People Who Matter
"Alright, girlfriend. You and I have a lunch date together and we need to talk about a certain panda," Song grinned widely.
Smirking, Tigress shook her head. She walked with the snow leopard into the elevator when the door, unexpectedly, stopped to let a little serpentine tail in.
"Hey girls, mind if I join you?"
The whole world stopped for a brief moment. The felines glanced at each other as Viper cheerfully 'strolled' inside. Tigress shrugged. Song huffed and crossed her arms as they made their way down to the break room near the lobby. "Oh, I didn't know you guys ate here, too."
"It's not often. Uh, Viper, what made you want to come have lunch with us?" Tigress asked.
The snake rose an eyelid. "What? Can't I have lunch with my friends?"
"That's not what we were saying," Song smiled plastically, "We were just wondering since... you know it's out of character for you." The snow leopard suddenly narrowed her eyes. "Actually, where do you usually have lunch?"
Now Viper's eyes darted around the small break room. She slithered into her chair with a loud enough huff to make Tigress and Song think she was a teenager. "Crane and I usually have lunch together and... well something came up."
"Really? And that's never happened before?" Tigress asked as they sat down.
"No. Ever since he got that promotion, he's had to work a later lunch. I miss him."
"Doesn't he work like two blocks away?" Song murmured. Tigress glared at her, but the snow leopard rolled her eyes. The whole thing did wreak of puppy love.
"Yeah, but still," Viper sighed, fumbling her way through her small lunch bag. "But that's life, I guess."
"You still get to go home with him, you know," Song pointed out. Viper narrowed her usually warm eyes.
"What Song is trying to say is that you don't have to feel totally alone, and we would love to have you with us," Tigress smiled. She glared at the snow leopard again. Song stifled another huff. Having Viper around meant the two couldn't get into their usual goss- informational discussion.
Or so they thought.
Viper glanced between the pouting snow leopard and the 'polite' tiger. She sighed, "Alright, what's going on? You two didn't plan on having me here, did you?"
"Well... no," Song said, "Not because we didn't want you here. It's just... we were going to talk about a... project at Chaotic Studios."
"Oh," Viper's bluish eyes lit up a bit as she slowly slurped her soup. "One of Crane's favorite patients goes there."
"Really?" Tigress asked.
"Yeah, weird but sweet guy. That's what Crane says anyway. He often gets stuff mixed up when he's telling Crane about his vitals," Viper chuckled.
Tigress winced a bit, "Uh, Viper? Are you sure you're supposed to tell us this stuff?"
"I'm not giving you a name, am I? I said nothing to identify him. I do know Crane gets a little annoyed at how hard it is to remove his hoodie."
"PO?!" Song and Tigress exclaimed.
The snake nearly dropped the soup. "Well, there goes confidentiality. Wait, how do you-"
"We know him. Po's been working with us on the project. Wait!" Song's blue eyes lit up like Christmas lights. "Crane is Po's doctor?" A wide grin stretched onto the snow leopard's face.
Viper smirked back, "Well, do I have info that'll get you two talking now?"
Narrowing her eyes, Tigress crossed her arms. "What do you mean?"
"Nothing, nothing."
"Viper, we're not trying to exclude you from anything," Tigress tilted her head. "Have you been feeling that way around us?"
"Well... not... I mean... recently it's been... different," Viper tried to hide her face in the bowl, but the staring felines wouldn't let up.
Song grimaced, "We're sorry, Viper. It's just... a lot has been going on lately and... yes it does revolve around Po... and Tigress."
"What?" Viper and Tigress said.
"Why only me?" Tigress asked.
"You found Po first."
"Because of what you did with Tai Lung."
"Wait, wait, wait," Viper spoke up. She grabbed her bowl, downed it in one go, and quickly placed it into the sink. "Alright, tell me everything about Project Po."
"The project isn't... ugh," Tigress grumbled while the snow leopard smiled from ear to ear.
"Alright, so here's what happened," Song said. She told the snake as much as she could from her side. "So now," Song continued, "We're on the part where Tigress tells me a few things."
"Like what?" Viper asked.
"Yes, like what?" Tigress inquired cautiously.
"Like, what was it like to hug him?"
"What?" the tiger spluttered.
Song held a mischievous grin. "You looked very surprised when he gave you that last hug. Any reason why?"
"Oh, I can answer that," Viper smirked, making the felines' heads snap towards her. "Po is very strong and muscular."
