the rot

by aphtrashbin

"I'm dying, aren't I?" He had grinned, then. "It's not going to be a sword, or the shells, nor the bullets that's the end for me, is it…?" He had laughed a bit, sardonic. "No, it'll be the rot that gets me."- Prussia had told him that following the war, but he only understood why he hung on after he had died. NSFW non-permanent character death. Pru/Aus

a/n: I don't write a lot of pruaus. I have been thinking about it recently. (im not converting tho, don't worry. Im still trash 4 pruhun.)

Either way. Post-wwi shit for u to enjoy!

XXXXX

It had been a month since the war had ended. Germany was still in negotiations, having been sprung from the battlefield into harsh talks with France, Britain, America…and Italy, Italy as well.

He and his now ex wife, Hungary, as well as a few others, were all embroiled in treaties and negotiations as well. He was no stranger to these things, he had known them well in his glory days…however, he was being brushed over, treated like a senile old man who was long since past his prime. And perhaps he was, but…justly so, he was not any daft fool who would take a beating like this sitting down.

However, as Austria was currently lamenting as he sat in Germany's household, keeping Prussia company while his brother was out, he had to take it sitting down.

That was because his legs were nearly entirely useless.

The once mighty empire was sitting in his wicker wheelchair with a back that was honestly less than comfortable, a blanket settled over his lap as he looked at his defeated ally, also once a mighty power in his own right. Austria held his hand as the albino man- though his skin was still burned red and marred with injuries and his skin turning green in places because of how pale he was, even before all this- struggled in his sleep. There was no escape for him now, for he was withering and dying, suffering quite a bit as he hung on, the stubborn bastard.

It was the flu of that year- Austria knew this. He didn't like thinking on it, or the thought that now that it had infected Gilbert, it could infect other nations.

Gilbert was largely feverish whenever he woke- and didn't remain awake for long. His long hours of sleep were marked by his struggles- his twisting and shouting, begging for mercy, and begging for death. He couldn't be left alone in this state, honestly. It would not be right for him to end up falling to the floor and banging his head to death, or something of that sort.

He had been like this for weeks now, the unlucky bastard. The doctors weren't able to see to his war damages he was so sick from the flu, so they were in the dark about how he was doing internally.

As Austria squeezed his hand and tried to tell the pale nation that it was alright, they were finally freed of that hell- the nation gasped inexplicably, and sat straight up in bed, his eyes wide in terror, before he groaned, and punched the pillow beside him. "Fuck. Hell. Shit." Prussia muttered, wiping his eyes and then shouting a few more curses.

"By your eloquence, I assume that you are truly awake, Gilbert?" He asked, delicately. Prussia's head whipped around comically, red eyes searching in Austria's general area for him, and it was then Austria understood the curses and the upset. "Ah. Mustard gas, then?" He asked, trying to be kind to him as he recognized his blindness.

Prussia's eyes slowly settled on looking forward, no longer trying to figure out where Austria was, precisely. "Yeah, it seems so." He grumbled. "On both of those questions, in fact." The man lay back down. "…Did the armistice go through?" He asked, trying to think on it.

"Yes, it did. It's been a month since, just about." Roderich pat his shoulder. "The wolves have asked that you do not attend with your brother to negotiations, which is fine, given your current…circumstances."

Prussia hummed in mild disapproval. "What got me this time?" He asked with some confusion. "I normally bounce back pretty fast from war…"

"Well, for one, this war is unlike any other before it." Austria murmured. "For two, in all honesty, I think you caught this year's batch of influenza."

Gilbert growled in disapproval. "I can feel it, Roddy…" He muttered. "I'm dying, aren't I?" He grinned. "It's not going to be a sword, or the shells, nor the bullets that's the end for me, is it…?" He laughed a bit, sardonic. "No, it'll be the rot that gets me." He spat to the side. "It's too late to amputate, isn't it?"

"Gangrene, you think?" Austria bit his lip, allowing slight worry to come over his expression as Prussia couldn't see him, and the albino pondered, and then nodded.

"Yeah, I do. I feel like I'm rotting from the inside out."

