PARENTHOOD // PERCICO

chapter one - getting adjusted

That was probably the 100th diaper Nico had gone through in the span of two weeks, however it could be worse. Zoella could have not had the super supportive grandparents, Paul and Sally, who dropped off almost everything they could ever need. Yes, they had had diapers, clothes, and bottles, but they had severely underestimated how many they actually needed.

"There you go," Nico smiled, however it was weak, and his voice was groggy. He probably hadn't gotten more than two hours of sleep here and there for the entirety of Zoella being home. Nico picked Zoella up off the changing table and held her close to his chest as he shuffled his way to the bed, making sure not to step on anything and die. Okay, that was a /little/ bit of an exaggeration, but even so. Better safe than sorry.

He leaned against his pillows so he was sitting up, still holding Zoella. She was still crying, which meant the diaper change clearly wasn't enough.

"Sorry it took so long," Percy said as he walked into their room, a bottle in his hand. "I dropped the first one," He walked over to the bed and carefully sat down next to Nico, handing him the bottle.

Nico couldn't help but laugh. "Good job,"

"Thanks," Percy said, a sleepy smile forming on his face. "I knew you'd be proud of me,"

Nico chuckled as he tried to get Zoella to take the bottle. She was actually really good at taking a bottle. Nico assumed it was the special formula she drank. It was similar to the stuff she had at the hospital, with a few minor adjustments. Annabeth said as she got older, they would need to find a way to keep her healthy, because this recipe they were using wouldn't last forever. It had to change almost every other week according to Annabeth. And lucky for them, Annabeth was determined to get everything worked out.

And, like usual, she took to the bottle relatively quickly, and the crying turned into sucking sounds. They stayed like that for a while, basking in the comfortable silence. Nico blamed the lack of talking on their pure exhaustion.

Zoella was halfway done with the bottle when she started drinking slower, indicating that she would be done soon. Nico wasn't exactly looking forward too. Another thing Zoella didn't do (on top of the no sleeping) was that she wasn't a fan of pacifiers, so when she was done eating, there was a fifty-fifty chance that she would either cry, or nap (unless gods forbid one of them set her down).

It was a few more minutes before she was done, some of the formula dripping onto her chin once she had spit it out. Nico grabbed the soft rag that he had next to his bed to wipe his daughters face. "There ya go," Nico braced himself for the tears and screaming, but luckily, she didn't. She just looked up at him and then slowly began closing her eyes.

Nico took a deep, relieved breath. "I don't know what I would have done if she started crying, I might have joined her at this point,"

Percy let out a small chuckle. "You need sleep,"

Nico rolled his eyes. "Yeah? Well so do you," He knew they both did. They hadn't gotten more than a few hours of consecutive sleep in the last... forever. At least it felt like forever. Though, if anyone put Zoella down, she would start crying right away. Not even if you were standing right next to her. Did all babies do that?

Nico recalled all the information he'd gained through his baby books, and despite knowing how bad it was to sleep with a baby in your bed, he still ended up falling asleep, along with Percy, both carefully protecting their daughter from falling off the bed.

...

Percy woke up to hear Zoella crying. He carefully took the girl in his arms. He looked over at Nico and noticed how peacefully he was sleeping. When Zoella didn't stop crying he tiredly got up, Nico was recovering from the delivery, and he needed sleep, and if he woke up, Percy knew the son of Hades wouldn't go back to sleep, so Percy was going to take care of the crying baby elsewhere.

"Come on, sweet girl, it's okay," He said, rocking her in his arms. Once he got in the living room, he sat down on the floor, laying Zoella down. His first idea as to why she was crying was that she needed her diaper changed.

He wasn't wrong- but not completely right either. After her diaper was changed, she was still crying. Percy sighed, but was still smiling. He was too tired to care that he was tired. He had managed to get past the point of exhaustion, so now he felt pretty happy.

He went to make her another bottle, carrying the girl carefully in his arms. "You don't wanna wake your Dad up, do you?" He said, bouncing her in his arms. "Nah, of course not, you're too sweet," He laughed.

Once the bottle was made, he fed her, while turning on the dryer, letting the wrinkles get out of the clothes. By the time Zoella drank her bottle, it'd be done, and considering how low they were running on clothes- Percy thought it would be a good idea to start doing that. Multitasking was pretty much the only way to actually get stuff done in this house now.

Percy did just as he said he was going to. He fed Zoella, and after the bottle was empty, she went back to sleep. He got off the couch and placed the bottle in the kitchen, all while keeping her closely in his arms, knowing if he sat her down for longer than a second, she'd most likely begin to cry... like usual. He went into the laundry room and grabbed the clothes- which were pretty much all Zoella's. Nico and Percy had probably only gone through like- two outfits each in this time, just because they had no time to actually change, Zoella on the other hand, liked to ruin almost every pair of clothes she had every thirty minutes.

He sat back down in the living room with the basket of clothes. This time, he was sitting on the floor as he began to fold them. He was done with the laundry when he heard footsteps behind him. "Why didn't you wake me?" came a very familiar voice.

"Because," Percy said, turning his head back. "I'm not the one who needs to rest after having my body go through something crazy, like I don't know, give birth,"

"It's been two weeks now. I'm fine,"

"Yeah, but you haven't been resting," He said, he stood up and walked over to Nico. "And I know you're extremely strong and all that, but this is different, your body needs time to recover."

Nico just stared at Percy. He eventually registered what he said and smiled. "Yeah, but I'm gonna go make coffee,"

Percy rolled his eyes fondly as he watched Nico go into the kitchen. "Fine, but go lay down, I'll tell you when it's done,"

Nico looked at him skeptically, but his body really wanted to take up the offer, so eventually the son of Hades did so, going back into their room and laying down.

Percy actually had no intention of going to tell Nico when the coffee was done- did he feel bad for lying? Yeah, a little. But he knew he needed sleep, and he also knew Nico would never admit he needed sleep. So, if that meant he had to tell a little lie, then he would.

He went back to the couch and looked down at Zoella's sleeping face and despite the exhaustion and fear of what was to come, looking at her little face made Percy feel so at peace.

/i know it's a short chapter, but i just need to get past this point, so then I can actually write some plot- this was more of a filler... i'm sorry, but the next one's actually good, how do i know? Well i've already started writing that one lmao that's how much i hate this chapter. I skipped it. And went to the good stuff.