Hiya, I'm new to this area of writing Blacklist Fanfiction. I was writing another fandom but gave up as uninterested but I have become a new fan of the Blacklist and have gobbled it up greedily in one go. This is my first attempt at writing a BL story, and its not going to follow the show very well. It will contain an underage romance between a young Elizabeth and older Red (but he will be in his mid thirties in this, and Elizabeth will be seventeen.)
I don't know what will be thought of it, but if it is something that you would be interested in more of, it would be appreciated to know. English isn't my first language also, to be warned. So I apologize if anything is amiss.
Bad Desire
Fake 10 dollar, 1 dollar and 100 dollars notes were splayed out all around the coffee table. Elizabeth sat with her father, Sam, as they got ready to play Monopoly. It had quickly become their Wednesday night ritual, the only time Sam felt comfortable allowing Elizabeth to stay up late, seeing as every other night was mostly important school nights.
That morning, he had attended a parent teacher meeting, where her English teacher had commented on how reserved and shy his seventeen year old daughter had seemed in personality, with not putting her hand up or contributing much in class. At home, now, Sam found it hard to believe.
Shy or reserved was the very last thing he would have referred to his Butterball as, particularly as she sat on her knees beside where he sat in his regular armchair, concentrating on kicking his butt on each latest game. Every time they played, Sam had quickly learned how much of a winning, competitive streak she had; Their Monopoly games tended to escalate, to the point where Elizabeth would be giggling in victory at having stolen a property Sam had secretly intended to buy in the board game when his turn came.
On this particularly day, after making sure Elizabeth had completed her homework and study, they brought out the board game, setting up the cards. It was a usual quiet night, aside from the television that was going softly in the background. Elizabeth was sorting out the bank notes in their usual methodical order- from highest, to lowest- when they both heard a knock on the front door. They shared a confused look then both broke out into a chuckle. Interruptions at this time of the night were not frequent.
"Think I heard someone at the door," Sam sighed, leaning back in his chair, setting his feet to stand. "How about you keep on setting up ready for our game while I go check and see who it is, Butterball?"
Elizabeth murmured in agreement affably as she stood on her knees, resuming with placing all the cards in their appropriate places on the board while her father left the room.
Hoisting the frayed strap of the bag over his shoulder, the man approached the fairly large Nebraskan house by going up the extended driveway. It had been close to eleven years since he had last visited his old friend Sam's house; a moment he thought of very often, though the time lapse and how quickly the time had flown became only discernible now.
Weeks ago, the man had arrived back into the country after travelling to various locations over the months after having pulled out of the US Naval Academy. He had spent several more months abroad, building a syndicate of contacts that consisted of high-end thieves, spies, drug dealers, human traffickers, and arms dealers.
He knew it was dangerous returning to Sam, especially when he had been ranked Number 4 on the FBI's Most Wanted, yet he had nowhere else to go, nowhere safe to rest and take a break awhile.
He had run out of options since returning to the States. Sam's place was the last resort and he had decided Nebraska would be more settling, for the time being.
He wasn't sure how his old friend was going to react to his unexpected, surprise drop-in on his doorstep. He only intended to stay for a short while, about a week or two at the very most, just until he got settled on his feet and knew what to do next. A part of him was excited to see Sam again. A part of him was even more excited at the idea of seeing the little girl inside the house that he hadn't seen since she was a mere child of four.
Ascending the front steps of the house, Red hadn't even planned to bother knocking until it occurred to him how impolite it may have been considered of him. He brought himself to knock, chewing his cheek as he heard footsteps from inside descending on him.
"Who is it?" He heard Sam call briskly through the door first without opening it.
He rolled his eyes, shaking his head in amusement at Sam. This suspicious behavior did not surprise him.
"Sam, it's me. Red," he called back, waiting for the response.
He heard it unlock, various metal bolts and chains sliding through slats, and then the door creaked halfway open. Sam stood there, looking out at him, speechless.
He looked at the man who stood literally at his doorstep, unprepared for his reemergence into his life. Immediately, he slipped quietly and carefully out the front door, closing it halfway with a cautious look through the crack in the doorway to ensure Elizabeth was nowhere within earshot. Sam's arms were quick to embrace the man; the two remaining in a joyful embrace as they laughed, thumping each other on the back.
"What are you doing here, Ray? You're putting me in an incredibly risky situation here."
"I'm sorry, Sam, I know. But I had nowhere else to go. I was hoping I could stay here for awhile, on the down low. For a week, at the most, until I can get comfortably back onto my feet again. Where is she?" Sam automatically knew who it was he was referring to.
"She's inside in the living room, setting up for our game. It's Wednesday, our Monopoly night." Sam was unsure how clued-in Elizabeth was, as far as the current affairs on the news were concerned. They made it a habit of watching the evening news every night, though Elizabeth seemed far more interested reading or doing her studies and homework than to pay proper attention. "I can't say your real name, and I know that. What is it then?" Sam was familiar with protocol, consulting on whether he wanted to go by alias or not.
