Many thanks to Rebelcat for the much appreciate help she's giving me to make better this story. Thanks also to Starsky´s Strut, Clau and Cris for their endless support and friendship.

Time here for the usual disclaimer, you know; this story was written purely for entertainment and is not for profit, and is not meant to trespass in any way on the holders of the rights to Starsky and Hutch.

NOTE. This story is a prequel. A very different approach to the "How they meet" question, and in here, S&H are just 14 y.o…Odd idea, huh?

Enjoy the reading and post feedback if you feel like doing it. I'd truly appreciate it.

Chapter 1

NYC, September. 1957

The low-voiced yet bitter exchange between his parents still echoed in Kenny's ears as he hurried down the red-carpeted flies of stairs. Almost out of breath, he reached the luxurious front hall of the Hilton Plaza Hotel in New York City, getting outside.

"Your job, your business, your damn clients! That's the only thing that really matters to you, Richard! Just that! To the hell with anything else, right? To the hell with your family!" Eileen Hutchinson had hissed angrily to her husband just a few minutes ago.

"My job, my business, and my 'damn clients', as you call them, are the ones making it possible for you to be right here, now, ready to celebrate your goddamned birthday tomorrow in one of the most expensive hotels in the world, Eileen! Not to mention, their money allows you to live in a very high-priced ten-room house with cooks, maids and even a butler at your service, for Christ's sake! Have you perhaps forgotten that?" Mr Richard Hutchinson had snapped back, badly-hidden disdain in his equally low voice. The heart of their oldest son, silent spectator of their fight, broke a little more hearing every word his parents kept saying to each other.

Unable to keep listening for another minute to the argument they were having, and thinking for umpteenth time that day how lucky his youngest sister, was to be in a boarding school in Europe, the kid had picked up his jacket and stormed out of the hotel room. He had rushed downstairs, never slowing down until he had left the building.

It was not until then, once Kenny was already in the street, that he allowed himself to ease his pace. He took in a few, deep lungfuls of the fresh night air. That place, that sumptuous lair of rich and powerful people, had a suffocating effect on the 14 years old teenager. It was something that he was unable to understand on a conscious level, and even less able to explain if anyone had been concerned enough about his feelings to ask. Young Kenneth Hutchinson just knew that he didn't like that place…and that place didn't like him either. He simply felt that he didn't belong to that world of cold, pretentious and ambitious people and needless luxuries, though he had been forced to deal with it throughout his childhood. He didn't care if he had lots of the stuff that most other kids craved. He only wished for the only thing that seemed beyond his reach. A happy family and a little of true love…

xxxxxxx

Young Dave Starsky carefully closed the door of his shared bedroom where Nicky, his youngest brother slept soundly, unaware that his brother was about to spend the next few hours out of home. He would be hanging around, like he did most nights, with Ritchie and Matt Castelli; two of his friends from the humble neighbourhood in which he had been born and raised, up in South Brooklyn.

The curly-haired kid stepped into the kitchen, opened the fridge and grabbed a cold slice of homemade pizza, leftover from the dinner .He popped it into his mouth while heading for the front door, checking his hip pocket to make sure that his clasp knife was there, ready to come into action if needed. The streets where he hung out with his pals weren't the safest ones at night, and Dave wasn´t willing to take any unnecessary chances.

Silently as a cat, the kid left his place. The night air brushed his face and he tried to forget, if only for a few hours, the heavy silence, the sadness and the undying mourning his home had been buried under for the last four months. His father, Officer Michael Starsky, had been fatally shot just a few feet away, on the sidewalk across from his front door. What Dave never wanted to forget was all the love and happiness that he had enjoyed while his father was still alive, nor did he ever intend to let go of his desire for revenge. It ate at him with renewed strength every time that his eyes, almost against his own will, went to the spot in the sidewalk where the blood of his father, his role model, had been shed.

