A/N: So today's my girlfriend and I's one year anniversary (?!) and in the message I wrote her for it there was a specific line I got really attached to and wanted to write a thing about so in which Tori lovingly struggles over writing something very special for Jade in the middle of the night,,
Exactly one week to go until Christmas Eve. The calendar square had been filled and decorated to capacity. Wedding Day! ❤️ written in Tori's handwriting; Jade had circled it with a Sharpie.
Tori felt the pressure of the date staring at her and tried to ignore it. Not that it was a bad thing; she was excited beyond words about it. Everything had been planned down to the tiniest detail; she was ready to marry Jade, the love of her life. There was just one thing.
She had no idea how to write her vows.
Well, it wasn't that she didn't; it was more that she had so many ideas for them, she didn't know where to start. She had so much she wanted to compress in such a tiny speech, one that wouldn't take all afternoon to read to Jade in front of all their family and friends. She'd tried to make a word document on her laptop about all her thoughts, and work from there to try to piece them together coherently, but there had been so much editing and rewriting that document that Tori couldn't bear looking at it anymore without feeling super overwhelmed. Her laptop was sitting to the side of her on the kitchen table, the obnoxious blinking cursor sitting halfway through the first train of thought she was attempting to get down, while the notebook in front of her had its own battle scars of things being edited and rewritten and crossed out. The grilled cheese sandwich she'd made on a whim an hour ago sat cold and forgotten on a plate on her other side; so much for food helping her. The loud ticking of the kitchen clock wasn't helping either, nor was the gentle illuminated glow from the coffee maker on the counter that was tempting her (a cup of coffee at this time would either help or be a disaster, and she wasn't in the mood to figure out which one).
Tori groaned, finally looking up from her notebook to the clock; 3:24 am, one week before their wedding day, and she had barely one sentence of her vows written for Jade.
"What are you doing up?"
At the sound of Jade's voice, Tori scrambled to close her notebook and her laptop. "Jade...I was just, uh..." She trailed off, caught but not wanting to reveal what she'd actually been caught doing.
Jade pulled out the chair opposite Tori across the table, before sitting down in it. "I know what you're doing."
"No, you don't," Tori replied quickly. "Whatever it is you're thinking, it's not that."
"You're trying to write your vows," Jade said simply. Tori's heart sank, and it must have shown on her face, because Jade offered her a gentle smile.
"It's okay. To be honest, I'm struggling with mine too."
Tori looked up at Jade. "I feel like they need to be perfect, and I just can't figure out how to make them sound that way, you know?"
Jade nodded. "I know, same here. But there's no such thing as perfect. Don't let the pressure of what you're trying to write get in the way of writing. Just write from your heart. Your cheesy, dorky heart."
Tori smiled. "That actually helps a lot. Thank you."
Jade smiled back. "Of course. But I think you should give it a rest for the night and try again tomorrow...er, later today."
Tori yawned, and nodded. "I guess. Now that the pressure's off, hopefully writing will be easier."
"Hopefully," Jade agreed. "I think I'll take my own advice for yours. But I'm sure whatever we both come up with will be perfect in their own ways."
She looked to Tori, who even though she was exhausted was already turning over ideas in her head with a new view of them, and said, "Just...limit the bad jokes in yours, okay? Maybe like, one or two at the most, deal?"
Tori nodded. "I'll try."
Jade, now weary of what Tori had in mind, nodded. "Okay. Now come to bed baby, you need sleep."
Tori nodded and got up, leaving her things on the table, following Jade to the bedroom for some well deserved rest.
In the end, both of their vows turned out better than they could have ever hoped for (Tori's bad jokes and all).
A/N: "This may be one of the most important things I ever write (at least until the future when I'm staring at my laptop at three am, lovingly struggling to figure out how to write my wedding vows to you.)" was the specific sentence I got attached to, so here's my interpretation of it in ficlet form!
This chapter is dedicated to my wonderful girlfriend, the Jade to my Tori ❤️
And to the readers, I hope you all like it too, and thanks for reading! c: ❤️