So…. this story needs a little bit, or a lot of, explanation before we dive in. On Instagram a few weeks ago, Ciara Alyse Harris, who is a female understudy on the DEH tour, posted a video of Noah Kieserman who is a male understudy on the DEH tour of Noah as 'Evan Hamster'. No, that's not a typo, Evan Hamster. In the video, Noah was being Evan in the opening of the play writing his letter to himself, and it was perfection! Except Evan was a hamster and he was excited about all the new hamster things that he had. I hope you saw it, because it was hilarious. So once I posted about this video on Twitter, my favorite DEH artist, decided to draw Evan Hamster, and then I knew that I had to write this. I'm sorry…but not too sorry for this story. Thank you for reading, and please enjoy this craziness! 3

Evan Hamster opened one beady eye as he heard noise coming from outside of his cage. Using his paws, he scrubbed at his eyes roughly, before standing on his hind legs to peer through the glass to see what was happening and find out where the noise was coming from. His human, Starr was rustling around inside a large plastic bag. She was carefully setting things next to her on the floor, and because Evan couldn't read, he wasn't sure exactly what his human was doing. Once she was satisfied that all the things had been taken out of the bag, she walked toward his cage with a large smile on her face. Evan liked his human Starr, and he was pretty sure that she liked his company as well.

"Good morning Evan. I knew you would be awake! How are you buddy?"

Evan's paws left the glass walls that lined his cage, and he began to scamper around in circles suddenly feeling very excited for some human contact. Starr knelt down by his cage, carefully lifted the lid from the top, and set her hands inside on top of the hay, and let Evan scurry into the palms of her hands. Once Starr was satisfied that Evan was safe, she lifted her hands, and cuddled Evan to her chest, burying her nose into his soft pale fur.

"I love you little buddy. Today is cleaning day though, so you know what that means right? I'm going to have to move you for a little while, but you'll be okay. You and your brother can hang out for a little while, and then when I put you two back, I've got a surprise for you! "

Evan's ears perked up at the word 'surprise'. He did love a surprise, and his human always gave him the best surprises. But just as suddenly as he had become excited about the surprise, he became worried about his brother. Starr had two hamsters; he was one, and his brother…who wasn't really his brother actually, was the other. Connor had moved in with Starr first, and Evan had been brought to Starr's house a few weeks later. At first, Connor and Evan shared a cage and it had gone well, or so Evan thought. Not long after Evan had come to live with Starr and Connor, the other hamster seemed to get very angry when Evan got too close to him, or even when he thought Evan was starring at him. No matter how hard Evan tried to be Connor's friend, the other hamster preferred to stay in his own corner away from Evan.

Evan didn't mind at first, and understood that Connor wanted to be left alone. But sometimes, well anytime, Evan would have liked to have a friend to play with in the middle of the night. Evan had been sharing a cage with Connor for a few weeks, when…the accident happened. In the corner of Connor's cage was a small climbing structure. Evan loved to see just how high he could climb, and pretend that he was climbing the tall trees outside of Starr's window; he loved that climber. One night when Evan had perched himself on the top of the climber, Connor decided that he was going to sit on top of the climber too. The only problem was that there was only room for one hamster on the top. And so, much to Evan's horror, Connor had decided to push him off, sending Evan to the floor of the cage, and spraining his left paw so badly that Starr had to rush him, hidden in the pocket of her sweatshirt, to the emergency veterinarian in the middle of the night.

Ever since, Evan and his "brother" had been separated into different cages. Evan didn't mind too much, and he really did forgive Connor for pushing him, but it still would have been nice to have someone to share his hay with. However, as much as Evan wanted someone to share his hay with, the thought of living back with Connor, if only for a little while, did frighten him a little bit, well actually a lot. Evan's small bandage that had been wrapped around his paw had only been removed a few weeks ago, and it still hurt. What if Connor tried to push him again? What if Connor didn't want to share hay with him anymore. What if…what if Connor was mean to him?

Evan's thoughts were cut short as he heard the lid being lifted from his cage once again, and felt gentle hands lift him from his warm bedding.

"Alright my handsome boy, it's your turn."

Starr cuddled him to her chest as she carried him to the other side of the room, and into a small box that had been prepared with fresh hay and food for the two hamsters. She carefully set Evan down against the soft bedding, and gave his fur a gentle pat.

"Now you two boys play nice alright? I will check on you in a few minutes. I love you Connor. Love you too Evan."

