Vanilla, Gundpowder and Peaches

Chapter 3

When Peter said they were to hurry with the details of Stiles' apartment, she didn't realize how much of a force of nature the man was. She knew he was proficient when it came to houses because, well, it was his job. But she didn't expect to be driven to her apartment and practically bulldozed around. Also, when Peter spoke about Chris having a behemoth, he really meant it. Chris' car – and she was putting that classification very lightly – was almost the same height as the man. It was heavy and aggressive looking in the darkened skies of night time, with an overhead lamp highlighting the vehicle in a terrifying light. She would have to grab the support beam and haul herself inside if she were to ever get inside that thing; behemoth indeed.

It was tricky packing up her belongings with three people in her small apartment but they made do. With Peter's ordering, they set up a system that he would go up and down the stairs with the boxes and pack them into the Yukon while Stiles continued to pack the rest of her stuff. Chris would help secure the boxes to make sure nothing broke and wrapping up delicate items that she was afraid would be knocked around during transport. There were already six boxes completed that she had prepared earlier, paling when Peter just hauled all of them with ease. It was bad enough for her heart that he had taken his jacket off and rolled his sleeves up, but she didn't realize Peter was so God damned strong. It was difficult not to imagine being lifted by him.

Chris too, for that matter. He had taken off his coat as well, wearing a short-sleeved shirt that showed off his flexing arms while he hefted the boxes to the front door for his partner to take right away without having to wait around. There was something about having two obscenely stunning older men doing the heavy lifting that brought Stiles to her knees. She kept to herself though, allowing herself a couple of glances but focused to the task at hand because it was getting quite late and they still needed to unplug the television or get the sofa down the stairs. If it were a nightmare getting up then it would be just as much a pain getting down. At least it wasn't just her and Danny anymore, Stiles ironically shouting pivot! every other turn.

It had taken then about an hour to get everything they could into both cars. The sofa being the hardest to maneuver as they had to move all the boxes around the Yukon to put the sofa and her mattress in first. Stiles was glad Chris thought ahead to just dismantle the bedframe to make it easier to slip around and wedge in between spaces boxes couldn't. She let the guys handle that since she was never good at tetris, and decided to do a sweep around the apartment to see if she forgot anything. There was something fulfilling at seeing the empty walls and bare floor. All of the cupboards open and empty. A place that was once full of life and real step in the direction of her independence was now stripped down to bones once more. There was a bittersweet sensation as she wrote the note to the landlord and unclasped the key from her bag to leave it behind. To be honest she would be more emotional about this if the guy hadn't forced his hand so strongly, but now after checking that everything was gone, Stiles didn't even shut the door.

Chris' SUV took most of the storage but there were a couple of boxes in the boot of Peter's car that she felt self-conscious by. She doesn't know which one was which but there was of goodies that she had packaged up earlier that week and high fived herself because wouldn't that be embarrassing. She didn't think she could handle having her private life be foisted in front of her crush and his equally hot partner. They followed Chris back to the house and Stiles leant forward with her mouth agape because that was all theirs? It was a pretty substantial house; bigger than her father's. With a garage and a driveway that Chris parked on with Peter not to far behind. It had to have at least three levels, maybe more. It was wider than her childhood home too, and by far more luxurious with pebbled archway surrounding the front door and white brick with a grey roof. There wasn't much of a front garden but Stiles imagined if she went around the back there would be a huge garden with pretty flowers. First though was bringing her things inside. They decided that most of it would go into the garage for storage while bringing a couple boxes of Stiles' clothes in to the spare guest bedroom.