Not With a Bang

Fanfiction
Title:	Not With a Bang
Author(s):	jat sapphire
Date(s):
Length:
Genre:
Fandom:
External Links:	at AO3
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Not With a Bang is a Starsky & Hutch story by jat sapphire.

Author's note: "First this story haunted me, and then it embarrassed me, and now it just is something I needed to see, I guess. The parts are not in chronological order. This is not H/C."

Fan Comments

Unknown Date

A heartbreaking post Sweet Revenge story that does NOT have a happy ending. It’s as traumatic (or more) as a deathfic, so you might want to have tissues handy. It’s also one of the most beautiful and exquisitely written fanfics I’ve ever read, and it will probably haunt me forever.

2014

Oh…. This takes my heart and rips it into little, tiny pieces. I can’t bear that they could possibly end up like this. Your description of burn-out and the breakdown of their partnership is pitch perfect, and the way you write the boys is so right that the story is real to me – but it can’t be. It can’t be. I need to go read some still-in-love old guys fiction…

Oh My - I remember reading this story before. It breaks my heart.

2021

This is so well done. It broke my heart into lots of tiny pieces. I how the non-chronological order of the segments builds keeps the reader guessing and then pays off with an incredibly heart wrenching moment. And then the final scene.

This story will stay with me for quite some time.

Damn, this story hurts so much. It's so beautifully written, so poignant and heart-wrenching. It's sadder than any deathfic I've ever read. I love how the scenes aren't in chronological order. It somehow makes the story even more sad that way. And a brilliant ending, flashing back to the guys' police academy graduation, when they were so young and idealistic, convinced they were going to change the world and make a difference.

I will definitely be haunted by this story for a long time. And now I'm off to read something fluffy and happy, and hope I can sleep tonight.

[...]

I just read this story for the second time, and somehow, I cried even more than I did the first time. What makes the story even more tragic is that the partnership breaks up not in spite of the events of SR, but because of them. Starsky died when his heart stopped, but he came back to Hutch, but sadly, they seem to have lost sight of the miracle they were gifted, instead taking it for granted and throwing it away, unappreciated.

Although the story is heartbreaking, probably the most heartbreaking and haunting story I've ever read, it's a welcome change from all the post-SR fic where they become lovers and live happily-ever-after. Not that I don't like those types of stories, but this story is a refreshing change from all the domestic, fluffy post-SR fics.

And I also want to say that the quality of your writing is exquisite. Among the best I've read in fanfiction.

2022

I think I've read this story 3 or more times--and it utterly breaks my heart into shards every single time. And even though I say I'll never read it again because it hurts too much, there are times I just have to re-read it. This is the fic I use an example of some of the most beautiful writing in our fandom. I can't believe I've never commented on it.

I can't even tell someone what this story is about without crying and my throat so tight I can't talk. And it's the flashback at the end that does it to me. Because who among us hasn't had dreams dashed and idealism taken from us? The beauty of that scene with the devastation of their inability to go on together--Aggghhhhh. That is there because I don't have words to describe how much the fic affects me.

I hang on to hope though. To them both getting the help they so desperately need, of finding a new path. I hang on to that hope (even if you never intended it to be so). I need it for me though.