Chapter Text
Tumblr presses their palms flat against the cold glass, watching the city settle into daylight. Their heart thuds loud in their ears, a glitching drumbeat they can’t silence. The suit feels tight and unfamiliar, the tie choking just enough to remind them that today feels like a performance they aren’t ready for.
They mutter under their breath, voice quiet, barely audible even to themselves, “We all know the average person in society actually does terrible in marriage.”
Tumblr clenches their fists, tilting their head up to look at the ceiling.
I’ll probably be one of them. Maybe this is a bad idea. God, I’ll just be a fucking burden to Archive. I can’t do this. What am I doing here? I can’t, God I can’t-
They force themselves to keep the panic at bay. It was fine . Everything was going to be perfect. Today was their day .
“No,” they mumble, desperately trying to regain composure, “That’s a statistical error. Spider Georg, who lives alone in a cave and ruins over ten thousand marriages every day, is an outlier and should not have been counted.”
The bitter humor barely scratches the surface of the knot in their stomach.
Boots shuffle softly behind them. Wattpad slides up beside Tumblr, her presence solid and familiar like an anchor in the chaos.
“You okay?” she asks, voice low, with that teasing edge that never fails to cut through Tumblr’s anxiety.
Tumblr doesn’t answer right away. Their eyes flicker over the city lights, then down at the floor, then back again- never quite settling.
“I’m... not sure,” they finally say, voice shaky, “I keep thinking about what I’m supposed to say, how to say it so it matters . But everything feels... scrambled. I don’t even have a day to finish anymore and I thought maybe if I just waited, I’d come to me but…”
Their voice trails off, defeated, “Archive probably has their vows done already.”
Wattpad watches them, expression softening, “That makes sense. This is huge and scary. No one’s asking you to be perfect, girl. You just gotta to be honest.”
Tumblr swallows hard, “Yeah but honesty is messy . And what if my honesty doesn’t make any sense? AO3’s words are so clear and polished, and when I try, it just gets tangled up. They speak in proper grammar, Wattpad! How do I beat that?”
A slow smile creeps onto Wattpad’s face, “Messy beats polished any day. And besides,” she adds with a playful nudge, “If you freeze up, just say something dirty. That always breaks the tension.”
Tumblr blinks, genuinely confused, “Like… what?”
She grins, eyes gleaming, “I dunno... something like, ‘I promise to never leave you hanging, unless it’s in bed.’”
Tumblr’s mouth twitched, “You’re impossible.”
“Thanks. I’ve been told.”
A quiet silence falls in between them, and Tumblr finds themselves so fucking lucky to have Wattpad as a friend.
“Thanks Watt,” Tumblr mumbles, not used to thanking their already very egoistical best friend, “It’s a lot less terrifying now, I guess.”
“That’s my job,” Wattpad says, with a grin that makes their chest ache just a little less.
They stand together, the noise of the crowd growing louder behind the door, the moment inching closer. Tumblr’s fingers tighten on the window frame, then relax, their breath slowing.
“Okay,” Tumblr says, voice quieter but firmer, “Maybe I’ll say something simple. I’ll… I’ll figure it out. That’s, that’s okay right? Archive won’t hate me if I make them up on spot? What if they spent a long time working on theirs- god, I know they did, they’re wonderful like that- and I can’t even say a word. What if-”
“Tumblr,” Wattpad interrupts, “AO3 loves you. You could say nothing at all and they’d still be head over heels for your neurodivergent ass.”
The chaotic knot in Tumblr’s chest unravels just enough to let hope slip in.
Wattpad steps back, clapping a hand on Tumblr’s shoulder, “Now, go find AO3 before they disappear into some corner, pretending this isn’t the biggest day of their life.”
Tumblr laughs- genuine, shaky, but confident, “No promises I won’t freak out first.”
“Wouldn’t expect anything less,” Wattpad replies with a wink before walking away, leaving Tumblr alone with their reflection in the glass.
The city outside pulses with life, steady and certain.
And maybe, just maybe, Tumblr thinks, they can be too.
-
Tumblr steps away from the window, their reflection ghosting behind them in the glass. The floor beneath their feet feels less solid now that Wattpad’s gone- like she took the last bit of stability with her.
The hallway outside the suite hums faintly with voices and music. Someone’s laughing too loud. Someone else clinks a glass.
Their shoes echo on the polished tile as they walk toward the open doors, pretending they don’t feel like their chest might collapse in on itself. They pause on the threshold, gaze sweeping the room.
It’s pretty. Of course it is.
Pinterest has been orchestrating this day for months . White strings of lights drip from the ceiling beams like melted stars. The cake stands tall and delicate at the far corner- blood-red velvet inside, per Tumblr’s request, because if they were going to have a wedding cake, it was damn well going to be dramatic. Every napkin is folded into the shape of an open book. And at the center of it all, the guests swirl like different words in a long run-on sentence- loud, chaotic, too much, yet somehow comforting.
