Notes: This will not be a Spamano fic.

One

"No."

The door slams in his face. Again.

Two

"Antonio..." Francis asks with some concern, arms full of groceries, as he eyes the mopey one-third of their trio slumped over the kitchen table like a sad-eyed, droopy-eared kicked puppy in the rain. "Did Lovino reject you again?"

The response comes immediately in the form of a sad and muffled "Yes."

Francis sighs an extremely long-suffering sigh. He sets the bags down on the counter. He can put them away later, for now he'll tend to his (frequently) heartbroken friend. He walks the few steps it takes in their woefully small kitchen to the table - also small, but beautiful - which was a housewarming gift from Alfred (and by extension - Arthur since they decided living together would be more cost-effective.) when he was into flipping furniture. He still is, but to a lesser extent after Arthur put his foot down on Alfred binge-watching 'Flea Market Flip' because the house became overrun with all manner of end tables, chairs, and dressers that Alfred just knew he could make amazing and then sell for a decent chunk of cash (excluding gifts for friends and family). So ended the era of free furniture. Francis misses it.

"So" He begins, seating himself elegantly in the seat across from Antonio's. He wipes a few imaginary crumbs off of the table. "would you like to talk about it?"

Antonio lifts his head, the movement looks as though it actually pains him, and shrugs forlornly.

Seeing his red-rimmed eyes and messy hair, Francis thinks that the puppy in the rain comparison wasn't so far off. It's so unlike his usual self that it's disconcerting. He resists the urge to sigh again and just barely resists reaching out to pet Toni's hair. Poor Antonio. Poor Lovino too, he thinks, because he knows how insistent Antonio can be and while he would never go too far with it, he often times gets too invested in thinking of what could be, all the happy possibilities, instead of starting with whether or not the person even reciprocates his feelings. Which Lovino very obviously doesn't. Francis knows for a fact that Lovino has a little crush on the younger brother of the third member of their trio. He and Gilbert never mention it to Toni because he doesn't need to know and they've been hoping that he'll just let this whole thing go. It doesn't seem likely to happen anytime soon. In fact, it's lasting a lot longer than his usual crushes ever do. There have been so many because when Toni sees something shiny and new he can't help but want it. He also can't help getting easily distracted by other shiny things. He waits for Toni to talk.

"Francis... I don't know what to do! I just want Lovi to like me, because I like him. I want to cook for him, did you know he loves tomatoes too?, and listen to him talk about his days and laugh. He has such a nice laugh! It's so cute..." Antonio trails off, smiling, before he remembers and looks sad again, running his hand through his hair. "What am I doing wrong?" He looks up again, into Francis' eyes this time. He looks so serious and vulnerable, Francis feels a pang in his chest, he hates seeing his friends' hurt in any way.

"Oh Toni." Francis leans forward, covering Antonio's hand with his own. "You know the answer already. No matter how much you may love someone, you can't control how they feel and when they return your feelings it's a lovely thing, but that doesn't always happen. Sometimes... Sometimes they just don't." And god, Francis knows how that feels. He pats Toni's hand comfortingly.

Three

"I still don't get why you came to me for help." Arthur says, distaste coloring his voice. He stares at Antonio, unblinking, waiting for an answer. It's actually kind of creepy.

"Well, you're into the whole magic thing aren't you?" Antonio asks hopefully. "Francis mentioned it once, I think. I was hoping you might have something that could help me win Lovino's heart!"

Arthur gives Antonio a blank look before turning away dismissively. "If you're looking for a love potion, I don't do those."

"No! I don't want a love potion! That wouldn't be...That's not what I want."

Arthur looks back at Antonio, one bushy eyebrow raised skeptically. Antonio sort of wants to touch one to see what it's like. "If it's not a love potion you're after, then what do you want?"

Antonio laughs sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "Do you think you could maybe... summon a cupid?" Seeing Arthur looking annoyed again, he quickly adds. "Not! Not for the arrow. Just for advice, I swear!"

"I suppose I could do that. It won't be a favor though, you understand. You'll owe me one, alright?"

Antonio looks like he's about to complain so Arthur adds "If you're good at something, never do it for free."

Antonio laughs. "Isn't that from Dark Knight?"

"I don't know what you mean."

Four

Antonio wonders if the cloak is entirely necessary, but decides not to say anything about it since Arthur is doing him a favor.

Arthur begins chanting.

The floor glows brightly in the damp-dark of the basement.

"...Show yourself!" Arthur demands forcefully, hand held out in front of him as if he was using some kind of mutant power to pull the creature out of the floor by sheer force of mind. Antonio's eyes widen, what if Arthur is secretly part of the X-men?

'And if he is would he mind introducing me to a few of them?'

The light becomes blinding for a few seconds before fading slowly to reveal a head of ashen blonde hair and a pair of violet eyes.

"You called?"

"Yes!" Antonio blurts excitedly, he didn't think it would actually work, the floor was glowing and everything, but still that could have been faked somehow. He doesn't see how Arthur could fake this. "Oh wow! this is amazing!"

"Not again..." Arthur mutters to himself. Then he calls, slightly louder, to Antonio who had started dragging the 'cupid' out of the room. "That's not!... He's not a...oh forget it."

He sighs. "I hope Ivan behaves himself this time."

Notes: Title from 1234 by Feist. There will be more, but I wanted to upload at least the first part for Valentine's Day. If all goes as planned, it should end up being Spain/Russia. Review, if you'd like.