In the doorway of a tiny box of an apartment, was a shoe shelf. The shoe shelf held anything but shoes -- a stack of mail, empty pizza boxes, sacks of various seeds, and an empty 3-story hamster cage.

The pudgy creamsicle colored hamster that should be inside was typing away at a computer, which looked more like it was playing a fast paced version of a game of twister on a laptop keyboard.

The kiddo was late. Not that Hamlet was worried about him. More like he was intent on continuing to flame the dumbass on Breddit who insisted that Santa Claus was cultural misappropriation. He’d originally only stopped because it was about time the kiddo completed his Papa Joe shift and came home. But seeing that he wasn't home yet, even though it was risky, Hamlet snuck back out of his cage to fire a few more scathing comments at ArmageddonIsHere_1616.

Hamlet froze when he heard the beep of the key tag reader 3 stories below. He hastily x-ed out of his sixteen incognito tabs, and closed the laptop by body slamming the screen from the back. He then scurried back into his cage and locked the door that was twice his height with practiced ease.

He wouldn't have to take measures to keep the pretense up with the kiddo if the kiddo had half the linguistic skill of his predecessor. But as it stood, it was easier to pretend to be a regular pet hamster. Besides, it was soothing to do his daily task of acting cute. There were perks to being a freeloader. 

Hamlet blinked moisture into his dry eyes and prepared to sell cuteness. Except when the door opened, it wasn't just the daft but endearing kiddo.

The moment Hamlet’s gaze landed on the little boy with ice blue eyes, his predator radar tingled, alerting him that he was in danger. Luckily he was safe for the time being in his metal fort but he felt impending doom as the "boy" approached.

Although Hamlet could rationally convince himself that he wasn't moments from being eaten (yet), he had too much frantic energy. He hopped onto his cookie shaped running wheel and manically ran in place. The screaming pain from his bad leg helped keep his fear from consuming him, while he cursed the kiddo's pea sized brain under his breath. 

"Hamlet?" Andrew expected Hamlet to welcome him home with squeaks as usual, and was surprised to find him exercising. 

Hamlet used to be Big V’s, but he’d taken over after Big V passed.

Big V's will had stipulated that he would inherit her assets only if he raised Hamlet as his own. Which meant he'd have to move out of his parents' home and be independent because they abhorred rodents.

If Andrew refused to take Hamlet in or gave him away, Big V’s will stated her inheritance would be donated to the NRA, the National Rat Association, a charity committed to saving rats from being used as snake food and rehoming them to loving families.

Andrew smiled and shook his head as he imagined Big V searching for the most absurd charity to threaten him with. Although it was excessive, he appreciated that this was Big V’s last push to tell him to do what he wanted to do with his life, instead of forever living in the shadow of his parents. And what did he want? Other than to leave the small town that he didn't belong in? He'd forgotten, until Big V was hospitalized.

It had been heartbreaking to see her so weak and frail -- Big V with her deep belly laughs and bear hugs -- in Andrew's memory she was always bigger than life, with a heart as warm and massive as the sun.

Andrew pulled up a chair and sat next to her bed. He gently grabbed her gaunt hand. "Big V, I'm here."

Big V's eyes were sunken in, purple lines spider webbing through her thin pallid skin. She slowly opened them, and gave a weak smile. "You made it."

After feebly squeezing his hand, she pointed at a manila folder on the stand behind him.

Andrew opened it and found pages of crayon scribbles.

"Do you remember?" She asked.

They looked familiar, his handiwork for sure, but he didn’t recognize what they were or why Big V would keep them all these years. He opened his mouth to crack a joke. But then he glanced into her eyes full of expectation, and couldn't bear to make light of the situation. He looked back down and tried to make sense of what he was seeing.

People riding on bananas hanging from the ceiling? Wait, the bananas were different colors... maybe hammocks?

Sitting around on lumpy boulders? Oh, lumpy probably meant bean bags.

A stairwell full of books and boardgames labeled "FAVS ONLY".

A chess board coffee table with hand shaped stools.

A sectioned off area with cushioned blocks, and stick puppies and people lounging around.

A milky way wall and ceiling for "stargazing".

These were his “designs” of what their bakery would look like. The bakery they'd promised to open together. Because Big V had magical hands that made the perfect dessert to soothe or to energize, depending on his mood. 

“I started working on the bakery. It was supposed to be a surprise, but… well y’know.” Big V waved a hand and chuckled which turned into a dry cough that lasted too long for comfort. Andrew dropped the drawings and leaned in to help her up. She waved him away and pointed again through her coughing.

