History HoYay / Riverdale

''Riverdale'' is as full of HoYay as it is maple syrup.

[-Riverdale is as full of HoYay as it is maple syrup.-]

* '''Polly''': Cheryl went as her date to Homecoming and campaigning for them to be co-queens of homecoming. (She says that it's because it's the next best thing to Polly and Jason being king and queen together, but still.) Cheryl playfully calls her "naughty!" She even nicknames her "Pollykins," which, of course, evokes Veronica's nickname for Archie, "Archiekins."

** In 2x17, many fans pointed out the fact that Veronica chose to wear a [[AbsoluteCleavage very revealing]] top for her and Toni's mission to [[spoiler: rescue Cheryl.]]

* '''Betty''': Of the FoeYay variety. She doesn't respect Betty's personal space and is happy to straddle her lap to put makeup on in 1.02. They also ''held hands'' in the same episode and seems to make Veronica jealous at that. There's also the extremely LesYay locker room scene in 2.02, which practically looks like the opening scene of a lesbian porn film—not helped by the fact that Cheryl is wearing lingerie the whole time and gets relatively close to Betty's face, almost like they are about to start making out.

Though Betty has some moments of pure LesYay, Many of them are FoeYay-induced.

* '''Toni''': There was a ton of FoeYay between Betty and Toni in early season 2. Toni noticeably checked Betty out in their first interaction and looked rather intrigued by her serpent dance. And after that, she said to Jughead before she's more into girls in 2.06.

* After Reggie's recasting in the second season to allow the character more screentime, his HoYay with Archie has massively spiked, with him regularly making physical contact, affectionately teasing him, and being his Number Two within the Red Circle. Given their evolution into BashBrothers, it also makes Reggie's previous antagonism towards Archie come off as more FoeYay.

* Some fans have picked up on a certain FoeYay between Archie and Sweet Pea.

* Archie and Hiram may have some FoeYay going on, particularly in "The Wrestler" and "The Hills Have Eyes." Some fans even think they have better chemistry than Varchie, which is all kinds of Freudian NoYay weirdness.

* There was a lot of FoeYay between Jughead and Sweet Pea early in the second season, with Sweet Pea showing absolutely no respect to Jughead's personal space and almost harassing Jughead into joining the Serpents. Toni even lampshades it by suggesting Sweet Pea "take the hint" that Jughead "just isn't that into you." After [[spoiler: Jughead officially joins the Serpents]] mutual respect starts to grow, although there is still some animosity and just as much sexual tension.
* There was arguably some FoeYay between Reggie and Jughead early in the series, with Reggie going out of his way to harass Jughead and putting a lot of thought into creating particular insults for Jughead coming off almost as if he [[LovingBully had a crush on him.]]

* There’s a lot of FoeYay between Alice and Penelope. They tend to lack respect for each other’s personal space and have great chemistry. In the flashback mentioned above episode, Alice even responds to Penelope slapping her back by ''grinning and licking her lips.''

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/49a24253b5c234e5078ca3a814eddfe5e9_15_betty_veronica_kiss2xh473w710.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:And this is just the first episode]]

** Some fans have picked up on a certain FoeYay between Archie and Sweet Pea.
** Archie and Dilton seem to have picked up a habit of [[NoSenseOfPersonalSpace getting very physically close to each other,]] speaking in hushed tones and maintaining eye contact way longer than necessary.
** Archie's Red Circle video is infamously homoerotic.
** In the outtakes, apropos of nothing, KJ Apa (Archie) starts holding Casey Cott's (Kevin) hand after finishing--or rather, thinking he's finished--a shot.
** Archie and Hiram may have some FoeYay going on, particularly in "The Wrestler" and "The Hills Have Eyes." Some fans even think they have better chemistry than Varchie, which is all kinds of Freudian NoYay weirdness.
** Archie and Mad Dog.

* Veronica takes an almost instant liking to Betty after having just met her, and instantly jumps to her defense, telling Cheryl they come as a "matching set".