Some day soon, he'd be a grown man and not just a teenager. And that day he'd take, with his own bare hands if he had to, the lives of those who had taken Michael Starsky´s life…

xxxxxxx

Kenny had walked for a long while along the streets of upper Manhattan among lots of people, all of them too focussed on their own business to pay any attention to the blond kid who seemed to be a little lost in the immensity of that awesome and vibrant city.

Giving himself time for his anger to cool, and at the same time, savouring his freedom and solitude among the crowd, Kenny kept walking. He wondered for a moment if his parents would have missed him yet, but then decided that most likely they would be still too focussed on their argument, or on the unspoken resentment following it, to realize that their son had left the hotel almost two hours earlier. If his sudden escapade was going to cause him any trouble, he just could deal with it later.

The kid wasn´t in the least concerned about getting lost or getting himself in any trouble. Sure, that could happen, but at that moment he just didn´t care. He just knew that he needed to be in his own for a while longer, far from the arguments between his father and mother, the silent hatred hanging between them, the big, painful charade that was his family.

Kenny had spent those hours sightseeing, as just one more of the thousands of tourists who visited New York every day of the year. At one point during his stroll he stopped by a deli to have a grilled cheese sandwich and a soda and after that, he resumed walking until his legs began to ache with exhaustion.

Still unwilling to go back to the hotel, despite that a glance at his wristwatch told him that it was later than he had guessed, Kenny then climbed onto a bus. He didn't care too much about where it was heading. He only wanted to keep enjoying his unplanned time on his own for as long as possible.

For a while, he watched the city landscape through the vehicle's window, but he was tired, partly from having gotten up very early that morning but also because of the long walk through the streets. Kenny, lulled by the soft voices of the people around him, began to doze off, until a female voice and a gentle shaking of his shoulder took him out of his drowsiness.

"Son…wake up, son." An older lady said, looking at Kenny with a hint of concern in her grey eyes.

"Huh…Oh…Sorry?" He stuttered, rubbing his face and feeling still a bit sleepy.

"This is the last stop, kid. I thought that maybe you'd want to get off here." The woman said.

"Oh, yeah, sure ma´am, thanks." Kenny thanked the lady, rising from his seat and getting off of the bus. Once all the passengers had left, the bus started on its way back to the depot.

It was just then, seeing the dark place where the bus had stopped and all the people that had filled it walking away from him, each one of them heading in their own directions, that Kenny began to wonder if being there, alone at night and on a deserted-looking street of an unknown neighbour was such a wise idea…

xxxxxxx

Dave was still with his buddies, though they weren't doing anything special. They were just killing time, sitting onto a couple of battered and dirty mattresses in a derelict warehouse only lightened by the dim glow coming through the window from a street lamp, and sharing some laughs, cigarettes and beers that Ritchie and Matt had managed to sneak out from his parents' fridge. They talked all the while of trivial subjects such as girls, baseball or muscle cars, knowing, but not caring, that being in an unsafe neighbourhood at night could be dangerous.

Maybe their main reason for being there and not asleep in their beds, or doing their homework in their bedrooms, or even simply hanging out at home spending some time with their parents, was that the little group of rebel kids thought that nobody really cared about where they were…

"Hey guys…Did you heard that?" Matt said tilting his head to the left to better hear the muffled sound of steps coming from a short distance behind them.

"Let's take a look." Dave said, almost instinctively sliding a hand into the pocket of his jeans to touch his clasp knife, as all three kids got to their feet and went outside the warehouse.

Ritchie was the first one to reach the source of the noise. It turned out to be a blond and lanky boy about his own age, neatly dressed in expensive clothes, who was looking rather scared and absolutely out of place in that dark and neglected area of the city.

"What the fuck are you doing here, huh?" Ritchie asked the blond kid, stepping closer to him and folding his arms defiantly across his chest; his whole stance radiating hostility, like a feral street cat claiming his territory in front of an intruder.