Andrew looked behind him and saw that there was a second manila folder. In it were gorgeous renders of his garbled scribbles. Every detail was there, down to the space jungle puzzle rug. He couldn't admire the level of detail for long because tears blurred his vision.

In his hands, he held his childhood dreams.

He recalled how excited he always was to see Big V, to bake with her, and yap about everything and nothing, precisely in the way that his parents hated so much but Big V seemed to adore. He recalled how he had made her pinky promise that when he grew up, they would open a bakery together, so that he could help her share her magic with the world. And how he'd been so full of hopes and dreams as he used crayons to design the perfect space that could help to bring others comfort and peace.

"I'm sorry. I don't think I'll be able to hang on until it's done..." Big V's hand shook as she tried to caress Andrew's hand.

Andrew wanted to tell her that leaving wasn't an option. She was still so young... how could she leave, just like that? But the doctor had already mentally prepared him. "Don't worry Big V. I'll open our bakery, for the both of us." He promised instead.

Big V's eyes widened, then sparkled with moisture. "It'll be hard work--"

"I'm not afraid of hard work."

Big V sighed, resigned. "That's right, you're my big and reliable Andrew." She weakly smiled and patted his hand.

Although it was an impulsive decision, it wasn't out of recklessness. Andrew had felt suffocated after his parents discovered he was gay by digging through his search history. Rather than showing empathy or even rejection, they'd grounded him, took away his internet access, and packed each day with blind dates.

It was because of this he'd found out so late that Big V was running out of time.

Unfortunately, opening a bakery was not as easy as Andrew originally assumed. It was as if he decided to climb Mount Everest armed with a spoon and a stubborn belief in the power of sprinkles.

Renovating was a costly hydra. Every time he took care of one issue, three more would rise up in its place. Everything from complications with licenses and permits to leaky pipes, tangled electrical lines to tiles cracked during delivery that needed to be sent back and reordered. Some days he would almost rather sit through a torturous blind date than call customer service for the eleventh time.

Not only that, without Big V managing her online store, the revenue dwindled, forcing Andrew to pick up odd jobs to make ends meet and pay for the mortgage until the renovations were complete. Unfortunately he wasn't on talking terms with his parents after he'd left them behind, and banks weren't willing to refinance the mortgage because he was a teenager with no credit score, and no college degree. 

But juggling so much work, all alone in a new city was exhausting and he was losing steam.

Not only was opening the bakery a nightmare, but his dating life was dismal. At first he'd been excited that he could be openly gay for the first time, but nothing prepared him for the gay scene at No York City. Not only was he still technically not allowed to drink, nobody seemed interested in anything other than getting inside his pants. As much as he wanted to break away from the conservative values he was raised with, he still couldn't feel comfortable with how unapologetically casual people were here. So he put the goal of finding a loving boyfriend - or even friends for that matter - on hold for now, focusing fully on opening the bakery. 

The only thing that kept him going during these tough and lonely times was Hamlet.

After Henry, the senior dog, had passed, Andrew had refused to eat and had been inconsolable. Big V had wanted to adopt another dog but Andrew had petulantly accused her of trying to replace Henry. Then Big V had come home with an itty bitty hamster with a crushed leg, on the brink of death. Andrew immediately stopped his tantrum and worked to nurse Hamlet back to health with Big V. Seeing him refuse food at first but then slowly start to grow stronger and healthier had been so gratifying and inspiring. Hamlet quickly won Andrew's heart over. Andrew wouldn't ever forget Henry, and Hamlet definitely wasn’t as easy to hug. But he was a vigorous chewer, a great listener, and a survivor -- a reminder that life didn't need to go perfectly but you could still pick yourself back up, live fully and enjoy the little things in life. 

Everyday, Andrew came home depleted from juggling ten million jobs and thoroughly touch deprived. He recovered by cupping Hamlet in his hands, feeding him seeds and seeing Hamlet’s cute chubby cheeks enthusiastically munching away.

While Hamlet ate, Andrew talked about his day. He mostly complained about all the things that went wrong like how yesterday, he'd been late to walk a dog because when he finished walking the previous dog, he found the building's elevators were broken. He would've taken the stairs but the dog lived on the 54th floor. He might have been able to treat it as stair day, but if the dog got tired and refused to keep climbing, he'd have to climb the rest of the way up with a 80+ lb dog in his arms and there was no freaking way he was doing that.

He should've just brought the first dog with him to the second dog's house, but the doorman kept saying the elevator was almost done being fixed.

“Never trust the doorman!” He shouted with fervor.

