These are the prompt words I was given (I've underlined the ones that got used):

Lee Benoit - woodpile, kindling, hearth

Meg Leigh - watermelon, mango, thunder, heat

Reno Macleod - howl, brother, stars

Zathyn Priest - cincher, stallion, photocopier

Cindy Rosenthal - snow

Emily - ice, windy, bitter cold

Chris Eagles - jingle bells, red-nose, fruit cake, colored balls

Miza Izanaki - squirrel, pudding, toaster

Morgan Lowri - sir, chocolate, grin, spider

Jaye Valentine - batteries not included

"I'm not calling in sick to play hooky again!"  Ben was adamant.

Jerry's grin was mischievous.  Ben was learning to get nervous when that grin appeared.  "I'm not saying right now.  We can plan it for Saturday."

"But a picnic?  In December?  I don't know…it's pretty darned bitter cold out there.  Not to mention windy as hell.  All we'll need is snow and ice to make it the craziest picnic on record."

Jerry laughed and looked at him like he was the one that was nuts.  "Not outside.  We'll spread out a blanket in front of the fireplace.  I'll scrounge through what's left of the woodpile for logs and kindling.  The heat from a roaring fire will be just the thing to make us forget the howl of the wind outside."

That sounded pretty good, actually.  Ben could get behind a cozy little hearth side carpet picnic.  "I wonder if I can find a watermelon in December?  Or mango.  I love mango."  Especially since learning it was an aphrodisiac.

"Yeah, and pudding.  I love chocolate pudding."

"Well yeah, I can make pudding, but that's not picnic food.  Heck, we might as well break out Aunt Gertrude's fruitcake if we're not going to stick to the theme."  He'd much rather squirrel that heavy monstrosity away somewhere in case they both lost their jobs, and were starving.  Really starving, 'cause damn.

"Oh, okay.  Hey, let's do it after dark so it can be like we're camping next to a campfire.  The Christmas tree lights reflecting off the colored balls will be like we're looking up at the stars."

Well maybe for someone with Jerry's imagination, but Ben could go with that.  Night would be better for getting frisky in front of the fireplace, and he could certainly get behind that.  "Fine."

"One more thing…"

Oh brother.  "What?"

"Wear that waist cincher I got you for your birthday?  You haven't worn it for me yet."

Ben's mouth opened but nothing came out.  Well, okay, he could do that.  He'd had way more fun than he'd ever expected to have the last time Jerry'd gotten a wild hair in his ass and Ben had ended up with a purple dildo in his.  He nodded.

Jerry's grin widened.  "Good.  I'll have you open that present with the gold jingle bells on it, too.  Hey, make sure we have some double A's."

"Double A's?"

"Yeah, batteries.  The box you'll be unwrapping said 'batteries not included'.  We'll definitely want to have some on hand."

Ben took a deep, steadying breath.  Jerry hadn't steered him wrong yet.  He blushed to admit it, but he liked it when Jerry turned all dom on him like that.  Jerry turned into such a…for lack of a less cheesy word…stallion.  "Okay.  I'll make sure we have some."

"Oh, and the toaster.  We'll need to bring the toaster out here, too."

Jesus.  "Do I want to ask?"

"Probably not."

"You going to make me call you 'Sir' again?"

"That a problem?"

No.  It sure wasn't.