Page 23 of Dear Daddy, Please Want Me

He focused pointedly on his screen. He pulled another report and barely even saw it. Time ticked by.

Levi interrupted the silence. “Hey, can I play some Hanukkah music?”

Saul squinted his eyes. “Hanukkah’s over.” And, God, Hanukkah music? The only song he could think of was Maoz Tzur, or Rock of Ages, which sounded like a dirge and had horrible lyrics about bloodthirsty killings and racial superiority once you read it in English. Maybe Adam Sandler’s spoof? Oh, and the kiddy songs like Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel. He vaguely remembered one about latkes that had hand motions.

He wasn’t listening to any music that had hand motions.

“I know.” Levi rolled his eyes. “But they’re so much fun!”

He was so going to regret this. “Sure.”

Levi had clearly already pulled something up, because he tapped his mouse pad and music burst into the room. It was… not bad. Kind of fun, actually. A kicking beat, smooth voices and… “Hang on, is this Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake it Off’?”

“Yep!” Levi did a little dance move and sang along. “I’m feeling pretty great! Bum dum dee dum. Got latkes on my plate! Bum dum dee dum.”

Saul felt a smile forming on his lips. He was never going to get anything done, but did it matter? It wasn’t like he’d caught the bug in the past nine hours, and he was unlikely to find it now.

Being around Levi was both calming and energizing, and his joy was infectious. This wasn’t some practiced seduction, but instead a more innocent revelation of Levi’s personality.

He really liked Levi. And his goofy innocence somehow added to that thrill of desire.

The next song was a parody of Bohemian Rhapsody, with ridiculous lyrics. The “I’m just a poor boy, nobody loves me” bit had been replaced with “Kindle the lights, remember the Maccabees. How did those five boys lead us to victoryyyyyyy-eeeeee—eeeeee?” Levi closed his eyes and sang his heart out.

The cuteness was overwhelming.

Then they moved on to a compilation of Star Wars melodies with, yes, the words of “Rock of Ages” thrown in. And some random Hanukkah words. There was some sort of singing war between latkes, the potato pancakes, and sufganiyot, the fried jelly donuts. It was silly and irreverent, and yes, extremely singable.

Levi was laughing at something on the screen and he tilted it toward Saul. The singers were dressed in full-on Star Wars costumes, acting out movie scenes while they sang about latkes.

“Where do you even find this stuff?”

“Oh, the Maccabeats and Six13 have dozens of songs. There’s a bunch of YouTube channels that have hours of this.”

Huh. The Maccabeats name was obviously from Maccabees, the Jewish rebels who starred in the Hanukkah story. Saul had to dredge up his Torah school memories to figure out the other name. That was it. There were supposed to be 613 mitzvot, the bizarre collection of good deeds and practices to avoid.

It was a wonder that Levi’s chair was still holding him in. He shimmied and danced and snapped through the playlist. His timing and pitch was sometimes a little off, but his sheer enthusiasm easily made up for it.

The next was a parody of “Dynamite.” The chorus was undeniably catchy. “I flip my latkes in the air sometimes, singing aaaay-oh, spin the dreidel. Just wanna celebrate for all eight nights, singing aaaay-oh, light the candles.”

Saul almost wanted to join in, but his voice had just started cracking. The rest of the time it was too high. He didn’t think that Levi would mind but, well, it wasn’t how he wanted to present himself.

Were Daddies supposed to be serious? Or did they goof off with their boys? Saul was serious by nature, and in the past his kink-based relationships had only made him more so. Being around Levi was like an invitation to goof off.

Or maybe not quite that. An invitation to enjoy Levi’s goofy enthusiasm, to give it a chance to expand and take root.

No, that wasn’t what he was supposed to be thinking about.

By the time they got to a Hamilton parody, Saul could see that this wasn’t going to end. “Can you work with that on?” he asked gently.

Levi looked up like he’d just been caught being naughty. Maybe on purpose. “I was taking a break?” he asked with false innocence.

Saul could feel himself getting sucked into this Daddy thing. It was apparently about a lot more than just kink. Or maybe it was just Levi’s magic. “Was it a nice break?”

“Mmmm-hmmmm. I’m much more ready to focus now,” he said innocently. Saul could easily envision him trying to wheedle his way out of a punishment.

Definitely a handful, that one.

Levi lowered the volume, but he continued to hum along and bop his head in time to the music.