Disclaimer: I am not the creator of "The Lorax". If you cannot tell, I am not THAT good with poetry.


Ted's breathing came in uneasy gasps as he picked up his lover and by Adrian's order took him away from the club. Keys were quickly handed over as well as precise instructions to a house just a few blocks further into downtown. The brunet felt his eyes burn as he loaded up the vehicle and no amount of convincing could fool him into believing that the forming tears were caused by tainted air. Once comfortably seated in the driver's seat of the expensive firebird, Ted glanced back at his unconscious lover sprawled on the supple black leather of the bench seat in the back of the car. Once-ler looked peaceful despite the bloodied and bruised countenance of his lax face. His soft black locks that Ted now knew by touch fell gracefully across the forehead of the content appearing round face. Ted wanted so bad to just reach out and feel that brutally marred skin but he knew there would be plenty of time for that when he reached his destination. The directions were easy enough to follow especially after a lifetime of listening to his mother and grandmother's ramblings.

As he pulled away from 'The Tree' he reminded himself that Once-ler was safe and that he was going to be okay. That was what R.J. had said in any case. Not even enough to put him out for long but it would leave him with quite a headache upon awakening. The boy could not decide if it was his intention to hurt him or not. Taking out his frustration in one good punch seemed to give him clarity that he would not have had any other way. Streets came and went easily on broken up cement roads. In his new found lucidity, everything came much more easily. The sports car slipped effortlessly down these roads and before long slid to a coasting stop in the horseshoe driveway of the apartment complex indicated by the address R.J. gave to Ted. The building was nice, meaning it was less rundown than other buildings in this district. Ted quickly emptied the vehicle of bodies before dragging his lover across the shiny tinsel grass lawn. Ancient modeled trees still stood proud all around this building showing that things not only survived here but did so well. Ted kept that concept and what R.J. told him about Once-ler in mind as he slid the brass key into its mate and entered his new surroundings thanking the founder of plastic that EatR had a first floor apartment.

Ted's resolution dissolved. Ever since he witnessed Once-ler's eyes roll back into his head, Ted had thought of nothing else but his desire to help the blue eyed man and pump him for information later. But what he saw shocked him. The place was clean. He had not seen a place that looked quite like this since his childhood. Sure, it smelled vaguely like the air outside, Ted mused while pulling the door shut behind him and locking it securely, but it was an undeniably clean apartment that felt like home. It was less impersonal than Once-ler's house even. Ted deposited Once-ler onto a pretty forest green sofa in the white carpeted living room before opening every door in the place to find a bathroom and bedroom. There were two bedrooms it seemed. One done up in green cotton feeling fabrics and the other with rich reds in silks and such. The red bedded room was all in reds in whites with a bathroom off of it and empty drawers in both dressers and an unlabeled box in the closet that Ted deemed not important enough to go through. This place was all spotless like the rest of the apartment but compared to the room clad in greens, it was incredibly impersonal. It had a couple of pictures, most with EatR herself with girls from the club and others that Ted did not recognize but they did not reflect the hominess in the rest of the dwelling. Ted went to check out the other room before settling for this one and was surprised to find pictures of him in it. This room had drawers filled with feminine possessions and a closet nearly overflowing with EatR's clothes. These pictures varied much more than in the other room. There were photographs from the tracks and Rose's parties. Ted found his own smiling face in many of them. Sometimes it was just him but there were others with EatR, Wes, Rose, Dan, Tell, Kiss, and all sorts of people from the tracks and around the city that she knew but not one had R.J. in it. Maybe she had a smiling picture only policy, Rose said she had one of those and thus only had one shot of R.J. in her collection, but Ted saw many shots with straight or frowning fces. He did not dwell on this long. He knew that he needed to move Once-ler to the red sheeted bedroom because putting him anywhere else felt to be too much of a violation of the woman's privacy. Ted snagged a face cloth from below the 'guest' bathroom sink and wet it to bring it back to his prone lover.

This was the first really good look he got of his lover since the hit. Everything after until now felt like a blur, like some sort of dream. Ted touched the once smooth skin and winced at the pain Once-ler had to have felt. As he cleaned the small cut on the lanky man's brow, which was the cause of all of the blood on the man's face it seemed, he tried to get his story straight. Ted still was not entirely sure why he hit Once-ler and he knew that the older man would want an explanation upon awakening. The brunet left the damp soiled cloth on the small cut as went back into the bathroom to retrieve more supplies. He had to make a trip to EatR's bathroom to find a first aid kit but soon he had everything he needed. Once back at Once-ler's side on the couch, he removed the cloth amazed at how little the wound was bleeding. In his experience, cuts on the face seemed to bleed more than just about anything else but this one was barely beading blood now; it almost seemed smaller than before too. Even the bruises looked like they were healing but it must have just been the lighting that made them look so bad before.