Roderich nodded, looking down. "Do be careful, will you? If you die now…there is that unsavory possibility you won't come back."

Gilbert just laughed. "So I won't die…not until I think it's safe." Roderich smacked him on the head a bit.

"Ugh, idiot…you cannot forestall your death…not when you're this damaged." Austria muttered, and Prussia laughed, though this time it was just a bit less arrogant.

"Watch me, aristocrat." Gilbert stuck out his tongue weakly, before he slowly closed his eyes to rest. Neither of them had let go of the other's hand, Roderich noticed quietly. With his eyes closed, Austria felt the man gently squeeze back, and Roderich let him do so. "Jus' cause you never had to do this…doesn' mean I had…that….luxury…" He murmured, tired, and Austria watched as his face relaxed once again.

Prussia was again asleep, but it was different this time… Maybe because he hadn't woken up feverishly, but maybe it was more that he now knew that Prussia was ticking down on his clock- he was going to die. The question was solely- when?

XXXXX

Negotiations dragged on, it seemed. It wasn't long before Prussia was up and attempting to move around again. He made it seem like he was going to pull through while he was in front of his brother, pretending to "annoy" Austria when he laid down on his lap, but really, Austria and him both knew that it was because his legs shook, and he needed to rest.

"Stubborn brat." Austria muttered as Prussia lay on him, his body honestly not heavy enough for his size, with his head on Roderich's shoulder and one arm wrapped around his neck. "You should be in bed. Ludwig is not here, at present."

"Dun' care." He said, rubbing his face against Roderich. "Gotta see ya somehow, nerd." Austria huffed in disapproval, but despite his complaints about the albino's laying against him, he was glad Gilbert still enjoyed his company like this.

"Ugh…" Roderich said, patting his back. "He should be home soon, though. France was hammering out details about territory loss."

Prussia snorted. "He's got too much salt, that one. I already kicked his ass here and all across France- he won because of America, let's be real here."

Austria nodded, thoughtful as he tentatively moved his hand to stroke Gilbert's hair. The albino tensed momentarily, before he relaxed, allowing Roderich to do so without complaint or comment. Prussia hummed, with his throat against Roderich's shoulder.

"This wicker chair is really uncomfortable." Prussia muttered, and Austria grumbled.

"I most certainly agree with you on that issue." He muttered with a snarl, and Prussia snorted. "But…I have to deal with it." Roderich continued. "Too bad my ass isn't paralyzed as well…I have to be tortured by this…because I cannot feel my legs."

Prussia perked up at that. "You can still feel your ass?" He said with a grin, and Roderich snorted, rolling his eyes even though the gesture was lost on Gilbert, blind as he was.

"Yes. We are not having sex." Roderich said firmly, making the Prussian nation sigh in disappointment.

"Roooooooddy." He whined, kissing his neck. "We can finally do it now without any guilt over Liz! You're single, and ready to mingle!" Austria pushed his face away from his neck; flushing and glad Gilbert couldn't see it.

"I said no." Roderich reiterated, and Prussia just nodded, letting it go for the moment, and got off him once Austria asked him to, walking back to his bed, and smiling as he flopped down, closing his eyes and commenting that it was more comfortable here anyway. Roderich looked at him quietly, and rolled out of the room, the blind man quickly complaining, complaints growing into actual upset as he shut the door behind himself, effectively locking him in the room because there was no longer a draft to tell him where the exit was.

He continued to roll, even though as Gilbert's complaints went quiet- undoubtedly growing truly upset at being abandoned- his own heart squeezed and pained him. He had to at least look as though he was mourning the loss of his marriage, like a proper gentlemen. It would not look good to go around gallivanting with Gilbert- not in times like these.

Germany got home only 10 minutes later, and Roderich said that Gilbert had fallen asleep, which Germany did not question, simply coming into the room tired and worn from being walked over by the winning side.

XXXXX

"Can you believe its nearly Christmas?" Gilbert asked him as he half-heartedly decorated the house, putting up old decorations, once belonging on a beautiful estate, now in their little home, where the Entente had forced them to live together for ease of access.

