Po felt like complete and utter hell.

"Ughhhhh…" He moaned before dipping his head into the bucket once again.

Now that the effects of the cheap rice wine were beginning to wear off a little bit, Po began to seriously regret ever letting Monkey and Mantis take him out drinking for his twenty-fifth birthday. The wine had tasted horrible, the Hall of Warriors was currently being trashed by his friends, and as for himself, he was too busy fighting the urge to throw up to join them. Despite all his regretting, Po was still wasted. And he knew it.

Between heaves, he was laughing at all that had happened during their very eventful night… like when Crane plucked off all his head feathers to impress old friend Mei Ling… when Mantis proposed to the nice lady mantis named Anming… when Monkey got conked on the head by a mace… when that baby elephant stuck its trunk down the back of Tigress's vest in search of noodles…

"What… a… night!" Po yelled to no-one in particular, waving an empty bottle in the air. Then he quickly turned back to the empty bucket.

A few seconds passed.

Po didn't throw up.

Yet.

Knock, knock!

Po lifted his head to look at his bedroom door.

"I haven't puked yet!" He called. "It's safe to come in for now!"

After a moment, the door slowly opened, and Tigress's head poked through the small gap.

"Hi, Po." She said.

"Hey, Tigress!" Po sat up a little straighter, embarrassed that she had seen him hunched over the bucket like an alcoholic.

Tigress hesitated, then entered the room and sat down beside the panda. Judging from her even steps, she was beginning to sober up a little bit too.

"You'd been gone a long time." She said. "I managed to summon enough sanity to check up on you. Are you alright?"

"This bucket is still empty, if that's what you mean." Po muttered.

"I'm sorry that baby elephant sat on you." Tigress replied.

"Hey, it wasn't your fault." Po scowled a little at the very recent memory. "I was trying to pull him away from you, I fell backwards… and the rest is pretty self-explanatory…" He mumbled the last seven words.

"It is my fault!" Tigress retorted. Po jumped a little at her sudden mood change. "I should have gotten my head together instead of just sitting there screaming!"

"Hey, easy!"

"I don't deserve to be a warrior!" Tigress clenched her paws into fists, making gouges in the wooden floor with her claws. "It was my duty to keep you idiots in line and I ended up getting really drunk and now I've become the biggest idiot of them all!"

"You're not an idiot!" Po replied soothingly and inched a little closer to her on the bed. "You're just a little drunk and it's making you act weird. Besides, out of all of us you've done the least amount of damage. You're still awesome, Tigress. You always have been."

Tigress looked up at him and they locked eyes.

"After all I've done to you since you came to the Jade Palace, you really think that?" she asked incredulously.

Po nodded with missing a heartbeat.

Tigress blinked once… twice… then suddenly leaned forward and pressed her lips to his.

Po's eyes bulged and he instinctively lifted his paws to her shoulders. He thought he heard the sound of a paint brush at the door, but was too preoccupied with a certain feline to take much notice.

Po's heart was racing, his paws gently pushing at Tigress's shoulders while his still alcohol-ridden mind screamed at him to take the sudden opportunity. In the end, the small part of his brain that had sobered up won, and he push enough for their lips to part. Tigress opened her eyes and locked them with Po's. She looked just as shocked as he was.

"Tigress…" Po said after a long silence. "Exactly how much did you drink?"

"Just ten itty bitty bottles." She replied with a blush.

"Maybe we should sleep off the rest of the wine." Po said, then quickly added. "In our own rooms."

"You're right…" Tigress said. She seemed about to say more when a trio of very wasted kung fu masters suddenly burst into the room.

"There you guys are!" Crane yelled, looking like a lanky vulture with a hat. "We're gonna crash the training hall! Wanna come?"

Before either Po or Tigress could refuse, what little soberness they had retreated to the backs of their heads, and the wasted panda and tiger followed their friends through the ruined corridor of the student barracks.