"Oh…well, I-I was looking f-for a p-payphone or a cabs s-stand." Kenny explained trying hard to control his stutter. He didn't want to sound as scared as he was feeling at that moment. His only answer was a burst of noisy guffaws from two of the three kids surrounding him.

"S-so n-no l-luck, b-bu-buddy." Matt mimicked pitilessly.

Dave, the only kid that hadn't laughed stepped between Matt and Kenny. He shoved his buddy backwards with a rough slam to his chest, making the young Hutchinson flinch startled.

"Hey, hey, come on Matt! Give the guy a break, will ya?" Dave demanded firmly. He was just a hardened and quarrelsome kid, most likely a loser and as worthless as Matt and Ritchie were, but unlike them, Dave Starsky had never been able to find any enjoyment in making fun of people who looked weaker than him or who seemed to be in trouble, or who were just plain scared, like the blond boy in front of him at that moment.

"What´s wrong with you, pal? Did you get lost?" The curly-haired boy asked Kenny, shamelessly scanning him from top to toe with his eyes. The unknown blond wore a tidy haircut and a conservative outfit of tanned slacks, jacket and a maroon-beige stripped rugby shirt; all of it stating his upbringing in a traditional and most likely upper-class American family.

"G-guess so..." Kenny said shyly, while discreetly taking as well in the appearance of the dark haired boy. He seemed to be about his age, though that was the only resemblance between them. Their physical appearance was totally opposite, as different as their attire. The kid facing Kenny wore his curly hair combed into the so-called ducktail style, with a generous amount of hair grease to keep it in place, though the hair on the top front of his head was deliberately disarrayed so that a few untidy curls hung down over his forehead. Matching with his hairstyle, he, like his two friends, was dressed in cuffed jeans, white t-shirt, black leather jacket, and boots; all of which gave him a somewhat intimidating look. The boy was slightly shorter than Kenny and the other two kids as well. He was also thinner than his friends, but even so, an unambiguous air of leadership and self-confidence radiated from him, especially from the dark blue eyes that stared at Kenny's without blinking.

"So, welcome to one of the uglier spots of the Big Apple, Blondie." The curly-haired boy said nonchalantly, with a crooked smile. "By the way, these guys here are Ritchie Castelli and his brother Matt. My name's Dave; Dave Starsky."

"Ken…Kenny Hutchinson. N-nice to meet you." Kenny said politely, reaching out a hand. For a moment Dave looked puzzled, then bewilderment was quickly replaced with a sparkle of amusement.

"What the heck! A little good manners aren't going to hurt me, I guess. Nice to meet you too, Blondie!" he said brightly, vigorously shaking Kenny Hutchinson's hand while his lips curled into something that looked to the blond one like a friendly smile.

Dave's good-natured attitude towards Kenny seemed to be the cue for Ritchie and Matt to let go of their hostility. They didn´t make any move to shake the newcomer's hand, but both kids visibly lowered their guard. At least Kenny was pretty sure that none of them were going to be a threat to him.

"Okay Blondie, so you got lost, huh? How come? And where did you come from?" Dave Starsky asked as he stepped back into the warehouse with Kenny walking by his side, and the Catelli's brothers just a few steps behind.

"I´m visiting from Duluth, Minnesota."

"You´re from Minnesota?" Dave whistled, scratching his head. "Geez! I´m not too sure where Minnesota is, but that seems like one hell of a long walk…I think."

"Oh, no…It's not like that." Kenny hastened to clarify. "I mean, I am from Minnesota, but right now I'm in New York, spending a few days in a hotel with my parents. We came here this morning." He said, trying to get around the point that he was staying in one of the most expensive hotels in the whole city. "A while ago I got on a bus in Manhattan and it looks like I fell asleep during the ride, and when I realized it, I…well, I was here." The blond boy explained, embarrassed.

