[Feb 19][Yitian Dulong Ji][Cold Comfort]

[lilacfield.livejournal.com]

Title: Cold Comfort
Day/Theme: Feb 19/the fairy's wish
Series: Yitian Dulong Ji
Characters: Yu Lianzhou, Yu Daiyan
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Yitian Dulong Ji belongs to Jin Yong, et al.


Yu Lianzhou knocked at Zhang Songxi's door after dinnertime, carrying a platter of fruits. He said he would stay for half an hour to keep Yu Daiyan company, if that was all right.

"I'd love your company. It gets very depressing spending day after day in bed, and not even being able to read a book without someone to help me turn the pages."

"If you had a wife, she could be with you all the time and take care of you."

"Wives are not hired nurses. Also, nobody should be doomed to marrying a cripple."

Yu Lianzhou stopped in the middle of peeling an orange. "Third Brother, I forbid you to speak like that."

"Why not? Bringing it out in the open makes me feel better. But I apologize if it hurts you." The corner of Yu Daiyan's mouth twitched in what might have been a smirk. "There used to be a saying that falling in love is punishable by death. Isn't that the case with us? First Brother's wife died when Qingshu was only a little boy. Fifth Brother married a woman, and she turned out to be the person who made me into what I am. Thus, they died from the shame. Sixth Brother was engaged, and his fiancée seemed to have died, as well - or vanished into thin air, which amounted to the same thing. We should have followed our Master's example and never even bothered."

Unsure of what to answer, Yu Lianzhou took another orange instead. Then he saw that Yu Daiyan was smiling at him.

"But I'm glad it is you. I can't speak as freely in front of the others - Fourth Brother would have grieved more than you are looking right now, and Seventh Brother would have pounded his fist on the table, cursing fate. You, though - you recognize the logic in my argument, brittle though it might be."

"Third Brother, if you only knew how we wish we could heal you and make you whole again."

"I know, better than you suppose I do. Which is the point all along - honored as I am by having you as brothers, I do not ever need falling in love."