crack_van | Mountains of the Moon Series by Jenn Hall (Adult)

Fandom: Starsky & Hutch

Pairing:Starsky/Hutch
Length: Long Series
Author on LJ: http://greenlady2.livejournal.com
Author Website: http://my-greenlady.com

Why this must be read:
This series is embrasing perfectly the mystical with our beloved Bay City. It is again after Sweet Revence and Starsky have started having stranger dreams... but that is only the beginning......

It was 6:55 PM when Starsky knocked at Hutch's door. He'd been sitting in the Torino for half an hour, getting up his nerve to go in. Hutch answered the door, looking pale and tired.

"Hutch. Look, forget about dinner. I'm not hungry. Let me put your mind at rest. Whatever's wrong we'll fix it. Let me..."

"Starsky, please shut up for a minute, okay? I need to tell you this, it's important. I picked up some Chinese food for dinner, wasn't up to cooking anything."

Starsky paced back and forth while Hutch got the food and dished it out.

"Here. Have some fried rice."

"I don't want fried rice. I want to talk. Look, I think I know what you're gonna say."

"Really? Starsky, I haven't wanted to lie to you, or anything. I know you hate that. It's just..."

"I know, I know. Look, we'll fight this. We'll find the best doctors in the world. No matter what the cost."

"St-Starsk?" Hutch had gone even paler, if that were possible.

"Hutch, don't worry. Maybe they told you there was no cure, huh? But we'll find a cure. I'm not gonna lose you to this."

"Starsky, I don't think there's a 'cure' for this. I don't really want to be 'cured'. That's not very..."

"Don't talk nonsense, Hutch. You can't just give up. Hafta stay positive, that's the most important thing. Don't let this destroy your will to live."

"Uh. Yeah. Look, Starsk. Maybe this conversation wasn't such a good idea..."

"Just tell me what the doctors said. Is it cancer, or...?"

"Cancer? No. Oh, good grief, I thought you meant... Starsky, will you just let me explain."

"It doesn't matter what it is.   I'm with you to the end. I love you. So just tell me what the problem is."

"Yeah, well, I've been trying to. I know you love me, Starsky. That is the problem, sort of. Be quiet. Let me finish. I love you, too.   More -- more than you know. I realized that after you, well, died, okay. And all those nights I slept in your bed after you came home, to keep you company? I realized just how much I really wanted to go on sleeping there. It --- it's been so hard to sleep alone, Starsk. This last week, I just haven't been able to sleep at all, I've been wanting so much to..."

"HUTCH!"

"What?"

"For Christ's sake, Hutch!   Did you hear a word I said to you this afternoon in the car? Did you hear me, Hutch?"

"Yeah. You were babbling some nonsense about hiding bodies and robbing banks. You'd never do those things, Starsky."

"For you, I would. Not for myself. Not for anyone else, but for you I would. And now you tell me, what? That you were embarrassed to tell me you wanted to sleep with me, because I'd... You thought I'd say no? Call you names and beat you up? Ask for a new partner? What'd you think I'd do, Hutch?"

"I thought you'd say yes, because you love me, and you'd do anything for me, and I couldn't stand that. I couldn't stand the thought of you sleeping with me out of pity."

"Pity? You think it would be pity? Christ, Hutch. Who do you think you are? Who am I? I love you more than anyone on earth. You're the other half of my soul. I'd die for you. I'd kill for you. And you think that the only reason I'd make love to you was out of pity? Come here, you. Now!"

"Starsky?"

"I said to come here. There. Feel that? Now, you wanna fuck, we'll fuck. See? And I don't mean no pity fuck, neither."

Starsky pulled Hutch into his arms and breathed into his ear.   "Do you? Do you want to fuck, Hutch?"

Hutch pulled back so quickly he almost fell over. He was as white as a ghost walking on the moon, and his eyes were wild and dark. With fear? Was Hutch afraid of this? This sudden wild, fiery passion that came out of nowhere, shaking Starsky to his very roots?

"No. No, Starsky. That's not what I want. It's okay, Babe. I didn't mean for this to happen. Not ever. Look, I've got to leave. Now!"

"Leave? You can't leave. What are you doing? Hutch! This is your apartment, you idiot."

Starsky chased Hutch down the stairs, but when he got outside, there was no sign of his friend. The streets looked as pale and empty as the mooonscape of his dreams. Starsky got into the Torino and drove around for several hours looking everywhere he could think of, but without finding Hutch. Hutch had left without his coat, and it was getting cold.

