Title: Bad Idea

Category: The Blacklist

Characters: Meera Malik; Tom Keen; Elizabeth Keen; Raymond Reddington

Summary: Meera's date goes missing at a Halloween, she finds him in a rather compromising state. Resslik AU.

Disclaimer: The Blacklist and all things related are property of Jon Bokenkamp and NBC.

It was a bad idea she told herself. A car crash waiting to happen, but she found herself asking anyway and Donald practically fell over his spot on the bleachers to accept the invitation to join her at Kerri Sullivan's Halloween party. Meera told herself she would have a good time with Donald now that the asking bit was over and the not so subtle suggestion that she liked him was out in the open. They were mingling instead of dancing awkwardly around each other while Liz Keen tried to set them up.

They arrived late, but the party appeared to thriving regardless. It was hardly her first time at a party like this, but they weren't her favorite kind of gathering. Being the perceptive guy that he was, Donald guided her out of the thick of the crowd and they hung around on the balcony in the open air, grousing about tests.

That was fifteen minutes ago. She and a couple stragglers were the only people standing on the balcony. Meera was likely the only person looking for her sort-of-boyfriend, though.

Shimmying her way back into the room, she kept her head up and browsed across the heads bouncing up and down to the music pounding against her eardrums. Edging out of the crowd she spotted the faux bearded Tom Keen the Wizard, turning in a half circle. Readjusting the stethoscope around her neck she continued to move through the crowd until she reached him. Tom did a double take, surprised to see her. "Meera, hey," He said.

"Hi, have you seen Ressler?"

"I dunno. What's he look like?"

"How do you mean?"

"I mean, what's he wearing?"

"Oh. He's dressed like Tom Cruise," She clarified.

Tom cast a weary glance over the crowd. "That's about half the guys at this party if they're not assassins." He paused, looking down at himself. "Or Gandalf."

Unfortunately, Meera thought to herself. "Right, well, can you let me know if you see him?" She asked.

"Can you tell me when you see Liz?"

"You lost her?"

"She said she had to use the bathroom. That was twenty minutes ago," He explained. "I can't find her."

"As soon as I see her, I'll text you," She nodded.

Tom grinned. "Then we got a deal, Dr. Malik," He extended his hand, presently covered by the long blue sleeve. Meera gripped the tips of his fingers and shook his hand before departing.

Wandering through a house crowded with a student body she barely recognized or knew from other classes, should've told Meera right off that she would run into problems. Donald was tall, though, he should've stuck out like a sore thumb in his briefs.

Letting Ressler wander off in his underwear was as a bad an idea, but she figured he'd be back sooner than a half hour.

She soldiered her way through crowd that stood shoulder to shoulder, content to gyrate and grind against each other in a drunken haze. Shimmying her way out of the house, Meera wished she'd chosen to wear her long sleeve shirt under her blue one. The front stairs' railing was absolutely sticky from spilled soft drinks, alcohol (at least she hoped that was booze) and gum. The lawn was crowded with people wandering aimlessly or partaking in some asinine drinking ritual. Meera cut across the yard and moved toward the garage entrance.

The cotton candy colored tutu and candy cane costume exiting the garage caught her eye. She recognized Tom's girlfriend, Elizabeth, right off, but the giant erection of a walking candy cane wearing shades she didn't. Elizabeth didn't seem to notice her, she was too busy giggling, folding up what looked like a flag.

"Keen," She said. Elizabeth looked away from the shaded individual with a smile. "Hi, Meera, how are you?"

"I'm fine, missing date notwithstanding," Meera replied. "Who's your friend?"

"Raymond, a friend from out of town," The candy cane with shades extended his hand to her.

Meera shook his hand. "Speaking of dates… Tom's looking for you."

"Is he?"

"Yeah, he's still in the house."

"I'll go see if he's still there," Elizabeth said as she tugged the candy cane with shades off toward the house.

"Lovely meeting you, Meera," The candy cane named Raymond called over his shoulder as he was pulled away from the garage.

"Likewise, I guess," Meera nodded distractedly in his direction before proceeding. She ducked underneath the garage door as a freckled back fell against the generator across from her and the grimiest pair underwear she'd ever seen.

"Ressler?!"

To his credit he had the decency to look shocked. Fruitless as covering his penis with his hands was, he did it anyway and did her eyes the favor of obscuring his underwear (mostly). "Meera, Hey," He said. "This is not what it looks like."

"It's not? What happened to your shirt?" Meera asked. "Or your microphone for that matter?"

Donald shrugged sheepishly, shifting on his feet like a criminal ready to spring for the nearest opportunity to freedom. "Keen ran off with them," He replied, cringing as her eyebrows furrowed. Meera's reaction was stuck somewhere between angry, suspicious and the slow, but steady realization of what just occurred.

"Elizabeth Keen ran off with half your costume?"

He nodded.

The "flag" in her hands was not a flag after all, she thought. "Not that I'm against your being without a shirt, but… should I ask what led to this, or—-?"

"It was a dare," He said, smiling nervously. "It involved streaking."

"A dare?"

"Yeah, I lost."

"…Okay," She smiled. "You never struck me as the type."

"Yeah, well, if you stick around, I might surprise you," Donald grinned.

FIN.