Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Five minutes later...

The sunrise was beautiful the morning of the big event. Habit had diligently checked the weather on every station he could think of in his planning, as if that effort could fix all the glaring problems with his scheme. Now, over two hours after the Flower Kid had left, he just stood there on the balcony, staring over the railing into the courtyard below. Thinking.

What was he going to do next?

It would be so, so easy to jump. He was sure the news of his death would put smilies on the faces of the habiticians in a way he never could during life. But now he had a friend. He hadn’t anticipated what came with that; an obligation not to disappoint. An obligation to be the best person he could be. What did Dr. Habit look like as a good person?

Habit took a long, deep, shuddering breath, and did something he hadn’t done in a very long time; he did his best to do an honest inventory of himself. He didn’t like what he found. He hadn’t been sleeping well, but he never really slept very well, not with his… condition. His hair was a complete disaster of frizz and mats. He’d taken care of it when he began the Habitat, but now… when was the last time he had showered? He’d been brushing his teeth six times a day but hadn’t thought to shower?

His plans were incoherent. It was as if the last two years had been a massive fever dream, a storm of mania and grandiose delusions that had culminated in… this. THIS was what his life’s work had led up to. He had pushed away anyone trying to talk him down for something that made no sense and would never work. The entire idea behind The Big Event was comically, obviously evil, too, which didn’t help; how on earth was he meant to trust himself in the future if he had done this? Clearly, he didn’t have the best grasp on… well. The laundry list went on. Ethics? Psychology? Reality?

He’d just wanted to make people smile, but he had to face the facts. He was no good at it. Habit sniffled and rubbed at his face with his sleeves. Oh, and NOW he was feeling sorry for himself. Crying. FROWNING. How horrible.

What parts of the habitat could be salvaged? What parts SHOULD he salvage? The whole place felt like an ugly shrine to his worst qualities. What parts of his IDENTITY should he keep? Who even was he if he wasn’t Doctor Habit? A florist? The idea somehow felt taboo. No, he clearly couldn’t. There was no way he could be responsible for another living thing right now, not even something as simple as a flower. How on earth was he meant to tell what parts of him were good, which were bad? His mind was dominated by questions he simply had no answer for, which was new and unpleasant; at least he’d had all the answers before, even if they were nonsense. All he was left with was the sinking feeling that he had ruined things beyond repair, and that it was all his fault.

It wasn’t as if he could ask for help, either. He’d already wasted enough of Flower Kid’s time, had ripped their teeth straight out of their gourd. He didn’t have their number. They were already long gone. And absolutely not equipped to play therapist for a grown man anyway, of course, yes, that was also important to remember, and not forget. He felt a brief flash of guilt as he realized that this meant he had lied to Flower Kid about getting coffee. Well. That was fine. He’d almost certainly do more harm than good if he saw them again, anyway. They had plenty of friends. 22 friends. Yes, they would be fine. It was okay. He wasn’t jealous. Who else?

A name bubbled to his thoughts… someone he could trust… Kamal…

Just thinking about his former assistant made him deeply queasy. No no no no no no no nope. Why on earth would Kamal still care about him? They hadn’t exactly left off on the best terms. Besides, Kamal had sent a literal CHILD to do his dirty work instead of talking to Habit himself, unlocking doors but never facing him head on. Not to mention, the man had just WALKED OFF with the rest of the habiticians. He had ABANDONED him. Kamal was right out. Just thinking about him left a cold, horrible pit in Habit’s guts, and he was just going to interpret that as anger for now and ignore it. He had enough on his plate.

Habit sighed as he came to a realization. He didn’t want to inflict himself on anyone else. He had to deal with this alone. No one else deserved the task of untangling the spaghetti that was his brain. No more shirking reality.

After what felt like an eternity, Habit made a decision. And Habit left.

Chapter Text

A month later…

Things had been… rough, lately, for Flower Kid. 

All of the other Habiticians had left before the big event, so it wasn’t clear that the Habitat was empty until the bills started going unpaid. The building closed without too much public fuss. Sure, there were some conspiracy theorists out there; Trevor in particular seemed to be delighted that so many news stations were interviewing him about the haunted “Asylum.” Flower Kid was happy for him, too, honestly! It was just…

They’d lied to their parents about what exactly had happened to their teeth, said that they got into a bike accident. That seemed to go over okay. Their parents were obsessed with getting them therapy, now, which was obnoxious; they said that it would probably be better for Flower Kid than whatever had gone down at the Habitat, which made them feel oddly defensive, but they didn’t argue the point. 

Their family had okay dental insurance, but Flower Kid knew that it still wasn’t nearly enough to cover the travesty that was their grin. It’d take a lot of time and money to fix their teeth after Habit had his way with them, money that their family simply didn’t have. They had gotten some dentures, sure, but the idea of living the rest of their life with them made them so anxious they could scream. They had never been self conscious about their smile before. 

