See You Again Someday (Onceler x Masc!Reader) - The Lorax

Chapter Two: Thneeds

The Onceler didn't have his hand on my arm anymore, but rather he was just blatantly holding my hand as we ran into what I presumed to be his house. It felt nice having him hold my hand... slightly comforting, even though we were running away from a pack of rabid animals.

I had looked back a few times as we were running, and I saw some of the trees falling to the ground. Whoever the Onceler's family were, they were most definitely cutting down the trees. As I wondered for what purpose, the Onceler sat me down in his home and locked the door. He sat down next to me and faced me.

"Okay, we should be fine now, at least for a while." He looked down and sighed, exhausted from all of the running. I was too, desperately trying to catch my breath. "H-hey, um, Onceler? Could I PLEASE have an explanation now??" I demanded in annoyance. He looked back up at me and blinked. My gaze softened. His eyes were so pretty... I couldn't stay mad at him for long. Too bad this was a dream; he was most certainly the handsomest man I'd ever seen. I remembered reading somewhere that everyone you see in your dreams isn't made up by your brain, but rather someone you've seen in real life. I wondered where I had seen this guy before, and if I could possibly get his number.

"Oh, uh, yeah. You can have an explanation, sure." The Onceler stammered, clearing his throat.

"So, there are these amazing things I invented called Thneeds..."

As the Onceler explained to me about Thneeds, his idea for making as much money as possible, making his family proud, etc, etc... I couldn't help but zone out a little. This man was INHUMANELY pretty. God, was I being a simp? I was, wasn't I? I sighed, slightly disappointed in myself, but also not really caring if I was a simp or not.

"...and I'm like, JEEZ! Tch, BAD, right... hey, Y/N? You listening?"

I blinked back into reality. "O-oh, yeah! Totally! Thneeds sound great." I replied awkwardly. The Onceler grinned. "Yeah, I knew you'd get it. That Lorax knows nothing!" He said proudly.

We looked at each other for a moment, before the awkward silence got to us. "So, uh, Y/N! Where'd you come from?" The Onceler asked. I smiled. "I have no idea!" I declared, not wanting to mention anything about a dream. If I did, I might wake up, and I didn't want that to happen. Not ever. This man felt like my husband, and we'd barely talked for over a chapter.

"Oh... o-okay! Sounds good, I guess." He replied, looking at the floor a little. The air was thick with tension. I couldn't tell what type, but half of me hoped for romantic. The other half of me was screaming at one half to please shut the hell up. An internal conflict I had certainly never experienced before now, for sure.

The Onceler looked out the window. Trees were helplessly falling, and the animals looked extremely panicked, including the Lorax. I felt a little bad, and I could tell the Onceler did too... I mean, I DID pick up in our conversation that his family had basically pressured him into this, but it seemed like greed had gotten a bit of a hold of him. I wasn't complaining though, after all, it wasn't my place to. But it did make him kinda hot.

The Onceler looked back at me as I got brought back out of my thoughts by his gaze. "So, uh, man..." He stammered quietly, clearly struggling to find a conversation topic. I was struggling too, so I didn't say much. Just then, it looked like an idea popped into his head. He smiled. "If you want, I could make you a Thneed? After all, everybody needs a Thneed!" He asked excitedly, taking some knitting equipment from a drawer. "Oh, sure! I'd like that." I replied, smiling back, completely oblivious to what a Thneed actually was. I had zoned out when he told me.

"Okay, it might take a while, but I'll try my best to do it as fast as possible." He declared, grabbing some of the pink tree stuff from the same drawer. "Hey, uh, what is that pink fluff?" I asked, a little confused. Was it wool, maybe? Some other knitting material? I wasn't sure, but it looked soft.

"Oh, this?" He asked, holding some of it up. I nodded, and he grinned. "This is what comes from the Truffula trees! It's really soft and smells like butterfly milk. You can touch it if you'd like." He explained, handing some to me. He was right, it WAS soft. Very silky. If this was a dream, and I was touching whatever this was in real life, I wondered what it actually was. Maybe my pillow, or something like that. Truthfully, I never remembered falling asleep... but I guess that happens in dreams.

I wondered what butterfly milk actually smelled like, since the last time I checked, you couldn't milk a butterfly. I smelled it. "Holy crap." I thought. It was sickeningly sweet. Incredible.

"You like it?" The Onceler asked, and I nodded eagerly in response. "It's like... you could eat it. I feel like it'd be tasty." I mumbled, looked at the strange material. The man in front of me laughed. "Oh yeah, ya think so? Well, I don't think it'd be very tasty, but here! You can have a marshmallow." He said, and took a marshmallow from a bag next to him and handed it to me. I grinned as I ate it. This dream world had marshmallows. I loved them.

"Thank you." I replied politely, a massive grin on my face. The Onceler smiled back. "You're welcome." He declared, and got back to work on the... Thneed. I looked at the work-in-progress. I still wasn't sure what it was, but it felt dumb to ask, especially since he had already told me before, I just wasn't listening.

So, I waited.

And waited.

Yawn.

Yawn...

I felt sleepy...

...really, really sleepy...