The Hours Between Four and Nine

Fanfiction
Title:	The Hours Between Four and Nine
Author(s):	April Valentine
Date(s):	1985
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Starsky & Hutch
External Links:	here
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The Hours Between Four and Nine is a slash Starsky and Hutch story by April Valentine.

It was originally published in No Pants, No Badge, No Gun and is online.

Series

• The Hours Between Four and Nine by April Valentine (1985)
• A Fine Storm by Suzan Lovett (1985)
• The Sweetest Taboo by April Valentine (1987)

Reactions and Reviews

[review of all three stories in the series]:

When Starsky was poisoned and dying, he and Hutch shared a moment of perfect sexuality, but when it was all over and Starsky survived after all, no mention of that moment was made. And Hutch was okay with that.

But then, two years later, it happened again.

Why You Should Read This:

As you will see from the Archive Notes with each story, this is a series of three stories, the first, The Hours Between Four and Nine, was written by April Valentine in 1985. In 1987, Susan Lovett asked for and received permission to continue the story in A Fine Storm, with a nice epilogue, The Sweetest Taboo, again written by Valentine. It is a great example two people working an idea together and coming up with a wonderful story, beautifully written. There are also two really first class drawings, as well.

The story takes place in the late 1970s and interweaves between numerous canon Starsky and Hutch stories. You’ll get enough from context to understand even if you are unfamiliar with the stories in question, but to make that process easier, the three main canon stories mentioned are:

1) An insane researcher poisons Starsky with an unknown compound, and tells him he as 24 hours to live.

2) There is a deadly plague hitting Los Angeles, and Hutch ends up with it, leaving Starsky alone to find the one guy who survived it (so an anti-toxin can be made–yes, I know that is nonsense, but go with it)

3) Starsky gets shot 4 times in the chest. This was, incidentally, the last episode, and whether Starsky would be able to return to duty was left in the air.

It is told from Hutch’s POV. As is often the case in stories like this, you end up wanting to grab these two idiots by their ears, shake them thoroughly, and then throw them in a room and not let them out until they talk to each other. But no one does, and so we are witness to years of Hutch’s slowly growing misery and the confusion of two men who consider themselves straight finding out that they are in love. Getting there is a long painful process.

I have to say, it is really cool to realize these lovely, very explicit stories were written 27 years ago.