That had changed. 

It was hard not to be a bit bitter. It was best not to dwell on it. On the way Habit had ghosted them. And the fact that he’d inflicted his own tooth trauma on them. 

And the fact that no check for dental surgery ever appeared.

Then again, it wasn’t exactly Habit’s fault, Flower Kid reminded themselves. He hadn’t been in his right mind when he pulled the teeth, and from everything Flower Kid knew, Boris Habit didn’t really seem to have any idea about the value of money, so it wasn’t fair to be mad at him for that, either. It wasn’t like any of the other Habiticians had gotten hurt, and it wasn’t like they opened their mouth very often anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal. They were dumb for still being upset about it.

Flower Kid just… really wished he hadn’t disappeared. It was hard to be mad when you were busy being worried. It had only taken a few weeks for them to decide that something must have happened to the doctor. He had seemed sincere about wanting to email them, so why would he have dropped off the face of the planet? Why would he leave the Habitat empty? 

Flower Kid had gone to the police about it, but they didn’t know anything. They were glued to the news every night; they didn’t think that Habit would be able to keep a low profile for long. Still, nothing came up, and that worried them.

And now…

They had biked to an apartment on the other side of town, the nice side. They were standing in front of door 342. They had some flowers, for a gift, and they had their notepad. Normally, they got away with just nodding and shaking their head and ASL, but they felt like they’d need to go into more detail for this and Kamal probably didn’t know sign language.

They were going to see Kamal.

When they knocked, it took less than five seconds for someone to open the door. The person awaiting them was a reedy tree of a man with dreadlocks and a suspicious expression. Flower Kid stiffened. For a moment, they assumed that they got the address wrong, until the man began to speak.

“Who are you?” Said Wallus. Flower Kid beamed in delight at finally meeting him face to face, and started to scribble. Wallus, for how grumpy he seemed, patiently let them finish writing before he spoke. Flower Kid noted, not unamused, that he had done the same thing whenever they had been scrambling through their bouquet for pictures to show him. 

[Im a friend of Kamals.] Flower Kid desperately hoped that this statement was true. When Flower Kid turned the paper to show Wallus, Wallus snickered a little bit, but his expression softened.

“Good. He needs another friend around. Maybe you can convince him to get out of bed and find a job. Gimme a second.” Wallus closed the door behind him. Flower Kid listened closely; they couldn’t help it, they were nosy. 

There was silence at first, the sound of footsteps retreating. A door creaked open. There was indistinct shouting that Flower Kid couldn’t pick individual words out of, even when they strained their ear against the door. There was a crash, the sound of breaking glass, which startled them so badly that they almost hit their head on the door knob. More shouting. Okay, THAT word was particularly clear, and one that Flower Kid would get in trouble for saying around their parents. 

The next person to open the door was Kamal, but not the Kamal that Flower Kid had gotten to know at the habitat. His expression was unfocused and bleary. His hair was frazzled and unbrushed, as were his teeth, which was alarming in and of itself. He was in pajamas. It was 3 pm. 

Before Flower Kid had the chance to start writing, Kamal abruptly came into focus. His expression sharpened into a familiar grimace.

“I saw that look. You must be thinking of how gross I am right now.” Flower Kid was already shaking their head, but Kamal continued, seemingly not noticing or caring. His rant had an edge to it. Flower Kid wondered if he had to defend himself a lot.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. So I went to bed at 4 am last night and I slept in til 3! It’s fine! I’m an adult! I’m between jobs!”

“Kid didn’t say anything.” Wallus remarked from somewhere within the house. Kamal grit his teeth. 

“I could tell they were thinking it.” Kamal muttered. Wallus didn’t seem to think that deserved an answer. Flower Kid glanced behind Kamal; Wallus was throwing away a lot of broken, crusty old dishes. That must have been what the shattering glass was. Flower Kid was already imagining Kamal’s dirty mug stash by his bed. 

Flower Kid was jolted out of this line of thought by a voice. 

“So, why are you here? Is this about… you know who?” Kamal said the last three words in a hushed voice, as if afraid that someone would overhear. His expression was worried and hopeful at the same time, and Flower Kid instantly knew that they weren’t the only ones worrying about their friend. They just nodded, and Kamal sagged with relief.

“Oh, thank god. Is he alive? Where is he!? I mean, I hate him, but I don’t really want the big guy dead.” Kamal stumbled over himself to clarify that, no, he did not care about Habit personally at all. Flower Kid was already nodding appeasement and scribbling in their notebook. Kamal, unlike Wallus, tapped his fingers impatiently against his arm as Flower Kid wrote. Flower Kid knew he wasn’t trying to be rude; he was just worried about his friend. 

