Author's Note: This is my submission for The Masquerade Challenge. It's the first of two installments. (Tentatively...we know how that goes!) The pairing is Reid/Prentiss, and the costume I was assigned was Cupid.

Thank-you for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

~Angie

Emily Prentiss took her credit card back from the clerk at the costume shop, and then waited as the young woman went to retrieve the ensemble that would transform her into Lady Gaga. When the young woman returned, Emily took the garment bag and raced to her car.

Reid's annual Halloween soiree was tonight, and some members of the team had agreed to show up. Last year the event had been a bust with only three people in attendance. Reid, ever the all hallows eve enthusiast, had been devastated, wondering what was wrong with today's world that even Halloween was being forsaken. The team had taken it upon themselves to restore his faith this year.

Determined to get herself in the mood for tonight, she cranked the radio and began singing along with 'Bad Romance.' The great thing about singing along in the car was that one…no one was there to hear how horrible you sounded, and two…you could turn the music up loud enough to fool even yourself into thinking you had an amazing voice.

A few minutes later, she pulled into Penelope's driveway and cut the engine, then made her way up the front steps.

"Hello?" Emily said a few minutes later as she opened her friend's front door and took tentative step inside. "Penelope?" she yelled.

"Em?" she heard from upstairs. "Is that you? Why didn't you ring the doorbell?"

"I did," she informed her friend.

"Oh," she heard Penelope say. "Up here!"

She walked up the stairs across from the entryway until she reached her friend's bedroom, and then hung her garment bag on the hook behind the door. "How's it going? Did you decide on a costume yet?" she asked Penelope through the closed bathroom door off the bedroom.

The door opened to reveal Penelope standing there in her purple bathrobe with matching fluffy slippers, her hair full of curlers. "Yes, I did."

"What are you going as?" she asked.

"Who," Penelope corrected, and then grinned slyly. "And you'll have to wait and see."

Emily sighed. "Every one has been so secretive about their costumes this year," she complained.

"I wasn't purposefully trying to be secretive," Penelope explained with a shrug. "I just didn't know who I was going as until a few hours ago."

"Well, it's a good thing I reserved my costume in advance," Emily remarked. "Otherwise I'd have been screwed."

The jet had landed just a few short hours ago, and the team had had their doubts as to whether or not Reid's bash would even take place. He'd assured them that it was still on, and they'd hurriedly finished up their paperwork in order to make sure they got there.

"You know," Emily started, as she unzipped her garment bag. "I'm actually looking forward tonight. I didn't think I was but…no, no, no!" she groaned as she slapped her thigh in protest. "No!"

"What?" Penelope asked, appearing in the open doorway again.

"This is not Lady Gaga," Emily said angrily.

Penelope's eyes widened as she strolled towards the costume. "I should say not!" she agreed excitedly.

"I can't…"Emily took a step back as she studied the sexy Cupid costume that she had most definitely not reserved. "I can't wear this," she said in wonder. "Can I?"

"Uh…you can wear it and rock it," Penelope assured her friend.

"You think so?" Emily asked uncertainly, although she didn't really have a choice. She didn't have time to go back to the costume shop even if the costume she'd requested was still there.

Penelope nodded ardently, then grabbed her friends hand and pulled her into the bathroom. "Sit," she commanded, pointing towards the lowered toilet seat.

"What are you doing?" Emily asked.

Penelope lifted her eyebrows and grinned. "I'm giving you some sexy 'fuck me' eyes to go with your costume."

"Whoa," Emily said, flinching as Penelope moved towards her with a make up brush. She held her hands up to shield her face. "What exactly are 'fuck me' eyes?"

Penelope rolled her eyes with a giggle. "I'm just giving you a bit of a smoky look to go with your sexy costume. Trust me. Who's the make-up guru here?"

With a heavy sigh, Emily crossed her legs and lifted her chin, prompting her friend to continue.

Emily bit her lower lip as she studied her reflection in Penelope's full-length mirror a little while later. "I don't think I can wear this," she said uneasily.

"Of course you can," Penelope yelled back.

Emily frowned: the fluffy skirt stopped several inches above her knees; a layer of bright red tulle with strategically placed hearts covered the matching silk that brushed against her thighs. The red velvet bustier with the sweetheart neckline trimmed in black lace barely covered her chest…and she didn't even have much of one! Thank God for the spaghetti straps; they gave her a bit of added security. The thick black string that laced up the front from her waist to just below her breasts only accentuated what she hadn't realized she possessed.

Upon closer inspection, she decided she quite liked being endowed…or at least appearing that way for a change. But she wasn't sure she wanted those assets on display for everyone else to see!

The sheer red wings attached to the back of her bustier completed the costume.

"I don't know," Emily said, turning to study herself from another angle.

Penelope appeared in the open doorway again, her make-up finally finished. That had only taken an hour! Of course, in true Penelope fashion, it did look phenomenal. "For you, I'm sure Reid would make it 'costume-optional,'" she said with a grin. "Of course, the other option he'd give you would be to wear nothing."

"Would you stop?" Emily asked with a dismissive laugh, her heart rate speeding up a bit at the mention of the young doctor.

"Trust me," Penelope insisted. "Spencer Reid has got. It. For. You. I see the way he looks at you."

Emily rolled her eyes. "He does not look at me any differently than he looks at anyone else," she denied.

Penelope gave her friend a stern look. "I'm pretty sure he's never undressed me with his eyes."

"That's because Morgan's eyes would kill him," Emily commented.

"A-ha!" Penelope said triumphantly. "So you admit it?"

Emily rolled her eyes. "Oh, for God's sake. What are you? Going as a lawyer?"

Penelope grinned. "Nope." She'd just turned to head back into the bathroom when a little slip of paper on the floor caught her eye. "What's this?" She bent over and picked it up, then straightened with a grin as she held it up for her friend's inspection.

"What is it?" Emily asked as she studied the simple picture of Cupid's bow.

Penelope's grin widened. "A tattoo. And I know exactly where to put it."