Author's Note: Monty did a card trick for .002 seconds in an episode. My thoughts on how he learned it.
Mount Weather wasn't much different than the skybox on the Ark, the food was way better and there was a single large dorm instead of individual cells, but after a few days the feeling of being confined was just the same as being in the skybox. They couldn't go outside, they saw the same few dozen people day in and day out, and there were precious few ways to pass the time.
The upside was that they weren't in any immediate danger. Monty glanced around the room and almost smiled at the delinquents. He'd gotten to know them much better in Mount Weather. No struggle to survive. No guard duty or hunting trips or radio-building to split people into smaller groups. Everyone talked to everyone because talking was just about the only thing they could do in the mountain. Talking or giving blood transfusions to Dr. Tsing.
"Yo, you still playing?" A low voice pulled Monty back to Earth.
"Yeah," Monty blinked heavily at the cards in his hands, trying to remember what game he was playing. He glanced at Miller guiltily, "Um... got any fours?"
"We're playing Texas Hold 'Em," Miller raised a judgmental eyebrow, but his mouth twitched into a little smirk.
"Sorry," Monty muttered softly and cast a quick look around the dorm at the rest of the 48. He knew every single one of their names. He knew which of them were born on Agro station, Mecha station, Tesla, Alpha, Factory. He'd gotten to know each one of them very well over the last few weeks. Monty had never had a lot of friends, just Jasper, and wasn't used to the sheer amount of human interaction. He hadn't been able to find a quiet moment alone in weeks, and he could only handle so much reminiscing over the Ark before he needed some quiet. Apparently Miller wasn't a big fan of long conversations either, because recently he'd been teaching Monty card games. They could play for hours without really saying much and it was a welcome reprieve for them both.
"You're really not paying attention to the game today," Miller's voice again grounded Monty, and he pulled his eyes back to the young man in front of him. Miller held a hand up and waved it, looking silly for a single moment before a card magically appeared between his fingers. Miller smiled proudly at Monty's look of shocked confusion, "Now you see it," He chuckled, waved his hand again, and the card was gone.
"How'd you do that?" Monty sat up straighter and had to stop himself from grabbing Miller's hand to inspect for the disappearing card.
"Sleight of hand. Good skill for a thief," Miller shrugged nonchalantly and turned his attention to shuffling the card deck.
"But how'd you do it?" Monty set his own cards down, completely giving up on whatever game they'd been playing.
"My dad taught me, actually," Miller's eyes stayed focused on the cards. He cleared his throat, "I could teach you," He glanced up with a slightly wicked grin.
Monty couldn't help but return the smile and nod enthusiastically. Magic tricks. Miller was turning into a never-ending puzzle lately. It wasn't that long ago when Miller seemed like nothing more than Bellamy's grumpy lieutenant. Though Miller was still pretty grumpy a lot of the time he was also witty, caring, brave, and surprisingly good at making people feel better with just a silent nod of encouragement or a sarcastic comment. Miller was becoming less pissed-off glaring and more fun, and fun was something to cherish inside Mount Weather.
"Okay, you try," Miller handed Monty a card from the table, and Monty did his best to imitate the swift hand movement Miller had shown him. The card slipped from Monty's grasp and made a graceful swoop through the air nearly smacking Miller in the face, "That sucked," Miller laughed.
"Sorry," Monty didn't look sorry at all, his face spread into an amused smile as he picked another card and tried again. He glanced at Miller, whose eyes flickered away almost as soon as Monty looked at him. Something about it made Monty smile even wider.
"Hold it like this," Miller leaned forward and carefully readjusted Monty's hold on the card, his face covered in an uncharacteristically goofy smile.
"Okay," Monty tried the motion again, and again the card went flying.
"You're terrible at this, Green," Miller shook his head and handed Monty another card.
"Give me a week and I'll be better than you," Monty furrowed his eyebrows in concentration.
"Probably, but for now you suck," Miller crossed his arms in front of him and leaned back in his seat; content to watch the mayhem as the third card hit the floor.
"This is impossible," Monty huffed in exasperation, and Miller chuckled unhelpfully.
"HOLY COW YOU TWO ENOUGH WITH THE SEX-EYES!" Harper shouted from the top bunk of a nearby bed and buried her face into her pillow, "Just bang already."
Another card went flying.