Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds

Notes: The first part of this fic takes place not long before the start of the WRGP. The second part takes place after episode 110. There are general spoilers here for the end of the series and various characters' relationship to each other.

In Case of Cake

There were a couple of things they never talked about.

Actually there were a lot of things they never talked about, because someone always managed to piss off the other two somehow. But out of all the things they never talked about, their past was one of them. Oh, they would talk about Z-ONE's orders, or wonder what Paradox was up to, or Plácido, did you really have to drive Antinomy off a cliff? ("He had a beard when we last saw him. How was I supposed to know it was him?") Yet their memories were off-limits. They'd tried once. It had led to a rare unanimous agreement to just keep their personal lives to themselves.

Due to said agreement, they had quite pointedly not talked about today, even though all of them knew very well what it represented. Lucciano had already lost count of how old they were supposed to be, and he was stuck in a child's body anyway, but still, it was his birthday. It had been years and years since he'd been able to celebrate it, and he wanted cake. So he'd grabbed his wallet, thought better of it and stolen Plácido's instead, and headed to a small bakery near Duel Academia. It was a popular venue for students, but today was a Saturday, so he didn't run the risk of meeting anyone who might recognize him from his short-lived stint at the Academia. As he'd expected, the place was deserted except for a few businessmen who wouldn't know him anyway. He wandered over to the display counter. He could choose one of the one-person cakes, but where was the fun in that? Surely Plácido didn't need his money anyway. Lucciano would put it to much better use.

The store bell rang once, then once more, and Lucciano heard someone run away before the door closed with a bang. Some people were so impolite. He shrugged and turned his attention back to the display. Now did he want chocolate or cherry…

oOoOo

"He's buying cake!" Rua announced before he'd even made it through the door of the garage properly. He stopped at the top of the stairs, panting. Crow killed Blackbird's engine and turned around.

"Who's buying cake?"

"Lucciano! I wanted to go buy some stuff at the shop near school and he was there!"

Crow frowned. It had been a while since any of Yliaster's members had shown themselves. Still.

"It's not actually illegal to buy cake," he reminded Rua. "Is he stealing it?"

"No, but…" Rua frowned, momentarily stumped. "Who knows what he's going to do with it?"

"Eat it?" Bruno suggested without looking up from the laptop. "Crow, I want to run that last test again, is that okay? These data look a bit off."

Crow nodded. Blackbird had been running fine ever since he'd found Black Feather Dragon, but it couldn't hurt to make sure. He wanted all of their D-Wheels in perfect condition when the WRGP started.

"Oh, where's Ruka?" Bruno asked.

"She and Aki-neechan are doing some psychic stuff," Rua said quickly. "But c'mon guys, that's not important. We have to go!"

"Bruno, you ready to start over?"

Rua stamped his foot in frustration. "What if he's going to poison it and send it to Security? Maybe he's trying to poison Mikage-san!"

"What about her?" Jack wandered into the garage and looked up at Rua.

"Lucciano is buying a cake," Rua said, and then, completely superfluously, "I don't trust him."

"He's going to poison Security?" Jack asked sharply. Rua nodded, looking happy with the added support.

"Or he's just going to eat it." Crow said. "Aren't you jumping the gun here?"

Jack disagreed. "You know he can't be trusted!"

Crow groaned. He could see where this was going already and a wild goose chase had not been part of his plans for the day. But seeing as there'd be no stopping Jack now, he might as well go along and do some damage control.

"Fine, we'll go. But if it turns out he's just going to eat whatever he's buying, we're leaving him alone. Deal?"

Rua nodded enthusiastically, already half out the door. Crow looked back at Bruno, who was still typing away furiously on his laptop.

"You coming?"

Bruno shook his head. "I just want to run that one test again. Besides, Yusei will be back any minute now."

Oh, right, Yusei. He could've used Yusei here now, if only for some added common sense. Nothing to do about it. He might as well get it over with.

"Right. Let's go."

oOoOo

The cake was… Well, not as big as the one he'd first planned to buy, because the thought of buying more than he could eat rankled; throwing away food, even though he didn't have to worry about his next meal (or even had to eat at all, for that matter), wasn't something he liked doing. Still, it was a nice cake, with lots of chocolate, and Lucciano was looking forward to eating it all by himself. Maybe he'd tell the others about it. After all, Plácido had a right to know what his money was being used for.

He was quite happily whistling a birthday song when he turned into an alley near the Security building and ran straight into Rua.

"Stop right there!" Rua announced dramatically. The effect was kind of ruined when he stumbled and almost lost his balance. Lucciano suppressed a giggle as Jack Atlas and Crow Hogan appeared, the latter looking like he very much wanted to be somewhere else. That made two of them, then.

"We know all about your plans," Jack said.

What?

"Yeah! We're not gonna let you poison Security!"

No seriously, what? Lucciano tightened his grip on the box in his arm. Crow Hogan finally spoke up.

"What're you gonna do with that cake?"

"Eat it." Duh.

"Right, that's settled." Crow turned around. "You heard him, come on, let's go."

"We can't just believe him," Rua said indignantly. "Look how close he is to the Security building!"

