Title: Pillow Pets

Summary: The Once-ler is upset that profits are going down due to the introduction of pillow pets on the market, but is even more enraged when he sees Oncie holding a turtle pillow pet while sleeping. ONCEST

I just thought of this little story while writing my other fanfic, desperately wanting to put it in somewhere but not knowing where (due to it totally conflicting with the plot). So I made it into another story. Also, this does not follow the movie as much as I usually do... so if that bothers you, sorry! By the way, I do have two turtle pillow pets. The little one's name is "Enterprise" and his mother's name is "Apollo" (she is the medium sized pillow pet). I'm thinking of getting the giant, pillow pet turtle as the dad and naming him "Sputnik."

Pillow Pets

The greedy Once-ler hated pillow pets. He thought they were absolutely vile things that barely served the two purposes it was designed for and they aren't even made of good quality materials! They are made of some crappy, synthetic fiber that was supposedly better for the environment than his thneed. Sure, the thneed was not the most environmentally friendly invention, but it had the functions of thousands and were made of tufts softer than silk. How could the people possibly prefer those silly, useless things when they knew about the thneed?

Ever since those pillow pets were introduced into the market, the Once-ler saw his company's profits slowly descend. While he was still making a significant amount of money, he was not seeing as much as he was used to. As much as the green-clad man hated to admit it, but he no longer had the severe dominance in the monopolistic competition he once had. No longer was he finding himself a price maker, but rather a price taker. Anyone could tell by the look on his face, that he truly disliked the situation he was in. The price of thneeds had to drop in order to be competitive with those dastardly pillows, a position in which the experienced entrepreneur never thought he would be in now that his business was so huge. But he understood that progress was progress, and that he was going to beat those inferior rates at this game. The Once-ler owned this game before these people even were in high school.

"Once-ler, you forgot your tie!" the younger Once-ler pointed out, running to catch up with the identical man. The older Once-ler smiled, briefly forgetting about his anger toward pillow pets when he saw his innocent half.

Their relationship was an odd one. The Once-ler when he first saw the results of his actions to the forest responded so harshly to the deforestation that he could not help but snap. His thoughts, emotions, and desires conflicted so strongly that he felt himself painfully split into two, and this was how his younger, more angelic self came to be (well, as angelic and innocent as a twenty-year-old could be). While it was a painful process, it was for the better. The forest was being protected, profits were going up due to maintaining production and increased public image, and both Once-lers found love in each other that they could not find in the real world.

"Thank you Once-ler, I have been forgetting a lot of things lately. Work has been could introduce them into the market fast enough in order to truly affect it. Maybe he would have to think of another brilliant idea that would be as wonderful as the thneed. But could he do it again? Suddenly, his phone rang.

"Mr. Once-ler, those publishers are here to see you." Ah! The beginning of even more progress! The Once-ler thanked his secretary over the cellphone, and told her to allow them into his office before he came inside. He always liked to intimidate other people by allowing them alone in his expansive office. It was even more fun having a grand entrance, making everyone's eyes land on the Once-ler's tall, opposing form. It was probably the narcissism in his personality that made him feel such a way towards others and the other Once-ler.

The flashy business man walked in, his money-green suit's coattails bellowing behind him. Most of the people that were there to see him were plump, frumpy dressed gentlemen in dark, outdated suits (not everyone can be as good looking or as fashionable as he was). Today as he approached his throne-like chair, the Once-ler wished he had arrived before they did. It would have amused him greatly to watch them wobble in like obese penguins, all with matching briefcases and shoes to the point it was hard to distinguish one from another. It probably would have made him laugh.

"Good afternoon gentlemen, how are all of you?" He greeted cordially. The Once-ler's voice made everyone flinch, an art that he perfected over the years. He was the perfect predator of the business world despite changing his harvesting tactics. The business world is probably still the most brutal of all battlegrounds that a person can experience, but it still had formalities and skills other than pure business smarts and the Once-ler had them all.

They all nodded and said something along the lines of "good." They knew he did not care about their lives or feelings. While a portion of his proceeds actually went to charity now, they knew that the man was still a tyrant under pretty clothes.

"The last time that we met, I said that we would not see each other again until you have finished your work. Are you telling me that you finished the product in such a short amount of time?" The Once-ler asked, playfully batting his eyelashes. It was a tactic that would usually put most people at unease. The man sitting closest to his desk coughed (probably using it as a subtle way of getting the flamboyant business man's attention) and pulled out a hard cover book that was a little more than half an inch think. The hard shell was the same color as the thneeds and there was a picture of his younger self (the younger Once-ler always looked better in public reputation photos) sitting by the fire, using the thneed as a large, comforting scarf. While the Once-ler understood the PR people's request to use the other Once-ler due to image importance, he still could not believe that people were naive enough to think that he (or the younger Once-ler) were of their level. After all, they were at least a thousand times greater than any person in thneedville's net worth.

The Once-ler flipped through the pages, impressed by not only the book's voluminous amount of uses for the thneed (of course, all the sexually gratifying uses that he thought up were strictly for his love life with the innocent Once-ler), and how easy the intructions were to follow. The new invention was no longer necessary in the older Once-ler's mind.

"Is it to your liking sir?" He had almost forgotten that they were there. As soon as his mind wandered to thinking about the other half, the entrepreneur had a hard time remembering other peoples' presence. The Once-ler also forgot how little people understood him and his emotions. Perhaps there is a reason why he must seek a relationship with himself.

"It is acceptable. I would prefer a larger print, but other than that adjustment I believe it is ready."

