Choni

Choni is the femslash ship between Toni Topaz and Cheryl Blossom from the Riverdale fandom.

Canon
FACE-OFFS Cheryl and Toni meet at the Ghoulies vs. Serpents drag race as Cheryl takes over the flag prompt from a bemused, but nonchalant Toni. Their later re-introduction goes far worse as Cheryl demeans the Southside High students, who have been transferred to Riverdale High following the closure of Southside High. Following Jughead's article, Toni, inspired by her grandfather, leads the protest against Pickens Day, the celebration of a man who slaughtered the indigenous Uktena people who have the rightful claim to Riverdale and today exist as the Serpent community. Cheryl's mother confirms the horrible crimes of General Pickens at the behest of her great-great-grandfather, Barnabas B. Blossom, and Cheryl, horrified at this, goes and stands with the Serpents in protest. Taking a stand against her family's gruesome acts, Cheryl looks on in reverence and admiration as Toni speaks.

SUPPORT When Cheryl lashes out at the core four, Toni calmly confronts Cheryl and sees beyond Cheryl's defences. Cheryl balks at Toni's kindness, but starts letting her guard down when Toni persists in knowing the pain behind Cheryl's evil facade. Cheryl opens up to Toni and shares with her how Cheryl fell in love when she was younger and Penelope branded her a deviant, tearing Cheryl from her love Heather and crushing her as she began to hid her true feelings. Toni tells Cheryl that Penelope is completely wrong and that Cheryl is deserving of love and Cheryl lets herself receive Toni's comfort.

ROMANCE Cheryl and Toni start hanging out at Thistle House and are very flirtatious around one another. Cheryl asks Toni to be her emotional support at her late father's will reading, where she faints when her late father seems to enter the room. Cheryl finds out that it's her long lost uncle and keeps Toni around, inviting her to family dinner. Cheryl invites Toni to join the River Vixens and confesses to her inner circle that she's afraid to be alone in the house, fearing for her life in the face of her mother and uncle's scheming. Toni is sympathetic and Cheryl admits that she had to invite several girls over for a slumber party to have Toni over in the house. They almost kiss, when a loud crash wakes and scares everyone.

The attempt on Nana Rose's life has Cheryl confess to Toni that she fears she might be next. Toni later goes looking for Cheryl at Thistle House and is told by Penelope that Cheryl's been sent off to a Swiss boarding school. Toni is sure Cheryl's in danger and enlists Josie and Veronica's help in confronting Penelope, but to no avail. Nana Rose calls Toni at school to inform her that Cheryl's with the 'Sisters' and Veronica figures out that it's the Sisters Of Quiet Mercy.

With info from Kevin they lead a rescue mission through a secret tunnel leading to the facility and break into the screening room where a despondent Cheryl dares not think that Toni has really come to her rescue. Shaken out of her reverie, Cheryl runs to Toni and hugs her and they also kiss for the first time, before escaping with Veronica through the tunnels. Following her ordeal, Cheryl's out for vengeance, but oddly relaxed given what she's been through and happy to be with Toni, at school, out in the open.

During the musical episode, as Cheryl stars as the lead, she and Toni hang out and enjoy themselves, until the murder. When Cheryl's pulled out of the musical by her mother, with Toni's encouragement, Cheryl stands up to Penelope and takes Thistle House for herself and Nana Rose. Following Midge's death, Cheryl sings at her funeral and is livid, giving a speech where she states that she is adamant at finding whoever's responsible. Meanwhile, Toni and the Serpents get busy protecting Fangs once it's publicised he was having an affair with Midge. They escort him out when he's released from prison to protect him from an angry mob, but Fangs is shot.

Cheryl's attacked by the Black Hood at her house, but manages to get out to her quiver and shoots him in the shoulder with an arrow, leading the Black Hood to flee. During the chaos of the Riverdale riots, Cheryl is contacted by Jughead who needs her help. Penny abducted Toni to threaten Jughead and he rushes to save her, with Cheryl in tow. Toni is released and she and Cheryl huddle together, relieved to be together again. The three of them go to the Whyte Wyrm, where Cheryl seems to join in allegiance with the Serpents. They later witness FP carrying a limp, beaten Jughead and are horrified. Luckily, Jughead is fine in the hospital, and Cheryl sets the legal emancipation from her mother in motion with Attorney McCoy, providing her with Nana Rose as her legal guardian.

