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

Chapter 333: Part 2, Leonidas's chat with a food hoarding Aciano

Shades of Gray: by Al Marconi
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Leonidas took a deep breath and sighed before he spoke. "No child should have to live his early childhood feeling as though his safety was going to be threatened if he didn't succeed in everything that is asked of him. It's something Aciano struggled with immensely along with his food hoarding."
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Leonidas's storytelling part 2

Getting the boy to eat was a struggle. Miruku would place an origami crane with his food every morning, but he wouldn't eat. Not until late at night would Leonidas stir in his sleep to the sound of rustling baskets because his room was the closest to the kitchen.

He'd sigh softly and would after the first time he'd purposely go out on an effort of "forgetting" where he put the produce and leaving things out where the boy could reach it.

He would see the boy following him around corners before hiding and sneaking into the kitchen.

Once they had finally gotten him to at least trust them enough to know that they weren't going to poison him, Aciano opened up more. Mostly because he wanted to know what was being put into the same foods they were eating and they indulged in that without complaining. However his eating habits were still up for question.

The next step was his education.

The boy could read and write in Spanish surprisingly well for a five year old child who has lived on the streets since the age of two.

He said the nice grannies and grandpa's would teach him whenever they could.

His introduction into Greek, Arabic, and Japanese was a different story.

It was a very slow process because when he was asked which language he wanted to learn the boy pointed to all three languages that Imaad had written down!

Imaad had his work cut out for him but he was a calm diligent teacher.

Farouk was the first to see the worrying signs of Aciano's overeagerness to learn. It was during the first lesson in writing.

The first lesson was quite understandably, a disaster.

Farouk consoled him in Spanish, but the boy was so frustrated with himself that he lashed out, only to go into a panic attack when he broke Imaad's quill and spilled the ink bottle all over the writing practice scrolls and papyrus papers.

"Aci—Aci, breathe for me it's alright. You are not going to be punished for throwing a tantrum, spilling the ink bottle, and breaking the quills." Farouk rubbed his back in soothing circles. "I understand you are frustrated. I'm still learning Miruku's native language myself so I'm in the same boat as you. We don't expect you to be perfect on the first try. Not even the hundredth try. What matters to us is that you practice and come to understand what it is that you're writing down and reading. It will be difficult for you, but you mustn't lose heart. I can tell you are an intelligent young boy. Have patience with yourself, there's no need to rush into anything especially not when you're trying to learn three languages at once!"

Aciano's gotten better since then, but they can tell whenever he's faking a happy attitude most of time. Especially whenever he's bored, sick, irritable, or hungry.

The boy's health is still rocky like a unbalanced ship at sea, but it's not as dire as it had been when they had saved him.

His trust was still slow going, and it's something they're still working on after a few months...

Which is why when the twins had spoken to Leonidas in private about a rotting smell coming from under Aciano's bed, Leonidas immediately knew what was going on. He had the twins distract the child with painting out in the garden and entered the boy's room.