AC: Hey everybody! I hope you enjoy this - this first chapter is a wee bit slow, but I hope you like it :)

"Bless your soul, you've got your head in the clouds." Adele, Rumor Has It

Chapter One

The Once-Ler always especially loved the Spring time. The truffula trees smelled especially of butterfly milk, the grass glistened greener, and the sky was blue-er than the blue-est blue.

But something seemed different. It was the first Spring The Once-Ler had spent in the Truffula Valley, and the animals were acting... strange. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but they all had transfixed expressions on one another. Pipsqueak the bar-ba-loot paid less attention to his marshmallows and more attention to the little girl bar-ba-loot close by.

Had he been missing something? They were the same marshmallows, after all.

"Moustache," he began to the Lorax one sunny day, "Do you have any idea why the animals are acting all funny?"

He stifled a laugh. "Ever live in the wilderness, or even around animals, Beanpole?"

"Only Melvin," he motioned to his donkey eating grass in the distance.

"Well, around this time each year, we enter a new phase." The Lorax scooted closer to the Once-Ler, making him a tad uncomfortable. "We enter the Mating Season."

The Once-Ler chuckled. "So, you mean the animals get it on?" He shook his shoulders up and down.

The Lorax gave him an odd look. "What do you mean by that beanpole?"

"I mean, do they..." Once-Ler thought a moment. How should he word this? "Is this the time they have baby bar-ba-loots?"

"Absolutely! Look at Pipsqueak there!" Pip was picking little truffula flowers next to the lake. His view kept peering over to the girl bar-ba-loot. The Once-Ler grinned.

"'Course," The Lorax continued, "the youngins like him just find a mate, but don't do any of the... 'getting it on' you seem to want to know so much about."

The Once-Ler's fingers drifted along the neck of his guitar, along with his gaze. "Do you... do you ever get lonely?"

"Why should I? I have all of these great animal friends, the trees, and the blue sky!"

"No no, I mean, is there a Mrs. Lorax?"

"Beanpole, I'm one of a kind! I speak for the trees, not for my love life!" He hopped off of the tree stump he was seated upon. "But if you're more interested in getting a girl to strum your guitar, rather than your business, that would be fine by me. It would leave the trees, and maybe you, in harmony."

"I don't need a woman!" The Once-Ler tipped his hat back and leaned onto a tree. "Heh, I don't need one... but someone to hold tight at night would be nice." He glanced at the Lorax. "Not that you aren't a great cuddle buddy."

The Lorax began to walk away. "Save it for a pretty lady!"

The Once-Ler smiled. Was he lonely? Sure, the animals and the Lorax were great companions, but someone with long hair and warm eyes would be nice to have around. And let's get real here - his imagination could only take him so far some nights. He got up and adjusted his fedora. "I'm gonna go into the city," he announced to no one in particular. "Gonna go see what's out there."

"More like who's out there!" The Lorax called from a distance.

The Once-Ler flung his hand in his directions and grinned from ear to ear. Before going, he grabbed his thneed - every minute was a different time to make a sell. He wondered who was just waiting for their prince charming. Then he thought, he wasn't exactly the cover-man for "Prince Charming." But, there was bound to be some girl that would go on a date with him.

-ooo-

"Norma! Norma, you should've been there!" A muscular guy in a lettermans jacket took a big gulp of his milk shake. "I swear I threw that football across the entire field!"

"I know - you've told me seven times already." Norma sighed. How was it that she always dated the dummies with nothing in their head except a pretty smile? The jocks always had no purpose, no dreams... no heart. She always wanted to travel the world beside a handsome man and try different things, but as of right now, it seemed as though she was staying right here after graduation with a pretty boy.

"But, Norma, it was so amazing! I mean, shit, Norma. So amazing." He spun around in the bar stool. The two of them went to the bar and grill every day after school and talked about their days, kissed a bit (okay, a lot. Hey, even if he wasn't very intelligent, he had an amazing body), and then Norma would listen to him talk about football for an hour. Usually when she got bored, she'd make up an excuse to slip away.

Norma never understood why he asked her out in the first place - she wasn't exactly a blonde, busty cheerleader guys like him were known for dating; Norma always thought he was dared. The bigger question was, why did she say yes?

"I'm sure it was, Robert." She used everything she had to not roll her eyes.

There was a slam of a door across the room at the entrance; a man as tall as two of her lunged into the checkerboard restaurant. He had raven black hair, and a cute grey fedora which matched his vest and pants. His eyes gleamed and matched the sky outside - and his smile was as bright as the sun. He was a skinny fellow - Robert could easily crack this guy in half. He looked like he was in his twenties; Norma was still in high school (but she kept reminding her mother that her 19th birthday was only days after her graduation) but that didn't stop her from thinking the man was an ice cold, tall - very tall - glass of water. He glanced back and forth across the room and planted his elbows next to the waitress on the other side of the counter.

"Normie? Are you listening to me?" Robert waved his hands in front of her face. "Have you seen that guy around here before or something? He looks like a total fag."

"Takes one to know one," she grumbled.

The strange guy began to talk to the waitress, "So, sweetheart, do you mind giving me a chocolate sunday?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Sure. Whatever." She popped her gum and walked away.

The man slumped down into the chair next to Robert. "She's a cutie, ain't she?"

Robert laughed. "She's a whore, that's what she is."

The guy looked at Norma, as if to ask, is he for real? He swallowed. "So, I'm guessing you guys live here."

Norma smiled. "You guess correctly." She stirred her drink. "You've got a name?"

He shrank at the asking of this question. "Yeah. I do."

"What is it queer?" Robert barked.

"Uh, The Once-Ler."

Robert let out an embarrassing laugh. "I was right! He is a fag!"

"Robbie!" Norma slapped the side of his arm. "I think it's adorable!"

"Wow, that's a first," The Once-Ler replied. "Most people think its stupid."

Robert drank his milkshake. "That's because it is."

The Once-Ler received his ice cream. "Thanks, babydoll." He smirked at the waitress. He turned to Norma and smiled like a geek. "I guess I'll see you guys later." He lightly kicked the ground, then looked at his thneed. "I've got something to do." He began to eat his sunday and slid out of the room.

Norma grinned. What a dork, she thought. An adorable dork.

"Hey, baby, I'll see you tonight, right?" Robert raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, yeah, of course," she said mindlessly.

Robert stuck his tongue into Norma's mouth. "See ya, babe."

Norma sighed. She knew Robert was her man, but The Once-Ler intrigued her in a way nobody had intrigued her before. Why hadn't she seen him before? Where was he from? Did he have a family? Friends? More importantly, A girlfriend? She went outside to go see what exactly it was The Once-Ler had to do.