"Truly, is it?" Roderich said, blinking, looking at the calendar on the wall, squinting as he looked at the date, before realizing he had to put on his glasses.

"Yeah, it is." Gilbert snorted. "I found out when I asked the date on a shopping trip." The albino put his hands on his hips. "It's the 22nd!"

"Maybe Krampus will visit you this year." Austria muttered, and Prussia gasped in fake-horror.

"Roderich!" He said, putting his hand over his heart in shock. "How could you wish such an awful thing on me!" And then Prussia coughed, falling to his knees as his legs gave out on him.

Roderich watched with horror as Gilbert coughed, and coughed, and slowly they became weaker, his eyes widening as he struggled to find breath, and being unable to. "Ludwig!" He shouted for him, the man just outside the house, trying to get his attention.

With a few tries, the main German nation came bolting in, and looked to where Gilbert was still struggling for breath, clutching at his throat, scratching at it with terror in his eyes, the realization death was waiting for him around every corner. Ludwig sat him up, and roughly smacked his back, and Gilbert took in a deep, sudden breath, his mouth open and his chin shaking up and down, blind eyes wide.

"Bruder…" Gilbert stuttered in a frightened voice, high pitched and cracked, before he hung onto him tightly. The two embraced, realizing how close that had come.

Roderich was stuck sitting in his wheelchair, as Germany picked up Prussia, and brought him back to his bedroom, the man, weakened by his fit, unable to struggle, not speaking now that he was holding onto Ludwig.

They didn't come out before Roderich had to go and be bothered by France and England, and so, he left.

XXXXX

He came back late that night. The cold had settled in the house, and Germany was undoubtedly asleep already. Gilbert, as well, Roderich thought to himself as he went to light the fire and warm himself in it.

"Ah, you're late." He heard a familiar rasping voice as the fire lit up the room and he gasped in surprise, falling out of his wheelchair and glaring at that arrogant smirk worn by the man who was perched on the edge of the couch.

Austria frowned in disapproval. "Help me up, will you?" He asked, not liking having to ask for help. Gilbert stood, and went over to him, scooping him up in his arms like some blushing damsel. "And what do you think you're doing?" Roderich snapped, embarrassed as Gilbert kissed his nose.

"C'mon, Roderich." He grinned. "No one will know unless we tell them!" He laughed. "I know you wanna, I heard from Ludwig that you always held my hand while I was sleeping~!"

"Ugh, you spoilt brat." Austria said, archly. "I daresay that you're right about wanting it, but the issue at hand is…I might not be able to get it up." He admitted. "In all honesty, I do not wish to be a disappointment on top of morally shameful."

"We'll see, won't we?" Prussia grinned. "I call topping." He said, hugging Roderich tight, and the nation simply grumbled in his arms, folding his own as he muttered that he wouldn't be able to top anyway, not with his legs as useless as they were now.

Prussia laid him down in Austria's bedroom, on the opposite side of the house of where Ludwig was sleeping. He slowly and surely unbuttoned Roderich's top, the Austrian looking at him with intense purple eyes, arching one eyebrow as Gilbert paused on top of his legs. "Well, get on with it." He muttered, and Gilbert winked at him.

"No worries there, Roddy." He said, his pale hands going to Austria's pants, and undoing the buttons one at a time, "I'll get on with it at my leisure, my liege." He smirked at him, and slowly started pulling down his pants, winking at him as he did so.

Roderich looked up as Gilbert worked his pants off his useless legs, and gasped as sudden warmth hit his crotch. Gilbert's mouth- getting straight to work, no doubt. The man's wandering hands felt around his partner's chest, going up his shirt and pushing it off slowly, revealing his pale shoulders, and his battle-scarred chest. Roderich groaned, the sound surprised with the vigor of Gilbert's actions.

He had known Gilbert had wanted this, but he was unknowing of how primal this need was, with what force Gilbert would take with it. "G-Gilbert…" He stuttered as the man ran his hands all the way up his chest, rubbing him with his lithe fingers before he started to pinch and rub his nipples, making him gasp and buck up a little, but the motion was hard without his legs. Gilbert's mouth suckled his cock, his tongue wrapping around his tip, attempting to bring the penis out of his foreskin, muttering with some disgust.

