Solangelo Oneshots

Jellyfish Have PTSD

Will rolled over, head resting on his pillow and his hand entwined with Nico’s and resting on his husband’s chest.

“Nico?” he asked sweetly. Nico didn’t open his eyes but lightly squeezed Will’s hand.

“Yes, amore?” His voice was rough with sleep. Will smiled dopily.

“Do you think jellyfish have feelings?”

Nico’s eyes slowly blinked open. “What.”

“Because they don’t have brains,” Will continued, picking up speed now. “Or really any sort of nervous system. So how do they feel anything?”

“You’re the biology student!”

“But they have to feel something, right? Even if it’s just a physical feeling rather than an emotional one.”

“Will, baby.” Nico made the sound of a long suffering spouse. “It’s three in the morning. Ellie has school tomorrow. Can we deal with this in the morning?”

Will hesitated. “But what if I forget?”

Nico groaned.

“I’m serious!” Will protested. “I always forget the question. I only remember that I thought of one and then I don’t ever get to know the answer.”

“Look it up.”

Not letting go of Nico’s hand, Will twisted around to grab his phone from the nightstand. He turned it on and Nico flinched, bring an arm up to cover his face.

“Turn down the brightness! It looks like Apollo’s in here.”

Will shuddered and turned it down. “Don’t say that or he might show up.”

There was silence for a few minutes. Nico’s eyes started to fall heavy again and his breathing grew slow.

“Aha!”

Nico jolted awake again. “What is it, tesoro?”

“So the short answer is no,” Will said. “The long answer is they still have common sense and fear but other than that we have absolutely no idea but probably not.”

There was a soft click as he turned his phone off and put it away again.

“There,” Nico murmured. “Are you satisfied now?”

“No.” Will pouted, snuggling closer to his husband. “Now I feel bad for the jellyfish. They’re just sentient blobs with PTSD.”

Nico snorted. “How can they have PTSD if they don’t have feelings?”

“Because they still have fear responses! That’s basically all they have!”

“Maybe,” Nico suggested with a kiss to Will’s jaw, “you should dedicate your life as a scientist to breeding a species of jellyfish with complex emotions.”

“That would require hundreds of years and I don’t think Ellie would carry it out for me,” Will said, seemingly not noticing the teasing tone.

“I was being sarcastic.” Nico yawned.

“Oh,” Will said. “That makes more sense.”

Nico smiled and patted his husband’s arm. “G’night, Will.”

“Goodnight, love.”