J: Jinx

He sighed in exasperation as he lost twenty five more dollars. His friend, Zexion, told him 'not to worry, just keep trying.' Well, Axel kept trying, but he also kept losing. It wasn't that Axel Sinclair never had any luck, he was just a jinx. Earlier that day, Axel had approached Zexion, but noticed his best friend was more down in the dumps than a hobo. The only thing Axel could think about cheering his friend up would be if they went to the local casino to make some money. Zexion denied that he would be able to win anything and Axel had responded, 'don't think so, Zex, the way I see it, we could be millionaires by the end of the night.' Axel had forgot about the whole 'jinx' thing and now he was paying for it; literally.

Axel and Zexion had finished two hours later and together, they had made a total of negative one hundred and fifty dollars. Axel had jinxed them, and was currently more depressed then Zexion earlier that day. Zexion felt bad about everything, but had been Axel's best friend since birth, and knew all about how every time Axel had said something before it happened, he always jinxed himself. What usually started out as 'hey guys, I bet…' always landed Axel, or someone who was in the vicinity during the event, at the hospital. Axel had been to the hospital so much, he now had a tab. When he was living with his parents, his teachers, friends, and doctors thought it was child abuse, but within a few minutes of knowing him, they understood that Axel was just a very unfortunate jinx.

Zexion and Axel parted way soon after leaving the casino and prepared to get up early for college the next day. Axel went home, and went straight to bed to sleep off his dissapiontment. Over the years, Axel had tried to use his jinxy powers in a good way. Instead of trying to best someone, Axel would say that he wouldn't win or he wouldn't beat the guy, which always resulted that way; he could never win, and he could never place bets. One time, Axel had tried to place equal amounts of money in each slot for bets, but something always happened where they had to postpone the entire event and give the money back, or everyone would lose in a tie. Axel groaned as he flopped down onto his twin- size mattress in his bedroom in the thirteenth room on the eighth floor of his college dorm. Axel only wanted once, just once, for things to go his way. One thought floated throughout his head and echoed throughout the empty dorm room, 'why, me?' Then, Axel was out like a light.

The alarm clock rang, signaling it was eleven o'clock, throughout the empty cavern before it was silenced by a fist on its snooze button. The owner of the fist grumbled in annoyance by the disturbance of his peaceful sleep as Axel awoke. He got up from his bed and lumbered over to his bathroom to take his shower and brush his teeth. For some reason, Axel felt as though something good was going to happen, but he didn't even want to think about it too much in case he would jinx himself. Axel took a pop- tart package as his morning breakfast, grabbed his books, and was off to his first class; photography.

When Axel reached class, he noticed there was a new boy in the middle of his row. Wondering if he was a new addition to the class or lost, Axel walked over to him and sat down.

"Hey there, I couldn't help but notice you sitting here. Are you new? My name is Axel by the way, Axel Sinclair. What's yours?" Axel tried to be as nice as he could, but felt the fake friendliness melt away into genuine kindness when he captured the glance of the deep cobalt eyes he had. When he looked at him and he saw his eyes, his bed- head styled honey dipped hair, and petite boy in front of him, he was shocked; wouldn't he know if he had seen someone as beautiful as him before?

"My name is Roxas Hart; pleasure to make your acquaintance Axel, and yes, I am new. My parents just had me transferred from Destiny University. They said it was too close to the ocean and I kept getting distracted from my studies. I have been here for a week and this is my first class. Wait," he gasped in surprise, "I remember you; you were at the casino last night with my cousin, Zexion!" He smiled giddily while Axel just gaped at him. 'This, this is his cousin?' Axel thought. When he heard he was annoying and spastic, Axel was expecting, well, not this gorgeous blonde in front of him.

"Yeah, I was at the casino last night. You'd think I would remember you though; were you there last night as well?" Axel asked, hoping he sounded at least a little bit cool, even though he was ecstatic on the inside because he barely even had to try to get Roxas to talk to him.

"Well no, I wasn't in the casino, but I was Zexion's ride home. He thought that going to the casino with you meant a night of drinking over your loss, so he thought he would be too drunk to drive. He wasn't even the tiniest bit smashed though, so it was a little disappointing because I think drunken people are the most entertaining. Say, Axel, is there somewhere we can talk, maybe more privately after classes are over for today? Here is my number, call me when you're done for today and we will meet at the coffee shop right across the road. We really need to talk." Roxas spoke so seriously at the end of him miniature rant, it almost scared Axel. He hesitated, and then nodded his ok. Roxas took out a green sharpie and wrote down him number on the inside of his arm.

Axel stared at the number the entire day, during all of his classes and still, even after he called the number to tell Roxas he was done for the day. As he waited at the coffee shop, he noticed that the weather was getting colder as it neared December. He also noticed when Roxas was entering the shop, that he wasn't wearing a jacket, only jeans and a short sleeved shirt; he didn't even have any goose bumps signaling he was the least bit cold.

"Geez Roxas, aren't you cold? It has to be at least fifty degrees outside, what are you doing with out a coat?" Roxas stopped him with a gentle hand on his arm before Axel could remove his own.

"Axel, stop worrying, I don't get cold very easily; trust me." Axel looked at him skeptically before believing him and they went back down to his booth before ordering some hot chocolate.

"Axel, do you believe that you're jinxed?" Axel would have spit up his drink, had he been drinking it at the time.

"Let me guess, Zex told you about my 'problem' right?" Roxas nodded and Axel sighed. "Okay, I will explain it the best way I can and the only way I know how, I can never win. If I say or think I will win, I loose. If I say or think, I won't loose, I still loose. There is no way around whatever this curse is. It's annoying, but no matter what happens, I'm not going to let it get to me."

"Oh, that is wonderful to hear. You see, Axel, I'm your counter." Roxas thought he would humor himself and try to let Axel figure that out. After a good eight minutes of the continuous blank look from Axel, Roxas sighed.

"Alrighty then, Axel, you know how you always loose?" Axel nodded very slowly. "Well, I'm your counter, meaning I can balance out your 'jinx' as you call it." A look of recognition, then relief washed over Axel's face. He had looked into seeing if there were people like him, and he had read about their counters. He was a little skeptical, so he grasped Roxas' hand, led him outside, and kissed him. He thought for a moment, before thinking of something to say.

"I will not get cold of I take my jacket off." Underneath his jacket, he was wearing a short- sleeved band t- shirt. Sure enough, when he took his jacket off, he still felt as warm as when he was in the coffee shop. Delighted with his new- found discovery, he picked Roxas up by his waist and spun them in circles, and then set him gently back on the ground to kiss him again.

"I'm going back to the casino to win you a million dollars as my eternal thanks."

"Don't jinx yourself." Roxas and Axel chuckled, which turned into full fledged laughing at the terrible pun.