On Monday morning Derek regretted everything. Stiles had tortured his balls like he'd promised, and some more, and now even breathing sent sparks of pain up his spine.

They were still in bed but after a long weekend of work and that session with Stiles last night, Derek had earned himself a lazy morning in bed.

"How do you feel?" Stiles snuggled closer and gently put a hand on Derek's lower stomach under the blanket.

"Hurts." Derek didn't want to move or even talk, everything set the area between his legs on fire.

"But good?" There was a hint of worry in Stiles' voice.

"Yeah, good." Derek made the effort to move his arm to put his hand on top of Stiles'. "But my balls hate you."

"I can live with that." Stiles brushed a kiss on the corner of his mouth. "Do you need anything? Painkillers? An ice pack? I have ointment here if you want."

Especially the painkillers were tempting but Derek didn't want to numb the pain. His whole body was aching and his balls would just hurt more once he dared to move but he liked it. He loved the sharp pain when Stiles tortured him like that but he liked this almost better. The dull ache, the soreness that lasted for days, the bruises which lasted even longer.

"I'm good," Derek assured him and just relaxed into the mattress for a few more minutes before he would have to get up.

"Or maybe some tight jeans?" Stiles' hand wandered downwards until he was cupping Derek's balls. Feather-light, just a brush of his fingers but it set the nerves on fire. "I could make you wear those jeans that bring out your ass."

"Stiles," Derek growled and closed his eyes. It would hurt, badly, but he could feel his cock twitching under Stiles' palm just thinking about it.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Yes." The word came out in a defeated breath.

"I think I'll add the cage as well," Stiles pondered, his fingernails gently scraping over the soft skin of his balls.

Derek shied away with a gasp but there was nowhere to go, Stiles' hand just followed him.

"Yes, I think I'd like that," Stiles kept musing as if he hadn't made up his mind already. "I want to see the outline of the cage. I want to know that the denim is chafing your poor little balls."

Stiles had propped himself up on his elbow and was now looking down on him with dark eyes.

"Color?"

Derek knew without a doubt that if he said red, Stiles would ease off and just pamper him through the day but now that he'd put that idea into Derek's head …

"Green."

"You truly are a masochist, you know that?" Stiles tightened his grip around Derek's balls hard enough for Derek to arch off the bed with a strangled cry. Stiles held him there for a sweet long second before he let go of him. Gasping Derek sank back into the mattress.

"I'm going to take a shower, you can enjoy your freedom until I'm back." Stiles patted his shoulder before he rolled out of bed. Derek just lay there, wondering what he'd done wrong to end up here. Or what he'd done right because as much as he was dreading what Stiles had in store for him he was looking forward to it as well.

When Stiles came out of the bathroom, he shooed Derek out of bed to get ready as well.

"I'm going to start breakfast, holler when you're ready for the cage."

Derek glared at him but Stiles had already turned his back on him.

"Don't take too long," Stiles told him and that got Derek going. He didn't want to find out how Stiles would punish him if he took too long.

His balls didn't like him walking, at all, so Derek had to cup them to prevent the worst. They didn't like the hot water of the shower either. Derek hissed when the water started to run down his body but the hot jets did feel good on the rest of him. At least the tense muscles loosened up under the spray.

When he was done in the bathroom, Derek got the cage out of the toy bag and walked out into the living room.

"I'm ready," Derek said quietly.

"Come over." Stiles gestured with the spatula at him, he was in the middle of making scrambled eggs it looked like.

It felt kind of surreal to stand stark naked in the kitchen while Stiles hurried to fit him into the cage before his eggs got burned.

"There you go." Stiles weighed his balls in his palm. His caged penis was lying nestled in the crease between his swollen and by now dark purple testicles. Derek doubted that the bruises had even fully bloomed by now.

"Get dressed, breakfast is almost ready." With the spatula, Stiles ushered him out of the kitchen.

Getting into that pair of jeans was a struggle and for a moment Derek thought that he wouldn't be able to pull them over the cage but in the end, he closed the zipper with determination.

Then he just stood in the bedroom, trying to adjust to the feeling. It hurt. And it would hurt even more once he'd start to move. Derek took a deep breath, which sparked the pain, but then he straightened up and walked out of the bedroom with his head held high.

"I'm proud of you." Stiles slung his arm around him when Derek had successfully made it to sitting at the kitchen table.

They were in the middle of having breakfast, by now Derek had almost gotten used to the constant abuse of his balls, when Stiles' phone rang.

Apparently, that bastard Rick had gotten his hands on a key to Abby's office.

Stiles was already half-way out of the door when he swirled around on his back wheels.

"Shit," he cursed and for a second Derek had no idea why he wasn't just leaving. But then he noticed where Stiles was looking at. Derek's crotch. "I can't leave you like that."

