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poppyisnotaflower · 3 years ago

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The (Y/N)(L/N) and Jake Peralta Story- Jake Peralta x F!reader

Warnings: Police, Guns, violence, panic attack, shooting, crime. (lemme know if there's more) (this doesn't follow the order of the show)

Pairings: Jake Peralta x F!Reader

Genre: Fluff/angst

“Does anybody get a little bit of a gay vibe?” Gina Linetti Questioned making Detective (Y/n) (L/n) nod vigorously in agreement

“I do!” she beamed. Unbeknownst to her Detective Jake Peralta smiled fondly at her excitedness, momentarily forgetting that the new CO was on his ass.

“That’s (y/n) (l/n) she’s one of our best detectives, she the youngest to hold the highest amount of arrests in this precinct, her and Peralta partnered? No one stands a chance against them, they’re inseparable and have the best dynamic here, and she’s like family to all of us.”

“Jake Peralta, also one of my bests, he loves catching bad guys and solving puzzles, the only puzzle he hasn’t solved? Is how to grow up?”

“That was very well put.”

“He and l/n have bet on who will have the highest arrests, since then, the arrests have increased drastically.” the sergeant took a breath “but here’s the thing…both of them are in love with each other, and neither of them have realized it.”

“Yes it was fairly obvious to me.”

Jake sat behind (Y/n) discreetly as to not tell her that he was there, spying on her blind date, he wasn’t sure why he was doing this but he felt content when he was, it was only fair he messes with her.

(y/n) smiled when she saw his name popping up, with a ridiculous picture of his on her phone as she answered the call, politely excusing herself.

“Hey JP...” she greeted softly, Jake felt like he was going to melt at the tone of her voice.

“hi, captain called, he wants everyone back, we have a lead on the nightingale strangler.” she listened intently not knowing his intention “we’re looking for a while male, 5’10”, medium build.” he spoke trying to contain his laughter “small scar on his right cheek.” (y/n) wearily looked at her date, who matched Jake’s description.

“Okay…?”

“his MO is that he finds lonely women with no friends, poisons their food and guts ‘em in his van.” Jake felt a bit guilty for making her feel anxious but, nevertheless it was payback, it was not fun for him when he had to walk around the precinct with green hair for a week. “it’s pretty gnarly, last seen wearing a salmon shirt, gray blazer and witnesses say he has trouble fitting lettuce in his mouth.” (y/n) finally let her guard down with a soft chuckle in realization.

“Alright alright, where are you?” she rolled her eyes.

“Apparently has the world’s smallest penis, and doesn’t know how to use it.” she heard as he hung up the phone and stood next to her “hi there I’m Jake Peralta, y/n’s boss.”

“That’s not true.” she scoffed at her best friends antics but a ghost of a smile still adorned her face. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here on a date.” she felt like her heart pummel to the ground “and she’s leaving, worth it.” he quickly kissed her head making her let out a small laugh, she didn’t know if she felt happy that he was there or that his date dumped him.

“Your boss seems really nice.” her date commented.

“He’s not my boss.”

“Yes I am!”

Suddenly the whole setting felt too wrong to her, she wanted to leave her date, and she wanted to go find Jake. So that’s what she did. She apologized profusely to her date who brushed it off with a knowing look as she rushed out the restaurant.

“What are doing here?” Jake questioned as he sat on the bonnet of his car.

“Date sucked.” she breathed out.

“Was it the lettuce?” y/n laughed at his quip, he took her hand and opened the door to the passenger’s seat, helping her in before moving to the driver’s seat.

Before she could question his actions “they’re playing all the Indiana Jones movies at the drive in.” a bright smile made its way to her face which automatically made Jake mirror her expressions as they made their way to the drive-in theater.

“You’re a horrible secondary Jake, for once just hang back and let Boyle do his job.” (Y/n) scolded her best friend when he kept stealing Charles’ command. He sighed feeling bad that he made her mad.

“Okay fine until I get a direct order from him, I’ll stand here motionless, like a wise old oak tree.” he pulled a face, and stood funny, y/n nodded with a smile, and kissed his cheek as a thank you.

Jake stood there motionless wondering why he felt like the way he did when she kissed him, well that was before the ME walked in.

(Y/n) watched as Jake flirted shamelessly with the ME, she sighed in disappointment continuing to work the case. She looked at the contents of the house while her mind ran with the thoughts of why she felt the way she did when he flirted with the ME

“Okay can you keep a secret?” Jake asked while Rosa, Amy and y/n were hanging at Amy’s desk. (Y/n) tilted her head with a knowing look “okay good point.” he pointed at her. But (y/n) felt her heart break as she listened to him talk about his relationship with the ME. She had to get out of there, before Jake could see how she felt, but the other women in the group did. (Y/n) shook her head disapprovingly at Jake before walking out to the woman’s room. Rosa and Amy was so sure they were going to kill Jake as Gina followed (y/n) to the washroom to help her.

She knew, she was in love with her best friend. And there was no denying it.

“What’s up with her?”

“SERIOUSLY PERALTA?!” Jake groaned, rubbing his head where Diaz hit him.

“A Boyle-Linetti wedding…so weird to say that out loud.” (y/n) commented as she watched Lynn Boyle and Darlene Linetti have their first dance and rubbed Jake’s back who was upset about the whole Jenny situation.

“This is just sad, JP c’mon I know I’m not Jenny, but wanna dance?” she tried to coax him out, he gave a sad smile but took her hand nevertheless, she beamed leading him to the dance floor.

“You’re not Jenny, but you’re (y/n) and that’s more than enough.” he softly muttered and that was enough to make them bashfully grin as they swayed in the dance floor to the melancholy beat playing in the back ground.

Jake watched her as she talked about everything and nothing trying to distract him, moving closer, she laid her head on his chest still swaying, he came to a realization:

Jake Peralta was in love with his best friend and there was no denying it.

He was rolling his eyes at Charles who kept making hand hearts and kissy faces, but smiled knowing yet again Charles was right.

“hey.” He called out to her softly “I-um” his words got caught up, when after the hectic day he could now really see how beautiful she truly looked “you look really beautiful.” he finally confessed, one out of many.

Heat rose to her cheeks as the words left his mouth “thanks, you look beautiful too Detective.” she smiled honestly. “Oh god.” Dread came upon her face. Jake immediately asked her what was wrong “Charles is giving his speech.” the same dread made its way to his face.

“I feel like we should make a run for it.”

“Same.”

“Heard there’s a star trek marathon happening at my place.” he smirked at her.

“JJ Abrams?”

“You know it.”

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen…” Jake took (y/n)’s hand and the two ran out of the venue laughing all the way.

(Y/n) felt sick when she heard Rosa’s badge number on the comms in the scene of active shooting. The entire squad stopped dead in their tracks while Jake confirmed that it was Rosa’s number.

While the squad were in the briefing room, discussing about the situation, Jake was the one to notice (y/n)’s silence, and the jitters she emitted so when the squad was dismissed, Jake stayed back to notice her unmoving form, he was the one who noted her breathing pattern and immediately ran to her. “Do you want to get out of here?” he softly asked as to not over whelm her. And took her hand in his when she nodded, taking her to the roof. When they were away from the prying eyes she launched herself onto him with great force, they almost fell, but he was able to catch her, whispering words of comfort to themselves, rocking back and forth trying to get her to breathe.

At that moment Jake knew he was going to protect her with all he had.

“This is not that bad.” (y/n) commented looking at the purple dress she wore to her date with Jake, the supposed “worst date ever.” for losing the bet with him.

“Of course it isn’t, you’re wearing it.” her eyes went wide at his reply, as Jake realized what he had said and rubbed the back of his neck nervously

“Thank you.” she whispered, looking down. “But that on the other hand, I can’t even lie and say it looks good” she laughed at his outfit.

You know the rules. The date starts now and ends at midnight. I decide what you wear, what you eat, and where we go." Jake listed out as y/n rolled her eyes

"Oh, and there is one more rule. No matter what happens, you're not allowed to fall in love with me." (y/n)'s face fell for a moment before going back to its usual smirk.

"that wont be a problem." she scoffed, but her heart felt heavy as she said those words.

Jake would be lying if he said he didn't feel a pang of guilt and regret as the words left his lips, and the heaviness he felt when she replied to him.

"congrats Charles." y/n congratulated her friend, while downing her drink

"slap Jake (y/n)" she almost spit her drink at the man's words, and looked at him in a questioning way "he is in love with you, you're in love with him, I wasn't supposed to say that, now I'm going to go save terry's marriage."

"i don't- i- what?"

"hey you okay?" Jake walked over to her after noticing her dumbstruck expression, she quickly regained her composure and smiled a him assuring that she was fine, she watched as he walked away to talk to Charles, but there was only one thought in her mind.

she was hopelessly in love with Jake Peralta.

but does he lover her back?

"Jake, do you know why little boys pull little girls' pigtails on playgrounds?"

" 'Cause they're so easy to grab. They're just begging to be pulled."

"Because they like the girls, and that's the only way they know how to get their attention. What are you saying? All of this teasing, this elaborate date, somewhere down deep, you like (y/n). Like, "like her," like her, you love her."

"Okay, that's straight-up insanity." Jake denied the accusations even though he knows the Charles was right.

"How much did you spend on tonight?"

"$1,400, but all of it's on credit cards, so it's, like, $5 a month for the next 2,000 years. I am not in love with (y/n)!"

"You're putting a lot of effort into a joke. Why don't you sit down and have a real conversation with her?"

"Okay, Boyle, you live in your ex-wife's new boyfriend's basement. I'm not taking advice from you."

"Hup. I'm ashamed of my living situation." Jake walked away with only one thought .

he was hopelessly in love with (y/n) (l/n).

but does she love him back.

"Darling." he called out to her, (y/n) smiled at the nickname even if she knew it was a joke "Brief pause. Duty calls."

"Oh, thank God."

"We're gonna catch these guys and get back to the worst date of your life."

"No. Nothing will ever be worse than the date I had with my aunt's dentist." she grimaced as she recalled the date, which made Jake double over laughing. Jake watched her with a fond smile as she tried to catch the peanuts in her mouth, he knew he made the right decision on declining the relief team just so he could have a few moments with her. the two laughing that she managed to get zero of them in her mouth. That's when time around them stopped. "What?" she chuckled under his gaze, a part of her knew what was to come and she didn't want to mess it up.

"I love you." (y/n) did not expect for him to straight up say it, she sat there, looking like a deer caught in headlights before a smile made its way to her face. Before Jake could talk more, she crashed her lips with his, holding his face and deepening the kiss.

Jake felt like he was on the top of the world, the girl he loves was kissing him. after getting over the initial shock, his arms went around her waist, the two closer than ever before breaking the kiss, gasping for air, the two laughed.

"Jake...I love you too." He laughed kissing her head before the two spotted something or... someone.

"give me the ring." she nodded, handing the one dollar ring, getting his plans. "now give me some nuts."

"Jake..." her eyes were trained on her targets, she smirked as she felt his eyes on her. "give me some nuts, title of your sex tape." Jake's eyes went wide in disbelief as he watched her run down the stairs towards the targets.

"damnit, I should've seen that... (L/n) wait up!"

#detective jake peralta #jake peralta #brooklyn99 #captain raymond holt #terry jeffords #Rosa Diaz #amy santiago #charles boyle #gina linetti #norm scully #hitchcock and scully #Hitchcock #x reader #jake peralta imagine #jake peralta x reader #detective reader #nine nine #b99 #imagine

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peralta-guaranteed · 4 years ago

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Any random hc floating around your head? 💜

absolutely love the randomness of this. Just. Knocking on my brain's front door going "Hi, anybody home? Anyone at all?" well gear up because there's always at least one weird lodger in there not paying rent (and most of them aren't even mac-related, sorry if that's what you were hoping for)

- Amy makes Jake watch documentaries with her (canon? I think) and even though he claims they're boring, something usually sticks with him and he's surprised how much he's learning and damn his girlfriend is a smart trickster and he loves that

- that said he definitely notices that she picks very specific documentaries based on Greek history and the Pantheon Of Gods right around the time another invitation to Holt+Kevin's party comes in, probably hoping he'll at least understand SOME of those professors now

- Kevin 100% notices the few references Jake actually makes and is mildly impressed, even though it's obvious that the young detective has not actually read the proper translations and he suspects most of this comes from Santiago, but he still gets him a freshman-level intro book on the Greek epics when Holt draws Jake for Secret Santa again

(- don't worry, he also gets his nacho-restaurant-gift-card)

- at some point, for some reason, somehow, Gina forces Rosa and Amy on a short trip to Las Vegas (this is Pre-Peraltiago or eaaarly Peraltiago) and almost immediately ditches the two there, only randomly meeting up with them during the weekend. However, all three are sworn to secrecy based on "What happens in Vegas..." and it drives Jake absolutely nuts because from the completely random things they mention sometimes, it must have been INSANE and he's never quite sure which parts are true and which ones they made up to mess with him

(- he's pretty sure Rosa accidentally becoming part of some tigers&lions stage show isn't real. Or maybe it is? But if THAT is true, then Amy winning at poker and being so happy about it she accidentally broke the entire poker table and gave the dealer a black eye has to be fake. Right? RIGHT?)

- Amy has a keepsakes box in her dresser with little trinkets from her childhood all the way through her teens and college years, and she adds to it as an adult as well. Stuff like the pen she aced all her academy exams with, a little handknitted doll from the grandma who was involved in her first big case, etc. and maybe, just maybe, possibly, there is, hidden underneath all those, the papersleeve from a coffee cup from years ago, the one that said 'Ames' for the first time instead of 'Santiago' or some sort of silly insulting nickname.

- for your dose of Mac (because I know you guys want it), here's the list of grandparent names he has to juggle Karen is gramma/grandma Holt is grandpa Holt, or Granddaptain (Jake only) Kevin is grandpa Kevin, or Grandkev (Jake only) Camily and Victor are abuela and abuelo, of course and Roger is. Pops. Because despite doing his best as a grandfather (which isn't much concerning how much of a dick he still is), Jake makes sure to keep some kind of distance between him and his son. Because if he ditches them again, 'Pops' will probably be less missed than a proper 'grampa!'. Coincidentally, Jake also begins calling him Pops instead of Dad because... he's finally accepted that's not Roger anymore, and it's never really been, and Daptain is a million miles better anyway

- Jake volunteers to chaperone every single field trip for Mac from kindergarten onwards. Mostly because he wants to go to all those cool places anyway (the aquarium? dinosaur museum?! SPACE MUSEUM???), and it's soo much better to go with his kid and all his friends who think he's The Cool Dad(tm) because he's always down to play with them and do silly voices for the small dinosaurs and the stingrays in the touch tank. (And the teachers decide he IS indeed The Cool Dad(tm) when a kid gets lost and Detective Peralta handles the situation like an absolute pro)

- I was gonna write one really long Mac-based HC here as well but while writing it I realised it would actually make for a really good angst/comfort fic so. I guess that's in the works now THANKS ANON I TOTALLY DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS

#brooklyn 99 #b99 #jake peralta #amy santiago #rosa diaz #gina linetti #mac peralta #raymond holt #kevin cozner #god almost the entire squad is here #headcanons #sorry this got really long

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tilbageidanmark · 3 years ago

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Movies I watched this week - 39

I spent over 50 (!) hours on the sofa this week, (enjoying myself 85% of the time)...

Sløborn, an ominous Danish-German TV pandemic series, very much like Soderbergh’s ‘Contagion’ and in ‘Black Mirror’ style. Normal life of a small island community between Denmark and Germany breaks down and completely collapses when it is hit by a lethal bird flue like virus.

It was extremely prescient, as it was shot in 2019, before Covid! Conceived as Si-fi, it looks today like TV, because the series was able to capture everything that happened around the world after January 2020 in accurate details.

With Roland Møller (of ‘Riders of Justice’). 7+/10

✴️

My introduction to “The grandmother of The French New Wave”, Agnès Varda (Hard to believe that I never saw her films before!):

✳️✳️✳️ “Inspiration, Creation and Sharing...” Varda by Agnès, my first Varda is her last 2019 auto-biography, in which, at 90, she shared footage and stories from her life and work. The first sample clip (of meeting her Uncle Yanco in Sausalito) won me over, and the rest convinced me to catch up on everything I’ve missed through the years. What a wonderful artist!

✳️✳️✳️ Cléo from 5 to 7. A feminine film about female identity - a new favorite! A beautiful singer must wait 2 hours for the results of her cancer tests. With a magnifique mid-film scene (at 0;38) of the heartbreaking chanson 'Sans Toi', marking the beginning of her quiet transformation.

✳️✳️✳️ Vagabond, a story of a lonely, young woman, an unapologetic drifter, unglamorous, aimless, independent, desperately lost. Dark and nonjudgmental exploration of the refusal to conform to anything. 8+/10.

✳️✳️✳️ (For Sammy - Per our conversation). The Gleaners and I, "The eighth best documentary film of all time”, per ‘Sight & Sound poll. Derived from the famous painting by Millet. Simply wonderful!

✳️✳️✳️ One Hundred And One Nights, 100 year old Michel Piccoli “Monsieur Simon Cinema”, hires a young girl to reminisce with about the history of cinema. An unsuccessful Meta-film that nevertheless is a love letter for cinephiles. Populated by 3 dozens of Who’s Who of French (and World) stars, playacting in this symbolic, Fellinisque fable that draws upon the classics. Mastroianni, Depardieu, Belmondo, Alain Delon, Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau, Anouk Aimée, Fanny Ardant, Gina Lollobrigida, Jane Birkin, etc, etc..

(Photo Above).

✳️✳️✳️ The Young Girls of Rochefort, the wonderful, colorful, sentimental musical by Varda’s husband Jacques Demy, with the most beautiful woman in the world and her sister. Romantic eye candy set to music by Michel Legrand. A year later Deneuve would do Belle de Jour, and Françoise Dorléac would die in a car accident, 8+/10

✳️✳️✳️ Even better, The Young Girls Turn 25, Varda’s 1993 behind the scenes documentary and return to small town Rocheford, to show how it changed the town and left an impression. 9/10

“...The memory of happiness is perhaps also happiness...”

✴️

The other Jacques Demy modern opera The Umbrellas of Cherbourg knocked me over all over again. Catherine Deneuve’s angelic beauty in this film made me cry for the duration like a baby. And not only at the train station when they say goodbye forever.

10/10

✴️

Night moves, a tense thriller by Kelly Reichardt, about three radical environmentalists who blow up an Oregon dam. Slow and tense, and like her ‘First Cow’, watching it filled me with constant, low-level anxiety. The off-screen sabotage is placed at the exact mid-point of the movie: The first half is the preparation for it, and the second half shows the aftermath of the act. 7+/10

✴️

2 unexpected Small Town gems by Miguel Arteta:

✳️✳️✳️ The good Girl, an odd and surprising mismatched romance between 30 year old Jennifer Aniston and Jake Gyllenhaal (22) as employees of a Texas big-box store that is always empty. Her voice-over reminded me of True Romance’s Alabama Whitman. 7/10

✳️✳️✳️ Ed Helms, a sheltered insurance salesman from the backwaters of Wisconsin, goes to an convention in the big city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The nearly conventional story arc has some genuinely heartfelt funny moments. With Maeby Fünke, as Bree the prostitute and Sigourney Weaver as the ex-teacher he balls. Also a surprising drug party, where he smoke crack cocaine and loves it. 5+/10

✴️

Same theme of people prostituting their own ‘morals’, the notoriously-prudish 1993 Indecent Proposal didn’t age too well. “Billionaire”-porn that asks the question ‘How much would you pay for one night with Robert Redford?’ Gratuitous semi-naked Demi Moore included.