"And let me guess." Ritchie said matter-of-factly. "Then you found out that there's not going to be any more buses until tomorrow morning, right?"

"Well, yes…that´s right." Kenny answered feeling stupider than he ever had before in his entire life.

"Don't sweat, Blondie. Good ol' Davy will take you to the nearest payphone or to a cab stand if you prefer." Dave assured him.

"Oh come on, pal!" Ritchie complained. "What are you? A fucking boy scout?...How about just telling him the way? I guess Blondie here can't be that thick, after all."

Hearing Ritchie's offensive comment, for a moment Kenny was tempted to just walk away. However, his common sense, plus the fact that he was totally lost, made him stay and wait.

"Forget it Ritchie." Dave said, waving a hand at his friend. "I'm taking him there and that´s all. Maybe you don't care, but I don't wanna be responsible for this guy getting himself into any mess bigger than he can handle while trying to get back to his hotel."

"Okay, okay, do it your way, Davey." Ritchie gave up. "But I´m leaving. Babysitting golden boy here's not my idea of fun. See you, pal…You coming Matt?" Ritchie asked his brother. Together they strode out of the warehouse and disappeared from view.

"Morons." Dave mumbled under his breath

"Listen Dave, you´re very nice, but I guess that if you can tell me how to get there, I ..." Kenny tried to say.

"Cut the crap, Blondie." Dave cut off briskly. "I bet you'd get lost again before turning the nearest corner. I´m taking you there. End of the discussion."

"Okay…Thanks" Kenny said unable to argue with Dave, who seemed to be a truly stubborn person.

"Wanna beer, Blondie?" Dave asked then, picking up a bottle of beer from the filthy ground and tossing it to Kenny, who failed sadly in his attempt to catch it in mid air, feeling even sillier than he had felt just a short while earlier.

"I don't drink alcohol, thanks." He answered seriously, after casting a brief glance at the bottle smashed into pieces at his feet. He was trying to preserve the last remains of his quite damaged dignity.

"Yeah, okay. I got it." Dave said rolling his eyes and stifling a chortle. "You don't smoke, either, I guess?" He asked, taking a mangled cigarette from his jacket pocket and offering it to Kenny.

"No…of course not. That's a stupid vice. Besides I'm just fourteen." He explained as if that one had to be a convincing answer for the streetwise boy in front of him.

"So what? I'm fourteen too, and I don't know what it has to do with having some fun." Dave stated, sticking the offered cigarette between his own lips and lightening it.

"Tell me something, Blondie. Have you ever been laid?" Dave then asked bluntly, accompanying his question with an obscene motion of his hands, as the blond one felt all the blood in his body climbing to his cheeks and neck. "You know, I´m talking about having a little fun with a girl…Or maybe that´s a stupid vice, too?" The curly-haired boy mocked, mischievously enjoying the other's clear embarrassment.

"I don't think that it's any of your business, actually." Kenny answered curtly, turning on his heels and striding resolutely out of the warehouse. Enough was enough. Okay; he was lost in a part of New York that to him looked like another planet, but he wasn´t a little child, and eventually he'd be able to find a cab or a public phone on his own, without the help of that coarse and ill-mannered kid.

"Hey, pal, where are you going?" Dave asked hurrying to reach the blond one.

"Back to my hotel, if you don't mind. It's getting late." Kenny answered in cold voice.

"You got mad at me; is that, right? You got mad at me because of my question." Dave said with faked naivety, facing the blond one and blocking his way with his own body. Despite the innocence in his voice, the cheeky kid didn't looked sorry or ashamed in the least. He was just having some fun testing the newcomer, though Kenny was unable to see it.

"Listen Dave. I'm real grateful for your offer to help me find a way out of this place. I mean it. But I still think I'm perfectly able to…" Kenny's tirade was abruptly cut off when a huge, stocky hand firmly grasped his shoulder. The kid squealed in terror as he spun on his heels to face the owner of such a massive hand…TBC