AN: (Cross-posted on AO3)
It's been a bit, hasn't it! Sorry about that, time kinda got away from me for a while there. The days have been seeming to blur more and more in this pandemic of ours. My writer's block has been exponentially worsening, but that's not really an excuse. I'll definitely try to post more often, but I can't make any promises.
This story is unlike (most of) my others as it takes place during a movie instead of before or after. I doubt I'll be doing many more in-between-scenes works, but we'll see.
And finally; yes, I'm back to writing angst. I can't seem to stay away from it, but I know how tiring constant angst can get, so I'm going to try really hard to mix up my content enough so that it's not boring to read.
DURING-KFP3
"They are ready." Po stated in a low tone, staring out at the field of training pandas with pride.
Observing the unorthodox, to say the least, scene, Tigress questioned in a rather condescending and disbelieving tone, "What?"
Taking his eyes off of his temporary students, Po turned to his best friend; who, he couldn't help but notice, had a baby panda hanging off of her right shoulder, staring at Tigress with huge, adoring eyes. He had half a mind to tell Tigress how endearing the whole situation was, but pushed away the urge. It would probably get her irritated, and that wasn't something that Po could handle at the moment; not with what he had to tell her.
"They're ready." Po repeated, his signature crooked smile taking over his previously stern expression. However, this time, it seemed to hold something else behind it. His jade eyes glowing with enthusiasm and hope, he said, "They're ready to fight Kai."
"Are they?" Tigress asked, her vision switching back and forth from the crowd of pandas to her best friend, who continued to grin as if he'd already won the battle.
"Yes." He replied in a happy whisper; there was no hint of concern or unsureness in his words, and he hadn't hesitated at all in giving her an answer. "I'm one hundred percent sure."
A moment of thoughtful eye contact ensued, before Tigress muttered softly, "I hope you're right about this." Giving a curt nod, she turned to leave, a giggling Lei Lei still draped over her right shoulder.
"Hold on," Po's left hand shot out from behind his body, grasping Tigress' left arm at the elbow joint. He'd grabbed her a little firmer than how he'd intended, and softened his grip immediately. He saw her head turn the slightest bit, but the rest of her body didn't move. With a bit of caution, he slowly slid his hand down her forearm, his palm and fingers brushing against the golden silk of her hanfu. As he felt their hands touch, he curled his fingers around hers, simultaneously pulling himself closer to her. As he did so, he heard her breathing hitch slightly, which confused him somewhat. "I need to tell you something…and I'm not sure you're gonna like it."
Tigress' uncharacteristically quiet response could hardly be heard over the waterfall that flowed over the cliff behind them, but it was audible. She said, "I'm not trying to diminish your abilities, Po, I trust that you know what you're doing."
With a somewhat forced, short laugh, Po replied, "Thank you, Tigress, but that's not it."
Tinges of anxiety began to creep into Tigress' chest, and she took a deep breath in a mostly unsuccessful attempt to calm herself. She couldn't care less about her and Po's physical closeness; ever since Gongmen, they'd had a rather touchy friendship. What made her uncomfortable was the way he was stalling; he was nervous to tell her what was on his mind, which in turn, naturally made her nervous as well.
"Then, if I may ask, what is it?" Tigress asked, trying her best to maintain her usual monotone voice. Inwardly, however, she was panicking; why wouldn't she like what he had to say? Why was he so apprehensive in telling her? A painfully dreadful moment of silence followed, and Tigress began to run through the possibilities of what Po was about to say in her mind. Knowing Po, he would say the right thing at the wrong time; whatever that may be.
"I don't want you out there," He finally muttered. "It's too dangerous this time. When Kai arrives, I want you to go up to my dad's hut and stay there with Lei Lei until we're done." He'd said it quickly and quietly, staring at the back of Tigress' head with worried eyes.
As soon as his words registered in her brain, Tigress' head whipped around to look in Po's direction, her eyes widened in sheer disbelief. "You're kidding!" She exclaimed incredulously, practically ripping her hand out of Po's as she did so. "Do you even hear yourself right now? Or did the mountain air get to your head?"