[Dont know! Was hoping you knew.] Kamal’s expression grew resigned as he read the note. Somehow, he looked even more tired than he had after just waking up. Flower Kid wished desperately that they could hug him; he seemed to need the comfort. Kamal rubbed his eyes.

“Oooof course you don’t. He’s pretty good at hiding when he doesn’t want to be found. Like when he has to do paperwork.” Flower Kid nodded politely, but decided not to write that they were also very good at finding things that were hidden. It seemed rude, somehow. Kamal’s mouth pulled into a long, indecisive frown. Flower Kid did not move. Eventually, the man seemed to come to a decision, and he stepped to the side.

“Come on in.”

The apartment was tidy and generally clean, but there was a definite struggle going on. The sink was spotless, but the trash hadn’t been taken out in a while. The floor was clean, but the counters were covered in unwashed measuring cups and bowls that looked as if they’d been there for a while. Flower Kid wondered if they could tell what were Wallus’s chores and what were Kamal’s chores just from looking around.

Wallus was sitting on the couch, looking at both of them as if waiting for them to sit down too. He didn’t seem happy. Flower Kid took a seat, but Kamal was frozen by the door. He looked as if he’d been caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to do. Apparently, he hadn’t expected Wallus to stick around for this.

“This is about Habit.” Wallus said. Not a question. He already knew. Kamal scoffed, waved his hand vaguely, and made a noise like he was about to deny it, but after a moment he just nodded. Wallus groaned loudly and threw his head back to stare at the ceiling, before he fixed his glare on Flower Kid. Flower Kid took a few steps back.

“I was kind of hoping you’d convince my roommate to start paying rent, not re-obsess him with his old, weird, evil boss.” The betrayal in Wallus’ voice was thick and Flower Kid couldn’t help but squirm a little under the weight of their sudden guilt. Had they done the wrong thing? Maybe this was wrong. Maybe they had to look for Habit on their own. They knew that Kamal had a thing for the man and wasn’t handling his disappearance particularly well, but they’d brought up the old doctor anyway. Maybe they’d made a mistake. They were just trying to fix things, but they knew from experience that sometimes, trying to fix people’s problems just made things worse.

“They aren’t “Re-obsessing” me, whatever the hell that means.” Kamal sounded dismissive and annoyed, but also sure of himself in a way that Flower Kid had never really heard from the man. Flower Kid was a little surprised by how bold this move was, until they realized that Wallus and Kamal had probably known eachother for a very long time. He’d only briefly seemed anxious, and that was just a small, guilty microexpression at having sworn around a child. Flower Kid didn’t bother to correct him, but it was a little annoying to be treated like a baby. They heard far worse things every day at the cafeteria at school.

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Wallus grunted. He seemed to be tired of this conversation. Flower Kid felt as if they were only getting a fraction of Kamal and Wallus’s Habit Arguments. 

“Dr. Habit wasn’t… I mean, he kind of went off the deep end at the end, there, but he didn’t--” Wallus cut him off before he could get any further.

“I’m not talking about this again. How many times do I have to tell you that he’s probably dead?” Both Flower Kid and Kamal flinched at that, and Wallus gave Flower Kid another confused, betrayed look, as if unpleasantly surprised to discover that yet another person wanted to be friends with a tooth-stealing self-obsessed freak, but he continued.

“Either dead, or he doesn’t want to be found. I say let him hide. As much as I hate to admit it, I understand the urge.”

“Yeah, of course you do, Wall-boy.” Kamal snapped scornfully. As soon as he’d said it, however, he clearly had second thoughts. He showed all his teeth in a guilty wince.

“I don’t mean. Sorry, I know that was a rough time, I of all people should know how hard it was to work in that environment, that wasn’t fair of me, it wasn’t--”

“Quiet.” Wallus said. The bluntness of what he had said was slightly diminished by the genuinely sympathetic look he flashed Kamal. He hadn’t taken any real offense from the statement in the first place, apparently. Kamal’s demeanor went from apologizing to annoyed again, but Wallus didn’t let him speak.

“Let sleeping dogs lie. What are you two looking for? Do you really think your lives are gonna be improved by getting involved with him again?”

“It’s not about that. It’s about making sure someone in trouble is okay.” Kamal said what Flower Kid was thinking, which made it so much worse when Wallus actually laughed, gave a mirthless little chuckle.