Cheryl learns from Penelope that the Whyte Wyrm is being raided and warns Toni, Jughead and Archie. They all escape in time and seek refuge at Fred Andrews' house. Toni puts forth that Cheryl be honored for rescuing the Serpents and Cheryl is made an honorary Serpent, receiving a cherry red Serpent jacket from new Serpent leader Jughead, as Toni proudly looks on.

JUNIORS Following the harrowing years she's had, Cheryl and Toni motorbike across country together for three months. They return in time for Cheryl to throw a last day before summer ends pool party, where she tells Toni for the first time about what happened at Sweetwater river in the winter. Cheryl tells Toni she lost hope - that Archie saved her life and she wishes she could do something to help him stay out of prison. Once Fangs gets intel that the Ghoulies have Hotdog, Toni and Cheryl join the Serpent boys and Betty on a mission to retrieve him. They walk into a trap and to protect Jughead, Cheryl shoots an arrow in Malachi's shoulder as a warning and they manage to get Hotdog.

They help Veronica stop Hiram from ruining her speakeasy opening by helping her find evidence of the Ghoulies working for him. They later find themselves involved in the dangerous board game sweeping the town, Gryphons and Gargoyles, when Jughead’s investigation into it involves the Serpents. When Toni and the other Vixens suffer from the mysterious seizures going around town, Cheryl nurses her back to health and asks her to move in with her, to which Toni says yes.

TENSIONS

While Riverdale is under a town wide quarantine for weeks, Cheryl and Toni entertain themselves by becoming cat burglars and stealing from the rich people around town. When they return home one night, Toni tells Cheryl that she loves her and Cheryl returns the sentiment. Their fun is short lived when Jughead declares a no crime law for all the Serpents, even though he secretly gives Fangs a pass for selling drugs. Cheryl and Toni ignore this rule and break into the Pembrooke, where they steal an expensive egg and Cheryl leaves a lipstick mark on Hiram’s portrait as a calling card. When Jughead finds out, he kicks Toni and Cheryl out of the Serpents, and has to kick Fangs out too, when they call him out for his hypocrisy.

When Cheryl tries to help Kevin move forward with Moose by reading a blind item suggesting someone in the RROTC is in the closet as a way to encourage him to come out, Toni confronts Cheryl for basically outing him, as well as acting too blasé about how much losing the Serpents hurts Toni, because they were her family and legacy. Cheryl sincerely apologies, telling Toni that she’s the most important person in her life, and she will do whatever it takes to fix things. She apologizes to Moose, gives her interview spot at her family’s legacy school, Highsmith College, to Toni, and finds a bunch of girls around school to form a new gang, which Toni names The Pretty Poisons.

Between adjusting to living together and differing opinions on their new gang, tensions begin to rise between Cheryl and Toni. When Toni tells Cheryl that Jughead insulted the Pretty Poisons and called them a vanity project for Cheryl in an attempt to get Toni to rejoin the Serpents, Cheryl and the other girls confront Sweet Pea and Fangs and beat them up when they belittle them. Toni doesn’t approve of using the Poisons for petty vendettas and reminds Cheryl that she’s a leader, and not to use them without her permission again. But when another fight breaks out between a Poison and a new Serpent under Cheryl’s watch, Toni threatens to suspend Cheryl from the gang, while Cheryl threatens to not let the gang use her house for meetings if she does. Toni ends up making a deal with Veronica for the Poisons to work security for her at her speakeasy without discussing it with Cheryl, who later declines the invite on to join them.