"What? How do you know?" Song asked.
"Crane told me that when Po does get the hoodie off, it always amazes him how much muscle is hidden away," the snake grinned, staring at Tigress's stern yet flustered face. "I can only imagine what it's like being hugged."
"Hmm," Song hummed. The two watched Tigress stare away for a moment before sighing at the loss.
"It's like having a warm thick blanket slowly smother you." She wore a subconscious grin on her face. "I can definitely see why my mother was surprised."
"He's met your mom?" Viper asked incredulously.
"Her mom dated his dad," Song said.
"What?!"
"Song!"
"What? She was going to find out," Song laughed. Tigress groaned. The serpentine co-worker smiled warmly. Her long body settled into the chair.
"This is nice. I don't really get to talk to you guys that much," she said.
"That's probably because we didn't think you wanted to," Song slowly said.
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Well, it's just... you know I'm the schemer and Tigress had practically zero social life before this."
"I managed myself perfectly fine, thank you," Tigress grumbled.
"Yeah, but you didn't really, you know... ask anyone else to come into your life," Song replied. "I have to beg you to come to social events. You still haven't gone out with me for a girls' night out."
Suddenly, Tigress's rolling eyes sharpened. "Wait, what other friends do you have?"
"Tigress!" Song exclaimed while Viper tried to stifle a laugh.
"No, I'm serious. You talk about girls' night out and yet you haven't mentioned any female friends. Who are these other girls that you know because I haven't seen them."
"Uhhh... Viper?"
"Nice try honey," Viper simpered, "But I don't think that'll work."
Song sighed, "Alright, alright, fine. I... don't really have that much of a social group either."
"Really?" Song voicelessly grumbled at the striped feline. "I'm being genuine, Song. The way you pick up guys and talk so carefree? I figured you had plenty of friends," Tigress said.
"There's a difference between knowing a lot of people and being friends with a lot of people."
Tigress's eyes shrunk. "Then why were you so quick to make Po a friend?"
"What? You think I don't know quality when I see it?" Song asked. Tigress and Viper opened their mouths. "And the guys I flirt with do not count. Half of them were for Tigress, the other half were just fun."
"Still... it's a little questionable," Viper replied. Song rolled her eyes and groaned. She found the tiger's amber eyes still on her.
"I don't know," Song shrugged, "After learning what Tai Lung did and learning what Tigress was going through, it just made me realize that... not everything in life can be planned out in some scheme to one-up someone, either to protect people or humiliate your bullies."
Song gazed at the table, interlacing her fingers. Her widening frown coursed worry through the tiger and snake. "I've always had to be smarter or more charming than the other person. And..." She shook her head.
"Song, what's wrong?" Viper asked tenderly.
"It's stupid. It doesn't-"
"Nothing that requires vulnerability is stupid," Viper said slowly. The snake's wisdom only spoke of an experience that neither feline knew about. The snow leopard sighed again. Was she so caught up in her own world that she failed to notice other people's problems?
She looked at her striped friend, pursing her lips a bit. "When I... first met you, Tigress... I wanted to be your friend because I knew you were... better than me."
"I know."
Song's ears perked up. "You knew?"
"Someone as smart as you doesn't just make friends like that in high school," Tigress smirked. "You were more obvious with your tactics back then."
"Then... why keep a sneak like me around?" Song asked.
Tigress's smile grew. "Would you believe me if I said that you were growing on me? That it was nice to have you around when everyone else merely wanted to know about me?"
"Heh, yeah. I get that," Song smiled. "It would explain why you never told me much about your personal life."
"Or anyone else for that matter," Viper murmured.
The tiger squinted, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I don't know. You just seem to have a... survivalist instinct around you. Like you can never really relax," Viper explained.
Tigress thought back to what her mother said.
What her mother taught her.
"Something like that," Tigress glanced at the clock. "Well, I think we need to start heading back to work."
"Not much to do until the test period for Chaotic Studios is done," Song sighed. "Might need to make a few calls." The tiger sighed along with her as her eyes lazily hooked onto the calendar on the wall.
Then Tigress's eyes lit up. She tapped and rummaged through her phone a bit. Song and Viper looked at each other, confused. "Uh... Tigress, are you okay?" Song asked.
"I... am fine," Tigress smiled, "You know what, I think we'll do just that."
"Call people?"