-->'''Veronica''': Even though I only just met Betty, it really felt like we were ''meant'' to be best friends, like... like it was our destiny. And now... ''[sigh]'' It's like there was this train, that was heading to the rest of my life, and I just... missed it.
** In episode 1.02, Veronica immediately proclaims she wants to pair with Betty to work on a science class project and then remarks to Betty, "Once again, fate has thrown us together," complete with a wide smile. This after the above example of Veronica's flower apology. One would think Veronica wants to be with Betty far more than Archie, the boy she supposedly wants.

* The scene in 1.02 when Betty asks Cheryl to hang out after school to get back at Veronica, and then Betty and Cheryl walk away ''holding hands'', complete with Betty maintaining eye contact with Veronica the entire time and Veronica looking terribly agitated. The whole scene really, really comes across like Betty is trying to make Veronica jealous by "rebounding" on Cheryl.
** Later in the episode after a football game, Betty invites Veronica to the local Shoppe to have milkshakes together and then when they're sitting Veronica makes this remark, "Betty... Can we make a vow? That no matter what, no ''boy'' will ''ever'' come between us again?" with Betty sealing it saying, "Deal," and the two tapping milkshakes. It screams like a make-up date between girlfriends.

* In the final episode of Season 3, Veronica's challenge requires her to choose her, "closest companion," with Betty immediately volunteering herself over Archie and Jug. At the end, Veronica makes a decision and tells Betty she loves her, citing their best friend relationship, with Betty returning the proclamation of love to Veronica. Noteworthy that in the next scene, Archie declares his love to Veronica when the two are alone.

* During their falling out, it was pointed out that the way Archie and Jughead acted around each other was less like two people who have stopped being friends and more like ex-boyfriends. After the reveal as to why Archie and Jughead had a falling out ([[spoiler:F.P., Jughead’s father, was stealing supplies from Fred Andrews’s construction company, so some harsh words being exchanged between Archie and Jughead]]) the behaviour is justified: They didn’t just ''outgrow'' their friendship, but were two people who ''wanted'' to remain friends, but didn’t know how to move past the unpleasant circumstances. In hindsight, this doesn’t make HoYay vibes lessen.

* On his birthday, Jughead intended to go to the movies with Archie rather than his girlfriend. He also wasn't enthused when Archie insisted he take Betty instead.

* In 2.07, Archie tells Jughead he has a fantasy of them living together in New York city. Just to ''really'' ramp up the HoYay, Archie says that in this scenario, their girlfriends ''aren't'' living with ''them'', but rather with ''each other''--a la ShipMates.

* '''Cheryl''': Cheryl seems to be the only one able to ask for Josie and the Pussycats to perform at the drop of a hat, and in 1.02, the Pussycats perform a rather sexual rendition of "Sugar, Sugar" while keeping the she/her pronouns. In the extended version of the performance, Cheryl even comes up on stage to sing the song with Josie. After that, its only because of Cheryl that Josie will give Archie a chance with his music, with Josie even calling her "my girl".

** Goes into {{Yandere}} territory in 2.07, where it's hinted that [[spoiler: Cheryl was the one who left the threatening note and pig's heart for Josie out of jealousy that she went on a date with Chuck]]. And in the following episode Cheryl is ''very'' quick to offer Josie a rubdown to untense her back muscles in the girls' shower room. And she accepts.

** Let's not forget that Valerie is the song writer and [[RecursiveAdaptation possibly]] wrote the song "Sugar Sugar" which is essentially a song about how attractive another girl is, one with long legs and brown eyes... hmmm...
* In Chapter 20, Josie is working on the song "Spooky". The song is originally by Chris Montez, and in his version, the line go "a spooky little girl like you." Josie is shown singing it as ''both'' "spooky little girl" ''and'' "spooky little boy." If she sang it the original way, that wouldn't really mean much, because it's just a song. And if she changed it ''all'' the time, that would suggest straightness. But to change it ''partway'' but not ''all the way'' seems odd, deliberate, and bi.