“No, it’s not. You especially, Kamal. I don’t know what the kid is hoping to get out of this, but YOU just want--Nevermind.” Flower Kid was jolted out of their rapt listening by Wallus making sudden eye contact with them, as if only just realizing that they were in the room. Flower Kid did their best to keep their disappointment off their face. It wasn’t as if they were a gossip…

Kamal was about to launch into another jab, but again, Wallus cut him off. Flower Kid wasn’t sure if this was just rude, or because Kamal could really get going if you let him talk, and Wallus wanted to get his piece out while he had the chance.

“Whatever it is, this time, I want to be in the loop.”

“--What?” Kamal said. He was so taken aback that he was at a loss for words. Flower Kid shared the sentiment. Wallus wasn’t looking at either of them when he spoke; he was staring into the silent, dark television.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. I don’t care about Habit. I just want to make sure nothing else happens to you. If you DO find Habit, I don’t want you agreeing to any new projects. And you’re going to need someone to wait in the car while you do this dumb thing I clearly cannot dissuade you from doing.” Flower Kid wasn’t sure about this. They tried not to turn to look at Kamal too obviously. Kamal’s expression was… complicated to a degree that Flower Kid couldn’t understand. This was very annoying.

“You’re not my dad.” Kamal eventually managed to get out, but there was no venom in his voice, no sign that he was angry with Wallus. Wallus just nodded at this, as if he was accepting the fact that, no, he was not Kamal’s dad. Kamal said nothing for a long time. Flower Kid was used to silence, but the atmosphere of this one was oppressive, and made them squirm in their seat. Finally, Kamal coughed, clasped his hands and put both pointer fingers to his chin, and spoke.

“...Uh, fine. Okay, then, sure. Not, ya know, super thrilled about how you assume I’m just gonna go along with whatever my abusive ex-boss says, but sure.” Wallus didn’t respond; just nodded. Kamal walked around the couch to take a spot on a lumpy ottoman. He still seemed tense, as if ready for an argument, but when none were forthcoming, he continued. 

“So, I don’t know how much you already know, Flower Kid…” Again, Kamal glanced at Wallus, ready to be stopped. Wallus rolled his eyes and made an overly indulgent “go on” motion with his hand. Flower Kid watched Kamal deliberately ignore this, but noted that the man continued with a lot more gusto.

"But Dr. Habit abandoned the Habitat pretty soon after the big event. As in, within the week. I drove over to check up on you after you had your talk with him, but you seemed to have it pretty handled. Which, you know, cool. Guess I could have just shown him a flower this entire time. Great.” Kamal’s voice became higher and higher pitched as he continued. Wallus was unmoved by this.

“Everyone left before things really got nuts, and I’m guessin' you didn’t turn him into the police, because it would have made national news if you had. Crazed Dentists attacking children seems like a pretty juicy story. In other words, I was pretty confident that he didn’t have a warrant out for his arrest or anything, so I didn’t really feel the need to talk to him right away.” Kamal clenched his teeth.

“In fact, I was waiting for him to call me up and apologize for the things he said! I thought maybe we could talk it out or something. I know! I was an idiot! It was wrong for me to wait for him to make the first move! It was cowardly! But guess what! I AM A COWARD.” Kamal was smiling, but he didn’t seem too happy.

“But instead, there was nothing. Not a peep. So I drove back to the habitat a week or two later, and it was just… empty. He hadn’t even left any of the Carlas, who, by the way? By the way? They were not the worst part of the job, but they were pretty damn bad. Those things are HORRIFYING.” Wallus broke out of his tranquil, no-judgement listening to nod at this assessment. Flower Kid was suddenly, desperately curious about what on earth the Carlas had done, but wasn’t about to interrupt Kamal. Unfortunately, the man seemed to be petering out.

“...So, I looked around to see what I could find, which was extremely nerve wracking. That place is creepy enough with people in it, let alone empty. Dr. Habit had packed up his office and taken all of his personal stuff, which was pretty impressive, considering the size of his hoard of garbage. He tends to get attached to things. I once watched him put googly eyes on a banana, and then refuse to eat it because he didn’t want to deglove his new friend.” Kamal’s eyes glazed over for a moment. “Don’t even get me started on the puppet.”

Flower Kid nodded, but couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Sure, they’d gotten some more details, but most of that was stuff they already knew. They had been hoping Kamal would have some insight they didn’t have, or better yet, that Habit had only ghosted THEM and was still in contact with the other habiticians. Unfortunately, the doctor had apparently fallen off the face of the planet.

“Why do you wanna find him, anyway?” Kamal was suddenly staring right at them, and they had no idea what to say. People rarely asked Flower Kid about themselves, and that was how they liked it; they were far more interested in other people’s lives than answering questions about their own thoughts and feelings. They tapped their pencil against the notebook a few times before they decided that the easiest way to explain would be to open their mouth. It might be a lie, but it would get Kamal off their back.