"Actually, now that you mention it, I was feeling a little lightheaded earlier-" Po stopped when he saw Tigress' angry stare. "That was rhetorical, huh?" He murmured, rubbing the back of his neck with his now empty left hand. He sighed at himself and the situation at hand, regaining his serious expression. "Look, I can't have you getting turned into a jombie. There'd be no way for me to make sure that you're safe if I'm both beating up jade minions and trying to catch Kai off guard."
"I'm not your responsibility, and you're surely not my protector! If anything, I'm protecting you!" Tigress' voice was rising with every word, her tone growing more and more harsh. As she practically shouted at him, Po lowered his green eyes to the ground. "Po, you need me!"
"Yes. I do." Po stated, nodding with each phrase. He looked up from the ground to meet her flaming hot eyes, which were narrowed in orange anger. "Which is why I need you to be okay."
"I meant in the fight!" Tigress groaned, her rage momentarily fizzled into exasperation as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"Maybe I do." Po admitted with a shrug. "I probably do, as a matter of fact. But there's no way I'm gonna put your life on the line."
"My life doesn't matter right now!" Tigress retorted, her anger returning. "What matters is the safety of China. That's all that has ever mattered; we've been over this." She hissed.
The two were facing each other now; Po had his arms folded loosely across his chest while Tigress copied his position, though much more irritated and tense.
"Maybe to you, but not to me." Po took a step toward Tigress, their forearms almost bumping into each other. Leaning toward her slightly, just enough to make the action noticeable, he said, "Wait, hold on; given the choice between keeping me from getting killed or letting me accompany you on a mission in which my presence could be of assistance in defeating a threat to China, which one would you pick?" He asked. Leaning away from Tigress again, he added, "Let me rephrase; which one did you pick?"
Tigress had to use every ounce of willpower in her body to keep her jaw from dropping open. For what felt to be forever she simply stared at Po, who was returning the stare with one of the blankest expressions she'd ever seen on him. There was another feeling hiding behind that emotionless look, but it was impossible to tell what that feeling was.
"That's not fair." It was all Tigress could bring herself to say in response.
"I think it's pretty fair." Po countered within a second. His eyes were quickly diverted to the ground as he heard something move, and he sighed lightly as his jade eyes found Lei Lei, who was sitting by Tigress' foot, seemingly not paying attention to Po and Tigress' argument. He didn't even bother to wonder how she'd gotten down there while he and Tigress were distracted.
"She's probably hungry." Tigress murmured solemnly. "C'mon, Lei Lei, let's go get something to eat, huh?" Lei Lei nodded excitedly and quickly, bouncing up and down on her toes, clutching her action figure as she did so.
"Tigress." Po closed his eyes briefly, then reopened them to see Tigress holding Lei Lei in her arms. "I don't want to sound morbid, but I'm fighting Kai tomorrow and I don't want what could possibly be my last night with you to be spent with us fighting."
With a sigh, Tigress stepped closer to Po; close enough for him to be able to feel her breath on his neck, saying, "We'd better hope that your plan works tomorrow, then."
Lei Lei was silent as Tigress turned away from Po and began to briskly walk away, attempting a quick escape from the tense scene. The tiger, however, was only able to distance herself from Po by just over a few yards before his voice refilled the air.
"Tigress." Po repeated; more purposefully and firmly this time.
With a sharp sigh of sheer irritancy, Tigress put Lei Lei back on the ground, saying, "I'll be right back." The toddler nodded quickly, immediately sitting down in the soft grass, entertaining herself with her action figure.
With heavy footsteps, Tigress approached Po again, grabbing him roughly by his upper arm and practically dragging him away from Lei Lei. While the two were standing away from the baby panda so that she wouldn't have to hear their oncoming argument, they made sure that she was still in their line of vision at all times. With an ironwood tree acting partly as a shield to Lei Lei, Tigress let go and rubbed her temples. "What?" She muttered.
