"Okay...alright...inner peace...yeah! Inner peace."
The Dragon Warrior repeated the little mantra softly to himself over and over, accompanied by the obligatory deep breaths of meditation and focus, as he marched onward to his father's noodle shop. Other than a relatively anxious mind and the barest truths of his heart, he carried nothing along with him today.
It was a very important day for Master Po, you see, as in only a few more moments' time, he would be braving the greatest precipice of his entire twenty years of life on earth thus far. Or at least...one that sure felt like it.
Which was precisely why the panda had chosen to take his journey at such an early hour, when the valley would be nice and quiet, and most importantly, when Dragon Warrior Noodles & Tofu would be nice and empty. Being the early bird he was, of course, Mr. Ping would no doubt be awake, already preparing for the coming lunch time - the perfect opportunity for his son's plans to be realized.
As Po grew nearer and nearer to the shop's entrance, so did his nervous heart beat faster.
And when he finally arrived, wide-eyed and finger-fiddling, all he could do not to turn right back around was remind himself why he was there in the first place.
I can't keep hiding this from him... He's my dad... He's the most important person in my life...and the only one who still doesn't know.
He needs to know. He's gotta know.
"Alright," he said with another deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment before he stopped his fidgeting, and lowered his arms down to rest at his sides. Then he affirmed his next step. "I got this."
After the words, Po opened his eyes up again with a renewed air of peace. Though his confidence in the coming situation may have remained a little shaken, fearlessness was his weapon of choice. So without anymore hesitation, he stepped forth into the unknown, holding onto the faith alone that everything would be okay, and nothing could ever come between the bond he and his dad shared.
Mr. Ping nearly jumped out of his feathers at the sight of his son approaching.
"Po!? What are you doing here so early?" he exclaimed in wondrous curiosity. The goose dropped his lunch preparations and hurried out to the restaurant area to meet him with a warm, cuddly embrace. He stifled a giggle before he continued, "Not that I mind, of course!"
Po chuckled softly as he hugged his father back. "Hey, Dad. Sorry to interrupt your morning..."
"No, no, no! It's always a pleasure to see you, Son!" he immediately retorted, but stopped shortly at the recognition of the timidity with which his son had spoken. Mr. Ping instinctively looked up to meet Po's gaze. Po quickly returned the gaze with a rather awkward grin. After a few seconds of silence, the bird raised his brow in question. "Is...something wrong?"
Po clamped his mouth shut at the words, averting wide eyes as he held onto his next breath. Then he released it with a heavy sigh, and tried to answer his dad. "Not...wrong, but...I do have something I need to talk to you about. Something...kind of important."
Though a worried glint passed in his own eyes, Mr. Ping quickly shook it away in favor of staying strong to comfort his son. He looked around the area before taking a couple hops over to the nearest restaurant table and patting the wooden surface gently.
"Come sit down, and tell me everything," he said.
The panda blinked. He then softened as his father settled down on one end of the table and met his nervous gaze with a welcoming smile. Taking another breath, he too looked around just to make sure the restaurant was still empty (despite knowing full well that they weren't open yet), and then bravely, he joined Mr. Ping.
They sat on opposite ends of the table in silence for a good moment. Po kept his gaze down, trying his best to hide the warmth he felt growing in his cheeks, as he scraped at his mind for just the right words to say. When the silence only continued, Mr. Ping could do little else to keep his own concern at bay.
Carefully, he reached his wing further over the tabletop, and softly inquired, "Son?"
Po flinched ever so slightly, thoughts interrupted; but he then took a decidedly deep breath, and lifted his face up again to meet his father's worry-riddled eyes.
"Dad," he boldly sighed his response. "I'm gay."
Ping blinked in surprise.
Though all too quickly, his son would realize that while the goose was indeed taken aback by the spilled information, his reasons for being so weren't quite the ones he had anticipated. Mr. Ping opened his mouth to speak, but instead averted his gaze, before melting into a sigh of his own.
"Oh, Po," he breathed through a gentle laugh. He lowered his head down in attempts to stifle the laugh further, shaking it a bit.
The Dragon Warrior, on the other hand, was speechless, wide-eyed, and arguably even more taken aback than he'd imagined his father being at the news he'd just given. He nearly choked on his next words. "Dad, why are you laughing!?"
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Mr. Ping raised his wings up and out in front of himself as he desperately tried to regain his composure, and looked back up to his son with a very repentant smile. "I know it must have taken a lot of courage for you to come tell me this, but, son, I, I know you're gay."
Dumbfounded, the panda's jaw dropped even further. "Wh-What!?" he coughed. "When- H-How long have you known!?"
The bird clamped his beak shut and bashfully averted his gaze. He then softened into a much gentler smile, and made eye contact once more before nudging his head in the direction of the kitchen, and standing up from his seat at the table to relocate their conversation.
"Come with me," he said.
Po readily obliged, well determined to get the answer to his question, even if he had no idea what could possibly be relevant in their home. Once they were inside and upstairs in Ping's room, the bird looked around in thoughtful scrutiny, obviously searching for something.
