save a horse, ride a cowboy

nice shiny new chapter for anyone still reading this, please give me reviews even if it's just one word so i know people are still interested in me posting here.


When Bam made it back to the ranch, Ville was already there waiting for him so he could make sure that the horses were settled and everything was locked up correctly. Sabbath was put back in her stable in complete silence as Ville wouldn't even look at Bam and the skater felt his anger rise more and more each second. Finally, as they were about to leave, he couldn't take it anymore and blocked the cowboys way determined to talk about the situation.

"What the fuck is your problem dude?" He asked angrily.

"Didn't we already have a conversation like this when you first arrived?"

"Yeah and I thought we'd sorted it all out but obviously you have some serious issues. You're the one who started it back there so what's wrong with you now?"

"My problem is that I'm not a queer like you." Ville barely ahd time to think about what he'd said before Bam's fist came slamming into his face, his nose cracking painfully under the pressure.

"You weren't saying that when you were shoving your tongue down my throat and ripping my clothes off. You can pretend that you're straight all you like but I know you're a fag deep down."

This time it was Ville's fist that flew, landing sharply against Bam's jaw. There was a long second where both men froze, just staring each other down, before all hell broke loose. Their fists were a blur as they crashed to the floor punching at any part of the other they could reach, rolling across the dirty stable floor as they attempted to overpower each other.

The fighting came to an abrupt halt as Ville flipped them over so he had Bam pinned to the floor flushed and panting, bleeding slightly from a split lip.It was impossible to tell who moved first but seconds later their lips crashed together in a violent kiss that was all teeth and tongue, grasping at each other desperately, like drownign men clinging to a wreckage.

The feeling of Ville thrusting against him brought Bam back to reality though and he quickly pushed Ville off him and onto the floor before getting up and moving away from him.

"Why'd you do that?" Ville asked breathlessly, looking up at him from his place on the floor.

"Why do you think?" Bam yelled angrily. "You think you can just use me whenever you feel like testing your sexuality and I'll just go along with it but it's not gonna happen again, I'm not gonna let you try and convince yourself that there's nothing between us again so this stops now."

He stormed out of the stables and back into the house, Ville following closely behind. As they walked into the kitchen, Ville tried to put his point of view across but Bam refused to let him speak, instead he let his anger guide him.

"I'm going to bed and I'm leaving tomorrow. I don't care about winning or losing any more because even if you won't admit it, we both know that it's gotten much deeper than that."

He ran up the stairs quickly, not wanting to have to talk to Ville any more, and washed the blood from his face before packing everything back into his suitcases and falling into his bed. He tried hard to keep from being too upset but as he lay there listening to Ville angrily banging things around downstairs late into the night, he couldn't help the sadness and disappointment rushing back to him and he finall fell asleep with tears in his eyes.

*******************

Bam's eyes snapped open as a loud noise woke him from his sleep, and looking blearily at the clock he saw the numbers were glowing 1:35. Listening carefully, he waited for the noise to happen again to see if he could work out what could be causing such a racket so early in the morning.

Another crash, closer by, followed by a strange shuffling noise had the hair on the back of Bam's neck stand on end as he realised the noises were actually coming from inside the room with him. Disturbing thoughts of burglars, rapists and even worse, ghosts, filled his mind as his bed dipped with the weight of a person he couldn't see in the dark. He kept painfully still as the figure leaned closer but couldn't hold back a squeak of suprised fear as a hand touched his face.

"Bam, you awake?" Ville's voice hissed through the darkness.

Bam let out a huge sigh of relief. "Ville? You scared the hell out of me, what do you want?"

"I want....." Ville paused, obviously thinking about the question intently, before replying. "To have sex with you."

"WHAT?" Bam leant forward in an effort to see Ville's face in the dark but immediately recoiled from the stench of alcohol.

"You're wasted." He stated incredulously. "I can't believe you went and got this drunk, you reek of booze."