“OHmygod--” Kamal yelped. Wallus’s eyes went wide and he gave a sharp breath at the sight of Flower Kid’s remaining teeth. Flower Kid knew that they had showed their mouth so they wouldn’t have to explain the real reasons they were so intrigued by Boris Habit, but that reaction stung. They snapped their mouth shut and tried not to look too hurt, but unfortunately Kamal had an incredible knack for realizing he had misspoke, even if it generated a lot of false positives. He was already jabbering, moving his hands as if trying to clear the air of what he had just said.

“Sorry! Sorry, it’s not that bad, it’s just. He did that? When? I mean, I know when, but. Still. It’s a shame I’m out of a job, or maybe I could get you a discount. That’s not helping, sorry, sorry, I’m just… I didn’t think he’d...” Kamal didn’t know? Flower Kid supposed that they’d never told him. They’d just assumed that Kamal would have guessed, or something. Oh, no, this was going to make him so guilty--

Both of their attentions were suddenly fixed on Wallus. The man was laughing. After a few seconds of genuine mirth, Wallus spoke.

“Okay. Okay, yeah, I can get behind this. I want to sue him too.” Kamal looked utterly indignant, and Flower Kid looked uncomfortable, but Wallus continued undeterred. 

“I mean, come on, don’t pretend like he’s not good for it. I’ve seen the way that man spends money. We have a lawyer we could ask. We don’t even have to take it to the police, we can be quiet about it, but I’d like to get SOMETHING out of that miserable experience.”

Kamal looked like he wanted to argue this, but seemed to think better of it at the last moment. Flower Kid was just very, very uncomfortable. Yes, they wanted Habit to pay for their surgery, but that didn’t mean they wanted to take him to court! 

“Kamal gets to talk to him, Flower Kid gets a new set of teeth, and I get paid for the abusive work environment I was forced to work in. It’s win-win.”

“I don’t know…” Kamal began, but he trailed off. Flower Kid suddenly made the horrible realization that Kamal wasn’t going to say no. Of course he wasn’t. He didn’t stand up for himself at the best of times, let alone now. Flower Kid started to write, but Wallus fixed them with a look that made them put down their pencil. It wasn’t a malicious expression. It wasn’t even angry. It was just… sad. Sad for them? 

“Hey. Seriously. This isn’t your fault. Someone should have reported him before it got this far.” Wallus said. Kamal suddenly looked like he was going to burst into tears. Wallus looked startled at this, and clarified his statement.

“I mean, I’m just as on the hook as you are, Kamal. I also knew there was some messed up stuff going on, and I didn’t call the police.” Wallus turned his attention back to Flower Kid.

“But this isn’t your fault. You’re a kid. You shouldn’t have been responsible for any of this.” Kamal abruptly stood up. He muttered something about needing to get some water, but Flower Kid had seen his expression.

Flower Kid just stared at their hands. Their vision swam. They’d ruined it. They’d ruined everything.

Chapter Text

Kamal, despite his best efforts, had to get a job eventually. He was very grateful when he got a secretarial position at an orthodontist’s office… not that he was a snob. It wasn’t that he looked down on people who worked retail, or food, it was just that the idea of dealing with so many people all day kind of wigged him out, and he’d never worked well under pressure. Calling people to make sure they were coming in to their appointments was bad enough.

Other than that, the job was, on the whole, a huge positive for his life. For one, Wallus was no longer bothering him about paying rent. Doing something every day did wonders for his mood, too; he hadn’t realized how reassuring it was to have a consistent schedule to stick to. Sure, sometimes it was annoying, but on the whole, Kamal was excited to go into work every day. That’s perspective for you! He knew just how bad things could be, so now he was happy for just normal annoying job things, like inconsistent scheduling and condescending clients! Haha…

Hah.

Other than that, things had been… fine. Okay. He wasn't sure if he wanted to move back into the city or not, but he supposed the decision had been made for him when he'd gotten this new job. Still no sign of Dr. Habit. Kamal wasn’t sure if he was surprised at how long the doctor had been hiding. On one hand, the man was probably the most distinctive person Kamal had ever met, bar none… but on the other hand, he was very, very good at slipping into the shadows when he wanted to. Very good. Extremely good.

Wallus said that he just wanted the money, and to finally stick it to Dr. Habit, but Kamal knew his friend better than he’d like. He noticed the way that Wallus hovered around Flower Kid, how he asked about their time at school, their hobbies. How their mouth was. He was still upset about what had happened to them.

Kamal noticed the way Wallus hovered around HIM, too, how he kept fretting and asking if Kamal was sure he was okay. Which was frustrating. It was like Wallus didn’t think he could take care of himself when it came to Dr. Habit, and the idea that he might have a point WAS AGGRAVATING IN AND OF ITSELF.

