Everyone in school knew of Arthur's curse. It was kind of hard not to, what with that leather-bound book he carried class to class, the way he wrote in it constantly and checked it before and after entering or exiting each room. It was a curse of forgetfulness, and that's not metaphoric. When he was younger, being the curious and rambunctious boy he was, he opened the door of an abandoned house. Sadly, it wasn't abandoned, and the witch that lived there cursed him so that every time he walked through a doorway, he would forget what he had been doing and what he was going to do.

It freaked him out as a young child, not knowing where he was and having no idea why he was there. Thankfully, his mother came up with a solution - she gave him a notepad and told him to jot down why he had entered the room before he entered it. A little extra work, but what else are you supposed to do when you have a curse? He would occasionally forget to write anything at first, but now being sixteen years of age and living with this system for over ten years… he was very used to writing down everything. He's already went through many journals, and occasionally he'll re-read old ones, just to see what he did day to day.

Unfortunately for Arthur, it was this same system he had grown so fond of that was going to cause him some trouble.

"Why does he never listen to me!" Francis complained to his boyfriend, Matthew, while they sat in the booth of an IHOP, waiting for their pancakes. "They are both such dorks around each other! Arthur should just ask him out already!"

"I feel the same with Alfred," Matthew admitted, leaning his head on his hand. "I tell him every night as we fall asleep that he should just go for it."

"Exactly!" Francis smirked and raised his index finger next to his head. "And I have a plan on how to finally end this awkward tension~"

"Really?" Matthew grinned. He loved listening to his boyfriend's crazy plans. "What'cha got?"

"What'cha?" Francis repeated, a little confused. As a Frenchman who had only learned English in the past two years, he still did not understand much of the language.

"What do you got?"

"Ah!" He grinned "What'chi got is this! Why are you laughing at me?!"

"That's not how you use that contraction," Matthew told him, still laughing softly. "I'll explain later, just tell me your plan."

Francis pouted and stuck his tongue out at him quickly before speaking his plan in French instead. So much simpler. "Well! You know how Arthur has to carry that book around to remind him of what he's doing~"

"Oui?" Matthew raised a brow, not seeing how this correlated at all.

"Well!" Francis got that semi-crazed look in his eye again. "What if I took his book and wrote down "Ask Alfred F. Jones out" into it before shoving him into a room where Alfred is! When he reads what he thinks he wrote, he'll have to follow it since he's claimed many times that he's a man of his word!"

Matthew laughed at first, but then he thought about it. "... I guess it could work," he replied in French. "Though there's still a chance he won't follow through."

Francis visibly deflated and laid back in his booth with a sigh. "Oui, I know… plus, he will notice that it is not his handwriting. And his magic is so strong he'll be able to sense any enchantments on the ink."

Matthew tapped his fingers against the table and chewed his lip, thinking this over. He actually thought it was worth a shot! Much better than Alfred's "natural love potion" idea anyway. As if he could invent a love potion that would initiate general interest instead of infatuation. Everyone knew that wasn't how love potions worked!

"You know," Matthew spoke up. "I'm actually pretty good at forging signatures."

"You are?" Francis raised a brow at him.

"Yeah." Matthew looks a little proud now. "When I was younger I would forge my parents' signature for permission slips."

"... And… they were okay with that?"

"At first they weren't, but they're busy people. It was just easier in the long run. Besides, they trust me!"

"Do you really think you can copy Arthur's signature?" Francis asked his smile slowly returning.

"Give me a copy of his handwriting and yeah, probably."

"Oh, Matthieu!" Francis practically squealed before coming over to his side of the booth just to hug him and kiss his cheek. "I love you so much~"

Matthew blushed and smiled shyly, lifting a hand up to place against his arm. "I love you, too," he told him quietly.

Francis loved it when he got quiet - his husky, hushed voice sent shivers down his spine~ "Come here~" Francis placed his hands on either side of Matthew's face to give him a quick kiss. That ended up being long anyway, because how could anyone just give a quick kiss? "Mm~"

"W-we're in public…" Matthew mumbled, flushing even more.