Related: “Stop hitting the button!”

✴️

Wildland (Kød & blod = Flesh and blood), an uncomfortable and claustrophobic Danish gangster thriller about a 17 year old girl who moves in with the criminal family of Sidse Babett Knudsen, her estranged aunt. 6+/10

“For some people, things go wrong before they even begin”

✴️

Jim Jarmusch‘s Broken Flowers, a touching road film with Bill Murray, as an old ‘Don Juan’ who receive a pink, unsigned letter from an old lover, letting him know that he has a 20 year old son he never knew about.

Loveliest film of the week.

✴️

The 2 films directed by Tom Ford:

✳️✳️✳️ A single Man, a sad and lonely gay professor, closeted in 1962 Los Angeles, is preparing to kill himself with a gun, after his boyfriend / love of his life had died in a car accident. Mute and haunting aesthetics in the fashion designer’s debut film, based on a Christopher Isherwood novel.

The ‘Stormy Weather’ dance scene between Charley and George. 8/10

✳️✳️✳️ Nocturnal Animals: Amy Adams is an unhappy owner of a fancy art gallery who receives a disturbing book manuscript written by her ex-husband, which symbolizes their relationship 20 years prior. Rarefied visuals and distinctive style.

Starts with an astonishing scene of obese old ladies dancing naked at Amy’s gala event. Michael Shannon rules as a dying Texas detective! 6+/10.

✴️

Jean Vigo’s 1933 classic Zero for Conduct was so blatantly anarchistic, it was immediately banned in France until after WW2. In silent film style, it tells about a group of mischievous kids who rebel against the authorities of their old-fashioned boarding school. Part-inspiration for Truffaut's 400 Blows.

✴️

Anatomy of a murder, Otto Preminger’s 1960 courtroom drama, with opening credits by Saul Bass. Crisp black & white cinematography, and with rape victim Lee Remick playing it as an outgoing loose girl of ambiguous morals, a modern floozy. 7/10.

✴️

Blush, a wondrous, spectacularly-animated, wordless short by Joe Mateo. What starts as a riff on ‘The Little Prince’, ends up like the opening montage from ‘Up’. The obvious realization that this is a personal metaphor makes the story even deeper.

I watched it twice back to back. 10/10

✴️

If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast - 95 year old Carl Reiner asks a bunch of charming nonagenarian friends how they manage to live so well for so long. Their answers may (not) shock you...

Spry Dick Van Dyke (92) and half-his-age wife end the film with a lovely rendition of “Young at heart”

✴️

Hi-school-level adaptation of Thomas Piketty's book Capital in the 21st Century. A breezy discussion of how slave economy and colonialist military repression 300 years ago turn into extreme capitalism of inequality & tax-avoidance today. America is now similar economically to what England was in the early 1800s. A tiny percentage of society controls almost all its wealth. (Full text of the book here).

✴️

Ride the eagle, a flat new indie about a guy whose estranged hippy mother leaves him her cabin at the lake when she dies, but only if he complete a certain list of tasks. Could be so much better, but the actor playing the guy was just so terrible. Unlike JK Simmons who had a small role. Best detail, when he discovers that all the cabinets in the house are full with pot.

✴️

Old, my first, (and possibly last), M. Night Shyamalan. The seductive premise of a secluded beach at a fancy tropical resort that ages everybody who comes there, turns into an unconvincing Twilight Zone bore.

...”(Gurgling sounds)”...

✴️

First watch: I never saw (any) Planet of the apes before, and in spite of my misgivings, gave it a go. 100% anthropomorphic, it couldn’t visualize a universe different from the American mindset of that period. Preachy and very Rod Sterling-like. "It's a madhouse in here”. Pass!

✴️

The latest Veritasium YouTube video about bowling current technology. Always interesting.

- - - - -

Throw-back to the art project:

Planet of the Apes Adora.

- - - - -

(My complete movie list is here)

#movies

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letsperaltiago · 4 years ago

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even in a crowded room, it's just me and you

Summary: Jake and Amy spend their date night staking out a nightclub in Brooklyn. It's safe to say that it doesn't go exactly as planned.

Rating: T-M ish (for now 😌)

Words: 10.3 k (welp)

Read on AO3 here

Pink, blue, green, yellow, purple. Every color imaginable cuts through the dark venue like a knife, quick strokes of light appearing only to disappear just as fast, to the beat of loud techno music that definitely doesn’t strike a chord with the two young detectives, Jake Peralta and Amy Santiago.

See, they’re not exactly here to party - there are so many other places, places that aren’t Club Enzo, they’d much rather pay a visit on a Friday night - but rather to work. They’re here to stake out the location and hopefully gather evidence that can put their perp, Axel Manson, in jail for handling and dealing a new drug called ‘Kandy’ - yes, with a ‘k’. Very creative.

It isn’t exactly the date night they’d planned but Holt really needed their help and at least they’re spending time together - plus, there was no way Amy would ever deny their captain her help. The second the captain’s name flashed up on her phone screen, Jake knew date night was about to take a turn.

Having just arrived at the nightclub and watching Amy shrug off her coat to give it to the cloakroom staff, thus introducing him to her undercover outfit, he doesn’t mind the sudden change of plans. Not one bit. Sure, the instant he’d met her outside the club and could see her bare legs, he knew she wasn’t exactly wearing a pantsuit or her usual jeans. Although her coat was hiding everything down to her knee and he didn’t know what to expect. It’s safe to say that he in no way, shape or form expected this.

A dress, not too short but without a doubt short enough to make him do a double-take, clings to her body molding all the right places (which is everywhere, if you ask him) and, to top it off, it’s red. A deep, burgundy red that has him biting his lip to keep his jaw from falling to the sticky floor. Being the talented detective that she is (plus, Jake is shamefully bad at hiding his excitement) Amy notices the response, and in the darkness of the street, there’s no hiding the blood that immediately rushes to the apples of cheeks.

“Looking much, Peralta?” Even if he’s the one to make her blush, he’s still the one who’s dropped his jaw on the cold pavement and there’s no way she’s letting him off the hook. A few months ago she would’ve swept gazes or subtle compliments under the carpet, rationalizing by telling herself that he was dozing off, not minding what he was doing, or simply being friendly. Although things have since then changed. Now Amy knows for sure that he likes her, thus doesn’t have to shrug his actions off with stupid excuses to protect her hopes and feelings, and can allow herself to act on his advances. A dynamic that’s been there since the day they met but has blossomed into honest to good flirting. Butterflies take over her belly every time she catches him looking at her, but She collects herself and her cloakroom number.

“Was I that obvious?” He grins much like a kid getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar but is quick to recover because this is good - they are good - and he doesn’t have to worry about loving the way his girlfriend looks. Especially when she’s got her back turned and grants him a view that has him questioning his professionalism.

“Yes.” In the meantime, she’s turned on her high heels and it all happens so fast, so smoothly and Bond-like. It offers Jake no chance of keeping up with her which means it’s safe to say he’s surprised, very pleasantly so, when she closes the gap between the two of them to help him unbutton his coat. His nice coat, she notices, compliments a sleek, navy blue button-up shirt that comes into view once enough coat buttons have been popped open by her nimble fingers. Having already dropped his jaw in the street outside and never fully recovered, there’s no way he can allow himself to do it again. Although a small hitch in his breathing does make an appearance and outs him. The sight of his girlfriend focusing on opening his coat for him as if it were part of their mission will do that to him. She’s too good, he thinks.

Finally, she gets to the last button without her eyes straying, not once. Looking into his eyes as she pushes the coat - the first layer of more to come, later, he hopes - off of him, another hitch, one that travels through his entire body, shakes him to the core. Brown eyes and lipstick coated lips smirk at him, up through her dark lashes, because she knows he’s obsessed and she’s about to leave him hanging in that moment, all by himself. “You good?”

“Uh- uhuh.” Jake swallows loudly, unable to speak. Five seconds later he’s proven right: she spins on her heels, away from him to hand his coat to the cloakroom staff, and creates yet another torturous distance between them.

Jake is equally frustrated and thankful - frustrated because she should never be allowed to look at him like that and then turn away as if nothing happened; thankful because it gives him the time to reassemble himself.

Amy stoves their cloakroom tickets away into her little clutch and then, for the first time, gets a good look at her boyfriend’s full attire. God, she loves it when he’s cleaned and dressed up nicely. He’s freshly shaved, hair is washed and as wavy as the length will allow, and has it paired with his nicest button-up shirt and black trousers. There’s no doubt, in her or anyone else in that club’s mind: Jake Peralta cleans up more than just nicely (when he wants to).

“This is giving me mad James Bond and Maxi Pads-vibes.” He’s the first to break the momentary silence between them, thumping bass in the background, and it’s as if it brings them back in the zone. Not a very sexy remark but definitely funny and, work-wise, probably pretty smart.

“Shut up,” she chuckles immediately getting the reference, remembering Jake in his fancy three buttoned-tux and them tiptoeing around an abandoned building (and their feelings for each other) in an attempt to catch her nemesis, Minsk. As she hooks her arm with his, slightly leaning into him as they walk further into the club, lights, and loud noise, she wonders why she back then backed out of her initial plan to ask him to dance and used Gina’s grandmother as an out instead. Luckily, that’s in the past, and tonight, she has nothing to be afraid of or back out of. It’s them, him and her, against the world - or this loud club and Axel Manson, at the very least.

They walk into the dancing crowd, a sea of drunks, Amy comments making Jake laugh. After being bumped into multiple times, never being apologized to, they arrive at the bar where they’ll have to order anything but a tempting and delicious-looking cocktail. They should go out for cocktails someday, when they’re off the clock, Jake notes to himself as the woman next to him walks away with two enormous drinks while he on his part is left ordering sodas. Orange for him, a coke for Amy.

“Thanks.” As silly as it might seem the butterflies in Amy’s belly make a reappearance at the thought of Jake knowing exactly what to get her, without even asking her, and it reminds her, bittersweetly, of the past boyfriends who’ve thought they got her what she wanted only to end up serving her what they thought she wanted. In more mays than one, Jake constantly reminds her of exactly why she’s with him.

“I would’ve gotten you Orangina but this club has the decency of not serving poison to their guests.” Jake hides a smirk by taking a sip, knowing she won’t punch or shove him, risking his nice outfit being ruined. When it comes to joking and messing around, something they’ve been from day one and won’t ever change. they’re just kids, both of them, It’s an eternal dynamic that can’t be changed.

“Ha. Ha. Very funny.” She sips on her coke, leaving Jake hanging with a first-row experience of her lips perfectly enclosing the edge of the glass. “Anyways, what is the plan?”

Can’t she just tell him what the plan is? Sure, he could think of something but she’s already one step ahead of him, she always is, and has probably already thought of something brilliant - also she’s just that much hotter when she’s telling him what to do.

“I’m thinking…”

Thank God - his prayers have been heard. She picks up right where she left off.

“... We play it cool, act like regular guests. Then we can split up, hope that either Mason himself or one of his men seek one of us out to sell us drugs. That would be proof enough for us to take him down. Although, objectively speaking, there’s a higher chance of them approaching me since I’m-”

“Super hot?” Wow, he certainly hasn’t gotten any better at holding back his first thoughts, has he? Proud of it or not, the words are out in the open and have earned him an amused look in return. Amy featuring a crinkled nose, grinning lips, and, all in all looking, cute as ever. Cute and hot at the same time ’cause his girlfriend has range.

“I was gonna say “Since I’m a woman” but good to know where your head is at, Peralta. Very professional.”

There’s that voice again, the sultry one he can’t act casual around; the one that gets him all hot and bothered even during times like these where it’s rather inappropriate and not very HR-friendly. Clearly, she’s joking around, messing with him on purpose, and normally he’s okay with that but not tonight - not when she’s looking like this and talking to him like that. On a night like this, there’s an extra-fine and fragile line between professional or personal.

The shape of a smirk on her glowing face paired with the insanely gorgeous dress and her let-down hair? She must know what she’s doing to him, right? And while it isn’t her responsibility whether or not he can control himself, the evening has just barely begun and he’s already miserable. There won’t be a lot of solving crime on his part if this moment sets the tone for the night. Damn his smart, incredible, gorgeous girlfriend.

“If either of us makes contact with Manson, the goal is to lure him outside while the other calls for backup. If Manson is here then the rest of his gang surely must be here too, and the club will need to be ransacked. Sellers and buyers must be arrested. Our priority is to arrest Manson though. Got it?”

“Got it.”

Drink in hand, plan agreed upon, they dance their way into the big crowd. Even sober, trying to keep up with the rhythm of the music whilst balancing liquids isn’t nearly as easy as everyone around them makes it look. A few songs later, having gotten used to the crowd’s unpredictable swaying and their cups gradually being emptied, Jake and Amy get into it. They feel themselves being a part of the sea of drunks and, even sober, it’s pretty fun. It’s been a while since they’ve gone out just the two of them, and despite the fact that this isn’t their usual spot and they’re on the clock, the sentiment remains the same.

Amy has her own, very unique, dancing style, and Jake is very much aware of this. It’s safe to say he’s grown to love her dancing, finding it adorkable (Amy told him that it’s not a real word but he doesn’t care) and another good reason to think of her as the coolest human being alive. Amy is a pro at getting caught up in people’s opinions but when she’s dancing? She forgets everything around her and simply has fun. Tonight is no exception: Amy’s limbs are kicked, punched, thrown right and left to the beat, accidentally hitting a couple of guests who, luckily, are too drunk to care. It’s her very own form of art and Jake is her biggest fan.

“Dance with me!” She yells over the loud music, smile as wide as the Joker’s. She knows there’ll be missteps, she’ll fall out of the rhythm and eventually step on him. That hasn’t changed and probably never will. Although what has changed is the fact that now she doesn’t care. Now she’s confident in Jake’s feelings about her, knows that he finds her small missteps adorable, never annoying, and nothing she can do will push him away.

“Is that a work tactic of yours?” He speaks into her ear once he’s finally closed the gap between them and they’re moving in somewhat synchronization to the beat of a remix of a song that was better off in its original format.

“Sure.” A giggle fights its way through the obnoxiously heavy bass and Jake is very thankful. Every sound she makes equals a spectacular symphony. One that he doesn’t want to miss. “Makes us look more legit. Will keep out cover intact.”

“Wow, look at you throwing around slang, Santiago. So legit.”

His teasing grin deserves a playful punch to fight off his smartypants comments.

“But do you think Manson will approach us if we come off as a couple?”

“Who says we’re a couple?” She grins devilishly, leaning in close so that their noses a pressed together. “We’re drunk. We don’t know what we’re doing. We might as well be strangers.”

This time around she can’t hear it over the loud booming but his breath gets caught in his throat at the thought of Amy Santiago being his scandalous one-night stand. Of course, one night with Amy would never be enough for him but there’s something about this specific roleplay, undercover role, and the way she’s looking at him with luring dark eyes that has him fumbling into unprofessional land. Focus, Jake. He counts down from ten and Amy, oblivious to her boyfriend’s internal fight, pulls back, offering him a chance to collect himself. The bright lights illuminate her as she moves with a confidence that completely erases the dorkiness and leaves her looking like a goddess clad in red. Red as wine and all he wants to do is get drunk on her.

The couple falls into a comfortable rhythm of moving about the floor, somewhat dancing, as they keep an eye on the constantly switching crowd. In the back of their minds, they have a picture of Axel Manson keeping them alert. Hopefully, it’s enough for them to be able to recognize the criminal if he were to show himself.

“I wish we worked cases like this more often!” Jake yells, trying to make himself heard over the music. Even basically pressed up against Amy, hands on her waist, focused, she can’t make out what he says.

“What?” She yells back, leaning in further to listen as she tries to keep up the dancing, letting Jake’s hands lead her around the floor.

“I wish we worked cases like this more often!”

“Why?”

“You look really hot in that dress.” He emphasizes his point by stroking her hip, getting a good feel of the red fabric hugging her beautiful curves. Curves that under more intimate circumstances would have him explicitly worshipping her.

“Shut up, Peralta.” She rolls her eyes and tries to shake off his compliment, because, in reality, it does something dangerous to her. Dangerous and unsuitable under the given circumstances.

“You do! In anything you wear but tonight is like... Wow, my mind is extra blown, babe.”

She quickly pecks his lips in thanks, the light in her eyes enough for Jake to know that she appreciates his flirting - even when she tries to shrug it off.

To allow herself some space, she takes a step back and thus the dancing recommences. Her very own moves are throw up, do, left and right while Jake stands back and admires the goofiness unraveling before him. Fortunately, everyone around them is too hammered to care and he’s got the view all to himself. He sticks to doing the bare minimum to look like he’s dancing. Shufflin on the spot at best. This way he can surveil the club (and Amy).

“Incredible,” he cheers on, meaning it even though this kind of incredible isn’t for everyone. Although her moves indeed are questionable, Amy herself deserves every positive adjective in the dictionary. Wow, did he just make a grammar-based compliment? The Santiago-gene has really rubbed off on him, huh?

Everything is easy, like fun and games, or at least it is right up until some drunk idiot, tall and handsome, Jake will admit, accidentally stumbles into Amy. She’s a trooper though: shakes it off and keeps dancing as if nothing had happened. Instead of apologizing, said man apparently sees this as an opening, a prompt for him to act on, and smoothly allows his hand to travel across the sleek fabric hugging Amy’s hips which, upon noticing the touch, abruptly stops moving.

“Why’d’ya stop dancing, babe? You looked so good.” The strange’s voice is as sleazy as his rapprochement. Overall representing the kind of person no one deserves to be approached by. Drunk or not, Jake doesn’t care the least: this kind of behavior can’t be excused. No woman, or just person in general, should have to put up with this. Admittedly, the fact that the subject of this stranger’s idiocy is his girlfriend doesn’t make matters any better. From the feeling of his fists clenching, he can tell it makes it much worse.

“Excuse me?” Amy challenges the stranger, takes a step back, not even caring that she bumps into someone else in the process of doing so. Her priority is to make sure that the unwelcomed hands let go of her.

Then they both see it, both Jake and Amy, and like lightning coming from a clear sky, it takes them by surprise. It takes everything within them to not flinch or freeze in a way that’ll come off as suspicious, because this? This is without a doubt Axel Manson.

“No need to be prissy, babe. Take it as a compliment.”

Amy’s got her arms crossed in front of her chest and it’s clear as day, at least to Jake, that she’s in a standby position - a position where she isn’t fully sure of what her next move should be. On one hand, the perp’s moves are extremely inappropriate, especially with Jake around (even though he knows it’s a part of the job); on the other hand, she can’t act out and risk scaring Manson away. Now that he’s fallen right into their lap they need to figure out how to go about this in the smoothest way possible.