As Starr walked away from the box, Evan squeaked a worried reply, before noticing for the first time, the large lump in the corner. A large pile of hay had been disturbed in one of the corners of the box, and underneath it, was his brother. Evan heard a small and very short squeak emerge from underneath the pile of hay, so he decided to take his chances and see if the other hamster was in a better mood today.

"Connor?" Evan squeaked quietly

"Go away."

The pile of hay, and the small dark grey hamster underneath it didn't move. This wasn't anything surprising or new to Evan so he decided to ask again.

"Connor?"

It took a few seconds, before the pile of hay began to move, and Evan could see two black beady eyes similar to his own, and a small nose and whiskers, peek out to find him.

"What do you want Evan?"

"To say hi. We haven't seen each other in so long. How are you? How is life on the other side of the room? Have you seen anything out of the window lately?"

"How am I? How am I? You kept me awake with all your squeaking last night, and the night before, and actually, the night before that. So Evan, I would like to sleep."

Connor buried his head down further into the hay, and closed his eyes, hoping to get a little bit of sleep while his human cleaned his cage. It was true, Evan had kept him up all night long, and Connor was sure that being back at the pet store was quieter then living with Evan. His moment of quiet only lasted a few minutes however before he heard his brother speak up again.

"She says that she has a surprise for us?"

"Evan! Sleep, remember." Connor squeaked loudly, clearly very annoyed

"But a surprise Connor! What do you think it could be? Carrots, lettuce, a new chewy toy, a new tunnel. What do you think it could be Connor?"

Connor gave up. He knew that sleep wasn't going to come as long as he was sharing a cage with Evan. He dug himself out from under the hay, and brushed his fur with his paws, before making his way over to the small drinking bottle.

"A new toy Evan, I don't know." Connor replied nonchalantly

Evan scurried over to where his brother was sitting, suddenly feeling very excited.

"Oooh I hope so. That would be fun."

It didn't take long for the two hamsters to figure out however what their new surprise was going to be. They both watched as Starr lifted the lid from their makeshift cage, and set inside a small metal contraption.

"I am happy that you two are getting along. It's about time that you both became friends. I got a wheel for you boys to play with till I'm done. Have fun."

Giving both her hamsters a scratch on the back, she replaced the lid and returned to her cleaning.

"What is a wheel?" Evan asked, very curious about the new metal piece that sat on top of the hay.

"Well a toy obviously." Connor replied

Evan watched as Connor walked closer to the wheel, sniffed it once or twice, his tiny whiskers dancing across the metal, before stepping inside. Before Connor could take any steps however, the wheel took a quick spin, and Connor rolled out on top of the hay. Evan covered his mouth with his paws, and let out a quiet squeaky giggle. It didn't last long however, once he saw the other hamster glaring at him.

"You think you're so funny. Why don't you try it?" Connor said grumpily, brushing the hay from out of his fur.

"I don't think…I don't think I can."

"Why not Evan? Are you afraid that you're going to get hurt again?"

Evan buried his face into the hay bed; afraid to show Connor just how scared he was feeling at that moment.

"Yeah, well maybe. Yeah…what if I am!"

Evan scurried away from Connor to the corner where the other hamster had been sleeping when he arrived. He buried himself underneath the hay; his small tail the only thing uncovered, and covered his face with his paws.

The box for the two hamsters was quiet, and at that moment, it felt like there was no other noise in the room. Evan didn't dare move, suddenly very afraid that Connor was either going to make fun of him, or hurt him, or something else bad was going to happen to him. That was why, when he felt the hay around him shift slightly, his small body tensed up, and he began to shake slightly.

"I'm sorry Evan."

Evan didn't respond. As much as he wanted to, he didn't feel like he could. The tiny hamster felt the hay around him shift even more as Connor got closer to him, and lay down next to him.

"I'm sorry Evan. I didn't mean to scare you. Okay?"

Evan's tiny squeak of a reply could barely be heard from underneath the hay bed.

"Okay."

Connor smiled; satisfied that at least he got a reply from the other hamster.

"Okay. We can try out the wheel some other time, maybe even try it together. For now, should we both try and nap?"

Evan dug a small hole of hay away from his face and let Connor see a toothy smile.

"I would like that."

The two hamsters snuggled their bodies against each other, both, gently and slowly falling asleep to the sounds of each other snoring. It had been a long morning of moving, cleaning, and exploring, but most of all, despite their rough start together, realizing how much they missed each other's company.