"Which is why I always beg you to get a to-go order but you never listen!"

"François!"

"Fine, fine!" Francis huffed and went back to his side of the booth, now pouting up a storm.

Matthew would have said something, but his tall order of pancakes arrived just then, so his attention was diverted pretty easily. Once the waitress left he eagerly shoved a whole pancake into his mouth. "Mmmm~!" Syrup dripped down his chin as he moaned.

"You realize this is very unattractive, right?" Francis had to ask, supporting his head in his hands as he smiled softly at his boy.

Matthew had to finish swallowing his pancake before he could speak. "So is eating snails, but I still love you."

"I love you, too."

Sometimes Arthur really wished his magic was strong enough to get rid of his curse for good. No matter how hard he tried, however, he could never find anything that helped. He had even asked for Alfred's help, since everyone claimed he was a master at coming up with new, crazy spells and potions, and even if many of them didn't work you had to admire his tenacity. Arthur came up with his own spells too, of course (and he had been proud to say that they all worked, except for the ones related to his curse obviously), but there was nothing wrong with asking for a bit of help once in awhile. He was desperate, anyway.

That was how they met. Two crazy teens trying to come up with an antidote together. Soon they branched out into trying to create new things in general, and in fact they've branched out so much it's like they've taken a break from their original mission. He didn't mind though, he appreciated the company and creativity, and he hoped Alfred felt the same.

Arthur liked to think he taught Alfred a bit more about the fundamentals of ingredients and of magic in general, and Alfred… well, he taught Arthur to experiment more. To open his mind to more possibilities and forget limitations, and to not fret over failures so much. Meaning that now he could no longer say that every spell he's come up with worked, but he was oddly all right with that. Some things that he thought wouldn't have worked ended up working, too, so it all worked out in the end.

When he wasn't coming up with new combinations for potions and spells, he often re-read old journals. More specifically, journals of when he started working with Alfred. There were so many good memories inside… Memories that Arthur had to fabricate based on what he had written and ask Alfred about later, probably over and over again, though the sweetheart would never admit he grew tired of re-telling the same story. He had always been very supportive and helpful with his curse, and Arthur trusted him enough to allow him to read or write in his journal when he asked.

Right now, his favorite memory that he's read was when something they tried to create together exploded and turned their faces green for three days. He even had pictures of this event too, which was nice. They looked so happy together, like little grinning leprechauns.

Sometimes, when he re-read old journals of them together, he thought… they kind of sounded like a nice couple. He almost expected to read passages of kisses they've shared, or dates they've gone on. But those never occurred - they were just friends. And that was fine with Arthur! Truly… While he would have definitely, definitely loved if anything more happened between them, any happiness he had via a friendship was worth reading about and continuing with. Plus, he could actually remember some memories offhand, without having to re-read them.

He was often confused by his curse. You would think it would affect his studies, but he found that he actually knew and retained most of the information his instructors were trying to teach him. Perhaps his studies had shoved the information into long-term memory and was unaffected? Or perhaps the witch was nice enough to put in a quick addendum that it wouldn't affect learning lessons? He supposed he'd never find out. He was grateful that he seemed to remember faces and names after a few times of meeting someone, though, and he had to admit that he was very organized because of this hex.

Anyway, this morning and directly after he walked through the school's front entrance, he read what he was going to do. He had planned for himself to go over some maths equations before classes started… Grr, sometimes he hated his past self. He'd much rather just relax, but he supposed since he wrote it he should do it. Perhaps Alfred could help him! He was a maths whiz, right?

"Hey, Arthur!"

"Ah," he turned to smile at Alfred's twin. "Hello, Matthew. What can I do for you?"

"Can you come with me really quick?" He requested, smiling softly.

"Why, certainly." He started following the boy. He's always liked Matthew, from what he read and remembered. An extremely kind and thoughtful boy who was blessed with the gift of animal speech, and whose only downfall was that he was dating Francis. At least they seemed happy together. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"Just a little further," Matthew said cryptically.

