by scorpions-tale
Oncie managed to convince Greedler to let him sleep in his sleeping bag for the rest of the night. He said he wasn’t ready to go back to being so physical again. In reality, he was ready, almost too ready, and he was afraid of that. So he tried to stave it off like a smoker rationing his last few cigarettes. Maybe if he denied himself, he wouldn’t care about it anymore.
If he would’ve told Greedler that, Greedler would’ve laughed in his face. Greedler would’ve told him that denying yourself something only made you want it more and if you stopped wanting it, it had meant you’d given up rather than being some great conquest. If he knew that was the reason he would’ve told Oncie to suck it up and stop denying himself. So, Oncie got his way with that one. But, while Greedler was cynical and not entirely correct, he was right in thinking that the separation only made Oncie more eager. So, in a way, they both won. In a way, they both lost.
Greedler slept like a rock, satisfied by the fact that he had gotten Oncie to come back. Oncie, on the other hand, did not sleep well at all. He tossed and turned and thrashed in the way that Greedler had his first night here; luckily he didn’t have the same ability to tear things apart in his sleep. Unsurprisingly, he woke up first, and stood at the edge of the bed for a while debating whether or not to wake Greedler. He decided against it, and focused on cooking himself some breakfast instead.
“I see you made me breakfast,” Greedler said, awakening to the scent of nearly-finished pancakes.
“I made myself some breakfast,” Oncie said.
“Why, thank you,” Greedler said, taking a fork and shoving half the stack onto his own plate (and then a little more than half, just for good measure).
“You know what I meant by that!” Oncie said, “And why don’t you make your own pancakes? Or do you think you’re better at everything than me except cooking?”
“Oh, no, I’m a better cook,” Greedler said, “But I’m also way better at getting other people to do things for me, and I think that’s my favorite thing to be better at.”
“I’m not your servant,” said Oncie.
“Then hurry it up with that company so you can get me some real servants,” Greedler said, “It’s called motivation. And then I can buy a new suit, too.”
“You know, I have clothes you can borrow. You’re not that much bigger than I am. And don’t think I didn’t notice that you stole some of my underwear,” Oncie said.
“As if I’d wear anything so…horribly thrifty,” Greedler said, “No one’s looking at my underwear but you, so I don’t really care.”
“No one’s looking at you at all, except me,” Oncie said.
“That’s because there’s no point in it now. Have I told you yet that I have no desire for a family reunion? Because I really, really don’t. There’s pretty much nothing I want less than that,” Greedler said – and it was actually a literal statement, seeing as he wanted most everything.
“Alright, whatever you want,” Oncie said, trying not to pay attention to that quality of Greedler’s which he could only describe as ‘an attitude’ anymore, “Hey, do you mind if I ask you something?”
“Yes,” Greedler said, freezing on the spot, fork lifted half way to his mouth. He could count the things he minded more than a conversation starting with an unsubtly emotional lead-in on one hand. “But I suppose you’re going to ask it anyways, aren’t you?”
“If you insist,” Oncie said, not one to refuse something that close to an invitation, “The first night you were here. When you totally destroyed the pillow and half of my sheets. What was wrong? Did you know what you dreamt about?”
“No,” Greedler said, “I don’t remember. And I don’t really care, either.”
“Oh,” Oncie said, “I just brought it up because I didn’t sleep too well last night. I don’t usually have nightmares, but something really bothered me.”
“Get over it, ignore it,” Greedler said, “Dreams aren’t important. Dreams are what stupid people use when they can’t have what they want in reality. You can have reality; you don’t need that crap anymore.”
“This wasn’t a good dream,” Oncie said, “It wasn’t something I would’ve wanted.”
“It’s all the same. Secret dreams. Secret fears. Worlds inside your head. Nothing but leftover thoughts from the day before,” Greedler said, “It’s not anything worth talking about. I haven’t dreamt in a while, or if I have, I don’t remember them.”
“Not at all?” Oncie said.
“Not at all,” Greedler said.
“I don’t know. I think it’d be sad not to have dreams anymore. No matter how successful you got,” said Oncie, “It’s nice to have something to think about.”
“No it’s not. Why would I want to think about unattainable things? It’s stupid, trying to make yourself happy by thinking about something you can never have. It’s pathetic,” Greedler said, nonchalantly nibbling around the edges of a pancake.
“Some people would think that you’ve done something impossible. By coming here, you know,” Oncie said, trying to eat his pancakes as quickly as he could in between sentences so Greedler didn’t finish first and take the rest of his.
“Yeah. Because I’m better than those people. I can accomplish what they can’t. I do what they don’t believe in, because I’m better,” Greedler said.
“Then maybe my dreams are possible, too,” Oncie said, “Who says what I think of can’t happen for real?”
“If it happens, you can care when it does. If it’s something you want, work towards it. If it isn’t, put it behind you and do something worthwhile,” Greedler said.
“What if it’d comfort me a little to just talk about it?” Oncie said.
“Then that’s disappointing,” Greedler said.
“Oh,” Oncie said, looking down at his feet, feeling pretty judged right now, “I’m going to go visit mom. She said she had something she wanted to talk to me about in the morning.”