"Baaaaaaaam, you're not listening to me." Ville whined, leaning over to switch on the lamp.

"For fucks sake Ville, you're drunk, you don't know what you want."

"Yes I do, I want to have sex with you." Ville insisted, crawling up the bed and over Bam's body.

"No, not happening so get off me."

"Why don't you want me? You wanted me earlier." Ville slurred, not moving from his place straddling the skater.

"I told you, I'm not gonna let you use me, you may not like who I am but I still deserve more than that."

"I do like you, I like you more than I should so you can't leave me tomorrow cause I want to be able to see you every morning like I did in my dream and I wanna be able to hear those sexy noises you make when you cum. I wanna be the only one to make you make those noises."

Stunned at the drunken confession, Bam stopped his efforts to remove the cowboy shaped limpet from his body as he thought over what had just been said. By the time he was finally able to think of something to say though, it was too late. Ville had passed out on top of him, his head resting comfortabley on his chest. So, instead of getting him back to his own bed like planned, Ville was tipped gently onto the matress and covered with the blankets so he wouldn't get cold. His feelings even more jumbled, Bam drifted back off into an uneasy sleep.

Ville woke the next day to an incessant pounding in his head. Remembering the reason for his drinking spree he groaned in frustration and turned over with every intention of burying his head under the pillow and staying there until the hangover subsided. He quickly found a flaw with his plan though when he noticed that he was actually in Bam's bed and said man was still asleep next to him.

Feeling braver than he had the day before, Ville took the oppertunity to really look at Bam close up without the other man questioning it. Unable to stop himself, he ran his fingers gently through Bam's soft brown hair, playing absently with one of the curls as he watched his youthful face as he dreamt.

Tracing Bam's soft lips with his finger, Ville sighed to himself as he finally started facing up to some home truths. A small shock ran through him as he realised just how much Bam was beginning to mean to him, even after just the few days he'd been there. The sunny, energetic personality that he exuded effortlessly and his big blue eyes never left his mind and even his stubborn pride and cockiness were beginning to seem more cute than an annoyance.

He glanced down at Bam's sleeping form, only to be suprised as his gaze was met by Bam's who had obviously woken up at some point while Ville was petting him. His face turned a dark shade of red at the thought.

"Uh, morning. How did you sleep?" He asked lamely, unable to think of anything else to say in the awkard situation they found themselves in.

"I slep fine until some drunken cowboy came into my room and woke me up. Do you even remember last night?"

Ville desperately wanted to say no and forget the whole thing but when he opened his mouth, only one word came out. "Yes."

"Did you mean any of it or was it all just drunken babble?"

Once again, the words escaped him before he could think of a convincing lie. "Yeah, I meant it."

Realising that Ville wasn't going to give him any more information than needed, Bam continued his questioning. "If you meant what you said last night then what was going on in the stables? You freaked out on me."

"I don't know." Ville groaned, swinging his legs round so he was sitting on the edge of the bed with his back to Bam. "What did you expect? I've lived my whole life dating women and being brought up to believe that being gay is wrong. Then you show up and admit to being openly gay and you're obnoxious and cocky and stuck up and everything that I should hate and the worst part is that I can't get you out of my head, can't stop wondering what it would be like if I just stopped fighting and gave in to you and that scares the hell out of me."

Ville finally stopped his rant and dropped his head into his hands in frustration. He felt the bed move behind him and he felt Bam's body press against his back and strong arms wrap themselves around his waist.

"Give in then, there's not reall anything to be afraid of, it's just in your mind." Bam whispered, resting his head on Ville's shoulder so that his mouth was brushing Ville's ear.

"I can't."

"Why not?" Bam's hands were stroking the flesh of his stomach soothingly and his warm breath against his ear was making it hard to concentrate but he struggled to form his answer anyway.

"Because you'll be going home in three days and I can't just let you barell into my life, turn my sexuality upsidedown and then leave agin, it's not fair."

