Just an idea that came to me after reading a headcanon that Li Shan has separation issues after loosing Po for the first time and that he can't stand being apart from his family; Po and Mr. Ping. This takes place about a month after Kai's attack on the Panda Village. Contains mild PiLi and TiPo.
Li Shan wasn't always a super clingy panda. In fact, as a young cub, and into his teen years and beginning of his adult life he had been quite content to spend vast amounts of time in solitude reading and eating to his heart's delight. That all changed after he lost his wife and son in a raid on his village. Suddenly the thought of being alone terrified him because for the first time in his life he truly was alone. So he threw himself into his work, trying to help run the hidden panda village and raise the orphans that Shen's attack had left them with. For thirty years he ran away from the loneliness that had enveloped his heart, but one day everything changed. An older tortoise had appeared to him in a dream and told him that his son was alive and well and that he could lead the heartbroken panda to his son.
What followed was an absolutely insane adventure for the older panda. He traveled across China and found his long lost son only to discover that he was a Kung Fu Master, and the Dragon Warrior at that. He also had also been adopted by a noodle-obsessed goose named Mr. Ping and worked there as well as at the Kung Fu place to top of the mountain with WAY too many stairs. And to make matters worst a chi wielding maniac was trying to kill his son and all of his friends and family... nothing like that to give an old panda one hell of a panic attack.
So he did what any father would do. He tricked his son into traveling across the country with him on a mission to master chi... even though he had no clue how to help him with that... Aaaaaand the goose stowed away in one of their packs so that was also fun... Gotta love it when you're trying to reconnect with your son and his adopted father is doing everything in his power to keep that from happening.
Long story short his son's "friend" (whom Li was about 90% his son was actually dating.) showed up and told them that the valley the lived in had been attacked and that the guy had captured all of the other Kung Fu Masters that they knew and to top it off they were coming here to steal all of their chi... great huh? So after finding out that none of them knew how to harness chi and having a heart-to-heart with his "friend" his son decided to train the village to fight... Have you ever seen a panda trying to fight? Two words: Not Fun. But somehow it happened and they beat the guy (though he still really doesn't understand how) and before he knew it himself and the rest of the panda's had moved to the Valley of Peace (which was never peaceful mind you) and were learning how to harness chi at the Jade Palace. That was over a month ago and now he was almost back to feeling normal... Like he did before Shen invaded his home... But there was still this nagging, hopeless feeling that ate away at him anytime he was alone or Po was off saving the valley... This was one of those times.
Li was sitting next to Mr. Ping at the front counter of the latter's noodle shop helping him take inventory of the shops' stocks so they could buy a shipment of supplies in town the next day. Li double checked the list and looked back inside the basket in front of him with a small frown on his face.
"Umm... Ping? Shouldn't there still be half a barrel of carrots in here? There are only half a dozen of them left." Mr. Ping double checked the list and chuckled.
"I suppose there should be... It looks like Po's been snacking again." Mr. Ping said with a hint of affection and even more laughter. "He eats when he's nervous you know and I'm pretty sure that he's trying to keep Master Shifu from finding out about him and Tigress dating at the moment... The Grandmaster has been acting kind of funny lately as far as she's concerned. I think he's trying to be more fatherly, but he's mostly just scaring Po and annoying Tigress. Yesterday he almost bit their poor staffs' heads off cause one of them almost stepped on her tail." Li's eyebrows raised and he looked at Mr. Ping with a mixture of amusement and worry stuck on his face.
"What do you think will happen if he finds out... and they are dating? I thought they were but he never said anything so I wasn't sure." Mr. Ping nodded and started counting the potatoes he had laid out on the counter.
"They've been dating for a little over two months now. They don't really want anyone to know though. Between him not wanting her to be a target for bandits and other villains and her not wanting people to think she's going soft and Master Shifu acting strange they have plenty of reasons to want to keep their relationship a secret." Mr. Ping stopped and seemed to think for a moment. "As for how Shifu would react it could go so many different ways... Well I think it's best to hope if and when he finds out that he is in a really good mood." Before Li got a chance to respond Po ran into the shop heaving as he tried to catch his breath, Tigress ran in right behind him and gave him a look that seemed to relay overly exasperated affection at his lack of stamina. She placed a supportive hand on his shoulder and turned to address his fathers.
"We just got word there are bandits attacking the Farming District. Po's gonna be home a little late tonight since we've got to go down there. Seriously Po tomorrow we are going to have to start working on your stamina. We were just a block away." Po continued gasping, but had managed to straighten up so he was at his full height instead of bent over.
"I'm fine... just a little... out of shape..." Tigress rolled her eyes and watched as he stumbled outside and started walking off. "I'm starting... walking... by the time you're done... I'll be... down the street..." Tigress clearly had to force herself not to facepalm and she turned back to his dad's.
"I'll make sure he stays safe... We've just been... Working out... a lot... and he's... Tired..." And with a awkward nod at them, she took off after their son, causing Mr. Ping to roll his eyes and sigh.
