The Return of Joaquin, chapter 8
Title: The Return of Joaquin, chapter 8
Fandom: Riverdale
Characters: Joaquin, Kevin, Archie, Cheryl, Jughead, Toni, Fangs, Reggie, Josie
Rating: PG
Pairing: Kevin/Joaquin
Summary: Joaquin's first day at Riverdale High doesn't go well thanks to Cheryl.
When Kevin had first asked Joaquin to be his date to Homecoming, Joaquin had initially wanted to burst out laughing. Homecoming wasn’t a thing at Southside High. Everyone pretty much got the hell out of there and never came back, and any attempt at a school dance would have been met with mocking from the students. But he knew FP would tell him to go, that maybe that would be the day he got some more useful information out of Kevin about the ongoing murder investigation.
In the event, they’d pretty much talked about everything and nothing, from some annoying contestant on The Matchelorette to why exactly so many people had voted for Donald Trump, via some speculation from Kevin as to why some of his friends were acting weird, but they never even touched on the investigation. Joaquin was getting to the point where he was thinking about bringing up the investigation himself, just to shut FP up, when Kevin started talking about how he’d never brought a boyfriend to one of these events before and had usually just ended up with closeted hook-ups. Joaquin had noticed the way the guy named Moose had looked at Kevin when his date wasn’t looking, and had wondered whether that guy was one of the people he was referring to, but decided not to ask. Kevin would tell him if he wanted to talk about it.
Then he’d said it. Kevin had told Joaquin he was the first person he had ever really been able to call his boyfriend. And in that moment, Joaquin understood that it was no longer about getting information for FP, that maybe it never really had been, that he did genuinely have feelings for Kevin. He opened his mouth - to tell him that he felt the same, and then when he got chance, call FP and tell him to piss off? To confess all about what FP had asked him to do? To say he was sorry but he had to go, and then run out the door and never come back? Joaquin would never know, because Jughead had interrupted at that point and asked if either of them had seen Betty or Archie. Kevin had said no, before making some joke about his friends needing tracking devices, (it hadn’t been the first such interruption) and seemed to forget about it. But then Joaquin had spotted Kevin’s dad walk in and go and say something to the Mayor, and in that moment he had known it was something to do with the murder investigation. Kevin hadn’t noticed when Joaquin backed away, so anxious was he to talk to his father, find out what had happened. But Joaquin couldn’t be there with Kevin, or anywhere near the sheriff, when it all came out. He had to go and hide out, wait for one of the Serpents to contact him with news, and then once he knew what was happening he’d know what he had to do.
The memories of the Homecoming dance, the only time Joaquin had ever set foot in Riverdale High, flashed over him as he walked towards the entrance, Kevin on one side of him and Fangs on the other for moral support. He wondered if Kevin was thinking about it too, but didn’t want to ask in front of Fangs.
Archie waved and walked over to them as they entered, with Veronica close behind, and greeted him “Welcome to Riverdale High.”
“They won’t all be as friendly as this guy,” Fangs warned him, but Joaquin barely heard him. He knew that, had been prepared for it, but Archie was here now, talking to him, checking his schedule and saying that they were in the same first period history class, along with Kevin and Fangs, and he’d show him where to go.
By the time it got to lunchtime, Joaquin was beginning to think that maybe it wasn’t going to be as bad as he thought. Either Kevin or Fangs, often both, had been by his side the whole time, and the obligatory irritating freshers who’d stared at Joaquin in the corridors had usually cowered under a glare from Fangs. As Kevin and Fangs led Joaquin to a table where they were soon joined by Archie, Jughead, Josie and Betty, Joaquin thought that while this was an unlikely little gathering, it actually seemed to be working.
“What the hell is this?”
As the piercing shriek was heard from the entrance to the cafeteria, Joaquin realised he had relaxed too soon. He hadn’t seen Cheryl Blossom since that time she invited the whole school to Jughead’s party, but he’d seen her in the news coverage of her father’s death, heard her mentioned by Archie to Kevin, known all along in the back of his mind that the day was going to come when they came face to face.
