or whatever, but I can hold my own Dave had thought.

Now he was back on the mat, with Jeremy Hendricks no less who was even bigger than Hutch and certainly heavier.

Dave just thought Piece of cake before using his unique combination of strength, energy, power and speed to down the giant.

Triumphantly Dave walked over to his spot next to Hutch, who was smiling and applauding him.

Dave sat back down and found Hutch's hand squeezing his thigh in a friendly gesture.

He looked up at sky blue eyes in a friendly face with a warm smile.

Instantly Dave knew: him and Hutch, they were friends.