In an attempted to reconnect, Cheryl books them a Spring Break ski trip to Mont Blanc, but is disappointed when Toni informs her that she’s already made plans to go camping with the Poisons without telling her. Their tiff is interrupted when Toni gets a call from Veronica to go work, but when Cheryl shows up with freshly baked snacks to make peace, she finds Toni i having fun and singing karaoke with Veronica. After learning that Toni has secretly been paying Nana Rose rent and trying to get her attention, Cheryl shows up at the speakeasy when Toni is working its casino night, making a show of casing the place, so that Toni will stay after closing at catch her pretending to steal from the safe. The confrontation leads to the two of them having sex in Veronica’s speakeasy after hours, and then finally agreeing to talk about their issues now that the tension has been eased. Cheryl feels like Toni would rather spend time with the Poisons than her, while Toni feels like Cheryl doesn’t like someone else having the power with the Poisons, which Cheryl denies. She also says Cheryl’s house doesn’t feel like it’s her own and that maybe they moved in together too fast. Cheryl says if she feels that way, then she should move out.

Cheryl decides to channel her angry and heartbreak at their breakup into a musical, and has Kevin change his planned choice to Heathers, which she’ll star in. She attempts to appear as if she doesn’t care, but when Toni joins the musical as a choreographer, she grows petty, ignoring her instructions and even engaging in a dance/sing off with her. When the Farm throws a cast party, Cheryl suspects most of it sulking and watching Toni, but when Evelyn informs her that Toni is wearing red to school the next day, she confronts her in the hallway and tries to tell her she needs to leave the school. After the confrontation, Toni sings Dead Girl Walking and leads Peaches N’ Cream and Sweet Pea to the auditorium for a revenge hook up, but stops it before anything can actually happen after she imagines Cheryl singing to her. Toni then goes to Thistlehouse to try to work things out with Cheryl. When she asks her what love was like in her family, Cheryl explains that it was “all or nothing, pure adoration or distilled hate.” She says that Jason was her only light growing up until he died and her life was dark again, until she met Toni, but lately, it’s felt like she’s losing her. Toni assures her that she’s still here and it’s not too late for them to make it work. They sing Seventeen and kiss, reuniting.

THE FARM

When Betty approaches Cheryl for help infiltrating the Farm - a cult run by Edgar Evernever that's slowly taking over the town by recruiting new members - Cheryl gets hypnotized into believing that she's speaking to her dead twin brother Jason, and joins the cult in an attempt to continue seeing him. After Toni learns of this turn of events, she attempts to remind Cheryl that Jason is dead by showing her a video of his murder, but when it doesn't work, she instead resorts to seducing Cheryl to stay at home instead of going to a meeting at the Farm. When Edgar's daughter Evelyn finds out about Toni's meddling, she first threatens Toni to back off, and when that doesn't work, she forces Cheryl to break up with Toni or lose Jason again. When Cheryl tries to break up with Toni, Toni says she won't let her, and suggests there has to be a way for Cheryl to have both of them. And that way is for Toni to join the Farm too, but she does it as an undercover agent for Betty, with the plan of taking the Farm down and getting Cheryl back.

However, Toni is quickly turned and becomes a genuine member of the Farm with Cheryl. Their dedication is put to the test when Edgar says they are not allowed to run for Prom Queens as Farm members, but any doubts they express are erased by a new round of hypnotism by the time Betty next tries to get through to them. It isn't until Betty discovers that the Farm is harvesting organs from its members and Cheryl realizes that Toni is in danger, does she truly snap out of it. She saves Toni from surgery just in time, but fears they won't be able to outrun the guards chasing him; she tells Toni she loves her and forces Toni to leave on her own, while she stays behind to fight the guards in an attempt to give Toni enough time to escape. When Toni returns to Thistlehouse and tells Penelope what happened, Penelope poisons Toni, knocking her out. While still at the Farm, Cheryl discovers that when she thought she was talking to Jason, she was actually speaking to his corpse, that Edger had taken from his grave. When Toni comes to, Nana Rose informs her that Penelope has her other friends held hostage, but Toni's first priority is saving Cheryl. She rounds up the Poisons and Serpents with plans to charge the Farm, but Alice has already helped Cheryl escape with Juniper, so Cheryl and Toni have an emotional reunion at their home. When Cheryl finds out what Penelope has done, she and Toni decide to take gathered Poisons and Serpents to go save their friends.

