Let Me In | Herophine Fic

You're Distracted

HERO

My eyes open and the familiar rumbling pitter-patter of feet down the hall that always wakes me nears closer and closer until the door opens. Only this time, the door opens slowly, quietly. Unlike other times, Mila creeps over to me in bed while I stay lay down and pull the duvet back for her. As she nears, I only then realise it's still dark and much earlier than usual for her to be waking up. Way too early, my clock reads 5:30am.

"Are you okay, princess?" Mila stays silent, curling herself onto my chest. Her head resting just above where my heart beats.

"I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep, daddy," I wrap my arm around her, holding her close to me.

"It's okay, darling. Plenty of room in here with me. Close your eyes," I watch her as her eyes close slowly while I stroke her head. I gently stroke the back of her head, calming her. It's not often she wakes up in the morning this early but when she does, she always comes to me for comfort which I'm more than happy to give to her.

"Love you, daddy," I look down at her seeing her eyes are closed and from the sleepy, slow tone of her voice, I can tell she's on the edge of oblivion.

"And I love you, princess."

I haven't really gone back to sleep since Mila came in at 5:30am. I've laid here holding her, watching my little girl sleep in my arms. I look over to my phone, careful not to knock and disturb her and see it's nearly 7:35am. Usually around now is when I'd expect her to come into me. But she's already here, so I'll have to wake her which I hate doing because it really can go one of two ways. Really well or really bad. She's never liked being woken up so I have to be gentle with her. I don't want to take her to Summer Club in a bad mood, when she's in a bad mood she's really a handful. Mila's not the type of girl to be in-between emotions, she's like her mother in that way. So I have to be gentle and tentative waking her up.

I start by rubbing her back softly, shushing her still as I did a few hours ago to get her back to sleep.

"Mila... it's time to wake up, sleepyhead," I keep my voice nice and quiet, softly waking her up. She begins to stir on my chest, her eyes scrunching closed tighter as she fights me.

"Come on, sweetheart. It's time to get up so we can have breakfast," Mila's head begins to shake slowly, and she grunts what sounds like a no as she clings onto me.

"I know, I'm comfy too. But daddy's got to train today and you're going to Summer Club," usually she's excited about going but for some reason today, she doesn't want to leave the bed. As lovely as it'd be, to stay here all day we both have a full day ahead of us.

"No... daddy. Stay, go asleep," her hold tightens on me as she tiredly tries to stay on my chest. Slowly, I sit up, holding her against me, cradling her in my arms.

"I know, darling. I'd love to stay here too. But we have things to do," tiredly, her eyes open as she looks up at me, her blonde hair standing on end as it always does when she's woken up.

"Hmm... can we have pancakes for breakfast?" I smile, pulling her closer to me.

"I wouldn't say no to that. How does pancakes, Nutella and banana sound?"

"Yummy," I lift the duvet off both of us and stand, keeping hold of her as I push out of bed and out of the bedroom. Thankful that I've woken her up in a somewhat good mood.

"You have training today," I nod, telling her I do as I cradle her in my arms, wandering down the stairs. I take us into the kitchen and place her on one of the stools at the breakfast bar before putting the kettle on for both of us.