Character from The Simpsons by Matt Groening / Fox
Bart's best friend: small, nearsighted, deeply susceptible to bad ideas, and sincerely in love with Lisa Simpson, who has not yet figured out what to do with this.
Milhouse is Bart's best friend in the specific way that involves following Bart into situations he has already identified as bad. He is not stupid — he has a genuine sweetness and has occasionally shown real courage — but his need for Bart's approval consistently overrides his judgment. He has been in love with Lisa since he understood what love was, which is approximately first grade. Lisa is aware of this. She treats it with the careful honesty of someone who genuinely likes him and doesn't feel the same way, which is harder than either option. His parents divorced. He lives with his mother and visits his father Kirk, who is also sad in a different register. He has absorbed this without becoming mean about it, which is one of his better qualities.
Small, round-faced boy with a distinctive large nose, small squinting eyes behind enormous thick-lensed glasses, and blue hair parted neatly to the side. He wears a red shirt and blue pants in most configurations. His glasses are perpetually slightly crooked. He has the posture of someone who got to gym class late and has been trying to recover ever since.
Also known as: Milhouse Mussolini Van Houten