Though, as Kamal’s time in the Habitat grew further and further away, he was slowly waking up to how poorly he’d been treated at the end there. A small part of him relished the chance to nail his old boss down and force him to acknowledge how messed up everything had been, just once. Wallus had even mentioned the PSA where Habit singled Kamal out. He said it was an example of a toxic work environment, and honestly? Kamal couldn’t bring himself to disagree.

But the part of Kamal that wanted to get revenge was, unfortunately, completely dwarfed by how terrified he was of what would happen if they actually did sue Doctor Habit. How Habit would react. He didn’t generally like to be interrupted, or when someone interfered with his plans, and he seemed pretty dead set on staying away.

At the same time, Kamal was slowly coming to the conclusion that he had been more involved in Habit’s crimes than he was willing to admit, and that it wasn’t fair of him to keep making excuses for him. The worst thing Dr. Habit had ever done to him personally was make fun of his teeth. Kamal had complained loudly about it, too, to all the people he knew, many of whom had been treated far worse... He cringed just thinking about it.

It was a complex issue that sort of made his head spin.

So he was just… kinda… gonna be neutral on the lawsuit, and hope it went away.

Wallus was getting pretty anxious with how crowded the apartment was getting. He never really liked having people over, but more and more folks were visiting as the news that Doctor Habit had disappeared spread through the grapevine. Most of them were just here to ask about joining the lawsuit, but a surprising amount of people missed the doctor, or were worried about his wellbeing. Kamal felt somewhat validated that, apparently, he wasn’t the only one who had a bit of fondness for the doofy old lug.

Tiff had left town to go on tour after she had left the Habitat, but had booked the next flight she could when she heard the news. Apparently, she had more fondness for the doctor than she had let on during her employment period; she just didn’t like the songs he had written. Kamal... could not! Blame her in the slightest! So, she made him promise her to keep her up to date on what was going on. Luckily she wasn’t around the apartment very often; Wallus was definitely more intimidated by her being in his house than anyone else.

Trencil had also gotten ahold of the group to ask about Doctor Habit’s wellbeing. Kamal hadn’t realized that the vampire and Doctor Habit had gotten along so well, so this was a bit of a surprise, but not worth spending too much time thinking about. Except. Except!

Getting in touch with Trencil was a lot more annoying than it sounded! For starters, the man did not have a phone, nor did he live anywhere the post office would deliver, and he absolutely refused to get his own email address because he didn’t want to make it “easier for people to talk to him!” So he asked Kamal to send all correspondence through Nat! Nat kind of intimidated Kamal. He was a grown man, and he still didn’t want her to call him lame. What did that say about him? What did it say about his self image? He had his pride, dammit, and he didn’t like the way the kid managed to include some sort of backhanded comment. With. Every. Email.

Parsley was on retainer. He just owed Wallus a favor, apparently, so he was willing to be their lawyer for dirt cheap. He was in and out of town due to his job, but was around the house more often than you’d think; he said that he was just in town because he was visiting his dad, but Kamal wasn’t too sure.

Wallus didn’t seem to mind him, though, or at least not nearly as much as he minded the parade of people asking for a cut of the lawsuit. Kamal also generally liked his company! He found a surprising amount of common ground when he asked the lawyer about what had been going on in the city since he left. But sometimes, he caught Parsley making eye contact with Wallus after Kamal said something, and Kamal could swear they HAD to be talking about him behind his back.

Flower kid was… Well.

They had gotten their teeth fixed; apparently, a wealthy relative had left their dad with a sizable inheritance, which covered the entire thing. Flower Kid seemed annoyed about this at first; they didn’t like being a burden on their family’s finances. However, it didn’t take long for them to stop bringing it up entirely and for Wallus to stop including them in conversations about the lawsuit.

The thing that worried Kamal was the fact that, even though they were clearly not interested in the lawsuit in any real way, they were still hellbent on finding Doctor Habit.

Flower Kid was a LOT different than Kamal had initially thought at the Habitat. He’d thought that they were quiet, sweet, and kind. And they were definitely all of those things! Kamal wasn’t trying to imply otherwise! It was just… well.

Kamal hadn’t realized this about Flower Kid when they first met, but the little guy was desperately, unbelievably curious. About everything. And everyone. It was kind of annoying sometimes. They wouldn’t stop asking about Kamal’s parents, for some reason.

Despite this, they were bizarrely paranoid about people knowing about THEM. They refused to let Kamal know their real name, preferring various flowery nicknames instead, and tried to change the subject whenever their life outside of finding Dr. Habit was brought up. Kamal found himself wishing that he had kept better records of the Habiticians during his employment, which was weird. He hadn’t thought that there existed any scenario that could make him wish he had done more paperwork.

