fierce ↠ sweet pea [1] [✔]

|| THIRTEEN ||

"Yeah, I think so. I'm glad he's not a Serpent," Fangs began. "He'd be stripped of his dignity and his jacket faster than my Harley after my sister got stabbed."

"Wow, Fangs, you couldn't compare speed to anything else?" Lauryn complained, reaching behind Sweet Pea to poke him in the ribs. "Careful, you might be next."

"Speaking of Serpent dignity and all that, you never really earned your Serpent stripes, Fangs," Sweet Pea reminded out of the blue, and Lauryn screwed her face up. "Have you ever won a one-to-one? I mean, everyone here has hit someone or gotten in a fight, but you haven't."

"If he has to do something, I'm doing it with him," Lauryn declared sharply, attempting at easing him out of the road he was trying to go down. 

Her boyfriend kissed her cheek and leaned in closer to her ear. "You've had enough drama for a while, don't you think?"

"That's okay, Lauryn. You're right, Sweet Pea. What is it you think I should do?" Fangs inquired, and the reluctance was apparent in his voice, but it was clear he didn't want to be accused of hanging around the gang aimlessly, or being a coward.

"We'll figure something out," Sweet Pea responded, licking his lips. "Should be fun, though."

Lauryn huffed silently, she knew Sweet Pea could be way more self-assured than her sometimes and was quite irritated by him trying to take the lead. His idea was more than bizarre, and though Fangs wasn't as involved in violence as the others were, he was still as much of a Serpent as them.

Toni noticed her discomfort, as best friends would. Before she could whisper anything to Lauryn, the video finished, and all she could do was stare at her concernedly until she'd turn her head.

"We gotta watch that again!" Sweet Pea jeered through the laughter of some of the Serpent guys, slapping the keyboard with his hand. The other Serpents kept watching again, exchanging looks and wanting for the ability to reach through the screen and grab this guy by the neck.

"This guy looks cracked out," Jared remarked, laughing. "And they think we're the junkies."

Jughead walked over to them after hanging up a phone call, trying to make out why they'd all be gathered around a laptop and not eating or maybe even starting a riot with some Ghoulies, and why he had a feeling that he wasn't going to like it. "Hey, guessin' we're not watching funny cat videos?"

"Check this out," Sweet Pea started, turning the laptop around and licking his lips. "Some sick-in-the-head Northsider posted a crazy-ass video. And uh, we were just talking."

"About what?"

"Fogarty wants to earn his Serpent stripes. I say bring us the head of that Northsider and you're in," he ordered as he patted Fangs' shoulder. Angel Face smiled a little, her brother's zest was intriguing but still, she didn't want him hurt.

"I'm down with that," her brother accepted.

Sweet Pea began thudding the table with his fist and laughing wildly. Toni looked up at Jughead, almost as if she had already predicted his reaction. 

The beanie-wearing kid's jaw fell open as he struggled to believe Sweet Pea was being serious. "No, guys, don't."

"What, Jones?" Sweet Pea raised his brow, waiting to hear the next Northside excuse.

"I know this guy, he's a milquetoast, he's a football player! It's kind of a lame target is all I'm saying." Jughead stuttered as he tried to explain, feeling, for the first time, intimidated by the environment he was in. "You wanna prove something? Why don't you go after the Black Hood?"