The Boy Who Looked Like a Girl

"Who do you live with?" Ville asked, following Bam into the blue one-story house.

"My parents." Bam said, leaning his skateboard against the wall next to the door. "My brother Jess graduated two years ago. He's living in California with a friend trying to get a record deal. He plays drums."

Ville followed Bam into the kitchen, leaning against the counter and just watching the other move around the room. "Mom gets home around five and Dad gets home right after. She cuts hair and he bakes shit. Want a drink?"

"Not unless you have a beer." Ville said, laughing.

Bam grinned and grabbed his friend by the hand, leading him toward the back of the house. "I can do a little better than beer." He pushed Ville toward the bed--the only place to sit in the room--and shut the door.

"I hate to break your heart, Bam," Ville said, apologetically, "but I don't put out on the first date."

Bam rolled his eyes, pulling out the bottom drawer of his dresser. He set that to his side and pulled a vodka bottle out from underneath it, in the space that separated the bottom drawer of the dresser from the floor. "You've got a high alcohol tolerance, right? Don't want my mom asking stupid questions."

Ville rolled his eyes. "I've been drinking since I was thirteen. Give me the bottle, Margera."

Bam grinned, first opening it and taking a drink himself, then handing it to Ville who took a few gulps of the liquid before handing it back. "Isn't the drinking age in Europe eighteen?" Bam asked.

"It is in Finland, at least." Ville replied. "And most places. Poland doesn't even have a drinking age. But my cousin used to get me beer for baby-sitting his sister."

"What about the parties over there?" Bam asked. "Probably easier to get booze when your seniors can get it, right?"

"I never went to our parties." Ville said.

"You and your friends never hit up a party?" Bam asked, clearly not believing it.

"I didn't have any friends." Ville said shortly.

Bam looked at his hands awkwardly before taking another drink. He held out the bottle to Ville, but he didn't seem interested anymore. "Sorry." he mumbled, capping the bottle and putting it back in it's hiding place.

Ville shook his head, waving it off with his hand. "I went to lots of schools." he said. "I was never in one place long enough."

"How long you plan on being here?" Bam asked quietly.

Ville looked at him and shrugged, but smiled slightly when he did. "I think I've got to stay awhile at least, maintain my reputation."

Bam grinned, eyes widening when he heard the front door open.

"Hello? Bam?"

"Be right there, Mom!" Bam called back. He grabbed a tube of toothpaste off his dresser and squeezed some onto his finger, thrusting it at Ville. Both boys emerged a few minutes later, smelling 'minty fresh'.

A blonde woman was hanging up her coat in the closet when Ville and Bam got to the living room. "How was school?"

"Fine." Bam said.

April smiled when she emerged from the hall closet. "Well, hello." she said to Ville.

"Ville," Bam said, sighing, "that's my mom. Mom, this is Ville. He's new at school. And he's from Finland."

"Foreign-exchange?" April asked, slightly confused. "I thought they stopped doing that when the Spanish girl got pregnant."

"He's not foreign-exchange." Bam said. "He's doing secret Finnish spy work."

April rolled her eyes at her son and smiled warmly at Ville. "Well, I'm April Margera."

"Nice to meet you." Ville said, slightly confused at what to say. He'd never been in this situation before. Unless he was in school, most adults didn't have much to say to him.

"Are you staying for supper?" April asked.

Ville looked at Bam. "They going to mind?" the younger one asked. "The people you're staying with?"

Ville shook his head. "I doubt it. Brenda just said to be in by eleven when I moved in."

"Brenda who?" April asked.

"Taylor."

"Well, call and make sure anyway. The phone's in the kitchen. I have to talk to Bam for a minute."

Ville moved into the kitchen, picking up the phone and holding it to his ear, pretending to punch in the phone numbers. He talked to an imaginary person while April talked to her son.

* * *

"My mom says you're too thin." Bam said as he and Ville took a walk around the block so his friend could smoke.

"That's what she had to talk to you about?" Ville asked in disbelief.

"No." Bam said. "She just slipped it in at the end." He put on a fake falsetto. "'Oh my goodness, he's so thin.' So when she tries to overfeed you at dinner, be prepared."

"Over maternal?"

"She adopts anyone who comes into the house." Bam said, nodding. "Pretty annoying. Your parents like that?"

Ville shook his head. "No. I've got three sisters and a brother, so my mom doesn't really have the time to adopt anyone. And my dad's got to work a lot because of it."

"What's he do?"

"Something at a factory. He's a manager or some shit. Ma sells quilts and things on the weekends." Ville smirked. "That's what happens when the church says 'no birth control'."

"Catholic?"

"Well, they are." Ville said. "I think you've kind of figured out I'm not."

Bam grinned. "I think the people in Deleware figured that out, Ville." He handed his friend the cologne he'd snagged on their way out when his house came into view.

"You do know an overabundance of cologne is a dead giveaway that you've been smoking, right?" Ville asked.

"Yeah, but Mom'll just ignore it if she can't actually smell the smoke." Bam said. "She does for Raab and Dunn."

"Which is which?" Ville asked as they walked toward Bam's house.

