Work Text:
Kamal smiled at the kids, Putunia and Flower Kid chasing after Nat, who managed to escape onto her Dad’s shoulders. “Ha!” She said, sticking her tongue out at them. “Can’t get me up here!”
Trencil laughed as Putunia whispered something to FK. “My dear, I think you underestimate them. Everyone has a few tricks up their sleeves.”
Flower Kid crouched down and Putunia climbed onto their shoulders. “Haha!” Putunia crowed, victoriously. The kid stack wobbled precariously over to Trencil and Nat, the latter of whom screamed, jumping off her Dad’s shoulders to dart past Trevor and into the kitchen.
“First annual monthly Habitat reunion is going well, I’d say.” Kamal said, nodding to himself. Habit smiled, though Kamal noted that it was much shyer than the smile he wore when he had way too many teeth. It.. was a nicer smile, Kamal had to admit to himself.
“Your home is a much nicer place than the Habitat. People are comfortable.” Habit replied, gesturing towards Wallus, who was quietly chatting with Tiff, presumably about their shared love of music. “Lots of smiley people. It is nice to—“
A loud crash interrupted them. Kamal turned to see his least favorite vase, one that same red as Martha with white patterns that looked too much like teeth for him to be comfortable with, shattered on the floor with his kids standing in front of it, looking far too guilty for him to believe that they actually felt guilty. “Flower Kid! Putunia! You have to be more careful, did either of you get a cut?!”
Kamal knelt down, carefully pulling his kids away from the mess. The two obediently held out their arms to show the lack of injuries before dashing off again, secretly cheering to themselves over the victory of plan Get Rid Of Ugly Vase Kamal Hates.
Kamal looked at the remains of the vase and sighed, taking the broom and dustpan from Habit. ‘Thank god, I hated that ugly thing.’
Sweeping the mess up was quick, Kamal having gotten used to clearing the destruction left in his kids wake. Kamal shuddered, remembering the wreck left by The Coffee Incident Part Two. Trencil still occasionally apologized for Nat’s responsibility in that Incident.
Kamal dumped the remaining pieces into the outside bin, ignoring Jerafina’s drunken photo shoot that she and Mirphy were holding by FK’s blooming flower garden. ‘Let the lesbians be.’ Kamal thought to himself.
As Kamal walked inside, he noticed Habit inspecting the marigold that Flower Kid had given Kamal for his birthday. He winced, remembering that he hadn’t watered as often as FK’s instructions told him to.
“Could you pass me that, Lily?” Habit asked, not looking away from the wilting flower as he gestured towards FK’s indoor watering can.
Kamal froze, his face turning bright red as the other occupants of the Habitat stared at them. Habit turned around, frowning. “Lily, are you alright?”
‘Why did he say it again?’ Kamal thought, unable to respond to Habit through the burning embarrassment and anxiety he could feel rising.
“Lily?” Kamal heard someone whisper. ‘I’m going to die right here, right now.’ Kamal thought, covering his face with his hands as Habit glanced at the others before returning his gaze to him, tilting his head. “Kamal, did I do something?”
“Yes,” Kamal mumbled into his hands. “You called me that in front of everyone!” Kamal could hear Nat snickering even as Trencil gently shushed her. ‘No doubt that the Terrible Two are getting this in camera.’ A quick peek from behind his hands confirmed that Putunia and FK had his phone pointed straight at them.
“That… is a problem?” Habit asked, tilting his head. Kamal nodded, miserably. Kamal was two seconds from crying out of embarrassment. ‘God, my college professor was right, I’m a anxious mess.’
Habit frowned, hating how upset he had made Kamal. “So, you don’t want me to call you that?”
“No, no, I just..” Kamal whispered, glancing at the door to his room, longingly. “Just not in front of everyone.”
Tiff walked over, setting a delicate hand on his shoulder, comfortingly. “Kamal, do you need a minute? I can watch the kids.”
Kamal nodded, lowering his hands the slightest bit. “That would be great, Tiff.” Kamal said, letting her lead him to his room. He walked in, shut the door, curled up on his bed, and screamed into his pillow. ‘Boris called me ‘Lily’ in front of everyone. Oh my god…’ Kamal hugged a pillow, feeing himself turn pink. ‘At least it wasn’t ‘my Lily’ or something even more embarrassing.’
Someone knocked on his door. “Yes..?” Kamal said, setting the pillow aside. “Who is it?”
The person knocked again. “Come in, Flower Kid.”
Flower Kid peered into the room, shuffling their feet. Kamal waved them in. FK walked over to Kamal and gave him a hug. “I’m okay, Kid.” Kamal murmured into their hair, hugging them tightly. “It was just kinda.. hard on my anxiety.”
Flower Kid back up and held out Kamal’s toothbrush. Kamal blinked, gingerly taking it. “Did you take this from the bathroom?”
Flower Kid nodded and signed, “Feel better? Help?”
Kamal laughed, ruffling FK’s hair with his other hand. “Yeah, this helps. Thanks.”
Flower Kid smiled brightly and gave him another hug before leaving the room. Kamal looked at the toothbrush in his hand, already prepped with toothpaste, and smiled. Sure, things were sometimes hard.. sometimes really, really hard.. but he loved his new family, faults and all.
Flower Kid popped their head back in, and fingerspelled, “H-a-b-i-t?”
Kamal nodded, carefully setting the toothbrush on his nightstand. “It’s alright, Boris, you can come in.”
Habit crept into the room, head hanging and eyes averted. “Kamal, I am sorry for making you upset.”
Kamal patted the bed, moving over enough for Habit to carefully sit down next to him. Kamal looked away. “L-look, I won’t pretend that wasn’t one of the most embarrassing things that has ever happened to me outside of college, but.. I do like the nickname. Just maybe keep it a little more, uh, private?”
Habit beamed, taking Kamal’s hands into his much bigger ones. “I can do that, Lily.” His grin became wider as he added, “Or would you prefer Lotus, since that is what your name means?”
“Either is fine.” Kamal squeaked, before coughing and continuing, “Okay. Good.” Kamal fought to keep his voice steady as he said, “Then it’s all okay.”
Someone screamed in the other room as Kamal heard a dull thud. Someone else yelled, “Putunia, no!”
Kamal sighed, standing up and sharing a look with Habit as he regretfully let go of his hands.. He adored his family, even if one of them had a knack for punching and knocking out Parsley at the absolute worst moments. He stood, walking out of his room, Habit trailing behind him with a huge smile. “Young lady, it is not your birthday yet!”
Putunia, standing over a crumpled Parsley, pouted. “But Dad, it’s a special occasion!”
“Hospital..” Parsley wheezed, clutching his stomach.
“Alright, come on Putunia. You punch them, you take them to the hospital.” Kamal said, leaning down to support Parsley. Glancing back at the others, he continued, “Tiff, Trencil, you two are in charge. I’ll be back in hopefully just an hour.”
Kamal grabbed his phone, hitting speed dial. “Hi, Doc? Yeah, Putunia got excited again. We’ll be there in ten minutes… okay, thank you, bye.”
When you have a formerly tooth-obsessed former boss, a crazy strong little girl, and a flower loving little rascal, life could be pretty interesting. Especially when it causes all the local doctors to know your names. You know, regular ol’ fun times.
Kamal wouldn’t trade any of it, though.
Okay, maybe the embarrassment.
Maybe.