"Bakura!"

"Marik!"

"Jounochi...?"

"Marik?"

Marik stared at the sight before him. His best friend was carrying the sandy blond over his shoulder. "May I ask what's going on?"

"We came to give you a home warming party. I've carried these all the way from the Game Shop." Bakura produced a bottle of wine.

Marik clapped his hands together. "Splendid! Come right on in!" He moved to allow Bakura in. He closed the door and followed him into his apartment. "Yea...a blond and some wine. You always know what to get me, Bakura!"

Bakura set Jounochi on the carpeted floor and glanced around. The apartment was...empty... "Um...nice place."

"I'm going to buy furniture later."

"You're barefoot," Bakura commented.

"I like the way the carpet feels," Marik pouted, crossing his arms. "We didn't have carpet in Egypt."

"Carpet always freaked me out," Bakura commented, tossing himself onto the floor as if it was a couch. "Oh, very nice..." he said sarcastically.

"I don't have any glasses...so hello...Jounochi."

Jou nodded at Marik. "Namo...Marik...I..."

"Marik," he whispered.

Jou nodded.

"I...I'm sorry about the last time I saw you..."

"Don't worry about. I'm just having a bad day..."

"The day's barely begun, what's wrong?"

"Kaiba and Jou have...separated."

"You married that fool? You really are a blond."

"And you aren't?" Bakura peered up at him.

"Jou...I hope things work out for the better," Marik said softly.

Jou nodded. "Thank you. So what are you doing in Japan?"

"I moved here. I don't like sand very much. Never have. After seeing all the buildings and lights and...Japan is so nice..."

Jou raised an eyebrow. "Did you live in a pyramids or something?"

Marik smiled. "Something like that. So...other than marrying that baka, how's your life been?"

"Yugi and my aibou married each other about a year ago," Bakura muttered. "So I'm stuck with the pharaoh."

"Sucks to be you," Marik laughed. "And that...the black haired one?"

"Otogi? Ryou works for him as his personal assistant. I think he's dating someone."

"And Honda?"

"Moved to America," Jou mumbled. They had lost touch with each other after Jou had come out of the closet.

"What about the girl?"

"Lost touch after she married someone. They moved into the country. She annoyed me anyway..." Bakura muttered.

"So Jounochi Katsuya is gay?" Marik asked, amused. "Kind of...surprising."

Jou shrugged. "Does it really matter?"

"No, not really...want something to drink?" Marik held out the bottle.

Jou shrugged. Of all the places he could have dragged him off to...

Marik sighed. "Or would you rather leave?"

