The Stuff of Dreams

Cat's Curiosity

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," Mei said, "So she has a boyfriend, and you think you may have caused something to happen between them. Even though you have no proof whatsoever."

"You know it's strange, Mei."

"I know, but you're jumping to conclusions," The female panda replied to her brother. The panda rolled his eyes, dipping his hand into a bowl of popcorn laid out on the counter.

Wait, popcorn? "What's with the new treats?" Po asked.

"Oh, I switched out the bite-sized cookies for the popcorn. They're less caloric," Mei said. Po rose his eyebrow.

"Why is that important?"

"Well, Mr. Tai-Lung wants to keep himself trim, so I thought why not try and keep my brother and me healthy. You don't like it?"

"It's okay. I was just wondering," Po said. The female panda finished washing the dishes and sat across from her brother. She dipped her hand into the popcorn and ate some as well. "They taste very good. I guess working with Mr. Tai-Lung is helping you learn how to cook better?"

"I'm cooking more nutrient-rich things. He doesn't really have that much of a cultured tongue," Mei quoted in the air.

"I guess, you like working there."

"It's only temporary, Po."

"I know," The panda smirked. Mei shook her head with a huff.

Mei enjoyed the snow leopard's company. He was quiet but still kind, helping Mei cook whenever his traitorous stomach roared. Because Tai-Lung was always watching his physic, Mei's change in cooking resulted in her combing through cookbooks and internet tutorials just to sate the feline's stomach. Tai-Lung's papers were cumbersome at first, but he'd help Mei at the start before she took off editing his papers better than he could! And Mei's light singing while she cooked always made Tai-Lung smile. Even Po noticed Tai-Lung's smile shown more at the class as he quietly hummed the same tune. He didn't know if that was because of Mei's presence, but Po and Crane welcomed the change.

One day, Mei let herself into Tai-Lung's house and started doing the dishes. The snow leopard's house is relatively quiet, something that Mei had to get used to pretty quickly. Every settling pipe and the creak of the wood adjusting to the temperature frightened her at first. She learned to ignore certain sounds... but voices weren't one of them. "Oh, Mei!"

"Wha!" Mei jumped, dropped the plate into the sink, and spun around. "Oh! M-M-M-Mr. Tai-Lung! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay. I was just wondering why the water was running," He replied. Mei's eyes traced down his body; his buff, well-toned, and semi-naked body to be exact. The muscular snow leopard was only in a pair of purple sweatpants. Mei gulped. "Oh, I just came up from the gym."

"I can see that," Mei quickly responded.

"I-I hope I'm not offending you."

"No, no, no," Mei nervously waved off, refocusing on the dishes. "I just... didn't expect you to be this se-.... I mean, up this early."

"Oh," Tai-Lung quickly grabbed a large white T-shirt from the laundry mat downstairs. "Ugh, these things are always shrinking." Mei glanced back. The T-shirt looked like it would rip from the snow leopard's broad shoulders and massive pecs. The panda shook her head. "Is something wrong, Mei?"

"Mr. Tai-Lung could you please leave the kitchen," She mumbled out.

"Excuse me?"

"You're making it hard to focus on my work. I almost broke a plate," Mei said. Tai-Lung stood silent for a moment before he finally connected the dots. He grumbled to himself. Of course, he was distracting her. Anyone with a body like his would-