#doug judy and boyle from b99 are the cops

[queerstudiesnatural]

hot frosty might be the best christmas movie ever made actually

[randomfandomimagine]

Bottled Feelings (Jake Peralta x Reader)

Characters: Jake Peralta, Rosa Diaz, Terry Jeffords

Fandom: Brooklyn 99

Tags: Angst with a happy ending, mutual pining, idiots in love

Warnings: Mild violence and swearing

Word Count: 4,1k words

Summary: Tired of trying to get close to Jake, Y/N finds that working on a case with him has a very messy result due to their tension.

A/N: I know cops can be a touchy subject and police brutality is the worst, but this is the B99 world, so I don’t want to get too real or political. I just thought I’d mention it because reader is a cop in this one, so feel free not to read this if it makes you uncomfortable.

AO3: Link

Jake Peralta x Gender Neutral Cop Reader

Your gazes met across the precinct. When your eyes locked with Jake’s kind brown ones, you smiled and so did he. After holding his gaze for several seconds, he wiggled his eyebrows. You chuckled, bashfully averting your eyes. Probably enjoying that you were slightly flustered, Jake rolled closer to you on his chair, bearing that playful smirk you knew so well by now. Trying not to smile at him, you eyed him with the corner of your eye.

“Whatcha doing, Y/N?”  He cheerfully asked with a hint of playfulness.

“Some boring paperwork…” You rolled your eyes, briefly picking the case file up and showing it to him.

“Marco, huh?” Jake nodded, hanging one arm over the back of his chair. “Slippery son of a bitch”

Indeed he was. Different cops of the precinct had arrested him several times. The first time it was Amy, the second time it was Rosa. Jake even arrested him once. After that, Charles helped you arrest Marco once. The other times it was all you, and you still had a scar on your shoulder to prove it from when he escaped the first time. You made it your personal mission to make sure Marco stayed behind bars, but he kept managing to get away. That guy was like your Doug Judy, and Jake knew.

Probably trying to cheer you up, he wiggled his eyebrows once more.

“Mind if I…” He rolled his chair closer until his knee bumped against yours. “Join in?”

“Unfortunately, and as much as I would like to be blessed by your lovely company…” You grinned at him, adorably tilting your head and earning a chuckle from Jake. “I really gotta do this paperwork”

“Aw…” He pouted, still keeping the playfulness. “That sucks”

“But I’m free later” You said, pretending to appear carefree even if your heart raced in excitement at the thought of spending more time with him, especially away from work. “If you want to go out and have coffee with me”

“What? Oh... I, uh…” Jake frowned at the invitation. Then he pointed a finger over his shoulder and laughed awkwardly. “Whoops, I think Charles is calling me. Gotta go, sorry, byeeeee!”

“Jake!” You complained, even if you should have seen it coming.

He was always ready to flirt and joke around, but the minute you proposed to take a step further, he panicked. You only asked him to grab coffee… you weren’t asking him to get married!

You sighed and shook your head, begrudgingly returning your attention to the paperwork. Jake lingered on your mind even as your eyes traveled across the written words.

As much as you adored him, Jake could never take things seriously. He was too afraid of commitment and serious relationships to actually do anything other than flirting. And yes, that was still fun, but you wanted something more. More than just seeing each other every day and lingering awkwardly, both clearly wanting to say something more, to get closer, but never doing so. You had the sneaking suspicion that he wanted that too, even if he felt safe in your carefree and flirtatious friendship.  

Realizing that your thoughts were too distracting to focus, you grunted in annoyance. You pushed your chair away from the desk and stood up. After a quick visual sweep around the precinct, you spotted Jake. He was actually talking to Charles after all, even if you were sure that Boyle didn’t really call for him.

Moving with determination, you walked closer to them and decided to address this once and for all. The situation had gone on for too long.

“Hey” Someone interrupted you before you moved. You turned to see Rosa standing there, coffee in hand. “You okay?”

You held back the urge to look behind you to Jake and Charles. Instead, you shrugged at first but then nodded your head. You didn’t think Rosa would be interested in your romantic problems, and you didn’t want to bother her with them.

She cocked an eyebrow at you, perhaps seeing through your facade.

“What did the nerd do?” She calmly asked, taking a sip out of her coffee.

