On Unstable Ground

**

"Marik, quit it!" Joey laughed as he fumbled with his keys to unlock his front door.

"You never used to mind it…" Marik murmured with a mock-pout, ignoring Joey's command to quit groping him. With one hand still busy trying to unfasten Joey's jeans, Marik took the keys from his boyfriend's hand and unlocked the door.

Once the door was open, Joey lightly slapped away Marik's wandering hands, walking inside and refastening the top button of his pants. "How many times do I gotta tell you; don't do that where Serenity could see us! I don't want her thinking her brother's a raging pervert."

"But you are, and she already knows that," Marik replied casually. "But if you insist; the bedroom's better than the hallway…"

Joey shook his head. "Not today. You heard what I told Yugi. I'm not gonna let you distract me during the time he may need me."

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard…" Marik muttered, flopping down on the couch, the grabbing Joey's arm and pulling him down as well. He resumed his efforts to get Joey to change his mind about the whole no-sex vow.

"Stop!" Joey commanded, trying to struggle away from his boyfriend. "I mean it! I'm not givin' in to you until Yugi gets some."

"I'm sure Yugi's gotten laid by now," Marik purred.

"Are you nuts? It's only been thirty minutes since we left him. He and Kaiba are not gonna make up in thirty minutes, no matter how badly they oughta…"

"Well, maybe not with Kaiba," Marik mused, a smug smile on his face. "There are plenty of other people around he could have fucked."

"Like who, Ryou?" Joey asked. Then he frowned. "Though Ryou was dressed awfully strange for just trying to cheer Yugi up."

"There, you see?" Marik continued fighting with the unyielding zipper of Joey's jeans. "Ryou wanted into Yugi's pants, so Yugi got laid, and now you can. Quit struggling."

"No way!" Joey smacked Marik's hands again, pushing him away. "I know Ryou; he's way too shy to do anything like that! And Yugi's all heartbroken over Kaiba! He's not interested in sleeping with anybody else now."

Marik gave up trying to remove Joey's clothing and argue with him at the same time. "Well, maybe if they both got just enough of a push…"

"A push? What are you…" Joey's eyes widened. "Tell me you didn't!"

Marik just blinked at him.

Joey groaned. "You did! You jerk!" He grabbed one of the couch pillows and started pummeling Marik with it. "You lowdown dirty sneaky bastard! I don't believe you! You mind-slaved them?!"

"No!" Marik cried, trying to shield himself from the pillow. "I just… gave them a little magical point in the right direction. Which… sort of led them straight into the bedroom."

Joey glowered at him, throwing down the pillow and holding out his hand. "Give it."

Marik stared at him. "Excuse me?"

"The Millennium Rod! Hand it over."

"Now Joey…" Marik began, "you know what happened the last time you tried to take it from me."

"I don't care if I DO mind-slave you! It's one thing to repeatedly mess with my mind, and entirely another thing to do it to my friends! Now give it!"

Marik was silent for the moment it took him to weigh all his options. Most of his choices involved making things a whole lot worse. So finally he sighed, and handed the Millennium Item over to his boyfriend.

Joey glowered at the Rod, then at Marik. "Now get out of my house."

"But Joey!"

Joey held up the Millennium Rod threateningly. "Don't make me break this over your thick head!"

"Alright, I'm going!"

**

Mokuba sighed, watching his brother mope. After Yugi had run away, Yami and Duke had gone after him, leaving Mokuba to try and talk some sense into Seto. Which was fully what the younger Kaiba brother intended to do. This had gone on quite long enough.

"Seto," Mokuba said, walking further into the room. "That was a very stupid thing you just did."

Seto's gaze snapped to him, staring. "Excuse me?" Since when did Mokuba tell him anything he did was stupid?

"Yugi came back! I thought that's what you wanted. But instead, you chased him away again," Mokuba shouted. "Why did you do that?"

Seto shook his head. "I had my reasons."

"Well whatever those reasons are, they're not good enough," Mokuba said. "Seto… Yugi makes you happy. Really happy! It used to be that you only cared about two things; me, and yourself. Then you started spending time with Yugi, and all of a sudden you smiled more. And acted like a real human, instead of the snobby CEO corporate robot of KaibaCorp. And I want my human brother back!"

"You don't understand, Mokuba…" Seto said softly. "Yugi doesn't really want me anymore. He replaced me! I don't know what he was here for earlier, but it wasn't because he actually cares what happens to me. He has new boyfriend now."

"You mean Ryou?" Mokuba blinked. "How do you know about that?"