* '''Cheryl''': There's Veronica comforting her in 1.03, all of their interactions in 1.05. Veronica [[spoiler:is the only one to: 1) notice Cheryl's odd behavior in the days leading up to her suicide attempt, 2) figure out almost immediately what "be with Jason" means, 3) stay with Cheryl for more than five minutes after she tried to kill herself]]. And she seems to enjoy touching Cheryl's hair.
** Veronica seems to be [[DistractedByTheSexy checking Cheryl out]] [[EatingTheEyeCandy for a moment during their dance-off.]] The dance off itself being very sexual and sexually charged.
** In 2.06 it's revealed that Veronica let Cheryl sleep over after the [[AttemptedRape traumatic experience]] Cheryl suffered last episode, and, judging by the color of the silk pajamas Cheryl's wearing, even let Cheryl borrow some of her own pajamas.
*** Also in 2.06, Veronica refers to Cheryl as "Cherry Bombshell."
** In 1x10, there's a scene that can only really be explained by Cheryl [[OperationJealousy trying to make Veronica jealous.]] To wit, Cheryl starts dancing erotically with Moose and ends up making out with him, all while staring right at Veronica and making sure to be in her line of sight. For extra gayness, Veronica actually does seem to be a little jealous.

* '''Ethel''': Veronica being very protective and caring towards Ethel, and Ethel in turn even puts aside [[spoiler: what Veronica's father did to Ethel's family]] in favor of their friendship.
* In 3x15, Toni and Veronica sing “Call Your Girlfriend,” a song wherein the narrator urges the listening to break up with their girlfriend in order to date the former, while Cheryl looks on with jealousy and seems threatened.

Cheryl is no different than Josie and Veronica in this regard, except that she can do subtext even while being mean.

* '''Betty''': Of the FoeYay variety. She really doesn't respect Betty's personal space, and is happy to straddle her lap to put makeup on in 1.02. They also ''held hands'' in the same episode, and seemingly for the purpose of making Veronica jealous at that. There's also the extremely LesYay locker room scene in 2.02, which practically looks like the opening scene of a lesbian porn film. Not helped by the fact that Cheryl is wearing lingerie the whole time and gets rather close to Betty's face, almost like they are about to start making out.
* '''Polly''': Cheryl went as her date to Homecoming, and campaigning for them to be co-queens of homecoming. (She says that it's because it's the next-best thing to Polly and Jason being king and queen together, but still.) Cheryl playfully calls her "naughty!" She even nicknames her "Pollykins," which, of course, evokes Veronica's nickname for Archie, "Archiekins."
* Cheryl arguably had some of this with her GirlPosse Ginger and Tina, before she "fired" them as her minions.

* '''Ethel''': The fact Betty jumped to come at her rescue when Chuck comes to her looks like a protective girlfriend in 1.10. Also some of their moments in Season 3 between {{Yandere}}-like obsession and team-up.

* With Evelyn in Season 3. She is completely obsessed with Betty and relentlessly attempts to court her friendship, even after Betty repeatedly makes it more than clear that she wants nothing to do with Evelyn or The Farm. Evelyn also goes out of her way to touch a noticeably creeped-out Betty in the musical episode, and then there's the scene in 3x19 where Betty pins Evelyn against a wall and gets right in her face while threatening her.
* Also with Donna in Season 4. They're antagonistic for each other but their meetings looks like dates as they talks at Pop's and in the woods. As Betty said: "People will said we're in love".

* Reggie's very first scene in the first episode is complimenting Archie's new physique, and acting as his hype man for the rest of the episode. Given the theory from the old comics that he was a closeted bisexual with a crush on Archie...

* After this the two settle instead as rivals, butting heads thanks to Reggie antagonising Jughead, however despite their competition to become quarterback, the two end up treating one-another as a WorthyOpponent, Reggie going as far as to make sure Archie isn't damaging his health and Archie subsequently dropping out so Reggie could take it.

** Archie and Dilton seem to have a picked up a habit of [[NoSenseOfPersonalSpace getting very physically close to each other,]] speaking in hushed tones, and maintaining eye contact way longer than necessary.

* There was a lot of FoeYay between Jughead and Sweet Pea early on in the second season, with Sweet Pea showing absolutely no respect to Jughead's personal space and almost harassing Jughead into joining the Serpents. Toni even lampshades it by suggesting Sweet Pea "take the hint" that Jughead "just isn't that into you." After [[spoiler: Jughead officially joins the Serpents]] a mutual respect starts to grow, although there is still some animosity and just as much sexual tension.
* There was arguably some FoeYay between Reggie and Jughead early in the series, with Reggie going out of his way to harass Jughead and clearly putting a lot of thought into creating very specific insults for Jughead coming off almost as if he [[LovingBully had a crush on him.]]
* In the early episodes of the series, fans picked up on Jughead's habit of either remembering or imagining instances of he and Jason [[HeldGaze gazing into each other's eyes from a distance for longer than necessary.]]