"Kenneth, just Kenneth Rathers for now," Red told him as Sam stood aside, inviting him in.
"We have a guest bedroom upstairs. Liz just uses it from time to time when she does her homework on the computer. You can stay up there until you feel ready to leave. Of course, just don't remain here idle for too long otherwise Butterball will start paying attention."
"Butterball?" Red repeated gently with a smirk as he pushed his way inside, following Sam down a narrow hallway while he slid the strap of his bag off his shoulder.
He hadn't heard such a term before, and found himself uncertain of whom it was Sam was referring to exactly.
"Liz. It's just a little nickname I've become fond of calling her over the years." Sam cleared his throat. "Butterball, we've got a visitor staying with us for a week or two," he called out to her from where she was in the living room. "He's an old close friend, one that I don't see very often. Don't give him too much trouble."
Red continued following Sam towards the living room, a heart-racing sensation filling him.
As Sam walked into the living room, disappearing out of sight, Red stopped and paused still just by the wall for a second, inhaling in deeply to calm himself. He hadn't planned on seeing her again, particularly not so soon. He hadn't wanted to interfere with her life and the way Sam did things, though he admitted to a certain sense of curiosity to see how she was doing and how much she had changed within the eleven years.
Swinging his bag to the ground and sitting it at his feet, he gained enough courage to enter into the living room, glancing around. His eyes immediately found the girl first, he felt his eyes go wide as saucers, and he had to do a double-check to make sure it was really her.
Within the eleven years of having last come across the girl as he dropped her off to Sam, she had grown and changed so much. No longer a scraggly, crying little thing, she was taller now, full grown.
Look how much you've changed over the years, he wanted to tell her just at the sight of her. Sam truly has done splendidly over the years with you, hasn't he, despite his initial fears to be a father to a child?
Red had been of some assistance in helping Sam raise the girl also, over the years, though they kept the matters clandestine. Ever since he had dropped her off at Sam's, he figured it was the least he could do to help his friend with the unexpected burden he had laid onto him. Monthly, he put money into Sam's bank account to help provide for the girl; Some of the money in which Sam had put into another account for Elizabeth's college funds or to support whichever it was she eventually chose to do in life.
"Butterball, this is my old friend from back in the day when we were in school. His name is Kenneth Rathers," Sam introduced, tearing Red's gaze away from the girl at once. "We were old high school buddies."
He felt his ears burn with embarrassment when the girl turned her attention from deciding which token on the Monopoly game she wanted to play with to look at him.
She couldn't have been more than eighteen years old now, though judging by her looks, she looked maturer, older than what she no doubt was. All he knew, was that for such a young girl she had attractive features. No doubt, when she was older, she'd be a real sight in her mid-twenties
It occurred to him that he was stuck standing frozen in the entryway of the living room, hands slung halfway in his trench coat pockets as he stared at her.
"Kenneth, this is my girl Elizabeth. Liz, I've agreed to allow Kenneth to stay here with us for awhile, if that's all right?"
"Just for a short while," Red forced himself to speak, his throat tightening when the girl gazed up at him again from the board, a slow smile coming across his lips.
Her eyes. Her eyes were still the same somehow as they had been the night he found her. Still so clear and blue.
Elizabeth looked up at her father's friend, this Kenneth Rathers, who was apparently to be staying over for a couple of weeks in the house, then she found she had to do a double-take. It was a man; a man with light brown hair and a bulky black trench coat on. Elizabeth caught sight of his face as he stepped slowly more into the room, the light illuminating all of his features better.
She found she couldn't look away.
He had a dreamy, warm tan complexion, as if he had been holidaying recently in exotic locations, and the most piercing, greenest eyes she had ever seen.
He was, without a doubt, the most attractive man she thought she had ever laid eyes on; more so than any other older men she had seen recently. Immediately, in her mind, she placed him high up there on a pedestal.
She had grown quite fond of Leonardo Di Caprio and a few other male celebrities that were popular on in her gossip magazines, the ones she read with her friends, as well as one boy she was currently crushing on in high school, but her hormone induced sense already desired him above all else. She had always felt that gaining the attention of a man older would be exciting and intense, and it was probably her private reason why she found older men so desirable. Older men were unattainable, so much better than all the boys at her high school, more cultured and well-mannered, therefore that gave them instant appeal.
Suddenly aware that she was practically swooning over her dad's old friend, she quickly glanced away, fiddling with the tokens in the box, afraid her dad or him would notice.
She quickly decided on the hat token while choosing the ship token for her dad- the one he usually often frequented during their games- and she noticed how flustered she felt as she placed both tokens on the starting point on the board.
She pretended to keep busy with shuffling out their banks notes again, playing banker, while conversation resumed between her father and the man that was still standing in the entryway to the living room, and as if she wasn't already infatuated enough just by the older man's mere appearance, every time Kenneth spoke, how his mild voice sounded, slightly deeper and richer as he pronounced certain words, it made her cheeks burn despite them not even talking about anything pertaining to her.
