Harry starts his morning being sat on. Which, really, isn't that unusual. Still, he groans, burying his face into his pillow. He feels a little finger poking at his cheek.
"Papa!" A little voice demands. Sighing, he blinks his eyes open, squinting up at the tiny figure sat between his hips. It's Katie, no doubt about it. Emily would never give him such a rude awakening.
"Wassit?" Harry grunts, rubbing his eyes. The sun is barely high enough to shine through the windows of his bedroom, and there's a cool, Autumn shiver to the air that tells him it's pretty early.
"Daddy's coming today!" Katie squeaks, beaming down at Harry. Harry sighs again, softer this time, and grabs Katie by her hips. He lifts her up off of himself and instead lays her down next to him, wrapping her up in his arms.
"Daddy might come today," He corrects, voice still soft and raspy with sleep. Because, his ex-boyfriend, Katie's dad, is notoriously unreliable. There have been numerous times he's claimed take the girls, Katie and their other daughter Emily, out on a certain day, and then never showed up. He wishes he'd stop telling the girls directly and go through Harry instead. "But not until noon, so how about we get some more sleep?"
Katie just snuggles into Harry's chest, and he grins to himself, kissing the top of her head. "I like when Daddy comes," Katie says. "He gets us ice cream!"
"I know he does," Harry mumbles into Katie's blonde hair, keeping his grip on her tight. He squeezes his eyes shut, hoping Louis shows up that day. He can't deal with the aftermath of another no-show; the tears and heartbreak from both of the girls.
He knows in his heart Louis is a good person. He was pregnant with Emily by the time he was seventeen, and Louis was the sweetest, most supportive partner Harry could've ever imagined, even though he was just a kid as well. It only got bad when Emily was around two.
He doesn't know what happened. Maybe he was hanging out with the wrong crowd, or realised he was tied down for the rest of his life at only nineteen, but he started to drink. A lot. Which, Harry understood, and tried to help him through it. But drinking turned into partying, which turned into drugs, which turned into being an incredibly absent father.
And now, five years later, here Harry is. He's done pretty well for himself, a marketer at a publishing company, with a novel he's trying to get published, and Louis is the same as he was five years ago. Drinking, smoking, partying. He has the decency to drop in once in a while, and take the girls out for ice cream or to the zoo. But, for the most part, Harry's on his own.
He tries not to think about it too much, focusing on Katie's rhythmic breathing, her little chest rising and falling as she drifts back to sleep. He kisses the top of her head again, lighter this time, and follows her lead.
♛
"Katie Johannah, get your little bum back here and get your trousers on!"
Katie giggles and runs down the corridor, her lower half stark naked. Harry blames Louis' genes. He chases after her into Emily's room, where she's tying her trainers, a pair of underpants in his hands.
"Katie, if you don't get back here, I'm telling Daddy no ice cream," Harry warns, Emily watching the two of them with wide eyes. She doesn't interfere, though, her eyes shifting back and forth between Harry and Katie cautiously.
"Nooo!" Katie pouts.
"Then come here," Harry orders, but he's grinning, fond. Katie, defeated, stomps back over to him, and let's him get her into her little cupcake underpants. It's then the front door opens, and Katie gasps.
