Don't look at the world with your hands in your pocket. You have to reach out and touch it.

It was the morning after Kara had decided to have Mon-El released into her custody, and two days after he had drunkenly broken a human's arm. Kara and Mon-El were strolling down a small strip mall looking for clothing to buy for Mon-El.

As the mall filled with people, Kara couldn't help but notice that Mon-El was growing tenser by the moment.

"And now?" Kara tilted her head to the side as she studied Mon-El quizzically. "What's wrong?'

"Nothing." Mon-El drawled slowly, turning his attention from the store windows to focus on her.

"No. Something is definitely wrong." She replied, stepping closer to him and peering at his face. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were scared."

Mon-El laughed contemptuously. "Scared of what?" He gestured at the humans strolling past them."These weaklings? You?"

"Hey! I've taken you out before. I could destroy you and this entire building if I wanted to." Kara boasted, her hands slipping onto her hips in her classic Supergirl pose.

Mon-El's eyes darted away as he side-stepped away from her, dodging a mother pushing a baby in a pram. His shoulders slumped and he slipped his hands into his pockets once again.

"Wait! That's it!" Kara all but yelled as she reached out and yanked on his arm, pulling him to a stop. "You've had your hands in your pockets ever since we left my aren't afraid people." Her voice dropped to a whisper that his heightened senses had no trouble catching. "You're afraid of hurting them!"

"Yeah well, you know what happened the last time I was out among them." He muttered tersely.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Kara admonished. "When I signed you into my custody, I did so I could show you how to live safely among humans. It's not like I go around breaking toes anymore. It's just about applying the right pressure and force."

"And how do I know what's right?" He ran his hand through his hair, frustrated by the entire situation. "I can't exactly practice on the humans here. I could end up breaking someone's bones again just greeting them."

"You don't need to. Practice on humans that is." She held out her hand. "Take my hand."

He peered at her over his glasses. "What about not giving people the wrong impression between us? You seemed pretty determined to make sure the people at the DEO didn't think there was something going on between a Daxamite and a Kryptonian."

"That's not what I meant. I have nothing against you being a Daxamite."

"Liar." Mon-El whispered.

"I"m not lying!" Kara sighed heavily and looked around. "It was because James was hanging around, okay?"

"Oh, sure. It's not people you're worried about. It's Jimmy Olsen that you don't want to give the wrong impression to." He nodded thoughtfully. "I wonder why?"

"Okay, fine. Jimmy and I used to date, but things didn't work out between us. And it wasn't too long ago that we ended things."

"Date?" Mon-El's face scrunched up in confusion. "I don't understand that."

"Oh gosh." Kara flushed pink. "I would have thought that Win covered this when he explained "babe" to you."

Mon-El shook his head.

Fidgeting with the hem of her pink shirt, she explained, "To date is to have, um romantic intentions for someone and you go out together to… test the depth and compatibility of those feelings."

A snort of laughter brought her up short.

"Win explained the concept to me. Also it wasn't that difficult to figure out that the two of you had a history. What I don't understand is why you are care about wrong impressions. Did he end the relationship with you?"

"No, I did." Kara said softly. "I just don't want to hurt him. I think he was really upset by the whole break up."

"Kara, a little advice, from a Daxamite to a Kryptonian. The last thing that a man wants is for a women who ended things with him to feel sorry for him. He doesn't want to feel more pathetic than he already does" He grinned. "And on that note," He reached for her hand. "How does this feel?"

Kara glanced down their joined hands for a moment before answering, "That feels pleasant to me, so you need to reduce your strength by at least half."

His hand shifted slightly in hers, as he tried to weaken his grip.

"A little more." She coaxed. "That's it!"

Mon-El tugged slightly on her hand. "Let's keep walking. I think I have it but I want to see if I can maintain this pressure while I do something else. This is going to take practice." He angled himself to look at her while he walked. "I think this is going to take lots of practice."

Nodding, Kara fell into step with him, completely missing the leer that played around his lips. "It took me awhile to get it right, as well. I used to practice on my sister." She leaned in towards him. "Between you and me, I think that's why Alex has such a high pain threshold. She had to endure my desperate attempts to learn how to hug people without harming them."

The leer vanished. His hand tightened in response to the loneliness he heard in her voice and while he was sure that it was too much force for a human to handle, Kara said nothing.

So he held her hand for a while longer.

Author's note: If you got this far, thank you reading, because it means that it wasn't that wretched (I hope).

It has literally been ages since I have written anything that wasn't work or university related. This was my attempt to get my feet wet again with a short story that popped into my head a couple weeks ago. I'd like to keep writing for this couple so constructive criticism is welcomed, particularly when it come to re-establishing my sense of flow.