You paused, but her eyes attentively watched you. Giving in, you started speaking. At least you knew if someone was to be honest about the situation and stay objective, it would be her.

“Nothing… he didn’t do anything…” You sighed in exasperation. “That’s the problem”

“Why don’t you ask him out?”

You gawked at her, surprised that she even knew. Was it that obvious? You got flustered for a moment, but sucked it up and figured there was no point in denying it.

“I tried, Rosa” You averted your gaze. “But whenever I do, he just panics”

“Then he’s stupid” She mumbled, and you noticed how her eyes quickly fell over him before settling back over you. “You’re great and he would be lucky to date you”

“Wow…” You were genuinely astonished by her honest response. “Are you flirting with me, Diaz?”

Rosa smirked, remaining silent for a moment. She then opened her mouth to reply, but something interrupted her.

“Y/N?” Terry’s voice called, and so you turned around to face him.

“Yes, Sarge?” Absently patting Rosa’s arm as a thanks for her help, you moved to approach him.

“You have Marco’s case, don’t you?”

“I do... why?” You gripped the edges of the table, sensing there was new information.

“We just received news of his hideout, he’s apparently-“

“Please let me go, Terry!” You begged him, feeling your heart already hammering in your chest in anticipation. “This is our first true lead in months!”

Just the thought of going to his den and catching him was exhilarating. Marco would put up a fight for sure, but that would only make it challenging and more exciting. It could be like a scene out of an action movie, chase and all.

“I was!” Terry defended himself, handing you some papers. Before you could grab them, however, he took them out of your reach. “With one condition”

You impatiently put a hand on your hip and nodded your head. Whatever the condition was, you would have no problem with it. This was what you had been waiting for, you finally had something that could lead me to Marco. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t stand between you and him.

“I know how dangerous that guy is” Terry continued, seeing that you listened intently. “You can’t go alone, you need backup”

“I guess you’re right. My vote’s on Rosa, between the two of us Marco has no chance”

Terry slowly handed the papers to you, this time letting you take them from his hand. However, there was a frown on his brow as he watched you.

“Rosa’s busy, she’s interrogating a perp right now” Glancing over your shoulder, you noticed she was nowhere to be found now. “I’m surprised she was your first choice”

“Yeah, well… she’s badass and we make a great team”

“True, but you know someone you make even a greater team with”

“Oh, no…” You paused, noticing that smart glint in his eye. You begged he wasn’t thinking about the person you thought he was. “Terry, right now we are…”

“Peralta!” He called, ignoring your pathetic plea.

With Terry’s call, Jake turned around. Leaving Charles’ side, he came to join you. His eyes fell over you, but you refused to reciprocate. You were still mad at him.

“Yes, Terry?” Jake calmly asked, and you felt his eyes traveling from him to you.

“We have news about Marco’s hideout” Terry said, giving him the papers that you didn’t notice you crumpled in your hand. “You’re going with Y/N”

“Copy that” Jake still looked at you, even as he stepped away. “Give me a sec”

You still refused to look at him. It hurt that he denied your relationship like that. If he was mature enough, he would at least tell you he wasn’t interested instead of keeping your hopes up and flirting for so long.

“Can’t I go with someone else?” You hated to feel so childish, since your emotions were pouring out, but you knew you wouldn’t be able to completely focus on the mission. “Please, Terry!”

“I’ve made your mind up, Y/N. I think you two have more chances of catching him together”

You sighed, resigned to your fate. Despite your annoyance with Jake, it was true that you usually made a really good team. Jake was actually a really good cop and the only times you had seen him serious was during a case. Even if your relationship was at a strange point, you could push your feelings aside for a while.

Jake soon returned, putting his brown leather jacket on. His eyes burned holes in your nape, so you reluctantly gazed at him. There he was, innocently standing with his hands on his hips and with that goofy but attractive grin taking over his lips.

Noticing your reluctance to his usual antics as you scowled, he sighed as well. Even Terry stirred in the spot, uncomfortable with the tangible awkwardness between you.

“Should we go?” Jake asked, using a funny voice. You only glared at him. “Okay, I’m driving”

He playfully patted your arm, but you didn’t react. He just scurried off, and you prayed that this inconvenience didn’t ruin the case you had been working on for so long.

