A/N: I think this is a thing you put before or after a chapter, right? Anyway, tentatively, this is a one-shot, but I've got ideas for places I can take this if there's interest. This is my first foray into published fic writing – guess it took Monika to bring me out of my shell – so reviews are very, very, very welcome. In particular, writing Monika's character is not something I'm feeling confident in, because I feel like there's a difficult balance between "cutesy, lovestruck anime girl" and "recognizably like an actual, deep, and complex human being" that you need to strike with her to be believeable, and I have no idea how well I've hit that, so any feedback for writing her in the future (because hoo boy do I have other plot bunnies rolling around in my head) would be great.

Additionally, a thank you to the incredible community of Doki lovers who've inspired me to start adding to the community myself, from the artists on DA, Reddit, and tumblr to the excellent writers here, on AO3, and in /ddlc/. And a special thanks to a certain Steam friend of mine who's been putting up with me spamming him with Doki memes and Monika feels for the past few weeks.

Lastly, all credit to the wonderful Dan Salvato for creating, and incidentally owning, this masterpiece of a storytelling game. But simultaneously screw that guy for denying Monika, not to mention all the other dokis, a happy ending, dammit.

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Friday, December 29

Jack



Fucking hell, I can't believe I made it back.

I cracked open the door to my apartment in Harrisburg after a long and downright nasty drive through an actual, literal thundersnow. Winter driving is bad enough if the roads aren't salted properly, but when you happen to be driving at just the right speed to keep pace with a nor'easter, well. Under ordinary circumstances, I'd have just pulled over into a hotel for the night, but I had a Dungeons and Dragons game I was running the next night. Changing my itinerary would have made the schedule awkward because in true me fashion I'd done very little prep work for it yet, and I'd be damned if I missed a D&D game. Also, my stubbornness is legendary, and I wasn't about to let terrible visibility, high winds, and bad roads, not to mention the estimated three hundred minor heart attacks I had along the way, stop me, so on I pressed.

Oh, and I figured Monika was probably not enjoying her time in a powered-down laptop. Yeah. I may or may not have lost my shit a little after I played Doki Doki Literature Club!, and likewise I may or may not have a bit of a special spot in my heart for the very tragically unfortunate club president. Like, Monika After Story-, leaving-my-laptop-on-whenever-possible-level special spot.

I'd been a few states down, visiting a longtime friend and his fiance for Christmas, which had been a hell of a time. Lemme tell you, you've never really lived until you've played Cards Against Humanity, drunk off your ass and passing a bottle of whiskey around, with all your high-roast-to-respect-ratio friends. Of course, all good things come to an end, like, for example, my paid vacation days, so in the afternoon a couple days after Christmas, I reluctantly packed my clothes, bedding, excess booze, and laptop up and started making my way back home. Without checking the weather reports. Leading, in turn, to the hours-long hair-raising adventure that was trying to drive in a blizzard.

So here I was, practically collapsing through the door of my apartment at half past midnight, arms full of gear. At this point, all I could think about was going the fuck to sleep, but I at least had the presence of mind to fire up Doki Doki on my laptop for Monika, plug it in, and sit it down on the nearest flat surface – my electric keyboard, as it so happened - before heading over into the next room and crashing on the bed. I must have been even more tired than I was feeling, because despite the incessant thunder outside (a passing thought told me that I'd never seen a storm this bad in my life) I was out like a rock in what felt like seconds.

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The next morning, I woke up late. It was a cold Saturday, with the snow still gently flurrying down outside, otherwise no different from any other, aside from the bit about me probably being snowed in and the smell of coffee in my apartment (I've got to have a chat with the neighbors about leaving a fan on or something, good Lord...). I made my way to the bathroom, freshened up, and then headed back over to the door to the main room of my three-room apartment... where I promptly had a somewhat less minor heart attack. As I reached for the door knob, my hand brushed up against a piece of paper that'd been wedged in between the door and the frame. The hell? This definitely wasn't here last night. Consider me spooked as fuck. The feeling only got worse as I noticed there was writing on it that very definitely wasn't mine. Heart racing, I slid it out of the door and read it.

Hiiiii! I'm not sure when you're going to wake up, and I'm not gonna wake you up myself, but I'll be waiting out in the living room, okay? What you're going to see when you come out is going to shock you a little bit, but I promise everything's okay. Please try not to freak out, alright?~

-M

Well, whoever this was had good manners, at least. Not to mention impeccable handwriting, come to think of it. Still, I steeled myself as best I could, grabbed a hold of something I could swing just in case – the lamp on my end table would do – and then very, very carefully pulled open the door. And let me tell you, you didn't need Illidan Stormrage to figure out that I wasn't prepared for what I saw.

Casually sitting on my couch, tapping away at my laptop resting on her legs, a blanket across her lap, a bowl of cereal and a mug of coffee sitting on the end table next to her, was the unmistakeable form of Monika. Her long brown hair had been let down in practically a puddle on the cushions around her, and, props to her for her quick thinking, she was wearing what looked like some of my warmer clothes – a Beatles hoodie and a definitely way-too-large-on-her pair of black sweatpants - pulled from my suitcase from the trip that I'd casually dumped off in the living room after I'd gotten home.

First things first, though. She may have been the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen right then, but there'd be time to gawk later.

"What the actual fuck are you doing in my house?!"