"Are you saying that you want a relationship with me?"

"I don't know what I want to hppen with you. I just know that I don't do short term things, I get too involved, I'm only ready for long term relationships."

"I can work with that. You know, if you do let something happen between us, it doesn't have to end when I go home, it's not like I live that far away."

"Are you going to go today?" Ville asked, gesturing towards the packed suitcases by the door.

"That depends on you." Bam replied softly. "Are you going to try this thing between us or are you gonna freak out again?"

"I want to try."

"Good." Bam placed a kiss on the back of Ville's neck before giving him a gentle shove. "Now get your ass out of bed, it's 9am and nothings been done. Don't worry, I'll be right behind you."

"That's ok, I'll go, you stay here and unpack again- please."

It took Bam another two hours to actually get out of bed after Ville had left due to the fact that he was too busy thinking about the pro's and cons of exploring this new thing with Ville. On one side, he could have a relationship with a gorgeous, intelligent man and be happy, but on the other hand there was a pretty good chance that Ville would freak out again and insist he was straight.

Finally deciding on just taking it day by day and seeing what happened, Bam unpacked all of his things and wandered downstairs to see about some lunch. Rooting through the cupboards and fridge, he managed to prepare a basic lunch of tomato soup, cheese sandwiches and a thermos of coffee. Packing it into a picnic basket that he found that obviously hadn't been used in a while, Bam left the house to find Ville, adding a blanket and some chocolate cake to his basket before he went.

He found Ville in the orchard, picking up some of the fallen apples for the horses and chickens and Bam had to grin at how perfect the setting was for a picnic.

"Hey, my inner house wife took control again and I thought you might be hungry so I brought you some lunch. It's not much though."

Ville watched in silent awe as Bam spread the blanket down under the shade of a tree and started unpacking all the food.

"I'd have done something better but this is all we had in the house." Bam said apologetically.

"It looks fantastic." Ville replied honestly. "No one's ever done anything this nice for me before, I love it."

"In that case, come and sit down before the soup gets cold."

Dropping down onto the blanket next to Bam, Ville wiped his hands clean on the leg of his jeans before grabbing a sandwich and tucking in ravenously.

"How the hell do you manage to stay so skinny when you eat like that?!" Bam asked jokingly, as he watched the cowboy practically inhale the food.

"Honestly, I don't really eat often, I don't have the money and I'm so busy that I usually forget. I think I've eaten more since you've been here than I have in the last three months."

"We're going to the nearest supermarket later then, even if it means we have to drive all the way into the city to do it."

Ville thought about arguing but when he saw the stern look on Bam's face, he stopped, knowing that Bam was just worried about him.

"Ok."

They ate in companiable silence, enjoying the warm weather and the peace and quiet until the last crumbs of chocolate cake had been consumed, then both men helped move the rubbish off the blanket so they could lay down for a while.

They lay next to each other, shoulders touching as Ville listened amused as Bam pointed out the different shapes he could see in the clouds.

"See? That one there is Britney Spears, after the shaving incident obviously, there's two unicorns humping, looks kinda like one of my doors at home actually, and there's a penguin on a skateboard."

"A penguin on a skateboard?!" Ville choked out between giggles."

"Yeah, look." Taking his hand, Bam used it to point out the cloud in question. "See, that bits the penguin and....oh his skateboard has faded away now but it was there."

Ville couldn't get any words out through his laughter now, completely unable to believe that he was laying on the ground looking for cloud penguins and their missing skateboards. He turned to look at Bam only to find that Bam was already watching him intently.

"What?" He asked self conciously, his laughter drying up.

"Nothing, I just....I just love your laugh is all, it's beautiful."

Ville just looked at him, slightly stunned for a few minutes so Bam turned his attention back to the clouds. He'd just found a goldfish playing a guitar when he found Ville straddling him and a pair of soft lips pressed against his own.