Summary: Unless; unless the Lorax could get through to him, he was going to lose The Onceler. [drabble]
I wrote this on tumblr at like, 7am and decided why not and am putting it here. ;3
~~~~Line Breaker~~~~~
The Lorax realized that he wasn't trying hard enough when Onceler began wearing the suite.
He had tried arguing; he had begged and pleaded and he had yelled and screamed. But never had he talked to him. He knew when the man wasn't busy; it was at this time that he'd sit in his office, alone, where no one else was allowed to enter and he'd overlook his new city. He needed to simply talk to him then. Try to get through to him. The human that had first cut down his tree wouldn't allow for any of this.
So he waited on the rail of the balcony, trying not to let his anger get to him. Behind him, his Trufula Trees were still many but that could easily change. And he was at the point of desperation.
"Wha…" He looked up when Onceler entered the office, the man sighing and removing his sunglasses. "What're you doing in here?"
"I wanted to talk to you." the guardian replied, hopping down and walking over to his desk. "You surprised us when you bought Greenville."
He saw Onceler relax slightly at the lack of yelling. He should have known. He wouldn't respond well to arguing and screaming, not after seeing who his family was. The Lorax had his suspicions, but they were mostly confirmed now.
Onceler almost smiled as he sat behind the desk. "I surprised myself…I don't think Mom was really pleased with the idea though."
"Beanpole," He jumped up on the desk, surprised how how laid back they both seemed. He had missed talking to the human. "I'm not going to ask you to stop all this, and I'm not going to tell you this is wrong. But I wanna know, what're you going to do when there are no more trees?"
Onceler frowned at this. "No more trees?"
"You're gonna chop them all down, kid." the Lorax said simply. "And then, no more trees, no more air, no more Thneeds."
He looked torn then, and very young. Against his better judgement, the Lorax put a hand on the others forearm, waiting until he could look at him.
"Unless you do something…everything's going to die. I'm not telling you that your ideas aren't important, but if dreams hurt other people…"
"Unless…" Onceler gave a hollow laugh, fingers rubbing at his temples. "It's stupid….I think, the only reason I even agreed to this….was so stupid."
The guardian frowned, not sure what he was talking about. "You were trying to get your mother to love you, that's not-"
He cut him off, looking uncomfortable. "No, it wasn't that…I know she won't ever really be proud of me. I remind her too much of my Dad…The reason I did it was to get back at you."
"Get back at me?" the Lorax gaped at him, feeling indignant and frightened. He had caused all of this? "Why? What did I do?"
Onceler cringed, sighing. "You said…we weren't friends."
An uncomfortable silence hit them. Onceler leaned back in his giant chair, arms folded as he waited for a reply, and the Lorax realized that this really was indirectly his fault then. He knew that Onceler didn't have any friends, didn't seem to really be comfortable in crowds of people (unless they were shoving money at him, but he digressed) and he always got along more with the animals.
That day, in front of his family, he had hurt him. The Lorax was his first real friend, and he had wanted to prove to his family he could have friends and be a success. But the Lorax had hurt him by calling them acquaintances, and if they weren't friends, then why keep promises?
"Kid…" the Lorax was both exasperated and touched that their companionship meant so much to him. "I know that you might not believe me now, but we are friends. I might take care of the animals and trees, but none of them are friends like we are."
For a moment, he saw the shadows of greed and pride on the young man's face. Why should he believe him when the Lorax could be attempting to win him over? Why would he admit something like this when he had so much to lose? But then he saw the kinder side of the man come out. The one that had first promised not to cut down more trees despite the fact that he had almost been killed over a silly accident.
"….Alright." He whispered, then stood up. "Alright. I have thousands of workers…I've almost reached my one millionth Thneed. It shouldn't be hard to harvest the tuffs now, right?"
The Lorax gaped at him until the human smiled. "Yeah…Thanks, kid."
"Just don't get your mustache into a knot next time I try to introduce you to someone." Onceler teased. "And uh….if you don't mind, come with me? I gotta…go talk to my mother…"
"Sure, you're gonna need all the help you can get!" the Lorax hopped off the desk, following after him. "No offense, Beanpole, but that mother of yours is frightening."
"Yeah, I kinda already know that…" He hesitated before he hugged the guardian, looking embarrassed about having to fold his limbs a couple times to even reach him. "I'm sorry it took me so long to wake up…"
The Lorax rolled his eyes before he patted him on the shoulder. "Yeah, well…I'm just glad I got through to you."
~~~~~Line Breaker~~~~~~
This is a bit of a headcannon for me; I was a little put off by just how quickly Onceler turned into a corporate douchebag, and I had two theories; one being that maybe the Lorax would accidentally betray him somehow, which didn't happen. And the other was when he rejected his title as the Onceler's friend. Especially in front of his emotionally-abusive family.
So, I decided to write this since the car broke down and I couldn't make it to class. . Take it anyway you want. Personally, I don't mind this pairing but I see this fic as platonic. :3
MRIMO