Po's Christmas

Don't Own KFP

"NOOO! Not you too!" Shouted Demi. I rolled my eyes.

"Would you calm down? It's been a while since I've done this, so entertain me," I replied, "Why do you hate it so much?"

"Consumerism!" Demi shouted.

"But it's the thought that counts," I smiled.

The panda shivered at the chilling biting wind. Living in the northern city wasn't easy, especially when it came to gushing wind. "Why do I have to spend today like this?" He muttered as he walked into his workplace at the office building. Snow started to fall outside. His boss, an often very strict and cold lady, wanted someone to run the numbers on their latest project and it would require him to be working... on Christmas Eve. But the panda couldn't reject the amount of money she was offering. And besides, after his father's death, there wasn't really much of a family to go back home to. Po shook the blistering cold off of his jacket as he shed his layers of clothing. A trip in the elevator, an opening of doors, and the panda was already in his vacant floor of the office.

Dead silence. A sea of cubicles as far a 12-year-old could throw a football. At one end, the door to the office lounge and kitchen and a lonely multi-colored lit Christmas tree in the corner of the office floor, silently occupying space. Only the tic-tac of a computer in a lonely lit office room labeled "CEO" was the singer in the song of silence on this floor. Po gingerly walked towards the office room, gently knocking on the door. "Mrs. Tigress?"

"Yes," She answered curtly. A beautifully powerful tiger woman occupied the CEO office space. Her amber eyes were still set on the artificial light of the computer screen.

"I'm here for the paperwork?"

"It's already on your desk," She answered coldly. Po's nod was only in polite social convention, which the tiger wasn't really known for. Her life seemed to be centered around the management of the company. It's a lot to deal with, Po thought to himself, I would probably do the same thing. Po made it to his office cubicle and saw the stack of paper on his desk. The almost noise-less halls seemed to offer no sign of life-changing event. He looked out of the large window pane at the front of the office. The light snow seemed to gather buddies more numerous, but Po didn't think much of it. He started organizing the papers as normal.

Without any distractions, Po was able to finish much faster than he thought. Which also gave him time to finish other lingering projects. Time soon sped faster than he thought. Suddenly, Po heard the pitter-patter of angry shoes moving towards him. He looked up from his desk. It was just a couple of minutes before 2:00 pm when he came in. Now it was pitch black outside and the clock seemed to show 7. Tigress angrily looked at him, jaw-set, arms crossed, and if Po dare spoke out of turn, probably wanting to bash him into dust. "We're snowed in," She muttered out of frustration. Po's eyes widened. He looked outside from his far cubicle to the window pane. It was still snowing. Wait, did that mean Tigress snuck past him, used the elevator, twice, and then came to him? How did he not notice?

"Oh," Po muttered, not really surprised. The weather channel did say it would snow, but he didn't expect it to be this bad. "Well, it gives me more time to redraft the project," he joked quite poorly. Tigress growled at a low tone at his joke.

"I didn't want to stay here for the night," She grunted. And you think I do? Po thought to himself. But then again, what did Po have to go home to? Tigress threw up her hands in annoyance. "What am I going to do now?" Tigress muttered.

"Tell your relatives or whoever you need to talk to that you're stuck here and have them come and get you."

"The snow is too deep."

"Then tell them you're okay. I'm sure that they're worried about you," Po replied, going back to the computer screen. Tigress's eyes lingered on the panda for a while with a soft emotionless expression and walked away to talk to her folks. Po was in his own little world when he heard the footsteps again. But they were muffled this time. Po looked down at the only person with him in the office building and saw a pair of bright red bunny slippers. Po's face fixed itself into an odd look at Tigress.

"They... they were a gift," She shortly explained in a tone that didn't leave for other questions. "And I called and calmed down all of my relatives."

"Good, now I can work on the details of the project," Po replied, typing away on the keyboard. Tigress looked at her slippers for a while before leaning her bottom on the corner of Po's cubicle.

"Don't you have relatives to call? I'm sure they're worried about you," Tigress asked, with a tone of concern no one had ever heard from her. Po stopped typing for a moment, but then he resumed as he blankly answered.

"No." Tigress gazed at him for a moment. She straightened her back up, lifting herself off the edge of the cubicle and went back to her office.

"Let me know when you're done with the details."

"Will do," Po answered just as cheerfully as he usually is. About an hour passed before he started feeling very weird.

Growl!

"Oh! Hehe, guess I need some food," Po chuckled to himself a bit. He looked at the clock. 8:00 pm. He was done with the details and was going over them a number of times. After saving the changes and edits he closed down the computer and noticed how dark it really was. The dim light in Tigress's office still showed, but the only other light was from outside. Food, he needed food. He went to the office lounge. A large sofa, a table, some chairs. Nothing to write home about. Po always made sure to have something that can last a week in the company fridge. He took out a big bowl of noodles he made from his dad's recipe. A microwave cooking later, he had a smaller bowl of noodles ready as he went over to the large pane window. Its panoramic view gave a dazzling display of the city lights as the quiet snow fell. Then he thought of something.

"Why not?" Po thought to himself. He went over to his computer, turned it back on, and chose a musical Christmas playlist just for this occasion. He quietly turned it on, making sure not to disturb Tigress. Po went back to the window, sitting down at a small table where he placed his noodles.

"Enjoying the view?" Po looked next to him and saw Tigress sitting down.

"Oh, I'm sorry if the music is too loud, I just-"

"It's okay," She said, offering a very rare smile. She sniffed the air. "Do you have some noodles to spare? They smell delicious."

