David Michael Starsky tilted his head back and felt the warmth of the afternoon sun caress his face. It was a beautiful day, and he had gone to the park to try out his new 35mm camera, complete with the latest zoom lens. He loved to watch people when they didn’t know they were being watched, loved to capture the unguarded truth that shone out of their faces. Quite frankly, people fascinated him, and photography was his way of studying the human race.
He had only been at the park a short time when he saw the blonde Mr. America from the Academy. He, too, had done his homework, and had learned the man’s name was Kenneth Richard Hutchinson. Information concerning this one was very sparse on the grapevine. None of the other cadets seemed to know much about the man but the general consensus was that he was a stuck up, spoiled, rich kid who thought he was too good for the rest of civilization. So, David had used his irresistible charm to sweet talk one of the clerks in admissions. She had let him take a peek at Hutchinson’s file and there he had learned the mysterious blonde was from Duluth, Minnesota, he was married, and his family was apparently pretty well to do.
During the upcoming week, the cadets were supposed to pick out their training partners and without exception, everyone that David talked to agreed that Mr. Hutchinson was going to be very lonely indeed. On the surface, David tended to agree with them. Hutchinson apparently never tried to get to know any of his fellow cadets. He hadn’t been to any of the social functions - David had never even seen him at the local watering hole after class. He went straight to his dorm room after classes and was not seen again until he arrived bright and early for the next day’s sessions.
But the other cadets had never been captured by the intensity of those azure blue eyes. When David had entered the gym that day, he was surprised to find his gaze hypnotically drawn to the eyes of the other man. At first, David saw only the hurt and anger dwelling in that soul. As he had stood and stared, transfixed, into those eyes, he had actually felt the pain radiating off the other man in waves. He wondered briefly what could have happened in the blonde’s life to hurt him so badly and was very surprised to find out that he really cared. He really wanted to make some of that hurt go away. But that was impossible. David had stopped caring about anyone a long time ago. If you didn’t love someone, they couldn’t hurt you when they went away. It was the safest place for him to be.
Then, ever so subtly, the focus of the scrutiny had changed. David had felt as if he were an open book in front of the man, as if the stranger could read his every thought and feeling as plainly as if they had been written on his forehead. For one brief moment, he saw refuge in those eyes. A haven. A place where he could run for comfort and security. Then the throng of people had come between them, breaking the spell, and David had run panic-stricken from the room. He was convinced he would have spilled his guts to the tall stranger if he had spent one more second under the influence of that crystal blue gaze. And that was definitely not going to happen.