If they weren’t currently undercover, working a case that very much relies on being discreet and staying unnoticed, Jake would tell the prick to get lost. Instead, he has to take on a different role that he definitely hasn’t prepared for: the role of the random bystander that won’t intervene.

Amy still has her back turned to Jake, facing their perp, and unfolds her arms to instead put one behind her back. Firstly, it makes her look less defensive and closed off; secondly, it allows her to send Jake a signal with her fingers: a thumbs up. Jake notices and even though he wants nothing more than rid his girlfriend of this creep, Amy is now his partner and not his girlfriend. Now is not the time to act on emotions, instead, he has to go along with whatever she leads him into. He trusts that she’s thought of a playbook to follow and knows what she’s doing.

“Sorry, I was just... surprised, I guess,” she laughs off the momentary tension, at the very least tries to, praying that Manson won’t see right through this innocent, flirty act she’s about to put on for him.

“That’s alright, baby. I can take it - especially when you’re as beautiful as you are.”

Right amid people dancing and pushing their way through the crowd around them, Jake makes sure to stay at safe distance, hopefully staying out of the scene Amy and Manson have proceeded into. On his part, Manson has reached over to grab the hand of his newest catch and gives it a gallant kiss. Charming but not at all representative of his overall behavior, Amy thinks, meanwhile she acts as if the move truly impresses her. If it wasn’t for the fact that she had to stay in character for the sake of the bust, she would’ve told him off the second he bumped into her. Jake, feeling rather exclude but know it’s how it has to be, discreetly stays behind and watches the scene unfold. Sipping on orange, shuffling on the spot, acting as if some creep isn’t making a move on his girlfriend and colleague. An unpleasant feeling boils in his gut, but it’s not exactly jealousy - or so he tells himself because it’s his least favorite emotion and, more than anything else, he trusts Amy. There’s no reason for him to feel jealous. Amy is just doing her job and so she should.

… Although he does feel unquestionable mistrust towards the other man and the urge to push him off of her is even stronger. Scum like him don’t deserve even a second of attention from a woman as lovely as Amy - undercover persona or not.

“Wow, thank you. I sure don’t mind my view either.”

From a time preceding their current relationship and up till now, Jake has witnessed a bit of everything in terms of Amy’s flirting skills. Not that his own are any better but Amy’s can sometimes be… awkward and questionable. In reality, Amy Santiago is a natural but as soon as she’s consciously flirting, she gets all weird and fidgety about it. Her game is much stronger when she’s doing it unconsciously, going with the flow, like with him. As if they only know how to flirt with one another.

Yet here she is, completely nailing this coquettish act, and even though it should bother him Jake also feels… captivated. This bold and cutthroat side of Amy that usually only appears when it’s just the two of them, within the intimacy of their bedroom, is suddenly out in the open and luring in a stranger with so much ease. Amy Santiago is without a doubt the best detective slash genius.

Mason takes a step closer, smooth to a point where it’s embarrassingly obvious that he’s done this a lot, and puts a hand on her hip. It isn’t until he can taste fresh blood that Jake realizes he’s been biting his lip. Focus, Jake, he tells himself and joins the random group of dancing people next to him, hoping this will keep his cover intact while he can keep an eye on the situation. Hopefully, he hasn’t noticed him and Amy dancing together before bumping into them. Amy knows what she’s doing, he keeps repeating to himself, completely drowning out erratic beats, people singing off-key to some pop song, and other distracting sounds.

“What’s your name, gorgeous? And even more importantly, are you here with someone?” Manson’s dark eyes drill into hers with great, sleazy purpose. In all honesty, it throws her off a bit to be looked at like that by someone who’s not Jake, even worse a criminal. Concentration is key and Amy falls right back into the game with ease. On the outside nothing unusual is to be noted; on the inside, she fights to ignore the stranger’s strong fingers digging into the flesh of her hips as if she were his property.

“Cassidy, and no. I’m just here to… explore my options.” Amy gives him her best flirty smirk, personally hating the reaction it earns her but, professionally, happy to see him fall right into her sensuous trap.

“Well, Cassidy, I’m Axel and that sounds right about perfect to me. I also love to… explore.” He emphasizes his ulterior motive so obviously that it falls right under the category of an explicit plan.

It’s funny to see someone who couldn’t be leading a more different life from her own think they have something in common, Amy thinks. It sure helps the fake smile she currently has plastered on her face, even when Manson strokes her hip and causes the soft fabric to bunch up around her thigh, revealing more of her golden skin. That’s her cue - it’s go time. No more fooling around. With the hand behind her back she signals towards the club’s exit and prays that, in that very second, Jake happens to be looking her way right. Get him outside echoes in her mind and she hopes it does in Jake’s too.

What Amy doesn’t know is that Jake hasn’t left her out of sight for even a second. On the contrary, he’s quick to notice the signal and knows exactly what it means: things are about to start moving. His galloping pulse confirms it and he’s ready to follow them wherever they go.

“How lucky for both of us, Axel. Should we, you know, get out of here then?”

Amy feels like she’s in a movie, coming up with one smooth line followed by the next. Dropping line after line, spontaneous and mysterious, to a point where she almost can’t recognize herself. Although she can’t wait to bust this guy and be back with Jake, she does have to admit that it is very satisfying to see just how easy and indiscreet criminals are. It’s a fine line to walk.

“Nothing would make me happier, doll.” Axel promptly places an arm around Amy’s waist, a bit lower than expected and the move is as smug as Axel’s grin. A grin that only grows from the satisfaction of having his arm around a beautiful woman who, he thinks, will get him laid.

In the momentum of the turn they do, directing themselves towards the exit, Amy catches a glimpse of her boyfriend’s stare. There’s no begrudging his displeased demeanor, Amy thinks imagining if it were her in his place. There’s a lot of trust between the two, never any reason to feel jealous, but this kind of situation is different and (luckily) not circumstances any regular couple would ever encounter. There’s no room for jealousy - this is a matter of doing your job properly whilst also keeping your partner safe and unharmed. A partner which you more than just care for. Jake certainly has begun to entertain himself with the thought of love and this only enhances the pondering about his feelings for his co-detective.

They share a look of mutual understanding, brief but it’s there, and it puts Amy at ease to know that he’s got her back in these most trying times of their operation. Manson’s hand keeps sliding further and further down her waist, obviously and shamelessly yearning for her hip and ass as if it were his right, and if it wasn’t for the fact that it was a matter of making the bust or not, Amy would’ve smacked his hand. Alas, she lets it slide, plays the role of the infatuated prey, and doesn’t flinch under the foreign palm taking a handful hold of her dress and the flesh beneath it.

“Sarge?” Jake speaks into his phone, never letting Amy and Axel out of his sight. He can physically taste the disgust he’s feeling upon seeing his girlfriend be felt up but he’s putting his anger to good use. “Amy and I have found Manson. We’re currently luring him outside. Send back up and catch them the-”

Jake feels himself flinch at the sight of this criminal having his hands all over Amy while feeling more than just delighted by this conquest. Jake knows Manson has set himself up for great disappointment, but still, he can’t help it when the sight of Axel being a major creep has his word’s caught up in his throat.

“I- uh, yes, sorry. Just keeping an eye out for Amy. They’ll walk out onto Fulton Street. Meet us there with backup ASAP. Not sure if he’s armed or not so be careful. He’s got Amy with him.”

He hangs up the second he sees Axel and Amy make their way to the cloakroom. Needing to be sure of what to make her next move, without Axel noticing, Amy runs her hand up the perp’s strong arm, wardrobe number in between her index finger and middle finger.

“Just need to stop by the lady’s room and... “ She bites her bottom lip into a natural pause. “... get ready for whatever you and I are gonna do once we leave this place.”

She bats her long eyelashes at him. Past experiences with Jake have her trusting the simple but sultry move and its effect. It should work wonders. “Grab my coat for me, please? And perhaps I’m even lucky enough to find some candy in my pocket when I come back?” Cocked eyebrows suggest Manson read between the lines.

“What’d’ya mean, princess?”

During the course of her career, Amy’s seen a lot of perp bluff which means Mansons already steps behind her. Even with a hand on her hip and trying to play it off as confused, the detective doesn’t fall out of character. She needs proof.

“Oh please, Axel…” Amy grins before leaning in, lips almost grazing his ear. Lucky for her their perp can’t see how her legs are trembling from the adrenaline. “I know what you do around here. Share your candy with me and I’ll share mine with you. No one will know.” Her vixenish whisper echoes in her ears while her lips tease to touch the sensitive spot. Amy cocks an eyebrow playfully and there’s no way Axel can say no to that.

“Of course, babe. I’ll be right here waiting. Don’t be too long though.” Axel’s warm, alcohol-drenched breath hits her face when he pulls back and it takes every fiber in Amy’s body to not pull back from where the man is leaning in close, smirking like he’s got her figured out. “I’m getting impatient.”

“I’ll be quick.” She promises.

Even from a safe distance away, Jake’s glowering gaze certainly doesn’t miss how Amy seals the deal their perp and how he runs starving eyes up and down her body as she walks off. While Jake would prefer that it was him she was torturing like that, he also feels confident about this operation. It’s going to work, he’s sure. Then he’s going to need a lot of making up for how little he’s gotten to enjoy her company tonight.

Purposely brushing past Jake, discreetly bumping his shoulder, Amy makes her way to the bathroom.

One… Two… Three… Four… Five… Jake spins around on his heels and follows her into the bathroom, making sure to do so unnoticed by Axel.

“We’re in the clear,” Amy informs him when she sees Jake peep his head into the room.

“You’re brilliant, Ames!” Jake beams, stepping up to her and instantly earns himself a proud smile in return. Amy can’t help but notice how right it feels when he places his hands on her lower arms, almost as to make sure she’s safe and really there with him. Her warms skin feels so good in his hold and it hits him how much he needs her to be okay and… his. “You okay?”

“Yes, I’m okay. And I think he’s buying it, Jake! I tried to lure him into giving me some drugs. I will let you know if he does… Did you call Terry?”

Jake can tell she’s proud of herself and can do nothing but nod in agreement. So she should be. “Yes, backup should be here within a couple of minutes, ready to take him down when you exit the club. Also of course he’s buying it! That act you’re putting up? Impossible to resist.”

“You been thinking about that a lot, babe?”

They’re on the clock, Jake is aware, but she sends him a teasing wink (oh, she knows), and before he can even wrap his mind around just how turned on he is, she’s moved on as if nothing had happened. Moved on to apply lipstick in the reflection of the dirty bathroom mirror as if he wasn’t even there. The red tip of her lipstick traces her full lips oh so slowly, taunting him with every inch and curve, and it has very unprofessional, untasteful per se, scenarios flash before his eyes. The muffled sound of the bass is momentarily replaced by the remembrance filthy sounds. It all crowds his mind so fast, making remaining focused almost impossible, and if they hadn’t had a major drug lord waiting for them then he’d definitely taken advantage of how Amy was currently leaning against the sink, back turned to him, in an attempt to apply the lipstick as precisely as possible.

“Oh, Ames…” Though he really shouldn’t, he allows his hand to wander onto her hips, the ones he’d hated Axel so much for touching… Besides hating him for the obvious stuff, like being a criminal and whatnot. “You’re all I ever think about.”

Even with her hair let down, falling in raven waves and covering some of her exposed shoulder, neck, and arms, there’s little left to the imagination. As animalistic and primitive it might sound, Jake internally thanks Amy for her pick of dress, a spaghetti strap dress that shows off her strong upper body. Handling perps might just be the best workout. He does realize that he’s only making it worse, more agonizing, for himself to wait out their mission however he simply can’t help himself, and before he can bring himself to cease, his lips are attached to her shoulder blade… then back nape of her neck… then the other shoulder. Her skin tastes like a mixture of her vanilla body wash and the smoke-filled air of the club.

Their eyes meet in the reflection of the mirror, both smirking knowingly; they’re both fighting the urge to throw professionalism out the window and tear each other apart - right here, right now. How wonderful it would be to simply unhinge, give in to the vicious atmosphere of the club. Take each other home like a spontaneous hookup on a night out. Alas, right now is not the time for adulterated play pretend. Right now, even with his hands feeling dangerously good on her, closing in on the zipper running along her spine, their duty and urgent matter at hand is somehow stronger. With one last kiss to the skin of her neck and a shared look in the mirror, they wordlessly promise each other: later…

He offers her hip a squeeze and clears his throat. Smiling to show support.

“Let’s go get him.”

“Y-Yes. Let’s.”

After checking herself in the mirror one last time, she spins on her heels. Their eyes meet, outside of the mirror this time, and Amy feels confident walking out - Jake is right there behind her. Like always, he’s got her back.

“You look great!”

Having already exited the bathroom, Amy knows not to turn around, risking looking suspicious, but she can still smile to herself, and oh does she. Blush, a lot of it, as well. Luckily said blush simmers down and impossible to detect by the time she’s back with Axel. From the dance floor, Jake keeps an eye on their every move and it’s with great delight he notices Axel’s wallet falling from his pocket when the man shrugs on his coat. Having already put on her coat, Amy checks to see if her flirting worked and to her happy surprise, it did. In the depth of her pocket, her fingers come across a tiny, sealed plastic back containing a couple of tiny heart-shaped pills object: kandy.

Amy smiles to herself and Jake is quick to notice: she’s got the drugs and all the proof they need to take Manson down.

To the detective’s advantage, the pumping music drowns out the wallet’s fall and Amy is quick to latch onto Axel’s strong arm thus prompting him to lead her outside, into her trap. Coats hanging off of their frames, walking side by side, they make their way through the front door. Amy’s lungs hitch for the fresh air outside, nervously so, internally praying that reinforcement is waiting for them outside as to not be left alone with the shady criminal for longer than needed. One thing is being told they’ll be there: another thing is actually seeing the familiarly blue-clad reinforcement there waiting for you.

Click clack.

Her black heels hit the pavement, they have officially left the safety of the crowded club, and this fact, along with the absence of the blinking red and blue lights, triggers a certain nervousness in Amy. An uneasiness screaming that everything is at stake right now - the case as well as her own life - and that there’s no room for indiscretion.

It’s a well-known fact: Amy Santiago always brings her A-game. Although this specific mission demands even more detail-oriented and throughout thought decision-making on her part. One little misstep can cause a domino effect of danger and chaos, and she’s not about to topple over the first piece.

“Terry!”

On his part, Jake feels just as uneasy, if not even more, about the lack of backup. There’s a limit for how close he can stick to Amy and their perp; walking too close will only raise suspicion meanwhile walking too far behind could compromise the mission and, more importantly, Amy’s safety.

“Where are you guys? Amy and Manson have left the club. They’re making their way south on Fulton Street, and I don’t know for how long I can trail behind them before Mason grows suspicious.”

There’s an irritated undertone to Jake’s voice he simply can’t bite back - it’s not as if he’s trying to hide it - but his girlfriend is currently charming a dangerous criminal and no one but Manson himself knows where he’s taking her. If they get into a car this entire case will turn into a chase and ticking clock situation.

At this point, if Manson as much as hails a cab, Jake will have to do something. Step in, one way or the other, to free Amy from the situation or at least stall. There’s no way Jake is allowing a criminal to drag his girlfriend along as bait for a wild-goose chase. Alonge the thought is a hard pill to swallow. He always worries when she’s working a case; the second she’s out of sight a thousand horrible scenarios flash before his eyes because he can’t imagine a world without her. Amy is very much capable, he knows, and she doesn’t rely on him for anything, nor should she, but if he can keep her safe then he sure as hell will.

Then it happens. What he dreaded the most. Mason waves over a cab which immediately pulls over to park next to the couple.

A hundred feet or so keep Jake, and Manson and Amy apart. Step by step he gains speed, gains in on them, with fiery eyes glued to his girlfriend in hopes of some kind of signal from her. Manson gallantly opens the door to the cab for her. Polite for a criminal, Jake thinks to himself as his fists turn white from clenching.

Dutiful as ever, Amy she gets into the car. He catches a glimpse of her face and certainly isn’t met with what he had imagined; Amy’s shaking her head no at him, frowning and warning him with a harsh stare. Does she just expect him to keep his cool and step back from the situation? It feels very much like a punch to his gut. Can’t she see she’s in danger?

His feet never cease, on the contrary, they pick up the pace, completely disregarding Amy’s deterring signals. The car door smacks shut capturing Amy inside the cab but even then, through the dirty cab window, she’s very clearly telling him off. Her expression only becomes clearer with every step he takes.

Manson, still very much oblivious to the situation that’s about to be called into existence, makes his way around the cab and gets into the back with Amy. The sound of his door shutting behind him affects Jake the exact same way the sound of a gun going off would: adrenaline overrules his clear thinking and protocol for the given kind of situation is off the table. Protocol means nothing when a dangerous drug lord is about to drive away with your partner - partner slash girlfriend, that is. It doesn’t matter that she’s the NYPD’s best detective. All Jake sees is red and the following words come flying out without warning.

“Sir!”

He waves his arms in the air to hopefully catch Manson, or at least the cab driver’s, attention. Perfectly synchronized with Jake’s outburst, Amy’s eyes send him daggers but there’s nothing she can say or do… It’’ll blow their cover. So instead she sits back, acts as if she doesn’t know the lunatic who’s calling out for her date, and waits for the horror that is Jake Peralta’s improv skills.

“You forgot your wallet back at the club. They’re holding onto it for you. They uh- told me to run after you and let you know.” He’s out of breath from running up to the cab and leans against it as he tries to catch it. Jake has to admit that he deserves the prize for the worst cover story in the history of cover stories. All he can do is pray that their perp will believe it - even if it’s with an inch of mistrust.

“What?” Manson spits, halfway out the cab and sure as hell looking pissed - pissed like a man who’s getting momentarily cockblocked by a random stranger.

“Your wallet. Someone’s found it and I was sent to tell you.” Jake stutters from his position on the sidewalk. He can feel Amy glaring at him from her spot behind the window, begging him to look at her so she can let him know exactly what she’s thinking: idiot!

“You couldn’t have brought it with ya, ya moron?”

All night they’ve seen him in nothing but a good mood so it sure does intimidate Jake, just a tiny bit, to experience Manson growling and scowling like an agitated beast.

“I- uh, sorry. I’m just… super hammered. My brain is probably broken from all the vodkas and… orange drank and whatnot.”

Jake doesn’t even have to look at Amy to know that she’s rolling her eyes at him.

“Whatever.” Manson peeks into the cab. “I’ll be right back, darling.”

Amy smiles without saying a word, but the second Manson is out of sight she’s practically kicking down the cab door.

“What the hell, Jake?! What are you doing?”

During their few months of being together, he’s never seen her this mad. Not at him, not at anyone. Even the mattress incident has nothing on the pure acrimony she’s currently displaying. The red color of her dress suddenly carries a whole new symbolism.

“What do you mean? Ames, he was going to drive you off to God knows where!”

Why is she so angry when he’s just trying to protect her? His expression slowly starts to match hers and he doesn’t like this color on him - not one bit.

