Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

[giggling profusely what the fuck]

Tumblr sat, tapping quietly at the keyboard attached to his monitor. It was one of those custom keyboards, dressed with practically silent keys and led lights looping through the cracks. He let out a small huff of frustration, raking a hand through his dark blue hair- as if the rough combing motion would make light of this situation. He narrowed his deep-set eyes, scanning the website in front of him. A blinding white as the primary colour, and an obnoxious red as the secondary colour for the site. It hurt, causing Tumblr to blink his blue eyes a couple times before adjusting to the light. Of course, Tumblr wasn’t about to go through the trouble of making an account just to change the CSS code and give his eyes a break. He wasn’t some fucking nerd who waited for 3 weeks, constantly stalking their email inbox to receive an invite back to join the site! God, he hated Ao3. Ao3, as in the website, and the person.

Recently, Tumblr had been surveying the most popular tags on his beloved social media platform. Much to his anger, #Ao3 was one of the top tags. Why was another website taking up half the discussions being posted? Seriously, was some lame fanfiction archive really this important to people? Usually, Tumblr would've just brushed it off, but not after his team had shown him some new conversations being sparked within the Tumblr community.

People had started to get… curious, to put the matter lightly. See, Archive of our Own, better known as Ao3- was exactly that. Built by fans, for fans. An archive completely sustained by the writers and readers who used it. There were no ads, premium services, subscriptions, or any revenue being made off the site whatsoever.

Pausing, Tumblr tried to think of any other site like that. He could only come up with Artfight, an annual art competition- but that was it. He couldn't name any others. Of course, with so many Tumblr spreading to Ao3 now, some members had begun to pose the question.

Why wasn't Tumblr free of ads and subscriptions? Wasn't the site supposed to be a nostalgic, old-internet-esque sort of thing? This particular question was starting to get asked more and more, even in recent weeks. Tumblr felt as if this were obvious- to make money. Of course, the people weren't stupid. They knew that too- but they were still challenging Tumblr nonstop, as if he was just going to remove all ads because of a couple of douches cries.

Tumblr extended one of his long arms to reach for the mug of steaming coffee that rested on his desk. He took a long sip, feeling a wave of exhaustion roll over him. See, nobody really… understood where Tumblr was coming from with the ads. Not many people understood what it was like for him and his mother to be constantly on the verge of eviction, never having more than a couple 20 dollar bills at hand.

When Tumblr had realized that his silly little website idea might have actually been quite a genius one, he didn't hesitate. In the next couple years, the Tumblr community had become massive- just as the man had hoped. This also meant that Tumblr could easily begin making revenue. So, that's what he did. Finally, finally he could buy mom whatever dresses or shoes or cosmetics she had ever wanted; without looking down at the price tags even once.

So no, Tumblr didn't feel bad. He didn’t regret implementing advertisements and premium services into his social media platform. Most of all, he didn't think that this made him a bad person. The monetization of his website wasn't hurting anyone! (Well, maybe some particularly sensitive individuals…). He wasn't going to stop profiting from this empire of his, the empire he’d worked so hard to build, just because some people were whining about it.

Just because Ao3 was completely free, didn't mean that the site's creator, Archive, was a saint. Judging from what the man allowed on his website, Tumblr was sure he had some sort of wish to be sent straight to hell. Before Tumblr had more time to judge and scrutinize Archive, his phone gave a small ding, momentarily bringing his attention to the device in the pocket of his sweatpants.

He fumbled for his phone before managing to scoop it from the dark depths of his right hip pocket, his eyes landing on a message from his friend Instagram. Just as he had thought- she was hosting yet another party. She hosted them at least twice a month- it was kinda her thing. Now, going to these dances was always a little annoying, because dozens of reporters and paparazzi would swarm you before you even had a chance to enter the building, but Tumblr could expect that from any event he pulled up to. Tumblr could only begin to imagine the piles upon piles of questions he’d be asked regarding the monetization of Tumblr. He’d have to think of some half-assed politeness regarding Ao3 to keep peace with the press.

Tumblr himself wasn't much of a partygoer, finding staying in and bingeing 9-1-1 , his all time favourite show, to be much more enjoyable as opposed to making small talk with drunk strangers all night. But, Youtube and Twitter were probably going to be there, so it’d be nice to see his friends.

Come to think of it, he hadn't talked to Twitter much recently. His best friend had been busy lately, coming up with an excuse every time Tumblr had asked to hang out with Twitter. This wasn’t all that concerning, given Twitter often went through long breaks of isolating himself or becoming a bit of a loner.

Still, Tumblr decided to shoot Twitter a quick message to confirm his friend was indeed going to be at the party tomorrow. While he waited for a reply, the young man stood up and decided he might as well try to find a suit for tomorrow night.