"Raab's the one who's a stick. Well," Bam said, looking Ville over, "he looks fat compared to you." Ville rolled his eyes. "And Dunn's the one trying to grow facial hair and looking stupid as fuck doing it. But you'll figure that out tomorrow."

Ville froze. "What?"

Bam looked at him with a strange __expression on his face. "Well, you're going to eat lunch with me tomorrow right? And come over again?"

"But--"

"They're no worse than me." Bam promised. "You need to get over this people phobia thing, Ville."

Ville gave a weak laugh. "Yeah." he nodded. "Sure."

Bam gave a small sigh and they started walking toward the house again. Ville had a lot of obvious problems, but for some odd reason Bam was immediately drawn to him. It was so confusing. Ville didn't skateboard, didn't seem the type to jump off a roof for a laugh, hated almost everyone he saw, and was an emotional wreck.

He was nothing like Bam and his friends. Maybe that was the reason Bam talked to him that first day. Maybe it was because Ville was so different and Bam and his friends were different, just in another way.

Whatever the reason being friends with Ville Valo was going to require some work.

* * *

"Oh, but honey, you're so thin." April said, trying to put more food on the boy's plate despite Bam's protests.

"Mom, he's not one of those starving kids in India. Stop it."

"I'm fine, really." Ville assured her. "It runs in the family. But, thank you."

Sighing, April nodded. "Oh, all right. But you better not get any skinnier or you're going to disappear." she warned.

Ville smiled. "I'll make sure not to." he promised.

It was nice to be worried over. It was nice to know a stranger could care that much. It wasn't nice feeling guilty over it. It wasn't that he was anorexic, it was just that he didn't eat a lot. And smoking cigarettes and not eating were part of the reason you could practically count his ribs if you wanted to.

* * *

"Mom, he's already asleep." Bam said. "Just tell them that. I doubt they'll freak out and go ballistic. We'll go over early so he can change clothes, all right?"

"I don't understand why he's already in your bed and sleeping unless you planned this earlier." April said in a menacing manner, hands on her hips. "I don't care if you have friends over, Bam, I just want to know ahead of time if they're going to sleep over."

"We were watching a movie." Bam said. "I was sitting up, he was lying down. He just fell asleep. It's not a crime, you know. People get tired, they sleep. The world doesn't end, I promise."

"Quit being a smart aleck." April warned. "I'll call the Taylors, but make sure you go over there early tomorrow. I don't want you being late to school because of this."

"Fine." Bam said. "We won't be. Now, I'm going to go to sleep and we'll see if the world doesn't light on fire because of it."

"Bam!"

* * *

Bam climbed over Ville slowly, lying down with his back against the wall. For some reason, the situation was slightly uncomfortable.

He didn't understand it. Raab and Ryan always shared a bed with him when they slept over, since they were in grade school. Is it because I barely know him? Bam nodded inside. Yeah, it's got to be that. But he knew it wasn't.

He kind of looks like a girl. Bam thought as he yawned, unsure of why that thought was coming to him now. Give him a dress and a padded bra and guys would be hitting on him in a second. His eyes fluttered shut. Maybe that's why he got so pissed about the 'fag' thing.

* * *

Bam woke up at three in the morning to Ville whimpering in his sleep. The boy's arms where held tightly to his chest and his hair was covering his face as he made those child-like sounds.

Concerned, Bam pushed Ville's hair back. He'd never seen anyone who looked like they were going to burst into tears at any moment. Most people just started crying, but Ville looked like a river dam was just building up inside of him. Bam was half convinced, in his slightly nonawake state, that Ville was going to explode and flood the room.

Bam shook him awake gently. "Hey, Ville? Ville, wake up."

The older boy gasped audibly, sitting straight up in the bed. He looked around after he started breathing normal. "What the fuck?"

"You fell asleep." Bam said. "So we just decided you should stay over. You were having a really bad dream."

Ville nodded. "Yeah." He looked at Bam and nodded. "Thanks. Sorry I woke you up."

Bam shrugged. "I fall asleep in, like, three minutes anyway. Don't worry about it. You okay?"

"Yeah." Ville gave a tired smile. "I can't even remember what it was about. You could have woken me up earlier."

Bam shrugged. "No big deal."

"I should at least get out of your bed." Ville moved away, not wanting to admit that the closeness between he and the other boy was what was bothering him.

Bam rolled his eyes and pulled Ville back down. "The floor's freezing. Just calm down. I'm not going to rape you or anything. Now go back to sleep. We've got to get up early and go to your house."

Ville watched the blue eyes closed, knowing his only would to keep him from staring at Bam. He hadn't forgotten the dream. But it was easier to pretend he had.

It would be easier if he really could. Erase the dream, erase the memory.

But life didn't come with erasers.

* * *

Bam woke up at seven, due to his blaring alarm clock. The bed was empty, but there was a note on the dresser next to his clock.

Bam,

I woke up at six and went ahead and walked to the house. See you at school.

-Ville

Bam groaned, closing his eyes. What the fuck is up with that guy?

Meanwhile, Ville was catching hell for his night at Bam's.