The Selection

Chapter 11

Peter was a nervous reck on the way to the place that the event would take place. To be honest he was expecting it to be at the palace, so the car ride was not welcomed in any way, only serving to make his nerves worse.

The whole ride Tony was trying to calm the boy, although they both knew that the nerves would only pass with time.

The man opted to reverse the conversation on a more enjoyable topic, like his plan to the next lab session. At least that had taken the boy's mind off the situation. At least until the car had stopped, and the nervous smile returned to Peter's face. Just when Tony was about to open the door peter stopped him

"Mr. Stark, wait! Peter called out. Tony immediately stopped what he was doing looking at Peter with a look of worry

"What's wrong? Did you change your mind, we can go back, if you want" the king said quickly

"Mr. Stark, in what order do you start using the cutlery. Is it from left to right or right to left?" Peter blurted out "Mr. Happy didn't know"

The king was silent for a moment, looking at Peter before he started laughing hard.

"Oh kid, even I don't know that. Eat with your hand for all I care" Tony said between laughs

"Mr. Stark, this is serious. I've never been to a fancy dinner. I don't want to embarrass you"

"Trust me, Peter, nothing you could do would embarrass me, I do that on my own." Mr. Stark reassured Peter leaving the car. Peter took a deep breath before following him.

The king was waiting for him putting an arm on his shoulder guiding him through a red carpet that led to the entrance.

On both sides were full of journalist with cameras flashing in his face. Mr. Stark walked quickly with Peter on his side, ignoring the shouting reporters questions, manly asking who Peter was.

Finally inside, Peter was hit with the warm air in contrast to the cold wave that was outside. Like the palace the inside of the venue was fancy, rich in decoration. Opening a second door it revealed all the guests already seated with only two seats available, clearly waiting for them.

Upon seeing the king all of the guests got up showing their respect.

"Welcome, your highness" they said bowing slightly. It was something that weirder peter out, since on their first meeting, Mr. Stark showed his dislike for such titles forbidding Peter from using it, only tolerating 'Mr. Stark'.

But here he not only welcomed it he recognized it. Mr. Stark sat down on the top of the table, gesturing for peter to seat on his right side, next to him. Only then the king gave permission for the others to seat "you may seat" he said dismissing, not even looking up

Peter felt uncomfortable sitting there next to Mr. Stark because he knew that it was a seat that should be someone important and not some poor kid from section two. On top of that the other occupants of the table kept throwing him looks, not knowing who the kid that came with the king was.

When everyone was seated Mr. Stark began talking "Thank you everyone for coming, before we began I would like to introduce my guest, Peter. He is visiting from the academy and is to be treated with the upmost respect."

Peter's face went red pretty fast as all eyes turned to him "Hi" he said waiving his hand earning him a few amused chuckles

After he dose of embarrassment waiters came delivering food, all of it was so fancy that Peter didn't even knew where to start, he just copy the other people hoping that no one noticed.

The night passed really fast and quickly Peter was starting to feel tired to the point where his eyes were starting to close on their own.

"Alright, I'm taking the Kid home. Thank you all for coming" Mr. Stark announced making Peter open his eyes that he didn't really notice that they were closed