The Lorax was standing outside of Oncie's home looking up at the Once-ler, who was wearing what the Lorax assumed were pajamas. It was a few days after Oncie's first Thneed sale, and Oncie's sales had picked up drastically, 30 Thneeds and counting.
"I need to talk to the beanpole," The Lorax still wasn't a fan of the other Once-ler.
The Once-ler turned around and made a show of calling, "Oncie we have a visitor," into the house. Oncie walked up behind him shortly after, yawning.
"Hey Lorax," he grinned crookedly, "what's up?"
"Just wanted to check on you. Make sure the other you hasn't hurt you."
"Aw you were worried about me," Oncie clasped his hands together. The Lorax rolled his eyes. "No need to worry about me though, he hasn't been causing any trouble, actually he's been helping me!"
"Helping you?"
"Yeah, Thneeds are selling like crazy it's super cool!"
"They have, have they?" The Lorax's bushy brow raised, "that's new."
"It's good though," Oncie assured, "I'm turning in a profit already!"
"Soon he's going to need a factory to make these things!" The Once-ler grinned proudly, and nuzzled his head back against Oncie.
The Lorax grimaced, "just don't make any rash decisions without consulting me first," he told Oncie, the other Once-ler obviously had a twisted mind, you could almost see the gears working behind his eyes.
"Of course I won't," Oncie smiled, "now if you don't mind, I need to get back to making Thneeds, they sell out fast!" The Lorax frowned as the door shut in his face, there was nothing he could do to stop the Once-ler from corrupting Oncie's mind at this point, they were inseparable, and the Lorax's words didn't seem to have an affect on Oncie at all.
The Lorax had to get rid of the other Once-ler fast, if he didn't who knew how far he would go to sell more Thneeds.
"Should I make another orange one, or a pink one?" Oncie asked, sitting back down at the kitchen table.
"Pink are more popular, make one of those," the Once-ler advised. He had fully gained Oncie's trust over the past few days after his advice had led to Oncie selling Thneeds. Soon the Once-ler was going to be able to introduce some bigger ideas, such as actually building a factory for Thneeds, but they hadn't sold enough to go to that level yet.
"I'm going to get dressed first," Oncie decided, "I feel lazy sitting around in pajamas all day."
The Once-ler made a noise that meant "okay" and Oncie left the room. The Once-ler figured he should probably get dressed too, but it's not like they were going anywhere, what he really needed was a shower. He'd take the bathroom as soon as Oncie was out.
The Once-ler looked over at the pile of finished Thneeds on the floor, he had to admit, the orange ones were quite snazzy, and they would appeal better to male audiences. The Once-ler considered the possibility of Oncie make a pink and orange Thneed, now that was a good idea!
The Once-ler's thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door, the Lorax was back so soon? The Once-ler peered through the front window, not wanting to answer the door if it was him. Who he saw was definitely not the Lorax.
"Oncie!" The Onceler ran across the room so he was talking to the bathroom door, "your mom is here!"
The bathroom door flew open, Oncie's shirt was only buttoned up halfway and his pants were hanging open. "You have to hide! My mom can't know about you!" Oncie simultaneously zipped up his pants and shoved the Once-ler in the bathroom. "She'll freak out!"
"I'll just stay in here then, hurry up and answer the door!" The Once-ler pushed the bathroom door closed and Oncie quickly went to answer the front door.
"Hey mom!" Oncie greeted, cheeks flushed, and sounding a bit out of breath, "sorry I was in the middle of getting dressed."
"At this hour of the day? It's almost noon!" Oncie's mother scolded. She pushed herself inside Oncie's home without invitation. "I heard that you were making a profit off of your new product."
"Oh yeah! My Thneeds are selling fast! In fact I haven't gone to town yet today because I've been making more!" Oncie's mother was looking around the small room skeptically, "it's such a mess in here you'd think more than one person lived here!"
Oncie grinned sheepishly, "been too busy to clean, I suppose."
"Hmm," Oncie's mother began a self-led tour of Oncie's home Oncie was sweating nervously, heart beating fast in his chest, she was bound to look in the bathroom, how was he going to explain the other him?
