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Phoenix is in his room with Jon and Harry getting ready for the ball when they hear a knock on the bedroom door, they quickly hide their outfits for the ball and Phoenix answers the door, he opens it to reveal Nate making him ask "Nate, hey, what are you doing here? (he hands his mask to Jon who hides it) I thought you were... Shouldn't you be getting ready for the ball?
"I'm sorry to bother you both, it's... um, do you have a minute?"
Phoenix thinks for a second before he replies "Yeah, of course, come in" Phoenix moves out of the way for Nate to come in. Nate explains what he had found and Phoenix says "Maybe it's old, you know, left over from the '90s, from some night at Limelight or The Tunnel?" he then says "Our parents did worse stuff than we do,"
"it's not old, and it makes total sense, I think he's having some money problems"
"money problems?" asks Jon
"Have you asked him about it?" Phoenix asks Nate.
"Yup, I just wish- You know, I wish he'd be honest with me"
"and not treat you like a child?" asks Harry making Nate look at him before he nods before he says "It's like he and my mom made a secret pact to act like robots"
"It's not a secret pact, our parents are the same"
"except mine, even if they do keep secrets sometimes, but I grew up in Metropolis, then Smallville"
"or mine, they live far away from Manhattan," says Harry.
"but I'm not a little kid anymore, he doesn't have to shut me out," says Nate before he says "Jon's lucky to have a dad who is open about everything, so are you Harry"
"which he is, he treats my brother and I like we're adults and only treats us like children when we're acting like children," Jon tells them.
"same with my father," says Harry.
"you have a brother?" Nate asks Jon with surprise.
"yea, Jordan, my twin, I'm older"
"Lucky you, I'm the youngest," says Phoenix.
"I have two sisters, one older and one younger," says Harry.
"you three are lucky to have siblings, I'm an only child" Jon then says to Nate "Look, if what you think is right, he is probably really scared, maybe you have to tell him how you feel more than once for him to really hear you" before Phoenix says to Nate as he sits quietly thinking "hey, don't give up, okay?" Phoenix places his hand on Nate's to comfort him but he grabs it gently and caresses it while looking into Phoenix's eyes. Phoenix takes his hand away from Nate and says "You should probably go, you know, we've got to get ready and stuff"
"yeah, me too, umm, thanks for listening, Chuck just wanted to bump and Blair's phone was turned off, so it really means a lot and I hope you guys enjoy yourselves tonight"
"yeah, anytime, Nate" replies Phoenix before Jon says to him "We'll see you tonight, okay?" Nate nods before he leaves.
On the Upper East Side, appearances are often deceiving. From friends to hair colour, there's always more than meets the eye.
Phoenix, Jon and Harry arrive at the Masquerade ball, in a limo, looking fabulous, Phoenix is wearing a silver tuxedo jacket with a red shirt underneath and black pants, and he has a silver fox-like mask with a moon on it, and on his feet are a pair of black and red shoes and he had dyed his hair is silver, on his head is a Silver Circlet Crown with a Red Diamond. Around his neck is a Silver Diamond and Ruby Triquetra Heart Pendant necklace and on his right wrist is a silver charm bracelet.
Jon is wearing a gold tuxedo jacket with a yellow shirt underneath and black pants, he has a gold wolf-like mask with a Sun on it, and on his feet are a pair of black shoes. He had dyed his gold, and on his head is a Gold Circlet Crown with a Yellow Diamond. Around his neck is a Gold Diamond and Yellow Alexandrite Triquetra Heart Pendant necklace and on his right wrist is a gold charm bracelet.
Harry is wearing a bronze tuxedo jacket with a blue shirt underneath and black pants, he has a bronze cat-like mask with the Eye of Truth on it, and on his feet are a pair of black boots. He had dyed his hair bronze, and on his head is a Bronze Circlet Crown with a Blue Diamond. Around his neck is a Bronze Diamond and Sapphire Triquetra Heart Pendant necklace and on his right wrist is a bronze charm bracelet.
Everyone at the front turns to look at the limo that's pulled up and they wonder who is inside it, they don't have to wait long as Phoenix, Jon and Harry get out of the limo, the three look amazing as they strut past everyone, everyone are all staring at them including Phoenix's sister, Blair who widens her eyes at the outfit with shock, she knows who it is and smirks. She is joined by Phoenix (her brother), Jon and Harry, she tells them that she loves their outfits.
They then enter the ballroom where the masquerade is taking place. Once inside the two siblings split from each other, Phoenix goes dancing with Jonathan and Harry on the dance floor while Blair stands around for Nate to find her.
The party continues as Nate stands next to the bar, he is drinking something as Phoenix stands around with Jonathan and Harry, near the back entrance Phoenix sees a guy poking his head through the curtain, the guy sees Phoenix, Harry and Jonathan, he widens his eyes, Jon motions him inside and with him are two girls, one masked and the other unmasked.
