Author's Note: This shall be the last chapter in the longest story I have written so far. It's late, I'm tired, and I'm going to be out of town for a day or two starting tomorrow. So this is all you get for a while! Thank you incredibly muchness to everyone who read and reviewed, and a special thanks to my friend Cola-kitty! Hope you enjoyed your present, Cola! (And Mick, if you're reading this)

Blonde Jokes Aren't Funny

**

"Okay. Tell me again what happened?" Yami asked, poking Marik in the forehead skeptically.

Joey had been waiting for Yami and Bakura when they'd gotten home from their mini-vacation that day. Marik had been standing beside him, staring off into space with that creepy expression on his face. It had taken Yami ten minutes to get Joey to calm down and speak slowly so he could understand him. Bakura had just seemed to find the idea of a mind-enslaved Marik intensely funny, and had had to go into another room so he could finish his laughing fit.

"I told you already!" Joey said. "I grabbed the Millennium Rod from him, it started to do this bright glowing thing and all of a sudden, Marik was a zombie! And I didn't know how to change him back!"

"Why would you want to?" Bakura asked, coming back into the room. He was still grinning, but seemed to have his amusement back under control. "Think of all the fun you could have with him this way."

"But I don't want him to be my mind slave!" Joey protested. "I want him-"

Yami and Bakura gave him matching interested expressions.

"-back to normal…" Joey finished quietly. "Come on, Yami, you were the Pharaoh! Can't you do something?"

"I don't know…" Yami said, studying Marik thoughtfully. "You brought the Millennium Item?"

Joey handed the Millennium Rod to Yami. The Pharaoh took it, twirling it a little while he thought.

"Well," Yami said finally, "I can certainly try. There is an ancient magic I know, quite powerful, that calls upon a great mysterious force to unlock the spell of the Millennium Items and undo whatever it is you caused."

"And if that doesn't work," Bakura added, "we'll just hit Marik on the head a few times with the Millennium Rod, see if that fixes it."

Yami shot a glare at Bakura. "Come on Bakura, you can help me with this."

"Do I have to?" Bakura muttered. "Why can't we just leave Marik this way? He'd make a nice coat rack." He pulled off his jacket and draped it over Marik's head.

"Quit fooling around!" Joey snapped at Bakura, grabbing the jacket off Marik's head. "Just help Yami fix him!"

"Alright already…" Bakura glanced at Yami. "Ready then?"

Yami nodded, holding up the Millennium Puzzle and Millennium Rod. Bakura similarly raised the Millennium Ring. All together, the three Millennium Items began to glow, filling the room with soft golden light. It lasted only a moment, before the light died down again.

Joey blinked. "What? Was that it?"

Yami smiled at him. "See for yourself."

Joey looked over at Marik. Marik was rubbing at his head, groaning softly. The spell had been broken.

"You're back!" Joey cried, tackling Marik.

"Ah!" Marik blinked at Joey, having suddenly ended up on the floor again, once again pinned. "Uhh… miss me?"

Yami and Bakura watched in amusement as Marik tried to pry himself out of Joey's hug. It wasn't exactly that Marik minded his current position, but it was a little hard to breathe…

"Joey," Yami said. "We know you're very happy to have Marik back, but do you supposed we could talk to him for a minute?"

"Er…" Joey sat up, though he still had Marik pinned beneath him. "What about?"

"The wisdom of using Millennium Items properly," Yami said. "It'll only take a moment. There's cherry sherbet in the fridge if you want any…"

"Alright! I'm there!" Joey jumped up and practically ran for the door. "Don't hurt Marik too much though, alright? He's been through a lot…"

Marik smiled faintly as he watched Joey run out of the room. After a few moments he realized he'd been staring with that stupid look on his face, and he stood up to face Yami and Bakura.

Yami was smirking. "You really love him, don't you?"

"Ahh…" Marik laughed in a faintly embarrassed way, nodding. "Yeah. Guess so."

"You going to tell him?" Yami asked.

"That I love him?"

Bakura shook his head. "That you were faking being mind-enslaved."

Marik flashed his wicked grin. "Oh, that. No way. I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell him either… our little secret, okay? Nice touch with making the Millennium Items glow like that, by the way. Very convincing."

Yami shrugged. "I'm actually rather surprised you managed to keep that stupid blank look on your face for so long without cracking."

"It wasn't easy." Marik headed for the door, shooting Bakura a glare over his shoulder. "And I would NOT make a good coat rack!"

Yami and Bakura watched him head down to the kitchen. Finally Bakura picked up his coat off the floor, glancing at Yami. "Well? What do you think?"

Yami smiled, nodding. "Yeah. I think they'll do just fine together."

**

Marik found Joey sitting cross-legged on the kitchen countertop, digging into a carton of cherry sherbet with a spoon. "Hey."

Joey waved at him. "Hey. How you feeling?"

Marik stretched, listening to the joints pop with a certain amount of pleasure. "A little stiff, but not too bad. So… you still mad at me?"

"Nah, not so much," Joey said, eating another spoonful of sherbet. "You mind-slave me, I mind-slave you; I figure we're even."

"And you're not mad about me trying to get the Millennium Puzzle?" Marik asked.

"Oh right…" Joey looked thoughtful. "There is still that, isn't there? Tell you what…" he grinned, "if we ever have sex, I get to be on top first time. And I'll forgive you. Sound fair?"

Marik grinned in return. "Sounds good to me." He gestured to the container of cherry sherbet. "Can I have some of that?"

Joey handed him a spoon, and together they dug into the carton of sherbet. And things were good.

**

Umm… the end. Yeah.