Stiles came back from his emergency trip to Abby with the news that Karen had been in the office and that she most likely would get Abby fired. Not that Abby seemed that upset about it. According to Stiles, she wasn't feeling safe at the office any longer anyway.

"You sure she's okay?" Derek asked.

"Yeah." Stiles made. "Lydia's taking care of her now."

By now it was an open secret that there was something going on between them so Derek had no doubt that Lydia would be able to comfort Abby. And she was the right person for advice on how to proceed jobwise.

With that out of the way, Stiles' focus was on Derek again who was still wearing the tight jeans with the cage underneath.

The next morning, Derek was lying fucked out in bed with his head on Stiles' shoulder. They both were comfortably sleepy with no intention to get up anytime soon. At least today the aching in his body was not the painful kind and Derek was just looking forward to the breakfast in bed Stiles had promised and the pampering he would get all day.

"I did a number on you. Again." Stiles chuckled but today there wasn't even a hint of worry in his voice.

"I liked it," Derek assured him nevertheless and was just about to snuggle deeper under the covers to enjoy the warmth for a little while longer when his phone rang.

"Why are you mocking me like this?" The voice of his mother pierced through his sleepy head. "I'm your mother, I did everything for you and then you sent me this? This joke of an invitation?"

"Morning to you too, Mom," Derek mumbled into the mouthpiece while he scrambled to come up to a sitting position. He felt that this called for at least sitting. Clothes would be good as well but she didn't need to know that he was still in bed stark naked.

"I take that the invitations arrived?" Derek pinched the bridge of his nose. Next to him, Stiles tilted his head in a silent question if he should stay or leave to give him some privacy. Derek shooed him off, maybe he would have breakfast ready by the time he'd ended the call. He would need some coffee after this.

"Yes, your invitations arrived," Talia confirmed. "I thought that you would at least take your own wedding serious but I should have known better. And where is that location? I couldn't find anything under that address."

"That would be my studio," Derek explained. "It's not even open yet so it's not listed anywhere."

"Your studio?" That threw her off but only for a second. "You can't have your wedding party at your studio. We have the summer house …," she started but he cut her off.

"We won't come to Beacon Hill for the wedding," Derek said. "And it won't be the fairy tale wedding you're dreaming of either. It's going to be our wedding, Stiles' and mine. The invitation should have given you that hint." He had half a mind to just withdrew the invitation, this wasn't worth the trouble but he gritted his teeth and didn't say a word.

"But Derek …," she tried again but quickly changed directions. "I can fly in, you surely need a hand. This is on such short notice."

"I already have people who take care of most of the organization," Derek declined her offer. The last thing he wanted was for her to come here early and to interfere with everything. "Lydia is going to take us shopping for suits in a few days."

According to Lydia they couldn't wear the suits they had worn to the gala again and if Derek was honest, just a black suit sounded boring. Stiles was talking about getting a red one for himself but Derek wouldn't tell his mom that.

"Oh, Lydia." Of course, she perked up at a female name. "You mentioned her before, is she still single?"

"Officially yes but she's been flirting with another friend of ours lately. And it looks like Abby is interested." Derek bit his tongue, waiting for her reaction. He didn't get disappointed.

"Abby is a woman's name."

"Makes sense, since Abby is a woman," Derek confirmed.

"They're not invited to your wedding, are they?" Talia said it as if the idea alone was ridiculous but there was a hint of worry in her tone.

"They're our friends, of course they're invited." He let that sink in for a second before he added: "And two of Stiles' friends, men, have been circling each other for years, we sent them a couple invitation. Maybe that will get things moving between them. It's going to be a very not straight party."

"Laura is bringing Justin and Lucy," Talia said. "You can't flaunt that in the children's faces."

"Abby's daughter will be there as well." Derek tried really hard to ignore her last comment but he just couldn't. "However, if you insist on your bigoted views, you won't be there. These are my friends. Turned out most of them are gay or bi and with any luck, they'll attend our wedding as couples. Oh, and just for your information. On top of being two women, Lydia and Abby are a mixed couple and so is the only straight couple, just in case you have a problem with that as well."

"Derek, I would never …" Talia tried to defend herself but was at a loss on what to say next.

"Just so we're clear," Derek said. "This is our wedding. I'm going to marry the person I love who just happens to be a man in a wheelchair. We're going to celebrate with the people we want to have in our lives. And we're going to do that in a way that fits us. You are invited but if you can't be happy for us and celebrate with us, you better stay in Beacon Hills." With that, he ended the call.

He let the phone drop in his lap and then he was just sitting there, his mind numb.

"You have no idea how much I love you." Stiles came into view, he most likely had been lurking just around the corner. But even if he'd been in the kitchen, Derek had no doubt that he would have been able to hear him loud and clear from there as well. Derek might have raised his voice over the last part.