Hamlet's beady eyes always blinked back with understanding. His chubby cheeks vehemently nodded with agreement and he often mirrored Andrew’s movements and would shake his tiny paw.

After pouring out all of the grievances of his day to the little warm fuzzball in his hands, Andrew would feel ready to shower, and make dinner. Then he’d feed Big V’s sourdough starter and bake something from Big V’s recipe book while Hamlet roamed around the floor in his hamster ball.

However, seeing that Hamlet was adamantly ignoring him at this time, Andrew shrugged. "I was gonna suggest you two get acquainted by feeding him his favorite sunflower seeds..." Andrew drew out the last word to see if he could get Hamlet's attention, but the wheel just kept squeaking as Hamlet continued to run. "...but I guess he's busy right now." He explained to Lary.

Speaking of busy, Andrew glanced at his phone. 3:30pm.

Usually he would be dog walking by now, but it made sense that he traveled slower with a small child in tow. Especially when that small child tried to pee in the middle of the street on the way home and so he'd had to make a pit stop at a nearby Starbunks and show him how to properly use a toilet.

Thankfully Evan was flexible and wouldn't mind if he was half an hour later than usual, because both Lary and himself desperately needed a wash. Andrew always felt grimy after slapping dough for hours and getting flour caked into his sweat, and Lary... all Lary did was eat and watch TV while Andrew worked, but he still managed to get snot and grease on every inch of his body.

“Feel free to look around – don’t touch anything though! I’m going to prepare the bath”. Andrew walked to the bathroom. He couldn't remember the last time he'd taken a bath, because who had time for baths? But Lary seriously needed a good scrubbing, and based on his reaction to water earlier, showering was a no go.

Lary licked his lips, his eyes fixed on the furiously running hamster. It looked like a delicious snack. But seeing the extensive multi-story translucent green and yellow tunnels, complete with a miniature castle and various play areas inside, he had a feeling his servant would notice if the well-groomed little rat went missing. Sigh.

Lary moved his gaze and swept it around his servant's home with interest. It was pretty bare compared to the extravagant hamster home, with only a bed and a desk.

Hamlet felt the predator's gaze leave his body and finally relaxed a smidgen. He needed to warn the dimwitted kiddo not to bring dangerous predators into their home and kick this one out ASAP.

While the predator was distracted, Hamlet stealthily slipped into his castle and glared at the unwelcome guest. The longer he inspected, the more his doubts grew. When the little boy's eyes weren't on him, he could almost laugh at how absurd he was being. Humans didn't eat hamsters! And the little boy looked just like other obnoxious little kids who were too loud and handsy, and were terrifying in their own right, but not like the 'will tear you to shreds and swallow you' kind of way.

Hamlet picked his nose, deep in thought. He trusted his instincts that told him this "boy" in front of him was a predator, but his eyes told him he didn't look like one. Could it be... that his late mother's bed time tales were true? He'd always disregarded the stories that he was a descendant of a changeling that could change into a human or a terrabite (which look awfully similar to a hamster) at will. And his great great great great x 16 grandfather came from another world, where he was a powerful advisor to the king. He'd always known that he was different from other hamsters who had glazed over eyes and couldn't even remember their own names. But he thought maybe they were just different species. Or that his family was just gifted. He never expected that maybe the legends were true. Perhaps this "boy" in front of him was also a changeling, but instead of changing into a cute little terrabite, he changed into a terrifying predator... The daft kiddo of course would never suspect that he brought such danger into his home. Hamlet needed to find a way to warn him STAT.

Lary saw that on the desk was a picture frame of two humans. One looked like his servant but much younger, and the other was a human who had the same soft brown eyes, but a rounder face and longer hair. On the frame were scrawled the words "You only have one life, so go live it". Only after he set the frame back down did he realize he'd left a smudge, and recalled that he wasn’t supposed to touch anything. Soulfire! Lary tried to wipe off the smudge with his shirt, but only managed to spread the grease stain and pepper the wood with more fingerprints.

"Lary?" Lary heard Andrew approaching.

Son of a Sun!

Lary panicked and stuffed the frame into his infinity pouch that held his magic stones. 

 

-- Little Theater

Lary looks at Hamlet: yum delicious snack! But gotta hold back. T^T

Hamlet: excited to greet the kiddo, is shocked silly by predator instead. 

Andrew: y’all could be friends! :D (while Lary licks lips & Hamlet vigorously shakes head)

-- Little Theater 2

Lary looks around: What a strange world where people want to live in stone boxes. At least it's nice and toasty in here.