"Like I don't know what working out really means." Li had chosen that exact moment to try to take a drink of water and he quickly found himself choking on the cool liquid at the implications of the gooses' statement. "Oops... Sorry..." Mr. Ping said as he thumped against Li's back to try to help clear up his airways... He was clearly not sorry though if the look of mirth in his eyes said anything.
"Gesh Ping... Warning next time..." Li coughed out as Mr. Ping gave up trying to hide his chuckles and gave Li a new glass of water. "Do... Do you think he'll be okay?" Mr. Ping stopped chuckling and gave Li a supportive nod and wrapped a wing around the much larger mammal.
"Po's been doing this for years. He knows what he's doing, and even if he didn't or things got bad he's got a very scary tiger watching his back... Not to mention the rest of the Furious Five are there." Mr. Ping scratched the top of the panda's head and with his free wing began to make some sticky buns for the distraught panda sitting next to him.
"I know that's he and his friends are more than capable... It's just... I don't think I could handle losing him again..." Mr. Ping saw a tear escape from the other mans' eye and he has begun to shake slightly and so he squeezed him a little tighter and placed the bowl of sticky buns on the table in front of him.
"Here, eat... You know, when Po first became the Dragon Warrior I was always terrified when he went off on missions. What if there were to many bandits? What if merchant they were protecting was actually hired to slip them poison and kill them all? What if one of the Five got tired of his really bad jokes and decided to throw him off a cliff? But you see, as time went on and he kept on coming back no matter how bad things got I realized that me freaking out and worrying every time he left wasn't going to help him. If anything, it was distracting cause he was always worrying about if I was doing okay. The best thing you can do is trust that our son and the Five can handle it." Li had stopped shaking and Mr. Ping got up and placed a kettle of water on the stove and got out a pair of glasses, a couple of tea bags and the pot of honey.
"Thanks Ping." Li gave the goose a small smile and Mr. Ping returned the gesture. Mr. Ping placed the stuff he was carrying on the counter and he dug out a checkers board and pieces from under the counter and placed it in front of them.
"Let's play... He'll be back before you know it."
Po and Tigress walked into the shop each sporting their own personalized assortment of bruises and abrasions, but they were still smiling (in Po's case anyway, Tigress had her signature smirk that didn't really ever turn into a full fledged smile, but was more than enough to get the point across) Po had his arm slung lazily around her shoulders as he gave her a play-by-play of the battle they had just had (Even though she had been in it.)
"...And then you were all like AYYYYAAAAA! And the Bandit was all UUUGH! And then I was all like SHAKABOOY! And the Boss Gorilla was all like OHHOHOOH! You Beated ME! And I was all like That's what you get for messing with the DRAGON! And then you knocked him off the cliff and he was all AAAHHHHHHHHH!" Tigress shook her head at her boyfriend's ability to make the most boring fights actually sound interesting and was about to comment on it when she noticed Mr. Ping and Li passed out at the counter asleep, a half finished game of checkers sitting between them and two cold glasses of tea sitting on the other side of the board.
"Looks like your dad's had some fun." Po looked up and laughed when he realized that Mr. Ping was sleeping on top on Li's stomach and they were both snoring loud enough to wake up the whole block (If anyone else lived that close anyway.)
"Well why don't we leave them alone and go have some fun of our own?" Tigress raised an eyebrow but Po didn't seem to notice as he led them out of the front door. "I've been wanting to work on this new move but it takes two of us to do it and I think you would be perfect for it." Tigress leaned against his side and smirked up at him.
"And what exactly does this move of yours entail?" Po's eyes lit up and he started bouncing on the balls of his feet as he spoke.
"Well I was think about that time when the crocs handcuffed us together..." Another raised eyebrow. "And I was thinking about how we were able to use that to work together really well to take them all out and i was thinking if we figured out how to use it really well it would be so awesome like I'm standing here and then you just pull on the chain and suddenly POOF I'm on the other side of the battlefield and the attack missed me and the enemy is all like WHERE DID THE DRAGON WARRIOR GO? and you're all like Instant Movement! And they all surrender cause they can't ever hit us and..." Tigress rolled her eyes and pulled him down and kissed him quickly before continuing to walk, dragging the dazed panda along with her. "...You just kissed me... In public!" Tigress rolled her eyes again (She was starting to think they were going to end up rolling out of her head from all of the eyerolling she did around him.)
"It'll be the last time too if you don't hurry up." She threatened him but with a smirk that clearly said she was joking. Po smirked back at her and quickly ran up to where she was and threw his arm back around her shoulders before continuing on their way back to the Jade Palace, never stopping to look back, though is they did, they'd notice goose and a panda were happily watching them from the entrance of the noodle shop they had just left.
So this is what happens when I'm super sleepy and the plot bunnies hit. Seriously this was meant to focus only on Li Shan but my deep love of TiPo made me writing the ending that way. Originally I was just going to have Tigress show up late at night to let them know that they had made it back in one piece and them leave afterwards, so that Mr. Ping and Li could keep on talking but I was bitten by a fluff bunny that was very adimint about the TiPo ending. Please R&R. :)