"All right?" He raised a brow, and when he started to feel an invisible tugging on his journal his eyes widened. "What is -?"

"Come here, pal!" Matthew grinned before wrapping his arms around Arthur in a lifting bear hug, causing him to drop his journal. Only, instead of falling to the floor, it whizzed into the hands of Francis, who had a look in his eyes that Arthur was not fond of in the slightest.

"What is going on!" Arthur tried to kick himself free, and when his feet touched the ground he tried to lunge at the Frenchman only to be smacked into the wall and held there by a flick of his wrist. "You think this simple trick can hold me?!" Arthur yelled, already muttering a counterspell to deactivate it. If his hands were free this spell would already be gone!

"Non, but we don't need that long," Francis giggled and gave the book to Matthew, who started writing in it!? What was happening!

"Whatever you're writing I'll know I didn't write it!" Arthur called, furrowing his brows as he was freed from the wall.

"Oh, really?" Francis grinned and gave the book back to him.

He flushed darkly when he read the words, "Ask Alfred out on a date - DON'T CHICKEN OUT!" in his journal. What was scarier, however, was that it did actually look like he had written it. When did Matthew suddenly possess this skill?!

"Now go get him, tiger~" Francis gave him a playful purr before opening a classroom door and shoving him inside.

Arthur blinked, looking around his surroundings. The chemistry/potions lab, containing only Alfred? Did he have plans to work on something with him this morning?

… No. No way. There was no way he had written these words. Someone must have enchanted the book to have these words written there! Yet, he couldn't sense anything. H-had he really decided this was a good idea? What had made him think this? He should leave and re-read some journals to figure out what this was all about first!

… No. He had specifically written to not chicken out. Obviously he had thought this was a good idea at the time, and while he couldn't remember that reasoning now... He was going to do this.

Taking a deep breath to steel himself, he started walking over to Alfred, already feeling the tips of his ears redden. Alfred looked incredibly focused on whatever he was doing to a beaker filled with pinkish liquid - he hadn't even noticed him yet.

"H-hello, Alfred," he accidentally stuttered.

"Ah!" Alfred seemed surprised and a little scared at his presence. "What are you doing here?! H-hold on!" He ran to the shelf containing goggles, grabbed one, and hurried back to Arthur, quickly trying to put the goggles on him. "You need these - trust me!"

"Oh, all right." Arthur felt his skin tingle from wherever Alfred's fingers touched his face in his hurry to put goggles on him. He had to make some adjustments after Alfred was done, of course, but he didn't mind. "Thank you." He wondered what the boy was working on that he needed these for.

"You're welcome… Are you okay?" He felt Alfred's cool hand on his forehead, not helping his situation in the slightest. "Your goggles are already getting fogged up!"

"Er…" Arthur took a deep breath to try and control himself. "I'm fine, I…" Alfred was already turning into a mosaic from the mist. Maybe it would be better this way? He wouldn't be able to see his face when he asked him out.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Alfred asked, his silhouette tilting its head.

I'm not entirely sure myself. "I, uh, just, wanted to…"

Alfred interrupted him with a laugh. "No problem - I'll just read it!"

"No!" Too late - the book was taken from his hands. He assumed Alfred was reading it right now, oh God… This was so humiliating… He hoped the rejection would just come swiftly. His heart was beating so fast, he could barely breath - why was it taking so long for him to reply?!

"Oh, wow, uh…" he finally heard Alfred speak. His words did not exactly fill him with confidence. "C-come over here."

Arthur felt his hand being taken to lead him to the far corner of the room. Such a simple touch made him feel excited, like electricity was running through him. Maybe he wasn't going to reject him? Or else he was just trying to soften the blow.

"Hold on a second, okay?" Alfred requested.

"Okay." Arthur's voice was quieter than he had meant it. Probably because he was incredibly nervous. He faintly heard the sound of a pen on paper… oh no, he was writing down his rejection into his journal?! He didn't want to read that over and over! Though he supposed he would have had to… he would have preferred it to be in his handwriting, though.

