a symptom of being human - master post
a symptom of being human is my humanverse gerame & pruk hetalia au. i am hoping to write a cohesive story about it one day but for now i'm compiling this information here (taken from discord & my google doc) for you to look at. i'll link to the other posts here.
all posts of this au will be tagged as #asobh.
general info.
it's set in germany. arthur meant to study abroad for two semesters, but ran into gilbert because they studied the same thing (art history) and then never left. alfred wanted to escape the unites states and went to germany as an au pair, which is where he met ludwig.
arthur and gil are 4 years older than lud and al.
ludwig has autism.
alfred & gilbert are trans.
arthur speaks fluent german, alfred is learning german but is having a much harder time learning it than arthur.
alfred and matthew are still twins, but matthew lives with his father in canada, while alfred lived with his mother in the united states. they still talk generally.
the next paragraph is technically also general info but it needs to be expanded so it gets its own bullet point list here.
gilbert and his thing with death.
terminal illness! discussion of death and dying!
gilbert has an unspecified illness that is going to kill him before he's 30. i haven't decided on what yet, but it's a degenerative disease that he was born with, and it got diagnosed when he was a young child, and he has been raised with the knowledge that he won't make it past 30.
UPDATE: gilbert has hermansky-pudlak syndrome type 1, an extremely rare autosomal disorder, that causes albinism, bleeding diathesis, immunodeficiency, and pulmonary fibrosis.
he has a life expectancy of around 30, and has been raised with that knowledge. he's well aware he's going to die.
so is ludwig, of course, but it's still hard on everyone. ludwig cannot cope with the concept well, because he cannot fully grasp it.
gilbert's mortality especially becomes an issue once the relationship between arthur and gilbert becomes serious.
because gilbert didn't talk about it when they got together, because he assumed they wouldn't stay together long enough anyway, and then suddenly arthur is proposing to him and gilbert realizes this is a conversation they have to have immediately, 'cause he will not marry him under false pretenses.
gilbert is pretty optimistic despite the dying thing, usually. he planned his own funeral because he's pragmatic like that. his testament is written and he jokes about it constantly, he doesn't care because he never knew anything else. but of course even he has his limits and gets very, very upset about it sometimes.
when it comes to leaving his family behind, or even more personal things.
like settling down or starting a family he has difficulties dealing with it. because he's good with kids, maybe would even like some, but he knows it's not really feasible. he wouldn't live long enough to see them growing up, and he couldn't put the stress on arthur on raising children alone, and he couldn't put the stress on the children either. to lose a parent. adopting isn't an option because of that, and biological kids even less so because he would be too scared of passing his illness on. and he is really struggling with it, because it's something he always wanted.
the only person gilbert really talks about his issues with is his father. gilbert can't possibly imagine how hard it must be for him to know he's going to lose his son, but he talks things through with him a lot and in the end they both feel better, especially because gilbert sometimes just needs to rant.
that and his therapist. because you bet your ass germania put this kid in therapy the moment that diagnosis came.
links.
the german family. german family part 2.
pruk.
germerica.
bad friends trio.
roderich.
misc.
fic: baby, pull me closer. [prueng, explicit]
[will be updated with other links, like arts or fic.]