“Don’t Ames me! And I have my tracker and gun on me, plus backup is just around the corner!” She refuses to step down from her case and it’s as if they forget that Axel Mason will be back before long.

“You don’t know how far away backup is. Also, a tracker and gun won’t keep you safe against a man like Manson!”

It takes a clenching of his jaw to contain himself. Heavy breaths have him feel like an enraged bull, provoked by her red dress (even though technically bulls can’t see color - Amy told him so) and matching stubbornness - an attribute of hers he usually admires. Right now it’s hard to admire though. Even if he knows his girlfriend is very much capable of doing whatever she puts his mind to, he also knows he’d never forgive himself if she was to be harmed in any way, shape, or form; even worse if he’d done nothing to stop it. He’s read through Manson’s criminal record and knows what the man is capable of.

“So what? You’re running interference because you, the great Jake Peralta, need to keep me safe and be the one to save the day?”

She’s taken a few steps away from the cab to join Jake on the sidewalk. It’s not for the sake of keeping him company though. Oh no, her arms are very much crossed, body language very clearly cutting him off completely, and if it weren’t for the fact that they’re in the midst of quite a fight, Jake’s eyes would comment on how the crossing of her arms enhances her chest.

“It’s not like that, Amy. It’s not about being the best or saving the day.”

“Then what?” She barks and all at once everything around them seems to go silent. It definitely doesn’t ease the weight on the young man’s shoulder, the feeling he seems to be holding back for reasons unknown. How does he explain that he cares deeply for her, perhaps more than he’s ever cared about anyone before, without saying the three magic words? That would be too soon and most definitely the wrong time.

Still, with Amy Santiago looking at him like she currently is, eyes begging to understand but also filled with fury, he knows that he’s in the wrong and she, as so often, is right. He had no right to interfere. She had it under control and he let his personal fears overrule his professional rationality.

“I’m-” the words get stuck in his throat and he has to clear it to continue.

“I’m afraid of not doing enough. I know that you’re a total badass but it’s so hard for me to stand by and act like it’s all out of my hands, when my mind is telling me that I can do more and that I’d never be able to forgive myself if something were to happen to you. It’s hard to stay out of your way when I feel the way that I do about you - even if I know you’re fully capable.”

His nervous shuffling on the spot and adverting gaze cuts right through his previous angry demeanor, a much more insecure side of Jake shining through at perhaps the most inconvenient time. Amy wants to listen and discuss this with him, she truly does, because no matter how much she pisses her off, she also really likes him too.

Timing is damned, not on their side, and Manson is now once more walking out of the club as he lights a cigarette. Jake, back turned to the club, remains perfectly oblivious to the incoming confrontation.

On her part, Amy has a perfect view of her undercover admirer. “Shit.” It’s unclear and mumbled under her breath, enough for Jake to notice but without being able to see Manson, the detective remains confused. “We need to stall.” Manson makes his way towards them and an oh so familiar situation presents itself: they’ve got to think fast.

“Kiss me,” Amy commands through her teeth.

“What?”

“He’s back! We need to stall till the 99 gets here so I need you to shut up and kiss me. Now!”

To an uninformed Jake, this very sudden order profoundly confuses him. The very specific kind of confusion and disorientation reminds him a lot of that time Johnny and Dora staked out the park - he can almost feel the tree pressing up against his back and Amy’s lips on his - and the similarity of the situation will soon catch up with him.

Usually warm and kind but now burning and stressing brown irises glower at him and Jake knows: he needs to act now; trust her and whatever process her brain has mapped out. So he acts.

Like a whirlwind, he pulls her in by her dress’ soft fabric and shoves her up against the side of the cab, so hard that a thump can be heard. It’s a kiss that, in more than one way, takes her breath away. It’s warm, passionate, and quick but still deep enough to make her toes curl. In a perfect scenario, she would let Jake go on, deepen the kiss and take them where she wants to be, but an entire case is relying on her self-control.

“What are you doing, you perv?!”

She pushes him off of her, as dramatically as physically possible, and the anger in her eyes makes an encore.

Jake has never heard her scream with such high pitch and power, and it’s an understatement to say that it takes him a second to recollect himself - both because of the insanely hot kiss and the sudden scream fit.

“Hey! What is going on!?” Manson’s cigarette is long gone, adding itself to the collection of cigarette buds in the streets of Brooklyn. Too focused on hurrying back to the cab where his sidepiece of the evening seems to be in trouble, he fails to notice the exchange glances between the two detectives. Glances that confirm that this is is - their new plan. Like an actor walking onto her stage, Amy quickly switches from Amy to Cassidy.

“I wanted to smoke a cigarette while you were getting your wallet, but this freak forced himself onto me!” She makes sure to spew out the word freak, hoping it’ll cover up her true feelings for her partner.

Amy Santiago is unrecognizable, fully merged with her role as club girl Cassidy, and Jake can’t do anything but play along as they both embark on the craziness that is a very serious game of play pretend. Hopefully backup will make their way to them before Manson has the chance of reducing him to a pile of blood and bones.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, you little shit?!” Their perp forces himself in-between the two, punching Jake in the shoulder, hard enough to have the smaller man trip backward. Only by a thread does Jake manage to stay on his feet.

A threatening that has Jake backing up against, so much that he eventually hits the wall behind him. Now he’s really begging for backup to arrive.

Yes, he does have his badge on him, hidden under his shirt, but flashing it could cause further hostility and threat to him and, of greater importance to him, Amy. Jake stares straight into the eyes of an enraged Alex Manson, scared but also mildly annoyed by the fact that this macho idiot feels such strong entitlement when it comes to Amy – a woman whom he’s known for approximately thirty minutes.

Not that there’s ever a good time to feel entitled to decide over a woman.

“We were just talking.” Hopelessly so, but still, Jake tries to reason with his opponent. Mason obviously caught them with their lips locked. All according to Amy this is the plan that will get them out of this disaster, safely and successfully, and, more than ever before, Jake really hopes she’s right.

“Talking? Do you think I’m blind!? I saw you making out against the cab, feeling her up with your filthy hands and lips!”

At this point Manson has a strong hand on Jake’s chest, keeping him captive against the wall with what feels like a promise to not only threaten but also hurt. A million thoughts race through Jake’s mind.

He’s not dying, not today, not when an idiot like Axel Manson thinks he can get away with miscellaneous criminal activity and treating women like garbage. Over his dead body, only metaphorically, of course, he thinks and bites the inside of his cheek.

Over Manson’s notably broad shoulder he manages to get a hold of Amy’s eyes. For the first time since he, to Amy’s great dismay, chose to confront Mason, Amy’s death stare is directed at their perp rather than him. Discreetly, making sure to not make any sudden moves and draw attention to herself, Amy reaches down for the hem of her dress skirt. Her eyes never drop from Manson’s figure, even as she gently lifts the skirt a bit, revealing the handgun she’s been carrying around - Mr. and Mrs. Smith-stylez.

By all means, even with his life is at stake, Jake takes a millisecond to notice just how fucking hot that is. If this is the last thing he sees before he goes then he won’t complain. If he does survive, then he’ll have to suggest that they buy her a nice garter for them to mess around with. He’s quickly snapped out of his fantasy when Manson pushes him harder into the wall.

“Did you hear what I said? Do you think I’m blind!?”

Jake’s floundering.

“It was- uh- an accident.”

The weight on Jake’s chest instantly increases even further, threatening to crush his bones (or so it feels). Then he sees Manson’s free arms being lifted from his side and prepared to throw what Jake guesses is the first punch.

“Don’t fuck with me, shithead. Me and a couple of friends from the club are in search of a new punchbag and right now you look like the perfect candidate…”

Jake knows he should be fearing for his life but all he pays attention to is the fact that their perp has practically just admitted to his gang being inside the club. Just as he’s about to flash a self-satisfied grin, the first punch collides with Jake’s chin.

Amy hears Jake groan out in pain, the gun ready to go, out of the corner of her eye, she sees a familiar blink of blue and red lights around the corner. Backup - she can safely reveal herself and help Jake.

“NYPD! Let go of him and put your hands in the air!”

In one swift motion, well-practiced and with ease, Amy has her gun pulled from her thigh holster and pressed into Manson’s back. The criminal freezes on the spot just as he’s about to throw another punch and allows Jake to free himself as three cop cars pull up to the scene and surround them. Amy doesn’t budge, continuously holding Manson at gunpoint. Her arms tremble from the rush. Still, she doesn’t cease until the sarge tells her to and two of her colleagues have Manson handcuffed.

“We’ve got him, Santiago.”

A heavy breath, one she’s held since Manson forced Jake up against the wall, is set free from her lungs. Newfound calmness and satisfaction rush through her veins.

After carefully securing her gun and putting it back in its holster, slowly coming down from the adrenaline-driven high, the thought of Jake and the punch he just took floods her mind. Adrenaline and anger fully clouded her mind but now that she can think somewhat clearly again, worry takes possession of her entire body. It’s as if her legs, without her brain having to order them to, instinctually take her to where Jake is being taken care of by Terry and a first aid kit.

“Jake! Are you okay?”

He barely has the time to turn around. Amid his turn, she throws herself at him, arms around his neck and if Terry hadn’t been right there, holding the bloody cloth that’s been drying Jake’s bloody nose, she would’ve kissed him to the moon and back,

“Uhmpf-“

Her hug punches the air out of him, and he should care (with being punched and crushed and whatnot) but he doesn’t, because it’s her and all he wants is for her to be okay. He recovers from the hug attack right away and naturally his arms come to wrap her up. The pounding ache in his lower face, nose, and lips, swollen and slightly bloody, somehow melts away under her touch. Technically, that doesn’t make sense but that’s what he does to her. A loud pounding reappears, this time coming from his heart rather than his head and he knows he’s alive and back with his favorite person - the most badass person he knows, too.

“I’m okay, Ames.” A pleasant mixture of her lavender shampoo and the feeling of her soft skin (she always brags about moisturizing) lets him know he’s back in his safe house and for a second he closes his eyes, lets himself slip into a momentary trance where no one or nothing can touch him. Neither of them knows for how long they stand there, simply holding each other in silence but eventually, the sarge clears his throat, obviously feeling like the odd one out during this happy reunion.

“Amy, you and I will head back to the 99 with Manson for your debriefing. Jake, I’ll have officer Wilson drive you to the hospital for a checkup and debrief you there.”

The couple quickly pulls apart, brutally pulled back to earth, and realizes that there are other people, notably their boss, around.

The night is far from over. More than anything else, Amy wants to be the one to take Jake to the hospital, hold his hand while they wait for the final verdict, but she also knows better than to make professional demands based on personal needs. She opts for a simple “Of course, sarge.” Jake as well.

To the couple’s relief, Terry sees right through them, smiles, and nods approvingly. Terry loves respecting HR-guidelines but, more than anything, Terry loves love.

“I’ll give you five.” He gives them both a pat on the shoulder, then he walks off to help with Manson who’s currently painting the dark Brooklyn night with a quite colorful chain of curses.

The blue and red light flash across Jake’s side profile, enhancing his bruised lip, as his eyes follow the Sarge. Amy watches him watch the scene unfold, and while she would’ve preferred no punches and bruises at all, it definitely doesn’t make undercover, dressed-up Jake look any less hot. She might even go as far as thinking it’s… extremely sexy.

“You’re an idiot.”

Her voice instantly catches his attention and him looking right at her only gives her a better view of the slightly split lip. So much for a solid plan, she thinks and cups his cheek in her hand as to inspect him.

He winces a bit but never refrains.

“I know.” The sigh is one of defeat.

Amy is quick to catch on a runs her thumb across his cheek in a soothing pattern. “But at least we got him,” she comforts.

“Yeah, but you were right. I was being reckless and impatient. I should’ve stayed back and let you handle it... Like I know you can. I’m sorry if it came off as me not trusting you or whatever. It wasn’t my intention to compromise you or the mission.”

“I know…” Carefully to not hurt him her hand slides off his face to instead grabs his hands. “But I do appreciate you apologizing.”

“Of course. I was wrong and you were right. The Jake and Amy story.”

A warm, familiar chuckle is shared between the two, somehow resynchronizing them, because this really does feel like Jake and Amy – whatever story they’re currently writing.

“But there’s one thing I’m going to need you to apologize for, detective Santiago.”

A charming grin is enough to let Amy know he’s about to hit her with something for her to roll her beautiful brown eyes at. And he, on his part, can’t wait.

“Oh, and that is?”

“I’m going to need you to apologize for looking so fucking hot tonight.”

“Jake…” Blush instantly replace her normal skin tone. Even months into their relationship he still manages to do things to her that she can’t control. Especially looking like this, all dressed up, tussled hair and bruised face working in contrast.

“Like, even with Manson all up in my face, all I could think about was you in that red dress…” He runs his hand along the fabric hugging her hip. “And don’t even get me started on the thigh holster. I was so afraid that I’d die tonight and never get to peel it off of you.”

“Jake!” She skips forward and shuts him up by planting her hand across his mouth. “The officers or the sarge could hear us!”

“Ouch!”

“Oh my God, your lip! I’m so sorry!”

“It’s fine.” He winces once her hands fly off of him and free his sore lip. “I really should head to the hospital, huh?”

“Yeah, you really should. Are you going to be okay?”

“Totally.” Jake confirms, nodding his head yes. “See you at your place later? I’m sure the hospital will let me go home tonight.”

“Sounds like a plan.” She nods, trailing off but then the opportunity for a clever comment presents itself and she can’t resist. “If you can you stick to it this time?”

A teasing glimmer in her eyes and cocky smile lets him know just how proud she is of her own comeback.

“You got me, babe. But yes, promise I will stick to the plan this time. I’ve learned from my mistakes.”

“Good...” Without further prompting his girlfriend leans in close, close enough for her breath to tickle her ear, and drops a bomb that’s been threatening to explode since they first walked into the club.

“... And if you can’t then I’ll have to teach you a lesson, detective Peralta.”

Oh, how the hospital better let him go home tonight.

#idk how i feel about the final result but *throws bone* here ya go #club fic #i literally dont know how undercover cases work so dont be too hard on me #jake and amy #peraltiago #jake x amy #fanfic #fanfiction #oneshot #jake peralta #amy santiago #undercover #fluff

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xoxobuckybarnes · 3 years ago

Text

The Last Ride

January 14, 2013. Jake Peralta and Amy Santiago make a bet, hoping to prove once and for all who is the best detective of the 99th Precinct. Jake bets his car, because losing the “chick magnet’ (as Charles insists it is), would be the worst thing in the world for Jake. For Amy? The worst thing in the world would be being one of those chicks in Jake’s car.

But, when Amy wins the bet, one year later, she still finds herself as one of those chicks in Jake’s car. Is it really the worst thing in the world?

Written for @stolethekey for #b99summer2021ficexchange

You can also read it on AO3

Chapter One: The Win

Amy ran into the precinct, grabbing a perp by the back of his shirt, her breathing heavy. “Ladies and Gentlemen,” she announced. “I present Carl Laudson, who stole $3,000.” She looked down at her watch to confirm the time before triumphantly continuing. “Santiago takes the lead with one minute left. Suck it, Peralta.”

Exactly one year ago, Jake and Amy made a bet to see who could get the most felony arrests, thus proving once and for all who was the better detective. Jake bet his car, his most cherished possession in the world. Charles insisted that losing such a total “chick magnet” would be the worst thing in the world for Jake. Thus, since being “one of those chicks in Jake’s car” would be the worst thing in the world for Amy, if Jake won, she would have to go on the worst date in the world with him. There was no way she was going to lose. Unfortunately, Jake had the same intensity about winning.

All year long, they had been going back and forth. As of this morning, they were tied. Both got to work, doing everything possible to take the lead. Amy couldn’t believe that she was about to win.

“Oh no,” Jake responded, panicked.

“That’s right ‘oh no.’”

Jake started grabbing folders from his desk, urgently flipping through them, hoping to find something, anything. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“Not going to happen. Time to admit defeat in 10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1! Your car is mine. Hand over the keys,” Amy victoriously demanded.

“This can’t be happening,” Jake moaned, reluctantly handing over his keys to Amy. Just as she was about to take the keys from him, he snatched his hand back. “Please, can I just have one last night with my car? I didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye to her.”

Amy furrowed her brows. “I don’t know if I trust you…”

Jake placed both hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look right at him. “I promise, I’ll give you the car. You won the bet, fair and square, and I’m not one to be a sore loser.” (Amy raised her eyebrows in disbelief at that). “I just want one last night so I can really say goodbye.”

Amy looked at Jake intensely. He looked so sincere, a trait that was not common for Jake. Although she didn’t know what it was about that hunk of junk that Jake loved so much, she did know that he needed one last night of memories. She shrugged his hands off her shoulders. “Fine, but I’m coming with you.”

A wide grin spread across Jake’s face. “Deal!”

Chapter Two: The Stakeout

Several hours later, Jake picked up Amy in his car.

“So, what do you have planned for tonight?” Amy asked as she slid into the passenger’s seat.

“First, we’ll stop at Shaw’s for Charles’ party,” Jake explained. “Then, I thought we could take a drive upstate. Just see where the road takes us.”

“Awesome.”

The whole squad was at Shaw’s celebrating Charles. Earlier in the day, he had been honored by the NYPD for his bravery when he jumped in front of a bullet heading straight for Rosa just last month. Unfortunately, Charles had fallen off the stage while taking pictures. To relieve himself from the pain, he upped his pain medication, which had the amusing effect of making him very honest.

“Jake! Amy! So glad you stopped by,” Charles greeted them enthusiastically. Jake acknowledged Charles with a nod and then headed to the bar to get a drink for him and Amy, leaving her alone with Charles. Charles leaned in closer to Amy, raised his eyebrows and whispered, “You and Jake look so good together.”

Amy did not appreciate the weird look that Charles was giving her, insinuating that Jake and she made a cute couple. Jake was one of her best friends. She loved hanging out with him and competing with him at work. But he was irresponsible and messy and immature. While she did think he was attractive and had once had a small crush on him when they first met, now that she knew him better, there was no way she’d let their relationship be anything more than friendship.

She was relieved when Jake rejoined them, handing her a beer.

Charles wiggled his eyebrows as he said, “I’ll leave you two alone,” in an unpleasantly high-pitched tone.

Jake looked at Amy confused. “What was that about?”

“Nothing,” Amy insisted before quickly changing the subject. “So, shall we go find a seat?”

She followed Jake to a table where they sat with Gina and Rosa. They talked about memories in Jake’s car, sharing both fun and horror stories. Just as Jake and Amy were getting ready to leave, the Captain called Jake over.

“So, small change in plans,” Jake said, walking back over to Amy. “Duty calls before we take off on our road trip.”

Half an hour later, Amy found herself sitting in Jake’s car in a sketchy side street staking out a warehouse.

“Sorry our road trip has been delayed,” Amy said to Jake. “But it’s still your last night with the car. Come sunrise, I’m the proud owner.”

Jake nodded. “Well, at least I’m still getting a night in the car. A stakeout is still a pretty awesome way to say goodbye.”

