Merry Christmas! This is my gift to the fandom.

—

As a special thanks for warding off a vicious gang of bandits hiding in the mountains, residents of Fuzhou wholeheartedly offered their hospitality to the Jade Palace warriors. Appreciative yet humble, Master Shifu ultimately decided the group would settle in a small inn for the night. Po was hoping to stay at this one inn with a restaurant that served food from many different regions, but at the end of the day Shifu's word was law. "What we need now is a good night sleep, we're not staying for the festivities." Shifu had told him. "Not to mention, the villagers here have graciously shared much of their food with us as is, when are you not thinking about your stomach?"

What a party pooper.

There was only one room available for a single person, and the kung fu masters didn't want to be rude and request that innkeeper make rearrangements, so they settled for sharing rooms with one another while Shifu took the single for himself. That was perfectly fine with him; he preferred to be alone so he can meditate in peace. Crane and Viper were both very exhausted and immediately fell asleep as soon as they entered their room. Monkey and Mantis had energy left to spare, so they decided to stay up and play a few rounds of mahjong.

Po and Tigress were also still awake, and were chatting away about the recent mission as they lied next to one another.

"…and man, I was so sure that one boar was gonna chop my head off if you didn't kick him in the face in time!" Po exclaimed. "Either bandits are getting better fighting skills or I'm getting lazy."

"I'll be sure to let Shifu know you've been slacking on your training, then." Tigress replied with a smile.

"I don't think I can handle another session of running up and down the palace stairs for a whole week," Po laughed. "That was so bad, my dad thought Shifu had broken my legs."

"You can't say it wasn't worth it, though."

"Yeah, I can almost catch up to you now."

Tigress brought her paw to Po's cheek and patted him gently. "Oh, you wish you could run as fast as me."

"You can't tell me you weren't impressed when I chased down that one bandit who thought he could get away after we beat up all his buddies, though."

"Mmm, maybe I was a little bit impressed."

Po let out a content sigh. "But it was pretty sweet when you snuck me a kiss after I rammed into that guy behind you."

A light blush dusted across the tiger's face as she recalled that moment. She was so distracted by multiple bandits attacking her in front that her back was completely open. Po had noticed in time that a wolf was about to attack her blindspot, so he sprinted over and rammed his head into the bandit's side, launching him off the mountain. As thanks, Tigress punched one guy's lights out so she could turn around and plant a sweet kiss on Po's cheek before returning to the action.

It wasn't often that she showed him affection in public, especially on the battlefield (obviously since they're always busy beating people up), but the panda deeply cherished those moments nonetheless.

Tigress chuckled softly. "Yeah, I guess I can be cool sometimes."

Po placed his paw onto hers. "Actually, you're really cool like, ALL the time and you really oughta calm down so the rest of us can have the spotlight for once."

Tigress shuffled closer. "You're just saying that because I'm your favorite."

Po shook his head. "But that's different. Back when I was just a nobody who admired you from afar, I just thought you were cool. Ever since we got to know each other, I know now that that's a fact."

That made Tigress pretty happy. "If only I had initially felt the same towards you," she replied.

Again, Po had to disagree. "Nah, I understood why you felt the way you did, though. Sometimes, I still feel like Oogway made a mistake not choosing you. But that's fate, I guess."

He paused for a moment.

"I honestly hope you didn't feel pressured to like me because of that."

Where did this come from?

This time it was Tigress shaking her head in disagreement. "Listen, Po. I know we didn't start off on the best of terms, but I put that behind me. What I feel for you now is much different from what I felt back then." She moved her paw from Po's to place it on his arm. "You proved to be a valiant warrior who took his work seriously. Everyone is happy to have you around and appreciate all that you do, especially me."

Now Po was the one turning red. "Hey, beating up a snow leopard and a peacock for China's sake is just me doing my duties." he said, followed by a nervous laugh.

"But a proud feat to accomplish, nonetheless," Tigress happily replied.

Po brought his arm around her and rested his cheek upon her head. He will never be over the fact that he had someone like Tigress in his life; he never thought he could be with someone so amazing and loving as her.

"If neither of us where kung fu masters, do you think we would've ever known one another?" Tigress asked.

"Huh?

Tigress shifted her position so they once again made eye contact. "If you were never picked to be the Dragon Warrior, would we have ever had a future together?"

Po pondered her question for a moment. "Well, I can't say I haven't thought about that myself," he replied. "But, I'd like to think of some other way where we still do."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah."

The tiger raised a brow. "Well then, tell me about this 'alternate reality' of yours."

Po laughed. "Well what would happen is, I'll have inherited my dad's restaurant. But then maybe one day, you'd stroll in as the new face around town checking out the place. You'd think that my noodle shop would be really….what's that word Shifu likes to use? Quaint? Admirable? I dunno. Anyways you'd come in and take a seat and I'd accidentally pour noodle soup on myself because I saw you come in and was distracted by how beautiful you are."

Tigress blushed again. She knew the panda was a real sweet talker, but when it came to complimenting her he sure knew how to make her heart skip a beat.

"We'd both figure it out from there, but….either way I know meeting you was no accident," Po continued. "I mean, that's what Oogway would tell us if he was still here, am I right?"

Tigress laughed. "I guess you're right."

"Jeez, you two ever gonna shut up?

Both Po and Tigress jumped up from the sudden unknown voice. Po looked around frantically for the source. "Who was that?!" Po yelled.

"The room next to you, big guy!"

Oh yeah.

Monkey and Mantis were on the other side of the wall.

Mantis continued his complaining. "You two are so lovey-dovey it's gross," he said, followed by a cackle from Monkey.

"Shouldn't you be focused on losing even more to Monkey in your game?" Tigress snapped. Po could've sworn he heard a chorus of "OOOOOOOOOOOHHH's" from far away.

"Sh-shut up!"

Monkey laughed one more time, followed by angry grumbling and then there was silence.

"Heh, who spat in his noodle soup, right?" Po commented.

"Probably your father since Mantis sometimes forgets to leave a tip whenever he goes to the restaurant," Tigress replied.

They shared a laugh as they resumed their position in bed cuddled next to each other. The sudden excitement had managed to tire them out.

"Welp, better get to snoozin' before Shifu comes over and yells at us for acting like kids, or whatever," Po said before leaving a kiss on Tigress' forehead. "Night, babe."

Tigress responded to the panda's loving display by burying her face into his fuzzy chest. "Good night, Po" she muttered as she drifted into slumber.

—

"I don't know how those two make it work, but they do."

"They sure look really happy with each other."

Crane sighed. "I get that you were immediately supportive of Po and Tigress, but they are on two completely different wavelengths."

"Opposites attract, you know!" Viper replied. "Besides, weren't you in love with a girl who had a completely different personality from you?"

Crane looked away. "Mei Ling isn't THAT different."

Viper shook her head. "You're just thinking about all this too hard. Love's weird. Now get back to sleep."

"You're not getting out of this that easily, I'm not going back to sleep until I figure this out."

Viper groaned.

—

In the morning, Shifu wondered why in Oogway's name were his students so groggy.