the lorax [various x reader]

i.iii

True to his word, the Once-ler did indeed come back the next day. Bright and early at the ripe time of 3:00 in the afternoon, when people idly flocked together in the middle of town to gossip and all the children were out of school and able to watch (and laugh) as much as they pleased, he was there.

You'd watched him meander under the white gazebo with fascination, having woken up as early as 6:00 AM to try and catch sight of him first. Not that you were desperate or anything, you were just immensely curious about his product. He had brought Melvin along, who was carrying on his back a hand-made sign with the words "Everybody Needs a Thneed" written in black ink. A red circle next to these words advertised the low price of "$24.98!". You recognized the Once-ler's outfit from yesterday, the only change being a soft pink scarf-looking fabric wrapped around his neck. When he was all set up, which really just consisted of him prepping his guitar chords, he slung his black instrument around in a full 360 and began to strum an uplifting tune.

A crowd had begun to form around the man, and they were looking just as interested as you. A small twinge of jealousy coursed through you as you realized these people would be learning of the Thneed at the same time as you would be. For some reason, you felt drawn to this new invention. That was all.

A few more strums and the Once-ler began to sing. In your opinion, he sounded really good. "Everybody needs a Thneed," he sang, "a fine thing that all people-"

As you listened intently, your peripheral vision suddenly caught something taking flight in the corner of your eye. Looking over, your gaze strayed to Hazel eyeing the Once-ler keenly, lightly tossing a tomato she'd stolen yesterday upwards and catching it with a smirk. You watched as she squished the tomato in her hands, noting how pulpy and messy it was. Her arm not testing the original tomato was full of other overdue fruits that looked just as nasty. Hazel's eyes narrowed maliciously as she leaned her hand back and prepared to throw.

You didn't remember getting up from the bench you were sitting on or rushing over to stop the demon child. Your efforts had been wasted anyway as the over-ripened tomato mush flew through the air, hitting the Once-ler square in the face. When you finally reached the girl, you wrestled the rest of the tomatoes away from her with a surprising amount of luck; she basically just handed them over to you. Soon enough, you knew why.

"(Y/N)?" After wiping his face off with his hand, the Once-ler looked straight at you, confusion and sadness evident in his expression as you dropped the wretched things he'd been hit with. His discouragement promptly dwindled into anger as he turned coldly away from you and started his jingle over. "Everybody needs-"

Hazel didn't wait for him to continue this time. She grabbed a lone tomato off the ground from where you'd dropped them and aimed for the back of his guitar, causing the handle to spin out of the Once-ler's grasp and a horrible sound to emit from it. You were thankful he had a guitar strap, otherwise his guitar would almost certainly be broken after he'd let go due to the ground's eventual impact.

Thanks to the tomato-fest, everyone seemed to be unimpressed with the Once-ler's product. You watched in horror as the man tried and failed to recover his act to no avail. By this point, people were beginning to boo him and throw whatever trash they had at him. Hazel was laughing at your side.

While Melvin was able to keep up with some of the thrown trash, eating half-eaten apple cores and unfinished donuts at a rapid pace, the Once-ler bore the brunt of the damage, finding himself covered in everything from banana peels to ripped out grass to even a wilted rose. Ironic. You could tell his motivation was swiftly deteriorating, but he continued anyway, adjusting his guitar once more.

This went on for three hours. At 6:00 PM sharp he took his leave, trudging next to Melvin who you saw was trying to lick the tomato juice out of his white shirt. You hated admitting it, but you'd watched the whole ordeal from the comfort of your tiny apartment, having gone back inside in embarrassment. Cracking the window open had been enough for you to hear the (very loud) insults clearly over the few hours you sat there. Though you'd done nothing wrong, there was guilt worrying inside you since you'd grabbed those godforsaken tomatoes from Hazel. Maybe apologizing was your best bet.