#grubs up!

[narcolini]

the other man

moisés (sky rojo) x gn!reader, angst/action, 2610 words

canon typical violence and action

for day 15 of whumpril: flinching & ‘do you trust me?’

a/n: admittedly, i haven’t finished the show yet, so don’t have the full scope of moi’s timeline but.. when has that ever stopped me from putting a guy in a situation before? im moulding the blorbo how i like <3

tagging: @cositapreciosa @drabbles-mc​ (you guys must b sick of this kjdfhg)

You knew him without ever really knowing him. In the outskirts of things. You didn’t know his job, or where he grew up. Didn’t know how his parents were, if they were alive still, or married. If he had cousins or nephews. If his brother was the only friend that he had—if that’s who he spent all his evenings with, where he went after dark. You didn’t know him at all, in that sense.

But you knew him in the mornings. In the sun, arm raised to shield his eyes. Opposite you at the café of his choosing. You knew that he liked a pastel de nata with his coffee, and sitting outside, even when the wind picked up. Newspapers curling around the table legs.

You knew he wanted to travel, like you. Loved dogs, like you. Wanted to be a better person than either of you had managed yet.

I don’t give back as much as I should, he’d say. You ever try to balance it out? The good and the bad?

You knew him like that, and it was enough. You knew him enough.

On the day that it happened, you hadn’t been planning to see him. Expected him to text the day after, maybe, to invite you to the beach as he said he might. You didn’t think he’d show up at the shop, before you’d even wound the front shutters up.

‘You free?’ he asked. ‘For coffee?’

You laughed, keys dangling from your palm. ‘Now?’

‘Claro que sí, ahora.’ He was insistent.

‘I’ve got to open, Moi. We don’t all work at night like you.’

He fidgeted, rubbing his nose with the knuckles of his fingers, and looking behind him, behind you, like he was waiting for something. Expecting something. You watched his earring swing as he turned back to you.

‘You’re the boss, right?’ He shrugged. ‘Open later.’

‘You’re making me nervous,’ you said, eyeing him carefully. ‘Is something wrong?’

‘No.’ He pouted, head shaking. ‘Solo quiero verte.’

You went with him because he’d never been desperate like that before, and it stirred you warm, spun your chest into hot treacle, to give him what he wanted. He offered his hand and you took it, palm swamping your own, warm and callused. He chose somewhere you’d been a handful of times, then led you through the tables out front, straight to the entrance.

‘Qué?’ You stopped between the seats. ‘We’re sitting inside?’

He nodded, holding the door open for you. ‘It could rain.’

But it was as clear a day as any, white clouds, no breeze. Nothing to be blown in from the sea. The feeling was slipping, then. He wasn’t acting how you knew him to be.

‘Okay,’ you said, brows pinched in confusion, but you were willing enough to play along. He’d always been practical, realistic. Any reason he might have had, hidden or not, you had to trust. ‘If you’re paying, we can sit anywhere, guapo.’

He smiled, touching your back as you passed him. You didn’t miss the second glance he took, either, the scan of the road through the glass of the closed door; but you didn’t comment. You let him live in the secret of it, the pretence that this was normal, that he just wanted to see you. Even when the excitement was starting to fade into worry. Even when he ordered an espresso, only that, and sat across from you, bouncing his knee.

‘What is it, Moi?’ you asked, smiling through the nerves. ‘Bad night?’

His head shook, elbows on the arms of his chair, fingers linking in the space above his lap. ‘No worse than usual.’

‘Wow.’ Your lips stretched tight. ‘Is that why we don’t talk about it?’

Why work was off-limits, why questions were never met with answers. Why he disappeared once the sun set, and came back before he’d slept, just to see you.

He eyed you for a moment, dark and intense in a way he often wasn’t. Scratched his chin, thumb to the stubble, glanced out through the windows. ‘I want to ask you something.’

‘Claro.’ You shrugged. You were already waiting for it. ‘Go on.’

