"You clean up nicely, Stevie"
cw: mentioned blood and gore | mafia/mob AU | steddie pre-murderhusbands relationship
big thanks to @dapandapod for beta reading and improving my poor attempt to write sth
Steve Harrington is good at his job. He's quick, he is thorough and most importantly, he doesn't ask questions.
There's nothing that could shock him anymore. He's seen everything.
Steve doesn’t mind severed limbs, gore, blood and body fluids, sometimes creatively mixed in more ways than are pleasant to imagine.
He's used to it, and cleaning it is what earns him a nice living as a crime scene cleaner.
Or just... scene cleaner maybe.
He doesn't work with the police or authorities. No, his specialty lies outside the law, which means he arrives before a mess becomes a nuisance. He cleans until there is not a speck of blood left, until there is nothing to indicate that something happened there. Was there ever a crime committed if there is no crime scene?
The money's amazing by the way. Of course cleaning the remains is a shit job but if you add the hush money on top, well, ain't that a nice bonus.
Again, Steve doesn't ask questions. He doesn't care. It's none of his business.
–
Eddie's shoes are squeaking in the puddle of blood he tried and failed to not step into.
He flips the business card around and squints at the hurried scribble of a phone number that was added right under the name "Stevie".
He trusts Chrissy's background check.
They were in a dire need of a new guy after the previous one decided to catch a bullet with his face after snooping one time too many.
Eddie looks up to the blood stained walls and ceiling and dials the number on the card.
"Hello?"
"Watergate Street 53", is all Eddie replies.
"How many?", Stevie asks.
"Uhm, five?"
"You sure? Might wanna go check again?", Stevie laughs into the phone.
Bitch.
"It's five." Eddie answers, annoyed.
There's a low whistle. "Alright, I'll be there in 20. Payment upfront. 50k."
Then the line goes dead. Eddie rolls his eyes, pockets his phone and looks around for a clean spot to sit while he waits.
–
It's exactly three hours and thirty two minutes later when Stevie empties his water bucket for the last time.
Eddie watches curiously as Stevie takes off the gloves, mask and safety glasses he arrived in. Eddie didn't mean to stick around but he's not trusting this new guy yet (he's also curious, sue him).
His gaze turns into a stare when the other man pulls down the zipper of his squeaky yellow biohazard suit, throwing back the hood and running a clean hand through his sweat soaked hair. He has a strong jaw and long, mole dotted neck that Eddie just wants to taste.
Eyes wide, Eddie’s not able to hold back the sharp intake of breath as he watches in horror the moment Stevie's eyes lock with his and -
Fuck.
Stevie's lips curl into a smirk.
Eddie is so fucked.
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As much as I make fun of season 1 Jon’s skeptic era, it is actually very effective world-building: while he often dismisses what seem like obviously supernatural occurrences (looking at you, Arachnophobia), Jon is clearly operating on the assumption that some of the statements will be legitimate — he not only takes known threats like Jane Prentiss and the remnants of Jurgen Leitner’s library seriously, but also sees statements he had previously dismissed as potentially legitimate when the same names or events reappear later on. Basically, it establishes that in ordinary (non-apocalyptic) times, supernatural events are known and accepted as real, but uncommon enough even employees at the Magnus Institute consider them to be the exception rather than the rule.
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A quick obituary, if y'all don't mind.
In 2018 my cat Lace died. it was sudden and mysterious and she went to one of her favorite spots to do it alone. She was buried just before a big hurricane at the beginning of summer. a little bit later me and my mom took a road trip to Georgia to see family, and I was inspired by the life and death i saw on the side of the roads to draw the 24/7 Haunted Roadside Diner comics.
In 2022 my cat Coup died. it was a long fight through 7 months of cancer that ended with me holding him at the vet as he took one last big jump after months of losing the ability to do so. he was cremated just before a big hurricane at the end of summer. a little bit later me and my mom took a road trip to Georgia to see family, and I was inspired by the life and death i saw on the side of the roads to draw more 24/7 Haunted Roadside Diner comics after not thinking about them for years.
They were total brats to each other most of the time and they could never agree on anything, but they were my friends for almost half of my life and they called truces to sit on my bed together and comfort me during the Bad Health Times or the Bad Emotions Times. I didn't realize that I was repeating history a little bit until I was almost finished redrawing these first 5 pages, but I think it's funny that even though they tried to go out as they lived, as fussy little opposites, that I started really healing from both of their deaths creatively in the same way. So here's to the prettiest girl in the world and the baby boy. I probably could have gotten weird enough emotionally to write about roadkill ghost stories on my own, but y'all made it way easier to get there.
I redrew the first 5 pages to fit in better with any future 24/7 HRD comics I want to do (and generally flex my improved art/writing skills), so I’ll be posting one of those a day for the next few days. I've got 5 more pages and some illustrations planned for spooky season (October/November) along with some Downtrodden stuff so y'know. Nature is healing.
Hopefully I'll have more to post soon. the future is lookin' lonelier without my small grey guy, but it'll still have bright spots I bet. I hope.
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