Radioactive // Onceler x reader

Chapter 6

When I woke up next morning I found myself in bed, neatly tucked beneath the covers. I was mighty confused as I got up and stretched my body, yawning as I noticed Onceler was gone. I saw a note on the fridge and jumped out of bed to go check it out.

"I went into town to sell my thneed, will be back later. Made breakfast for you. Have a nice morning!
- Oncie"

I let out a relieved breath after reading it, knowing he was fine at least. I grabbed the breakfast he had made and headed outside to eat. I must have been sleeping a long time because it was already noon. Kind of wished he had woken me up so I could've joined him. Maybe tomorrow then.

After breakfast I wanted to go do some painting, so I fetched the old painting of the destroyed forest and went into the tent. I looked at it for a minute again, trying to understand why it changed. Was it a vision of the past? The Lorax had said the forest were on fire once, but this isn't a picture of a forest fire, this is deforestation. So if it wasn't a picture of the past, could it be the future? I gulped at the thought and looked away. That thought scared the shit out of me and I put the painting away, hiding it behind some stuff. 

"Man, there's no canvases left." I groaned and went back outside. The Onceler had brought his guitar so I couldn't practise any music either. If I could join him tomorrow I could get some new ones. I eventually found the Lorax playing with some animals, so I figured I'd join them. We played tag, hide and seek, and catch the fruit until I decided to go back and make some dinner. I was just finishing pasta with sauce as the door opened and a defeated Onceler came inside. 

"Heya, how'd it go today?" I asked happily, and he returned to his usual behaviour. "Eh, not so good. People just doesn't get how amazing the thneed is, so I'm gonna try again tomorrow. Success doesn't happen in a day, right?" he chuckled and went to get a plate of pasta. I looked over at the thneed and saw how bizarre of a product it was. I understood why people weren't compelled to buy it, it looked so plain. I still had faith in him, of course, and didn't want to dismiss the potential it had. 

"Hey Onceler, I was thinking. Are you really gonna chop down all the trees? I mean, there are other ways to harvest the tufts and still care for the environment y'know.." I suggested, hoping he'd react positively. He looked at me curiously and swallowed his food. 

"If you're referring to what I said the other day then yeah, I know. I was just angry and so tired of that dumb, furry meatloaf, hehe. I am a businessman now, which means I can be both resourceful and environmentally friendly!" he said confidently, reacting like I had hoped. I let out a relieved chuckle and nodded. "That's good. I just want the creatures who live here to be safe and still have their home." I smiled and he smiled back. 

"I promise I won't chop down another tree." he said, and I raised my brows. "Well, I''m not the one you should be telling that." I said and nodded towards the door, and he understood what I meant. "Yeah yeah, I'll go talk to him." the Onceler sighed and got up, putting away the empty plate before heading out. I was left alone inside and went to clean the dishes. Afterwards I changed into my pyjamas and sat down on the bed, beginning to read a book I had bought in town. 

I must've dozed off while reading because the next thing I felt was someone carefully shaking my shoulder, waking me from the slumber. I felt disoriented and darted my eyes around, figuring out where to look. I made eye contact with the Onceler who was also in his pyjamas, and I looked at him with a tired face. "Sorry to wake you, uhm, I just wanted to ask if it was alright that I slept in the bed?" he almost whispered, and I finally came to my senses. "Oh, of course, I can take the floor." I yawned and sat up, rubbing my eyes. 

"No no, that's not what I meant.. uhm.. I just thought, heh, we've know each other for a week so.." he stuttered quite a lot this time, and I could almost see the red glow from his cheeks in the dark. I understood what he meant and scooched over, making room for two. He climbed into bed and huddled together under the warm covers. Since his bed was borderline too small for two people we slept in a spooning position the entire night, and my heart was beating so fast I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. 

I fell asleep shortly after, feeling safe and sound sleeping next to someone I trusted and cared about.