Stiles came around the bed and gently took Derek's hand in his.

"She didn't get to the part that Cora didn't get an invitation." Derek huffed out a bitter laugh. "Or the BDSM part." But he doubted that his mother would mention that to him ever again. By now she'd probably convinced herself that the photos Derek had shown were staged and that they had the most boring sex life ever. Most likely missionary only with Stiles at the bottom. Which was something they had never done, Derek realized. On very rare occasions Stiles did bottom but they had never done that. Strange.

"What?" Stiles ducked his head to look him in the eye.

"We've never done missionary with you as the bottom," Derek said and couldn't help a chuckle.

"Do I want to know where that came from? And they say I'm the one with jumps in thoughts." He shook his head.

"I bet that's what my mom thinks we're doing," Derek explained. Why was he even wondering what his mom thought of his sex life?

"She must be confusing that with her sex life," Stiles mused with a glint in his eye. "Anyway, is she going to be at the wedding or did you scare her off for good?"

"No idea." If he was honest, he wasn't even sure what he would prefer.

"We invited her, you set some very clear rules, the rest is up to her." Stiles gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "Coffee?"

Derek said yes to the coffee but he didn't have the stomach for solid food right now.

Getting that he needed distraction, Stiles filled the silence with light chatter which eventually turned to the next topic at hand, their photo shooting. Since they wanted to get the pictures printed before the wedding, they had to hurry so they had agreed to do it today.

"Just a little hint?" Stiles begged not for the first time. Derek had told him that he wanted to do couple pictures of them and he had a clear idea in his mind but so far he'd hesitated to go into details.

Derek had thought about what they should wear for this session for quite a while but in the end, he'd opted for jeans and plain white t-shirts. And they would be barefoot, he kind of liked the domestic feeling that detail would give the pictures.

"Wow, you've been busy," Stiles said when they entered the studio. He hadn't seen it furnished before and Derek had to say he liked how it had turned out. In the middle of the main room was the location for that actual photo shooting, he'd spent an hour yesterday to set up the lights. Along the walls, he had shelves for his equipment and props. There was a corner with a mirror where his clients could touch up their make-up and hair and he had put up one of those foldable walls to create a private area where his clients could change.

"You even have a waiting area." That one had been Stiles' idea. There was a couch, two chairs, and a table and Derek was toying with the idea of a water dispenser and maybe a coffee maker even if he would use the latter mostly for himself.

"Did you get the rest ready as well?" Stiles asked, already half-way to the back rooms. One was the darkroom, the other his office and neither was done yet. For now, he was just storing stuff on the floor in there.

"I have what I need for now," Derek said but waited patiently until Stiles had seen for himself and was back at his side.

While he'd been setting everything up yesterday, Derek had tested the remote-controlled camera as well. It had taken some fiddling but now he could see on the laptop sitting on a box just outside of what the camera captured what exactly he was taking a picture of. It would take some getting used to but he was not planning to take pictures of himself that often.

"Okay, how do you want me?" Stiles rubbed his hands.

"Get in the middle, facing that way." Derek directed him into position.

First Derek took some test pictures to get a feeling for this kind of work but even those turned out better than expected. Some were not centered and the angle was off but they were laughing at each other and Stiles was making silly faces so Derek saved them, just in case.

Once he was satisfied with the results, Derek was ready to start with the poses he had in mind. The first was with him standing behind Stiles with his hands on Stiles' chest. Stiles was leaning into him and had his right hand on top of Derek's.

Another one was Derek sitting next to Stiles on the floor with his back against the side of Stiles' chair. Then he was kneeling in front of Stiles with his head in his lap and his arms around Stiles' lower back. He really liked that pose so he did it facing the camera, facing away, and from different angles.

Then they did a series of various poses with both of them sitting on the floor. First back to back with their legs stretched out, then facing each other with Stiles sitting on Derek's thighs.

For all the pictures Derek was using a plain white background but he did the ones where Stiles was not sitting in his chair first with the chair in the background and then without. He wasn't sure yet which ones he liked better.

The last pose was the hardest, though. In that one, Derek was standing with Stiles clinging to him like a koala. But since Stiles couldn't cling to him with his legs as well, Derek had to support him with his hands under Stiles' butt to keep him from slipping. It was not easy to make that one look effortlessly, especially since he had the remote hidden in his hand as well.

At least Stiles' laughing came naturally. And it was contagious. Derek took a series of that pose and in the last pictures they were both laughing and Stiles was more or less hanging off him. They wouldn't use that picture for the wedding but Derek would like a copy of it to hang in his office.

Derek didn't say I love you often but it was visible in all these pictures. He almost choked when he showed them to Stiles after their session.

"Love you too," Stiles said as if that wasn't visible in the pictures as well.