“I’m glad you think that,” Amy replied.

Amy looked around the street they were on. It was pretty dark, and it was hard to see anything. She was a little nervous that they’d miss the suspects because they couldn’t see very well. Clearly Jake was thinking the same thing.

“Hey, those people left that door open.” Jake nodded towards the building across the street from the one they were staking out. “I bet there’s a better vantage point from the roof.”

“Hmm. And I bet it doesn’t smell like old cheese,” Amy said, taking a low blow at Jake’s car.

“Okay, that’s hurtful,” Jake said. “Shall we?”

“Yeah,” Amy responded, keen to get out of the car.

Up on the roof, Amy found two crates. She carried them close to the edge of the roof and placed them down for her and Jake to sit on.

Jake, who was standing higher up on the roof declared, “Man, I don’t know how Batman does it. It is super scary up here.”

Amy laughed at Jake’s confession as he called out, “Hey, will you grab the binoculars? They’re in my stakeout bag.”

Amy rummaged through his bag, searching for his binoculars. “You’re stake out bag is 98% nuts,” she informed him.

“I get snacky,” Jake argued. “Besides, nuts are super healthy. They’re like 0% fat.”

“Jake, that’s not true at all. It’s actually the opposite.”

“What! That nut vendor lied to me?” Jake retorted in mock outrage.

Amy laughed. Jake was a grown man. How could he be so uninformed about the world? If it wasn’t so sad, she might have found his cluelessness endearing.

Jake held up the binoculars to his eyes. Amy looked closely out onto the street below them, taking in every detail of the area that she could, looking for anything suspicious going on.

“I think a pigeon just flew out of your car,” she informed Jake.

“Yeah,” Jake responded, not sounding surprised. “The windows don’t exactly roll up.”

Amy took a deep breath, wondering if she should tell Jake what she was thinking, about how awful his, or rather her, car was. Deciding there was nothing to lose by stating her honest opinion, she declared, “The car’s a piece of crap. Why do you love it so much?”

Jake sighed. Amy knew he was about to tell a story.

“You really want to know?”

She nodded.

“I was two days out of the academy, super nervous. I saw this guy run out of a bodega clutching a bunch of cash. So, I pursued him, on foot. Eleven blocks. Finally catch him, cuff him, throw him up against that car. Turned out there was a ‘for sale’ sign in the window. And it being the best day of my life, I bought it. Thus, began the debt.”

“’Crushing debt,’” Amy corrected him, recalling his words a year ago when they had made the bet.

Jake nodded enthusiastically and smiled as he replied, “Yeah. You do know me.”

She found Jake’s story about his beloved car heartwarming. For a moment, he had been vulnerable with her, admitting to being nervous, an emotion she had never known him to experience. Sure, it was stupid to go into debt over a car, especially one that was such a piece of shit. But, in Jake’s situation, it was pretty sweet. For the first time since she’d know him, she saw a sincere side of Jake. She couldn’t help but find it the tiniest bit attractive.

“Nut?” she asked, trying to distract herself from the unpleasant thought she’d just had.

“Only if you throw it,” Jake insisted.

“Ready? Ready?” she asked, preparing to toss a nut towards Jake.

“Mmm-hmm,” he hummed.

She threw it and he caught it in his mouth with ease. “Nice.”

Amy held the bag out towards Jake, and he took a nut. “Ready?”

“Uh-uh.”

Jake tossed the nut into the air. Amy tried her best, turning her head to the side. Ultimately, she failed to catch it in her mouth. Jake started laughing. “What are you doing? Trying to catch it in your nose?”

Amy laughed too, catching onto Jake’s contagious laughter.

Confident that she could catch a nut in her mouth, she declared, “I got it. I got it. I got it.”

They were interrupted by Jake’s phone ringing. He stood up and walked away as he said, “All right. It’s Holt. Keep practicing.”

Amy took another nut out of the bag, and threw it up into the air, again, failing to catch it. She took one more nut, trying, and failing yet again. Suddenly, she had an idea, she grabbed a handful of nuts and tossed them all in the air. Surely, she was bound to catch one of them. She was quite pleased with herself when she managed to get a nut in her mouth.

“What did Holt want?” Amy asked as Jake rejoined her.

“Just checking in. How you doing? Any progress?”

Amy was excited to show off to Jake her new ability to catch a nut in her mouth. “Yep, watch.”

She tossed her handful of nuts into the air, catching several of them this time.

“The key is volume,” she said, her mouth full.

Jake smirked. “I see that.”

After several more turns of tossing nuts back and forth to each other, Jake said, “So, be honest. Are you really gonna destroy my car?”

Amy smiled, thinking back on the week. She had constantly implied that she would cause damage against the car, even pretending to find out how she could light it on fire, hoping that the threat of not just losing the ownership of the car, but that the car would physically be gone, would distract Jake from beating her at the bet. Clearly, her strategy had succeeded.

Amy looked closely at Jake. She noticed the slightest tremor in his jaw, his eyes wide with concern. She could tell that he was genuinely concerned about the future status of his car. Now that she knew how much it meant to him, she felt bad about the threats she had made earlier this week.

Again, Amy felt herself feeling a new emotion towards Jake, one that she wasn’t 100% comfortable with. But his vulnerability and sincerity made him more attractive to her.

Ignoring her current confusion of feelings, Amy shook her head. “No, I’m gonna drive it. So, I can learn stick.”

Jake jerked his head towards Amy so fast she was surprised he hadn’t snapped it.

“You wouldn’t.”

“I would. I will,” she teased. “It’ll be like…” Amy started making screeching noises, indicating that she’d intentionally damage the car in her careless attempts to drive it.

“No, no…” Jake suddenly stopped protesting Amy’s mocking as he grabbed at her arm, calling her attention to the action on the street. “Hey, hey.”

Jake pulled Amy down so that they were both crouching on the ground. Amy peered out over the edge, where she saw a truck backing up to the docking station of the building across the street.

“There’s our guys,” Jake said, pointing at the truck that had pulled up down the block from where they were parked.

“What’s the play here?”

“Uhhh…” Jake hesitated.

Amy looked around them, looking for any bit of inspiration. She spotted Jake’s rundown car. Suddenly she had an idea. “Follow my lead.”

Amy took the keys out of Jake’s stakeout bag before she threw the bag to him. She led him down to the car and popped the hood. “Seriously,” she yelled at him. Jake looked confused, so Amy continued. “I told you the car was gonna die. It’s a piece of crap.”

Jake nodded, the slightest hint of a smile displayed on his face before he put his game face on. “Of course, my car is a piece of crap. All my stuff is crap. You have to criticize everything I own, or say, or do,” he barked back, throwing the bag into the back seat with a slam of the door.

Out of the corner of her eye, Amy saw the men at the truck sneaking glances at her and Jake. They would have to get louder, make it impossible for these guys to continue to ignore them.

“Well, when you don’t take care of your shit, we end up in these situations,” she shouted, raising her voice.

“Jeez, I guess I can’t do anything right,” Jake hollered back at her.

Finally, one of the men approached them. “Excuse me,” he said, tentatively. “Is everything alright here?”

“No,” Amy snapped at him. “My boyfriend here didn’t check the car like I told him to.”

Amy had not meant to say ‘boyfriend.’ Honestly. She was just going to pretend that Jake was her friend. That’s all. Where had the word ‘boyfriend’ come from?

“You need a jump?” the guy asked.

Amy looked to Jake and gave a nod. “Yes.”

Jake took over from there, pulling his gun out from the back of his pants. “But first, NYPD, on the ground, you’re under arrest.”

Amy looked over at Jake and smiled. “Nice job.”

“Thanks, you too.” Jake smiled back at Amy.

“Oh snap,” the guy reacted, putting his hands behind his head and kneeling down on the ground. “I’m sad you’re all arresting me, but I gotta say, I’m glad you’re not actually fighting. You all make a cute couple.”

There it was again – the insinuation that she and Jake were a couple. Not even just a couple, but a good one. This time was more alarming though than Charles’ suggestion. Charles knew and loved both Jake and Amy. His insistence that they would be a good couple could just be explained by a man wanting two of his best friends to be happy together. This guy though, well, he didn’t know Jake and Amy, and yet, he saw something between them.

By the time they got the guys to the precinct and completed all the paperwork, it was early in the morning. Jake and Amy were expected back at the precinct for their next shift in only a few hours. A road trip was out of the question.

Jake left the keys on Amy’s desk before he snuck out of the precinct without even saying goodbye. She hadn’t even noticed that he did it. She felt bad that he didn’t get his last night with his car, but she admired his commitment and that he stayed true to his word.

Early the next morning, Captain Holt called Amy into his office. “Good job on the stake out. I’m glad to see you two still work well together despite that ridiculous bet.”

Amy smiled at the Captain’s praise. “Thanks. Me, too.”

“And, I appreciate you turning down the relief team. I’m not sure they could’ve made that bust.”

Amy was confused, unsure about what the Captain was talking about. What relief team? All of a sudden, it dawned on her. That must have been the real reason the Captain had called last night. He wasn’t checking up on them, he was offering another team so that they could get back to Jake’s last night with his car. By why had Jake refused the relief team? He loved his car and she could tell that he really wanted one last night to fill with memories. Why would he trade in that night for one of paperwork?

“Yeah. Right. The relief team.”

Amy left the Captain’s office and paused, looking at Jake. She had the next two days off, and she was positive that Jake also had the same time off. She might have won the bet and now been the fair winner of Jake’s car, but she knew what she had to do. Walking past Jake’s desk, she dropped the keys in front of him.

“Huh?” Jake asked, picking up the keys and tossing them back on Amy’s desk. “You won. The car is yours. Fair and square.”

Amy tossed the keys back to Jake. “I promised you one last road trip with your car, and you didn’t get it. We’re both off tomorrow, I figured we could take your road trip this weekend.”

Jake beamed. “Okay, thanks.”

Amy couldn’t help but beam back. She couldn’t explain why Jake’s joy was making her so happy right now.

Chapter Three: The Road Trip

Thirty-six hours after he was initially meant to give Amy his car, Jake rolled up to her apartment building, ready for one last road trip. Amy heard him honking from her bedroom. She grabbed her backpack and went to meet him outside.

“Yo!” he shouted out the driver’s seat window.

“Yo!” she yelled back as she walked over to the car. After settling into the passenger seat, Jake took off. “So, where are we going?”

Jake fidgeted with the radio before responding to her. The music of Queen came blasting through the speakers. “We’re going East. I thought we could explore Long Island. Anywhere we want to stop, we stop. Just see where the road takes us.”

Amy nodded in agreement. “Awesome.”

Jake took off heading Northeast, up into Queens. When they started seeing signs for Citi Field, Jake talked about how his dad used to take him to Mets games when he was younger. Jake so rarely talked about his dad. She was touched that he was sharing something so personal with her.

“He’d always buy me a special program and ice cream in a helmet. I kept every single one. Every program. Every helmet. They’re all in a box under my bed in my mom’s house,” Jake described. “He took me to my first game when I was 5. The last game he took me to was when I was 9, so I only have like 4 or 5 programs and helmets. And obviously I’ve been to tons of games since then, but I’ve never been able to buy another program or ice cream in a helmet. It’s always been me and my dad’s thing. I haven’t been able to do it on my own.”

Amy stared at Jake through his monologue. Sure, Jake talked a lot. Seeing him say so much was nothing new. What was new however, was him talking so much about something serious and personal. He didn’t even notice her staring as he continued on.

“Actually, I cried at the first game that I went to at Citi Field. Not like hysterical, just shed a couple of tears. It was as if I was mourning the fact that I’d never get to go to a game at Shea Stadium with my dad ever again. I hadn’t even known that the last time would be the last.” Finally, Jake looked over at Amy. “Why are you looking at me weird? Am I talking too much?”

Amy shook her head. “No, not at all. Thanks for opening up to me Jake.”

Jake stared straight ahead, keeping his eyes focused on the road. He shrugged. “You’re easy to talk to.”

They drove in silence for a little while. Eventually, Amy saw a sign for Sagamore Hill.

“Ooh! Sagamore Hill. Teddy Roosevelt’s home. I’ve always wanted to go.”

Jake took the exit. “Then we should go.”

They pulled into the parking lot at around 9:15. Amy went into the visitor’s center as Jake walked around the grounds. She met him 10 minutes later.

“C’mon,” she exclaimed, grabbing his hand and pulling him to the house. “Our tour starts in 5 minutes.”

Amy knew that history was not Jake’s thing. She kept looking at him while they toured the house, wanting to make sure that he was enjoying himself. He seemed pretty interested in what the park ranger was telling them. He even asked a follow-up question about Roosevelt’s conservation efforts.

After the tour they visited the gift shop. Amy picked out a teddy bear to buy her youngest niece. Jake bought a teddy bear, too. He insisted it was for his mom, though Amy had a feeling it was really for himself.

“Thanks for doing that for me,” Amy said when they were back on the road.

Jake glanced over at Amy, a small smile on his face. “Well, you listened to me get emotional about my dad. So, we’re even.”

“Well, to show my gratitude, I have a treat for you.” Amy reached into the backseat to grab her backpack. She pulled out her surprise for Jake with a “Ta-da!”

Jake looked at what she was holding up and gasped. “Gummy bears!”

She put the backpack down by her feet and opened the bag of gummy bears. She grabbed Jake’s hand to hold it steady in her own. She couldn’t help but notice the way his hand twitched at her touch. She poured him a handful of bears and them picked out a few for herself.

“You’re the best, Ames!” Jake exclaimed with a mouthful of candy.

Having spent some time on the North Shore of Long Island, Jake decided that they needed to head south now. They kept driving, Amy sharing the gummy bears with him until they where all gone. Eventually they were at Heckscher State Park.

“When I was little, my Grandparents lived not too far from here,” Jake explained as he pulled into the parking lot. “After my dad left, my mom had to work more, so sometimes I’d spend weekends out here with them. If the weather was nice, my Grandfather would take me to the playground here while my Grandmother was at her Garden Club.”

“Do they still live here?” Amy asked as she climbed out of the car.

“Nah, they moved to Florida when they retired when I was 19. Then my grandmother passed away when I was 27 and my grandfather passed away a few months later.”

Amy was learning more about Jake today then she had learned about him in the last five years that they worked together. She was touched that he was feeling comfortable opening up to her.

They walked along the path, Jake pointing out places he remembered – where he rode his bike for the first time, where he played little league baseball, where he fell and scraped his chin, where Gina had kissed him when she visited his Grandparents with him when they were 16. Eventually, they reached the bay. “And this is where I learned how to swim. My grandfather was very patient. We spent hours here every Saturday when I was 8 and by the end of the summer, I was swimming!”

Amy didn’t say anything, she just looked at Jake. She’d known him for five years and had always considered them to be good friends. But she never realized until now how little she actually knew about him. She was liking everything that she was hearing. She enjoyed Jake’s vulnerability and openness. It felt like their friendship was evolving.

Jake turned away from the water, which he had been looking at so intensely, to look at Amy. “You’re looking at me weird again. Oh no! Am I talking too much again?” he worried. “You know you can tell me to shut up.”

Amy rolled her eyes and shoved his shoulder. “I’m seeing a whole new side to you.” She walked away from him, closer to the water. “I don’t completely hate it.”

Jake strolled closer to the water too, though he kept some distance from her. Silently, they both stared out at the bay. After several minutes, Jake strode over to her and nudged her shoulder, gesturing towards the path. They walked back to the car in silence. It wasn’t a comfortable silence though. There was an awkwardness in the air. Something had shifted. Amy worried that she had said something wrong.

Back in the car Jake put the key into the ignition, pausing before he turned the key to start the car. He turned to look at Amy and she looked back. Jake shook his head and turned the key. He inched forward into the next parking spot, but then stopped the car and pulled the key out, turning back to Amy again.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” he stated.

“Oooookayyyy…” Amy replied when Jake failed to elaborate any further.

Jake took a deep breath. “I opened up to you the other night about my car and why its so important to me. And now I can’t stop. It’s like verbal diarrhea. All these personal stories just keep spilling out and I can’t stop myself.”

Amy nodded. “It’s not a bad thing Jake,” she assured him. “It’s good to have friends you can open up to and be vulnerable with.”

Jake scrunched up his nose. “I don’t know” He sounded hesitant. “You’re not going to tease me? You’re not going to use these things to mock me later?”

She placed her hand on his shoulder and he leaned closer into her. The way he looked at her was so innocent, so pure. It was a look he had never given her before. If she was being honest, she really liked the way he was currently looking at her. “I would never tease you or mock you for the things that make you who you are,” she promised.

Jake bit his bottom lip and then pulled her into a hug. “Thanks.”

Amy’s heart beat faster in Jake’s embrace. When he let go to start driving again, she missed the feel of his arms around her. She ached for the feel of his chest pressed against her.

As they drove along the south shore of Long Island, Amy looked at Jake. There was a crease in his forehead. She could tell that he was still a little uneasy about his sudden display of vulnerability. She knew that the only way to make him feel safer was to show him her own vulnerable side.

“Sometimes I worry that I’m going to die unmarried and alone,” she confessed.

Jake laughed, and she immediately regretted sharing one of her most private fears with Jake. She turned away from him, resting her head against the window, watching the stores passing by out the window.

“Ames,” Jake said. She ignored him. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, repeating her name again. She couldn’t stand to look at him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh. It’s just… I didn’t realize…There’s just…How could you possibly be alone for the rest of your life? You’re smart and kind and beautiful and so much fun to be around…”

Amy turned to look at Jake. His hand was still on her shoulder, and he was glancing back at forth between her and the road. They came to a curve in the road, and he took his hand off her shoulder to control the wheel better. Once the road straightened out again, he put his hand on her knee, giving her a reassuring squeeze. “Any guy would be lucky to be with you.”

Jake removed his hand, and just as she had ached for his embrace, she ached for the pressure of his hand on her knee. She really couldn’t explain what was going on. Just like Jake couldn’t rationalize his sudden display of vulnerability, she couldn’t describe her sudden desire for Jake’s touch and intimacy.

She shook it off to elaborate on her fear.

“It’s just that it’s been so long since I’ve been on a decent date, let alone with someone that I could actually see myself with.” She told him about the magician who thought it was a clever trick to strip down to his boxers, the dentist who gave her an oral exam during the middle of dinner, the artist who kept taking food off her plate without asking, the gym teacher who showed up to a nice restaurant in sweats and complained about the number of calories in each dish, and several other embarrassing and bizarre dates.

“That’s not you. You’re just going out with the wrong guys,” Jake assured her.

“I don’t know,” Amy countered. “These are the guys who ask me out. Do I only attract weirdos?”

Jake shook his head aggressively. “I think you intimidate a lot of guys. I’m not saying that it’s ok. I just think the guys who are good enough for you fear that they’re not good enough for you. “

Amy didn’t respond.

“Does that make sense?” Jake asked.

“Eh,” Amy shrugged.

“You’ll find the right guy. I really believe that,” Jake reassured her.

They continued driving on in silence. Thankfully, not as awkwardly as it was back in the park. In the silence, Amy could hear Jake’s stomach rumbling. She laughed.

