The Archive of Us · the questions
One hundred and twenty questions
for two friends with history.
Every question in The Archive of Us, organised by chapter, free to read and free to use. Text one to the friend you’re thinking of. Argue about the answer. The questions are the invitation — the two-voice record you make of the answers is the point.
Ten chapters · 120 questions · no login, no paywall
Chapter 1 · 12 questions
How We Met
the origin myth — two first impressions of the same moment
“What is the first clear picture you have of me — the version of me you met before we were really friends yet?”
Chapter 2 · 12 questions
The Early Chapters
when “this person seems all right” became “it’s you and me now”
“What was the first time you realised we were going to be proper friends?”
Chapter 3 · 14 questions
Turning Points & Private History
the unedited versions of the big moves and the crises
“What is a turning point in your life that I was there for, but you have never properly told me how it felt at the time?”
Chapter 4 · 12 questions
The Hard Seasons
distance, drift, repair — what nearly broke it, and didn’t
“What's the closest this friendship has ever come to ending?”
Chapter 5 · 12 questions
What We Taught Each Other
the specific, usually unsaid ways you shaped one another
“What is one thing you have learned from me — not the big life lesson, the small, specific one — that you still use or think about?”
Chapter 6 · 10 questions
The Cast of Characters
partners, exes, families, the wider gang
“Sketch the supporting cast of this friendship — the recurring characters who've orbited us.”
Chapter 7 · 14 questions
The Ordinary Texture
in-jokes, rituals, places — the funniest chapter, on purpose
“Together: compile the dictionary of us.”
Chapter 8 · 12 questions
The Friendship Now
present tense — who you are to each other today
“What do we have together that you don't have with anyone else?”
Chapter 9 · 10 questions
What We've Never Said
the thank-yous, confessions and questions that never found a moment
“Write the thank-you that never found its moment.”
Chapter 10 · 12 questions
Forward Together
promises, plans, and the letter to the friendship’s future
“Together: list the things we keep saying we'll do — then commit to one, with a date.”
Want somewhere to keep the answers?
The Archive of Us holds both versions of every answer — yours and theirs — and turns them into the record of the friendship. Everything stays on your own device.