"Now where did I put those...hmmm," he mumbled quietly to himself as he went digging through the belongings that rested in various places. Po watched attentively as he continued hunting around, and finally stopped to voice a triumphant "ahah!" before turning to face him with a handful of scrappy-looking papers.
The panda tilted his head, eyes blinking wide at the sight of them; he couldn't put his finger on it, but something about the colorfully tacky state of the papers felt incredibly familiar to him. Mr. Ping smiled warmly before directing his attention down again. As he waddled closer to his son, he flipped through the papers, until he paused to slip one out from the stack. For just a second, he gazed at it lovingly, and then passed it over to his son.
And in somewhat of a doting tone, he said, "I'm sure you remember Qing Yuan?"
Po almost couldn't believe his eyes at the sight of the messy little artwork he now held in his hands after so many years long forgotten. It was one of his very own, and very first childhood drawings, featuring himself, and his very first childhood crush - a pangolin named Qing Yuan, who probably hadn't even remembered Po's name after that one year they'd had together in the same class - holding hands.
He began in amazement. "I...I do! Qing Yuan, my..."
"First love?" Ping finished the statement with a cheesy grin.
Suddenly blushing furiously, Po coughed, choking on his next words. "I-It wasn't like that, he...he barely knew I existed." The bear kept his gaze locked on the sloppy masterpiece of his passionate, young heart for a moment more, along with the memories that accompanied it. He then breathed a rather nostalgic sigh, and bashfully looked away as he held the drawing back out to his dad.
"Well, that sure never stopped you from talking about him all the hours of the day," Mr. Ping replied with a giggle. He too looked on at his son's baby-crush art for another short, forlorn moment. Then he continued, "Or any of those other boys you liked so much."
Po softened sheepishly, a tinge of pink still coating his cheeks. "I guess it was kinda obvious then, huh?"
"When you were that age, yes - all you ever wanted to do was hold hands with boys!" the bird sighed, shaking his head knowingly before he smiled back up at his son. "It was really quite cute. Then one day, when you got a little older, you stopped being so open about your crushes. I...probably should have said something, but...I didn't want you to feel like you had to talk to me about it if you weren't ready to."
"So...you didn't mind?" Po blinked, emerald eyes wide with wonder.
His father lifted his wings in a shrug before answering matter-of-factly, "Of course not! What good would 'minding' do? Liking boys never changed the fact that you were my perfect little son! Always so sweet and helpful! Especially with noodles!"
At such words, Po could have melted right on the spot.
"Aw, Dad," he shakily sighed, speechless for a moment as he fought against the stinging shimmer that now formed in his eyes. He stifled a laugh. "I... This is... Wow, I, I don't even know what to say. You're...amazing."
"I try," the goose replied. "Now come here, my Xiao Po! No tears today!"
Mr. Ping wrapped his son up in a tight, feathery hug, to which the bear cuddled into more than happily, squeezing him back. Po lifted his father up off the floor to hold onto the embrace a moment longer; he finished with another contented breath of air before he lowered him down again, and proceeded to wipe the mist from his eyes.
"Alright! I must get back to my kitchen duties!" Ping then said. As he headed back downstairs, he turned to Po in question. "Is there anything else you needed to talk about, Son?"
Po shook his head no and followed after his father down to the kitchen and restaurant. Mr. Ping immediately went to setting up his big broth pot, but not without also continuing his next endeavor of insatiable curiosity. He said, "Then if you don't mind, now that we can finally talk about these things, I have one little question for you."
Quickly, the panda moved in to help with the broth pot, as he wanted nothing more right now than to show his immense appreciation for having the best dad in the whole universe ever.
"Yeah? What is it?" he asked.
With a rather smarmy smile, Mr. Ping narrowed his eyes, and edged closer to whisper his next reply to his son. "...Is the monkey your boyfriend?"
Po froze.
Eyes wide and cheeks red, he only stared down at the pot for a moment of complete and unexpected shock. Then he blinked, and lifted his gaze up to meet his father's, mouth agape. Until finally, he sighed out a nervous laugh. "Okay. So, I guess you know everything!"
"Well, I did raise you," the goose shrugged. "Aaaand to be honest, subtlety has never been one of your strongest traits."
Po slumped into a rather sheepish frown at the words. "So I've heard. A lot."
Mr. Ping then chuckled, and almost apologetically, lifted a wing to give his son a few loving pats to the arm. He looked away for a few seconds before continuing with a new proposition.
"Tell you what. How about you stay for a bit? If you can, of course. We'll cook together like old times, and you can tell me all about your monkeyfriend! ...It's been so many years since I've gotten to hear you talk about the boys you like," he said with another, much softer laugh as he melted into a wistful smile.
In slight surprise, Po blinked again. But quickly, he returned the smile with a bashfully thankful one of his own. It was getting hard to imagine himself any more blessed than he was now, what with the life of his dreams, inner peace, the best partner he could ask for, and...a dad who was more than happy to be a part of all of it. He couldn't have refused the offer if he'd wanted to.
He replied, "Y'know...I think I will."
Notes:
Post-KFP2.
This one has been in my head for a long time, and I'm super happy it's finally done! Hopefully some of those questions from chapter 5 are answered now. Inner peace goes a long way. ;)
Enjoy, my friends!