Between Friends

**

"I can't believe you did this to him again!" Yugi waved his hand in front of Joey's face, as if trying to break him out of the blank-eyed trance. Joey didn't even blink.

"Puppy's not going to be happy when he gets out of that…" Seto commented, folding his arms and watching with mild interest.

"I know…" Marik said, frowning. "It just sort of… happened."

Yugi gave Marik a dark look. "Enslaving someone's mind using an ancient magical item doesn't just happen. Especially not when you're involved. So go ahead; un-enslave him."

Marik cringed and fidgeted with the Millennium Rod. Yugi tapped his foot impatiently.

"Well??" Yugi demanded. "Go ahead."

Marik glanced at Seto. "Bossy little thing, isn't he?"

Seto shrugged. "Picked it up from me, I think." And he looked oddly proud of it, too.

"Would you two quit talking about me like I'm not here?!" Yugi shouted.

"Calm down, Yugi," Seto said mildly. "We meant no insult."

"I sorta did," Marik commented. Seto shot him a dark look. "Anyway, everything is fine. You two don't really need to be here."

"How can you say everything is fine?" Yugi asked. "Joey's a zombie!"

"I kind of like him this way," Seto said, knocking softly on Joey's head. "He's quiet. It's a nice change."

"Seto! If you're not going to be helpful, you can just leave," Yugi said with a pout.

"There he goes with the bossy again…" Marik sighed.

"I'm not going to hold him back if he decides to kill you," Seto commented lightly.

Marik blinked at Seto in mock-surprise. "Would sweet, innocent little Yugi actually try to kill someone?"

Seto raised an eyebrow. "Try calling him 'puny'. Just try. You'll see how sweet and innocent he really is."

"You two are getting off the subject," Yugi put in, sounding cranky. "And Joey's still mind-enslaved! When are you going to fix that?"

"As… soon as I figure out how to make Joey not hate me," Marik answered. "It may be a while."

"If you're trying to make him not hate you, you're really going about it the wrong way," Yugi said.

"Is making him 'wake-up' not hating you really that important?" Seto asked.

"Yes," Marik said. "Though I think I'll be lucky if he doesn't just run away the moment I un-enslave him."

"Marik, you're really not earning any points the longer you keep him under your power," Seto said. "If you want him to not hate you, you're going to have to trust him some. Though even I loathe to put too much trust in a puppy like him…"

Yugi poked Seto, glaring at him. Seto just shrugged.

"But he'll run away…" Marik murmured sadly.

"So let him, if he wants to," said Seto. "You may have to start over from the beginning with Joey, since you've made such a mess of it. Be on good behavior and win his trust. Honestly, without the use of your Millennium Rod. Trust is… important in relationships."

Both Yugi and Marik were looking at him oddly now.

"Try it," Seto advised. And having seemed to have filled his socializing quota for the day, he shrugged and headed for the door.

"But Seto!" Yugi said, hurrying after his boyfriend. "We have to stay until Marik lets Joey go! We can't just leave him like this."

"Give it a rest for the day, Yugi," Seto said. "This one Marik will have to decide on his own. We can always come back tomorrow."  

"Where'd you come up with all that 'trust is important' stuff?"

"I think I've listened to one too many of Tea's 'friendship' speeches."

Yugi smiled. "You said you liked her speeches."

"I said I preferred them over those damn 'heart of the cards' speeches," Seto said. "If I have to listen to Yami babble about his cards one more time, I may have to choke him."  

Marik watched them walk away, silently considering. Maybe there was no way of fixing the current mess he'd created after all. He looked over at Joey, still sitting there still and silent as if nothing had happened. Well he couldn't very well know anything had happened, now could he?

But maybe Seto was right. If Joey wanted to run away, Marik would let him. At least Marik could do one thing to make Joey happy, even if he never saw him again afterward.

"Please don't make me regret this," Marik said, picking up the Millennium Rod. He gathered up his courage, took a deep breath, and revoked the ancient magic holding Joey's mind captive, setting him free.

Joey blinked, shook his head, blinked some more and looked around his surroundings. Marik held his breath without realizing he was doing so.

Joey turned to look at Marik, eyes narrowing in a glare. "Why you little-!" And he lunged at Marik, tackling and pinning him to the floor.