_

The outskirts of Brooklyn were oddly quiet. The only sound surrounding you was the one of your shoes against the cobblestone as you paced around the area. It was completely deserted.

You tried to be vigilant, alert to any noise or anything remotely telling of Marco’s situation. For now, the place was still serene. Perhaps too serene, which rattled you all the more.

“You’re mad at me, aren’t you?” Jake finally broke the stifling silence. “I can tell”

“Really, you can tell?” You erupted into bitter sarcasm before you could stop yourself.

“Yeah, you’re never like this” He stopped pacing to stand before you. There was a rare grave look on his expression. “Mind telling me why?”

“Okay” You resolved, sternly crossing your arms over your chest. “I like you and you like me, but every time I try to talk about it you just leave”  

“Wow… whaaaaat?” He averted his gaze with an awed chuckle, even if you did notice he was blushing. “What are you talking about, Y/N?”

“So you don’t have feelings for me?” You challenged him, holding his gaze when it returned to you. “We were flirting an hour ago”

“Maybe you were, I was just trying to annoy you!”

He mockingly wrinkled his noise at you. As much as those gestures used to be endearing to you, after so long they had become annoying. It hurt that he kept hiding behind layers of humor to encase his heart behind a wall. There was no way to get in if he didn’t let you, no matter how hard you tried.

“That’s what I mean, Jake! Either make a move or tell me you don’t love me, but stop running away!”

“Don’t shout!” He whispered yelled, cringing at the loud sound. “He might hear us”

“Yeah, keep changing the subject, Jake!”

“I’m not changing the subject, Y/N!”

“Then say something!”

“What do you want me to say?”

“The truth! Do you love me or not?”

“I…” He clicked his tongue and averted his gaze. “N-No!”

His exclamation died out in the heavy silence around you. There were no people, no cars, not even birds chirping that could soften the impact of his rejection. You received it at full force.

“Is that why you never want to go out with me?” Jake frowned in sympathy to your heartbreak. His brown eyes were laced with sadness. “Fine, thanks for letting me know... took you long enough”

“Y/N…”

“Guess I was wrong. You were never interested in me, you never really cared”

You had enough, you were out of there. Wanting to leave everything behind, you took a few steps back. You didn’t care about any of it. Jake, the operation, not even Marco. You didn’t feel strong enough to face the criminal that had been slipping through your fingers for so long. Not right now.

“Y/N? Wait, Y/N!” Jake begged, trying to reach out as you walked away. “Where are you going?”

“I need a moment” You rushed to get away from his grasp when you felt his hand grabbing yours.

“Wait, don’t go!” He managed to still get ahold of your wrist, tightly holding on to it. “I’m sorry, I-“

“No, Jake, you’ve done enough! I can’t trust you or rely on you!” You exclaimed, feeling hot tears of anger and sorrow burning in your eyes. “You’re immature and selfish, and you’ve been playing with my emotions and making me believe you saw our friendship as something more”

“Y/N, wait...” You pushed a hand against his chest, yanking your wrist away from his reach.

“Leave me alone, Jake” You said in exhaustion, too drained to be around him anymore.

“C’mon, come back!” He tried again as you left him behind. “Please, Y/N!”

Shaking your head to shove the many thoughts off your head, you began running. You made sure to face your back to him so he couldn’t see the tears in your eyes. Wanting to get away from him immediately, you ran away as fast as you could, away from the pain that it caused you to finally learn that all of your playfulness meant something entirely different for him.

_

You had run out of tears, you just sat there, idle. Rid from his presence and influence, you thought you would feel better. You didn’t. He was still present in your heart and in your thoughts. Exhausted, you feebly leaned against the wall behind you.

“Where are you?” A teasing voice suddenly called out. It wasn’t Jake’s.

You covered your mouth when you realized you must have been heard. Although you had tried to keep your sobbing and crying to a minimum, you had been too hurt to hide it any longer. Your emotions were too strong and so was your pain, so much so that you failed to realize you weren’t alone. Your feelings had overflown and gotten in the way of your job.

“Come out, cop!” Marco called out, taunting you. “I know you’re there!”

Clumsily wiping your tears in a hurry, you reached out for your gun. You stood up and moved slowly, trying to place his position. He had stopped talking. You focused on making no noise as you carefully advanced. Before you knew, however, you felt something cold leaning against your temple. In an instinct, you held your hands up in surrender.

