12 Days of Kissmas (Eric Singer x Tommy Thayer)

On the Ninth Day of Christmas

I flopped onto my couch, taking a bite of one of the cookies from yesterday and dialing Tommy's number. "Hey shrimp, what's up?" he asked. "Hey! Look I know you're not gonna be here for Christmas but you wanna come help me pick out a Christmas tree? You're a whole damn lot taller than I am so it'll be easier for you to carry it and stuff." "Oh, so I'm nothing more than manual labor, huh?" he teased. "Yep pretty much! But really, do you want to come with?" "Only if I can help you decorate it after," he said.

My heart swelled and a huge smile split my face. "Sure! If you want to you're welcome to help!" "Well hell yeah I want to! We can take my car, it's bigger. I'll pick you up in an hour, does that work?" "That totally works! I'll see you then, bye Tom!" I said, hanging up, falling back onto the pillows with a dreamy sigh. "Aw, Tommy," I murmured, closing my eyes. "You're such a sweetheart." I pulled on a warm jacket, tying back my hair with a purple headband and waiting impatiently for Tommy to show up.

This time, he actually rang the doorbell, and I pulled it open excitedly, giving Tommy a smile. "Alright manual labor, let's go!" I said cheerfully, grabbing his hand and dragging him to his car. He followed after me with a laugh, shoving me into the passenger seat. "Oh shut up, you're lucky I love you enough to help you with this. Part of me wants to see your little 5'6 frame struggling with a foot Christmas tree." I stuck my tongue out at him, crossing my arms. "There's no reason to be so rude," I grumbled.

"You know I'm just teasing. I like the headband!" My heart leapt and I smiled. "Thanks! You said you liked the purple ones so I wanted to wear one," I said sheepishly. "Aww you wore it just for me, that's so sweet!" he said with a wink, meaning I had absolutely no idea if he was joking or not. We kept chatting as we drove to the Christmas tree farm, with me trying desperately to figure out if he liked me or not and him not helping me figure that out at all. Eventually we pulled into the parking lot, heading to the fenced lot of trees.

"Okay so what kind of tree are you looking for?" he asked, and I shrugged. "I dunno. A green one." He rolled his eyes, ruffling my hair. "Dumbass. Seriously though, like how tall is your ceiling?" "Hm, that's a good question. I wish I had an answer for you. Taller than me though!" "Well that's a given. Hm, we'll get like a six foot tree, that's guaranteed to fit seeing as how I can walk into your house and unlike you I'm over six foot." "And unlike you I'm over six foot," I mocked under my breath, before walking over to a tree. "How about this one?" "Hey man, it's for your house! You tell me." "Mm nah not that one, actually. Let me look at a different one," I said, walking to a different tree, with Tommy trailing after me.

I wandered through the Christmas tree lot for about two hours, with Tommy grumbling for me to just hurry up and pick a tree. "Shh! Don't rush me! This is an important choice!" I snapped. He let out a groan, running a hand through his hair. "But I'm so cold! And bored!" "Oh shut up and stop complaining. Fine, I'll get this one! Come on, do your job and pick it up," I said." He grinned, shaking his head before grabbing the tree and carrying it to the car as I paid for it. He had just finished loading the tree into the car by the time I finished paying. "Alright shrimp, ready to go now?" he asked. "Yep! You gonna help me decorate it too?" I asked hopefully, and he gave me a fond smile. "Hell yeah I will! Gotta have someone put the star on top."

"You know what just for that I don't want your help," I said, and he rolled his eyes. "Don't even lie about that you know you love me." Every part of me wanted to just scream out that yes, I did love him, I loved him with my whole heart, I loved him so much it hurt, but I just kept my mouth shut and smiled, hating myself for being such a coward. I left Tommy to deal with bringing the tree inside and getting it set up in the stand while I walked into the garage, grabbing the box of ornaments and lights and returning to the living room. "Alright, first things first," I said, grabbing a strand of lights.

"Ah, why am I not surprised you don't bother to put them away properly?" he said with a sigh, sitting next to me on the couch and grabbing the other end of the lights. Between the two of us we were able to get them untangled and on the tree relatively quickly, which meant it was time for the ornaments. Tommy grabbed one from the box, lifting it up with a smile. "Aww is this baby Eric?!" he asked. Face burning, I shrugged. "Shut up, it's from my first Christmas," I said defensively. "That's literally so precious, I want that at the front of the tree. Definitely upper front, so everyone can see it right when they walk in," he said, hanging it up gleefully. "Whatever," I grumbled, grabbing another ornament and hanging it up on the tree.

It was fun decorating the tree with him, laughing about some of the stupider ornaments while he teased me endlessly about any that were pictures of me as a kid. "Okay okay so tell me, when did the headbands start?" he asked. I frowned, running a hand through my hair. "You know, that's a good question. I'm honestly not sure. Awhile ago though! I dunno, I've just sort of always styled my hair like that so it's nice to have the bandanas to keep my hair out of my eyes." "I really do like them on you," he said, and I smiled. "Thanks! I like them on me too."

Smiling, Tommy handed me the star. "Here you go!" he said cheerfully. I gave him a flat look. "You know I'm not tall enough to reach that," I said. "Oh, right right," he said with a smirk, before grabbing me under the arms and lifting me into the air. "Okay now!" "This is demeaning and I hate you," I muttered, stretching up to put the star on the top of the tree. "See? I knew you could do it," he said, setting me back down. In spite of my mild annoyance, I just smiled. "Well, it does look nice. I'd say we did a pretty solid job." Tommy took a step back, looking at the tree, and nodded. "It does look nice! We make a good team. Anyway, I gotta head home, I'll see you tomorrow!" he said, giving me a wave and heading for the door. "Sounds like a plan, I'll text you later!" I said, heart fluttering as I returned his wave.

Nine days down, three to go.