Dinner with his family was tense but it didn't escalate the second they sat down so Derek called it a win. After a few minutes, he even dared to relax. The kids were bombarding Stiles with questions, Josh and Peter were catching up and Laura had engaged Derek in a conversation. They were talking about the upcoming wedding but also about Derek's life in New York in general. Their dad and Frank threw in a word here and there and Derek got the feeling that they were all happy to see him and were excited about the wedding. When they offered to help with whatever, Derek could tell them proudly that his friends had it covered.

"You're letting your friends just come and go as they please?" His mother spoke up when he mentioned that Boyd would be fixing the lights tomorrow. "You said you have expensive equipment in your studio."

"I doubt that Boyd is going to steal one of my cameras." Derek rolled his eyes at her. "And please don't call the cops on one of my friends for being in my studio." He pleaded with a glance at Stiles.

"I would never …" Talia became all flustered but she couldn't deny it, she had called the sheriff on Stiles at their first encounter. And she had thrown a flower pot at him, Stiles never grew tired of mentioning that little fact. "I'd like to see your studio." She tried to stir the conversation in another direction. "Since you're now a professional photographer."

"It doesn't look like a studio at the moment, we're in the middle of setting everything up for the wedding," Derek said. "You'll see it then."

The pictures were the big surprise and he didn't want to spoil that. Bad enough that all his friends had seen them beforehand but he wanted to do it right with his family.

To get the attention off the studio Derek told them that he and Stiles had finally a place together and that they would move in shortly after the wedding.

"It's kind of going to be our honeymoon," Derek said. They had talked about a honeymoon trip but they both had too much work to do at the moment and with the studio, the wedding and the new apartment money was tight anyway. They had put it off for later.

"Can't wait to wake up with you every morning," Stiles spoke up.

"We haven't slept in separate beds for weeks," Derek reminded him. Most of the time they slept at Stiles' place with the occasional night at Derek's but there Josh was around which limited their possibilities. And Josh didn't seem to mind that he had the apartment mostly for himself.

"I don't think we want to dive into that topic," Talia said stiffly and for once Derek agreed with her. His sex life was not a topic for the dinner table. Which according to Josh had not always been the case with Talia, though.

Derek hurried to ask how things were back in Beacon Hills.

"Cora and Miles are expecting a baby," Talia blurted out the second she got the chance to talk about home.

"Good for her." Derek should have known that she would find a way to bring up Cora.

"Flying wouldn't be good for her, in her condition, otherwise she would have loved to be here with us," Talia said, completely ignoring the fact that Cora wasn't even invited. Maybe she had convinced herself that Cora had stayed back out of her own free will. Derek was not going to correct her. Maybe she was even waiting for him to bring that up. So he just nodded and asked his father about his work.

After dinner they parted rather quickly, Lucy was half-asleep already and Justin's eyes were dropping as well.

"Time for bed," Laura announced and started to gather her kids. The others were tired as well, they'd had a long day, so taxis were called. Talia lingered around Josh for a moment but Derek didn't catch what she was saying to him. At least it didn't look like she was trying to make him come to the hotel with the rest of the family.

They said there goodbyes and promised to text in the morning to set up plans for the day. And then Derek was alone with Stiles and Josh.

"That went better than expected," Josh commented.

"What did she say to you?" Stiles asked.

"She wants to see me tomorrow." Josh let out a breath. "Alone."

"Make sure to tell her all the juicy bits," Stiles told him while he hoisted himself into the driver's seat.

"I'm not even sure if I want to talk to her," Josh muttered and got in the car as well. Since Stiles' parents were staying at his place and were taking over his bed again, they had agreed that they would sleep at Derek's place. This must be one of the rare occasions where the parents were actually pleading for their son to sleep in the same bed as somebody else but Derek still had that picture on his phone from last time when Stiles had insisted on sleeping on the couch. Derek's neck hurt from looking at the picture alone.

It wasn't that late and they were all brimming with impressions so Derek made them coffee and they gathered around the couch table. Stiles was already going through the evening minute by minute while Derek's mind was more on tomorrow. He would have to spend most of the day with his family. He didn't mind having around Laura and her family or his dad or Peter but his mom was a different case. She was not happy and she was showing it.

Somehow he did survive the next day. They had breakfast with John and Melissa, then Stiles left to meet up with Scott and Isaac and John and Melissa wanted to go sightseeing. Which left Derek free to do whatever with his family. He was sure that his mother had planned out the whole day.

Turned out that her first stop today had been his studio but thanks to Abby and Lydia she hadn't gotten in. Derek was not surprised, his mother had been a bit too interested in that yesterday. That's why he had warned Boyd just in case.

Lucy wanted to see Stiles and Jack so they decided on an impromptu lunch at Stiles'. Laura was there with the kids but Frank and Andrew were still out somewhere. Peter was doing his own thing as well but Talia came over. With Scott and Isaac in the mix, Stiles' apartment was rather cramped but Derek liked it, it felt alive.