Seto shrugged. "It doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does. Marik and Bakura used magic on Yugi and Ryou to make them be together. Yugi was really upset about it too, because he loves you, and he felt awful for being with Ryou even if it wasn't really his fault. That's why he came back here! Because this is where he belongs." Mokuba glowered at Seto. "When you got together with Yugi, he became my big brother too, and if I gotta take care of BOTH of you, I will!"

"Wait, Bakura and Marik did WHAT to Yugi?"

"Setooo, pay attention!" Mokuba folded his arms. "You still love Yugi, right?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"Then go and get him back! And don't come back here until you do!"

Seto was silent for a long moment. And then he smiled, the first smile in what felt like ages. "You know, Mokuba, you're right. I don't know what I would do without you." He pushed away the covers, trying to smooth out all the wrinkles in his clothing as he got out of bed.

Mokuba smiled. "Hey, that's what little brothers are for."  

**

"Well, what do you know…" Midori murmured, smiling faintly as she watched the little exchange between the Kaiba brothers through the magic shadow realm mirror. "I shoulda hired the little squirt to talk sense into Seto in the first place. Mokuba's a real charmer."

"Would you quit hogging the mirror?" Ruby asked sullenly. "I need to make sure Joey is alright. You know how unpredictable the Millennium Rod can be." She tried to push the larger dragon form of the Blue Eyes White Dragon out of the way.

"Oh, chill out," Shiroi muttered, pulling Ruby's black tail. "It's only dangerous if he 'activates' it. And Joey Wheeler may be a little dense, but he isn't stupid. I'm the one that needs the mirror next; Yami trapped Bakura in the shadow realm! There's no air in most places, and all sorts of freaky things wandering around in there!"

"Yeah, like us," Ruby muttered. "Bakura's a 5,000 year old spirit, I don't think he has to worry about breathing. And last I checked, he could take care of himself."

"Would you guys shut up?" Midori snapped. "I'm trying to-"

"We found him!" The Dark Magician rushed over to the group, a little out of breath. "We found Yugi's Guardian."

"Wonderful!" Midori grinned. "Bring him over here."

"Well, you see…" The Dark Magician sighed, stepping to one side to reveal the tiny Duel Monster that had followed him over like a little puppy. "This is him."

The Kuriboh cooed happily, waving its little paw.

The dragons by the mirror stared at the creature for a moment. It was Midori who broke the silence, huffing a little in annoyance. "Well. No wonder Yugi used to get beaten up all the time…"

Kuriboh glowered, and bit the Blue Eyes White Dragon on the foot. Midori raised her leg, watching the little beast dangle from her paw. "I rest my case."

"I'm sure he did his best…" the Dark Magician murmured. "It's not his fault he's smaller than everybody else."

"But still," Midori muttered. "This is ridiculous. Get everybody together; I'm calling an emergency meeting."

**

Yugi didn't have any idea how he made it home without getting lost or hit by a car or something. On his run from the Kaiba mansion, he hardly took note of his surroundings, until he suddenly found himself on his front porch. After a moment of numbly fumbling through his pockets, he remembered that he still hadn't gotten a new key made to replace the one he lost.

He leaned against the front door for a moment, trying to wipe all the tears from his eyes. He'd known Seto would be mad at him. Seto didn't ever want to see him again. Miserable and feeling more alone than he ever had in his life, Yugi tried to think of what to do now.

He was probably light enough to climb up the drainpipe and get inside through his bedroom window… except he really didn't want to go in there right now. It had been ages since he'd actually spent a full week in his own house. Most of the time… he just stayed at Seto's. Most of his stuff had even been put away in boxes to make more room. This wasn't his home anymore; it was just a house. And going in there would just make him feel more lonely.

Suddenly, he couldn't stand this place anymore. Yugi had to get out of here. Away from everyone. Someplace where not even Yami could find him. He couldn't live in this world where Seto didn't love him. He just couldn't.

Someplace else. Where could he go? After a moment, he realized he was clutching the Millennium Puzzle tightly, as he usually did when he was very upset. That's it. With the Millennium Puzzle, he could go to the Shadow Realm. It was so huge there no one would ever find him. Not even Yami, if he left the Puzzle behind…

Yugi didn't really know the proper way of opening a portal into the Shadow Realm. It hadn't ever been something he'd been interested in doing before now. But with enough concentration, and the burning need to get somewhere else as fast as he could, somehow he must have convinced the Powers that Be to have pity on him. A small, fizzling portal opened up, the edges sizzling with the effort to stay open. But it was enough. Yugi pulled off the Millennium Puzzle and laid it on the porch, to the left of the welcome mat, and without a second thought, leapt through the portal.

With almost a sigh of relief, the portal crumpled and closed behind him.