‘Go away with me.’ It wasn’t a question at all. ‘Tonight.’

You scoffed, stirring sugar into your coffee. ‘Go where?’

‘Montenegro.’

The spoon clattered from your grip, hot cappuccino flicked onto the table and your wrist. ‘No estas serio, Moisés?’

But he was serious, and waiting for an answer. ‘Just to start. Then we can go wherever you want. Travel, like we’ve talked about, see the world.’

‘You hit your head or something?’ You laughed, for lack of anything else to do. ‘I can’t just leave.’

His jaw flexed once, then he was leaning forward, his arms over the table to meet you. He took your hand in the both of his, held on like you might’ve snatched it away again. ‘Please,’ he said, ‘I don’t have time to convince you, cariño.’

‘What?’

‘Say you will.’

‘I can’t. What about the shop, my—’

‘I have to go tonight,’ he stressed. ‘I want you to come with me.’

He was right to hold on, because then you did feel like sitting back and pulling yourself away from him, hand out of hand. From the desperation in his eyes, the fear—a new emotion, one you’ve never seen in his features—fear, and worry, and fast-waining hope.

‘What are you talking about, Moi? Why do you have to go anywhere?’

You didn’t know him, you didn’t know him enough. Something was catching up at last, biting at your heels. Chasing him away from you.

‘Are you in trouble?’ you asked.

He shook his head. You didn’t believe it.

‘Please,’ he reasoned again, whispering now, ‘we could have something good. Real.’ He squeezed your hand. ‘Normal.’

But everything was normal, until that moment. Company in the morning, a walk down the beach. Lunch late and dinner early, before he disappeared again. That was normal. Travelling the world, without warning, with a man you’d never even seen in the comfort of his own home, was beyond normal. Dangerous, even.

‘No,’ you told him, ‘no, are you kidding? Of course I can’t Moi.’

You need time to think about it, you wanted to say, but that was taken from you like everything else.

It was a car, into the front of the café, bumper ploughing through the outside seating and everything in between. You didn’t register it as that, at first. Your immediate reaction was bomb, fuck, we’ve been bombed. Glass splitting, windows collapsing beside you. The sharp stings of cuts scattered across your cheek.

It happened so fast, so quick and so loud, that you don’t even remember reacting to it. It just was, it happened, and you were there, heart jumping like they’d stabbed you with an EpiPen, and then it stopped. Just like that. No building collapse, no screams. Quiet in place of chaos, with the grumbling of an engine sitting two feet away. Not a bomb, not a planned attack, but a car. Driven full speed toward you, your table. Moisés.

‘What the fuck?’ you started, looking to him, the waitress, the rocking car, half-in, half-out, of the building. ‘Are they okay? Did they…?’

‘Shit.’ Moisés was staring through the shattered windscreen, standing already. Alert and poised, and scaring the shit out of you. ‘Bastard.’

‘Moi, what—’

He ripped you from the seat before you could finish piecing together what had happened. Before you could see what he’d seen: the empty driver’s seat, the second car parked further down the road, and the armed men climbing out of it. He pulled you up, then down, dragging you across the room in a clumsy stoop. When you reached the till counter, he ducked you behind it. Roughly. Rougher than he’s ever touched you before.

‘Stay here,’ he ordered, voice hard and sharp.

‘What?’ You were panting, eyes wide. ‘Moisés!’

He disappeared before you could ask why, arm reaching for the gun you’d never noticed, sitting in the waistband of his jeans. If he brought it every time you met with him, or just that one time, because he knew he’d need it, you don’t know. Even with the disaster right in front of you, the sight of it knocked you sick. Worry pooling in your stomach. I don’t know him at all, you thought, he carries a gun, and I don’t know him at all.

‘Go!’ you heard him shout, barking it to the staff. ‘Get out of here!’

