Insert data into a Pivo Laravel table

Question

I have a many to many relationship between items and area, as I do to relate the two within my item_area table in my store method?

This is my view

<h3>Criar um novo Item</h3>
<form class="form-horizontal" method="post" action="#">
    <label for="name">Nome</label><br>
    <input type="text" name="name"><br>
    <label for="area-select">Selecione a Area</label><br>
    <select name="area-select">
        @forelse ($areas as $area)
            <option value="{{ $area->id }}">{{$area->name}}</option>
        @empty
            <option>Nenhuma Area a ser selecionada</option>
        @endforelse
    </select>
    <br><br>    
    <button type="submit">Cadastrar Produto</button>
</form>

This is my create method

public function create()
{
    $areas = Area::all();

    return view('item.create')->with('areas', $areas);
}

My doubt is how to recover the area id on the route and how to relate both in the store method that will store both within the database?

Would something like this?

public function store(Request $request)
{
    $select_area = $request->input('id');
    $item->area = $select_area;
    ...
}