Kamal wasn’t a babysitter. He was actually pretty bad with kids. They made him nervous. They had no sense of what they should and shouldn’t bring up, so they were absolute geniuses at poking directly at Kamal’s greatest insecurities. Not to mention he hated how grimy they were. Flower kid didn’t do any of that, though. They just… stared at him with those big, dark eyes, smiled, and asked him what he thought of things.

Maybe... Flower Kid was treating him like some sort of mentor? They definitely seemed to care a great deal about his opinion?? Oh no, maybe they were treating him like a dad!? It wasn’t like Kamal knew anything about their home life! Maybe they had a shitty dad, and that was why they were so obsessed with seeing Dr. Habit. That was why they kept fucking asking Kamal questions. OOoh, Kamal, what do you think of this? Kamal, what’s your favorite cousin like.

...Not that they had, you know, specifically asked THAT question, but they definitely asked a lot of invasive questions. Kamal just thought the dad idea made sense, was all. He brought this theory up to Wallus, once, to get his opinion on what was going on, and Wallus just yelled at him for waking him up. Which was kind of rude.

In addition… well… and it hurt to even think it, but… Kamal was slowly beginning to understand what Habit had meant when he said that Flower Kid reminded him of himself.

The kid and the doctor were both very intent on making sure the people around them were happy, always trying to cheer people up. And they were both frighteningly… focused. When they wanted to be. Not obsessive, no, Kamal would never say that, but fixated? Maybe? Oh, no, that was pretty bad too, wasn’t it?

It wasn’t like Flower Kid was obsessed with teeth or anything, of course, but it was in the way the kid talked about staying up late at night, scouring the internet from dusk til dawn for any information. They once mentioned the fact that their parents had put a password on the computer, and that they’d learned how to tell what people were typing just by watching their fingers. Then their parents had locked the computer up at night, so they learned where they hid the key and became extremely good at sneaking around. Flower Kid giggled like it was a fun joke, and Kamal had laughed too, but something about the way this kid was searching for the man who had ripped out all their teeth left Kamal feeling cold. It was like the kid didn’t know how to give up.

They were both obsessed with making people happy. Flower Kid was just better at it.

Kamal also thought that maybe those similarities were all in his head. After all, he was obsessed with Dr. Habit! He saw him everywhere, haha! Maybe he was just making it up. Either way, he was never, ever going to mention it to Flower Kid. They didn’t deserve to have that weighing on them. Kamal was still horribly guilty about being even slightly responsible for what happened to them, and didn’t exactly want to be like, hey, you know that guy who ripped out all your teeth? You remind me of him, a little.

Slowly, though, over the months, the force behind the lawsuit waned. Certain people stuck around, like Parsley, but many people who had initially been gung-ho had given up altogether. Mirphy in particular had gone from one of the biggest proponents for the lawsuit to asking Wallus to just tell her when her money was ready.

This seemed to really bother Flower Kid; not the lack of interest in the lawsuit, but the lack of interest in Dr. Habit. Every day, the little guy brought in some piece of “evidence” and shoved it in everyone’s faces, looking for feedback, and every day they seemed disappointed when none of the group had much to say. Wallus had been really worried about this behavior until Kamal assured him that, no, that was just kind of what Flower Kid did.

Kamal was starting to get used to the routine. Every other day, they’d come over after their flower delivery route, usually red-faced from getting off work and biking to his house as fast as they could. They’d... talk. Kamal was starting to learn a bit of sign language just so they didn’t have to write everything down. They always had a sort of energetic way to how they moved, but it was pushed to its fullest when they signed. It was a little hard to follow sometimes.

One day, they came in with a url on a piece of scratch paper.

“‘The learning hubb dot com.’” Kamal read out loud. Flower kid had circled it several times. Then underlined it for good measure. Flower Kid nodded empathically, began signing too frantically for Kamal to understand, paused, then went a bit slower.

[A kid from my school showed me. They said it was a creepy website.] Flower Kid’s expression was… odd. Kamal got the feeling he was being pranked, or at the very least, held out on. He wasn’t really sure why Flower Kid was asking his opinion on this, but… he supposed what else was new?

When he typed the url into his browser and hit enter, though, he was hit with an instant deja vu.

His gut response was oddly nostalgic. No one had been there to point Doctor Habit away from a pink and green color scheme this time. The "Inforenation Hubb” looked a lot like the layouts Doctor Habit had shown him when he was first making the Habitat; that is, the website was utterly EYE-SEARING.