“It’s probably time to eat something,” Jake declared, laughing along with Amy.

Amy peered out the window, keeping her eyes open for an interesting place to grab something for lunch.

“How about that Brewery?” Amy asked, pointing to a larger building coming up with a sign that read Blue Point Brewery.

“Looks good to me.”

They each ordered a beer and a sandwich (Cajun Tuna for Amy, Steak for Jake). The conversation was lighter as they ventured into more familiar territory, discussing cases and Amy’s love for their new Captain (Jake was still on the fence about Captain Holt).

They were back on the road just a little before 2:00. Things seemed to be back to normal between them. It had been nice to see a more vulnerable side of Jake. And Amy hadn’t minded sharing something more personal with him. It was nice to explore a different side of their friendship. That being said though, she was happy that they were settling back into their comfort zone, laughing and being silly.

They continued driving east along the south shore of Long Island, eventually reaching the Hamptons. In Southampton, Amy suggested they stop and walk around the town. Being the offseason, not many shops were open, but that was okay. She had fun exploring one of America’s oldest department stores, Hildreth’s. As a gift of gratitude to Jake, for appeasing her as she awed over home furnishings they both knew she wasn’t going to buy, she bought him a quarter pound of fudge at the candy store.

“Hey, I saw a large empty parking lot on our way into the town,” Jake announced as they walked back to the car. “It’d be a good place to practice driving.”

Amy nervously bit her bottom lip. Yes, that was the terms of the bet. Once this road trip was over, Jake’s car would be hers. She had told Jake she would drive his car, despite not knowing how to drive stick, implying that the result could potentially be disastrous. Knowing now how much this car meant to him, she felt bad about telling Jake that she would destroy his car. Out of respect to Jake, she really should learn how to properly drive his car.

They switched spots in the parking lot. Jake gave her a quick overview before directing her step by step through driving stick. She made several mistakes, but Jake was patient with her, even through his wincing. She was finally getting the hang of it when Jake suggested she take the car out on the road.

“You’re sure?” She was starting to get the hang of it but wasn’t feeling confident yet.

“You’ll be fine,” Jake insisted. “Besides, the roads are pretty empty, we’re safe. Just listen to me and focus.”

Amy smiled at Jake’s confidence in her. It made her feel good knowing that he believed in her capabilities.

Slowly but surely, she drove out on the major roads out east. Jake had been right; being winter in summer towns meant that there were very few, if any, cars on the road. By the time the reached Montauk, “The End,” Amy’s confidence in her ability to drive stick was matching Jake’s confidence in her.

“Ames!” he exclaimed. “That was awesome! I’m so proud of you!”

Amy couldn’t help but beam. Yes, she was proud of herself, too. But hearing that Jake was proud of her made her even happier. She couldn’t explain why.

She parked and they got out and walked around the town. As they got closer to the lighthouse, they saw signs stating that the last group up would be let in at 4:45pm.

“We can make it,” Amy asserted, as she grabbed Jake’s hand and pulled him, running to make the last entry up into the lighthouse.

They made it with seconds to spare. Her heart skipped a beat and the butterflies in her stomach fluttered when Jake didn’t immediately release her hand once they reached the lighthouse.

As they walked up the stairs, Amy walked in front of Jake. The steps were steep, and Amy’s heart skipped a beat every time Jake placed his hand on the small of her back to help her steady herself up the stairs. When they reached the top, the small balcony was crowded with others, trying to get in a quick look before the lighthouse closed for the evening. Amy stood, leaning against the railing, enjoying the view of the Atlantic Ocean. She was squeezed between an overly affectionate couple on the left and an adorable family with three small children on the right. To conserve space, or, at least that’s why she thought he was doing it, Jake stood behind her, his arms stretched out on either side of her, resting on the rail. Amy stood with her front pressed up against the railing. When another couple tried to pass behind him, Jake moved up, pressing his front into Amy’s back. Her heart started beating faster as she felt him pressed up against him.

“Sorry,” Jake mumbled when Amy looked behind her. He made to step back, regardless of there being little room, with more people trying to pass behind him.

“Don’t worry about it,” she insisted, pulling him back into her to allow room for others to pass. A kaleidoscope of butterflies exploded in her stomach when Jake stayed pressed up against her.

It wasn’t long before they were ushered down the stairs so the lighthouse staff could shut down for the night. Jake and Amy walked a little bit through the town. They occasionally bumped into each other. Amy could feel Jake’s hand twitch whenever he accidentally grazed hers.

Jake suggested they get dinner before they headed back into the city. They found a little bar that looked cozy. Despite there being plenty of empty tables, they decided to eat at the bar. They each ordered a beer and a few appetizers to share – mozzarella sticks, potato skins, and fish tacos.

“Oh my God!” Amy exclaimed as she saw a lonely bride enter the bar. Her light blonde hair was braided into a bun at the nape of her neck and her long-sleeved, bohemian dress flowed down to the middle of her shin.

Amy leaned in closer to Jake to whisper to him. “Do you think it’s a runaway bride situation?”

They tried not to stare, even when the bride took the empty seat next to Jake.

“Hi!” the bride said to them, beaming from ear to ear.

“Hi!” Jake and Amy responded, unsure of how to react.

“I just got married,” the bride explained, unable to stop smiling.

“Congrats!” Amy responded.

“Here’s my husband!” the bride exclaimed. A tall man with a buzzcut, dressed in a slender-fitting gray suit walked in. Once he spotted his new wife, he ran to join her, grabbing her up into a hug and passionately kissing her. It was one of the sweetest things she’d ever seen.

“Hi, I’m Ken,” the groom said, holding his hand out to Jake and Amy. “This is my wife, Florence.”

Jake and Amy shook his hand and congratulated him.

Ken and Florence were an adorable couple. They couldn’t stop smiling, or keep their eyes, or hands, off each other.

“We wanted a moment just the two of us before we head to the reception,” Florence explained to Jake and Amy.

“Can we buy you a drink?” Amy offered.

Ken shook his head as he got the bartender’s attention. “No, that’s okay, thanks though. Drinks are on us.”

Florence and Ken bought a round of champagne for everyone in the bar. The bartender toasted the happy new couple. As they drank their champagne, then their beer, while they waited for their food to arrive, Jake and Amy talked to the newlyweds.

Ken and Florence had meet five years ago. They worked together at the same marketing firm in the city. They were friendly, hanging out and occasionally flirting. Then, after a year working together, they were assigned to head a campaign together. After many late nights working just the two of them, they realized that their feelings were more than just friendly. So, Ken asked Florence out and they fell in love.

“What about you two? How did you meet? How long have you been together?” Florence asked.

“Oh, no…we’re not…we’re just…” Jake stuttered, while Amy explained, “No, we’re just colleagues. We’re police detectives.”

“Yeah, but there’s something going on between you two, right?” Ken asked.

“Nope, just friends,” Amy said.

“Yeah, just friends,” Jake echoed Amy, though quieter and less sure.

Ken and Florence finished their champagne and Ken checked his phone. “Uh, oh. We’ve got a lot of missed calls. We should probably head off to our reception.”

Florence threw her arms around his neck and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Please, one shot before we go.”

Ken ordered a round of tequila for his new wife, Jake and Amy. They clinked their glasses together and took their shots.

“It was so nice meeting you,” Florence said, pulling Amy into a hug. Quietly, she whispered into Amy’s ear. “Jake really likes you. He looks at you the way Ken looks at me.”

Amy was startled by Florence’s insinuation. Jake liking Amy. She doubted it. Jake was constantly teasing her. She thought back to their day. Jake had opened up to her in a way he never had before. He taken her to visit a historical, presidential home. He shared a part of his childhood. He explored a new department store with her, never once teasing her for her old lady taste in furniture.

And, then there was the way his body reacted at the slightest touch of their bodies. The way his fingers twitched. The way he squeezed her knee, the way his hand felt on her back. The way she could feel his heart beating against her back on the top of the lighthouse.

Maybe Florence was on to something.

Amy waved goodbye to the newlyweds, just as their food arrived. As they ate, they talked about TV shows they were watching and movies they’d recently seen. They were so engrossed in their discussion that they hadn’t noticed that the bartender brought them both another beer, which they both drank without realizing it.

Chapter Four: The Hotel Room

“I’m a little tipsy. I don’t think I can drive,” Jake confessed once they paid for their dinner and made their way out of the bar.

“Me either,” Amy admitted. “Should we just walk around until we sober up?”

“Um, it’s getting pretty cold, and dark. And there’s nothing open. And, it’s almost 7:30, anyway. By the time we sober up and make it all the way back home, it will be like, midnight,” Jake countered. “We could get a hotel room. Each. We can each get our own hotel room.”

Amy looked up at Jake. He was looking down at her with a worried look on his face. She nodded. “Sure.”

They walked a few blocks to the hotel.

“Can we get 2 rooms?” Jake asked the receptionist.

“I’ll check what’s available. There’s a big wedding here this weekend so we’re pretty booked.” The receptionist typed away on the computer. “Looks like there’s only one room available.”

Jake looked down at Amy. “Oh…we don’t… we can find another hotel. Or I can sleep in the car,” he stammered.

Amy shook her head. “It’s okay. We can take the room.”

“You sure?” Jake asked.

Amy shrugged. “Yeah, it’s fine. We’re friends, we can share a hotel room.”

Amy paid for the room.

She looked down at herself and then looked at Jake. “I don’t have a change of clothes or any toiletries or anything.”

Jake looked down at himself too. “Yeah, me neither.”

“There’s soap and shampoo and stuff in the hotel room,” the receptionist interjected. He bent down to pull something out from under the counter. “Here’s toothpaste and toothbrushes for you. And you can pick up some clothes at our hotel shop. It’s been closed up for the night, but I can let you in to pick out some stuff, as long as you promise to come back and pay for it all before you leave tomorrow.”

“Thank you so much!” Amy took the toothbrushes and toothpaste from the receptionist and followed him to the store. She picked out a gray pair of sweatpants and a red crewneck sweatshirt, while Jake picked out a black pair of shorts and a blue long sleeve shirt. They thanked the receptionist again and made their way towards their room.

“Jake! Amy!” Amy turned to look who was calling them. Who did they know in Montauk? Of course, it was Florence and Ken.

“What are you doing here?” Florence asked, approaching Jake and Amy.

“We might have had a little too much to drink,” Amy explained. “We’re just going to sleep here tonight.”

“Oh, okay,” Florence replied, wiggling her eyebrows. Her facial expression was a little too similar to Charles’ when he implied that Jake and Amy would be a cute couple. Amy didn’t know how she felt about the fact that for the third time in less than 48 hours someone had suggested that she and Jake made a cute couple. Thinking back on her interactions with Jake since then, she couldn’t help thinking that perhaps all these people were on to something.

“We’re just changing before we had back to our reception,” Ken clarified. “Hey, you two should join us.”

Amy looked up at Jake. He scrunched up his nose, a look that she knew meant he wasn’t sure; it was a look she had seen numerous times while working on cases with him.

“Thanks for the offer, but I think we’re just going to head back to our room. We’ve had a long day,” Amy responded.

“You sure?” Florence asked.

“Yeah, we’re good,” Jake replied.

Amy followed Jake to their room. Once they arrived, she opened up the room. She was shocked to find that there was only one bed in the room.

“Um, I can go sleep in the car,” Jake offered.

Amy shook her head. “Don’t be silly, there’s plenty of room.”

“Ok, yeah, I’ll just sleep on the floor,” Jake responded.

Again, Amy shook her head. “Jake, you can sleep in the bed. It’s plenty big enough.”

Jake raised his eyebrows. She could tell he was about to ask again if she was sure. She responded before he could ask again. “I’m sure it’s fine.”

“Okay. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.”

Amy went into the bathroom to change and wash up. When she emerged, Jake had changed too. As Jake went into the bathroom to wash up, there was a knock at the door. When Amy opened the door, she was greeted by a hotel staff member holding a bottle of champagne.

“I think you have the wrong room…” Amy started but was cut off by the staff member. “It’s a gift from Florence and Ken for Jake and Amy.”

Amy thanked the delivery girl and took the bottle. She noticed a card attached to the neck of the bottle. She opened it up as she closed the door.

Jake and Amy

It was wonderful meeting you. Enjoy this bottle on us! ;)

Love,

Florence and Ken

There was also a post script suggesting that they meet up in the city with both of their phone numbers.

“Who was that?” Jake asked, emerging from the bathroom.

Amy held up the bottle. “A gift from our favorite newlyweds.”

“No doubt, no doubt. That was cool of them,” Jake responded, taking the bottle from Amy. As he opened it up, she grabbed 2 coffee mugs from the desk. Jake poured them each a mug of champagne. They clinked their mugs, toasting their new friends.

Amy sat down on the bed while Jake took the seat at the desk. She turned on the TV, flipping through channels, looking for something they would both agree on watching. An old rerun of SNL was playing on NBC, and Amy left the TV on this channel. They sat in silence, watching, laughing along at the funnier sketches.

During a commercial break, Amy noticed Jake reading the note from Florence and Ken. “Why’d she add a winky face?” he asked.

Amy could feel her face getting red. “Oh, um, well, Florence thinks…you see…she said to me…”

“Ames, what’s going on?”

Amy took a deep breath. “Florence told me she thinks we’d be a cute couple.”

Amy could see Jake take a deep gulp, his face now also turning red. “Oh, okay.”

They both sat there in silence for a moment. Jake turned his attention back to the TV. Halfway through the first sketch after the commercial break, Jake stood up and turned off the TV, turning to look at Amy. “Ken said the same thing to me.”

“Oh, okay.” Amy couldn’t think of anything to say in response to that.

Jake took a step closer to the bed. “Charles has also been implying lately that he thinks I like you and that he wants us to be a couple.”

Amy nodded. “Yeah, he made a comment about that to me too the other night.”

Jake nodded and shrugged. “And those perps made the comment about us being a cute couple.”

“That’s true,” Amy whispered as Jake took a step even closer to her. She found herself unable to speak as Jake sat down next to her on the bed. He was pretty close, his knee grazing her own. Amy felt electricity streaming though her body at the slightest hint of Jake’s touch.

“Do you think all these people are seeing something we don’t see?” Jake whispered. He scooted a little closer to Amy on the bed, giving her goosebumps at how close they were now, their legs resting next to each other’s.

Amy gulped, taking a moment to gain courage. “I think I might understand what everyone else is seeing.”

She was so nervous, she spoke so low. She wasn’t even sure that Jake had heard what she said. But he leaned closer to her, taking her hand in his.

“I think I see it too.” With that he leaned forward and kissed Amy.

She paused at first, shocked by his actions. Her heart was racing and she felt like she was sweating. But as Jake continued to kiss her, she leaned into it, kissing him back. She let go of his hand and wrapped her arms around his neck as he grabbed her waist and pulled her closer into him. Amy shifted back on the bed so that she was leaning against the headrest and Jake shifted with her.

Suddenly, Jake pulled away from Amy, his hands still on her waist. “We’ve had a lot to drink tonight. We should probably stop.”

Amy nodded in agreement. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” But instead of letting go, she pulled him back in to kiss him again.

They continued to kiss for several more minutes before Amy eventually pulled away. She let go of Jake and jumped off the bed. “Yeah, yeah, you’re right. We’ve had too much to drink tonight. We should stop before we do something we regret.”

“Yep,” Jake replied. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. No doubt, no doubt, no doubt.”

Amy looked at Jake. She couldn’t stop smiling. She was so happy about what had just happened. Jake was smiling too.

“I’m gonna go brush my teeth,” she announced.

“I’m gonna wait here,” Jake replied. “I need a minute.”

Amy looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her face was flushed, but she couldn’t shake the smile off her face. She felt like it was going to be a permanent fixture for quite a while.

When she finished up in the bathroom, Jake went in to brush his teeth. He placed a chaste kiss on her cheek as he passed her, making her smile grow even larger.

Amy settled into the bed. She turned the TV back on, which was now playing the local news. After several minutes, Jake joined her again. He settled into the bed beside her, turning off the lights in the room. Jake held his arm out and Amy shifted into his side, allowing Jake to cuddle in close to her, her head resting on his chest.

They continued watching TV. After the news, a new episode of SNL started. Soon, Amy began to drift off to sleep. The last thing she noticed before she finally drifted into a blissful sleep was Jake pressing a kiss on the top of her head.

Chapter Five: The New Bet

Amy woke up the next morning, still feeling elated about last night’s events. She was feeling warm in Jake’s embrace. Her head was on his chest, and he was holding her tightly.

“Good morning,” Jake said. Amy looked up at Jake. He kissed her softly on the lips.

“Good morning.”

Amy wriggled out from Jake’s embrace and got out of bed. She looked at her phone, seeing that it was almost 8:00 in the morning.

‘We should get back to the city,” she declared.

She and Jake changed back into their clothes from yesterday. They checked out of the hotel, stopping by the hotel gift shop to pay for the clothes they picked out yesterday. They walked to a bagel shop down the block to get a breakfast to go.

On the drive home, they sang along to the radio and talked about concerts they enjoyed. Every so often, Jake would reach over to Amy and squeeze her knee or hold her hand. At every touch, Amy’s heart skipped a beat. She was so happy. Who would have ever though that Jake Peralta would be able to make her so happy?

Eventually, they reached Jake’s building. He parked the car and turned it off, turning in his seat so that he was facing Amy. “So, I guess this is it. I’m going to miss you, girl.”

Amy was confused. “Um, I’ll see you again.”

Jake shook his head. “I was talking to the car.”

“Of course, you were.” Amy looked closely at Jake. He was really torn apart over losing his car. Charles had been right. Giving up this car would be the worst thing in the world for Jake. Amy hated seeing Jake like this. Especially after everything that had happened between them last night.

“I think you should keep your car,” Amy proclaimed.

Jake took her hand, squeezing it and shook his head. “No, no. You won fair and square. It’s yours.”

“No, it’s yours,” Amy argued. Jake opened his mouth to argue, but Amy held her finger to his mouth to quiet him. “It’s your car because the terms of our bet weren’t fair. You bet one of the most important things in the world to you. And for me, well, I guess I’ve realized that being ‘one of those chicks in your car’ really is not the worst thing in the world. Actually, ‘being one of those chicks in your car’ is kinda awesome.

Jake beamed. “Ames, you’re awesome.” He pulled her into a hug, kissing her cheek. He leaned back and they kissed for quite some time.

“Well, you still won the bet,” Jake stated. “What do you get?”

Amy smiled. “Let’s continue the bet. In one year, whoever loses has to pay to take the winner on a date.”

“It’s a deal.” Jake leaned away from Amy and held out her hand. She shook it, sealing in the new terms of their bet.

#b99 summer 2021 fic exchange #b99 fandom events #Brooklyn Nine Nine #b99 #Jake and Amy #fanfic #writing #@stolethekey

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frostedfaves · 4 years ago

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Colors

Pairing: Rosa Diaz x fem!reader

Requested by anons: “Oh oh! Wife!reader x rosa diaz! Reader who is also a detective at the 99 knows the story behind Rosa's pink hair (maybe r played a part in the story, a huge at home hair dye accident or smh) and one evening when they're all gathered at the bar Rosa gives her wife permission to tell the story to their colleagues. Jake and gina have kept pestering for the story the whole day annoying both rosa and the wife to no end. Thanks!” -and- “ "This is all your fault." "I hope so." With reader and rosa?”

