Joavin

Joavin is the slash ship between Joaquin and Kevin from the Riverdale fandom.

Canon
Joaquin and Kevin meet at the Twilight Drive-In's last show before closing down, as Joaquin's friends, the South Side Serpents, are being noisy. They see each other when Veronica tells The Serpents off and later Joaquin seemingly accosts Kevin, who's in the midst of buying the whole soda stand when he sees Moose making out with a girl. Initially, it seems like Joaquin is threatening Kevin, but they are seen making out. Although they promise to keep it quiet, due to Kevin's dad being the town Sheriff and Joaquin being a Serpent, the two become a couple almost immediately. Archie and Kevin, along with others, volunteer to work as crew for Fred Andrews on his new contract, but Moose is attacked at the site. Archie takes it upon himself to figure out who did it and, suspecting the Southside Serpents, he goes to the Whyte Wyrm with Moose, Kevin and Joaquin, who can get them in.

Although Kevin is uneasy, he and Joaquin hang out once they get inside, and play pool, continuing to flirt. After Archie almost comes to blows with one of the adult Serpents, they leave. Joaquin attends Jughead's surprise birthday party, where he and Kevin flirt and make out. FP later drops in and questions why Joaquin is there, which Joaquin defends saying he's continuing their work spying on the Sheriff's son. Joaquin is later seen discussing the relationship with Jughead's dad, FP, as a part of their plan (which is hitherto unknown), but it's obvious that Joaquin actually likes Kevin a lot and has real feelings for him. Kevin and Joaquin attend the Homecoming dance at Riverdale High together, which is the first time he's ever brought a boyfriend to a school dance. That leads Kevin into trying to DTR, but Joaquin seems pained and distant, whick irks Kevin. At the end of the dance, Kevin finds out that FP has been arrested for Jason Blossom's murder.

Archie and Betty pull Kevin into their investigation and get him to help ask Joaquin if FP murdered Jason. Joaquin confirms his belief FP did kill Jason Blossom, as well as the part Joaquin played in the cover up, which is why he was so hesitant to directly commit to Kevin. When Joaquin confesses this to Kevin, he is horrified that his boyfriend would partake in something like that. To avoid being dragged into the investigation, Joaquin opts for leaving town, but not before directing them to evidence that FP entrusted Joaquin with in case everything went wrong. In spite of being hurt and angry with Joaquin, Kevin walks him to the bus depot. Joaquin, heartbroken, says goodbye and starts to leave, but at the last minute Kevin turns around and kisses him. Kevin has a hard time with what happened following the break-up, but doesn't let on to anyone other than a few harsh remarks here and there. He later cautions Betty that she can't let Jughead join the Serpents, citing what happened with Joaquin, clearly still hurting over it.

Kevin doesn't really talk about Joaquin after that and has hook-ups with various random guys, but still seems to long for a relationship and his Dad comforts him. When the students from Southside High are transferred to Riverdale High, Kevin meets Fangs who knows of him through Joaquin, saying Joaquin talked to him about Kevin. In the Spring, Joaquin returns to town when Fangs is accused of Midge's murder, to covertly take Fangs with him out of town to avoid the angry mob, but this plan is aborted when Fangs is shot. Joaquin doesn't see Kevin nor mention him, and Kevin likely never knows Joaquin was in town. In the autumn, after Archie's sentenced to juvie he's surprised to find Joaquin also incarcerated there. Archie forms a semi-alliance with Joaquin to try and escape. After stabbing Archie, Joaquin, seemingly under the control of Gryphons & Gargoyles, does escape and randomly runs into Kevin in the woods.

Fanon
Fans were quickly drawn to the pairing. This was also accompanied by fans ecstatic that Kevin was given something to do other than being the "gay best friend". However, the way the relationship was developed had fans disappointed, as more of a Romeo/Juliet style romance was expected but pushed aside and not touched on for several episodes. Joaquin made a few appearances from late Season 2 to early Season 3, but was killed off, much to the outrage of the fandom (bury your gays). Kevin has never had an on-screen reaction to Joaquin's death. The ship is now a rarepair in the fandom. On AO3 it is the most written ship for Joaquin and Kevin. It is also the tenth most written in the Riverdale tag.

Songs

 * looking glass/pettibon | ERAAS
 * Kevin and Joaquin at the Whyte Wyrm

Fandom
FAN FICTION


 * Kevin/Joaquin on FanFiction.Net

TUMBLR

TWITTER

Backstage

 * Their first kiss was Casey Cott's (Kevin Keller) first on-screen kiss
 * Rob Raco (Joaquin DeSantos) ships Joavin and often speaks on this on Twitter/in interviews
 * Madelaine Petsch (Cheryl Blossom) also ships Joavin