The unmasked girl says to the masked girl, twirling her around "Wait, let me see" The masked girl stands in front of the unmasked girl before she says "Okay, look I know you're completely morally opposed to society events and stuff, but-" Phoenix, Harry and Jon recognize the masked girl's voice as Little Jenny Humprey, Dan's little sister making them smirk.
"we'll de-program you later" the girl replies, she then grabs Jenny's plaid purse and says "This is ugly" and gives her a yellow fan which Jenny opens, the girl tells her to go and Jenny says to her "Okay, thanks" once Jenny had turned around Phoenix, Harry and Jon smirk as they see Jenny enter the ball, they watch as Jenny enters the ball, they follow her before they see Dan looking at a couple who are dancing, Phoenix knows who the girl is, it's Serena.
What was it we said about appearances? Yes, they can be deceiving. But most of the time, what you see is what you get.
Sometime later Phoenix, Jon and Harry are standing next to Jenny, behind a curtain, when they hear Blair say "What is Nate doing? He's supposed to go find Kati and Is, it's almost midnight and I'm losing heat" Chuck says to her "Well, you look ravishing, if I were your man, I wouldn't need clues to find you"
"or to ravish me, I'm sure" replies Blair. Phoenix whispers to Jenny "Having fun?" she turns to him, wide eyes, about to ask Phoenix not to say anything to Blair when Jon says "We won't say anything to Blair about you being here, don't worry, we're keeping bigger things from her"
"Like what?" asks Jenny before Phoenix hears Chuck ask Blair as he stares at Jenny "Who is that?"
"Probably some bitch from Chapin" replies Blair.
"a hot bitch from Chapin," says Chuck before Blair says to him "Forget her, go get Nate, point him in the right direction"
"First things first," says Chuck before he walks up to Jenny and says "Well, hello, angel, you must be my lucky night" He sees Jenny's bracelet and says "And with taste to boot"
"Apparently, not, I'm talking to you"
"beautiful and mean, I've got chills" he replies before he asks "Care to dance with a poor devil?" Jenny lowers her fan and asks "Why don't we skip all that and go somewhere quiet to talk?" Chuck steps towards her, until he's next to her and says "I'll get the champagne"
"find me in five" replies Jenny, Chuck then walks away. Phoenix walks up to her and asks "What are you doing?" looking worried. Jon and Harry join them, looking worried.
"Trust me, guys, I have this all sorted," Jenny tells Phoenix, Jon and Harry with a wicked smile on her face. The three of them smile a wicked smile that matches hers before Harry says "Have fun" and the three walk away from Jenny knowing that whatever she has planned is going to humiliate Chuck.
Nate stands in the middle of the room when two girls walk over to him, one of them says to him "Blair sent us over, she said it's getting late and you're taking too long" The other girl says to him "your lady-in-waiting is closer than you think, her headdress is feather of black and pink" Nate isn't really listening until the girl who rhymed says "it's her"
"it's me"
"what? I'm sorry" replies Nate.
"Just find Phoenix, he'll lead you to Blair"
"Phoenix, right," says Nate.
Phoenix decides to stick close to Jenny while Jon and Harry walk around, Chuck comes up to her and says "boo" He holds up a glass for her when she turns around before she says "Let's play a game"
"I'd say strip poker, but I don't have my cards" replies Chuck.
how about hide-and-seek?" asks Jenny before she says "You hide, I seek"
"how will you find me?" asks Chuck before he says "I don't have any breadcrumbs"
"Well..."(she lowers her fan and steps closer to him)"you can leave me a trail of your clothes" Phoenix is completely surprised by this, his mouth drops before he hears Chuck say "I have truly died and gone to heaven" Chuck places the glasses down with the bottle before he takes off his red jacket, he drops it onto the floor and heads through the door heading upstairs. Phoenix follows Jenny as she follows the trail of clothes to the roof, he goes up to Jenny and says "This is surprising" She turns to him with a smirk, Phoenix points to the last piece of clothing which is near a door which Jenny opens and they hear Chuck say "feel free to find me"
"I found your pants," says Jenny.
"Well, you're getting warmer," says Chuck before he says "which is an achievement, considering you're already hot"
"Well, you better hope it doesn't get cold," Jenny says to him who asks "What is that supposed to mean?" with confusion before Jenny slams the door closed and locks it. They hear Chuck yell through the door "Hey, what the hell? Hey, my phone is in my pants" He then says "Hey, I'm stuck up here, bitch" She hands Chuck's clothes to Phoenix who then throws them out the window on the floor just below them, keeping Chuck's phone in his pocket before placing it on a table at the front and saying "this belongs to Chuck Bass, he'll retrieve it soon" Phoenix then re-enters the Ball to tell Harry and Jon about what happened.