The Once-ler's hat was lying on their- his bed. Oncie had found himself starting to refer to things as 'theirs' and he kept having to scold himself not to. The Once-ler's suit was also hanging up on the mirror, because the Once-ler didn't want it wrinkled. Oncie's mom also noticed this, "new business clothes hmm? A little bit outgoing but nice nonetheless," she was pulling at the collar on the Once-ler's suit.
They were getting closer to the bathroom, and Oncie cringed when he heard the familiar sound of the shower running, how dumb was the Once-ler?
"Is that your shower?" Oncie's mother asked. Oncie was scouring his mind for an explanation, it didn't help that the lock on the door was faulty and could easily be pushed open.
"Did I leave it on? I'll just slip in and turn it off," Oncie pushed open the bathroom door so it was just wide enough for him to squeeze through. Oncie's mother wasn't having any of that though, she easily pushed past Oncie into the bathroom and gasped when she realized the shower was occupied.
As if on cue, the Once-ler's muffled voice came from behind the curtain, "Oncie I thought you agreed to let me shower in peace!" If you didn't know who was behind the curtain, the voice was probably unrecognizable. Oncie's face went bright red.
"Oncie... do you have a boyfriend?"
"Oh shit is that your mom?!" The Once-ler was putting on a show behind the curtain, he knocked the shampoo down purposely so that it thudded on the floor.
"Come on Mom," Oncie grabbed onto his mother's elbow and started to drag her out of the room. He supposed it was okay if his mother thought he had a boyfriend, but as soon as she saw the Once-ler she would definitely freak out.
Then again, so what if she freaked out? Oncie realized that he couldn't hide the Once-ler forever, maybe it would be a good thing to get this over with quickly. Oncie grabbed the Once-ler's suit and put it on the bathroom counter, his mother standing in place in the middle of the bedroom. "Just make yourself decent," Oncie told the Once-ler, "I've decided that it's okay if she sees you seeing as you put on such a show."
"I really just wanted to take a shower I swear." Oncie rolled his eyes and shut the door behind him. Now he had to talk to his shell-shocked mother.
"Mom, I get this is really weird-"
"Oncie this is lovely!" His mother cut in, "of course if it was a girl it would be a bit more wonderful but oh well, Brett and Chet can give me grandchildren. What's his name?"
"Uhh," Oncie wished the Once-ler would hurry up and get out here. "You see, funny thing is we kind of have the same name."
Oncie's mother scrunched up her face, "the same name? What are the odds of that?"
"Not very high," Oncie muttered. The bathroom door opened behind him and he sucked in a deep breath. There stood the Once-ler, top hat and all, flashing a toothy grin towards his mother.
"Wha- he- you-" Oncie's mother sputtered, looking back and forth between Oncie and the Once-ler.
"I know, you're probably wondering how your son found such an attractive boyfriend, am I right?" The Once-ler sounded entirely too pleased with himself.
"How is this possible?" Oncie's mother squeeked.
"Magic," the Once-ler shrugged, he had taken over the situation easily, and Oncie welcomed him to it, he didn't know what to tell his mother at all.
"Just," the woman sucked in a deep breath, "please tell me you're not actually dating."
"That's your biggest concern?" The Once-ler tsked, "a clone of your son is talking to you right now and you just want to know if we're dating?" The Once-ler knew he loathed this woman for a reason, besides the fact that she was terrible to Oncie.
"Mom, maybe you should go home, you know, take some time to let this sink in," Oncie was using the calmest voice he could muster, his voice didn't sound like the Once-ler's at all.
"That's what I came here in the first place for!" Oncie's mother exclaimed, "I came to tell you that me and the rest of the family are moving into the forest!"
"What?!" Oncie's eyes opened wide, "why?!"
"Well to be close to you! I'm so proud of you it only seemed right!"
"You still want to move closer to me after this?" Oncie glanced towards the Once-ler.
"You must explain the situation to me," she said slowly. "Everything, I won't accept bits and pieces."
"Only if you don't tell anyone," Oncie said immediately, he did not need the rest of his family to know about this, they'd spread the story like wildfire and ruin his reputation, he couldn't let that happen now that he was finally becoming successful.
"No one would believe me anyhow," she sighed.
"Maybe we should sit down for this," Oncie suggested.
It didn't take very long for Oncie to explain the other him in the room, the Once-ler threw in snide remarks every other sentence, but that was expected. The hardest part of the retelling of the story was explaining that they couldn't be separated.