“What is that piece of trash doing here at Riverdale High, where decent law abiding people have to go to school with him? Where I have to see him every day?”
“He has to go somewhere, Cheryl,” Toni was trying to point out. “Since Southside High got shut down, that doesn’t leave a whole lot of other options.”
“Weatherbee has the option to throw him out,” Cheryl screamed in her face. “With the trash. Just like the trash he treated my brother as when he threw him into Sweetwater River, as though he didn’t matter to anyone.” She picked up a can of Coke - (“Hey! I was drinking that,” Reggie said, but she ignored him) and looked for one moment as though she was about to throw it at Joaquin, but Toni took it from her and handed it back to Reggie before she could, turned and led Cheryl out of the cafeteria before she could say any more.
For once Kevin was lost for words.
“It was the shock of seeing you again,” Archie tried to explain. “I don’t think she knew you were coming here,” and Josie nodded her head.
“I think she’ll eventually calm down,” Josie agreed.
“And Toni was out of order,” Fangs replied. “Calling you ‘he’ this and ‘he’ that, when you’ve been one of her best friends since we were six years old? Whatever happened to no Serpent stands alone?”
“Cheryl happened,” Jughead replied.
“This was a mistake,” Joaquin began. “Maybe I should just get out of here.”
“Want me to come with?” Kevin asked, but Joaquin shook his head, said he’d talk to him later before getting up and walking away.
“Joaquin?”
Joaquin turned round to see Jughead approaching him.
“Just wanted to make sure you were okay after Cheryl,” Jughead began.
“Maybe it was a mistake thinking it could ever work out for me being at this same school as her,” Joaquin sighed. “Weatherbee even tried to arrange things so that we’re mostly not in the same classes, but it’s not that big a school. She’s friends with Kevin, and Archie and Veronica, and who the hell knows what she is with Toni,” Joaquin let that drop, realising that Jughead may not be the best person to discuss Cheryl and Toni with. “We have people in common. I can’t completely avoid her.”
“You know, right before I started at Southside High, right after my dad was arrested and Cheryl thought he’d killed her brother, she screamed at me in much the same way,” Jughead began. “And I thought at the time I was going to have to leave for my own safety. It got to the point where Weatherbee was going to make me finish out the year being homeschooled.”
“So are you saying I should look into that?” Joaquin asked.
“Not at all. I’m saying that it got better, she accepted me as part of her friendship group, and I can’t quite believe I’m referring to her as a friend here, because you know that until recently I only considered Archie and Betty to be inner circle and everyone else was merely tolerated. I still tolerate Cheryl, and have essentially nothing in common with her.”
“The difference is that you had nothing to do with what happened to Jason, so she hasn’t really got a reason now to hate you. I did help with dumping the body in Sweetwater River.” Joaquin pointed out.
“She reacted the same way to my dad when he first got out,” Jughead went on. “When he first started working at Pop’s, she’d do things like deliberately throw her milkshake on the floor and make him clean it up just because she could. And he’d do it, because he wanted to keep his job, to make things right for us, and because he did feel bad about what he’d done. But he chose to rise above it, to not let himself be pushed out of his job by Cheryl Blossom. And that’s what I’m suggesting for you. You shouldn’t have to be pushed out of this school. And I know we didn’t really see eye to eye when we first met, but I know Fangs and Toni always thought a lot of you, and Archie is my best friend. If he sees something in you, that counts for something for me. Besides, Serpent law, remember? No Serpent stands alone.”
That was possibly the longest speech Joaquin had ever heard Jughead make, but he was grateful that he had said it. “Does it still apply, since I have to do my initiation again?”
Jughead waved this aside. “That’s just a formality. You’ll get back in. It might be easier the second time around anyway. But my dad won’t let anyone throw you out. Anything you need, call me.”
Joaquin was still thinking about this conversation the next day as he dialled a number. But it wasn’t Jughead’s.