“Marco…” You whispered, hearing a snicker that confirmed your fears.

“Cop” He greeted you with that raspy voice that haunted your dreams. “Where’s your partner?”

“What partner? I’m alone”

“I heard you arguing with someone”

“I wasn’t arguing to anyone, I was... talking to myself”

“Don’t bullshit me” He hit the back of your head with the butt of his gun. It wasn’t enough to knock you out, but you winced as you saw stars dance in your vision. “Call him right now”

“Dammit…” Jake had been right after all. Hopefully he was still around. Taking a deep breath to muster all the courage you could, you called out for him. “Jake!!”

You had been hoping that he needed you alive to get rid of Jake, which seemed to be the case since you weren’t dead yet. However, that didn’t stop Marco from hitting you again, leaving you disoriented and groggy. Not losing a second, the criminal put an arm around you and pushed you against him to ensure you stayed within his reach. You were too concussed to fight it.

“Y/N!!” You heard Jake’s voice in the distance, followed by the hurried sound of footsteps heading your direction.

“Here he comes” Marco muttered, rearranging his hold on you and pointing the gun ahead to where your partner was to arrive from.

Soon, Jake appeared folding a corner. He was wielding his gun, but stopped at the sight he was received with. Jake clenched his jaw, his eyes frantically moving from Marco to you.

“Y/N, are you okay?” He worriedly asked you, but Marco piped up before you could reply.

“Put the gun down” The criminal commanded with his deep voice. “Now!!”

“Okay, okay” Jake obeyed, slowly leaning down to put his weapon on the ground, then holding his hands up in the air. “Just take it easy”

“Now take a step back”

“Fine, just calm down… No one has to get hurt, okay?”

“I’ll let this one go if you both leave”

“Jake…” You mumbled, fighting the throbbing headache that settled on your head, starting in the spot Marco had hit. “Don’t let him get away…”

“It’s okay, Y/N” Jake said, trying to comfort you. “We’ll get him some other time”

It was hard to think and focus. You wanted to insist that Jake shouldn’t let you get in the way of arresting him, but it seemed like he had made a choice. One he wouldn’t back away from.

“Do it!!” Marco insisted, shouting close to your ear and worsening your headache, making your grimace as a result.

“Fine, we’ll leave” Jake told him in a calm tone that no doubt hid great restlessness. “Now let Y/N go”

You watched your partner, surprised by the seriousness in his expression, by the firm tone in his voice and the stoic expression of his face. You had never seen him like that, not even during other cases.

“I want you to promise!”

“I promise you, I… I swear! Just let Y/N go now”

There was a pause in which they seized each other up, locking gazes and being ready for the smallest movement. They were ready to retaliate whatever happened.

“I’m outta here” Marco began saying, eyes set on Jake. Noticing their attention was off you, you decided to take this to your advantage.

“Like hell you are” Fighting your unwell, you turned around and jumped at him.

Marco immediately responded, trying to point the gun at you. Although your reflexes were slow because of your possible concussion, you managed to hold his wrist and force his hand so the weapon pointed upwards to the sky. That didn’t quite avoid the struggle, though. Using his free hand, Marco began hitting you.

You took the hits as best as you could, focusing on keeping his armed hand away from you and Jake. Marco punched you, once, twice, thrice. Across the face, on the stomach, on the jaw. You felt blood pouring out of your nose, you felt the air leave your lungs as the pain focused on your stomach, and then your ears ringing when his fist impacted with your head.

Just when the world started spinning around you, Marco fell. A great force had tackled him to the ground, and you looked in confusion to see Jake over him, forcing Marco’s arms over his back to cuff him.

“G-Good job” You mumbled in a daze, plopping down in the ground as your body and mind recovered.

Jake spoke close to you, reading Marco the Miranda rights. When he was done and sure that the criminal wouldn’t get away yet another time, your partner turned to you.

“Y/N?” He cautiously asked, slowly leaving Marco cuffed to the bars of a nearby window to approach you. “How are you? You okay?”

It took you a moment to react, and it wasn’t until you felt him shaking your shoulder that you replied. Your eyes had closed, but you forced them open to see him.

“I’m fine...” You muttered, but Jake was already taking your face into his hands.

