the lorax [various x reader]

i.iv

"So he really stole your bed?" you questioned, eyes wide as you clutched your empty donut box to your chest. The Once-ler grunted in response as you both walked, him sometimes stopping to tug on Melvin whenever the mule got tired or bored. "I lost my sleep and admittedly my pride," he huffed. "It's so embarrassing to say you've been duped by an orange alien."

"Is that what he is?" You'd been meaning to ask, but quite frankly, the Lorax was hardly an approachable character.

"Don't know, don't care. What I do care about, though, is my- uh oh."

You'd been staring so intently at the Once-ler during his story that you hadn't noticed what was right in front of you, his house. Instead of hulking over you as it had yesterday, the front end was entirely flopped over, having crushed the interior part of the house. The left and right walls were staying balanced on each other's weight, forming a sort of teepee. The back wall looked untouched. You set down your donut box to survey the wreckage, aghast.

"This is surprisingly one of the best case scenarios for me," the man next to you merely shrugged at the misfortune of his home being utterly destroyed (at least from your perspective). After placing his guitar in his wagon, he hooked Melvin's harness to it, casually whistling his Thneed jingle as if nothing had happened. "Never finished my story. To combat the Lorax, I nailed down my bed."

"Right, you said that earlier, but that doesn't really seem to be helping in this situation," you grimaced, your eyes leaving the collapsed house for the first time to look at him.

"I didn't finish~," the Once-ler hummed in a sing-song voice. "Not only did I nail down my bed, but everything else I could possibly secure into place before I was hijacked in the morning again. Longer story," he waved his hand at your dumbstruck face. What a confusing timeline of events that must have led to this moment.

"Anyway, my front door is made of wood, but my walls are made of fabric. Never had the money to upgrade to an actual house trailer like my family had." His smile faltered for a split second; in fact, it could have easily been a misglance because he seemed fine now. "So I made this one myself! Pretty cool, right? It folds all up into itself once I'm done with it and rolls right behind my wagon."

"That's amazing, Mr. Once-ler," you praised, impressed. However, you were still missing the whole point of this.

Seeing your still-unsure face, he sighed. "Basically, with everything nailed down, and my walls being made of mostly fabric, it means nothing should be ruined."

"Oh!" you gasped, rushing over to look closer at the fallen-house-that-was-actually-fine. "So it paid off to be innovative!"

"Well, no, technically, if I just had a sturdier house..." the Once-ler paused, seeing you marveling so astonished at his stroke of ingenuity. "I-I guess it did," he responded instead, a light blush covering his cheeks (though if anyone were to ask, he'd say it was the Thneed's doing).

"Let's see how well you hammered last night, Mr. Once-ler." You in all your infinite wisdom did not realize the underlying tone of those words, though he certainly had. The man covered the bottom part of his face with his Thneed to hide his whispered "oh, I am very good at that", leaving Melvin's side to look for his tools only after making sure the mule was tied up properly. After rummaging around in the back of his wagon for a minute, he yelled out to you. "Alright, (Y/N), you grab the pegs and I'll pop them back into the ground once I find my hammer."

"Sounds good!" you called, already scrambling to grab the lone peg for the front wall. Unfortunately, to get to the peg, you'd have to step on the wooden door frame... which you'd already done.

A few dirt tracks littered the door, much to your annoyance, so once you got off you pulled on the peg's cord to hopefully shake the dirt off once the wall was upright. This was your second mistake, as if you were to recall the house's fallen layout from earlier, the wall you were yanking was under two other fabric walls. One of which promptly ripped from the force you'd used.