Word Count: 1.1k

Warnings: none that I can think of!

A/N: I had to split up the quotes in order for it to make sense and I just realized Rosa says both haha. Hope this turned out okay and thanks again to the anons that requested these! Flashback in italics.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it’s happening!” Jake shouted as he ran into the break room, followed by an equally excited Gina. Amy and Terry immediately shared a nervous look.

“I know I’m going to regret this but...what’s happening?”

Gina covered Jake’s mouth, grinning at Amy with wild eyes. “Rosa has pink hair!”

“What?!” Charles shrieked, nearly falling out of his chair.

“I know!” Jake responded just as loudly. “Well it’s more of an ombre/highlight situation than a full head thing but it’s still pink!”

“Okay, okay. Everyone needs to get it together so we can be normal in front of Rosa now and corner Y/N about what happened later.”

The detectives excitedly chatted about the situation, instantly falling silent the moment you and Rosa walked in the room. She kept going to the coffee maker, leaving you in the doorway to observe Jake, who was visibly shaking. Before you could question him about it, he broke.

“Tell us why Rosa has pink hair!”

The sound of your name coming from just behind your head made you jump violently. You readjusted the smoothie you’d nearly knocked over in shock, turning to face Jake and Gina with a glare.

“What do you two want?”

“What makes you think we want something?” came from Gina at the same moment that Jake asked “So what’s the tale of the pink hair?”

“Nice try.” You turned back to your desk, rolling your eyes when Jake sat on the chair by your side, Gina perched on your actual desk on the other side of you.

“Come on, N/N, please?” Gina practically begged. “It’s not like you’re bound by contract or something.”

“Actually, I am.”

Jake immediately scoffed. “Oh yeah? Let’s see this contract. I’m sure there’s some kind of loophole in it.”

“Here it is.” You held up your hand and pointed to your ring with a smug smile. “And the only loophole it has is the one I stuck my finger through.”

“Title of your sextape,” Jake grumbled as he got up and walked off, Gina following with a sigh.

An hour after your shift, the squad was spread out among a couple booths at Shaw’s. You were telling Rosa some dumb thing one of your perps said earlier as her hand rubbed gently across the shoulder that wasn’t leaning into her, your own hands bouncing between holding your drink and playing with her newly dyed ends. With everyone else drinking and goofing off, the two of you were tucked away in your own little bubble. One that Jake apparently had no problem bursting.

“Okay, I will pay your whole tab if you just tell me what the hell happened to your hair!” Jake pleaded with a defeated sigh as he slid into the booth across from you. Rosa’s eyes met yours for a moment, a playful smirk appearing as she turned back to Jake.

“Alright.”

“Wait, seriously?”

“Sure. I love free drinks.” She shrugged halfheartedly, her hand sliding from your shoulder down near your elbow. “But you’re paying for Y/N’s drinks too.”

“Deal!” His lips held a grin that would put a cheshire cat to shame as he rounded up the squad to approach the booth, rather quickly as everyone seemed to be interested in the story by now.

“Alright, so here’s how it happened,” you began once the squad was settled.

“Babe?” Rosa called just before turning into the aisle you were in. “Oh, there you are. You ready to get out of here?”

You turned to look at her with a grin, holding a couple boxes close to your chest. “Hey baby...how much do you love me?”

“More than anything else in the world, but I’m thinking not this much.” She stepped forward and took the items from your hands. “No. Absolutely not.”

“But Rosa,” you immediately whined, wrapping your hands around hers. “Please let me try! You let me do the bleached ombre and look how well that turned out!”

Rosa sighed, wanting to turn you down because you were in no way a professional hair stylist and it was only with sheer luck that her hair had come out right the first time. Then again, she’d never in her life not given you what you wanted.

“Fine.”

You immediately squealed, taking the boxes from her hands and wrapping your arms around her neck. “You won’t regret this!” You pulled away from the hug and pecked her lips quickly. “Come on, let’s go!”

“Alright, let’s see the masterpiece!” You bounced on your toes, excitement seeping out of your pores as you started to take Rosa’s hair out of the wrappings. You fell flat on your bare feet as soon as you caught sight of the color. “Oh no.”

Rosa whipped around immediately to look at you. “Oh no what?! What did you do?”

“Well…” You nervously bit your lip, backing away a bit. “It’s definitely not burgundy.”

You closed your eyes tightly as your wife ran into the bathroom, flinching a bit as she yelled your name in a surprised and very very angry tone. You ran after her, stopping just outside of the doorway.

“Maybe it’s not ruined! Maybe it’ll look better after you wash and dry it,” you quickly suggested, timidly playing with your fingers.

“Oh yeah, I’m sure it’ll look much less like Pepto Bismol then. This is all your fault.”

“Says the woman who tried doing dirty things to me while I was mixing the dye.” Your eyes widened when she turned to glare at you. “I meant to say ‘thank you, sweet wife, for allowing me to try dyeing your hair’!” You let out a relieved sigh as she slammed the door and turned on the shower.

“Wait, so you look like a stereotypical rebel teen right now because you couldn’t keep your hands off your wife? That’s it?” Gina asked, you biting back a laugh as Rosa’s eyes met yours again for a moment.

“What do you mean ‘that’s it’? What were you expecting me to say?”

“I don’t know. Maybe that this was the first step in your transition into ‘bubblegum princess’ or something.” Jake shrugged, also obviously disappointed with the story.

“Whatever. Go pay our tab. I’m ready to leave.” Jake headed off to the bar, the rest of the squad dispersing as Rosa turned to you once more.

“I really am sorry about your hair,” you mumbled as your hands found her free one.

“It’s okay.” She lightly kissed the side of your head, quickly before anyone could call her out on the small act of vulnerability. “I’d let you do it again in a heartbeat, sabotage free of course. I’m sure it’ll turn out better that way.”

“You think so?”

“I hope so.”

#request #rosa diaz #rosa diaz x reader #rosa diaz imagine #rosa diaz x fem!reader #brooklyn nine nine #brooklyn 99 #brooklyn nine nine imagine #brooklyn nine nine x reader #b99 fic #b99 imagine #b99 x reader #b99 fanfic

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sophistopheles · 4 years ago

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Rating the Good Boys of Ace Attorney

1. Missile

The adorable, the original; a handsome Shiba Inu with investigative skills like no other.

Pros: a skilled, lovable, and clearly talented boy, faithful friend to Detective Gumshoe, the best secret weapon by far.

Cons: None known.

If you don’t choose Missile first just to walk around and find dialogue with this wonderful boy, you’re playing Turnabout Goodbyes wrong. Rating: 10/10.

2. Anime Missile (Pess)

Edgeworth’s dog in the flashback episodes, a faithful and super-cute Pomeranian modelled and named after Shu Takumi’s own dog. Presumably an on-screen interpretation of Edgeworth’s dog Pess, who is such a wonderfully good girl that she is only mentioned in interviews and doesn’t even appear in the games, because Capcom knows that if she appeared the degree of goodness would melt the console.

Pros: another very talented boy, can easily find his way back home if he has a trail to follow. Abandoned once but still keeps up his spirits and looks after little Miles. Does a killer MvK cosplay.

Cons: Accidentally caused the class trial by giving Edgeworth’s money to Larry. Then again, the trial meant Edgeworth and Phoenix became friends, so I guess it was a good thing after all…?

It doesn’t bear on his score because he’s too cute to be malicious. Rating: 10/10

3. Napalm

Mixing things up, we have a good GIRL here! Another Pomeranian; you can tell that she’s a Girl® because of her eyelashes, pink bow, and pink heart-shaped marking. Nevertheless, still an indescribably good girl.

Pros: Cute, stylish and ridiculously valuable girl. Indirectly helped Edgeworth become a prosecutor. Missile chasing after her in the same episode as Phoenix trying to contact Edgeworth makes her a lowkey Edgeworth mirror??? Very pretty with a wonderful name.

Cons: Absolutely none.

If she came up to me on the street I would cry because she’s so cute. Rating: 10/10

4. Constantine

To add a twist, here’s an unbelievably fluffy non-canon boy! He’s Inquisitor Barnham’s dog, and is responsible for the scar on Barnham’s face. He doesn’t seem to have a canon breed, but that’s okay, because he’s small and fluffy and that’s what matters.

Pros: A good boy, with a lot of personality! He’s feisty and clever enough to give puzzles to Layton, Wright & co. Just look at him!!! I can honestly say I have never seen a better boy. He even plays a role in the endgame of PLvsAA when Barnham can’t make it.

Cons: Attacked Nick when he tried to pet him, so he’s not the most well-mannered boy, but that’s okay!! He’s cute enough to get away with it.

He may be the only dog in the world to be an official member of an order of knights. Rating: 10/10

5. Shah’do

Ahlbi’s puppy who can’t seem to decide if he’s a dog or a hat. He’s canonically a Tibetan mastiff, which means that when he’s all grown up, he’ll be about three times the size he is now! Quite mischievous, but never causes too much trouble, and it all works out in the end.

Pros: He’s loyal, adorable, cute and intelligent, even sensing and reflecting Ahlbi’s emotions! He really is one of the cutest boys I’ve ever seen.

Cons: Naughty!!

Clearly has magical Khura’inese powers of cuteness, judging by the mitamah marking on his forehead. Rating: 10/10

6. Jugemu

The dog who lives at the Toneido School’s Kurukuru Tei theatre, this boy deserves some more love!! A beautiful good boy with a very healthy appetite; he single-handedly convinced me that Turnabout Storyteller is the best case in AA6. He only appears in one graphic, but I love him nevertheless.

Pros: He has an adorable little kennel so he can stay out of the rain when he has to, and he’s instrumental in solving the case.

Cons: None whatsoever!

I wanted to see more of him! Rating: 10/10

There are a few more good boys, but they have plot roles in DGS2 and AAI2, so beware of serious spoilers under the cut!

Spoilery (But Still Good) Boys

1. Anubis

One of the scarier boys on the list! He’s the guide dog of the blind assassin Sirhan Dogen, and while he’s very clever, he’s also very intimidating! He resembles a Tosa, a breed also known as Japanese mastiffs. (He’s probably killed people in the past, but let’s brush over that for a moment.)

Pros: He’s a startlingly long-lived boy! Unless Dogen replaces his dogs on the down-low (which feels unlikely) he’s been at Dogen’s side for nineteen years! Plus, I feel like if I was nice to him, he would let me pet him.

Cons: You know what? None. He doesn’t have a single malicious bone in his furry body, he’s just a deeply loyal and obedient boy. It’s not his fault that his master is an assassin; he’s still a good boy!

Despite having such a scary reputation, Anubis did nothing wrong. …Kind of. Rating: 10/10

2. Balmung

The second scarily good boy on our list, Balmung is another good but admittedly terrifying boy. He is the dog of a serial killer, the Professor, and he most closely resembles a lurcher hound, though his breed was never confirmed. Despite outward appearances, I promise you he’s a good boy at heart- he just happened to also be used as a murder weapon.

Pros: He’s the real Hound of the Baskervilles, how cool is that? He’s also quite an old boy, living for at least twelve years and remaining active even then. And he’s listed as his owner’s friend on the Ace Attorney wiki, which is also very cute, and strong evidence of his good boy nature.

Cons: …He’s kinda scary…!

Overall, despite being quite a frightening boy, Balmung means well. Rating: 10/10

3. Toby

In stark contrast to the previous two good but murder-y boys, we have one of the cutest boys of the whole series: Toby!! He’s Gina’s dog after she becomes a detective, and is honestly my favourite good boy in the series (but shhh, that’s a secret!) Toby is based on a dog of the same name from the Holmes novels!

Pros: Seriously, just look at him! He’s a classically cute boy. He’s the Platonic Ideal of what a good boy should be. And he’s talented, too- he helps Naruhodou solve a lot of cases!

Cons: …He does attack Naruhodou once. But it leads into the best joint reasoning segment of the whole game, so I can forgive him.

It’s especially sweet when you realise that in-universe Toby is probably named after Gina’s mentor, Tobias Gregson! Rating: 10/10

#ace attorney #aa #i could not rest until i made this #dogs #missile #dgs2 #aai2 #mine

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certifiedlovergirlsstuff · 5 years ago

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Drug Bust

My Jake Peralta imagines could either be read alone or you could think of them together with “Welcome to the 99!”

WC:3080

Thursday 10:15pm; A drug bust gone wrong

There was a blinding white hot pain going through your body. You don’t remember where the pain started and you didn’t care, all you knew was that you were bleeding in your abdominal area, laying on the ground trying to keep your tears at bay.

You just wanted Jake to be by your side at that moment, you knew you weren’t going to die because if you think you're going to die then you're going to lose hope and you didn’t want to lose hope, there was still so much you wanted to have happen in your life.

...

Days Leading Up to the Bust

Tuesday 10am; Briefing

“There is a new drug being spread around the streets of Brooklyn called-“

“Taxi!” You yelled out in the middle of Captain Holt’s sentence causing people to look at you.

You just slightly blushed from all the sudden attention and apologized to Holt for disrupting the meeting, you just dropped your head slightly toward the table to try and ignore the eyes on you.

“Yes Detective (L/n), it is called Taxi because it is the color yellow and also it is a new type of speed that has recently been brought to our attention. So we are going to need two detectives to go undercover on a drop.”

Without even looking behind you, you knew that Jake and Charles turned towards each other with their stupid little grins on their faces showing the pure excitement going through their mind of having the chance of coming up with some undercover identity’s for a drug bust, but-

“Diaz and (L/n) you too will be our dealers for this case.” Holt said erupting a gasp from Jake and Charles.

“Captain! Why would you choose Rosa and (Y/n) out of me and Charles!” Jake pouted out.

“Actually it’s Charles and I” You turned around to fix Jake’s grammar.

Jake just looked at you a little weird and you were just a little confused on why he was, so you just turned back around.

“What are you another Amy?” Jake said under his breath.

You tensed just a little and then relaxed choosing to just focus on the rest of the meeting as Captain Holt was giving off instructions for the drop that was going to happen on Thursday in a hotel.

“Everyone is dismissed now, go do your jobs and keep Brooklyn safe.” Holt said, closing the meeting.

Everyone got up from their seats going their separate ways. As you got up from your seat you turned around to try and talk with Jake about that passing comment about being another Amy. There was nothing wrong with Amy, she was a sweet, kind lady even though she’s barely in the bullpen where you are stationed because you took her spot and became Jake’s new partner, but that’s not the point. You just want to make sure that Jake isn’t angry with you in any way because you guys are partners for most cases so to have any type of bad blood towards each other whether it be a tiny thing or a big problem it’s always good to clear it as soon as possible.

When you turned around, Jake wasn’t there so you guessed he was back at his desk working on some paperwork for one of his cases. As you were walking back to your desk that was Amy’s desk before you, you turned to look at the Captain’s office real quick and noticed that you saw Jake in there talking with Holt, throwing his arms about like he was trying to argue a point that didn’t seem like it was going to land anywhere, and with Holt sometimes they don’t land.

So you got a little curious and walked up to Gina’s desk where she was just texting on her phone, or was on twitter (sidenote: Gina’s tweets are so random, but they bring you some type of entertainment to your life).

“Hey Gina what’s happening?” You asked, stopping to the right of her desk, the side that was closest to Holt’s door which was currently closed.

“Oh yea I’m just having twitter beef with some random person from Florida arguing about the rights of endangered animals, you know those types of Florida people.” Gina replied mindlessly not looking up from her phone, just smiling to herself at this new development in her life.

You just cocked your head to the left out of questioning if you want to look into this twitter beef later and also because you're trying to see if that angle will allow for you to hear Jake and Captain Holt’s conversation. You weren’t able to really hear anything so you just decided to go back to your desk and do some work for the meantime.

After about 20 minutes of you doing desk work you finally see Jake walking over to his desk out of the corner of your eye. You looked up when you heard Jake sigh out as he sat down looking glum for some reason.

“Hey, Jake are you okay?” You asked him quietly not wanting to try and draw unwanted attention towards you both.

Jake just looked up from his desk towards you. He looked sad and tired, you wonder if it has to do with the fact that he wasn’t chosen for the undercover cases, Jake always loved a chance to come up with a new identity.

“Are you a little upset about the case? Honestly I would be fine if you were on the case rather than me. I’m not the best on undercover drops, I get nervous.” You started to ramble out, stopping when you noticed that Jake obviously didn’t care what you had to say that the moment.

You just sighed to yourself and went back to doing your work; getting paperwork in order, getting evidence ready for a court case, talking with Rosa about the drop on Thursday.

As you were talking about the drop your eyes slightly looked towards Jake who was just doing paperwork at the moment and his face kinda just looked...blank?

“Hey Rosa, does Jake usually act like this when he isn’t assigned a certain case he hoped to work?” You whispered to Rosa.

Rosa looked up from the case information in your hands and looked towards Jake and then she took a quick glance at you.

“Eh, it’s Jake. He’s sometimes still childish with his work.” Rosa just said.

You just nodded slowly and decided it was none on your business anyway.

...

Wednesday 9:05am; Bullpen

“Hey Jake, hey Charles.” You greeted your partner and friend as you walked to your desk.

Jake looked like he was in less of a mood, so that’s all that kinda mattered in your books.

“Hey (Y/n) nervous for the drop tomorrow?” Charles asked you, turning around in the seat that was placed next to Jake’s desk.

“A little, but I’m also excited at the same time. The precinct that I last worked at wasn’t the best place and also I was always given crappy cases, so this is going to be good.” You exclaimed, smiling to yourself.

“Well we just know it’s going to go great, don’t we Jake.” Charles said trying to bring his friend into the conversation since he was being so quiet.

Jake was just kinda looking at you, it looked like he zoned out or something his face was...blank. You kinda just looked at him back taking in his facial features. He always just had a kind smile whenever you saw it, it’s barely pointed towards you though so it always brightens your day when you get just a small glimpse of it.

You wish it was pointed towards you everyday.

“-I mean Sarge is always going on about his yogurt.” You heard Charles’s voice causing you to snap out of your thoughts.

When you were brought back to Earth you saw that Jake was gone from his desk leaving you with Charles rambling about Sarge and his yogurt.

“Hey Charles where did Jake go too?”

…

Charles said Jake was in the evidence room so that’s where you went to go looking for him.

“Oh hey I was looking for you.” You stated as you saw Jake’s back.

No you weren’t stalking Jake, you just have been wanting to talk with him and every time you try and start a conversation something would randomly come up stopping you in the process.

“Oh hey (Y/n).” Was all Jake said to you when he turned around to see who came into the evidence room.

You just cocked your head a little to your right wondering why Jake was kinda just being weird around you.

When you came to the 99 Jake was acting completely civil and his normal goofy self, but lately he's kinda just been a little reserved you could say, but it was just around you which annoyed you to death.