He felt his goggles being lifted up, and soon he was face to face with Alfred again who was giving him a small smile, almost as if he was the nervous one. "Here, l-look." He held up his journal, and written there in Alfred's messy scrawl…

"I'd love to go out with you!-!-!"

"R-really?" Arthur looked at him with wide eyes, not believing what he saw.

"Yes!" Alfred laughed and threw his arms around Arthur in a hug, which he quickly returned. "I'd been meaning to ask you for ages, but… I always chickened out!"

Arthur honestly felt like crying he was so relieved. He settled for laughing and tightened his hold around the other's torso. "I'm, glad to hear that!"

They stayed like that for a long moment, neither one knowing how to progress with the current situation. "I'll," Arthur started to say, pulling away to open up his satchel. "I'll check my calendar and we can… set the date up?"

"Yeah!" Alfred grinned cheekily. "I don't need a calendar to tell you I'm free!"

"Lucky you," Arthur stuck his tongue out at him before looking down at what he had slated himself to do. "Hm… After school Friday, then?"

"We can see a movie!" Alfred suggested quickly. Oh, he was so adorable; he was bouncing on the balls of his feet he was so happy. It made Arthur's insides flutter, seeing him so eager to go out with him. Why had it taken this long? When had they started liking each other to this degree?

"Sounds perfect," Arthur told him, smiling as he wrote down "Date with Alfred" in his calendar. He was certain as soon as he left this room he'd be disbelieving and giddy all over again when he read that. "Well, I'll keep you company as I write down the details of what happened," he told Alfred, putting his calendar away.

"What?!" Alfred seemed panicked again. "N-no! I mean, you don't need to help!"

"I don't need to help?" Arthur raised a brow at him, suspicious. "Alfred, you usually only say that when you're working on something dangerous."

Alfred flushed, which was proof enough for Arthur. He huffed and walked over to what the boy had been working on. "I can't believe you're still so irresponsible! One of these days you're going to blow up the school and I'm not helping you get out of it!"

"It's not dangerous like that!" Alfred insisted, using that whiny tone of his. "And put your goggles back on!"

"You're not wearing goggles," Arthur pointed out.

"That's because…" Alfred chewed his lip and sighed, gesturing to his work table. "Just look."

Arthur narrowed his eyes at him before looking back at his table, taking in the ingredients. Sage, lilacs, mermaid tears, phoenix ash, and many other ingredients commonly used for… "You were making a love potion?!" Arthur exclaimed in surprise. He turned to glare at him. Not only were love potions superficial at best and creepy at worst, but they were also forbidden by the school!

"Not exactly!" Alfred tried to explain, looking more nervous as he tugged at his collar. "M-most love potions are just infatuation - you know that! I didn't want that, I just wanted to spark… a general interest?" he smiled sheepishly. "So I've been toying around with the recipe and testing them on rats or toads… None of them have worked."

Arthur was still glaring at him and crossed his arms. "I suppose you didn't think to also try and invent the antidotes to these various love potions?"

"..."

Arthur sighed and rubbed his temple. "Show me your workbook - I'm helping with antidotes from now on."

"Don't you have math equations to go over?" Alfred asked to distract him.

"Do I?" Arthur blinked and opened up his journal again. "Oh… I suppose so."

"How about," Alfred was smiling again as he suggested, "you write down how you asked me out and it was a huge success, and I'll clean up!"

"All right." Arthur grinned a little. "And I'm definitely adding that you were thinking of using a love potion on me."

Alfred flushed again. "Write the whole story!" he whined, going over to clean up his materials while grumbling, "My love potion is different."

"Well, it wouldn't have worked anyway," Arthur said offhandedly as he walked to a table. "Since I already had a general interest in you."

After a few seconds, Alfred replied hopefully, "And maybe a bit more than that?"

Arthur blushed, biting the inside of his cheek to keep a smile at bay. "... Maybe." He tipped his head down to his book, beginning to recount this wonderful event in print. He always wrote down what he did in print and what he was going to do in cursive - just easier that way. "Would you mind helping me with my maths homework?" he asked.