"No, let the test run happen. How long is it supposed to be?"
"It's... entering its mid-way lap," Song explained.
"Great, then I have to make a visit to Mantis," Tigress smiled as she got up from her seat. "Well, this was a nice lunch, ladies, but I have to go."
"Why?" Song asked slowly.
The tiger only widened her smirk. "You'll see later."
Song raised her eyebrow but smirked back. At least she wasn't hiding anything.
Meanwhile, Po stretched his back as he rolled his shoulders. "Ugh break time," he muttered, strolling out of the cold animation lab and over to the lunch hall, he peeked at the map that Monkey adjusted to show the bathrooms. Po smiled. Monkey really did care about organization.
"Po!" Called a familiar friendly voice. "There you are. I just wanted to make sure everything was done before you left for your vacation."
Po rolled his eyes, smiling. "I'd hardly call it a vacation, Monkey. I'm taking a few days off to get my medical stuff in order and see my dad."
"You definitely deserve the rest. But why so long?"
"Uhhh... reasons," Po smiled nervously. He didn't think it was wise to tell him that he wanted the extra time off just to stay away from a computer screen. "Wait, why do you say I need the vacation?"
Monkey shrugged, "Well, you don't really come to the celebration parties much."
"That's because they're usually at Sarah's pool."
"Why's that a problem?"
"I... don't swim?"
Monkey's face fell flatter than a banana peel squished under the buns of a person who slipped on it. "Po."
"I just... don't like people seeing my body."
"Hence the jackets in summer?"
"Yeah," Po grunted. He was getting tired of explaining this to everyone. Admittedly, this was the first time he ever talked to Monkey about it. Most times, Po'd just bow his head and kept things quiet.
Maybe Tigress wasn't the only person changing.
"You know, I didn't like how I looked for a while," Monkey said.
"Really?"
"I had a severe phobia when I was a kid. You remember how I used to always have a lot of belts in college?"
"Uhhh yeah," Po said quickly, "You always had those belts and..."
"And what?" Monkey asked. Po looked around the cross sections of the hallway before whispering.
"Well, I... always thought you had a... kink."
"What?!"
"SHHHH!"
"Po, no! I didn't use those things for or ON anyone else!"
"Alright, alright, my bad. Then why did you have them?"
Monkey sighed, "Because I used to have an irrational fear of my pants falling down."
Po tilted his head left and right before blinking a bunch of times. "I'm... sorry?"
"Yeah, yeah," Monkey huffed, "It confuses everyone. Look, when I was in school, someone pulled my belt off my pants and I was butt naked. Ever since then, I got belts that were very hard to pull off." The simian grimaced, "I had a few... accidents because of that, but it was a small price to pay."
"Whoa, I'm sorry, dude."
"It's alright."
"How did you get over it?"
"Well, I went to a therapist and talked to some friends. It helped a lot. Though it's not the same, I'm just saying is that body dysmorphia is more common than you think."
"I know that Monkey," Po said coldly.
The simian gulped at the tone change. Sensitive subject. Right. "I just don't want my friend suffering from that alone."
"It's not," Po sighed. "It's not that. I'm not... entirely suffering from that."
"Hm?"
"There's a reason why I don't like my body. But it's not like I want to perform surgery or something."
"Have you thought about it?"
"Absolutely not. No. It's the same reason why I don't take steroids."
"Why?"
"I... hate needles," Po grumbled shyly, "Anyway, yeah."
"I'm sorry, Po. Just-"
"I know, I'm not going to get anything done on myself," Po sighed, "Sorry for dumping this personal stuff on you, Monkey."
"Po, personal stuff is a part of you. If anyone rejects that, then they reject you."
"Yeah but-"
"Look, Po. I'm not going to try and solve your problems, but a friend always helps. Friends want you for you, not because of everything else. If everything else changed, they would still want you," Monkey patted the bear on the back. "You're my friend, Po. And friends don't care what you look like."
"But other people-"
"There's a saying," Monkey smiled. "'People who mind, don't matter. People who matter, don't mind.'"
"Yeah... I guess," Po sighed.
"Have a nice vacation, Po. Remember what I said."
"I will... thanks Monkey," Po smiled.
Continued...
A/N: On this day March 8 2024, the Kung Fu Panda For movie was released. Only time will tell how it measures up with all the rest.
Anyway, I hope you're enjoying this story. :D