Why would he even want to poison Security? Not that poison wasn't a convenient method, but they were such useful pawns. Besides, if he needed to get rid of them in a hurry, he knew methods that were far faster, far more lethal, and most importantly, didn't involve the cake he wanted to eat himself.

"It's a cake. I plan to eat it. Now leave me alone." Lucciano turned back in the direction he'd come from. Now they were making him take a detour as well. He had no idea how Antinomy put up with these people.

oOoOo

"They're doing what?" Yusei asked.

"Trying to find Lucciano, yes," Bruno said.

"For a cake." Yusei rubbed the bridge of his nose and put down his toolbox. Bruno closed the laptop. He wouldn't be getting any work done today.

oOoOo

"Don't run away when we're talking to you!" Jack shouted. How did they manage to be this annoying all the time? Lucciano turned around, clutching the cake box to his chest.

"I bought it fair and square," he insisted. Not quite with his own money, but they didn't need to know that.

"What are you guys doing?"

Oh joy, the peanut gallery kept growing. Fudou Yusei and Antinomy, the latter looking very confused.

"Stealing my cake, that's what," Lucciano replied. Rua glared.

"You're up to something, I know it!"

"Guys, can't we just-" Antinomy tried to say, but Rua darted forward and tried to pull the box out of his hands.

"Hey!" No way he was going to lose against a human child. Lucciano pulled back with all the force he could muster, but Rua clung to him like a limpet.

"Let go already!" He tried to pull free, then resorted to the age-old method of playground fights everywhere: kicking Rua in the shins. Rua yelped and tried to kick back, but lost his balance and pulled Lucciano down with him. Lucciano let go of the box to keep his balance. He knew he'd made a mistake the moment he did it; the box turned, and his birthday cake fell out, splattering onto the ground.

For a moment, no one spoke.

"Well, thanks," Lucciano said. "Got what you wanted now?"

Yusei pulled Rua up, cutting off whatever he'd been about to say, and steered him back towards the group.

"Come on, it's over. Let's go home."

They all turned away, except for Antinomy, who looked back at him, mumbled something about buying stuff, and went off in the opposite direction. Lucciano sat back against the wall of the alleyway and stared morosely at the remnants of his cake. He really had been looking forward to celebrating his birthday, but now he didn't feel like it anymore. Maybe his cake was still salvageable? No, he wasn't that desperate.

It had been so many years since he'd had an actual birthday he could celebrate.

He'd been sitting there for maybe ten minutes when someone stopped in front of him. Lucciano prepared himself to yell at whatever officer was trying to arrest him for loitering, but when he looked up, it was Antinomy who looked back.

"Oh good, you're still here. Um-" He sheepishly held out a small bag, and Lucciano took it. "It's not as good as your cake, but since it's your birthday… Well, I thought you should have something."

Lucciano opened the bag to find a cupcake, chocolate like the cake he'd originally bought.

Antinomy shifted from foot to foot. "So, yeah. Happy birthday. I'll see you around, I guess."

He walked away a bit faster than was strictly necessary. Lucciano watched him until he turned the corner, then looked at the bag. His first birthday present in how many years?

"You know," he said softly, "I never did say that today was my birthday."

oOoOo

"Where'd you get that?"

Lucciano continued eating his cupcake with small bites and didn't even bother looking at Plácido.

"A present from a friend."

"Since when do you have friends?"

Lucciano swallowed a bite. "Just because you suck at making friends doesn't mean I do."

"We're all the same person, you idiot!"

oOoOo

It was amazing how much work went into keeping a D-Wheel fully functional during a tournament like the WRGP. Bruno wiped the sweat off his brow and sighed. He really felt like he was forgetting something, but whatever it was utterly eluded him. Like most of his memories, of course. At least now he remembered more than two months ago.

Maybe he should ask Yusei to take over here, so he could go check on Delta Eagle. He could do with the distraction.

"Bruno! This was at the door for you," Crow said, appearing behind him so suddenly that he almost jumped.

"For me?" Strange. Bruno accepted the box and studied it. "No note?"

"Not that I can see. Do you know who it's from?"

Bruno shook his head. He opened the box to reveal - cake. His favorite kind, no less.

"That looks good," Crow said. Bruno nodded, smiling. He had a pretty good idea of who sent it, and really, he shouldn't trust them any further than he could throw them, but-

"That's awfully nice of them."

oOoOo

Plácido confronted Lucciano when he came home.

"You! Did you steal my money again?"

"Yep." Lucciano side-stepped him handily and walked on. He took out a few bills and tossed them behind him, not caring whether Plácido caught them or not. "Here, you even get the change."

"What did you buy this time?" Plácido asked, pacing behind him.

"A birthday present." Lucciano looked over his shoulder and smirked. "Look, I did you a favor. Now you can pretend you have friends to buy presents for!"

Plácido stomped off and Lucciano watched him go with a smile. A present for a present. Besides, If Antinomy remembered his birthday, then it was only fair that he remembered Antinomy's birthday for him.

… Maybe he'd still send them something poisoned later, though, just for the irony. After all, just because their enemies were stupid and annoying didn't mean that they couldn't have good ideas once in a while.

Comments, questions and concrit are always welcome!