"Sure!" Alfred chirped back. "And maybe…" Arthur started to tune him out since he was mumbling. "We could k-kiss or something?"

"What?" Arthur snapped his head over to him, a pleasant shiver running down his spine.

"Just a thought!" Alfred added, grinning at him and winking before turning back to his work. That little… he must have assumed that wink would do things to him, and by God was he right. Now he couldn't wait to do his homework.

Soon enough, while Alfred was still cleaning up, Arthur found himself standing at the doorway and writing, "Go to the maths room to work on equations. Alfred will join you shortly, and there was talk of kissing during his help."

He wished he would be able to remember what happened in this lab forever, but… well, it was written down now. It was immortalized that way, right?

"See you soon," Arthur called to Alfred, smiling. Was it weird to feel excited for his future self, who was no doubt going to freak out over what had happened?

"See ya!" Alfred beamed at him and waved, looking so cute.

Arthur felt his ears turning red again as he walked out of the room.

In the hallway, with almost no one around. Was he late for a class? No, a glance at his watch told him it was still before school. A look at his journal told him that he was supposed to be doing maths equations, and…

What?

No, this…

This had to be a mistake!

He turned the page, starting at where he first saw print, though his eyes did catch the past words of "Ask Alfred out on a date - DON'T CHICKEN OUT!" and his heart skipped a beat. Evidently he must have followed through, and it worked?! He quickly skimmed through what he had done, and he couldn't believe it. Alfred liked him as more than a friend, and had even tried to make an unconventional love potion for him!?

He was certain his face was as red as a beet as he turned around to see that he was, in fact, standing outside of the chemistry/potions lab. Was Alfred still inside? M-maybe he could just ask very quickly, to double check…

He creaked open the door, peering inside. "Alfred?"

He seemed to expect this visit as he just turned to him with an amused expression. "Yeah, Artie?"

"Did, did we really…?"

"Hell yeah we did," Alfred replied, laughing.

"Oh." Arthur couldn't stop the smile that started to come to his face, so he hid it with his open journal. "Sorry to bother you."

They stared at each other for what seemed like forever, but after only a second Alfred rushed over to him. Arthur was caught off guard when his journal was gently pushed down, a pair of lips clumsily connecting to his own. It was perfect.

"You're so cute," Alfred whispered, laughing softly. "You know that, right?"

"I think you're the cute one," Arthur replied, wrapping his arms around Alfred's neck and pulling him in for another kiss. He couldn't wait to write this down~

When they were satisfied with kissing for now, Arthur held his journal against his chest and smiled at Alfred. "See you soon."

"Yeah." He laughed and waved to him, looking absolutely adorable. "See ya soon."

Alfred went back into the lab, and Arthur quickly opened up his journal to detail his disbelief and their two kisses as he walked. Oh, his future self was going to have a ball with this! If he wasn't so happy he'd lament that he would never be able to remember his first kiss, but he was certain there'd be many more - and really, that just meant that every kiss would be like his first.

When he walked into the classroom, he found that he still remembered why he had entered it without even having to glance at his journal.

… Interesting, how he and Alfred had never even considered how True Love's Kiss was the cure-all for curses before.

Author Notes: I thought of this story after entering a room and completely forgetting why I had entered it, haha. XD

Just so everyone's clear: this is a magic AU, but not a Harry Potter AU. They reside in a modern school where magic is intertwined with other classes (chemistry is one class and potions is another but they share a lab, history class also includes magical history, etc.). Francis has simple magic, Matthew has the ability to speak to animals (and later he'll have ice powers), Alfred's strength is potions (later he'll find that he's extraordinary with metal and mechanics), and Arthur is excellent with all types of magic because I like to imagine him being ultra-mega magically powerful. He also has the Sight, which means he can see magical creatures whether or not they want to be seen. This is pointless information since this is a one-shot, but, I like magic and magic stories so there you go! XD

Hope you all enjoyed! If you think of a way to improve the story, tell me :) I did only spend two days on it after all, but I personally like it.