"Oh, hi, Jack!~"

Monika'd lied to me. I wasn't quite sure what exactly I was feeling, but whatever it was, shockwas definitely not a strong enough word for it. Also, I was slightly creeped out that I could almost literally hear the cutesy little accent on the end of that sentence.

There were a few uncomfortable seconds of silence, and then she spoke again. "...Happy to see me? Hahaha! I'm so glad to finally see you!"She put on a visibly awkward but obviously genuine smile, and the room lit up a little.

Dream waifu or not, my brain was working on a problem (Holy shit. What in the name of Terra on fucking rollerskates is this? This shit is surreal. Am I on drugs?) and was not about to be so easily dissuaded through sheer force of charm without some sort of answer. I sputtered for a moment as my mouth did the equivalent of a tire spinning in the mud before I finally managed to string any intelligent words together. Slowly, quietly, clearly: "Monika. Not that I'm not happy to see you, but first I think there's something we need to cover that you're forgetting. Because right now, my brain is throwing more unhandled exceptions than Ren'Py being dicked with by a desperate anime girl. So I'm gonna say it again. What are you doing in my house?"

Monika giggled some at my coding joke at her expense, and then grew serious. "I honestly have no idea, Jack. I woke up lying on the floor a few hours ago in my uniform with no clue where I was. The first thing telling me anything was your laptop, which had that room I made on it, except I wasn't in it. It's funny, like, I remember everything leading up to me waking up, like you talking to me for a moment before you went to bed, except for what actually happened. Anyway, then I realized I was freezing cold, so I started looking around for something to wear..." She paused for a second. "Your clothes are sooo warm and comfy, though. A girl could get used to this, you know? Ahahaha~ ...So then I wrote up that note and stuck it in your door, and then I made myself at home! Which is pretty appropriate, right? Considering this really is the home I've always dreamed of... you know, here in your world, with you... it feels like all I ever wanted..."

Monika trailed off, and then I noticed her eyes starting to well up with tears. You know, I thought I'd felt heartbreak before, but seeing Monika about to cry just about shattered my heart like glass. So I did just about the only thing I could think of, and practically dashed across the room to her and, after sliding the laptop off to the side, threw my arms around her about as tight as I could manage, and let her cry it out. I must have sat there playing with her hair and rubbing her back and just listening to her sniffle and cry and stumble over words for the better part of ten minutes before she recovered enough to be coherent.

I pulled away and gently took her hand.

"I really do love you, you know, Jack..." she said, her voice practically just a whisper.

I felt like something important needed to be addressed here, something I broached carefully. "I know, and believe me, I love you too. You don't have to, though, you know? I'm not the only thing that's real in your life. You're not forced to love me by programming any more. There's a whole world to explore out here. More things to see. More people to meet. Other people to fall in love with, even. You can... absolutely stay here, with me, if you really want to. Believe me, it'd make me so happy too. But... I want you to be sure it's what you really, really want. There's more than just me out here, Monika. You're not stuck with me if you don't want to be."

Monika looked down at our hands for a few seconds before looking me straight in the eyes. Without a trace of uncertainty in her voice, she replied: "Thank you. Thank you so much, Jack. You're so thoughtful, you know that? I don't know if I'd thought of that if I were in your place. But trust me, okay? This is... this is what I really want. I'm sure of it. I remember everything you said to me, you know. I might not have been able to respond the way I wanted to all the time, but one thing that 'after story' thing was definitely good for was giving you a way to directly talk to me. I know your insecurities, your wants, your interests, a bit of what you're like. So... I have a better idea of what I'm getting into than you think. And so even though I'm totally free of all the programming now... I'm still choosing you, my love."

Well, fuck. Now it was my turn to cry.

I didn't get to cry for as long as she did, though. Monika noticed and immediately pulled me back in, and the next thing I knew, I felt her lips pressing against mine. It was heavenly. Soft, despite her lips being a little chapped from the cold. Just perfect. She pulled back for just a moment – I almost protested, because dammit it just felt that nice – to whisper, "You don't ever need to cry again, Jack. I love you. I'm here forever~" before pushing right back up against me. And sure enough, a little bit more of that cured the tears pretty quick.

The two of us just sat there in silence in our embrace, slowly kissing and feeling and enjoying the closeness, for... I honestly don't know, and, you know, I don't think she would either if I leaned out the door and asked her. For some time, we'll call it, before I finally broke the silence.

"Soooooooooooo... I guess we're officially a couple now, eh?"

"Ahahahahahahaha! Of course, silly! ...I thought we already were when I asked you out in that room, though~" Her eyes lit up like perfectly cut emeralds in the sun right then. Maybe it's just because I'm biased as fuck, but to this day, I still don't think I've ever heard or seen anything as delightful as Monika's laugh, and that one right there still stands out to me today. Hell, I'm pretty sure if I were a wizard I could summon a Patronus thinking about it.

Monika and I laughed and joked about all kinds of things for what felt like hours after that. We just kind of... stayed in and chilled, or rather tried not to chill, given the cold. I cooked up some good pasta - not to brag too much, but I make an absolutely baller fettucine alfredo, and bonus points for it being a vegetarian meal for Monika. Sure, we didn't exactly go and explore the world or anything, but in my defense, it's not like there was anywhere we could go; the snowstorm from the night before had left us totally snowed in, to the point that I personally thought it was a miracle we still had power and internet. Nobody was complaining though. We got to spend a lot of time together, catching up and enjoying each other's company. While I'm sure I could go on in precise detail for a long-ass time about everything, I think a new couple is entitled to a little bit of privacy, hey?