Tumblr lets themselves exhale. Okay. Okay . This is fine.
They make the mistake of locking eyes with TikTok across the room- who grins like a devil and immediately starts doing the worm in the middle of the floor.
“Jesus Christ,” they mutters under their breath, dragging a hand down their face.
“Don’t worry, they already promised not to do the Macarena during the vows,” comes a voice just beside them. Reddit, slouched and smug as ever, leans against the wall nursing something in a rocks glass, “Can’t promise they won’t try to live-stream it, though.”
Tumblr makes a face, “Are you… enjoying this?”
Reddit shrugs, “Weddings are just live-action shitposts with cake, so yeah.”
Despite themselves, Tumblr laughs- low and startled, “Thanks, I hate it.”
“You’re welcome,” Reddit replies, raising his glass in salute, “You good?”
“No,” Tumblr sighs honestly, “I feel like I should be though. I mean, I should be super happy right? Am I an asshole for freaking out at my own wedding?”
Reddit snorts once, eyes sharp, “Nah. Everyone does that shit. You’ll be fine.”
Tumblr gives him a smile and moves away toward the crowd, walking around carefully kept bouquets and ducking under banner after banner. They do a quick survey of the party so far- Discord is in the middle of convincing Spotify to add a cursed remix of the wedding march to the playlist, Instagram’s taking photos of the cake from eight different angles, muttering something about filters, and YouTube is lecturing someone about copyright laws.
Wattpad catches their eye across the room and gives a casual thumbs-up, like she didn’t just save their life twenty minutes ago. Tumblr shoots one back and smiles.
They wander toward the quieter edge of the room, the edge where it’s safer. The back wall is lined with windows, all tinted gold by the sun. It’s quieter here. It’s exactly where Archive would be.
AO3 stands by the window, turned halfway toward the light, one hand tucked loosely into their suit pocket. They’re not doing anything- just watching the city with that calm, unreadable face that Tumblr has known for years now. There’s always a stillness to them. Not empty. Just… held.
It’s terrifying how beautiful they look. Soft light turns their collarbones into marble. Their dress fits like it was written for them. And their hands- God , Tumblr has written whole poems about those hands, and none of them were good enough.
Tumblr walks over before they can change their mind.
Archive turns before they speak. Of course they do.
Their voice is low, even, warm, “There you are.”
“I was hiding,” Tumblr admits, voice paper-thin.
“I know.”
Tumblr shifts their weight, talking in their fiance's outfit, “ Jesus , you look like you walked out of a hardcover edition of a romance novel.”
AO3 smiles, the kind of slow, devastating thing that has Tumblr reeling every single time, “So do you.”
“No, I look like I borrowed a suit from a better version of myself,” Tumblr says, tugging self-consciously at their sleeve.
Archive tilts their head, eyes steady, “You look like you. It’s pretty.”
And somehow, that’s the worst and best thing anyone could say.
They stand in silence for a moment, breathing the same air. The music behind them swells gently- nothing dramatic, just something soft and stringed. AO3 turns slightly, enough to face them fully.
“I know you’ve been nervous,” they say. Not a question. “Are you second-guessing this?”
“No!” Tumblr’s throat tightens, “I- I didn’t write the vows.”
AO3 blinks, but their expression doesn’t flicker, “Okay.”
“I mean-” Tumblr’s voice wobbles, “I tried. I really did. I started them. Like, twenty times. And every time it felt wrong, or weird, or like I was trying too hard. And you- you’re so good with words. You always are. So I didn’t-”
They trail off. They don’t mean for it to sound like a confession, but it is. They’re scared of not being enough, of getting swallowed by their own chaos, of failing . Of Archive looking at them and realizing they deserve someone easier to love.
AO3 takes one step closer, “Tumblr.”
Their name sounds like a promise.
“You don’t have to be anything but here.”
Tumblr looks up, “But what if I mess it up?”
“Then I’ll love you while you do. You know I will.”
And it’s not loud or flowery or even very poetic. But it lodges itself deep in Tumblr’s chest like a seed that finally, finally, knows where it can grow.
They don’t realize they’re crying until Archive reaches out, thumb brushing gently against the corner of their eye.
“I’m so scared,” Tumblr whispers.
“I know,” AO3 says. “Me too.”
“I love you. I do .”
“Save it for the altar,” Archive smirks.
“Bastard.”
A chuckle escapes their lover’s mouth, “I love you too.”
They stand there, forehead to forehead, two breathing things trying to remember they’re allowed to be held.
The lights dim a little as the sun wavers in the sky, and the ceremony is still hours away.
But none of that matters yet.
Right now, they have each other.