"You don't clean your cock well enough, gross, dude." Gilbert muttered, before he simply tried to clean it with a tissue, and got out the lotion. "Okay. So, no oral today, sorry." He grinned, and Austria huffed.

"Don't get going like that if you're not going to follow through." Roderich complained archly. But he paused, and answered his question truthfully. "It's…rather difficult to clean that now, I hope you know." He admitted with some embarrassment, and Gilbert nodded, kissing his cheek gently.

"It's okay. We just gotta modify a bit to accommodate that!" He said, rather supportively for Gilbert, Roderich thought. The Austrian wondered why he was being so accommodating tonight… it wasn't like him, after all…

However, he was being so tonight. Perhaps he knew that this needed some more delicate behavior than it usually did.

Roderich smiled at him, just a bit, telling him he was grateful for that. Gilbert kissed his lips readily, rubbing his cock with his left hand to keep up the motion, the sign of whom he was when he started all this was clear. Roderich vaguely remembered the first time he had seen Gilbert jerk off- they had been teenagers, and it was still before Gilbert was truly Prussia.

"You jerk it with your left hand?" Roderich had asked, confused. "That's weird."

Gilbert had blushed. "Ehh…it's nothin'. It feels better when I use it…the Knights always tried to get me to use my right hand more often, but now that they're mostly gone…" He had shrugged. "I guess I'm ambidextrous, but I still like my left hand better."

Roderich snorted. "Aren't you eloquent for someone who just got walked in on." He asked rhetorically.

"I won't be horribly embarrassed if you like what you see!" Gilbert was still proud, and confident, red eyes that had once scared Roderich becoming a natural sight to see these days.

Austria snorted again. "Why, are you that lustful?" He asked.

Gilbert's eyes went bright with something Roderich couldn't discern. "I wouldn't call it lust…no."

And here they were now, with Prussia using his right hand to feel around Austria's ass and his left to stroke him, leaving the Austrian nation arching his back as best he could without being able to use his legs in the slightest.

He didn't know when precisely Gilbert had put lube on his hands, but he felt the warmed liquid being pushed around his asshole and he groaned, telling Gilbert to hurry up, he was getting far too ready to spill it had been so long since he had had proper sex. Gilbert had chuckled then, and nodded.

"Of course, my liege." He kissed Roderich's chest, then went down his chest and abdomen with small, teasing kisses, making Roderich's eyes roll back into his head, his pale hands gripping the albino's white hair, as the man between his legs slowly started to spread him, prepare him for this act to ensure that Austria wouldn't be sore- not that it would mean much, because Austria's legs couldn't work at all… but the sentimentality was sweet, most certainly.

"Ugh, fucker." Roderich cursed, making Gilbert chuckle lowly, his voice becoming raspy with need as Roderich himself loosened up more. "Fuck me, Gilbert." He growled in German, making Gilbert bite him with no malicious intent, leaving his mark on his partner as he sucked the bitten skin. He pulled away with a sharp pop, Roderich's hands clawing at Gilbert's pale, scarred skin, leaving lines of red to show his ownership of this other nation, one so proud and warrior like…so usually full of life, though his eyes lacked it, his body more than made up for it.

Gilbert's talented hands had spread his ass open, and had spread him open, stretching him with skill and patience, making Austria gasp as he put more inside of him, filling him with his body, and filling Roderich with need, making him grit his teeth and take sudden deep gasping breaths, his head turning from side to side as his hands gripped onto Gilbert.

Roderich took a deep intake as he felt Gilbert's cock against his ass, warm and intrusive in the best manner, and bit his lip to prevent himself from shouting as Gilbert guided the hard cock up his ass, slowly sliding inside of him, and Roderich eventually couldn't press down any harder on his lip with his top teeth, and opened his mouth in a long moan, his cock starting to drip precum as he begged Gilbert to give him a good and proper fucking at this point. His nails were digging into his back again, and Gilbert started to grunt and groan as he started slowly, but worked up to a rather quick one, making Roderich's entire body move up and down the bed with the force of his thrusts inside of him.

