Christmas time is here again, and with it, all its headaches. I can't stand Christmas, with its ridiculously happy people, its carolers left and right; for God sakes I've been listening to the same Christmas jingle since November!
I know I'm a Grinch when it comes to Christmas, which may lead you to ask, "Axel, if you hate Christmas so much, than why the hell are you wandering around a mall filled with happy-go-lucky morons?"
Sometimes, I ask myself that…
…and then I just look down at my right hand.
The reason I'm at the mall today is because I let myself get dragged here by the most important thing that has ever entered my life. Sentimentality has never really been my thing, but this kid holding my hand has always managed to affect me in really strange ways.
"Roxas?" The little blonde by my side had been staring off into space. I had called him to see that smile of his, the smile that melted my heart every single time I got a glimpse of it.
Roxas turned to look up at me, but the smile that I had expected wasn't there.
"Roxas, what's the matter?" I felt my heart freeze over. Roxas always did this to me. Never before could I remember worrying about anything-maybe because before Roxas, I never had anything worth worrying about.
Roxas' blue eyes teared slightly, and I resisted the urge to hug him so tightly that I broke him.
"What? Do I need to beat the shit out of someone?" That earned me a small chuckle. God, I loved when he laughed.
"Its…" Roxas tried to start, but his eyes just drifted over to the store front that we were standing in front of. I followed where he was looking, and saw puppies sitting on a windowsill. Puppies? Why the hell was he crying over puppies?
"Rox, you're gonna have to explain." I sighed. I had a feeling this was going to get irritating somehow.
"Wait, you don't know?" Roxas asked, looking up again at me.
"Know what?" Fighting back the urge to roll my eyes.
"These puppies… They all come from puppy mills." Roxas put his hand up to the shop window, and we both watched as one of the puppies ran up and attempted to lick his hand through the glass. Roxas laughed, and I couldn't help but smile. Nothing made me happier than seeing Roxas smile.
"And what, pray tell, is a puppy mill?" I asked, feeling myself gain a slight interest.
"It's a place where bad people take dogs and force them to breed. Then they treat the puppies really badly until they bring them to stores in order to make a profit off them." I watched Roxas' expression darken-he really thought these people were evil.
"How can you be sure that these puppies are from puppy mills? And what about the people? Maybe they're just innocent people who own a store?" I asked.
"How about we just ask them? You're really good at reading people, aren't you Ax? You always seem to know what I'm thinking."
Before I even got a chance to answer, Roxas was pulling me into the store. Am I good at reading people, like Roxas thinks? I always thought that he was just really easy to see through. Oh well, I guess I'm about to find out.
"Sir, excuse me." Roxas began, trying to grab the attention of the man who very obviously was in charge. Roxas walked right up to the man, totally killing whatever conversation he was having with the customer in front of him. "My friend and I have a question for you."
The man looked down at the blonde, seemingly surprised at how assertive Roxas was. I bit back the urge to laugh- Roxas' assertiveness had even surprised me when we first met. It was something that took getting used to. The man gave me a look, almost like he was expecting me to take charge. I shrugged and just looked at Roxas, waiting for one of them to speak.
"Umm, of course. What can I help you with?"
"Do you get your puppies from a puppy mill?" Another aspect of Roxas that took some getting used to- he was more blunt than a freakin' dulled blade. He was never one to beat around the bush, as they say.
I watched carefully as the man's eyes widened considerably, and after a moment he began violently shaking his head. Amusingly enough, the woman behind him that he had just recently been conversing with seemed to believe what Roxas was saying. With a look of shock and anger, she gently put down the puppy she had been holding and stormed out.
The man, presumably the manager, didn't notice her until she was at the threshold of the shop.
"Wait, please this is a misunderstanding!" he called, but she refused to turn around. The manager quickly spun on Roxas, getting right in his face. "Look, I don't know where you heard that from, but I won't admit to anything. How much do you want, huh? I'll pay you whatever you want in order for you to get out and shut up."
Roxas looked about ready to start a fight, and I didn't like the fact that this guy was so close to my boyfriend's face. As smoothly as possible, I took a step forward and pushed the manager back.
"Sorry, I have a two foot policy when it comes to this kid." I growled.
The man looked extremely flabbergasted at this point, especially since he was still trying to regain his balance from my pushing him. Once he could stand upright again, he suddenly started smirking. What was he smiling like that for?
"Get out, or I'll call security."
Oh, that was why.
I looked down at Roxas. Admittedly, I was awaiting his instruction. I had no idea what he wanted to do in this situation, besides, you know, beat the guy senseless.
I looked around, suddenly realizing there was no one else in the shop but us. Maybe we should beat the shit out of this guy. In any case, it would be a ton of fun.
"Hey Rox-"
"Let's go Axel." Roxas said shortly, turning around without waiting for a response.
He had already taken a few steps away before I even realized what he had said. I chased after him, and whispered in his ear so the manager wouldn't hear, "What're you doing? Why don't we just beat this guy and call it a day?"
Roxas laughed as we left the store, which made me feel a little better about this whole thing.
"Sorry Axel, but violence isn't always the answer."
"Well it should be." I huffed.
We were standing in front of the store again. Roxas was watching the puppies with such a melancholy expression that I swear the puppies were going to cry.
I couldn't let this stand. Not with how much this meant to him. But what could we do? That douche had mall security on his side….Unless…
"Why don't we just buy a puppy?" Roxas and I said in unison. We both stared at each other a moment, and then we burst into laughter. How we had managed to say that at exactly the same time is beyond me.
"Are…Are you serious, Ax?" Roxas managed between fits of giggles.
