Cheaters Never Win

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds, and I'm not making any money from this fic

Summary: Cheaters always lose. Yusei punishes Leo for trying to help him by cheating

Warning(s): Spanking; spoilers up to and including episode twenty-one of Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds; mentions of violence

Yusei sat by the window in Leo and Luna's house, looking out at New Domino City and thinking about his upcoming duel. He shouldn't have been surprised that Goodwin had found some way of forcing all of the duelists to dance to his tune. If Yusei had had his way, he wouldn't have entered the tournament at all.

But it was no use thinking about what might have happened.

The duel against Greiger wasn't going to be easy. They both had things to fight for; and Yusei knew that neither of them was going to back down.

This was a duel he'd feel bad about winning.

At least his other friends were safe. And Leo and Luna would probably be all right on their own – but Yusei found himself reluctant to leave them. And Luna had already been endangered once. Even if the threat appeared to be over, Yusei wasn't willing to lower his guard just yet.

"Yusei?"

Yusei blinked as he heard Leo's voice, and turned round to see the boy standing behind him. "What are you doing awake?" Leo had been sound asleep – and snoring loudly – ever since he'd broken into Greiger's garage.

How Leo had managed to sleep after that, Yusei still wasn't sure.

"Are you mad at me?" Leo asked in a small voice.

Yusei stood up, wondering if he even had the right to tell Leo and Luna what they should and shouldn't do. They were his friends – but they were from New Domino, while he had grown up in Satellite. They might be children younger than him, but surely it was up to their parents to teach them the consequences of doing something wrong.

But their parents weren't around. And Yusei could still remember the time he'd found Rally cheating – and what had happened then.

"I'm not mad at you," Yusei said out loud. "I know you were trying to help. But cheating is never the answer. You could have got into huge trouble with Sector Security." It did cross Yusei's mind that it was kind of ironic for him to be lecturing Leo about breaking the law when one of his best friends was a thief – but Satellite kids didn't have a choice. And the last thing he wanted was to see Leo end up throwing his life away because he didn't think things through.

"I wish I'd been able to get a look at the Duel Runner for you anyway," Leo muttered.

That decided Yusei. He had wondered if Leo even realised that it was the cheating that was wrong rather than the fact that he'd got caught. Looked like he had his answer.

"Don't you understand how serious this is?" Yusei asked, stepping forward and taking some satisfaction in the way Leo's eyes widened. "If Greiger had chosen to call Sector Security on you, then they would have been able to take you to the Facility; and Luna would be left alone. It doesn't matter to them how old you are." Under any other circumstances, Yusei would have felt bad for the look of horror on Leo's face – but right now, he was only focused on making sure that Leo knew the dangers of what he'd done.

"I didn't..."

"Didn't what? Didn't think? Because you're right about that." Yusei might have been without parents for most of his life, but he'd seen interactions between other children and their parents enough times to know that he was echoing the words of many adults. Leo had already shown that he was unhappy with his parents' absence, so perhaps this was something he needed.

Leo flinched. "But..." His voice trailed off, and he stared at Yusei for several moments before finally swallowing. "I didn't mean to."

"You're still getting punished." Yusei didn't give Leo a chance to fully absorb that before he crossed the distance between them and took hold of Leo's wrist. He then sat down on the chair and pulled the younger boy over his lap, where he immediately started swatting the seat of Leo's trousers.

"Ow! Yusei!" Leo started struggling immediately. "You can't do this!"

"If this is what it takes to get you to think about your actions, then yes, I can." Yusei held Leo still as he increased the force behind the swats, feeling the boy's behind grow warm under his hand.

"Stop it!" Leo's hand shot behind him to cover his bottom.

Yusei merely pulled Leo's hand out of the way and resumed swatting. "Not until you promise not to do something like that again." When Leo didn't reply, he landed several sharp swats to the younger boy's thighs, wincing at the soreness in his own hand.

"All right!" Leo finally broke down and began sniffling and crying. "I promise!"

"Good." Yusei immediately stopped the spanking, and Leo jumped to his feet and began rubbing his bottom. "Next time, you might not be so lucky." Though he wasn't sure that Leo would accept comfort, Yusei followed his instincts and held out his arms – and was immediately tackled in a fierce hug.

"Don't do that again." Leo probably meant it to be an order, but it sounded more like a shaky question.

Yusei's gaze cut to the couch, where Luna appeared to still be sleeping. He wasn't sure how she'd managed to stay asleep through him spanking her brother – but he was unwilling to check and see if she was awake. Leo had already proved himself able to sleep through alarms and being carried back to the house – so perhaps he and his sister were similar in more ways than just their appearance.

Turning back to Leo, Yusei looked at him seriously. "If I have to do it again, I will. You'd better make sure you behave yourself." He hugged Leo again to take the sting out of his words and then stood up. "Come on. You should be back in bed."