As Gilbert picked up Roderich's torso to get a better angle, Roderich gripped him tightly, biting down hard into Gilbert's shoulder, and the man shouted lowly, "Ah, you're excited." Gilbert sensually said in German, fucking him roughly and making Roderich's head tilt back in need, until all of a sudden, he felt his limit being reached, Gilbert finally finding his sweet spot as they both began to tire out, and Austria yelled in sudden pleasure, his tongue sticking out and Gilbert meeting his mouth, dominating him with his entire body as Roderich finally came, spurting out onto Gilbert's stomach while Gilbert continued to go at him, Roderich squeezing his ass for him, and that seemed to finally push him over the edge, Austria feeling Prussia's cum fill him up.

They stayed like that for a moment, sweating and looking into one another's eyes, Roderich now tired and worn from the sex, and Gilbert pleased with what he had done, though there was something else that Roderich was honestly too tired to see in his eyes. Gilbert pulled out of him, and laid beside him for a moment, the two of them panting still.

Gilbert leaned over to kiss his cheek, and Roderich hummed with approval. "Acceptable, Prussia." He purred, looking at him with starry eyes. "…You don't have to leave, if you'd like to stay." The man turned to him, surprised, before he laughed quietly, his voice still raspy from the sex.

"Hah, that's the sex talkin' there, Roderich." He smirked. "You'd kick me out in the morning. I think I'm going to have to sleep in tomorrow." Gilbert then sat up, and kissed Roderich once more.

"Good night." He said, quietly, and waved at the wall, before taking the wrong step and going face first into the doorframe rather than the door.

"Daft fool." Roderich laughed quietly. "A step to your right, and you'll be clear of the door." He instructed, and Gilbert took it well enough.

"It was bound to happen at some point." He said, sheepish, before leaving the room, leaving Roderich to pull the covers up over himself, and fall asleep like that, enjoying the aftereffects of sex.

XXXXX

That next morning, Roderich had to get ready for another meeting with his diplomats, and work on his own treaty. They ushered him out of the house, and he had looked into Gilbert's room to see he was still sleeping.

He came back that afternoon, as Ludwig was leaving the house to go do his own meeting. He found it odd that as Ludwig left, the house was quiet. Gilbert was not one to sleep in until noon, though Ludwig was too stressed to notice, most likely. He went into his bedroom, and saw him still on his bed, his face peaceful, no longer pained in his current state.

He only had to feel his cold skin to know what had happened.

Roderich couldn't even find words at the moment; he could only find tears, springing to his eyes as Prussia lay there, dead before him.

"You bastard." He muttered, wiping his eyes as he grabbed Prussia's cold, stiff hand. "You waited…just for this long, I see." He closed his eyes, and he remembered Prussia's first conversation after waking up from the flu.

"It'll be the rot that gets me." He had said that, and it was true now, Roderich supposed. He gently covered Gilbert with a blanket, and nodded, tearful.

"That was right, Gilbert." Roderich said, quietly. "Gangrene… Though I wonder, why did you…" All of a sudden, Roderich coughed, and coughed, and he smiled quietly. "Clever bastard, you are, Gilbert." He said, shaking his head. "You prolonged your death… not to have sex…no, you were much more conniving than that."

Gilbert had not been entirely honest with Roderich, the Austrian supposed- he had prolonged his death from influenza in order to transmit it to another. Certainly, he might have died of gangrene, but he had held on long enough until he had transmitted his illness, onto another.

One who was allowed contact with other nations- Roderich politely covered his mouth as he coughed again, and nodded at the corpse before him. "You're a savage, sometimes… I hope you know. But…. I will do as you expected me to, undoubtedly."

He nodded, and reported the death as a death from gangrene, rather than Spanish Flu. Ludwig was heart broken, but Austria didn't tell him many of the details surrounding the incident. Ludwig, though he was being blamed for all this tragedy, was honestly too much of a good child to allow Roderich to do as Gilbert had intended him to do.

Gilbert had wanted some Christmas Revenge, and he was most certainly going to get it.