{"id":19,"date":"2023-12-10T05:07:59","date_gmt":"2023-12-10T05:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/?p=19"},"modified":"2023-12-10T05:07:59","modified_gmt":"2023-12-10T05:07:59","slug":"december-10th-revelation-by-kymrukatz-terri-beckett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/?p=19","title":{"rendered":"December 10th: Revelation by Kymrukatz (Terri Beckett)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Blue eyes met in instant unspoken communication, and turning their backs on the astonished woman, they exited together, arms slung around each other&#8217;s&#8217; shoulders. Neither was quite sober.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Back to my place?&#8221; Hutch queried.<\/p>\n<p>Starsky considered, then shrugged. He was tired. One place was as good as another. So long as it had a bed. Or at least somewhere to lie down. He was sure he&#8217;d feel better after a good night&#8217;s sleep, when the pain engendered by this debacle was behind him.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sure.&#8221; On automatic, he followed Hutch out to where the LTD was parked, slid into the passenger seat, and closed his eyes\u2026<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>It seemed only moments before they climbed the stairs at Venice Place and Starsky collapsed inelegantly onto the couch. He sprawled back against the couch cushions and let out a long breath. &#8220;Think she got the point, Blintz?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s not dumb. A two-timing Class-A bitch, but not dumb,&#8221; Hutch opined. &#8220;Said she loved us both.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Yeah. Kept us both dangling like fuckin&#8217; puppets, dancing to her tune.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hutch leaned forward, elbows on knees. Not looking at his partner, he sucked in a breath. &#8220;Did I say I&#8217;m sorry?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Only about a hundred times. Doesn&#8217;t matter.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But it does, Starsk. It does. I\u2026 betrayed you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Starsky put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently. &#8220;Hutch. Quit it with the guilt thing, okay?&#8221; His fingers slipped to the back of Hutch&#8217;s neck, petting the soft hair at his nape.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t love her. I screwed her, but I didn&#8217;t love her. I was\u2026 I don&#8217;t know, I was jealous\u2026 because you did. Love her, I mean.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Thought I did, anyway. False coin. You didn&#8217;t need to be jealous, babe. &#8216;S nothing in the world can come between us, don&#8217;t you know that? No one&#8217;s more important to me than you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hutch looked at him, then. Saw the absolute truth of that declaration in the deep blue eyes. Saw understanding, and compassion, and a love that stopped his breath.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I\u2026 don&#8217;t deserve to have a friend like you,&#8221; he whispered.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t go mushy on me, buddy,&#8221; Starsky admonished, a thread of laughter in his voice.<\/p>\n<p>Hutch huffed a chuckle. &#8220;Sorry\u2026.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d forgive you anything, babe. No more apologies. After all,&#8221; he went on, brightening with inspiration, &#8220;Love means never having to say you&#8217;re sorry. And I love you, Hutch.&#8221; He blinked, as if surprised by his own words. &#8220;Just surprised you never realized. &#8216;S okay, you don&#8217;t need to say anything\u2026&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hutch appeared to consider this. &#8220;You&#8217;re not drunk?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;On one beer? Get real.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;How long\u2026? I mean, how long have you felt this way?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think I&#8217;d always loved you,&#8221; Starsky said simply. &#8220;But I never knew I was <em>in love <\/em>with you. Then, that night when you kissed me after your bachelor party, back in &#8217;70\u2026 when you were marrying Vanessa\u2026. You were drunk, I know, but I wasn&#8217;t. When you left for the honeymoon the next day\u2026 Hutch, I went out and got completely shit-faced. I was in love with you. Buried that knowledge so deep I managed to almost convince myself I&#8217;d imagined it. Had a harem of long-legged lovelies to warm my bed. And you as partner and best friend\u2026. I had all I wanted in the world. Except it wasn&#8217;t enough. I love you, Hutch. In every way known to man.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>There were no words. Hutch closed the little distance between then, and captured his friend&#8217;s mouth with his own.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Revelation.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-404\" src=\"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Revelation-300x170.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"283\" srcset=\"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Revelation-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Revelation.jpg 755w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 85vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Revelation.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click on the image to view it larger.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Blue eyes met in instant unspoken communication, and turning their backs on the astonished woman, they exited together, arms slung around each other&#8217;s&#8217; shoulders. Neither was quite sober. &#8220;Back to my place?&#8221; Hutch queried. Starsky considered, then shrugged. He was tired. One place was as good as another. So long as it had a bed. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/?p=19\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;December 10th: Revelation by Kymrukatz (Terri Beckett)&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,15,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fic","category-sfw","category-slash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":579,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions\/579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}