You shrunk into your hiding place, shaking without realising and rattling the plywood behind. Stay here? Stay here and wait, while he ordered every one else to leave? While he ran out front with a handgun?

He’s crazy. That’s what you decided, he’s crazy, dangerous, a gang leader in hiding, that you were too mesmerised by to interrogate. Happy with his smile, his looks. The feel of his hand on your lower back. Too smitten to ask anything important of him, to think that anything about his lifestyle was strange.

‘Fuck.’ You gritted your teeth, fists clenched like that might will away the shakes, and bring courage in their place. ‘Okay. Okay. You’re okay.’ You were getting out of there. You weren’t going to wait for him, or wait for whatever the fuck he’d dragged you into to get to you first; you were going to stand up, run for the back, find the cooks’ entrance—

And then there were gunshots, and you were the one screaming. Frozen in place, unable to run anywhere at all.

He’s going to die. It spun around in your head, heavier and harder to shake than anything you’d thought about him before then. He’s going to die, he’s going to die, he’s going to die. You clapped your hands to your ears, attempting to muffle the blows. Maybe he was crazy, maybe he was someone you shouldn’t be spending time with, or dreaming about, maybe you should have never met him at all—it didn’t matter. You still didn’t want to hear the gunshot that killed him.

You sat like that forever, it felt like, cowering behind the tills, palms pressed hard to either side of your head. Wishing it would stop, wishing he would win, wishing you wouldn’t have to step over his body after all of it came to an end. Your mouth was so dry from worry, that you were wheezing. Dragging breath after breath through the sandpaper of it. In, in, in, out. Again. Over and over, just to keep yourself going.

You were focusing on it obsessively—so fixated that you didn’t realise your eyes had closed, didn’t see Moisés when he appeared again in front of you, out of breath and sweating.

He put a hand to your shoulder and you flinched, gasping, your own hands falling away to help you scramble along the floor in the opposite direction. It was him. Not whoever was after him, but him, alive still.

‘It’s okay,’ he said, reaching for your face. ‘It’s me.’

You nodded, abandoning your attempt to flee, but unable to shake the wild fear from your eyes. It was him, yes, but what did that even mean anymore? The Moisés you knew, would never have been victim to a targeted hit and run, or have known how to shoot back when guns were pointed his way.

‘We’ve got to go,’ he said, speaking quickly and carefully. Knowing you were scared, knowing you didn’t have time to be. ‘Okay? We’re gonna get out of here.’

‘Where?’ You were whispering, voice crumbling around each word. ‘Go where?’

His gun was in his hand still. One palm to your cheek, over the forming scabs, one wrapped around the handle of his weapon.

‘Out front,’ he said.

‘What?’

‘You’re going to go first, out the door, I’ll—’

‘You’re insane.’ You shook your head, pushing against his chest wildly, fingers twisting in the collar of his shirt. ‘Stop it. Stop it, Moi.’ The hysterics were bubbling out, spilling over. Lashing from your tongue into the unmoving wall of him. ‘I can’t.’

‘Shh.’ He hushed you, bringing himself closer, ignoring the frustrations you were taking out on him. ‘They don’t know who you are,’ he said. ‘Right? They’ll shoot at me, not you. I’ll be right behind. They’ll see me.’

‘No, no, I’m not…’

‘You run to the car.’ He broke away briefly, to pull the keys from his pocket and give them to you. ‘You get there, and you go.’

You couldn’t blink, you couldn’t move. The keys in your hand felt like a grenade, pin pulled, victims pending. ‘And I wait for you?’ you asked, hoping for an answer that didn’t make you want to vomit.  

His head shook a fraction. ‘And you go. For me, okay? You get the fuck out of here.’

He meant it. Counted on it, even, on you leaving him there.

‘Moi…’

‘Do you trust me?’ he asked, brown eyes steady on yours.

You stared at him. Twenty minutes earlier, you did. The day before, you did. But then, on the floor of the café-turned-trench, you didn’t. You couldn’t.

