Dream
"I Dreamed of Po Last Night."
"Hey, Po? I dream about him stealing my cookies all the time!" "Just the other day, I dreamed Shifu was scolding us again..." But when they realized these words had come from Tigress’ mouth, time seemed to freeze. Crane’s teacup tilted, spilling tea across the table; Mantis’ chopsticks hovered midair, his dumpling plopping back into the bowl; Monkey kept his eating posture, but his jaw stopped moving.
Only Viper reacted first, her eyes curving into crescents: "Oh?"
Every gaze instantly snapped toward Po—after all, it was usually this panda who would cheerfully announce, "I dreamed about Tigress last night!" while Tigress would silently turn and walk away.
Po’s chopsticks clattered onto the table. He scrambled to pick them up. "Huh? Oh! Uh… these dumplings are really good today, hahaha!" He laughed nervously, shoving two into his mouth at once.
Tigress frowned slightly. "Aren’t you curious what I dreamed?"
"Cough—cough—!" Po choked, pounding his chest. Monkey swiftly handed him tea, and he gulped it down before gasping, "O-of course I’m curious! But dreams are just… y’know… like how I always dream I can fly, but then I wake up and realize I just rolled off the bed—"
"Having wings is convenient," Crane remarked smoothly, dabbing at his tea-dampened feathers with clear implication.
The next few days, the Five’s morning training became unusually lively.
"Notice something?" Mantis whispered. "Po served Tigress noodles this morning—piled so high they nearly spilled."
"Yesterday, I saw him sneakily replace her water flask with a new one."
"The night before, someone left calming tea outside her room."
Monkey smirked. "And used lightfoot to tiptoe in, terrified of waking her."
"Hey…" Viper tried to interject, but the gossip-hungry group was too absorbed.
"You all…"
Tigress’ voice cut in from behind. The four "detectives" stiffened.
"We—we were discussing new techniques!" Mantis blurted, snapping upright.
"Yeah! That, uh…"
Tigress crossed her arms. "Really? Then demonstrate. Now."
They exchanged panicked looks before Crane blurted, "Actually, we were just… wondering why Po’s been acting so strange lately."
"Right, right!" Mantis jumped in. "He’s been weird these past few days!"
Tigress sighed. "So you’ve been stalking him?"
"It’s not stalking," Monkey said slyly. "It’s concern for a fellow warrior."
Viper finally giggled. "Maybe… Tigress, you could just ask him?"
At dusk, Tigress found Po lost in thought under the sacred peach tree, petals dusting his shoulders unnoticed.
"Po."
He startled, turning with sunset still warm in his eyes. "Tigress? You—"
"I should be asking you that." She sat beside him. "These past few days. Why?"
Po looked down, fingers idly tracing fallen petals. "I just…"
"Was it because of that dream?"
Petals spiraled softly between them. Po’s ears slowly turned pink. He lifted his head, sunlight glowing in his eyes.
"I just…" His voice was quiet. "You dreamed about me."
Tigress blinked. "And?"
"And—!" Po’s grin broke free, hands waving excitedly. "You dreamed about me! Usually it’s me dreaming about you, but this time—this time it was you! That means—!"
He froze mid-gesture, as if biting his tongue.
"Means what?"
Po’s flustered stammering made something click in Tigress. She reached over, brushing petals from his shoulder—her touch uncharacteristically gentle.
"Let’s go back." She stood, walking downhill, murmuring almost inaudibly:
"I dream of you often."
Po gaped. By the time he jolted up, she was nearly swallowed by twilight. "Wait! Tigress, you never told me what you dreamed!"
She paused, sunset gilding her silhouette. Watching him stumble after her, her lips curved faintly.
"Next time… dream something cool, and I’ll tell you."
-End-