"Coffee, coffee, coffee!" MC sang as he poured himself a mug of black gold. "How I love my coffee!"

It was Wednesday, my dudes, and a pretty good one at that. In fact, it was the first day in a long time that MC could remember getting up before his alarm went off. Why exactly was this the case? He didn't know, but he was certainly glad it was.

Ding-dong!

"Oh, Monika's here," MC said to nobody in particular. With his mug of joe in hand, he made his way to the door and opened it.

"Hey, MC!" Monika greeted in her usual friendly manner. She seemed to be in just as much of a good mood as he was, not that such wasn't normal for her. For a second or two, MC wondered what brand of coffee one needed to drink to always feel the way Monika did.

Before returning the greeting, MC scanned the environment around his house to see if there was anything unusual nearby. There were no dinosaurs today, so that was a start.

"Hey Monika," MC greeted, then took a sip from the mug. It was black, and though bitter, he instantaneously felt twice as manly as he had mere moments before. "You don't have anything dangerous to try today, do you?"

Monika grinned confidently. "Of course not! I saw the error of my ways yesterday, so today is going to be totally safe."

MC shrugged. He guessed it couldn't hurt. Who knows, maybe this time she actually would unearth previously unknown feelings. "So what is it, exactly?"

"I thought about what you said yesterday, about how dinosaurs are for little boys and all that," Monika explained. "So I decided to do something I've seen guys your age do all the time."

MC scratched his chin in thought, but ultimately his mind came up empty on this one. "What do you have in mind?"

"Pick-up lines!" Monika declared proudly. "Guys do 'em to girls all the time, so I thought I'd try some out on you."

Pick-up lines? Really? MC thought, but he knew well enough to keep such a thought to himself. "Pick-up lines? That actually sounds remotely romantic," he said with a pleased tone. "You better have some good ones, though, because I've heard all the classics before," he added with a smirk.

Monika pulled a stack of three note cards out from behind her back. "Yep! I made them all myself. I take it that you're interested in hearing them?"

MC smiled. Maybe a few cheesy jokes would be exactly what he needed to begin his day. "Yeah, let's hear 'em."

Monika cleared her throat as she silently scanned the first note card. Then, she gazed into MC's eyes with the most seductive look she could possibly muster. "Hey baby, are you trash? Because I want to take you out."

MC's smile faltered. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I guess that one wasn't very good," Monika noted aloud as she tossed the card aside, yet she was not deterred. After all, she had plenty of good lines that were sure to win MC's heart, right?

With that thought in mind, she drew her next card from the pile. She smiled to herself; this was a good one.

"Can you help me with this equation, MC?" Monika questioned as she handed him the card.

QT + 3.14 = U

"Hmm, I think you should start by subtracting the pi to the other side, and then-"

"No, that's the joke. You're a cutie-pie!" Monika proclaimed affectionately. "Maybe you can be my cutie-pie?" She playfully suggested.

"Wow, that's about six different flavors of cheesy right there," MC snarked. It was kinda cute, though.

"Darn, that was one of my best, too. You're going to make me bring out the big guns."

"What do you have in mind?"

Monika glanced at her last card with a look of pure determination. Her entire love life rested on this single three-by-five. Or not, because she could always try tomorrow. Still, she was determined not to fail.

"Hey baby, I put the STD in stud, all I need is U."

MC winced. "That one's just gross, Monika."

Monika rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Are you serious? I thought boys loved gross things."

"Where are you getting these pretenses about boys?"

"Internet, specifically Deviantart."

"That explains a lot, then. You should probably stay off that site."

Monika sighed dejectedly. "I guess pick-up lines didn't do the trick, huh?"

Oh God, the GUILT. "Don't say that, Monika. I thought the cutie-pie one was a little sweet."

"It wasn't enough to get you to love me, though, was it?" Monika inquired, knowing that it was the real truth."

MC surrendered. "Not really. Good try, though."

Monika turned one of the cards over and plucked a pen out from behind her ear. She quickly scribbled down Not into pick-up lines, then she glanced back at MC. For a moment, she was breathless, as the mere sight of him made her heart flutter. Everything about him was so wonderful, so amazing, so perfect. Why did she have to feel this way about him? Why didn't he feel the same way about her?

Unexpectedly, MC disappeared into his house and returned a moment later with his backpack. "Say, I'm in a pretty good mood today. Why don't we walk to school together?"

Monika's cheeks burned with the passion and intensity of a Class-O star. Poor MC didn't realize it, but he was the coffee that made Monika's days brighter, and that meant that today really was gonna be a good day. "Y-yes, of course. I'd always walk with you, you know."

"Great," MC said with a grin cuter than a thousand fluffy bunnies. "But no hand-holding."

Monika returned the smile. "Fair enough."