12 Days of Kissmas (Eric Singer x Tommy Thayer)

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas

I skipped up the steps to Tommy's house, ringing the doorbell. I hadn't even bothered to call him in advance, but seeing as how he gave me a wide smile when he opened the door it didn't seem like he cared too much about that. "Hey shrimp! What's the plan for today?" he asked. My face all of a sudden went red and I shrugged, running a hand through my hair, shivering in the cold. "Um...um okay this is...maybe this is really dumb but do you wanna go sledding?" I mumbled.

"Sledding? Like what kids do?" he asked, and I nodded, face going redder. "Um...y-yeah. I mean I don't like have a sled but I know that like cardboard works and I have some leftover from old boxes and stuff," I said. "Hell yeah I want to! Let me grab a jacket and some boots, give me one second," he said, ducking out of sight and closing the door. I let out a relieved sigh, wrapping my arms around myself and waiting impatiently for him to return. A few minutes later he stepped outside, smiling. "Alright let's go then! We've only got so long until the sun sets, since it's winter and all that." "Right right yeah," I said, all of a sudden extremely nervous for no real reason. This was it, basically, this was day twelve, my last day to make him love me.

We walked to my car and I drove us to a nearby hill. It was completely empty and also pretty tall, meaning it would be perfect for sledding. Tommy had a wide smile on his face as he stepped out of the passenger seat, popping open the trunk and grabbing the sheets of cardboard. "Oh man I haven't done this since I was a kid!" he said, handing me one of the pieces. I shrugged, returning his smile. "Well, it just sounded like a fun thing to do and you're a fun person to hang out with, so why not invite you, you know?" He ruffled my hair. "You're a whole damn lot of fun to hang out with too, so I'm very glad you invited me. Anyway, race you to the top of the hill!" he said gleefully, sprinting through the snow.

"Hey! Not fair! Your legs are so much longer than mine!" I protested, trying to chase after him. "Come on shrimp, you're falling behind!" he said with a laugh, already halfway up the hill. "This is stupid!" I cried, struggling to run through snow that was almost halfway to my knees. "You're so much taller than me, it's way easier for you!" "Come on shrimp, we're running out of daylight! Hurry up!" he said, stopping at the top of the hill and giving me a wide smile. "I'm fucking trying man! Like I said, my legs are a lot shorter than yours!" Grinning, he walked down the hill, picking me up and throwing me over his shoulder, carrying me up to the summit. "Hey! Put me down!" I cried, jabbing him in the back. "No, we're running out of daylight! I'm gonna give you a hand!" he teased, setting me down in the snow.

Rolling my eyes, I grabbed my makeshift cardboard sled, diving down the hill. "Last one to the bottom loses!" I called over my shoulder, already halfway down the hill. "Hey! That's cheating!" he shouted after me. I let out a wild laugh, hair blowing back from my face as I slid across the snow on the flattened box, Tommy hot on my heels. We crashed into each other, tumbling through the snow before coming to a halt in a snow bank, giggling like idiots. Tommy sat up, pushing my headband back onto my forehead. "Race you to the top?" he asked. In response, I threw a handful of snow in his face, grabbing my sled and sprinting towards the hill. But of course, him and his long legs quickly outpaced me anyway, beating me to the top.

We kept on sledding for hours, having way too much fun speeding down the hill and narrowly missing the trees at the bottom. Finally, it was pretty much pitch black outside. Chuckling, Tommy held out a hand, pulling me to my feet. "Alright my friend, we've gotta get back home. It's way too dark outside to keep going, as much fun as this is." Heaving a sigh, I rose to my feet, picking up my scrap of cardboard. "It was fun. Come on, I'll race to back to the car," I said, giving him a shove and sprinting off. In response, Tommy tackled me, falling on top of me in the snow. "There's absolutely no way you're gonna beat me," he cried, springing to his feet and darting off.

"Joke's on you I've got the keys!" I shouted after him, stumbling to my feet and following him. Finally, we had both reached my car, cold but laughing. Shivering, I cranked up the heat in my car, driving back to his house. We walked up the steps to his front door and it all of a sudden clicked that he was leaving tomorrow. There was a pause as we looked at each other, both of us seeming to want to say something but neither of us actually saying it, before he smiled.

"Well, bye Eric! Merry Christmas," he said, giving me a hug. I hugged him back, burying my face in his chest. "Merry Christmas to you too!" We stood on his doorstep hugging for a minute, unwilling to let go, before he took a step back. "I guess I'll see you in three weeks," he said. I nodded, opening my mouth to tell him I loved him and explain exactly why I had been taking him on all these dates the past few days, but I just nodded. "Yep, I'll see you in three weeks! Tell your family I say hi and enjoy the holidays!" "I will! And thanks for hanging out with me for these past few days, it was really fun and I really enjoyed spending time with you. Goodnight!"

"'Night!" I said, giving him a wave as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. I walked back to my car, sitting behind the front seat and dropping my head to the steering wheel. "Eric! What the fuck was that?! You had one job!" I cried. "The whole point was to tell him you love him! And you did everything but that!"

Twelve days down, zero to go.