"We went by your studio earlier," Talia mentioned. "But your friends wouldn't let us in." She made a pause for him to say something but he kept silent. "But what can you expect from those people. Derek, you really should consider who you affiliate with, people will get the wrong impression of you. If you want to be a professional surround yourself with people who bring your forward and not ... that kind."

Derek gritted his teeth. He would not ask what kind she meant. Things would only escalate from there.

However, she didn't need him to ask to escalate things. She didn't outright say something about the lesbian part but she was ranting about Abby's unruly hair, Derek guessed that she had it in her usual bun with a few stray curls which looked good on her and was in no way unruly, and she was questioning Lydia's upbringing and her IQ. Daddy's little princess was a term coming up and apparently, Abby was just in for the money. The last part reminded Derek of the things Cora had said about Stiles when they had first met.

"I am thinking about who I want to affiliate with," Derek finally cut in. "I'm not sure if you'll make it to that list." With that, he left Talia standing and walked over to where Lucy was playing with Jack on the floor. Stiles was taking pictures.

"You ready to bite her head off?" Stiles asked without even looking at him.

"She's questioning our friends." And not only that. He doubted that Stiles was the kind of person he should affiliate with either. "She didn't outright say it but I think she doesn't like the fact that two women are together."

"Has she spotted Scott and Isaac yet?" Stiles asked with a glance at where his friends were sitting on the couch with Laura. Looked like they were getting along just fine.

"Doubt it. Didn't hear her scream." He felt the tension building up at the base of his skull, there was a major headache coming his way and he didn't see any relief any time soon.

In the end, they kicked out their guests under the excuse that they still had stuff to do before the wedding. Which was in two days. Derek didn't know how he was supposed to survive until then.

"Peace and quiet." Stiles came back into the living room after he'd seen out Scott and Isaac. "At last."

"But for how long?" Derek asked darkly. "Your parents can be back any minute."

"I am determined to make the most out of those minutes." Stiles dropped face-first on the couch and then he clawed his way up high enough that his legs weren't dragging him back down. His feet were still touching the floor.

"What are you doing?" It didn't look comfortable at all. More as if somebody had thrown a doll on the couch and didn't care how it landed.

"Power relaxing," Stiles said into the cushions.

Derek just shook his head at him.

Somehow he did survive the next two days and then it was the morning of his wedding.

It would be a simple wedding. They would dress up nicely, then they would drive to the office to sign the papers with both sets of parents and then they would meet up with the rest of their guests at the studio where they would have a party. There were no games planned, they wouldn't even have individual vows. Stiles would probably have liked the thing with the vows but he got that it wasn't something Derek was comfortable with.

"Your pictures say more than words ever can," Stiles said when Derek brought up vows just to make sure that it was okay to go without. "And I hope that I say I love you often enough."

"You do," Derek assured him. "And not just with words."

They kissed to that but if they didn't want to be late for their own wedding, they better hurried up. So with one last kiss, Derek went to take a shower. He went through the routine mechanically without thinking too much but then he was back in the bedroom and didn't know what to do. His thoughts were too loud and he kind of felt like throwing up.

"You're doing good." Stiles had come back out of the bathroom without him even noticing. "We're going to get married today, we're supposed to be happy."

"I think we're supposed to be nervous." Derek sat down on the edge of the bed. Actually, he was supposed to get dressed but so far he'd only managed to put on clean underwear.

"It's going to be fine," Stiles assured him. "Not even your mom can ruin this day."

"She's going to complain about the rings." Derek just knew. They had gotten simple bands with two colors of gold. Simple but aesthetic. And it had taken them half an hour. They didn't really care about the rings. The thing with real meaning was currently lying on Derek's nightstand. As usual, he'd taken off his collar for the shower but today he wouldn't put it back on. That alone felt wrong.

He must have looked at the collar because without a word Stiles rolled past him to get it.

"Put it on," Stiles said in a voice that demanded attention.

"It could be visible under the shirt."

"I don't care, put it on."

If he was honest, Derek wanted to wear it. He felt naked if it wasn't resting around his neck and it felt more than wrong to get married to Stiles without it.

Derek bowed his head and without another word Stiles fastened the collar around his neck.

"I can give you the cage as well if you need it," Stiles offered, his tone softer now and his fingers lingering on Derek's neck.

"My mom would get a heart attack if I got married with that on." Derek let out a breath at the feeling of the thin leather band around his neck. Most likely it would be hidden under his tie anyway.

"Your pants are loose enough, nobody would know."

Half an hour later they left Derek's place dressed in their best suits, Stiles in red and Derek in black and dark green, and in Derek's case with the additional collar and cock cage. Nobody would see, nobody would know but today he wanted to be Stiles' in every way. Those things counted more than some stupid rings.