Hello. This is a Kames fic. It is slash. It is fiction. None of this is real.

Warnings: AU (alternate universe). M/M.

Summary: Logan throws a masquerade themed Halloween party. Kendall attends and meets JD (James). How much fun can Kendall have when he doesn't have to be himself and everything is hidden behind a black mask?

Note: Kendall, James, Carlos and Logan are all around 25 in this fic and Katie is 21. Again, this is AU. Please enjoy.

It all began with an invitation to Logan's Halloween Masquerade Bash. Kendall was unenthused at first. Parties weren't really his cup of tea. But it was Logan's party, and it would be rude of him not to at least show up for a few minutes to say hello. Also, he wouldn't have to do extensive costume shopping since the Masquerade theme really only required you be well dressed and have a mask. For close to a month Kendall was on the fence about attending the party, until Carlos called him up the day before the event to ask him what he was wearing.

"Uh," Kendall stalled. He couldn't say 'I'm not going' because that would be rude, but he also couldn't say he didn't have his clothes picked out because that would make it seem like he wasn't prepared at all. "Slacks and a black button up," he said hoping his black button up still fit.

"What color slacks?" Carlos asked.

"Black." Kendall knew he had black slacks to wear, but was still not sure on the shirt situation. He got up from his couch and went to his room to check for it.

"Awesome. I'm wearing a blue shirt and Logan said he's probably going classic white. We won't accidentally match."

"God forbid if we did," Kendall muttered, pushing aside clothes on the floor of his closet. The rack broke weeks ago and the clothes all fell to the floor in one massive heap. He hadn't been bothered to cleaning it up yet.

"Are you looking through your clothes?" Carlos asked, a hint of a smile in his voice.

Kendall bit his lip and pulled his black button up from the mess of clothes. "Nope, just doing laundry," he lied rolling his eyes.

"Sure. See you tomorrow night, well, if you recognize me."

"What?"

Carlos laughed exuberantly, "Did you read the invite? It's a Masquerade party, so you have to wear a mask. The entire time."

Kendall groaned, he'd definitely missed that part of the invite, "Great."

"See you tomorrow," with that Carlos hung up and Kendall tossed his phone onto his bed.

The party was in full swing by the time Kendall arrived. Luckily his shirt still fit fine, although it was a bit tighter across the chest than he last remembered. He had picked up a mask at a craft store, it too was black, like the rest of his ensemble. He wasn't going for the whole mystery man or Zorro look, black just looked good on him. And the craft store had two options of masks, pink or black. So of course he chose black.

Music blared from the speakers in the main room of Logan's house and there were people everywhere, at least 50 or more that Kendall could see, and everyone had on a mask. Kendall didn't recognize anybody at all. Although that might have been the point.

Logan crossed the main room turned dance floor, to meet Kendall by the door. His mask was pushed up into his hair. "Hey, glad you could make it! Carlos is already here, his mask is dark blue with feathers on the top if you want to find him."

"I'll keep that in mind. Aren't you supposed to be wearing your mask?" Kendall laughed touching the thin black plastic propped up on Logan's forehead.

"I'm the host, have to greet people and let them know which one I am."

"Of course. Who's all here?"

Logan shrugged an looked around, "I invited close to a hundred people and I've greeted so many I can't remember who's who anymore. I know Kelly is here somewhere and Katie arrived a few minutes ago."

"Katie's here? My little sister?" Kendall asked glancing around at the masked party goers.

"Dude, she's 21, she'll be fine, she's my friend too remember?"

Kendal gave Logan a playful shove, "Yeah, I keep forgetting she's not a kid anymore."

"Go have fun, I've got people to greet, see you around," Logan said as he began to move behind Kendall to greet a girl in a green cocktail dress as she entered the front door.

Kendall got a beer from the kitchen and settled himself down on a free stool near the breakfast bar. Not too many people were lingering in the kitchen, mostly just those who wanted a drink or needed a break from dancing but didn't want to go out to the pool. Kendall surveyed the people who came in and out of the kitchen with very little luck identifying any of them. At one point he thought he might have seen Katie, but the girl's hair was far too long and a shade too dark. Although it could have been Katie, Kendall hadn't seen her in over 4 months since he now lived in LA and she lived in Bakersfield.

"Are you gonna sit in here all night?" a voice asked close to his right ear. He hadn't noticed anyone come in.

Kendall turned his head with a polite smile and said, "I might."

"You shouldn't. It's fun out there, you can act like a totally different person and nobody would know who you are."

"I'm sure."

The strange man laid a hand on Kendall's shoulder, "Dance with me."

Kendall laughed, "I don't dance. Not my forte."

"I'll teach you," the stranger said grabbing Kendall's hands and pulling him from the stool. Kendall went willingly with the stranger, thinking all the while that he'd definitely had too many beers if he was letting this guy lead him out on to the dance floor to embarrass himself.

The guy was taller than him, but only slightly. He wore a short sleeve black v-neck tee with black slacks, no belt. As far as 'dress nice' went, this was probably 'casual formal' and stressing on casual. He looked great though. His arms were tan and so was his collar and face. Kendall had a hard time deciding if the man was tanned or if this was closer to his natural skin tone. It looked natural either way. The stranger had dark brown hair that was swept back from his face and pushed haphazardly up on his head, as if it were styled at first but he had run his hand through it at some point.

"I'm-" Kendall began but the stranger cut him off with a hand to his mouth.

"No names. Not real names any way."

Kendall smiled beneath the stranger's hand, "Alright. What should I call myself, I don't have a nickname or anything."

The stranger smiled a bright white, perfect smile and said, "Call me JD. You can be Blonde?"

Kendall shook his head, "No way. Just call me….Capitan."

"Is that a title of yours?" JD asked smirking.

Kendall shrugged, "Sort of."

JD grinned and put his arm around Kendall's neck, "Come on, sway with me, Capitan."

"I thought we were dancing," Kendall mused, falling into rhythm with JD.

"We are. Did want to start you out with a waltz."

"Do you even know how to waltz?"

JD moved a few steps closer to Kendall, making their situation much more intimate, "I know how to do much more than waltz."

"Are you coming on to me?" Kendall asked.

JD laughed and pulled him over to the stairs away from the rest of the people dancing and mingling on the floor. He moved his hands to Kendall's waist and leaned his forehead against Kendall's. "Is this okay? You don't seem to be resisting."

"No, it's fine," Kendall paused to look at JD's mouth and lick his own lip subconsciously, "It's not what I usually do, but I'm not going to be myself tonight, like you said."

"I like that," JD muttered pushing his mouth forward a bit to brush against Kendall's. He pulled back just enough so he could see Kendall's reaction.

Kendall was smiling and looking up to see JD's reaction, he noticed the eyes beneath the mask were the prettiest hazel brown he'd seen in a long time. "Again?"

"As you wish, Capitan," JD smirked, pushing his mouth against Kendall's again, this time more pressure. Kendall brought his arms up around JD's neck and deepened the kiss by running his tongue over JD's bottom lip. He tasted like coffee with a bite of alcohol that left a slight bitter taste on his tongue. This was definitely not how Kendall acted at a party, but that didn't matter, because tonight, he wasn't Kendall.