“Have fun,” Greedler said, still mostly focused on the food.
Oncie put on his hat and left without saying a word. Greedler propped his feet up on a nearby chair, pretty unenthused until he heard voices at the door.
“No, I, uh, have someone helping me and I’m going to have to ask him about it,” Oncie said.
“Oh? You didn’t tell me anyone else was here,” said his mother, “Who is it? Is he rich?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Oncie said, “And it’s going to be a little, uh, weird but I promise I’ll explain everything when you see him, alright?”
Shit. Greedler was so stunned by what he was hearing that he bit down on his tongue, drawing blood. Was that idiot really bringing his mother here to see him? After he’d specifically asked not to see her? Goddamn. Why? Was it out of spite? No, Greedler figured Oncie thought he knew what was best. Thought that Greedler was just shy and nervous and needed to get it over with. No, no, no. He didn’t even want to see his family (not even his family, the family of another version than him) until he got back the power to buy and sell them ten times over. He hadn’t spoken to his mother in his own timeline since she declared him no longer her favorite son. She tried to speak to him a couple of times, but he didn’t answer. Greedler’s eyes darted around the room, trying to find the quickest escape route.
“Alright, here he…is?” Oncie opened the door and looked around, but nobody was there, “Okay, I swear he was there a few minutes ago and he left some pancakes at the table.”
“Well, I don’t see anybody, and it doesn’t look like anybody left, either,” his mother said.
“Hey! Are you here?” Oncie called out, “Come on, don’t be shy.”
“Oncie, dear,” his mother said, giving him a pat on the head, “I know sometimes successful people get a little ‘eccentric’ but please don’t do that until you get enough for my retirement fund, okay sweetie?”
“I’m not eccentric, alright? He really was just here, I’m sure he just stepped out for a second,” Oncie said.
“How about you just think about what I said – what’s best for the business, you know – and make your decision without talking to your little invisible friend here, okay?” she said, “And remember, I love you.”
And then she left before Oncie could reply. He sighed, slumping back on the table and picking at the unfinished pancake Greedler had left behind.
“That’s mine,” Greedler said, suddenly standing right beside the table.
“Where the hell were you?” Oncie said, “Now mom thinks I’m crazy.”
“No, she thinks you’re eccentric, that’s totally different,” Greedler said, “It’s not any better, but it’s different.”
“Where did you go?” Oncie said.
“Nowhere,” Greedler said, “You know, I told you I didn’t want to see her. Or any of them. What’s the big deal with you trying to spring it on me like that? Don’t you think I’m capable of making my own choices? I’m certainly better at it than you are. And I have my reasons.”
“No, it was just that what she wanted to talk about was something I had to talk to you about, so I thought this might be a good time,” Oncie said, “And yeah, maybe I thought you were being a little bit ridiculous about it.”
“What was so important that you had to talk to me about it?” Greedler said, ignoring the comment about being ridiculous.
“Well, my mom says we need more thneeds or people are going to start losing interest,” Oncie said, “She doesn’t know why we can’t just cut down a few trees and honestly, I didn’t have an answer for her.”
“You could’ve just told her you were going to think about it and then came back and asked me,” Greedler said.
“Can we stop focusing on that? Okay, I’m sorry, fine,” Oncie said, “But is it alright if we start cutting some of these down? I don’t want this whole thing to fail over a few dumb trees.”
“No,” Greedler hissed, thinking about the inevitable Lorax encounter, “Not yet. Wait until the company gets a little bigger. Wait until we can get some machines to cut them down.”
“That might not ever happen if we don’t start making more thneeds now!” Oncie said, “Besides, you heard mom. Now that you went off to who-knows where when I tried to tell her about you, she thinks I’m not all there. She might just start doing it anyways so she can say ‘I told you so’ later. Can you at least tell me why we can’t just start chopping them down? What are you, some kind of tree hugger?”
“Absolutely not!” Greedler yelled, knocking the plate and the leftover pancakes off of the table.
“Sweetie?” a voice came from outside, “Are you talking to yourself? Remember what I said about the retirement fund.”
Greedler hushed down to a whisper, “If I let you do this, you have to promise me you’ll follow a few rules, and know that if you break them, I will break you.”
Oncie might not have taken that seriously, but Greedler seemed different now, even from his usually grumpy self. There was something genuinely wrathful in him now, and Oncie felt like collateral amongst something on a much bigger scale. He just nodded.
“Don’t talk to anyone new without consulting me first. If anyone who doesn’t want to hand you money tries to talk to you, you come see me immediately, tell me what they said and what they looked like. And don’t go too far into the woods on your own. I’ll deal with any interfering parties from now on, okay?” Greedler said.
“Alright,” Oncie said, “I don’t understand, but alright.”
“Good,” Greedler said.
He didn’t want Oncie to understand. If Oncie could go his whole life without meeting the fuzzball, it was all the better. Oncie was still soft. He could still get attached. He could still come to feel regret. But as long as it wasn’t him chopping the trees down directly, Greedler hoped he wouldn’t be bothered.
“Alright,” Greedler said, “Alright. Cut them down.”
You Obviously Love Oncest 