But you had to.

You nodded minutely, but it was enough of a gesture to convince him of it. He pulled you into him at the signal, his hand to the back of your neck, to put your forehead to his, and then a short, rushed kiss to your lips.

You didn’t have time to savour it. You can’t imagine it, or re-live it now, no matter how hard you try.

‘Go,’ he told you afterwards, helping you to your feet, ‘I’ll be behind you.’

You didn’t believe him, but you ran. Faster than you knew you could. Across the floor, over the pebbles of glass, the scattered menus. Through the door that was made redundant by the crash, hanging diagonally from its frame.

When they open-fired around you, past you—at him, because he was there, like he said he would be, ten steps behind—your arms flew up to your head, forming a shield that’d do nothing, really. All instinct and fear. You kept it there as you ran, eyes on your feet, because you weren’t about to trip and fuck it all up.

The car was only parked on the opposite side of the road. You reached it, in what felt like a heartbeat, because they weren’t looking for you. They didn’t care about you. No one turned their attention when you dropped the keys, hands shaking, keyring clattering to the tarmac. You forced them into the lock afterwards, sweat on your brow, and climbed inside.

You turned the engine over, feeling the car bounce to life under your seat. In a second, you could have been gone, away from them all and to safety. But, your foot hovered over the accelerator, hand locked on the gear stick, unmoving.

He was right there. Right behind, a little longer, and he could have dived into the back. Barked at you to go, with him safely inside.

You found him in the rear view mirror, watched him take a shot before twisting and crouching behind an upturned table. They weren’t the motions of someone inexperienced, thrown into trouble, paddling to survive. No, it was like watching a soldier in the field. No army greens, but all of the control, the composure. He’d done it all before.

And you go.

He’ll be fine, you told yourself, he knows what he’s doing.

And you go.

You put the car into gear, leaving him and the gunshots behind.  

>>>part two

[rookanisstuff]

“tell me this ends with me asleep in your arms”

[lilybug-02]

It has been a long time since laughter has filled the air here. It is welcomed gratefully.

Bug Fact: Female Scorpion Flies choose their mates based on his saliva-secretion ability, if it's not good enough for her, she may eat the wooer.

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Masterpost

[1kk4ku]

theres a storm coming

[buzzingroyalty]

how to grub your karkat

or you can use this for any other plush or if you wanna make a whole new plush entirely or whatever

disclaimer im not a professional in any sense of the word and theres anything technical im doing wrong or you think you can do it better by all means dont hold back

Things you’ll need

sewing machine unless youre really dedicated but doing it by hand is gonna be an agonizing feat i promise. I just used a straight stitch for everything

Fabrics: for the main body i suggest a minky or something soft, for the inner lining something in the same color as the main body and ideally with some stretch, and anything black for the legs. Less than a yard of each will do

if youre using minky or anything furry get a lint roller. Trust me

stuffing, i used polyfil

threads that match your fabrics

good fabric scissors

sewing needle for hand sewing/fixes

karkat plush (optional)

Heres the pattern i came up with! They are numbered for your convenience and pieces with the same numbers are going to be part of the same row of segments. cut everything out on the black lines (Make sure when you’re printing to fit the image to the page size.) on the left we have the belly pieces, the right is the main body, and we have the foot in between

Im using a relatively thin minky fabric, im sure you can use whatever but something with some fluffiness kinda helps to mask any imperfections in the sewing. When drawing out your patterns keep in mind what direction your fibers settle in and try to keep it consistent

On the wrong side of the fabric measure out at least a half inch seam allowance around each piece of the pattern, i used a centimeter and that worked but had me sweatin a bit.

For the main body pieces fold your fabric in half before you cut so you can have 2 of each segment that are mirrored to each other, i also extended all of the #1 pieces an additional centimeter/half inch at the top so we can fold them over at the very end. I highly suggest numbering the insides of all the cut pieces, especially in a way where you will remember what direction they are each meant to sit

After you’ve numbered all your pieces, set them aside and start making your feet!

