Nine Tails of Twin Brothers

A proposal for brother

Bai Qian woke up to the sound of giggles and proceeded to curse herself out for spending the night at the old phoenix's place. She may have been tired and the promise of food when she woke up - Zhe Yan always made breakfast - was more than a little enticing but nothing would have convinced her if she had realized her fourth brother would show up to his lover's house. She sighed and threw up her hand, casting a sound barrier on the room she was attempting to sleep in but it unsurprisingly fell apart, Zhe Yan made his home enchantment proof, the only people who could cast magic on the house itself were him and Bai Zhen.

With a heavy sigh and a soft curse, she dragged herself out of bed towards the rowdy noisy couple that was the cause of her frustration. She had to walk past one of Zhe Yan's wine shelves on her way to the main room so the grabbed two jars , taking a quick gulp as she made her way towards her destination.

"It's too early to drink" Bai Zhen said from his perch on Zhe Yan's laps as soon as she entered the room.

"I have to deal with this" she replied gesturing in their direction "and since you couldn't be bothered to wait till I woke up or to be quieter, I'm running on less sleep. Ergo, wine"

"There's breakfast" Zhe Yan suggested

"I'll get to it eventually. Fourth brother, when did you come in and I know it's not my house but didn't you say you were going to try to live in your own place for more than two weeks at a time?"

"Keyword being 'try'. I did try but I failed spectacularly so I got in this morning"

"You should both just get married and stop trying to fool yourselves and unsuspecting admirers"

Both men stared at her for a moment then burst into loud rambunctious laughter. They laughed so long, she was tempted to pour her wine on them but she'd never get away with that amount of disrespect so she drank her wine to quell the fury.

"Admirers? Says the girl who would be hit in the face with obvious admiration and not realize what was happening" Bai Zhen said between hiccups

"Isn't it rich? She can spot our supposed admirers but doesn't even realize she's being courted by more than one person" Zhe Yan added

"I guess we chose a good time to drop in" a voice said from the door and all three high gods in the room froze.

"I told you we'd find at least one of them here" another voice replied.

Like a whirlwind, Bai Zhen slipped off Zhe Yan's lap onto the seat beside him at the same time Bai Qian magically hid her jars of wine, replacing it with a similar looking cup of water she kept handy for occasions like this

"How much longer do you think we should give them to settle down?" the first voice asked with barely concealed laughter

"Mother! Father!" Bai Qian cried as she sailed towards the voices at the door

"Don't even think about it, why are you drinking this early in the day?" Bai Zhang asked her daughter, treating her like a tardy teenager rather than a ruling monarch

"Father, I've missed you. I've been trying to get you to come home since you left but you've been ignoring your daughter" said monarch pouted, directing her efforts where they were more likely to yield results. Bai Zhi had two weaknesses in his life - his wife and his daughter. It had never been tested which was more important to him but if you were to ask the family, they'd say his daughter simply because his wife loved her daughter beyond reason and so her happiness was paramount to both of them.

"Father is here now" he smiled at her.

"You must be tired from the journey, Zhe Yan made breakfast" Bai Zhen said rushing out of the room towards the kitchen

"Even after over 200,000 years, that boy still gets flustered so easily" Bai Zhi said as he let his daughter guide him to a seat and curl into his arms.

"Zhe Yan, when are you going to make an honest man of my Zhen Zhen" Bai Zhang asked, sitting beside him. Zhe Yan paled and looked at her in shock

Bai Qian laughed loudly "I told you she knew"

"Shut up!!" Zhe Yan barked

"Gladly, I'm only here to welcome my parents. Just pretend I'm not here" Bai Qian replied

Oblivious to the direction the discussion had gone; Bai Zhen walked in with a tray of food. He set everything down then sat beside his mother and wrapped his arms around her.

"Mother"

"How is my Zhen Zhen?" the fox empress smiled and stroked his hair fondly. It was an open secret that Bai Zhen and Bai Qian were their mother's favorite children and the rest of their siblings had accepted that fact as given. Bai Zhen was particularly likeable since he was more social than his sister, however, no one dared suggest that the fox queen loved her fourth son more than her daughter.

"Zhen Zhen is fine, he just misses mother"

"Zhen Zhen, don't you think it is time you settled down and married the love of your life?" She asked and Bai Zhen wasn't quick enough to hide his blush while Zhe Yan let out a small sigh of relief. He was off the hook now that the fox empress was focused on her son. They had survived discussions like this; as long as she wasn't ripping into him, all would be well and little Zhen would handle his mama.

"Would you help me search?" Bai Zhen replied teasing.

"Already did. He's seating on my other side. Unless you don't like him that much" She replied and both men looked like they wanted the ground to open and swallow them. She sighed and continued "a-Zhi, talk to them"

"Brother, why are you rejecting my son" Bai Zhi asked

Bai Qian and her mother rolled their eyes "men!" they said in unison

"You just called him brother and you're wondering what his issue is?" Bai Zhang said. It had taken her time to realize that Zhe Yan was embarrassed both by the age difference between himself and her son and by the fact that he had once actively romantically pursed her. But she knew then that while he admired and liked her, he hadn't been in love with her, not the way he was with her son. And said son had walked up to him as a tiny cub just getting used to his human form and demanded a kiss, they'd been inseparable since he was a teenager.

After all the suffering and heartbreak they'd seen on their travels, she had realized that not only had she been lucky in love but that her family had also been and so she'd made a commitment to ensure that she helped her remaining two children settle their love lives. All she had to do was wait for them to find love then she would move the four seas and eight wildernesses if necessary to get them together with their loves. Of course with Bai Zhen it was easy, her son had been in love with the same person since he was less than 50,000 years old and luckily his affections were returned. The lovers were simply kept apart by wrong perceptions and assumptions.

"Zhe Yan, on be half of my son, Bai Zhen, I would like to propose a marriage between our families. Particularly, between you and Zhen Zhen"

"I... But..."

"Wrong answer old phoenix, the right answer is yes. You can ask questions after you've gotten what you want. You thought me this" Bai Qian quipped from her father's embrace

"I think I broke his brain" Bai Zhi whispered loudly to his daughter

"And my Zhen Zhen too." Bai Zhang added with a smile as she hugged her son who was frozen solid beside her

"I accept" Zhe Yan finally said.

The fox family smiled and offered loud congratulations but poor Bai Zhen was still out of it, Zhe Yan picked him up and cloud walked out of the house.

"they're both so shocked they forgot, this is their home and we are the guests here." Bai Qian said.

"Indeed" he mother replied before turning back to face her husband and daughter. She sighed as she noticed her daughter was now curled on her father's lap in her fox form. The sneaky girl knew the discussion would shift to her and this was her way of avoiding it. It was effective as she gave in and quickly took the spot beside her husband allowing the sneaky fox to move over and curl on her laps. She would get to Bai Qian's love life but for now, she would enjoy holding her baby.