“Tall Boy? Joaquin de Santos here. I was having a very interesting conversation with Penny Peabody a few days ago, and she seemed to think we might be able to help each other out…”
Fandom: Riverdale
Characters: Joaquin, Kevin, Archie, Cheryl, Jughead, Toni, Fangs, Reggie, Josie
Rating: PG
Pairing: Kevin/Joaquin
Summary: Joaquin's first day at Riverdale High doesn't go well thanks to Cheryl.
When Kevin had first asked Joaquin to be his date to Homecoming, Joaquin had initially wanted to burst out laughing. Homecoming wasn’t a thing at Southside High. Everyone pretty much got the hell out of there and never came back, and any attempt at a school dance would have been met with mocking from the students. But he knew FP would tell him to go, that maybe that would be the day he got some more useful information out of Kevin about the ongoing murder investigation.
In the event, they’d pretty much talked about everything and nothing, from some annoying contestant on The Matchelorette to why exactly so many people had voted for Donald Trump, via some speculation from Kevin as to why some of his friends were acting weird, but they never even touched on the investigation. Joaquin was getting to the point where he was thinking about bringing up the investigation himself, just to shut FP up, when Kevin started talking about how he’d never brought a boyfriend to one of these events before and had usually just ended up with closeted hook-ups. Joaquin had noticed the way the guy named Moose had looked at Kevin when his date wasn’t looking, and had wondered whether that guy was one of the people he was referring to, but decided not to ask. Kevin would tell him if he wanted to talk about it.
Then he’d said it. Kevin had told Joaquin he was the first person he had ever really been able to call his boyfriend. And in that moment, Joaquin understood that it was no longer about getting information for FP, that maybe it never really had been, that he did genuinely have feelings for Kevin. He opened his mouth - to tell him that he felt the same, and then when he got chance, call FP and tell him to piss off? To confess all about what FP had asked him to do? To say he was sorry but he had to go, and then run out the door and never come back? Joaquin would never know, because Jughead had interrupted at that point and asked if either of them had seen Betty or Archie. Kevin had said no, before making some joke about his friends needing tracking devices, (it hadn’t been the first such interruption) and seemed to forget about it. But then Joaquin had spotted Kevin’s dad walk in and go and say something to the Mayor, and in that moment he had known it was something to do with the murder investigation. Kevin hadn’t noticed when Joaquin backed away, so anxious was he to talk to his father, find out what had happened. But Joaquin couldn’t be there with Kevin, or anywhere near the sheriff, when it all came out. He had to go and hide out, wait for one of the Serpents to contact him with news, and then once he knew what was happening he’d know what he had to do.
The memories of the Homecoming dance, the only time Joaquin had ever set foot in Riverdale High, flashed over him as he walked towards the entrance, Kevin on one side of him and Fangs on the other for moral support. He wondered if Kevin was thinking about it too, but didn’t want to ask in front of Fangs.
Archie waved and walked over to them as they entered, with Veronica close behind, and greeted him “Welcome to Riverdale High.”
“They won’t all be as friendly as this guy,” Fangs warned him, but Joaquin barely heard him. He knew that, had been prepared for it, but Archie was here now, talking to him, checking his schedule and saying that they were in the same first period history class, along with Kevin and Fangs, and he’d show him where to go.
By the time it got to lunchtime, Joaquin was beginning to think that maybe it wasn’t going to be as bad as he thought. Either Kevin or Fangs, often both, had been by his side the whole time, and the obligatory irritating freshers who’d stared at Joaquin in the corridors had usually cowered under a glare from Fangs. As Kevin and Fangs led Joaquin to a table where they were soon joined by Archie, Jughead, Josie and Betty, Joaquin thought that while this was an unlikely little gathering, it actually seemed to be working.
“What the hell is this?”
As the piercing shriek was heard from the entrance to the cafeteria, Joaquin realised he had relaxed too soon. He hadn’t seen Cheryl Blossom since that time she invited the whole school to Jughead’s party, but he’d seen her in the news coverage of her father’s death, heard her mentioned by Archie to Kevin, known all along in the back of his mind that the day was going to come when they came face to face.