Starsky drove back to Hutch's apartment, but Hutch had not returned. The whole time he had searched, he had been cursing himself. What had happened here? What had that scene been about?   Had Starsky really mistaken Hutch's needs? Did Hutch only want friendship after all? When Hutch had said that he wanted to 'sleep' with Starsky, did he just mean sleep, for God's sake?

No. Starsky was sure about the implications of that little confession. The look in Hutch's eyes had been one clue. Hutch's insomnia was another. Why get all riled up over such a simple request to share a bed, something they'd done before? Hutch's eyes had darkened with passion when Starsky had touched him. Was that it? Had the passion frightened him? Or did he still not believe in Starsky's avowal?

Starsky gave up trying to figure out the eternal mystery of Hutch's psyche. He got undressed and crawled into Hutch's bed. That would show the moron that he meant what he said. Soon, he fell asleep.

*************************************

He was walking, alone. It was already dark, and the Earth had risen. The sand was cold on his naked feet, and he shivered, helplessly. He was alone, and there was no sign of his Beloved. But, stretching into the distance was the ghostly trail of his Beloved's footprints, leading into the Mountains of the Moon. He decided to follow.

It was a long, lonely walk, in the silent night. He could look up and see the continent of Africa, hanging above him in the sky. There was no wind, no sound of birdsong. Only Africa, shining down. Africa and the stars, distant suns.

All those suns, perhaps they had planets circling them, he thought. Perhaps people lived on them. And was there anyone, on any of those planets, who loved as he did? Were any of them walking naked toward the Mountains of the Moon to find their Beloved?

It had grown darker, for the Earth had set. Only the distant light of the stars lit his Beloved's footprints in the sands of the Moon. But Starsky continued to follow them, though he had grown so cold that he could scarcely move. A faint light appeared on the horizon.   Perhaps the sun was beginning its ascent. Perhaps it was nearly day, and the long night was over. As he gazed ahead, he saw the pale stranger, finally walking towards him. Starsky began to run.

"Beloved. Where have you been? Why are you so late, I've been looking for you all night."

His Beloved stopped and waited at the top of the hill, just as the sun rose over the Mountains of the Moon. The sun bathed his golden hair, and Starsky remembered that he had never seen him in sunlight.   He was beautiful.

"Are you afraid of me? Afraid of this? Of us? Don't be afraid, Beloved. I would never hurt you." Starsky held out his arms as he had the first night, but his Beloved didn't move towards him.

"Why are you here, in this cold forbidding place? There is no air, no warmth, no birdsong. Only sand, and the Mountains of the Moon. Why would you join me here? It's dangerous."

"Because you are here, Beloved. You are my air, my warmth, and my birdsong. Without you, I have none of those things. In the day, the sun turns your hair to spun gold, and at night we can kiss in the Earthlight, under the continent of Africa. It's enough for me."

"It's cold. You're naked and shivering. Come with me and I will warm you."

His Beloved led him to a cave, and drew him down into his warm bed. Their lips touched and then their naked bodies. A fire was building in Starsky that even the coldness of the Moon could not extinguish. When his Beloved entered him, there was no pain, only joy. A joy that could not possibly exist anywhere else in the universe, not among all the billions of stars he had seen tonight. He fell asleep, finally complete. He had found his Beloved, who would never again leave him to walk alone among the Mountains of the Moon.

"Starsky?"

He awoke, and opened his eyes.   Hutch stood in the doorway of the bedroom. He looked pale and cold and bewildered.

"Why are you still here? Starsk, I'm so tired."

"Then come to bed."

"No. Please, Starsky. You don't know what you're asking."

"The Hell I don't. I'm asking the man I love to come to bed. You must be half frozen, walking all night on the Moon like that."

"The Moon, Starsk?"

"It was cold there. Especially at night, after the Earth set. But then you led me to your cave, and warmed me."

"Yes. It was warm then. You remember, Starsky? You remember making love?"

"I remember everything. Come to bed and let me show you."

*******************************************

It was morning, and Hutch was finally asleep. The dimly lit bedroom was as private as their cave among the Mountains of the Moon. The Lover had found his Beloved. The long night was over.

The Mountains of the Moon: http://my-greenlady.com/mountains_series.html