[Sterek] Cupboard Love (boyxboy) (complete)

Chapter 31

Laura, Elliot, Becca, and Derek stumble out of the house bundled up for cold weather, though terrifyingly Laura is carrying an axe over one shoulder. At least it has a protective leather case over the head and blade but it's still kind of a horrifying thought. Elliot and Becca have what looks like a bundle of burlap and some twine respectively.

Alex was right. Derek looks kind of pissed. Sinking down in the seat a little, Stiles feels suddenly uncomfortable and unsure. Should he even be here? Alex invited him but who knew why. This was clearly going to be a family outing. Laura opens the back door on Stiles' side and gestures for Becca and Elliot to take the back bench. "Stiles! We're so glad you could make it!"

"Thanks? Are you sure I should be here, though? I mean-"

"Yes," Derek cuts him off in chorus with his siblings. He still looks grouchy, but less so once he's settled on the bench right behind Stiles with Laura. "Someone has to make sure Laura doesn't kill anyone," he elaborates as Alex pulls away from the house.

Laura smacks him on the arm for that comment. "Hey! I've been using this axe since I was seven! I'm completely safe." She pauses and looks at Stiles earnestly. "Don't believe anything Derek tells you about us, Stiles. He just doesn't know how to handle greatness."

In the back, Elliot can't hold his laughter. "Sure, let's go with 'greatness'. I mean obviously I am great, but it doesn't really apply to Laura."

"Yeah, which is why Alex has to drive this beast around-" Becca cuts in.

"Uh, excuse me, this beast is the only reason we can fit all of us and a tree in one vehicle." There's a murmur of assent and some grumbling as the station wagon veers off onto a narrow track into the woods.

"And it's okay for you to just cut down a tree out here?" Stiles asks. "I mean, I thought people went to tree-farms or something for this kind of thing."

"Everyone else goes to tree farms," Laura explains, "But we actually own most of the land on this edge of town, and a lot of that's just forest, so we get our pick, and then replant a few more in the spring."

"And Laura gets to wave an axe at us once a year," Derek says, leaning forward to put one hand on Stiles' shoulder, "so just stand back with the rest of us in case she gets hit in the face when the tree falls."

The track winds through the trees for several long minutes before ending in a large, round clearing, where Alex pulls the car so that it's facing back into the track. "Okay, everybody out," she says, pocketing her keys. There's no snow, even out there in the woods, but the ground is covered in a thick layer of leaves that Stiles kicks up with his feet as they shuffle further into the forest.

"So are we talking Charlie Brown or Whoville here?" Stiles asks Derek, matching his stride. They're almost the same height, which he hadn't noticed before. Derek always seems so much bigger in his mind somehow.

"As big as it can get and still fit in the living room," Derek says, "though it's okay if the back is a little off. It goes in a corner."

"And the ceilings are what, twelve feet?"

"About that," Laura says, pulling into step on Stiles' other side. Mostly Stiles is asking questions because he has no idea how this works. The last time he'd gone tree hunting he was ten and his mom was still healthy. He doesn't remember a lot about how it works. "Though we'll have to leave a little breathing space for a star on top."

"Just don't cut it too close this year," Derek teases slyly, side-eyeing Laura.

She makes a face at him. "I was trying something different!"