Bakura hit Jou on the shoulder. "Don't be rude." He grabbed the bottle and popped the cork out of it. "To better, happier times!" he toasted, knocking back the bottle.

~~~

Marik ran his hand though Jou's hair. "You have nice hair," he murmured.

Jou looked at him through the corner of his eyes. "Are you hitting on me?" he asked, amused. He was more than a little drunk, as were the two Egyptians, even though he suspected, since the wine was so cheap, they were mostly pretending.

"No, I'm seducing you!" Marik giggled, pulling Jou to the ground. He lounged next to him, running his hand along Jou's cheek bone. Like Kaiba did to him a lot. Jou closed his eyes, feeling comforted. "You're so pretty," Marik purred, leaning closer to him.

Bakura took a sip of the wine, a smile growing on his face.

"No `m not," Jounochi muttered. He gazed up at the platinum blond Egyptian. ~He's pretty, though...I like his hair...~

"Aren't you hot in that shirt?" Marik asked, undoing the buttons.

"Not really..." Jou murmured, but helped Marik take it off anyway.

Marik took Jou's face in his hands and began stroking him lightly, a small smile on his face. "You're even hotter without it," he laughed lightly. He began running his hand over Jou's skin, sending shivers through Jou.

"Wow..." Jou whispered. ~It feels so good...~

Marik laid down more, sliding his other hand to take Jou's face in his grasp. He was lieing halfway on him, staring into his caramel eyes, centimeters from his face. "Do you like it when I do this?" he whispered.

"Y-yeah..." ~What's happening...?~

Marik wetted his lips with his tongue. "Really...? Then you'll like it even better when I do this..." He closed his eyes and leaned in close to Jou, fitting his lips with Jou's.

"Mmmph..." Jou had been expecting it, but was still surprised when their lips had met. "Marik," he tried to mumble, but Marik took Jou's opened mouth to his advantage. Marik's warm tongue ran over Jounochi's, as his hands trailed over Jou's body. Jou awkwardly ran his hands along Marik's back. He knew better than to press too hard; he had a thing about that. He broke from Marik, gasping. "Stop. We have to stop. Just...stop..." His hands covered his face as he began breathing heavily.

"Jounochi..." Marik sat up, shocked. "Are you okay...?"

"I'm fine...I just...I can't do this..."

"How long have they been separated...?" Marik asked in a strange voice, barley glancing at Bakura.

Bakura cleared his throat, uneasily. "Well, um...a few hours?"

Marik turned to Bakura suddenly. "You've got to be kidding me..." He leaned in, brushing Jounochi's bangs back. "Jounochi...Jouno...calm down...I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't know..."

Jou moved his hands away from his face, staring up at Marik with tear- filled eyes. "I'm sorry...it's not you, Marik..."

"No, don't worry..." Marik pulled Jou into an embrace, gently stroking his hair. "It's okay, Jounochi..."

"I'm really sorry, Marik... I know you're a nice guy... I'm sorry...."

Marik shot Bakura a pleading side-long glance. "Don't worry about it, Jounochi...I'd be asking a lot to expect you to start dating right away."

"I'm suppose to date?!" Jou sat up suddenly.

Bakura scratched the back of his head. "You walked out before Kaiba and Yugi had their little conversation..."

"*What* conversation?" Jou asked shortly.

Bakura sighed. "I'm not denying you the fact Kaiba cares about you. It was obvious. But I just think... It's like I said, mutt. He's ashamed to be seen with you..."

"Bakura..." Marik said softly.

Jou shook his head. "You're *wrong.*"

"Why do you have to be so thick-headed?! He doesn't want to be gay! After a few months, he's going to tell you it's over. He needs this time to get over you! But then it's over! So date someone else!"

Jou stood up, pointing an unsteady, shaking finger at Bakura. "You're *wrong*! He loves me and everything will be *fine*! It's going to be--" He slammed his fists into the wall. "No! NOOOoooo...!!" he sobbed. "He...he loves me..." He slammed his head against the wall, sobbing.

"Then he wouldn't hurt you this way..." Marik murmured. "You don't deserve this, Jounochi."

Bakura reached up and took Jou's hand. "I'm not trying to hurt you, Jou."

"Since when do you care?" Jou bit his words off angrily.

"Jounochi," Bakura growled, pulling Jou down into his lap.

Jou fought against him. "Let go of me!" he screamed.

Bakura took Jou's hand in his and ripped off the bandages. "What in Ra's name happened here?!"

"I cut myself!"

"On what?!"

"A broken glass!"

"How'd that happen?!"

"I slammed it down when..." He stopped struggling.

"When?" Bakura asked softly.

"When Seto and I got in the fight...when he told me to leave..." Jou rubbed his forehead. "He's not going to take me back..." His face fell and he bit his lip. "I didn't mean to make him mad..."

"Jounochi?" Marik asked gently. "Did he ever hit you? Or anything like that?"

Jou shook his head. "Never..." he breathed.

Bakura shook his head. "No...Kaiba isn't like that. Even I'll give him that."

Tears began falling down Jounochi's cheeks. "I love him so much..." he sobbed softly.

Crawling over to them, Marik wrapped his arms around Jounochi and Bakura. Jounochi began crying into Marik's shoulder as the two Egyptians held him. After Jou's tears began to dry up, Marik murmured, "It will be okay...Bakura and I have got you in a nice man-wich." He tighten his grasp around them.

Jou giggled.

Bakura placed a hand on Jou's bare hip. "Get your shirt back on so we can take Marik out to eat. He didn't come all the way out to Japan to drink imported wine."

Jou smiled. "Okay," he murmured, getting up. "I'm going to go wash my face..."

"Bathroom's down that hall," Marik pointed.

Once Jou had left, Marik shook his head at Bakura and said in disbelief, "You didn't even tell me..."

"Oh for crying out loud...they have been virtually separated for about a year now."

"I can't believe Kaiba would do something like that to him..."

"I can. Men of high status are totally predictable."

"That lost love thing again?" Marik asked begrudgingly.

"SOR-ry," Bakura muttered. "So do you still like him?"

"Yes..."

"Then go for it."

"Do you think he'll like me back?"

"No hurt in trying."

Marik sighed and leaned back a bit. "You don't think I'm weird, do you?"

"Since when does my opinion mattered? The mutt's not...bad looking..."

"It's more than that..."

"He cries too much, but I guess it's understandable right now. He seems like a nice guy, I guess..."

Marik nodded, staring up at the ceiling. "It'd be fun to paint this room," he commented. He made a face at the tan color. "If I wanted to stare at sand all day, I would have stayed in that underground hell-hole."

"What ever happened to Yami Marik? Is he gone for good?" Bakura asked suddenly.

Marik didn't say anything for several minutes. Finally, he tilted his head to look at Bakura. "He's not really there. There's the hate and the pain and the self-doubt. But never to the extreme he became... I have control over it now. I can get mad without trying to kill everyone. I'm suppose to get a therapist or something, but I bet they'd think I was crazy with everything I told them."

Bakura laughed. "Well, that's good. About being able to control it, I mean."