SENIORS

Due to Polly and Alice disappearing with the Edgar and the Farm, Cheryl and Toni end up taking care of Polly and Jason's twins, Juniper and Dagwood, but unbeknownst to Toni, Cheryl hasn't quite healed from her time in the Farm as well she's acting. In fact, she took Jason's corpse back from the Farm and has been keeping it in Thistlehouse's chapel all summer, so she can continue talking to him like she did at the Farm. Despite her continued deteriorating mental health, Cheryl strikes up a rivalry with the school's new principal, Mr. Honey, who is much stricter than the previous principal, and doesn't bend to Cheryl's whims. When he cancels the annual Back to School dance due to the deaths as Junior Prom, Cheryl and Toni throw a party for their classmates at Thistlehouse instead.

When Toni hires a nurse named Darius to help take care of Nana Rose and the twins, Cheryl becomes paranoid that he'll discover her secret, and she becomes convinced he has when she notices Jason's body has been moved. After Darius informs them that Thistlehouse has a rat problem and that he went down to the chapel, Cheryl fires him on the spot. She later finds some of those rats have been lured to Jason's body, and Toni walks in on her trying to fix the damage they've done to him. Toni forces Cheryl to bury Jason's body again, but Cheryl isn't ready to let him go again and uses a doll to try make Toni think Jason's spirit is haunting them for burying him. Toni sees through Cheryl's antics, but plays along on Halloween night, where Nana Rose informs them both over a Ouija board game that it's not Jason in the doll, but Cheryl and Jason's triplet Julian, that Cheryl absorbed in the womb. When Toni relents out of frustration and agrees to let Cheryl bring Jason's body back, she confronts Cheryl about why she's still trying to scare her with the doll, to which Cheryl admits she was before, but she's not anymore and that Thistlehouse must truly be haunted.

Cheryl becomes increasingly paranoid about the Julian doll to the point that she starts skipping school to stay home and keep guard. Toni eventually gets her to leave the house, but when she comes back to find the doll has been moved again, she tries drowning it, only to get a call at school the next day that Dagwood has been rushed to the hospital after almost choking on a ping-pong ball. When Cheryl gets home, she discovers her Aunt Cricket, Uncle Bedford and Cousin Fester waiting for her. She faints and wakes to Toni at her bedside, and together they're informed that Cheryl's family is there to discuss selling the family business. Cheryl initially refuses, but Toni reasons with her, that a fresh start might be best. However, as soon as she agrees, her Uncle requests to visit the chapel, which causes Cheryl to kick them out. Cheryl and Toni later wake to strange noises in the house, and when they investigate, they find Bedford in the chapel, having discovered Jason's body. He calls Cheryl sick and attempted to harm her, until Toni hits him in the back of a head with a candle stick, accidentally killing him.

Sensing Toni's guilt, Cheryl assures her that she was only protecting her and didn't set out to do any harm. She devises a plan to dump Bedford's body in Sweetwater River, which will soon freeze over. However, Toni discovers that Bedford's wife Cricket has been staking out Thistlehouse because she thinks that they did something to him, making it impossible for them to move his body undetected. Cheryl comes up with another plan, inviting Cricket and Fester over for Thanksgiving diner and tricking them into thinking they've just eaten Bedford's body in the meat pies and thus, it will never be found. Cheryl and Toni cuddle on the couch later that night after dumping Bedford's body in Sweetwater River, celebrating successfully getting away with murder. Cheryl tells Toni that she loves her and is grateful to her, and Toni returns the sentiment.

