(Hazbin Hotel) Book 2: The Radio Family, Welcome to Hell!

Chapter 368: There are Brother's by blood, & then there are Brother's by bond.

Kids: by The Academic
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Talib and Tariq are seen as jokesters, trap making experts, and the fastest swimmers in the sea of Envy. What they aren't known for as much is that they are very observant of others.

It was a handy skill to have. Talib and Tariq's way of observation saved their families skins many times...but the most impactful instance was when they worked together to help Aciano with his food problem.

Despite their preference for causing mischief over doing their chores, Talib and Tariq are not oblivious enough to ignore what was happening to their littlest member of the family.

They remember the day they went to Leo about the rotten food smell coming from Aciano's room. After Leo managed to get through to Aciano that food would always be provided to him, they saw the boy opening up more, but that didn't stop the twins from reaffirming Leonidas's words to him in their own unique way.

They couldn't cook worth shit, but that didn't mean they couldn't remind the boy that he can come to them too for snacks.

Therefore, the twins started walking around with snacks hidden in the lining their tailored foreign made outfits, shoving a piece of unleavened bread, or a small bag of dried fruits and nuts, or small candies into his little hands at moments that seemed completely random to him, but not to the twins.

He eats whatever they give him every time he's given it, because as Leonidas said to them once he realized what they were doing is that: "Once the mind is removed from the fog of a hunger he hadn't felt, he can recognize what it is to be cared for, and how he'd never had it before. How he craves it, how it's given to him with little but an afterthought. You've done well by looking out for him boys'..."

And it worked Aciano didn't feel hungry again. He started being able to recognize it, whenever his stomach gurgled or he would get more irritable and easier to frustrate, but he never felt it again. The hollowness he could remember as existing, but the darkness of that hell he lived in prior remained a relic of a life that only ever showed itself during bad days.

Which is also why the twins didn't hesitate in placing snacks into Xander's hands when they went to visit the Community Center kiddos. They both locked eyes with Xander and were wearing matching facial expressions when they spoke in tandem.

"Eat it Hyena...Don't argue with us about it...You won't win."

Xander stares at them with his one eye wide open in shock before looking down at the three sticks of beef jerky and an unopened bag of trail mix in his hands.

"Why are you?"

Tariq scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "You honestly think we don't know the signs of faking hunger for the sake of diverging attention from yourself?"

Talib spoke up with a deep intensity to his voice. "Aci did that all the time before Leonidas finally got through to him. You're no different from him Xander."

Tariq frowned and tilted his head towards the food in Xander's hands.

"So eat."

Talib smirked softly and patted Xander's shoulder as they walked passed him. "And don't worry about paying us back..."

Xander turned around and spoke.

"No, I mean...why the 🤬 do you have random snacks on you? All the times I've seen you eel brats gallivanting around hell with that uncle of yours I've never seen you snacking on anything that was bought from street food stall."

Talib smiled softly. "Some habits are hard to break, no matter how many centuries have passed."

Tariq chuckled. "And you're not the first demon we've met to be given snack handouts at random either."