We chatted for a while, just hanging out together as a group. Then Shauna finished her drink and slid off her Daddy’s lap.
“Okay, we gotta go do karaoke now,” I informed Daddy, and downed the rest of my mojito.
“All right. Have fun, baby boy.” He patted my bottom after I stood up, and I giggled.
Shauna was the most outgoing of us, so she hopped onto the stage and cut the music, then explained to everyone that there was karaoke available for those who wanted to sing. I would have the list of possible songs and I’d keep track of who would come next.
I took my place at the side of the stage, sat on the edge, grabbed my clipboard and clicked my pen a couple of times. I felt important!
I took down names while Shauna started the event by singing a Paramore song. She really had a lovely voice, and people cheered at her loudly by the end. Then Jamie, looking shy as hell, got onto the stage with her and they did a rendition of Fall Out Boy’s ‘Sugar We’re Goin’ Down’, which made half the audience sing along wildly.
The event was private for the kink community, so we were in a safe space. That’s probably why soon after the duo, a couple of the shyer members sang a song too. It was nice, feeling like I fit in.
Master Allen came by to me at one point, looking curious.
“Aren’t you going to sing, cub?” he asked, peering at me.
“Oh, I totally will at the end, but it’s not karaoke. And don’t tell my Daddy!”
“A surprise?”
I grinned. “Uh-huh.”
“Good boy. He deserves all the good things.” Master Allen leaned closer. “And so do you, Bear.”
I blinked rapidly to keep the sudden tears from falling and shooed him away. He chuckled and continued his way to the bathrooms.
Eventually, the moment came. The last person—Mistress Harriet, of all people, singing some slower song I didn’t even know but apparently fell under Shauna’s very strict emo umbrella—finished their performance.
I cleared my throat and got onto the stage.
Shauna handed me the mic and gave me a thumbs up.
“This concludes our karaoke evening, but there’ll be more music to dance to soon,” I said, smiling a bit more shyly than I would’ve liked. “Before we do that, though, I wanted to sing a song. It’s not really emo, but Shauna and Jamie were gracious enough to let me sing it anyway.” I cleared my throat awkwardly. Then I took in a deep breath and said, “This one is called ‘Roses’ and it’s by a band most of you have never heard of, because like my Daddy, it’s Finnish; Poets of the Fall.”
Shauna started the track for me, and I found my Daddy in the crowd. He looked awestruck.
We’d talked about music once, and I’d asked about his favorite song. He’d said he had many, but somehow this was one of those that touched him deeper than any other. So, I’d learned it and now I was standing on the stage in front of my new community and my Daddy, and I sang it to him.
It turned into a bit of a movie moment when everyone realized Daddy was walking across the dance floor to get to the edge of the stage. They parted for him, and my breath hitched a little, luckily right after the chorus instead of middle of it or something.
I got through the gorgeous song somehow, and as the final notes faded, I thrust the mic at Shauna and leaped off the—luckily not that high—stage to land in my Daddy’s arms.
“Oh, baby boy,” he whispered into my ear as we clung to one another. “I’ll never forget this.”
“Good, because you’re gonna make it even more permanent next week by tattooing some roses on my butt.”
He snorted with surprise and pulled back to look at me. “What?”
“That secret appointment Sara made for you on Tuesday afternoon? That’d be me.” I grinned.
And then, right there in the middle of the crowd, Daddy laughed out loud in a way that seemed to surprise many of his friends in the small crowd and leaned in to kiss me deep and hard.
Shauna started the music again, and we weaved through the dancers to get back to the booth.
As soon as we got there, Daddy sat and pulled me onto his lap.
“How did you do that?” he asked, sounding a bit breathless.
