Homestuck Grubs X Reader

Karkat Grub

  "This little guy's named Karkat. I'll warn you, he's a little fiesty. If you have any questions, just ask, but make sure he's entertained. We have books over there, some grub sauce in the fridge. He is 2 weeks old, and is a very fast learner. He knows a few words, an picks up on them easily, so watch what you say. Have fun (f/n)!" She gives you a little smile and wave before closing the door to join the rest of the crew with the other children.

"Hello Karkat... Are you friendly?" You ask as you cautiously approach the grub. He is looking at you blankly, as though he isn't completely aware of your existence yet. You reach down and pick up the grub. He is currently not much bigger than the palm of your hand. He coos at your touch and rubs himself against your hand. Clutching him to your chest, you stroke the top of his head, and he purrs. He is so cute! Why do people not like the grub watch?
You accidentally rub one of his tiny horns and his eyes get big, he cries out and bites down on your palm.

"FUCK!" You shout, and out of instinct you release your grip on him. Karkat falls onto the balled up blanket on the ground and begins wailing. This is why no one likes grub watch.

   You kneel down beside Karkat and see red tears pouring out of his eyes. Even though you are afraid to be bitten once again by the angry little grub, you hold your hand out to him. He quickly retreats and hides under a near by counter.

"Karkat? Karkat, please come out. You cannot bite people, but I'm not mad. I'm very sorry I dropped you. I promise it won't happen again." You hear the sobs begin to die down. The sniffling little Karkat emerges. He looks shaken and still nervous of your presence.

"PRMISS?" He is a loud little thing.

"I promise Karkat." With that he immediately runs back over to you. He raises his Needle-like arms expectantly as he desires to be held. Slowly lifting him up, you again put him against your chest. He nuzzles into your chest and coos, trying to get comfortable and warm. Turning his face up towards yours he frowns a little before attempting to speak again.

"RED?!" You wonder how large his vocabulary is so far. He isn't terribly articulate yet.

"Red? Like your blood?"

"NO! REEEEEEEDDDDDD!" He looks impatient, as though this is the most obvious thing in the world. But maybe it is?

"Do you mean read? Like read you a book?"

"YES! READ! I SAID THAT TOORICE" he shouts as he pounds his small arms against you. His aggression is hilarious.

"Well okay Karkat but do you know the magic word?" Cocking his head to the side, he clearly ponders this question. Then he smiles and nods at you. "Well then, what is it?"

"FUCK!" Oh god, where did he learn that? Oh fuck, from you.

"No! No that is not a nice word. The magic word is PLEASE."

"FUCK, PLLLEEEEEAAAASSEEEE?" He whines at you. Still not good.

"No Karkat. Just please. Okay, you aren't supposed to say the first word. It's a bad word and it hurts people's feelings!" He smiles again, clearly catching onto your distress.

"FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. FUUUUUUCCCCKKKKKK!" He screams, giggling the whole time.

"IF YOU SAY IT ONE MORE TIME I WILL PUT YOU IN TIME OUT." He stops immediately, his lower lip quivers, apparently the loud little troll can't handle having a voice raised at him.

    Your heart sinks in your chest as you see red tears well up in his large eyes. This is all your fault. You are the worst grub watcher in the universe. "Karkat, I am sorry. Do you still want to hear a story?" This time his eyes light up. He blinks away the tears and smiles happily up at you and loudly squeaks out nonsensical delighted grub talk.

   You make your way over to the rocking chair near the bookcase. The yellow walls hold a mural of 3 little grubs playing. One is fuchsia, one is dark blue and the last is olive green. They look so cute and happy, maybe Karkat is just in desperate need of a friend. From what you've read from a young age they are very social, and even attempt to start filling their "pale quadrant" as young as 3 weeks old. As through they instinctually know about that one.
    You kneel beside the short bookcase and Karkat begins to wiggle against your grasp, wanting to be released, likely to pick the book. You gently set him on the second shelf, and yourself prepare to catch him if he falls. He makes his way across the shelf; carefully looking at the titles for a familiar shape. He pulled one out, glanced at the cover and shook his head at it. He put it back and continued his quest.

   Finally, about 3/4 of the way through the shelf he settled on "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish." He pulled it out with his teeth and then with his little arms, creating small puncture marks in the spine. You grab him with one hand, and take his book selection in the other then promptly sit in the rocking chair. You put him down on your lap, and hold the book out in front of you.

   Like most books at the daycare this one contains crayon scribbles on the inside cover. But your team has gotten clever here and had the pages lamented so they can be cleaned off and to prevent tearing.

  He looks up at you and yells "REDDD FISHHHHHHES BLUUUUUEEEEE FISHESSSSSS!" This seems like an obvious prompt to begin reading. When you begin, he lets out a small hum of content. With one hand you reach down to pet his head again, carful to avoid his nubby little horns this time. He purrs and rubs into your touch. You can't get over how absolutely adorable he is. After about 45 minutes you've finished the book. As  Karkat began to insist that he recite each page after you.

  "From there to here, From here to there, funny things are everywhere."

  "FRM THER TA HER, FRO HERE TA THER..." You try to prompt him to continue,

  "Funny things are..."

  "NOOOOOOO I DO I DO!" He huffs then starts again. "FROM THER TA HER, FROM HER TA THER. FUNNY TINGS ARE EVERYWERE!" This happened on just about every page. So it took a while to complete. But by the last few pages he had given up, as he had started to get sleepy. You finished the book and put it on top of the bookcase.

   You put Karkat on his blanket pile and went to quickly go ask Rose of there was anything you needed to do while he napped. Before you could reach the door he started skreeching "NNNNOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOO!"

   Startled and little confused, you walked back over to him, and sat beside him. He jumped up from his position and scrambled onto your lap and nuzzled against you. Purring. He reached his arms out to you and you picked him up once again.

   However this time he kept raising his arms, so you lifted him higher, all the way up to your face. He kissed your nose then nuzzled against it. He started to yawn so you set him back onto your lap and stroked his hair. Before too long he fell fast asleep. There wasn't much you could do from this position so you just pet him while he slept.

   Maybe 30 minutes later, Rose came in to check on you. She saw Karkat sleeping on your lap, so she knelt down beside you and whispered,

  "He seems to really like you, maybe you can work grub watch more often?" She pleaded with her eyes, but maintained her calm and quiet voice. You looked down at Karkat curled up against you, softly purring in his sleep, and smiled.

  "I would like that."