Each of the 6 legs is made of two pieces, but i because i only had a swatch of the black minky i made up for the rest with some random black scrap fabric from an old project. Try to keep your fabric consistent if you can lol

I didnt give these pieces any more seam allowance on the fabric but i recommend adding a centimeter or half inch to the base of it to extend the length and have some more wiggle room

like so

Instead of cutting out 12 individual pieces and struggling to stitch them all together i started with 6, then pinning each piece real tight with the right/furry side down onto my secondary fabric, and slowly stitching around the shape real close to the edges- DO NOT CLOSE THE FLAT SIDE as we are going to stuff the feet through here

Now cut the shape out of the fabric and repeat till you have 6 feet

Now flip those bad boys inside out, stuff up, and if you wanna you can match them to their best pairs

now grab a pair of feeties and your #1 pieces and line them up, in this picture my belly #1 piece is shorter bc i forgot to add the extra centimeter and i recut that once i realized. Line those sides up with the right/furry parts touching and with the feet in between, flip it around to make sure everything's sitting the way you want it

Note. i didnt realize until later but i sewed my feet in upside down. save yourself the time it takes to fix it and dont make the same mistake

Straight stitch these layers together and repeat with the next two segments our good friends #2 & #3

Repeat this for the #2 and #3 sections but NOT THE #4, that part doesnt need feet! just line those edges up right/furry sides together and sew

the secret to the squish of the suit is making this inner lining from another fabric and stuffing it! I used what i had leftover from a stretchy red fabric for a kanaya skirt. For this we need to make a new pattern for each section, making sure it follows the curve of the round edge but the piece itself is shorter, almost like youre removing the seam allowance you added. Mine is a centimeter shorter on the top and on the bottom and reaches to the middle

Make one of these for each numbered segment,you only need to make half the pattern and you can fold your fabric in half on a crease and you end up with one symmetrical piece (bars)

Now you need to pin these pieces right on top of the wrong side of your numbered furry sections and line up the straight edges like so (disclaimer for LOTS OF SCARY NEEDLES !!)

Admittedly i didnt estimate how long these pieces needed to be very accurately and overshot it a bit, if you start pinning it from the middle and continue outwards on either side thatll ensure its not too lose and you can cut off any excess after

The only exception is piece #1, if you recall we gave this #1 section extra seam allowance. This is so we can sew down that excess at the neck later and hide any of the inside that might show once its all put together. Do not connect the top edge to the inner lining! Since i added an extra centimeter earlier im gonna leave that hanging and pin + sew down the inner lining a centimeter lower than the top edge. LEAVE THE CURVED EDGES OPEN! DONT SEW THEM TOGETHER! those stay open to stuff

Straight stitch the lined up edges together

Now you have all these skinned pieces of little freak and we need to connect all these segments together making sure to sew UNDER the existing stitches so we dont see those on the outside when its all put together

Inside looks like a bit of a mess but thats fine bc its not the part that matters

Now stuff it! you might need a stick or pencil or something long and thin to get stuffing into the middle bits

Now thats its stuffed you can finally close those curved edges. Try not to sew over a thick mound of stuffing, push it in a little further to give yourself some space and you can fluff it back out after everythings closed. I cut off that excess lining fabric after sewing

Ough… they filleted my boy…

Finally, match up all the edges and lines and HAND SEW them right sides together. You will destroy your machine trying to work around that stuffing i promise. You also have an excuse to get up from your work desk and sew on a couch or smth. I used a standard backstitch for a tight finish and again, make sure you sew under any existing stitches so they arent visible on the outside!