"Yes, we're very excited to be working with you, Once-ler sir. We are sure it is going to be a success." Of course it would be. If the Once-ler was in the market for somehting, he do not plan to be anything less than the best. He yawned. Despite not working as long as usual, he felt rather tired.

The group of men praised his accomplishments and successed for several minutes until they realized that the Once-ler no longer cared for their presence. Usually the Once-ler pretended to have a little more curtusy than that, but for some reason, towards the end of the meeting his body felt completely exhausted and his eyelids felt heavier than lead. If he had to guess what was causing him to become like this, it was the younger Once-ler taking a nap. While they were essentially the same person in two different bodies, either Once-ler could still sense the other one's presence and emotions.

The green-clad man glanced at the clock to see that it was around three in the afternoon, a good time for a nap and even join the other half for the rest of the day. He had not socialized with the younger lover much lately due to the consequences his business was suffering because of the pillow pets.

"Ms. Jones, please cancel the rest of my appointments for today." The Once-ler commanded from his secretary over his phone. She huffed and did not seem amused by her boss' lack of work effort that day.

"But Mr. Once-ler, the environmental groups have-"

"Tell them to come at eight in the morning. There is nothing in the schedule that early and I am sure they would love to preoccupy four hours of my time before my next meeting." He said, cutting her off. Before she could respond, the Once-ler turned off his phone and saunted into the elevator. He rode the machine all the way to the top floor of the lurker where he lived with his other half. There were great benefits to be had when a person lived at work.

The elder Once-ler threw off his coat and hat on the rack by the entrance. The younger Once-ler did not like clutter, something the older had gotten used to due to acquiring laziness over the years.

The living space still smelled of waffles from breakfast time, despite the kitchen and dining room looking as perfect as the two Once-lers' purchased them. The older Once-ler remembered that day quite well. It was quite odd since they rarely went in public together, but the two were able to convince the public that they were merely long-lost twin brothers that finally found each other again and did not wish to depart from each other. The public understood, but still questioned why they were so close and even held hands (something they would accidentally do due to habit).

Since he suspected the other man was tired from all the cleaning he had done, the green-clad man decided he did not want to disturb him. The elder Once-ler thought it was best to watch television in the parlor room until the innocent counterpart woke up. Before he could sit on the designer couch however, he saw the doppelganger sprawled on it with a large, heavy comforter covering his entire thin frame. Since the more mature of the two could not help but smile at how adorable the younger Once-ler was (technically himself), he leaned down to kiss him gently on the forehead. Before the lips could make contact, something fell out of the crumpled blanket. A bright green, turtle shaped pillow. The younger Once-ler had a pillow pet...

He glared at the younger man's dark, ebony hair (he was afraid that if he stared at the angelic Once-ler's cute, round face that he might not be as angry) until he began to stir at his presence.

"Once-ler... we need to talk. Now." The elder commanded. The sleepy copy rubbed his tired eyes, looking at the older male with his large, innocent looking orbs laced with confusion. The angry counterpart resisted all the urges inside his body that told him to pounce the other man and ravish him.

"Hey, you're home early. Yay..." He lazily smiled before sitting up. The more devilish Once-ler picked up the infuriating pillow by the neck and threw it at the younger one's lap. The sleepy Once-ler immediately shot up and was shocked by the aggressive actions of the other.

"Why did you do throw it at me? That was not very nice."

"Why? Oh, I don't know... maybe, just maybe, I feel a little betrayed by my lover and younger self right now. You bought a pillow pet, one of the few things during our career that is responsible for making our profits sink. Yeah, I think that's a valid reason for throwing that atrocity at you!" The elder shouted.

"Oh, you're mad about the turtle." The younger paused to sigh. "You know, when I saw this thing for the first time, I thought it was stupid. I mean, only little kids must be attracted to these things." The innocent Once-ler laughed at the memory. His older half was still unhappy. If he thought the pillow was so useless, why would the younger man have one?

"But when I saw it again while I was out, it... it reminded me of you. It has the same green as your jacket on its shell and skin, the pillow doesn't smile like you do, well most of the time you don't smile, but still somehow maintains a cute appearance, and the pillow is also fun to hug. I don't know... I guess the thing I like about it the most is that when you're so engrossed with work and have been working a lot of long shifts recently, the turtle makes me think I'm not alone. It makes me think you're still here, even though you're not." The younger man blushed and gave the toy an affectionate squeeze. "I will return it if you want me to, but I just... don't know if I could stand feeling that lonely again when you are gone..."

Gods, the elder Once-ler did not know if he was doing this intentionally or being genuine about the toy, but it made the business man feel horrible. While it was true that the kinder Once-ler was already a twenty-year-old man, he had not understood the loneliness that the entrepreneur was accustomed to. The thirty-something old Once-ler had grown to not show or need as much comfort from others due to his acceptance of family and other people being unable to care for him. Sad stuff to learn, but it saved the other from heart ache. But the younger man was probably struggling from those thoughts and he shouldn't have to. The elder Once-ler loved his younger self and the innocent half shouldn't become a cynic like him, who didn't learn about the joys of love until his younger self came to stay with him.

The Once-ler took of his sunglasses and put them on the cofee table before sitting down next to his counterpart. He then proceeded to hug him so tight that it almost appeared as if he were trying to merge the two back into one being.

"You don't have to return it. But I will make sure you won't need him so much." The elder said, his voice cracking slightly from guilt.

"You promise?"

"Yes, I won't leave you like the rest. I promise." He looked down at the pillow pet and sighed. Well, the Once-ler thought it wasn't too bad... as long as they were the green, turtle pillow pets.

END

Fluffy oncest is fun to write, but I can't write that much of it. Well, read and review!