“Oh my god, you’re bleeding” He gulped, letting his brown eyes worriedly look over you.  “We need to get you to a hospital”

“I said I’m okay...” You repeated, feeling like you regained your focus as you looked eyes with him.

“I’m so sorry, this is all my fault… I never wanted you to get hurt” Jake sighed, letting go of you and averting his gaze. "When I saw Marco had you I almost had a heart attack. I do care about you, and I was scared I would never get to tell you. I should have told you a long time ago, I’m sorry..."

"No, Jake..." Although clutching your head, you felt the need to apologize yourself. “I’m sorry about what I said, it wasn’t true… none of it”

“So you don’t think I’m immature?” He brightened up, giving you one of his usual goofy grins that never failed to make your day. This time it wasn’t any different.

“No, you are immature” You chuckled, dropping a comforting hand on his shoulder when he rolled his eyes. “But I trust you, and I know I can rely on you. After all, you just saved me”

“No, you saved yourself, Y/N” His voice was sweet as honey, infused with his fondness towards you, with love and adoration. “Being all badass and awesome as usual”

You smiled, taking notice of the fact that your faces were inching closer and closer. None of you minded, keeping your gazes locked and bearing twin smiles.

“Cut the crap and uncuff me!” A voice reminded you that you weren’t quite alone.

“Can’t you see we’re having a moment? C’mon, Marco!” Jake complained, carelessly waving a hand in the air as he briefly turned to the cuffed criminal. “I called backup, they’ll be here soon to pick up your shady ass”

You laughed a little, having missed this side of Jake. The one that joked around and said stupid things, the goofy one that made silly voices. The one that made dumb faces to make you laugh and that flirted with you.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Jake’s voice made you realize you had tiredly rested your forehead against his shoulder.

“Yeah, just tired”

“Okay, c’mon” He wrapped his arms around you and carefully pulled you to your feet. Once there, you had to hold on to his shoulders when you found it difficult to stand. “Still with me, Y/N?”

“Yeah” Still leaning against him, you separated slightly to look into his eyes again. “Thanks for having my back, partner”

“I should have had your back a long time ago” Jake fondly stared at you, firmly holding his hands on your waist to keep you up. “Instead, I needed a criminal to remind me how much I love you”

“What?” You groggily muttered, staring at him in awe.

“I lied before… I do love you, I just… You were taking the step and I got scared” He sighed, frowning and shaking his head as if to lecture himself. “I’m really sorry, and I would understand if you wanted nothing to do with me after this”

“Well…” You sighed yourself, feeling happy despite your exhaustion. “It must be the concussion, but I still want to go out with you, Peralta”

“Really?” His genuine big smile briefly cleared your mind, making your heart race in excitement. “Then, I’m going to ask you something I should have asked you months ago”

“What?”

"Can I kiss you?"

You made a pause, just to torture him a little bit. Jake watched you expectantly, tightly holding on to you as though he was the one struggling to stand now.

"Permission granted" You grinned, causing him to breathe out in relief.

Smiling, he gingerly leaned closer until his lips grazed yours. Tugging at his tie, you pushed him closer against you to meet in a proper kiss. His arms tightened around you, making the kiss more passionate as he poured out all of himself in the exchange. Suddenly, you could feel all those emotions he had been repressing, all those compliments he had hid behind playfulness, all those beautiful words that he had concealed. And as you broke away and peered into his eyes, you could see all of that reflected in them.

“Well” Jake grinned, for the first time allowing himself to lovingly stare at you. “How was that?”

“It made me dizzy” You chuckled, tiredly pressing your forehead against his shoulder. “But don’t get too cocky, I’m pretty sure it’s the concussion”

Jake laughed, amused by your little joke. The flirtatious playfulness had returned, but this time it felt different than the others. It felt more real and authentic, and for once it wasn’t hiding all of his bottled feelings nor your helpless attempts.

“Let’s get you checked out” Pressing you against his side, Jake began walking, half-carrying you.

Just then, police and ambulance sirens echoed around the streets. The red and blue glow of the lights were blinding you in your sickly state, and the strident noises made your headache worse, but you didn’t mind.

For the first time in months, Jake was by your side. This time, he wouldn’t run away. He had stopped hiding himself. When you returned, you would have plenty of time to be together.

Reblogs and comments are appreciated!! // Masterlist

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