Speaking of the outside, once you stitch everything together you can very gently flip this sucker inside out

This is @hatamonu’s cat Cocaina, aka Coco. Her perfectly square figure made it into my grub files somehow so shes essential to the tutorial

Check the fit and all thats left to do is roughly baste stitch down that excess neck fabric onto the stuffed lining and youre set! I gave the thread slight tugs as i went to tighten the opening a bit put dont tighten it too much

tadaaaaa

It fits pretty snug but starts to slip a bit with motion. Heres a bounce test

 If you do shake your baby make sure to safety pin the plush to the suit so he doesnt prematurely shed his exosekeleton

Now spread that baby fever and show your baby to the world

pics from the ALA 2025 homestuck meetup and supplied by para.dox.cos

Tysm for coming along this ride with me especially if you followed the prototype journey on twitter, much thanks to my more sewing savvy friend for the solution to my grub dilemma and for helping me design and build my dolorosa cosplay <3 much love and hopefully many more homestuck cosplays and meetups to come in the future!

[yonker-tonker]

Arcee is like a creature to me

[hiddencarpet]

It took me like 6 years but i Finally drew this old idea of mine.

"What if Dante and Vergil were born as grubs and changed their forms to human-like only with time?"

[onenicebugperday]

Hihi! Just wanted to share a lovely Wall Spider I met

Aw heck that's a NICE rabid wolf spider! Spiritually I am kissing her

[tibby-art]

Can we get more grub please please or I'll release cubfan135 into the wilderness

i thought you'd never ask

[thechaoticdruid]

"AsTaRiOn HaTeS cHiLdReN hE wOuLd NeVeR WaNt Be A dAd! He ApPrOveS oF tElLiNg YeNnA tO gEt LoSt!"

Let's get this straight because I have seen people use Astarion approving of telling Yenna to get lost as proof of him hating kids. It is not.

Okay so yes Astarion does approve of telling Yenna to bugger off.

But he also fucking approves of giving her food or money.

(Durge is grabbing something out of her pack btw)

If anything this kinda shows how the player has influence on Astarion. Astarion has had no autonomy for the past 200 years. He literally says in his good romanced ending that he has to find out who he is and what he wants. There really is no way to tell if he wants to be a dad or not in game because there is no option to bring up the prospect of having children with him. But I still personally feel like if Tav wants kids he'll warm up to the idea.

Also after taking Yenna in he becomes protective of her, albeit in a somewhat tsundere way. Pretty on brand for him I suppose.

So shut up about Astarion hating kids or how it's stealing traits from Wyll and Shadowheart, it isn't.

[tibbycaps]

[onlysushicat]

[baylardian-1]

Cadance being stepmom pilled. :)

[turquoisephoenix]

Where DID Grubba find the Crystal Star that he's been using for supposed decades?

Simple. He STOLE it. But the guy he stole it from deserved it, honest.

Meet Auric Rex, the latest in a long line of "golden dragons" that can trace their lineage all the way back to the Cataclysm of Rogueport. Auric, like any self-respecting dragon, hoards both money and talent. When a bold new fighter named "Macho" Grubba first broke through the Minor Leagues and became a minor sensation, Auric immediately decided to milk it for all it's worth and signed Grubba up on seemingly infinite merchandising deals.

At a young age, Grubba was placed in makeup chairs, put on special diets so he wouldn't "get too chubby", and told over and over that eventually his star was going to burn out and every last one of his fans was going to forget who he was so hey, better make the most of it in the short time he has left, Champ. And thus began a cycle of exploitation.

Grubba would eventually snap from the pressure, reveal that he performed the ol' switcheroo on Auric's family relic and that Auric's been guarding a glass replica all this time, turn into a powerful orange monster in Auric's office as a final "Eff You", and then smash a desk across his head. And then Auric did the funny accordion thing when you flatten Rexes in Super Mario World.

[forgetful-river]

Aradia August Day 19: Ashen

[karkatbug]

Would dave give bugkat lil baby shades? It be adorable of he just started wearing them all the time to look more like dave.

he'd get bug those bitchy claire's shades and a fake flip phone