"I don't want to argue." Po simply stated. "I just want to have fun with my best friend tonight. And I can't really do that if you're mad at me."
"Then let me help you!" Tigress nearly begged.
"No!"
"Why?!"
"Because I love you!"
Their sudden outburst of raw emotion was brought to a sudden halt, and the air was once again silent. Po, realizing his error, sighed heavily at himself and looked to the side. Despite her immense confusion and shock, Tigress' face softened as she saw Po beginning to blink rapidly as his shoulder muscles visibly tensed.
"Po, it's okay," She whispered, putting a hand on his left shoulder. "It's okay, don't get upset."
"Yeah; the thing is it's not okay," Much to Tigress' surprise, Po brushed her hand off of his shoulder, laughing uncharacteristically cynically as he did so. "I'm not really supposed to." His voice broke as he spoke, only boosting his level of embarrassment.
After observing Po's saddened expression for a few moments, Tigress breathed, "Neither am I," When Po looked back to her, Tigress added, "But I do."
The tension in the air was increasing with every second. Po found himself entranced in her gaze, unable to tear his jade eyes away from her fiery orange ones. It was almost as if he were frozen in time, doing nothing but staring at her. He took this time to observe her face; the way her stripes caressed her gorgeous eyes, the small dots resting on her forehead, the beautiful contrast of gold against black and orange. A small, nervous smile played at his facial features while his heart felt as if it were about to beat out of his chest; it's rhythm growing louder and louder with every second. Upon seeing the edges of Tigress' mouth rise into a shy smirk that would be invisible to anyone else, he almost melted. A soft and affectionate laugh escaped his mouth, his shoulders moving slightly as he did so.
Po's expression changed from soft and comfortable to exasperated when he heard a familiar voice shout, "Po! Po, son, where did you go?"
"Oh shoot," Po cleared his throat, "I have to go see my dad. Goose dad." He added the last part for clarification, looking around for his adoptive father. Glancing at Tigress again, he chuckled lightly, a result of his nervousness.
"If Lei Lei wasn't hungry before, she certainly is now." Tigress commented, clearing her throat as well. She broke eye contact with Po to look at the toddler, who was still playing in the lush grass.
"Yeah," Po agreed.
With a nod and a final smile, Tigress made her way toward Lei Lei, who was overjoyed to see her. Picking up the baby panda, Po saw Tigress chuckle out of genuine happiness. He leaned against the ironwood tree, sighing in contentedness.
As Po watched his best friend leave with Lei Lei, he thought of two things;
Tigress was definitely going to take part in the battle, and there was nothing that he could do or say to change that; he might as well start writing her into the plan. Besides, it'd be kind of hypocritical to keep her from what she was good at; especially in this situation.
The burning sense of regret that he'd been feeling in telling her that she couldn't fight was still strong, but the new and strange sensation of senseless happiness and pure joy was much stronger.
AN: This story was written earlier this year, and it was finished on January 3rd. It was actually the first thing I wrote in 2021, and it's been sitting in my drafts doing nothing. I just figured that I'd post it because I couldn't think of anything new to write because of my exponentially worsening writer's block.
I absolutely loved writing this, and I really hope that you all liked reading it!
In original drafts, Po and Tigress left their conversation on bad terms, but my goal with this story was to make it seem like it could fit in between scenes in the movie. If Po and Tigress had left a conversation on bad terms, Po would've been a lot more stressed during his planning and wouldn't have been nearly as content and confident as he appeared to be in the movie.
Po and Tigress' argument was actually kind of fun to write, despite how it was supposed to be a more serious work. They strike me as the kind of people who'd rather just get uncomfortably close to each other while arguing to see who will back down first rather than keeping their distance. It may be just me who thinks that, but I don't know.
Please leave a review if you saw anything that you think needs to be fixed in my writing for the future, and have an awesome day! I hope you're all well. :)