The Selection (1x1 with AnnaCat17)

[EchoOfShatteredIce]

Eleanor watched him go, and followed him, but slower and further back so they wouldn't see her.

Atlas looked so relieved. "Thank the heavens, when you called for me so urgently I thought it was about an emergency, like someone died or something." He moved over to the two boys, giving Matteo his shirt to put on and fixing the guard's uniform calmly. "Shouldn't you be hosting your party?" he lightly teased Matteo, ruffling his hair affectionately. He didn't seem to think this was a big deal.

Solace shrugged. "They're both busy as well. And I don't mind taking care of Pravin." She set him into his car seat in the back before sitting in the front with Sutton.

[AnnaCat17]

Pavel looked like his head was going to explode in rage. "You don't think this is an emergency!?" He snapped. "Matteo is supposed to be starting his selection in three days and he was in a closet with one of your guards m-" the words got caught in his throat. he couldn't bring himself to say it. He could barely believe what he had just caught his little brother doing. "Deal with your guard to make sure this doesn't happen again and then please end the party." He snarled before tightly grabbing Matteo's ear and dragging him off down the hall to his office, forcing Matteo to bend slightly as he stumbled after him since he was taller than Pavel.

Romeo watched on scared, hating how much Pavel reminded him of the late king. Once Pavel had dragged Matteo off he spoke quickly to Atlas. "Have someone else handle that and then come to the office. I think Matteo may need some rational minds in there. Get Abril if you can without being too long." He hurried off down the hall after them, praying he could find a way to calm Pavel down.

[EchoOfShatteredIce]

Atlas frowned at him. "No, I don't. With you already having kids, Matteo doesn't need to continue the royal bloodline. There isn't really a need for a Selection, really. And there's no issue with two guys being together. I can't see why this is a big deal." He was about to go after them, but them Romeo talked to him. "Alright. Guard." He rushed off to find Abril, while Eleanor went after Romeo.
"Dad! Let me help." Eleanor caught up with him, worried for Matteo. She hadn't seen the King so angry before. Would he hurt Matteo? She didn't let herself dwell on the fact that Matteo had been with another man. She couldn't worry about that right now.

[AnnaCat17]

"No, Ellie please, just go somewhere else and Ill come find you later." He said before going into the king's office, knowing that odds were she was till going to follow him. "Pavel, lets just calm down and breathe." He said quickly as he tried to asses the situation. "Matteo, fix your pants." he muttered quietly as he walked by him to avel

Matteo quickly buttoned his pants back up but continued to sit shaking at Pavel's desk, trying to think of anything of anything he could say to defend himself.

Pavel paced by the window but stopped when Romeo spoke to him. "Calm down!? How on earth am I supposed to calm down?! What if someone saw that besides me and got a photo of it? We are the royalty! I was enough of a scandal but this, this is far worse than anything I ever did!" He turned and leveled his glare back on Matteo. "This had better be another stupid stunt to get me to call off the Selection." He snarled.

Matteo shook his head and fought tears as he kept his gaze on the floor. "No... It's not a prank."

[EchoOfShatteredIce]

"Okay," Eleanor whispered, hesitating in the hallway. She didn't want to make anything a mess with the situation.

Atlas rushed down the hallway with Abril. He hung back when Abril knocked and went inside. "What's going on?" she asked, taking in what was going on. She went over to them, gently placing a hand on Matteo's shoulder.

[AnnaCat17]

Pavel pointed an accusing finger at Mateo. "he was in a closet with a guard and they were-" he grit his teeth, growling angrily. "Abril, tell him he needs to stop this nonsense. He never listens to me."

Matteo swallowed the lump in his throat as he felt Abril's hand. "You arent Dad so stop trying to act like him." He said as sharply as he could muster.

Pavel moved towards Matteo but was stopped by Romeo's firm hand on his chest. "You are lucky I'm not Dad or you would have been beaten within an inch of your life!" He snarled at Matteo. He had no intention of hitting atteo but he felt like he was going to explode a any moment. He couldn't understand why none of the others seemed to care. This wasn't how the royal family was supposed to behave, especially in public. He turned away as another coughing fit hit and forced him to calm down a bit.

[EchoOfShatteredIce]

Abril's gaze softened as Pavel stared coughing and she went over to him, gently rubbing his back. "Pavel, let's just go to bed. We can deal with this tomorrow. Nobody got hurt, and no one else saw anything. We'll figure this out, okay? But not while being angry. That's not going to fix anything."

[AnnaCat17]

Pavel couldn't look at Matteo so he stayed turned away and listened to Abril's words. "What are we supposed to do about the selection?"

Romeo waved Matteo away, not wanting him to make things worse again. "We can make this good. We all agreed that the selection is needed and everyone is already so excited for it not having one would be a mistake. The people fawn over anything with Matteo's image on it that I doubt they will care if he is posed with a guy. besides, as Atlas said he isn't needed to carry on the family line so as long as we all present this as a good thing no one will dispute it very much." He waited for Pavel to say something but when he didn't he felt that they were in the clear. "Gt him to bed, Abril. We can work out the details in the morning."

Matteo left as soon as Romeo motioned for him to go but was stopped in the hall as he saw Ellie. He was terrified she would hate him but didn't know what he could do to stop the world from crashing down around him. "Im sorry..."

[EchoOfShatteredIce]

"Let's just put it on hold for now. There's no need to rush it." Abril gently kissed his forehead. Abril nodded, glancing over at Romeo. "Good idea, Romeo." She wrapped her arm around Pavel's waist, leading him from the room.

Eleanor wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "You okay?" she whispered, pressing her cheek against his chest. "Pavel looked so mad."

[AnnaCat17]

Pavel allowed ehr to pull him off and went silently with her to his room. "This has to be another stupid prank of his. He would not throw this at us three days before the applications went out." He went over and started to get ready for bed, coughing every so often. "He always wanted a selection. its all he talked about growing up was when he got a princess of his own then all of a sudden he just decided he didn't want one and would never say why. if he is just nervous and doing this to get at me its fine but he needs to knock it off now."

Matteo hugged her back tightly, relieved she wasn't repulsed with him too. "what if he discommunicates me? i dont know what Ill do. I need my family." he said into her hair, his body still shaking in fear.

Romeo walked ut of the office with Atlas and glanced at Matteo and Ellie. "Are you staying with him tonight, Ellie?"