"Of course," Po quickly hyped up and ran to heat up some more. The dark is weird when it snows, Po thought. He was right. The low clouds reflected the light from the city, so although it was night, you could still see fairly well. Po turned around and saw someone had followed him. Po... froze.

"What? Did I scare you?" Tigress asked. Po's eyes were adjusted to the dark, but he never noticed how vibrant Tigress's eyes looked in the night. Po shook his head.

"No, it's just... I've never seen your eyes at night time," he said as the microwave dinged. Tigress looked away at the semi-dark room, thinking as she spoke.

"Many people would say they were scary to look at," she said.

"I don't think that," Po replied, calling Tigress's attention back to him. "I... they're unique." Tigress nodded as she received the food and walked back with him to the table. They were silent while they ate. Finally, Tigress spoke.

"I'm surprised you offered to take the extra hours, Po."

"I'm surprised you know my name," Po said honestly. This was, in fact, the only time Po heard Tigress call him by his first name. Tigress rose her head a bit.

"Why would I not know your name?"

"You're very impersonal at times," Po said quite honestly. "I always assumed it was for the business that you only remembered people by their last name." Tigress stared at him for a while before looking at the city lights. "But I'm sorry you got stuck here. If I had known that it was going to be this bad, I would have just called you to leave the papers at my desk." Tigress's ear perked up.

"You would have been stuck here alone."

"But you would have been with your family," Po smiled greatly, but then it turned into a frown. "And family is definitely something to have around this time." Tigress took a brave step in the conversation.

"What... what do you mean by that?" Po was silent for a while.

"My dad passed away a few weeks back." Tigress's eyes widened.

"Why didn't you tell anyone here?" Tigress asked. Company policy stated that the death of a person's close family member required a leave of about nine days. Tigress didn't recall Po taking a break and she definitely didn't recall anyone telling her. Her secretary, Viper, knew everything that was happening to everyone. She was the reason why Tigress knew so much about Po.

"I didn't want people knowing or to be worried. Plus, I wasn't in the position to take too many days off."

"I could have-"

"It's not your fault," Po sighed. "I just... I didn't want to be home since... that's where my dad and I lived in. The house is paid off, but... still."

"That's why you work overtime so much?" Tigress asked. Po nodded, but he seemed visibly annoyed by something.

"I don't want you to think my story is a pity story, but-"

"Not at all," Tigress replied, "I'm sorry for the hurt you went through." Her compassion then turned to a teaching mood, "But you're not going to move on by avoiding it." Po sighed.

"I know." He looked at the night display in front of them. "What about you? What's your family situation?"

"My grandfather is staying with my parents and sibling for the holidays. I won't be there for Christmas morning, but staying with them has been... helpful," Tigress replied, hesitantly.

"How so?"

"You've probably noticed I don't socialize with the employees as much as you." Po nodded. "I'm a little more open and different around my family. Honestly, I'm introverted and I don't really like socializing that much."

"Well, that explains the cold stares," Po chuckled. Tigress's eyebrow rose as her lips curled into a smirk.

"Are you saying I'm cold?"

"Well, I didn't mean to offend," Po stumbled to recover, "But I'm just saying that... well... um... you do have a very... intimidating stature." Tigress simpered.

"My parents were very strict when I was young. After a while, they became more lenient, but I guess that no-nonsense nature never left me."

"Hehe, no kidding," Po chuckled nervously, thinking about all the times she roared, literally, at her co-workers and employees for slacking off. But Po immediately realized something. "But why haven't you been strict with me?" He asked. Tigress's ill-behaved smirk showed.

"Are you saying that you've been slacking?" Po nervously stuttered until Tigress softly snickered. "I'm only kidding, Po." She said, "I'm not strict on you because you help to boost morale in the workers. The office is a better place with you here."

"Oh, thank you," Was all Po could say. The snow started to slow down. Po looked at the window until he heard some sniffing. Po looked at Tigress. Tears? Why? "Tigress? Are you okay? You're crying," Po said greatly concerned. She was crying but no shaking or hitching her breathing. She stood completely still with tears forming. She wiped them away with her arm.

"I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry that I got you stuck here. Even though your home is a bad memory... you shouldn't be here all alone," Tigress sighed.

"But I'm not," Po interjected, gently taking Tigress's hand in his. "I have you with me," He smiled. "And though this is definitely not the kind of Christmas I wanted, I'm definitely glad I could share it with you and get to know you more." Tigress gave a rare smile to him again.

"Thank you, Po." She smiled. They stayed quiet for a while before Po turned and jerked his head all around, trying to find something. "What's wrong?"

"Viper said something about hanging a mistletoe, but I've yet to...find... Nevermind," Po muttered embarrassedly. Tigress eyed him curiously as he looked away from her. She looked directly above and saw the missing mistletoe. "Don't worry, I was just... um... well," Po nervously scratched his face. What kind of luck did you have to have to be in his situation? Suddenly, Po heard the chair next to him move. She stood up, gazing at him with a ghost of a smile.

"Get up." She commanded gently. Po did so. "Put your hands around my waist."

"What?!"

"Now!" Tigress sternly grunted. Po shakily did so. Tigress wrapped her arms around his neck. "Now, was that so bad?"

"Um... I'm pretty sure this violates some company policy," Po replied. Tigress smirked.

"Well, we're not working now, are we?" Po gulped nervously, making the tiger laugh. Slowly connecting her own lips with his, Tigress felt the panda's stiff body relax. He drew her closer towards himself. Po backed his head away, smiling widely. He looked at the clock. 12:00 am. The panda chuckled.

"Merry Christmas, Tigress," Po smiled. Tigress hummed as they started slowly dancing to the holly music playing on Po's computer.

"Merry Christmas, Po," Tigress replied.

The End.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!