"I'm like his other half," the Once-ler supplied, causing Oncie to blush unreasonably.
"So this Lorax fellow is going to fix this though," Oncie's mother was still looking between them as if she couldn't believe they were both really there.
"He's working on it," Oncie said, "it's taking him longer than expected though.
"I don't mind," the Once-ler said, leaning up against Oncie. The man had no regards for personal space.
"Well," Oncie's mother was chewing on her bottom lip, "I suppose it's time for me to leave, don't want to overstay my welcome."
The Once-ler jumped up from the couch and only had to take a few steps to reach the front door. "It was very nice meeting you," he told Oncie's mother, but the glint in his eyes said otherwise.
"Come visit us, won't you Oncie?" She called past the Once-ler to her son.
"Of course, Mom!" Oncie smiled a lot more genuinely.
The Once-ler practically threw her out the door, he was more than ready for this conversation to end.
"That went well," Oncie shrugged, "well as well as it could have gone."
"I still don't like her," the Once-ler declared, "she doesn't approve of me."
"Not much I can do about it," Oncie said, "I don't approve of you either."
"Oncie!" The Once-ler exclaimed, pouting.
"Just saying," Oncie smirked and turned his back to the Once-ler so that he was facing his pile of Thneeds, "now to get back to wor- oh," Oncie practically moaned. The Once-ler had pressed his whole body up against Oncie's back and was hugging him from behind. Their bond made it feel amazing, bolts of pleasure were running through Oncie's whole body.
The Once-ler hummed in response, "are you sure you don't approve of me?" He set his chin on Oncie's shoulder.
"I'm sure," Oncie said, but his tone of voice said otherwise. Oncie would be perfectly content staying in this position all day.
Well, until the Once-ler started pressing his lips to Oncie's neck, trailing light kisses up towards his jaw. Oncie jolted away from the Once-ler, "cut that out!"
The Once-ler groaned, "I'm just trying to be nice."
"Kissing me is not nice, it's weird."
"Weird things can be nice. Besides you weren't complaining when I was hugging you, what's the difference?"
"The difference is that friends hug, friends do not kiss each other on the neck."
"We could probably make an exception-"
"Nope." Oncie leaned over and picked up his stack of Thneeds. "We need to go into town and sell some of these."
"You're no fun," the Once-ler sighed, "but I'll come with you anyways because I have to."
"Wear this," Oncie shoved a Thneed into the Once-ler's hands, "you need to represent the company."
The Once-ler scoffed, "the only way I'll wear this is if I can use it as a tie."
"I'm sure you can." Oncie wrapped his own Thneed around his neck as a scarf, this time opting for orange.
It took a couple minutes, but the Once-ler eventually swapped out his regular tie for a pink Thneed, and they were on their way to the city shortly after.
Oncie had been selling his Thneeds from the same spot that he had originally used for singing about them. People had willingly been coming up to him and buying Thneeds. It was kind of odd, seeing as he really wasn't advertising at all, but he had become known as 'the Thneed guy', so it worked.
It was a Saturday, and the town was bustling with potential customers. Oncie was immediately approached by a small crowd of people, and the Once-ler stood back, watching happily as the stack of Thneeds depleted quickly. He'd easily be able to convince Oncie that he needed to find a more practical way of making Thneeds other than by hand.
"I'll have more tomorrow," Oncie was telling people less than an hour later. The Once-ler pocketed the impressive stack of money they had made and took Oncie's hand in his own.
"You did great today, " The Once-ler grinned, thinking about the money he was quickly accumulating. "We're not making them fast enough to meet customer demand though."
"Well maybe if you helped me make them, we'd have more," Oncie glared at the Once-ler.
"I don't think I'd be very good at it," the Once-ler shrugged.
"Well we could make them faster if it didn't take so long to collect Truffula tufts. I'm actually getting quicker at making them. Maybe we just need a few more helping hands."
"Like employees?" The Once-ler considered the option, paying people wouldn't result in a very big profit. "I was thinking of something more mechanic, something we didn't have to pay."
"A machine? Sure if we can get someone to make one for us. That would definitely increase production speed." Oncie had to agree that it was a good idea. "We can look into it."
The Once-ler squeezed Oncie's hand. "Perfect."