"Of course!" I managed, finally gaining control over my own laughter. "But I don't think buying just one puppy is going to make much of a difference. We'll be saving one, but we'll be giving those douches money to breed more. Seems like a catch 22."
Roxas nodded, seeing the dilemma. We both looked at the shop again, each of us deep in thought.
"Roxas! I've got an idea!" I said suddenly, trying my hardest not to scream it out in public. I knew it was a great idea, but that didn't mean it was entirely legal. No need to get into trouble before we even did anything.
"Really? What is it?" Roxas asked, his eyes lighting up in a way that I had seen since we came upon the puppies. This really did mean a lot to him, and I was more than willing to help with whatever he wanted. Heck, with this plan, I think I'm finally getting into the Christmas spirit!
"Let's go home first. K?"
"Umm, O.K." Roxas said uncertainly.
…..
Finally home, I quickly told Roxas my plan. He didn't seem too pleased with it.
"You want to steal the puppies?" Roxas shouted, trying his best to look intimidating, even though he was at least a foot shorter than me.
I shrugged. "Yeah. Why not? It saves the puppies from maltreatment while screwing over the people maltreating them. Sounds like a win-win to me."
"Yeah, and then what happens to us when we get thrown in jail? That manager would automatically suspect us after what happened today!" Roxas sighed, rubbing the side of his face in a stressed manner.
"Oh, I guess you're right."
I thought for a minute while Roxas went to poor himself a drink.
"I've got it!" I shouted, unable to contain my excitement this time.
"Well?"
"Why don't we rob all of those stores at the same time?"
Roxas put down his drink, and rubbed his eyes. He looked more tired every minute.
"I don't know about you Axel, but the last time I checked, I didn't have teleportation powers. How are we gonna get around to all of those stores in one night in order to save those puppies?"
I smirked. I had already thought of that.
"The internet, of course."
"The internet?" Roxas questioned.
"Come, my innocent little friend, I'll show you the true powers of the internet."
…..
Within an hour, I had created a group on all of the major sites. Roxas told me that it should be called, "Santa's K9 Saviours". Honestly, I was just going to call it, "Save the dogs", but he said that wouldn't rally anyone.
Apparently, Roxas knew his stuff when it came to naming organizations.
By the time I had set up the group on all the different sites, our little movement had already spread across five different states in America, and a few random towns in the U.K. Apparently, this was quite a big puppy mill we were dealing with.
I had written that anyone who was interested could join up to help us free the imprisoned puppies in their shops. The movement would be tonight, and tonight only. Of course, I signed up anonymously on everything, and I also scrambled the IP address of the computer. I wasn't any more tech savvy than that, so I hoped it would be enough to stop someone from snooping around to find out who made the group.
"If you're worried about getting caught, maybe you should delete all the posts on the sites. Then it'll be like a ghost group. People will keep talking about it, even though it doesn't really exist anymore."
"Sounds like a plan." I decided, and immediately started deleting what I had put up.
I had written that the stealing/saving of the puppies would start at 2 am. Roxas and I both wondered if anyone from around here would show up.
…..
2am. Roxas and I stood outside the mall, decked out in all black. Despite how cold it was, I was actually in quite a good mood. This was the most interesting thing I had done since we had stolen golf carts from the nearby golf course and went jousting with them. I chuckled to myself as we snuck inside. Good times.
Roxas was right on my tail as we slid into the store. He was so close behind I could feel him shaking, and I duly noted that he didn't seem to be shaking from the cold.
I flicked on the flashlight that I had brought along, searching for the puppies that needed saving.
Roxas, presumably feeling a bit safer now that he was inside, ventured from my side to walk over to the front counter. I continued looking around, until Roxas softly called me over.
"What is it?" I whispered, noticing the piece of paper in the blonde's hand. I waved the flashlight over the paper in order to read, "HAHA SoRrY AbOuT ThE LoSt PuPpIeS! MErRy ChRiStMaS! LoVe SaNtA's CrEw"
"Weird handwriting…" I commented.
"So someone got here before us?" Roxas said, sounding somewhat sad.
"What's the matter? Isn't this what you wanted?"
"Well…" Roxas hesitated.
"Spit it out, runt."
"Don't call me that!" Roxas shouted.
"Keep your voice down!" I nearly shouted back.
"Sorry. It's just that… I kind of wanted to keep a puppy." Roxas admitted, staring at the floor in shame.
"Oh…" I managed. I didn't know how I was supposed to react to that. What could I do?
As if to answer my question, I suddenly heard a muffled crash come from another room. Roxas and I both took a moment to give each other a confused look before we silently crept to the door leading to the back of the shop.
I counted to three with my fingers before opening the door and jumping backwards. I had no idea what could be in that room, and I didn't want whatever or whoever it was to attack me because I was too close to the door.
Roxas peered in the room first when nothing came out to hurt us. It was when he started giggling that I guessed what had made all the noise.
Roxas walked into the room as quietly as possible, trying not to attract the attention of the room's other occupant. I was still holding the flashlight, which Roxas couldn't really use in what he was trying to do. I pointed it at the ceiling in order to give a bit of light without giving away Roxas' position.
A few minutes later, after some laughing, some crashing, and some pouncing, Roxas emerged victorious. In his arms was a tiny, golden Labrador retriever. It was slobbering everywhere, with its tongue hanging out of its mouth as if it had just run a marathon.
Roxas was giving me this look, like he absolutely had to have this dog. He was giving me that look because he knew that at any other time, I would have said no. But for some reason, either because we had saved the puppy ourselves, or because that puppy made Roxas so darn happy, I just couldn't say no.
Or maybe, just maybe, I had finally learned what having the Christmas spirit was all about.