Ted wadded up some gauze and covered the opening of the disinfectant with it before turning the whole thing upside down and bringing the cold wet material to the unconscious man's face. He only dabbed the cut once before jolting back as blue-grey eyes shot open. "Ow," Once-ler's hand shot to his face as he lunged back away from Ted. "That burns!" His face was painted with too many emotions for Ted to count: pain, fear, surprise, confusion, but for some reason betrayal could not be found in the mix.

"It's disinfectant. It should help clean your cuts so they don't get infected when we bandage them up," Ted explained calmly, glad that there was something for him to talk about with this man before he had to explain himself. Whatever time he could buy before his lover started questioning him, he would take gladly.

Blue gray eyes widened, "You're helping me…?" It was hardly a question the way the Once-ler asked it. Now all Ted could see in the man was a mix of awe, happiness, hope, and still more confusion.

Ted bit back a smile, knowing exactly how to clear a few things up. "You're old." His statement held no emotion but had the desired effect and the Once-ler's eyes widened further in confusion.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Ted grinned slyly making the other man scoot a bit further down the sofa from him. The boy did his best old man Once-ler impression when answering, "Oh, I thought we were just pointing out the obvious." The recognition on the Once-ler's face barely had time enough to be noticed before it was covered by Ted's face. The Once-ler was tense, Ted noticed, when the kiss began but after a few tentative caresses of his arms the man began to relax and respond to the boy's softly moving lips. There was no fire in this kiss but it was something Ted needed. He needed to know that this man below him would kiss him back, would take him back. Slim fingers slid up the back of Ted's shirt to explore then smooth skinned muscles of his back as a tongue he was fairly acquainted found its way into his mouth. Taste, smell, and touch overwhelmed the teenager and was nearly overpowering him when he remembered there were other things that needed doing with this man. Regrettably he pulled away putting a commanding finger that still coolly tingling with disinfectant on his lover's lips. "Wait. We need to talk."

"The five worst words ever uttered in the English language, I'm sure everyone can agree." The Once-ler responded, averting his eyes to focus on the surroundings other than the young man sitting on his lap.

Ted ran gentle fingers along the other man's sides before closing the gap between their lips again hoping that maybe the other man would eventually get the message. When the two parted, the Once-ler was all but scowling at Ted who now wondered if any of this was a good idea. At least now he knew that at the worst he could deck the man and put him back out again though that may be a bit awkward from his lap. With that thought in mind he climbed down from his perch on the thin man's hips. Now Once-lers features decided to soften into a look of disappointment and worry.

"Sorry kid," Ted could hear the pain in the other man's voice and saw him bend over to place his head in his hands. Ted stood and moved back to the doorway as his lover groaned. He picked up the keys to the firebird and tossed them to land with a clink on the sofa cushion he had just vacated. "You're leaving?" Alarm sounded odd in that groaned out voice as the Once-ler scowled up at him standing in the foyer.

"You can stay here as long as you want. Just lock up before you leave or EatR may get mad," Ted answered trying to hide any emotion in his voice. He seemed to do that a lot around this man.

Another groan erupted from behind him as he opened the door, "Do you know if she has any pain medicine?" Ted closed the door again and turned back to the bruised man. That was not a scowl on his face, he was in pain. Ted walked into the kitchen finding a glass with ease but checking what seemed like every cabinet twice before procuring medicine. He filled the glass with nearly pristine water from the filter EatR was lucky enough to have before bringing it all back to the man still sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. "Thanks," The Once-ler uttered before downing the drugs and gulping down his drink. "So, whatever happened to that talking thing you mentioned earlier?" Hope was there again incapable of hiding just in those words.

Ted could not help himself when he answered the man. "Talking can wait a bit. Do you know the best cure for headaches?" Blue eyes locked with brown curiously. Ted had the man hooked with the promise of his headache disappearing. He would not give up the information though until asked.

There was a barely audible sigh from the Once-ler. He was probably actually trying to think of the answer before he spoke up, "It would not happen to be more medicine, would it?" Ted's grin seemed capable literally splitting his face in half as he shook his head, signaling that was not the correct answer.

"Even better."


Hey guys. ^.^; Sorry for the long wait on this one. I was not entirely sure how this encounter was going to turn out. If anyone comes back to read this, I would love to hear if anyone knows what is a good headache cure. I learned about it in anatomy classes, oddly enough and tested it to be pretty accurate. Thank you so much for all of the reviews! I cannot believe that I am so close to getting one hundred reviews on my FIRST fanfiction. Thank you. Thank you so very much everyone!