RIVERDALE

literally nothing you just said makes me believe you’re a bughead shipper. in fact, i think i’ve seen almost the exact same wording on twitter from b*rchie accounts. i’ll leave you with an answer i gave all the way back in february 

the episodes that he specifically writes show nothing but bughead and varchie endgame. i really don’t think he’s here for b*rchie or any sort of love triangle between our core four.

he wrote 1x01, which painted betty and archie’s relationship as completely platonic on archie’s side. and her confession of feelings at the school dance 100% backed up the theory that betty was “in love” with archie because she thought they’d be perfect together. it was grounded in fantasy much more than it was in reality. archie was immediately enthralled with veronica, and straight up told her he’d never had romantic feelings for betty

he wrote 1x02, which ended with betty at pop’s beginning to accept that archie didn’t want to be with her, and that she wasn’t going to hold onto her hurt and let it stop her from becoming friends with veronica, AND it was the moment betty and jughead first interacted. he saved their first interaction until after the BAV “triangle” was over. you can’t meet the right one until you’ve let go of the wrong one. it’s pretty much been established that betty’s crush on archie blinded her to all else, so in the scene where that smoke is finally starting to clear……oh, there’s jughead

he wrote 1x11 (fun fact: this aired on my birthday), which was a good episode for varchie because it was really the start of their relationship–but it was a HUGE episode for bughead. we had jughead, who has been shown to be desperate to get his family back together, choose betty over making that happen. we had betty furious at everybody accusing fp and hurting jughead, and she told her mom that jughead was just as much her family as she was. she LOVES him. that was not just the first bughead declaration of love, it was the first time we heard it from betty period. she asked archie if he loved her in episode one, but she never said that she loved him. she tells veronica “the boy i like.” that’s pretty significant, in my opinion  

he wrote 1x13, which was obviously a big episode for bughead and varchie. veronica and archie finally became a couple with betty’s blessing. betty referred to veronica and jughead as the people they were meant to be with. betty and jughead were called soul mates. veronica brought up her insecurities about b*rchie to archie, and he told her (for a second time) that he’s only ever felt friendship for betty. we had the first scene of bughead and varchie together cuddled up as couples at pop’s. veronica and archie had sex. betty and jughead exchanged i love yous. it was a giant hit against b*rchie and the BAV love triangle, ESPECIALLY when you find out the tiny hints of those things that were in the episode, roberto was told to add in. something that’s also super telling: the alternate ending for this episode (in case they didn’t get renewed for s2) was jughead moving in with the coopers

he wrote 2x01, which was an important one for varchie. a lot of people like to complain that their relationship is very physical. that was addressed in that episode. veronica told betty that sort of thing was easy for her, the emotional stuff was harder, but she wanted to try because she cares about archie so much. and she does a great job of pushing herself out of her comfort zone. archie tries to push her away and she refuses to let him. at the hospital, the doctor told archie to talk to his dad (who was in a coma) about good things–he talked about veronica. the hallucinations fred had, the things he didn’t want to miss in archie’s life, were his graduation, his engagement to veronica, and his wedding to veronica. that scene was so extravagant. RAS went all out with the varchie wedding, and it wasn’t even real. bughead was super well written too. we had adorable flirting, but also betty was open about her worries with him. it was beautiful communication and ended with her telling him she would support him no matter what, and they had a beautiful kiss in the rain

he wrote 2x12, which had two more clear married!varchie references. the first being archie mesmerized by veronica in her white dress, and the second being her blurring out everybody except him as she said “i do” for her confirmation. veronica spent the whole episode wanting to shield archie from the evils of her family, and then when she was finally going to tell him her dad was involved with the mafia, archie told her he already knew and basically professed his undying love for her. we had bughead return to their s1 dynamic, AND had them acknowledge that they’d lost that trying to protect each other instead of facing the ugliness together. they’re not just boyfriend and girlfriend, they’re partners. they get shit done when they’re together. they give each other great ideas and refuse to let the other give up. they rebounded (somewhat) on those big secrets and communication problems they were having. jughead came clean about everything, and while betty didn’t, i think RAS did a good job of painting her struggle. i didn’t get the vibe that she didn’t tell jughead about the kiss with archie because it meant something to her. i got the vibe that, after jughead basically told her that her breaking up with him through archie is what drove him into toni’s arms, she was scared to tell him that she’d also kissed him. you see her pause their make-out, wanting to tell him, but then deciding not to because she probably thinks he’ll stop. the fact that she kissed archie and lied about it could cause her to lose him, again–so she says “i want all of you. tonight.” he might not want another night when he finds out, so she’s going to take what she can get while she can. i think the idea that he’d break up with her over a kiss is ridiculous, but it’s a real fear for her. –back on topic, roberto made sure that he was the one to write their first time. RAS writing both varchie and bughead’s first time is not a coincidence 

he wrote 2x22, which was a lighter varchie episode, but a MASSIVE one for bughead. we opened with jughead in a coma dreaming about betty standing over his grave, holding his prized beanie, crying, and telling him to come back to her. roberto wrote betty telling our narrator that he needs to come back because their story isn’t over. their story. he low-key implied riverdale is bughead’s love story. anyway, this dream is what brings jughead back from the brink of death. and then later when fp tells him they’re leaving town, he angrily tells him that he’s not leaving betty. jughead holds betty over his blood family, something we saw in 1x11 as well (written by roberto). on betty’s side, we have this guilt, and pain, and anger eating her up (and not just in 2x22, she’s struggled with her “darkness” since season 1). one conversation with jughead and she’s able to face her father and confidently tell him that she’s not like him. she’s not a bad person, she’s not evil. that’s some true love stuff. and them babysitting polly’s twins? well, i’m just gonna leave this here

then we have the HOTEL scene. this part got trimmed, but roberto originally wrote that scene opening with betty telling jughead she wanted to stay there forever. betty and jughead laughed and smiled in that scene more than they did pretty much the entire season. he asked betty to be his queen, and she asked if he was asking her to join the serpents, and he said sort of. the scene was intentionally written to sound like a proposal. roberto is so hyped for married bughead that he had to get them pre-engaged in the second season 

roberto is varchie & bughead endgame, everything he writes points to it

My dad’s been shipping bughead since day 1.

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