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Opening the door loudly, Gilbert strode into the residence of his self-proclaimed arch nemesis, using the opportunity of West being gone to bother him. He’d left his key to Roderich’s house on the counter, so he used it.
Hearing noise, he walked towards it, following the sound into the kitchen. He didn’t even have to try to humiliate the aristocrat, he’d done it himself, looking utterly pathetic bracing himself against the broom handle as he panted. He slid down to his knees, grasping the jabot on his chest, breathing more heavily. Hearing an obnoxious laughter, Roderich immediately recognized the voice, looking up into the red eyes of the pale man above him.
Seeing the pitiful state of the brunette, he ceased, suddenly concerned for his health from his breathlessness. “What’s wrong with you?” He questioned out of worry, though with his voice, it came across as anything but.
“Nothing, I’m fine.” He replied, pompous voice not fitting the exhaustion in it. “Why are you here? Get out of my house.” He continued, previous frustration with his inability to function by himself growing with Gilbert’s unwelcome presence.
“It’s alright, even though you’re a super jerk, the awesome Prussia will take care of you!” He announced far too loudly. Completely ignoring his words, he moved forward to pick the Austrian up bridal style.
“Unhand me this instant!” Roderich ordered, pushing against Prussia, though not doing much, his limbs too exhausted to put up much of a fight.
He groaned as he was thrown onto the couch, his corset digging painfully into his back ribs, he readjusted himself, taking a moment to catch his breath.
He jolted upon feeling hands undoing the buttons of his navy coat. “How indecent, what is your problem?” Austria protested, pushing the pale hands away, he moved to redo the buttons. Glaring coldly as Prussia laughed.
“When I picked you up, I felt metal and thought you were injured and it was a brace or something, but it’s a corset, how girly.” Gilbert teased.
“At least I’m not the one who writes everything in a down in a diary like a schoolgirl.” He retorted, rolling his eyes.
“If you’re out of breath you should probably take it off, right?” Prussia asked, tone suddenly becoming serious.
Austria sighed, looking away as he took off his coat, not wanting to give the albino the satisfaction of looking at him, doing so would be an admission that he was right about something. He undid the metal clasps of the corset, setting it on the couch, leaving him in just the white button-down shirt he wore underneath.
Prussia took the garment in his hands, inspecting it. “This is a really old design. Aren’t they not used anymore because they’re uncomfortable and bad for your health?” He questioned, running fingers along the metal boning.
“What would you know about corsetry?” He crossed his arms in front of his chest in annoyance. “The old designs serve their purpose better.” Austria informed.
Prussia felt a seed of concern growing in his mind at the statement, quickly leaning forward, he pulled up the white blouse Roderich had on, seeing dark bruises where his waist tapered most, he frowned at the sight. His hands were quickly batted away.
“Why can’t you keep your hands to yourself? Pinching my cheeks was far less intrusive, would you return to that instead of your apparent new affinity for stripping me?” He complained, repositioning himself further from Prussia.
“Don’t deflect, you aren’t even supposed to wear them tightly, so why do you have those bruises?” Austria looked away, not responding, Gilbert sighed at his silence. “Is that why you’re so exhausted by physical labor? I knew you were overly reliant on West, but this is excessive. You can’t even sweep without collapsing.” He stressed.
“Thanks for letting me know, I hadn’t noticed.” Roderich said coldly.
“I’m being serious, why don’t you just stop?”
“It’s not just from the corset, I’ve always been weak. It got worse from being in the wheelchair after I was shot, my posture was ruined so I needed it to stand up straight.” He explained.
“Then why don’t you use a modern one like a normal person?”
“Because I've tried that already, it didn’t feel right.”
“You never try to adjust to anything new, and that doesn’t explain why you pull it so tight.”
“It’s not your problem, just go.” He tried.
“It is my problem if West leaves a key on the counter asking me to come do your chores for you because you can’t take care of yourself for the three days he’s out for a conference.”
“I don’t need your help, I can do things just fine on my own.” He argued, standing up, but Prussia grabbed his arm.
“Just rest for a while, the awesome Prussia will clean for you, I’m good at it after all.” Austria wanted to argue, but relented, laying back on the couch, not having the energy to argue further. He took off his glasses before closing his violet eyes. Gilbert thought his face looked perfectly fine in his awesome, objectively correct opinion, he didn’t understand why Roderich felt the need to wear fake glasses to look less plain.
Prussia waited for a moment, making sure he’d stay before returning to the kitchen, taking the broom and beginning to clean. He restrained himself from blasting rock and roll and screaming along to the lyrics as he’d finally gotten Roderich to rest and doing that would be practically begging to get kicked out.
He dusted around the house and wiped the counters down as well before coming back to the couch, lifting up his shirt once again to get a closer look at the bruising, it looked painful, the purples and blues blemishing the pale skin, he returned the fabric. He’d be back soon to force him to get a more appropriate corset and get him to stop tightening it so much, but for now he’d let the prick rest.