TW: violence

"Sweets...stop moving!" Toni explained to her best friend, who was in the process of getting his tattoo by Fp.

"He's gonna be fine..." Fp reassured. Sweetpea clenched his jaw and stiffened his neck, careful not to move.

"Don't worry Toni...you'll get your tattoo as soon as you do the dance." Sweetpea said, patting her leg. Toni frowned,

"But that dance is horrible! I'm only 13! And you shouldn't have went through he gauntlet, you could've died!" Toni shrieked.

"He would've died if it weren't for you little one." Fp interrupted, glancing at Toni. She stared at him.

"I want to do the gauntlet." She stated, crossing her arms. Sweetpea looked at her horrified.

"No Toni! Are you nuts?! My injuries are still bad...and I did it a week ago! Besides I don't want you to have the same fate as I did!" Sweetpea shouted, lifting his head up when Fp pulled away.

Toni stood up in front of them, "I'm strong! I can take it!"

"Toni you will not be able to handle being in the hospital for a week!" Sweetpea argued. Fp took off his glasses.

"He's right Toni. You wouldn't be able to survive the gauntlet...Sweetpea's muscular. The dance is your only option." He said despite Toni's snarl.

Toni stood in front of them, fuming with anger.

"I will not do some perverted dance!" She yelled.

Sweetpea got up out of the chair and thanked Fp. Both guys turned to find Toni running away.

"You better go set her straight." Fp suggested, packing up his things. Sweetpea nodded, chasing after her.

He found her at one of the booths, her face hot. Sweetpea stopped a few feet away, a worried expression fixed his face.

Toni wiped away an angry tear, sniffing to herself and squeezing her eyes shut.

"Toni...stop crying."

She looked up and saw Sweetpea sitting across from her.

"I-I'm not crying!" She yelled, wiping the tears on her red cheeks angrily and turned her head away.

"Toni...stop it. Stop crying."

Toni buried her face in her hands, trying to collect herself. After a minute she glared up at him, "I'm doing the gauntlet." She declared, facing him. He shook his head in protest.

"No you're not. I'm not going to watch you die."

"I'm not gonna die!" She screamed, all the serpents in the bar were quiet for a minute, looking at Toni. She glared them all down until they resumed in their activities.

"Toni...if you didn't call the ambulance, I would've died, I'm not gonna watch you do that to yourself."

"But I want to be a serpent."

"Do the dance."

Toni bit her lip, then shook her head.

"Do it for me.."

She stared at him, "Tomorrow." She muttered, standing up. He smiled.

"Can we go back now?" She asked, holding her hand out. He smiled a little and nodded, taking her hand and leading her out of the bar.

Toni positioned herself on Sweetpea's couch, throwing her blanket over herself.

"You need anything?" He asked, brushing his teeth. She shook her head and faced herself against the couch, falling asleep. He watched her for a moment and then went to sleep himself.

Toni stood in the grass, looking around the dark lawn. A group of men stood in a line, some on one side and some on the other. Her forehead furrowed as she saw her best friend at the end of the line.

"Sweets..?" She whispered to herself, glancing beside her. Fp was standing with his arms crossed. Sweetpea cracked his knuckles and began to walk towards Fp, the first serpent gave him a punch in the face.

Toni gasped, her mouth wide open. She watched her best friend get beaten up as he walked through the line. Tallboy punched him in the gut hard. So hard, he doubled over and fell down. After a moment, he got back up and began breathing heavily.

Mustang gave him another punch to the face. He coughed out blood and wiped his eyes. After multiple injuries, some internal and most on the outside of his body, he came up to Joaquin. His enemy.

Toni recalled how much the two hated each other. She watched in horror as Joaquin punched him hard, and kicked him in the stomach over and over again.

Toni's eyes widened and watched him spit up blood again, while Joaquin kept kicking him. Toni snapped out of it and struggled to pull out her phone. But she couldn't find it, she pulled it out but it wouldn't dial 911. She yelled in frustration as she ran to her best friend.

"Get off of him!" She screamed, pushing Joaquin out of the way. She listened to his heart for a pulse but was shocked when she didn't find one.

"Fp! Fp! He's not breathing!" She screamed, her throat burning. Fp and the other serpents didn't move. Tears clouded her vision as her vision went black.

Toni woke up in a cold sweat, pushing the blankets off of her. She sat up, breathing heavily as she looked around Sweetpea's trailer.

She got up and went to get a glass of water. She saw the bathroom light click on and squinted her eyes in the dark. She set her cup down and wondered her way to the bathroom.

"Pea?" She called, he turned to look at her, ointment in one hand and a band-aid in the other. His eye had gotten a lot worse.

"Pea!" She whisper shouted, rushing over to him.

"Toni!" He whispered, "stop you weren't supposed to wake up."

"You didn't wake me...I had another nightmare and I wanted some water."

Sweetpea looked concerned for his friend but sat up on the counter anyway. Toni stood in between his legs and cleaned his eye.

"I'm sorry about today..." she murmured.

"It's okay.." he mumbled, "you're gonna do great tomorrow." He said, looking at her.

"Shut up..." she growled. "Don't remind me."

"Sorry."

Toni dabbed the ointment on his eye, he flinched. She looked down and swallowed hard.

"Toni...what is it?"

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes and hugged him. He blinked and slowly enclosed his arms around her.

"Toni...what was your nightmare about?" He whispered softly. She froze and stared in the mirror.

"It was the night of your initiation..." she sniffed. "I've been having the same nightmare for weeks..." she said softly, hugging him tighter.

He stayed quiet and swallowed. She didn't move from his arms, he checked his watch and read 3 am. He rocked slightly back and forth and waited until she fell asleep.

He picked her up and walked her to his room, placing her gently on his bed. He covered her up and went to the living room.

The next morning, Toni woke up, her eyes were puffy and her head hurt like hell. Sweetpea was sitting at the table in the kitchen, his head down. Toni made her way out of his bed and into the hallway.

"Pea..?"

She saw he was asleep, she smiled as she noticed he was drooling slightly onto the table.

"Sweetpea..wake up." She tapped his shoulder. His head tilted up and he looked at Toni.

He got ready and they headed to the bar to preform Toni's initiation dance.

After the dance Toni made her way over to Sweetpea, whose face was a slight shade of pink.

"You did g-great.." he stuttered in embarrassment, smiling at her. She looked down in her black lingerie and scoffed at herself.

"Thanks" she said while rolling her eyes. Fp called her over to get her tattoo done.
Toni grabbed Sweetpea's hand and ran over to him.

Fp explained that it was gonna sting a lot and asked her where she wanted it. Toni pointed to her hip, lifting the lingerie up a little. Sweetpea held her hand next to her.

Toni smiled as she bounced out of the bar, her tattoo stinging but it didn't compare to the joy she felt when she finally joined the gang. Sweetpea walked out after her,

"You did it Toni!" He smiled happily, walking his way over to her in the parking lot. She turned around and ran into his arms, kissing him on the lips.

He raised his eyebrows and pulled away,
"What was that for?" He asked with a smirk. She smiled at him and wrapped her arms around his neck, leading into another kiss.