The Only Gift by Kaye Austen Michaels (R)

[lauramcewan.livejournal.com]

Fandom: STARSKY AND HUTCH
Pairing: Starsky/Hutch (Slash)
Length: (32k)
Author on LJ: smudley
Author Website: KAM on the Me and Thee Archive
Why this must be read:

It's a Christmas story, but not so much a holiday story as a gentle handholding through the discovery process of true love. Hutch realizing, after his car is stolen with Starsky's gifts in the trunk, as the Grinch puts it,

And he puzzled and puzzed till his puzzler was sore,
then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.
Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store;
maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more...

Starsky's face was a picture of automotive grief Hutch would not have expected to see short of the Torino's demise. "Come on, Starsky, no crocodile tears. I've caught you giving my car Houdini looks trying to figure out how to make her disappear."

Starsky didn't laugh. He frowned instead, and Hutch knew his quirky sense of humor had backfired. "I might not get off on granny cars, but I know you liked the old girl, and whenever you like something, I wanna see you hang on to it as long as possible. Damn sure don't like the thought of someone stealing it out from under you."

Hutch reached for Starsky's hands and gave them a quick squeeze. "Starsk, I'll get over the car. It's--"

"It's what?" Starsky's gaze drifted slowly from Hutch's eyes down to his own captured hands and then back up again. "What?"

"Nothing. Let's put some Merry in Christmas since Louis isn't up to the challenge."

"He's usually a great guy, but--" Starsky glanced at the open kitchen doorway and lowered his voice. "His wife left him this morning. Can you imagine that? On Christmas Eve. Poor guy showed up here without his Santa hat, wig, or beard. I tried to get him to wear my hat, but no dice. This place is full of people who don't have what they really need in life, y'know? Makes me real glad to be me. Everything I need in life is standing right here with an antique pipe about to fall out of his pocket."

The Only Gift