When Mr. Honey forces Cheryl to go see the school's guidance counselor, Mrs. Burble, due to her troubling attendance, she finally breaks down. She confesses to having and talking to Jason, that she's crazy and how she believes she's being haunted by the brother she absorbed in the womb. Mrs. Burble assures her that she's not crazy, but simply grieving, and suggests that someone is attempting to make Cheryl think she's going crazy by moving the doll around the house when she's not home. She sends her to get a test done to determine if she really did absorb a twin in the womb, and tells her that she needs help with the Vixens, so she can focus on herself, but otherwise, she thinks she's doing well considering all she's been through. Cheryl waits until she's with Toni to read the results of her test, and after Toni assures her that she loves her no matter what, Cheryl is elated to discover that she never absorbed a twin and that the doll isn't really haunted, but rather someone must really be moving it, and whoever it is will pay. She later discovers that it was Penelope, who has been secretly living in the walls of Thistlehouse while on the lamb. Cheryl holds a makeshift trial to decide what to do with her, and Penelope confesses that she was jealous seeing Cheryl reunited with Jason when she couldn't be, and wanted to ruin it. Cheryl decides to lock Penelope up in the bunker as punishment, and later decides she's finally ready to let go of Jason. She gathers Toni, Archie, Jughead, Veronica and Betty at Sweetwater River to give him a vikings funeral, lighting his body on fire and setting it adrift. She tells Toni she wishes she could have met him for real because he was a good brother.

HEALING

Mr. Honey hires a new coach for the Vixens, Miss Appleyard, much to Cheryl's chagrin. Her attempt to get the Vixens to strike until the coach is fired falls apart when Mr. Honey threatens to ban them from Prom, and only Toni stands with Cheryl. She eventually locks Miss Appleyard in her office, and she, Toni, Veronica and the other Vixens perform Cherry Bomb at the football game. Veronica asks Cheryl to go into business with her, selling maple rum at her speakeasy and Penelope's old Maple Club, which Toni helps with.

It's at the Maple Club that Toni meets Nick St. Clair, a rich boy from New York that previously roofed and attempted to sexually assault Cheryl. When Toni asks why Cheryl disappeared from work earlier that day, she tells her about what Nick did to her and that even though she thought she was over it, seeing him again triggered her. Toni understands, confessing that something similar happened to her before she moved to Riverdale, and that she got through it with a lot of help, which she wants to give to Cheryl. Later, Nick comes back into the Maple Club, and Toni lures him into a room, where she drugs him and has Fangs and Kevin film a tickling video of him, that she uses to blackmail him into never returning to Riverdale or coming near Cheryl again. Cheryl thanks her for tackling yet another one of her traumas, and acknowledges how lucky she is to have Toni.

When Veronica starts suspecting her half sister Hermosa is scheming on behalf of their father, Cheryl and Toni come up with a plan to catch her spying red handed. Toni meets her at the speakeasy first, pretending not to know her, and sets up part two of the plan, which involves Cheryl meeting them another night, and pretending to invite her for a threesome. When the three of them get back to the motel room, Veronica is waiting there to confront her.

After Mr. Honey denies Kevin's attempt to perform Hedwig because it's too sexual in nature, Cheryl and Toni attempt to convince him to change his mind, and perform Sugar Daddy in Pop's. However, the song ends up proving Mr. Honey's point that it's too sexual, and he threatens that anyone that performs a song from Hedwig will be barred from Prom. The gang end up coming together to support Kevin and put on a Variety show at the speakeasy, where they play songs from Hedwig.

FAMILY DRAMA

With senior Prom approaching, Cheryl attempts to organize a dinner for her and Toni's families, which Toni shoots down. She says that while she's out to her grandparents, they're not the most supportive and they'd probably be uncomfortable at a "big gay dinner party" and that it might even be a good idea to tell them that Cheryl is only her friend, which Cheryl is very upset by. When Toni visits her Nana to tell her about Cheryl, her Nana reveals that she already knows because Cheryl already stopped by. They get into a fight due to the violent history between the Blossoms and the Serpents/Uktena tribe, but even after Toni tries to assure her that Cheryl is nothing like her family, her Nana still declares she's not allowed to date a Blossom. When Toni confronts Cheryl about going to see her Nana behind her back, Cheryl calls Toni out for lying about why her grandparents wouldn't be supportive; she thought it was because she's a lesbian, not a Blossom. When Toni tells her that her Nana doesn't want them to be together, Cheryl says she hopes Toni will still go to Prom with her. And though Toni shows up a little, she does, much to Cheryl's relief. They become Riverdale High's first openly gay royal couple when they win Prom Queens, but their high is short lived, when Toni later reveals she can't go back to Thistlehouse with Cheryl. Cheryl is confused because she thought Toni chose her, but Toni says it was just for tonight for now. Cheryl understands that family is the most important thing and thanks Toni for coming because she'll cherish the memory forever. Toni thanks her for understanding, promising that her Nana will come around in time. Cheryl pretends to believe her, but ends the night crying in Nana Rose's lap, believing that she and Toni won't end up together because the Blossom curse has finally come to get her, and that she's destined to end up alone.

