Archeryl

Archeryl is the het ship between Archie Andrews and Cheryl Blossom from the Riverdale fandom.

Canon
Cheryl is mostly mean to Archie's friends, but not really to him. In fact, Archie is pretty much the only one of his group that Cheryl bothers to be nice to (at times), even flirtatious. There are plenty of indications that Archie, with his red hair, provides a visually ready reminder of her brother, Jason, and whenever they spend time together, Archie is nice to Cheryl, often considering that she's going through a lot losing her brother.

Cheryl hits on Archie quite a bit, but sincerely asks him to help her out when the annual Blossom family Maple Tree Tapping takes place. Archie agrees to be Cheryl's date for moral support, and in time spent with the Blossoms and their cohorts, both comes to Cheryl's defense and tells her how strong he considers her to be. Cheryl, alone with no one who truly cares for her in Riverdale, takes comfort in Archie's warm presence and she kisses him. He returns to kiss, but breaks it up and leaves.

Cheryl is hurt by his behaviour and returns to spending as little energy as possible on Archie, outwardly. To avenge herself on Archie and Veronica, she enlists Chuck to humiliate them when they crash Jughead's birthday party, where Cheryl makes out with Moose. Whatever feelings Cheryl may have had for Archie seem to be over and done with. At the Riverdale High Homecoming Dance, which Cheryl plans to attend with Polly, campaigning for Homecoming Queen, she instead arrives solo and, after watching Archie and Veronica together, seems hurt and leaves. Archie, as per usual, has no clue of Cheryl's burgeoning feelings for him or thinks to actually redeem his behaviour towards her, but is probably less inclined to do so given her continued hostile treatment of his friends.

They don't really interact again until after Cheryl discovers her dad killed her brother, only to subsequently ends his own life. Her icicle mother talks as if they would be better off dead and Cheryl takes her up on it, deciding to end her life at Sweetwater River, which luckily Veronica deduces. Archie is the one to storm ahead of the group as they try to rescue Cheryl from the icy water and he saves her life by punching his hand through the ice, pulling Cheryl out and resuscitating her. Cheryl and Archie don't really talk after what happened, until Archie's Dad is shot and Cheryl hears about it in the hospital. She goes to give a comatose Fred Andrews a token of her appreciation for what Archie did for her, in a sort of maniacally airy way.

Archie goes on a vendetta to avenge his father getting shot while Cheryl tries to adjust to life after Jason's death and her father's ghastly actions. When Cheryl is drugged and almost raped by Veronica's old New York acquaintance, Archie is livid and wants to beat him up, but Cheryl, who's shaken, says he can calm down as she was already rescued by Melody, Valerie, Josie and Veronica. Cheryl attends the drag race with Kevin, Betty, Reggie, Veronica, Jughead and Archie, taking it upon herself to wave the start flag. Likely because of her low self-esteem, Cheryl continues to alternate between being flirtatious with, indifferent or hostile towards Archie. They briefly have a very normal exchange when Cheryl goes to Pop's to buy a Christmas tree from Archie. Later, Archie and Betty visit Cheryl and Nana Rose to ask about the murder of the Riverdale Reaper, in which Nana Rose admits she participated. Blind to this, Cheryl kicks them out for 'upsetting her Nana'. Cheryl witnesses Archie and Betty's kiss outside her house.

When they return to school following the holidays, Cheryl attempts to blackmail Archie into having Veronica join the Northside v. Southside fight at school, but to no avail. Archie asks Cheryl about St. Clair, as he's looking into Hiram's mob connections via St. Clair's accident and it's hard for Cheryl to talk about, which Archie notices. She tells him that St. Clair tried to assault Veronica too, but thought Archie already knew. He later visits Cheryl to tell her he'll get another check for Cheryl, who could use the money because of her family's dire economic situation and so it might stop her mother's prostitution. Archie gets Cheryl the money, but Veronica's upset with him visiting St. Clair and Cheryl takes the fall, telling Veronica that she sought out Archie for help in getting the money. Cheryl's grateful to Archie for helping her out, and the situation ends on good terms between them.

When Cheryl's denied joining a "couple's weekend" with Archie, Betty, Jughead and Veronica, she calls Jughead and tells him about the kiss between Betty and Archie. They don't really interact much following this, but Archie doesn't really seem to resent Cheryl after the revelation. They kinda exist on the outskirts of each other, with Archie becoming the increasingly fascist apprentice of Mobster Hiram Lodge, while Cheryl actually finds love, comfort and freedom in a romance with Toni Topaz, and the emancipation of her life from her wretched mother and uncle's claws. Once Archie comes back to reality following his criminal detour, he and Cheryl cross paths again.

Cheryl gains intel from her mother and goes to warn Jughead (and Archie) in the trailer park, that the police are raiding the Whyte Wyrm. Together, the three of them go to the Wyrm to warn the Serpents and bring them to safety on the Southside, in Fred Andrews' home They also stand together in protest to prevent the Southsiders from being forcibly moved from Riverdale High and succeed, resulting in Archie being elected Student Body President. Cheryl attends his swearing-in ceremony and is shocked when Archie is arrested for alleged murder.

Cheryl and Archie spend the summer apart, with Cheryl going travelling and Archie forced to stay in Riverdale leading up to his trial on Labor Day. Before the trial, Cheryl invites him to a 'last day of summer' pool party at her house. Cheryl confides in Toni how Archie saved her life the previous winter and that she's devastated that he might go to prison for something he didn't do, and that there's nothing she can do to help him.

Fandom
AO3

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