Maybe This is Enough 𓇚 The Onceler x Jon Arbuckle 𓇚

Ten

𓋇 ONCE'S POV 𓋇

The sun was beginning to set over the valley, drowning the tent in hazy purplish darkness, only broken by the flickering orange light of the lantern on my bedside table. I was busy at work sitting on the edge of the bed, threading the needle to form the loose fluffiness of the truffula tuft into the fibers of a thneed. The light green paper that Jon's concept design was written on lay next to me, and the artist lay behind me. I could tell that he was already fast asleep by the light snores coming from behind me. Listening to his breathing was the only thing keeping my mind from wandering back to the place of vexation that the alleged guardian of the forest had walked me into.

I worked and I worked into what must have been pretty late at night, until finally I held an oddly shaped cloth in my hands. I held it up to the light so I could see it in its full glory, a wide smile spreading across my face to match the soaring elation in my chest. The uplifting feeling was enough to mask my looming tiredness, even if it was only for a brief moment.

I draped the cloth over a chair, stepping back to admire it. I felt a surge of pride in myself and nodded my head.

"Now that is a thneed," I said to myself, keeping my voice down so I wouldn't disturb Jon.

I felt my eyelids grow heavy, the weight of working late into the night catching up with me. I yawned and dragged a hand down my face. I pulled my eyes away from the thneed and made my way to the door so I could let Odie in for the night. I opened the door, and sure enough the little yellow dog was waiting for me with a wagging tail. He had something brown and fluffy hanging from his jaws by the scruff. I raised a brow and knelt down to take a closer look, my mind clouded with sleepy delirium.

"Whatcha got there, bud?"

Odie's tail continued to wag, and the little dog reached up to paw at my face. I chuckled and gently took his paw in my hand before placing it back on the ground.

The thing in his mouth was brown and furry. I assumed it was Garfield's stuffed bear that I had helped Jon replace after the accident, so I didn't think much of it. Odie hopped into bed and hid himself beneath the covers at Jon's feet. I followed him, shutting the lamp off on my way over.

I crawled into bed next to my sleeping friend and pulled the covers over my body. The only light to see by was silver moonlight streaming in through the windows. I found myself looking at Jon's face. He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping, like he could leave his worries and stresses behind for the morning. The moonlight gave his curly brown hair a silver sheen, leaving it practically glowing. Inexplicably, I felt the urge to run my fingers through it. My own thoughts startled me slightly, and I felt a wave of heat rush over my face.

I figured that I was weird for staring, so I brushed my thoughts away and turned to the other side so that my back was facing him. It was a little hard to get to sleep with him so close to me, but eventually my eyes began to droop shut.

❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜

My dreams took me on a tour of a memory, blurred by the haziness of unconsciousness. My mother was kneeling in front of me, tightening the bow tie on my tux. I had been extremely short as a child, so when she knelt she was at my eye level.

"Now Oncie, your uncle Ubb wants this day to be very special. That means that you can't mess this up. So just...try not to be yourself for a minute, alright?"