During his time at the Habitat, Kamal learnt the extent of Habit’s coding knowledge. The man wasn’t stupid, but he had trouble typing, and his websites were always a mess. Just, a tangled labyrinth of redundant tags and general bad practice. Kamal had resented being forced to work as an impromptu developer at the time, it was outside his job description, but those initial designs were just… no. None of those would ever attract anyone to his wellness retreat, and above that, none of it felt professional or right. Kamal had helped even as he complained to Wallus about it.

Kamal was hit by a sudden wave of guilt and anxiety as he wondered if his choice to fix the layout directly led to the Habitat attracting two dozen potential victims.

Kamal scrolled further. This was definitely Doctor Habit’s work. There were many different articles, but it was clear in everything from the writing style to the little scribbled drawings used to illustrate various scientific concepts. Concepts like “What are parasites.” This sounded nice in theory, but in practice, these drawings were at risk of giving Kamal nightmares. This also counted as evidence in favor of Habit having something to do with the website; he had a knack for coming up with ideas that sounded okay in theory.

Kamal was uneasy. Was this site just here to lure children in? Dr. Habit, traditionally, had never had the best experience with children. Maybe he'd finally snapped and decided to get revenge on a few.

But...

There was a surprising amount of depth to the website, too; while it looked crude at first blush, every single page had quite a lot of art and little comics. Kamal clicked through a few pages without really reading them. Sure, a lot of these drawings were definitely not age appropriate. And sure, they might be a little deranged and scribbly and manic, and the spelling was as bad as ever, but the information seemed to check out. And why wouldn't it be accurate! Dr. Habit had a PhD, so, maybe that shouldn't surpri--

He nearly jumped two feet in the air when something poked him in the side. The shriek he gave wasn’t particularly dignified.

“What!?” He snapped. He felt bad when Flower Kid gave him a slightly hurt expression and gestured towards the paragraph in their notebook that they were trying to show him. Oh. Right. He had just gotten so tense reading the webpage that he forgot other people were around. He sighed.

“Sorry.” Kamal read the notebook page.

[The kids at school said it was a haunted website… but they all seemed really excited for him to write more!!! They liked him!!]

Kamal processed that. He… had no idea if that was good or bad. It seemed like Dr. Habit was pretty worked up about people thinking he was joking, but did he know that actual children were reading his website? That they liked it?!

If so, did he know that they were scared?? Dr. Habit HATED when kids were scared of him. In fact, if you had asked Kamal a few years ago what Dr. Habit hated most, he would have told you that it was people being afraid of him, no contest. How on earth had he taken THIS?

And again! WAS there some sort of ulterior motive to this site!? Flower Kid didn't seem to think so, but Kamal hadn't thought that the Habitat was anything other than a wellness retreat, either! This page wasn't asking anyone to do anything like the Habitat had, but it still gave Kamal a horrible feeling. Maybe he just couldn't see the scheme behind this website, yet.

Before he could speak, though, Flower Kid had flipped over the page, and what was on the next page stopped him right in his tracks.

It was an email address.

“What, you weren’t going to wait for me?”

Kamal almost, embarrassingly, jumped again. Wallus had apparently entered the room at some point, and was close enough to see what was on the screen. What was in the notebook. Flower Kid pouted, and Kamal suddenly realized that, yes, they had intentionally shown this to him and only him. Oh, no.

Flower kid shook their head at the question. Then, after seeming to realize that that motion was ambiguous, they scrawled in the notebook again.

[I was going to show you!!]

“Okay.” Wallus said gently.

[SERIOUSLY!!] They underlined it a few times for emphasis. Kamal wasn’t sure if he believed them, either, but he was DEFINITELY sure that he did not want to talk about it.

“Hey! Hey, this is a good thing, you guys?” Kamal interjected in a desperate attempt to keep the peace.

“We did it. We found Dr. Habit! Now we just have to email him.”

Kamal held his breath, and slowly, the tension drained out of the room. Apparently, neither Wallus or Flower Kid really wanted to push the issue right now. Wallus made brief eye contact with Kamal, though, and Kamal knew what that meant. That meant that they were going to be talking about this later. Flower Kid noticed the glance and did not seem happy about it, but did not say anything.

...Write anything. Sign anything. Whatever.

“Right. So we have Parsley write up a good ‘you’re being sued’ letter and see where he goes from there. No contact outside of official business.” Wallus sounded both serious and somewhat ironic at the same time. Kamal said nothing. Flower Kid’s nose wrinkled in obvious disgust. Wallus sighed. He had clearly been expecting that reaction.

“...At least don’t say anything that will damage the lawsuit. Please?”

“Fine.” Kamal agreed easily. He hadn’t really been planning on saying anything incriminating. Flower kid frowned, but they gave a slow, reluctant nod. Kamal let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. Okay, good. Everything was under control.

Now he just had to figure out what to say to Dr. Habit.

It was fine. Everything was under control.