“What is that piece of trash doing here at Riverdale High, where decent law abiding people have to go to school with him? Where I have to see him every day?”
“He has to go somewhere, Cheryl,” Toni was trying to point out. “Since Southside High got shut down, that doesn’t leave a whole lot of other options.”
“Weatherbee has the option to throw him out,” Cheryl screamed in her face. “With the trash. Just like the trash he treated my brother as when he threw him into Sweetwater River, as though he didn’t matter to anyone.” She picked up a can of Coke - (“Hey! I was drinking that,” Reggie said, but she ignored him) and looked for one moment as though she was about to throw it at Joaquin, but Toni took it from her and handed it back to Reggie before she could, turned and led Cheryl out of the cafeteria before she could say any more.
For once Kevin was lost for words.
“It was the shock of seeing you again,” Archie tried to explain. “I don’t think she knew you were coming here,” and Josie nodded her head.
“I think she’ll eventually calm down,” Josie agreed.
“And Toni was out of order,” Fangs replied. “Calling you ‘he’ this and ‘he’ that, when you’ve been one of her best friends since we were six years old? Whatever happened to no Serpent stands alone?”
“Cheryl happened,” Jughead replied.
“This was a mistake,” Joaquin began. “Maybe I should just get out of here.”
“Want me to come with?” Kevin asked, but Joaquin shook his head, said he’d talk to him later before getting up and walking away.
“Joaquin?”
Joaquin turned round to see Jughead approaching him.
“Just wanted to make sure you were okay after Cheryl,” Jughead began.
“Maybe it was a mistake thinking it could ever work out for me being at this same school as her,” Joaquin sighed. “Weatherbee even tried to arrange things so that we’re mostly not in the same classes, but it’s not that big a school. She’s friends with Kevin, and Archie and Veronica, and who the hell knows what she is with Toni,” Joaquin let that drop, realising that Jughead may not be the best person to discuss Cheryl and Toni with. “We have people in common. I can’t completely avoid her.”
“You know, right before I started at Southside High, right after my dad was arrested and Cheryl thought he’d killed her brother, she screamed at me in much the same way,” Jughead began. “And I thought at the time I was going to have to leave for my own safety. It got to the point where Weatherbee was going to make me finish out the year being homeschooled.”
“So are you saying I should look into that?” Joaquin asked.
“Not at all. I’m saying that it got better, she accepted me as part of her friendship group, and I can’t quite believe I’m referring to her as a friend here, because you know that until recently I only considered Archie and Betty to be inner circle and everyone else was merely tolerated. I still tolerate Cheryl, and have essentially nothing in common with her.”
“The difference is that you had nothing to do with what happened to Jason, so she hasn’t really got a reason now to hate you. I did help with dumping the body in Sweetwater River.” Joaquin pointed out.
“She reacted the same way to my dad when he first got out,” Jughead went on. “When he first started working at Pop’s, she’d do things like deliberately throw her milkshake on the floor and make him clean it up just because she could. And he’d do it, because he wanted to keep his job, to make things right for us, and because he did feel bad about what he’d done. But he chose to rise above it, to not let himself be pushed out of his job by Cheryl Blossom. And that’s what I’m suggesting for you. You shouldn’t have to be pushed out of this school. And I know we didn’t really see eye to eye when we first met, but I know Fangs and Toni always thought a lot of you, and Archie is my best friend. If he sees something in you, that counts for something for me. Besides, Serpent law, remember? No Serpent stands alone.”
That was possibly the longest speech Joaquin had ever heard Jughead make, but he was grateful that he had said it. “Does it still apply, since I have to do my initiation again?”
Jughead waved this aside. “That’s just a formality. You’ll get back in. It might be easier the second time around anyway. But my dad won’t let anyone throw you out. Anything you need, call me.”
Joaquin was still thinking about this conversation the next day as he dialled a number. But it wasn’t Jughead’s.
“Tall Boy? Joaquin de Santos here. I was having a very interesting conversation with Penny Peabody a few days ago, and she seemed to think we might be able to help each other out…”