"Hold on for a second," she heard her father say, standing from his chair again. "I've just got to make a quick bathroom run and then we can get this game going. You sit down, Kenneth. Make yourself at home." Sam patted him on the shoulder before he raced down the hallway towards the bathroom.
Red found himself glancing at the girl again before he accepted Sam's invitation, stepping hesitantly more into the living room. He found it difficult to remove his eyes from her as he sunk down into the chair next to the one Sam had previously been sitting in.
He rested both hands on the armrests, plucking at the old fabric with his thumbs as he lifted a leg, crossing it over the other, bouncing his shoe around. Something about being in her presence made him feel on alert and anxious.
In his mind, he was finding it increasingly hard to reassemble and connect the dots; Here she was, the very same girl he had come across as a four year old. Just by merely looking at her, he could see that night play across in his mind so vividly. He could still hear her piercing cries as she screamed, the way the house had reeked of smoke.
Over the eleven or so years, she had grown so much. And, for a young girl her age, she had such a rather... enticing appearance. Her features were in full blossom, beginning to reveal the woman she was now on the edge of becoming. He could just imagine what must happen to her at school. Boys her age must fuss and fawn over her all the time.
Elizabeth was finding it unbearable. Sam had left her alone with this man, and it had fallen unnervingly quiet in the room between them, aside from the hum of the TV in the background. She found it hard to concentrate on counting an equal distribution of the money between herself and her father. She could feel the man's gaze burning into the side of her face all the way from where he sat.
She lifted her eyes to look at him, discovered him watching her with his head tilted, and then she lost her nerve, glancing back down at the notes in front of her quickly on the board. Why was he staring? Then she realized the probable reason why belatedly.
"Oh, you can play too if you want," she offered hesitantly, her cheeks feeling as if they were burning crimson. "I'll just need to sort out your bank money, too."
She looked at him again questioningly, but he noticed the look was fleeting. She felt shy, hence why she couldn't seem to stand looking at him for too long. It was so incredibly endearing of her. "No, thank you," he said quietly, smiling to himself. "I haven't played that game in years."
"Well, you'll pick it up easily? Monopoly isn't exactly the hardest game in the world to play."
He made himself more comfortable by putting his leg down and stretching them both out longways, which he noticed she saw. He found her so unfathomably fascinating.
"I do remember, when I was around your age, I played Monopoly with this girl that I really liked in my grade. Barbara Walton, I believe her name was, and she was... beautiful. Beautiful yet scheming."
He didn't know why he was telling her, but her inviting him to play had made him feel wistful and reminiscent. He caught that he was speaking in low tones, as if he was worried Sam may overhear, as if he was telling her a secret.
"I couldn't understand why at the time but each time I excused myself to go to the bathroom or to get a drink, every time I came back my bank notes seemed to get increasingly smaller and smaller." He laughed to himself, relieved when she peered at him to show him she was still following before glancing away again. "As it turned out, dear Barbara had taken all my money without me knowing. Sneaky Barbara was cheating."
He tongued around the inside of his cheek, adding without thought, "When the game finished and she was high on her victory, one thing led to another and my hand crept higher and higher up her skirt. And guess what of all things came billowing out from the side of her panties?" He completely forgot who he was talking to and just what he was saying, when he went on mirthfully, "Barbara had tucked all my Monopoly playing money away into her panties."
Red wasn't sure what reaction he was expecting to get out of her. Maybe he wanted to hear what her laugh sounded like, but he did not get that in response. What he simply got, was a rather awkward smile from her that showed gleaming, straight teeth. Too late, his mind acknowledged how inappropriate it was to say such a thing to a girl her age, and being as young as she was, an exquisite blush rose on Elizabeth's cheeks.
When her father returned back into the room, Kenneth and him returned to their conversations as Sam sat back into his chair. It became apparent that Sam was not in the right frame-set to play Monopoly with her tonight so Elizabeth began packing away quickly, though she found it yet again hard to concentrate.
Kenneth's story stuck with her and she felt completely blinded by anything else but his presence. She began to fear that her behavior and her body language would give her away, so she started stashing everything back inside the box as quickly and neatly as she could. Hastily, she folded the board back up, tucking it into its box.
"I... I better go to bed now," she whispered, glancing just briefly at the new man in the living room once more before darting out of the room.
Red watched her rush past him with arched brows, worrying for a moment that perhaps he had put his foot in it tremendously by saying the wrong thing in telling her the story of Barbara Walton in high school and the rather delightfully devious and cunning way she had tricked him whilst playing Monopoly. He glanced at Sam, who waved a hand in the air, dismissing the girl's behavior.
"Don't worry about her. I think she's just in a huff because we didn't play Monopoly tonight like usual."
So this was the 1st chapter. English is not my usual language and I am not sure if this will be of interest, but I would very much like to know. Please do be kind on me.