Mon-El had become so used to strange and odd and the unexplainable that when he was paired with another man at Speed Dating, he wasn’t even fazed. In fact, he thought it was pretty hilarious. Now, how Ezra felt about it was to be determined. The other man was bigger than him. Not that that ever concerned him. Mon-El was nearly indestructible and if another guy ever attacked him deep down he did feel like the other man deserved the pain of trying to attack the Daxamite.
Sitting down across from Ezra, Mon-El chuckled with amusement. “Hey, my name is Mon-El. I like food, long walks on the beach, and dogs,” he joked. Between having spent his own time in a future and the turmoil of that time, and having been married to Imra for political purposes, he had changed considerably. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t joke around from time to time.
Ezra damn well didn’t want to be at this shit, but he was - you know - trying to integrate himself more. Plus, he wasn’t going to get his sister off his back if he didn’t socialize. It wasn’t like he was looking to find someone. He kinda - ya know, it was complicated and didn’t need to be discussed. He was here, it wasn’t to take any advantage, it was to placate his sister, and it wasn’t to abuse his position. That was all that mattered - or something.
So of course Margo had made this as chaotic as fucking possible. No, of course she had. He was going to be having an - whatever, “Yeah, see - I actually… believe you like… beaches and dogs. Probably fluffy, golden ones. The ones that like to fetch.” It was a minor, but very purposefully jabbing observation.
If anyone, it was a good place to meet new friends. Or acquaintances. Or whatever someone was looking for and happened to find it there. Mon-El enjoyed meeting new people, especially in a world where saving the world didn’t feel completely up to him. There were imminent threats, sure, but he felt very confident in the Refugees as a whole.
Mon-El smiled, laughing at Ezra’s jab. “You got me,” he admitted. He truly did like those things, even if it had been a way to joke around and break the ice. “Lemme guess,” he said, giving Ezra a quick once-over, “You like apple pie and have a pet hamster.” Purely jokingly, of course.
This was going to be fucking miserable, wasn’t it? Yeah - it sure as hell was. And not just because Mon-El was… very high energy or because of that pesky little fact he knew that the other man was Kara’s ex. Okay, well, those might have been the big factors but whatever. He deserved the… jokey comeback at least. “I think Emma would eat a hamster.” Even Ezra could admit that his sister’s dog had grown on him. He never would have said no to Jac, but she was a good creature. But he was still pretty sure ‘german shepard’ and ‘hamster’ were a bad mix.
“Blueberry, just for the record.” He said - picking his drink up and taking a hearty swig. Yup, this was fucking weird.
“Who’s Emma?” he asked curiously. He suspected a pet of some kind. He had been around since January, but there was still a lot to learn about. Let alone the sheer number of pets people seemed to have.
“Never would have pegged you as a blueberry guy,” he said with a cheeky grin. Mon-El could eat anything. Sure, he had his preferences, but food was food and you set any kind of food in front of him and he’d eat it.
“Jac’s dog.” Not his dog, not that he didn’t help take care of her sometimes and ya know the occasional walk was nice. Mostly because she was a damn well tempered creature. He’d genuinely never really thought about having a pet before but, admittedly, well - it was Jac’s idea, it could be left at that still.
Making a face he gave Mon-El a weird sort of look, “They’re just blueberries? How do you peg someone as a blueberry guy.” If Ezra had been attempting to make a good impression on Mon-El, if he had ever intended on acting on feelings he was sure as shit not admitting to, he might not have responded as such. But he was Ezra, and here he was.
Mon-El + Thea
Maybe Mon-El would never admit that coming to these on the same nights as Thea had been completely on purpose. Maybe he would at some point. Who knew? Either way, he always hoped they’d get paired up and could chat about anything that didn’t involve work. Just hanging out, having a drink, chatting about whatever came to mind.
With a broad grin, he took a seat across from Thea. It was difficult to hide his sheer joy at being paired with her again. “Fancy meeting you here,” he said cheekily.
Thea only showed up to these things because she knew she’d get shit otherwise. Rose may have come and gone again - but she knew someone would complain that she wasn’t socializing. On the other hand, maybe she should have argued that the CEO shouldn’t be socializing with everyone else - but they weren’t really in a normal situation, were they? Something in her lit up when Mon-El sat down across from her, something that didn’t make her comfortable. Not that it was negative, but just that it was - Thea was, well, Thea was Thea.
Leaning forward, she just decided to go with it (or whatever) for once. Picking up her martini she quietly took a sip as she eyed him, “Oh yeah.” She said as she brought it down from her lips. “Absolute mystery you might be here too.” Shit, who was she even? What the hell was she playing at? What did that even mean? Fuck.
Mon-El would have absolutely texted her saying he missed her at the event had she not shown up. Had they not been paired, he would have also texted with something similar. But here they were. No extra steps tonight.
Beaming, Mon-El set his arms on the table, crossing one over the other. “Hey, it’s a great way to chat with other Refugees you might not otherwise run into on a regular basis,” he pointed out. It was only a tiny fraction of why he actually showed up. Having a man date was unexpected, but he knew how to just go with it.
Thing was, Thea shouldn’t have even been here. Something, something - it was totally unethical to date and or see or or screw people who worked for you and whose lives you could essentially uproot if you felt like it. Thankfully she hadn’t exactly inherited the ‘evil mastermind’ gene, no, just the part of it that made her a little ruthless when people stepped on the feet of those she cared about. Which sort of ended up going either way, didn’t make her a hero, but it sure as hell didn’t make her a villain. It made Thea… complicated. Or maybe that’d really been the bloodlust, not the genes - but she wasn’t questioning it at this point. No, she was just back to overthinking everything. Could have gone without that part of her latent personality showing back up.
Thea’s eyes flicked casually from the way Mon-El changed his stance, back up to his face as he spoke. “And there’s alcohol and Margo’s at least kind enough not to force people to dance… can’t say that graciousness carries over to when Cait’s eggnog is involved.”
So much of who Mon-El was now was thanks to the asshole he had been before. He had been a spoiled, selfish brat and he had Kara and the other’s to thank for his turnaround. It took work to remain on this side of the fence and he knew his triggers, but anyone could relapse.
Raising an eyebrow, he shrugged, “The alcohol is just a nice second to the company.” And then that charming grin of his. “Good thing the eggnog isn’t around,” he laughed.
Spoiled selfish brat was definitely something they shared, not that Thea talked much about those days. Home, let alone who she’d been before Oliver came home let alone for the year or so immediately after, it was a foreign idea. It was inching closer and closer to 14 years now and that just… You could say she didn’t use the Queen name for a reason, and it wasn’t just out of fear - it was out of complete disassociation with who Thea Queen had actually been.
Huffing softly, Thea smirked, “I don’t think any of these little events would survive if they had Cait’s eggnog at it. There’s getting people a little lose to talk and then there’s whatever the fuck that eggnog does to everyone.”