* Fred and FP in season one gave off a lot of ex-boyfriends vibes. Their reconciliation at times comes off as a romantic one. In [[Recap/RiverdaleS3E04Chapter39TheMidnightClub Chapter 39: The Midnight Club]] they even [[ItMakesSenseInContext streak together!]]
* Penelope really comes off as having a crush on Sierra in [[Recap/RiverdaleS3E04Chapter39TheMidnightClub Chapter 39: The Midnight Club]]. In particular fans noticed that Penelope never reprimanded Sierra for drawing on the mirror, nor did she demand a hall pass like she did from Alice and Hermione, despite Penelope being a rule pushing “teacher’s pet,” the way Penelope perked up when Sierra suggested playing Truth or Dare, the way she and Sierra walk down the hall with their arms linked together just like [[OfficialCouple FP and Alice and Hermione and Fred do,]] and the fact that she specifically set up the pairs for the scavenger hunt so that she and Sierra would be alone together.
* There’s a lot of FoeYay between Alice and Penelope. They tend to lack respect for each other’s personal space and have great chemistry. In the above mentioned flashback episode, Alice even responds to Penelope slapping her back by ''grinning and licking her lips.''
* Sweet Pea and Fangs are rarely seen apart and the way they seem to constantly look out for and protect each other, along with scenes like Sweet Pea's reaction to Fangs getting kicked out of the Serpents by Jughead give off more than just a little bit of HoYay.
* At Cheryl's key party in season five, Reggie ends up picking Fangs' keys--and rolls with it, kissing him before the two leave. It's mitigated at the end with Fangs saying that Reggie is "100% straight", but the fact remains that Reggie initiated the kiss and was willing to fool around.

* '''Toni''': Just the way Toni looks at her during Betty's Serpent dance and she said to Jughead more later she's more into girls than boys. And as they were catty with each other earlier.

* There was a ton of FoeYay between Betty and Toni in early season 2. Toni noticeably checked Betty out in their first interaction and looked rather intrigued by her serpent dance.

* '''Toni''': Just the way Toni looks at her during Betty's Serpent dance and she said to Jughead more later she's more into girls than boys.

* Also with Donna in Season 4. They're antagonistic for each other but their encounters looks like dates as they hangint out at Pop's and in the woods. As Betty said: "People will said we're in love".

!! Betty and several girls

* '''Ethel''': The fact Betty jumped to come at her rescue when Chuck comes to her looks like a protective girlfriend. Also some of their moments in Season 3 between {{Yandere}}-like obsession and team-up.

* Also with Donna in Season 4. They're antagonistic for each other but their encounters looks like dates as they hangint out at Pop's and in the woods. As Betty said: "People will think we're in love".

* Evelyn is completely obsessed with Betty and relentlessly attempts to court her friendship, even after Betty repeatedly makes it more than clear that she wants nothing to do with Evelyn or The Farm. Evelyn also goes out of her way to touch a noticeably creeped-out Betty in the musical episode, and then there's the scene in 3x19 where Betty pins Evelyn against a wall and gets right in her face while threatening her.

-->'''Jughead''': ''(chuckling)'' We're not gonna hug in front of all of these people!

** In episode 1.02, Veronica immediately proclaims she wants to pair with Betty to work on a science class project and then remarks to Betty, "Once again, fate has thrown us together," complete with a wide smile. This after the below example of Veronica's flower apology. One would think Veronica wants to be with Betty far more than Archie, the boy she supposedly wants.

** In episode 1.02, Veronica immediately proclaims she wants to pair with Betty to work on a classic project and then remarks to Betty, "Once again, fate has thrown us together," complete with a wide smile.

* In 3x15, [[BiTheWay Toni]] and [[AmbiguouslyBi Veronica]] sing “Call Your Girlfriend,” a song wherein the narrator urges the listening to break up with their girlfriend in order to date the former, while Cheryl looks on with jealousy and seems threatened.