Toni apologizes for not going home with Cheryl at school, but Cheryl assures her it's okay and things will work out. Cheryl attempts to prove herself worthy of Toni's Nana's approval by trying to right some of her family's wrongs, starting with selling part of their land and having it declared sanctuary grounds for the Uktena people. But when the Blossom Board members, including her Aunt Cricket and Cousin Fester, don't agree with her proposal, she goes to Penelope for help getting them to listen. Penelope instructs Cheryl to take a weekend getaway to give herself an alibi and promises to take care of it. So Cheryl invites Toni away for the weekend, but when she comes back, she discovers that Penelope has poisoned the entire Blossom board, leaving Cheryl in full control.

Cheryl and Toni celebrate the last day of school with their friends and perform their duties as senior class president and vice president. But come graduation day, when Cheryl witnesses Toni showing her Nana around school and hears her Nana tell Toni she's doing their family proud, Cheryl realizes that she can't let Toni make such compromises for her. The next night, she informs Toni that she's not going to go to Highsmith College with her, because she plans to stay in Riverdale and rehabilitate the Blossom image, so that one day, she might be worthy of being with Toni. Toni tries to talk her out of it, telling her that her Nana is slowly coming around, but Cheryl's mind is made up. She tells Toni she loves her with every ounce of her soul, but she doesn't want her to have to choose between her and her family; maybe someday she won't have to but until then... Toni doesn't want to hear Cheryl say they're breaking up, so Cheryl promises her she never will.

Quotes
"We search every damn door until we find her"

- Toni to Veronica about finding Cheryl

"I didn’t want to invite all the girls tonight, but I knew my hideous mother would never allow me to invite just you, it's just ... what I crave"

- Cheryl

Fanon
Although people hoped for the possibility of this relationship when it was announced that Toni Topaz was joining Riverdale, it dissipated once Cheryl's coming out story became an unhealthy 'Psycho Lesbian' trope, and included Cheryl targeting the black characters on the show; Josie, Chuck and Toni. Cheryl was, as she is with everyone, verbally abusive towards Toni from the beginning. At first Toni's willingness to look past this was perceived by some as the character's maturity, but after they started dating Toni was reduced to a sidekick, acting out of character. The bigger breaking point came when Toni learned that Cheryl had been terrorising, stalking and gaslighting Josie, and Toni didn't care/react at all.

There are still people who ship it, but it is not clear whether this is because they are not aware of the toxicity of the relationship, or if it's a case of white people not understanding how damaging and repulsive Cheryl's treatment of Josie, Chuck and Toni is, especially since she suffers no consequences from her actions. The relationship has only continued its negative course, with Toni suddenly starting to rob rich people with her rich girlfriend 'for fun', despite being from a poor part of town and previously identifying societal struggles and protesting them. Cheryl also started displaying abusive behaviour out of fear of losing Toni by trying to limit Toni's social life and life in general outside of Toni's relationship with Cheryl, which is textbook abuser behaviour. This led to Cheryl lashing out by breaking up with Toni, then proceeding to verbally attack Toni in public, as well as physically. Despite this, the show put them back together, showing no regard for Toni's safety and wellbeing.

The fandom has only recently become increasingly aware of the abusive relationship that this is, but a large part is still maintaining that it's not, most likely due to the show not understanding what it is writing. The danger of advertising this relationship as 'representation' of an LGBTQIAP+ relationship seems to evade the people who write this show, as well as the media who unabatedly continue to promote the relationship positively.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION
 * Toni/Cheryl tag on FanFiction.net
 * Toni/Cheryl tag on FanFiction.net


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Trivia

 * Vanessa Morgan (Toni Topaz) and Madelaine Petsch (Cheryl Blossom) are best friends in real life and met in 2015 when Morgan auditioned for Josie