🎼 David’s Song 🎸

Story synopsis: It’s 1981, almost two years since the events of Sweet Revenge. Starsky is living with his Ma in New York, having fled there the previous year after Hutch unexpectedly kissed him, causing a rift in their relationship that might never be repaired.

Spooked by the revelation that Hutch wants to be more than just platonic best friends, and devastated when the doctors tell him he can no longer be a cop, Starsky makes the decision to get away from both Hutch and Bay City for a while. Maybe for a long while.

Distraught after Starsky leaves town, Hutch quits the force. He desperately wants to go to New York to see Starsky, to apologize and try to salvage whatever is left of their friendship, but he knows he won’t be welcome. There are many nights when he cries himself to sleep. But as his bills start piling up, Hutch soon realizes that he needs to find a new career and calls on their old friend, country singer Sue Ann Grainger, who hires him to be a backup singer and session musician on a new album she’s recording.

Starsky is feeling more alone and depressed by the day as he tries unsuccessfully to move on without his best friend, while Hutch pours out his feelings each night to his plants as he plays his guitar alone in his apartment.

And then one day Starsky turns on the radio and hears a new song by Sue Ann Grainger. He’d heard about Hutch’s new career and recognizes Hutch’s distinctive guitar-playing, but when the song ends and the DJ mentions its name, Starsky grabs his jacket and immediately heads out the door.

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 Every little look
 Every little smile
 I know that you’re mine
  
 Every little touch
 Everything you do
 I’m nothing without you
  
 Baby oh those lonely nights
 When you’re far away from me
 You’re my compass, you’re my guiding light
 You’re my beacon in an endless sea
  
 My destination is always in sight
 No matter how far you are from me
 Every wrong becomes a right
 When I’ve crossed the boundless sea
  
 And I pour out my heart to you
 I pour out my soul
 My cup overflows with you
 ‘Cause you’re all that I know
  
 And I reach out my mind to you
 I reach out my soul
 And I hold out my hand to you
 When one day we’ll be whole
  
 And the endless miles that we’re apart
 The rivers, they all flow
 Towards the same, unwavering, determined goal
 To meet at the end of the road
  
 To see your smiling face
 When one day I come home
 I’ll be in my rightful place
 At the end of the road
  
 And baby, all those lonely nights
 When I’ve traveled so far away
 I know that I’ll be home again
 Home again some day
  
 I count the days when I can be with you
 My compass and my light
 Because every little time you smile
 Everything wrong becomes right
  
 Every little look
 Every little smile
 I know that you’re mine
  
 Every time you walk
 A meter or a mile
 I see myself in your smile
  
 And every time you talk
 And every time you cry
 The distance I would walk
 To reach you, I would die
  
 And every little touch
 Everything you do
 I’m nothing without you
  
 The way you look at me
 Baby can’t you see
 Without you, there’s no me
  
 There are days when I’m adrift, I’m lost
 I’m reachin’ for the shore
 I’m tryin’ to get back to you
 But I’ve only got one oar
  
 The miles are endless
 The distance I have rowed
 But you, you are my end
 My end of the road
  
 Every little look
 Every little smile
 And I know that you’re mine
  
 Every little touch
 Everything you do
 Everything old becomes new
  

He heads to the nearest record store, walking as fast as he can, and asks for a copy of the song. The sales clerk points to the Top 40 rack and Starsky scrambles to find the 45″. When he has it in his hands, he quickly reads the credits as tears start to form in his eyes. He stares at the words, trying to blink away the tears:

“David’s Song”
by Sue Ann Grainger
Music and Lyrics by Ken Hutchinson

It’s his song. Hutch wrote it for him. And he realizes now what he needs to do, what he’s wanted to do all along but had refused to accept the truth about how he felt. Until now.

He quickly runs back to his Ma’s apartment, grateful to find she’s gone out to the store, and picks up the phone. His heart thudding in his chest, he closes his eyes as he hears one ring after another go unanswered. Please Hutch, pick up the phone, pick up the phone, pick up the damn–

“Hello!” the voice on the other end sounds exasperated and out of breath.

“Hutch?”

“Starsk? You okay?”

“Yeah. Listen, I need to tell you something.”

###

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got so far. I wrote the song lyrics first, and wasn’t sure what to do with them, so I came up with this synopsis. I’m not sure if I’ll ever actually write the story, because breakup fics stress me out and make me really sad, even when they have a happy ending. But who knows, we’ll see what happens.

In the meantime, keep on slashing, my fellow slashers!