{"id":144,"date":"2024-09-21T04:19:47","date_gmt":"2024-09-21T04:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/countdown.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2024\/calendar\/?p=144"},"modified":"2024-09-21T04:19:47","modified_gmt":"2024-09-21T04:19:47","slug":"day-6-a-trip-to-the-mall-by-lilibet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/countdown.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2024\/calendar\/?p=144","title":{"rendered":"Day 6: A Trip to the Mall by Lilibet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span style=\"color: #339966;\">Notes:<\/span> <\/strong>Originally written in my head for the Starsky\/Hutch the Original bRomance (slash ship) Twenty Minute Fic Challenge Prompt Words: box and train. Finally, actually written months later.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-88 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/countdown.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2024\/calendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/divider04.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"176\" height=\"53\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Starsky and Molly had just come out of Peaches, each carrying a shopping bag. Molly, still a little bit in her rebellion stage, had gotten <em>Iron Maiden<\/em>, the first album by the band of the same name. She had to explain to Starsky that they were a new British heavy metal band. Starsky didn&#8217;t want to admit how old that made him feel; he&#8217;d never even heard of Iron Maiden. Starsky picked up something a little more subdued that he knew both he and Hutch would enjoy, Billy Joel&#8217;s latest, <em>Glass Houses<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Since first meeting Molly a little over four years ago, Starsky and Hutch had made a point of staying in regular contact with her, or as regularly as their jobs allowed. They&#8217;d both felt a little obligated to try to provide her with a father figure. She&#8217;d always been comfortable with their relationship, often joking that she was the only girl in school with two dads, neither of which were actually her dad.<\/p>\n<p>As Molly had gotten older, their semi-regular monthly outings had changed. While they still got in a few Dodger games each season, the visits to get ice cream had now been replaced with her insisted trips to the mall, much to Hutch&#8217;s chagrin.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Dave, do we have time to go to Spencer&#8217;s before we meet Hutch for lunch?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Starsky leaned over the third-floor railing, looking down at the agreed upon meeting spot on the second level. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think so; Hutch is already waiting for us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Molly peered over, too. &#8220;Man, does he look miserable. You think he&#8217;s been sitting there this whole time? Why does he even come if he hates it so much?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Starsky glanced at Molly, then gazed back at the blond love of his life. &#8220;Give him a break, Molls. He does it for you. He knows if he didn&#8217;t come with me to see you here, he wouldn&#8217;t get to see you. That&#8217;s what you do for the people you love.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She rolled her eyes at him. &#8220;God, when did you get so mushy! You sound like Hutch.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Just then a teenaged boy carrying a giant boombox on his shoulder sat down next to Hutch on the bench. Molly and Starsky could hear the bass thumping from where they stood.<\/p>\n<p>And they could both see Hutch turn and glare at the boy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Oh, this is going to be hilarious! Hutch is gonna shit a fuckin&#8217; brick.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He wasn&#8217;t really fazed by her language, but figured he should at least mention it, before they found themselves called in to talk to her principal. &#8220;Easy on the language there, kiddo.&#8221; He&#8217;d not taken his eyes off Hutch, and he could now see the tell-tale signs of agitation\u2014the bouncing knee, the drumming fingers, and the deepening furrow between his brow.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We better save Spencer&#8217;s for after lunch and go rescue him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Molly stomped her foot a little and whined, hoping to sway Starsky her way. &#8220;Aw, come on Dave. He won&#8217;t let us go after lunch. Won&#8217;t he just get up and move?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve trained him well. He&#8217;ll stay there till his death if that&#8217;s where I told him to meet us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The words were no sooner out of his mouth that their unique connection was made; Hutch looked up and immediately met Starsky&#8217;s eyes without first looking anywhere else. Starsky grinned as Hutch rolled his eyes, with a nod to his left. This was followed by a slight chin raise. Starsky answered him with a slight head nod of his own.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Come on, short stuff. We&#8217;re meeting him up at Sbarro&#8217;s.&#8221; Starsky turned and started towards the escalator just as Hutch stood up and did the same.<\/p>\n<p>Molly stood for a moment with her mouth open, before catching up with Starsky. &#8220;You got all that from a head nod. You two are weird.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Starsky grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently before letting go. &#8220;Molly, never forget. Hutch is weird. I&#8217;m cool.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-88 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/countdown.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2024\/calendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/divider04.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"176\" height=\"53\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Notes: Originally written in my head for the Starsky\/Hutch the Original bRomance (slash ship) Twenty Minute Fic Challenge Prompt Words: box and train. Finally, actually written months later. Starsky and Molly had just come out of Peaches, each carrying a shopping bag. Molly, still a little bit in her rebellion stage, had gotten Iron Maiden, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/countdown.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2024\/calendar\/?p=144\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Day 6: A Trip to the Mall by Lilibet&#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":[4,10,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fic","category-sfw","category-slash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/countdown.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2024\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/countdown.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2024\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/countdown.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2024\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/countdown.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2024\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/countdown.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2024\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=144"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/countdown.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2024\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":233,"href":"https:\/\/countdown.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2024\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions\/233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/countdown.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2024\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/countdown.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2024\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/countdown.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2024\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}