#being the weird literary cinematic loner who got into a lot of fights

[owlbean]

I mean this entirely genuinely, Jughead's s1-6 arc in this show meant so much to me. He starts out the series unhoused, visibly less wealthy despite being surrounded by upper middle class friends, because he would rather that than go back to his abusive family. He's a kid with a lot of passion and an artistic mind and dreams- if he can't make it big, and he seems resigned to the fact he never will, he's content enough to dream of leaving this shithole town and finding a new life living with his friends. If he can't succeed, he just wants community and safety. Pop Tate is that. Archie is that. Betty and Veronica and the Serpents are that. Over the years he builds that family. He becomes a core member of his community- the Southside, Riverdale High, the entire town, they finally start to feel like home and family to him even when his birth family completely abandons him. He leaves town, but at his lowest point he's alone and afraid. So he returns. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't successful, but it was the family he needed more than anything. Tabitha fits into that family as easily as if she was always meant to. The Tates have been family from the beginning, of course she would. He spends his entire life happy with his family, even if it's just for a fleeting instant. When Jason Blossom was killed, Jughead was sleeping alone in a condemned drive-in and hiding out in the diner, but when the comet hits he's with the Tates and content to face it because in the end he got what he always truly wanted, a family and a place in the world