Rating: K+

prompt:

Person A wants to compare hand sizes with person B, but ends up holding their hand instead and saying "Wow! you're hands fit into mine perfectly!". B is very confused flustered XD

summary:

Tigress is numb to the bone. Po is curious. Who knew a single thought could lead to a new experience? (bad summary lol, takes place in the canon movies between 2 and 3)


Po and Tigress were in the kitchen, quietly eating. Well, at least, one of them was trying to keep quiet. Po was fidgeting in his seat, obviously bored. He let his mind wander to many things he could think about, he would try to start small talk with Tigress, but knowing her she would just stick to the peace and quiet, so he kept his thoughts to himself.

Then he let his mind run away with him as he thought about Tigress. Nothing really new to him honestly, he's actually surprised and impressed with himself that he was able to go through days without only thinking of the feline right next to him. He didn't realise he was staring for too long until Tigress muttered, oh so calmly, "Some people don't like being stared at while they're eating," before taking a bite from her stir-fried tofu.

Po jumped a bit in his seat and rubbed the back of his neck with a cheeky smile, "Hehe, sorry."

You would think that was the end of it, and they certainly though so too, that is until Po started his senseless thinking again. He thought about how Tigress was always so in control of herself and her surroundings, that she was able to sense Po staring at her without so much of a glance! He guessed it was from her hardcore training. Then he thought about when he called her hardcore on their way to Gongmen city, after she told him about punching iron wood trees. He stared at her paws. He wandered how it must've felt to be Tigress at that moment, having to experience so much pain in her life that she wanted to shut out all emotions completely by punching trees for 20 years. Were they really numb? Was she really as hardcore as people believed? Or was she just like everyone else, vulnerable, and just hides behind walls of cold-stone to protect herself? And what did her paw feel like? He knew how Tigress would always place it on his shoulder, or just find any excuse to touch him, but what did it feel like to actually hold her hand? How would it fit? Po's paw was already etched to her own without him being able to stop himself.

Before he knew it, their fingers brushed against each other before Tigress snatched it away, feeling heat all over her face, "W-what are you doing?" She stuttered, trying to calm herself.

Po shrugged, "I was just wondering about your paw, sorry, did I make you uncomfortable?"

"N-no you just... startled me.." She looked down at her plate, thankful that her orange fur was able to cover her red cheeks. The panda held out his paw with a genuine smile that held nothing but pure innocence, "May I?"

Tigress was hesitant, but from the pure look on his face, she unconsciously obliged and gave Po her paw. He faced the 2 paws upwards and placed their palms against each other. Suddenly he interlocked their fingers and smiled brightly, "Whoa! Your paw fits into mine perfectly!"

Her face was so hot, not even her fur could cover it up! She was shocked, flustered, and confused! Shocked because she did not expect the panda to literally hold her hand! Flustered because she knows how over affectionate and compassionate Po can be, but for him to give her that affection put Tigress in a frenzy. No one has ever dared to go that far, but he did, and that mixed with his admittedly adorable face beaming at her in excitement made her insides turn in ways she never thought they could. And confused, because... no one has ever made her feel this way before. She knew that his presence affected her greatly, if what happened at Gongmen didn't make it clear, but even if her paws were numb, unfeeling, hardcore... they still felt his paw holding them. They still caused the many sparks of emotions to soar through her body. Was this what feeling was? It was something completely new to her, and the most confusing thing about it was... she liked it. She liked this feeling, even though she didn't know what it was, or why she did.

Po, concerned to see his friend zoned out, waved a paw over her face, "Uh, Ti? Mortal realm to Tigress? You okay?"

Tigress darts her eyes away from their intertwined fingers to meet his jaded ones. "Huh? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine..." She took her hand away and looked into her plate. Po titled his head in confusion, before shrugging again and looking out the window. He had his arms crossed against the wood on the table, and soon it was Tigress' turn to stare at his hands.

She slowly reached her paw out and placed it over his. Po jumped and turned back to Tigress who seemed to want to look at anything else but him, while spotting some blush on her face. "Could you... um... do that again..?"

Po cocked up an eyebrow, his brain trying to wrap his head around her offer. "What? Like... hold your hand?"

Tigress simply nodded. The panda smiled and did what she asked by taking his paw in her and interlocking their fingers again, before looking back at the window as if it was normal for him. Tigress grins to herself and continues to eat her tofu, feeling an unknown warmth wash over her. She took a piece of tofu in her mouth, thinking to herself, 'So this is what feeling is like..' She could definitely get used to this.


~~This is DEFINITELY better than the last chapter -.-' I'm glad you guys liked the last chapter, but I couldn't help but cringe at it a little. I'm not a fan of the nicknames as much either, but I do like "Ying-yang cub" and "Kitten". I just thought it would be rarely used, but it's still there! the only nickname I can surpass is when Po calls Tigress "Ti" UwU. anyways, this chapter is pretty good in my opinion, what do y'all think?

also, my offer still stands! if y'all want to request any prompts that you guys got from tumblr, I'm all ears! Yarart OUT! XP~~