"It's okay, I'm fine," Derek assured him. "Without you around, I might even get some work done." He tried to sound confident and to not twitch into a position that was not too uncomfortable. There was none anyway, he'd tried to find one for the last ten minutes. But the pain was already dulling down. If he didn't move too much, he would be fine.

"You'll have to walk Jack," Stiles reminded him. "You can change pants for that, how's that?" Stiles was almost pleading now. "And if it gets too bad just ditch the pants entirely."

"Stiles, I'm fine," Derek repeated. He hadn't thought of Jack, the dog was still dozing on his blanket but his ears twitched when Stiles mentioned his name. He would have to go soon. "I'll send you a red if it gets too bad."

Stiles was still not convinced and for a moment Derek thought that Stiles would be the one to say red and call this off but eventually, he nodded.

"You use your safe-word if you need to."

"Always."

Once Derek was alone, he sat back and finished his coffee but then Jack was there, nudging his leg.

"Just give me a minute." Derek patted his head. Changing into a more comfortable pair of pants was tempting but in the end, Derek didn't give in. His walk with Jack was short but it was a rainy day anyway, Jack was not in the mood for a long walk either. But the bad weather had the benefit that there weren't many people around so nobody witnessed how stiffly Derek was walking. If he hissed and cursed under his breath from time to time, nobody needed to know.

One did notice, though. On their way back from the park Jack stayed pressed to Derek's leg and every time Derek made a pained noise, the dog responded with a low whine.

Back in Stiles' apartment, Derek made his way over to the couch and carefully stretched out. Jack was on top of him a second later but the dog had a sense for where it hurt and Derek did not get kicked in the balls. Thank God for small mercies.

They stayed on the couch for almost an hour but then Derek's bladder forced him to get up. Taking care of business was no fun, though.

Since he was up anyway, he should get some work done. Veronica wanted her pictures as soon as possible and Derek had a few other things he needed to work on. Plus, he should go over to the studio later. With any luck, he could set up everything today and have his photo shooting with Stiles there tomorrow. He just hoped that he would be able to move again by then. For some of the poses he had in mind he would have to kneel.

There was still coffee so Derek fixed himself a cup and then he started his laptop.

Finding a sitting position that did not squish his balls was tricky but he did find one that wasn't hurting too badly. Or maybe his balls had just started to go numb.

He actually did get quite some work done, only interrupted by a message from Stiles here and there, asking if he was doing okay. He answered every single one of them with green.

Since he'd sent out the announcement of their wedding, Derek had exchanged messages with Peter and Laura but he'd only gotten a short confirmation that she'd gotten his message from his mom. He'd asked Laura about it but she'd only told him to not worry.

However, when around noon his phone rang with Laura's name on the display, Derek answered it with mixed feeling. They had already covered everything there was to cover via text. There was only one reason he could think of why she would call him. Talia.

"Hey, Derek," Laura greeted him. "Hope I'm not interrupting something."

"I was just ready for a break." Derek saved the last changes he'd made and leaned back in his chair. "How are you? Everything alright?"

"We're fine. Frank got that weekend off and we've booked our flights, we'll be there for your wedding." She let out a soft chuckle. "Can't believe I'm saying that, you're the last person I expected to get wed. Thought you'd be a bachelor for life."

"Things change," Derek said solemnly. "Did you hear from mom?"

The official invitations were in the mail but he doubted that they would arrive before tomorrow. Scott and Isaac had gotten the Just Kiss drawing Stiles had threatened to use and he had delivered. The rest of them had gotten fun little caricatures, nothing too bad. Peter had gotten some wolfish features because according to Stiles he was a predator but Derek knew his uncle well enough to know that he'd love it.

Only Derek's parents were getting something with a serious background. Stiles hadn't put his mom on a leash but the drawing made clear that they expected her to behave. Derek had added a few lines, stating that he wouldn't tolerate any disruptions. But that was a shitstorm for another day. What Laura's call today was about he had no clue, though.

"Yeah." Laura drew out the word. "She's not happy. She still thinks that you can do better, that you're throwing away your life." She sounded tired as if this had been a topic for a while now. It probably had been, most likely since he'd kicked Talia out of his apartment in the aftermath of his exhibition at the gallery.

"Is she going to come?" Derek asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

"There's no way she wouldn't come, what would people think?" The sarcasm was dripping off her voice. "Dad promised to keep an eye on her."

At least that.

"I wished that she could just be happy for me." Derek let out a sigh and slumped deeper into his chair. Which put more pressure on his balls.

Derek suppressed a hiss but almost barked out a laugh instead. This was his life and he loved it. He was sitting here with his balls swollen and bruised and he was loving every second of it.

Stiles was his boyfriend, his fiance, his dom and soon he would be his husband. Stiles was the man he loved. The person he wanted to grow old with.

"Why can't she just be happy for me?"