“Hey Jake I was just wondering if I did something to bother you these past few weeks. If it's just my mere presence then I’m sorry about that, but I’m not just gonna leave the 99 because-”

“Woah, (Y/n). No it has nothing to do with your presence; I like having you around. You're one of my new friends here, it's just with this drug bust I’m scared something could happen to you.” Jake said quietly, but you were able to catch the very last bit causing a slight blushing on your cheeks.

You were looking at Jake as he was looking towards the ground finding his shoes very interesting, when you noticed his head was coming back to your level you glanced to the floor real fast.

‘What am I, a school girl confronting her crush?...Actually that could be what is happening.’ you thought to yourself as you were staring at the floor.

You brought your head back up to meet Jake’s eyes.

“Well thank you for your concern Jake, but this is our job and if something bad happens then at least I was just doing my job to try and clean the streets of Brooklyn.” You said timidly with a shaky smile on your face.

Jake was just staring at you, his eyes darting everywhere over your face almost like he was trying to take in certain details and remember your face in this moment. It looked like Jake was about to say because he looked slightly hesitant.

“Um (Y/n) I just want to say-” and then the door opens bringing in Charles.

Charles was looking between you and Jake with a weird look on his face, but then again Charles is just a different kind of guy so you don’t try and pay much mind to it.

Since you finally got to talk with Jake you see that you should leave now and probably talk with Holt, going over the plan for tomorrow.

“Well thanks for the talk Jake, I’m gonna go and talk with Captain Holt about the bust tomorrow to make sure everything is all good, so I’ll see you later. Bye Charles.” You said as you walked past him waving both Jake and Charles good bye.

…

Thursday 8:40pm; getting into position

“So...what was going on with you and (Y/n) yesterday in the evidence room.” Charles singed, wiggling his eyebrows at Jake.

Jake just pulled a creeped out face, because this was something Charles does most of the time when he opens his mouth. Jake just stayed silent in the driver's seat of his car looking forward towards the building where the bust was going down.

“So Charles, how's your life going.” Jake blurted out wanting to avoid talking about himself.

Obviously Charles didn’t notice so he just went on a rambling spree about random things going on in his life at the moment.

Jake just started to slowly zone out because he knew whatever Charles was saying he would rather not know about it.

…

10pm

“Man this is taking forever.” Jake sighed out.

It’s been probably almost two hours of just sitting in the car with Charles going on different tangents about something random. Jake was just hoping that nothing bad was happening, as long as there weren't any type of radio calls.

It seemed like it was going fine until…

BANG

“All units go in! Now!” Captain Holt’s voice sounded through the coms yelling at everyone to rush towards the building where loud gunshots were heard.

Jake’s anxiety spiked, worried that something happened to either you or Rosa, two of his friends and one that was starting to be just a little more.

Jake and Charles ran towards the doors of the building, the same ones that you entered just a while ago doing your job.

Jake and Charles held their guns up, sweeping the perimeter for drug dealers with weapons. Jake told Charles to split up to sweep the building faster, so Jake went right and Charles went left.

As Jake got to one room he started to hear loud gasps, almost like someone was trying to catch their breath. As Jake walked further in, he saw that there was a body on the floor with crimson liquid spilling around them.

Jake ran to the person, dropping to the floor on his knees and turning them over so he was able to see their face; and when he saw your face draining of color his heart dropped to his stomach.

“(Y/n)...hey (Y/n) come on, stay awake for me; You’re gonna be okay.” Jake whispered close to your face making sure your breathing was still there.

Your breaths were coming in shallow not wanting to waste what little energy you had left at the moment. You turned your head slightly, leaning into Jake’s body wanting to feel his body warmth since yours was dropping fast causing you to shutter. Blood was spilling from the corner of your mouth staining the path red.

“Jake...Jake please don’t leave me.” You whispered out with a glimpse of fear coming forward.

Jake just quietly shushed you telling you everything was going to be okay, just slowly petting your hair.

He cupped your face making you keep your focus on him and only him at this moment.

“(Y/n), look at me. Everything is going to okay, the ambulance is coming and they are going to take you to the hospital and fix you up. Nothing bad is going to happen.” Jake choked out.

You smiled at Jake, feeling the tears spill out of your eyes causing a choking feeling to get stuck in your throat.

“I’m really happy that you’re my partner Jake.” You whispered to him, feeling your eyes become heavy.

Jake must have noticed the way your eyes were dropping that he needed to keep you awake because he started to shake you and call out your name, but everything just started to sound like you were underwater.

…

Friday 8am; The Hospital

The beeping of machines slowly brought you out of your deep slumber. Your eyes felt like they weigh 100 pounds causing you to strain a bit just trying to pry them open. They also just felt gross, you probably had eye boogers and maybe tear stains on your face from when you were crying in Jake’s lap.

Slowly, but surely you were able to get your eyes to open up to the fluorescent lighting of your hospital room. You moved your head around to look around your small hospital room and when you looked toward the door you saw that someone was sitting in the one chair close to you.

“Jake.” You called out, but your voice was basically gone, just a tiny squeak came from your throat.

Jake was asleep in the chair, which probably wasn’t very comfortable especially with the weird position that he was in. You saw that he was close enough that you could probably poke him or something to grab his attention. You were moving your fingers very slowly so as to not bring any unwanted pain to your body.

As you slowly go, your fingers moving to grab onto just a bit of Jake’s shirt to tug it; you moved a bit too far or fast it didn’t matter to you all you knew was that a white hot pain shot through your body causing you to cry out in pain.

Jake probably heard your cry because you felt his hand on your shoulder asking what happened.

“I was trying to grab your attention, probably just moved too much.” You spoke out.

You looked up and saw that Jake was just staring at with a slight smirk to his mouth. His eyes looked like they had tiny stars in them with the way they twinkled across your facial features. You moved your left arm up slowly allowing for you to rest your hand on his cheek, moving your thumb back and forward over his smooth skin.

“Thank you...for saving me back there.” You croaked out of your dried throat.

Jake smiles down at you, moving his right hand to be placed on top of yours.

It’s finally pointed towards me for once.

“No need to thank me (Y/n); I’m your partner after all.” Jake stated without any hesitation.

Partner

That one word caused you to be brought back to reality; making you tense for a moment, but long enough for Jake to notice.

“Um...where is everyone else?”

“Oh, um they’re at the station right now. I came here first before stopping at work. I wanted to make sure that you were okay and awake, and since you are I should probably go to the Captain so that way everyone else can stop by.” Jake spoke, starting to back away, causing your hand to slip away and fall back on your bed.

“Okay well, I hope to see you again soon Jake...at the precinct.” You replied startled.

Jake grabbed his jacket from the chair putting it on and walked towards the door of your room until he stopped and turned around looking at you.

“Um...I’ll make sure to come by after work to see how you're feeling; if you're okay with that.” Jake asked you.

You smiled to yourself, having to resist a full blown grin splitting your face.

“Yea, that works for me!” You almost shouted.

#jake peralta #jake peralta x reader #jake peralta imagine #jake peralta x you #brooklyn99 #99 #b99 #amy santiago #charles boyle #terry jeffords #rose diaz #raymond holt #captain holt #gina linetti #fanfiction #ff #fluff #angst #no smut

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peraltasames · 5 years ago

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your love’s put me at the top of the world

He’s beyond relieved that he made it back in time, but even more relieved when Amy lets out one final cry of agony and everything falls silent for a split second before the unmistakable cries of a newborn fill the room.

That’s his son. His son is here.

prompt: 💐 - buying each other flowers

read on ao3

There’s never been any doubt in Jake’s mind that Amy is a superhero.

Her first month at the Nine-Nine, he saw her tackle a perp twice her size without breaking a sweat. It was both awesome and insanely hot, though Jake suppressed those feelings as quickly as they arose when she yelled at him to cuff the 250-pound man she just smacked down on the pavement.

She’s saved his life multiple times, whether it be by always having his back in the field or shooting him in the leg in the thick humidity of the worst state in America (he wasn’t overly fond of the latter, but he was very appreciative of avoiding a bullet in the head).

She’s had more emotional endurance than anyone Jake knows, remaining his steady guidepost during his time in WitSec and his prison sentence and everything else life has thrown at them, even when he knew it was just as hard for her. Her strength and hope never wavered during the long months of failed attempts at getting pregnant.

Still, despite all this, he’s never been more in awe of her than he is seeing her give birth to their son, in the damn precinct, without any painkillers. She’s glowing, an absolute vision of beauty, but he knows better than to tell her that while she’s swearing like a sailor and squeezing his hand so hard he thinks she might break it.

That’s his son. His son is here.

Of course, more chaos ensues after that - he’s pretty sure they had enough chaos for a lifetime tonight, but they’ve also had a lot of crazy days that have made for good stories, so he decides he can handle a little chaos as long as his wife and their little boy are okay.

There’s an ambulance ride and several tests run by several different doctors. There’s the entire squad visiting and the reveal of their son’s name - Mac Peralta, after John McClane, of course. There’s Roger and Victor arguing over what Mac’s middle name should be (even though they decided on Raymond weeks ago to avoid upsetting either of their fathers) while Camila and Karen fawn over Amy and the baby.

Eventually, there’s just the three of them again. Amy falls asleep soon after, very understandably considering all her body’s been through over the past few hours, and Mac is happily dozing in the bassinet next to her bed.

Jake’s in the midst of responding to a dozen text messages and trying to wrap his head around the fact that he’s really a father when his stomach starts to grumble, a casual reminder that he hasn’t eaten since lunch and it’s nearly two in the morning.

“Detective Peralta, you’re free to go grab food or coffee.”

The nurse standing next to the bassinet, monitoring Mac’s vitals, seems to have read Jake’s mind. He would kill for even a bag of chips from a vending machine right now, but he also really doesn’t want to leave the baby unattended while Amy’s sleeping.

“We’re keeping a close eye on your son and your wife, so there’s no reason to worry.”

He’s got half a mind to try to recruit her as a detective with the mind-reading capabilities she’s got going on (although it’s possible his instinctual need to protect Amy and their baby really is just that transparent) but he simply nods in appreciation and bends down to kiss Amy’s forehead before slipping out the door.

He’s determined to make it as quick of a mission as possible, eager to return to the room, so he makes a very Amy-esque list in his head: food, coffee, something more comfortable and clean to sleep in.

He knocks off the first two very quickly with a cold sandwich and a cup of stale but decently warm coffee from the cafeteria. It’s certainly not a Charles-approved meal, but he’s still riding on such a high that it tastes like the elixir of the gods right now.

The gift shop fulfills his need for comfortable clothing - sweatpants with the New York Presbyterian logo and an I ❤️ NY hoodie. It also offers a wide selection of stuffed animals, and even though they already have way too many for a newborn to appreciate at home from Amy’s baby shower, he can’t resist grabbing a tiny teddy bear that says I love my mom.

That’s all he intends to buy, but the bouquets of flowers positioned conveniently near the checkout catch his eye immediately. He does have a more significant push present for Amy planned, a signed copy of Marie Kondo’s new book that Gina managed to score for him accompanied by two tickets to Hamilton and reservations at a very fancy restaurant in Midtown four months from now. He really feels like his wife having just undergone tremendous pain and physical exertion to bring their baby into the world means she deserves something now, though, so he carefully peruses the selection.

“New dad?” the lady behind the cash register asks, smiling at him.

Jake nods proudly, glancing briefly at the teddy bear in his arms. “As of like three hours ago, yeah.”

“Go for the gardenias. They symbolize joy, your wife will love them.”

Jake has to read the little tags to identify which ones are gardenias, but he’s pleased that they’re the pretty white and yellow bouquet in a small white vase that his eyes were first drawn to.

“Thank you,” Jake smiles, quickly swiping his credit card and gathering his purchases.

He carefully creeps back into the dark room so he doesn’t accidentally wake Amy or Mac, who he pauses to stare at in awe for another long moment before going to the bathroom to change. After tossing his dirty clothes in Scully’s big hospital bag, he attempts to lightly place the flowers down on the bedside table, but even the slight disruption of the silence causes Amy to stir.

“Sorry, babe,” he winces, setting the teddy bear down next to the bouquet. “I didn’t want to wake you.”

“You got me flowers?” Amy smiles, shifting up on her elbows slightly to get a better look. “Jake, they’re beautiful.”

“The lady at the gift shop said they symbolize joy, so...”

His eyes wander to the bassinet, soaking in every second that he can of admiring their very own bundle of joy.

Amy smiles wider, reaching for his hand to pull him towards her. He settles in on the bed beside her, carefully wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“You were so amazing,” he whispers into her hair. It’s not the first time he’s told her that tonight, but he doesn’t think he could ever say those words enough to encapsulate just how in awe of his wife he actually is.

“You’re a pretty good baby daddy,” Amy murmurs into his chest. “I mean, you were literally my knight in shining armour riding in on horseback tonight.” He chuckles, squeezing her tightly. “I’m so glad you made it in time.”

“Me too,” he sighs, pressing kisses to her hairline and temple and cheek.

Amy shifts over slightly, making as much room in the bed as she can for him, and his desire to be close to his wife is overruled by the interest of her being as comfortable and non-crowded as possible.

“Ames, they said they could bring a cot for me. Or I can sleep in the chair, I really don’t mind.”

She frowns, shaking her head. “There’s plenty of room.”

“You just had a baby, I want you to be comfortable.”

“Jake,” she says, more firmly. “Speaking as your wife who just had a baby, I want you to sleep here with me. That’s an order.”

He knows he’s fighting a losing battle, so he kicks off his shoes and climbs under the covers with her. It turns out to be kind of perfect - he has just enough space to comfortably stretch out and, once he’s wrapped his arm around Amy and assumed the big spoon position, he has an unobstructed view of Mac.

“We’re really parents,” Amy sighs happily, lacing her fingers with his.

Jake nods and smiles, his eyes reluctant to close just yet while he absorbs the last moments of the most important day of his life.

He kisses her cheek once more before settling into the pillows and letting his eyelids droop.

“I love you guys so much.”

#it is nearly 4am but enjoy!!!#i am such an emotional mess #b99 fic #jake x amy #b99 spoilers

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earthdeep · 3 years ago

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ok. thoughts on dgs now I've completed both 1 and 2. spoilers abound under the cut. but tl;dr I liked it a lot.

man, the thing really did feel like a great adventure huh? the game did an excellent job at conveying that sense of grandeur, along with the humour and melodrama one expects from the series. I can really only talk about it as the one conjoined unit though. while aa1-3 were a trilogy, I would argue they largely stood as entries on their own in a way I don't think the dgs duology can. I mentioned when I finished up dgs1 that I would've been disappointed if I'd had to wait for part 2 like the original japanese audience did, and my opinion on that has only strengthened. between the morse code message, and van zieks'... development, these are two parts of a whole.

but it is a very good whole imo, with its throughline of ryunosuke gaining confidence and finding what to believe in (the truth will set u free babey!). it matches well with the recurrent theme of ur idols being... not quite as u imagined. as is aa tradition, u have the complex web of family and legacy and forging ur own path, all balanced in a way that I really like. man, it's just... so well crafted.

obvs there are a few weird hiccups here and there, logic sometimes not clicking together (at least for me), and for that I do appreciate having the story mode option. I only used it... I think twice? once in the pawnshop case where I forgot I'd only shown one receipt to gregson and not both, and once in the teleportation case where I missed examining the book on sithe's desk (in my defence it has a really small hitbox compared to the desk that surrounds it!). but it saved me some frustration, so that's always nice.

the setting was definitely very enjoyable. I personally have a soft spot for seeing portrayals of my country by those outside the anglosphere, and this absolutely hit the spot for me. the scenery was an excellent balance of the familiar old london fare and ace attorney's brand of surrealism that just. yes. excellent. weirdly high number of blonds tho. but some of the behind the scenes content did explain it was to more clearly differentiate the britons from the japanese, and ok I can understand that.

but moving onto the characters themselves, bc BOY was this a fun cast! the animation team went OFF with these guys and I love them for it. except daley vigil; those awkward poses just kinda made him look more unfinished than he already did, dunno what happened with him.

there's just... so much little stuff I would be just reiterating from my liveblogging, but now I'm done there's other stuff I can sum up.

right off the bat, favourite character gina. she has stolen my heart along with everything else on my person. I'm proud of her for learning to open up and trust others, and imo she's one of the characters with the most dramatic arc. also, top notch character designs. excellently green. yes I am biased.

honorable mentions go to susato for being 100% the coolest person in this shebang, and kazuma for his total flippancy towards the whole assassin thing. for the ten years between asogi sr's death and the student exchange deal, the mikotoba residence must have been a sight to behold. and by that I mean a warzone.

but... argh I've put it off. I don't particularly like talking about van zieks, but I can't just ignore him since you know. discourse. ugh. he's the one character in this game whose dialogue I resorted to flipping through without really paying attention. there is only so many times I can watch him deride the japanese before it's just boring. like it's not like I'm even that annoyed by the insulting thing. I love prosecutors like blackquill and nahyuta who at least bother to be funny, but van zieks is just xenophobic and that's it. if I wanted that experience I could just pick up a copy of the spectator and not worry about missing key plot details if I skim.

and no he doesn't have a good reason to hate the japanese. hating a country bc someone from there killed a loved one of urs is already flimsy enough, but when u state ur ire is being drawn by how it was covered up BY UR OWN COUNTRY'S JUDICIARY? DUDE. but yes, he got to eat shit during the last case and I felt only schadenfreude at him having to face the fact that even the aforementioned 'a japanese guy murdered my brother' didn't hold up in court. get dunked on u idiot.

boy am I glad kazuma also got the limelight for that case so I could focus on him instead. bc there was actually some depth to that situation, with the fun eternal moral conundrum of "revenge: yay or nay?". I'm already seeing debate in the fandom of his actions and personally, I think he was pretty much exactly in the grey zone. this man is chaotic neutral through and through, and taking a governmental assassination contract and then just Not Doing It is incredibly funny actually. I'm very sorry he was unable to live out his dream of having a fun homoerotic detective adventure in london with his friend while doing the hitman equivalent of tax avoidance. enjoy whatever the FUCK one calls handing over the physical embodiment of your soul to your friend for safekeeping while you go your separate ways half a world apart. that's Romantic with a capital R, that.

but anyway, yes. good game. time to trawl through the extras menu now!

#earthdeep does life #sonic lawyer adventures #dgs spoilers

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cycat4077 · 5 years ago

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Three Weeks In

So, I’m writing a series. Cute, fluffy ideas kept popping into my head and rather than making a new character/backstory for each one-shot, I decided to keep the universe I set up in Changes which is basically all the canon-SVU events but Sonny has a loving relationship behind the scenes. Let’s face it, the boy deserves happiness. It’s not necessary to read my other story first unless you want the backstory of the reader character and how they got together with Sonny. I’ll try to keep things chronological and weave in SVU events if I can. My OCD is forcing me to make sure the dates are all correct (ex: Sonny can’t be with the reader if he’s supposed to be upstate investigating a lead.) So tah-dah! I present thee with the second installment of the “Changes” series which is set immediately after 17x09, Depravity Standard, and begins on Nov 23rd 2015 (the day before Thanksgiving). It may be crap, but I hope you enjoy anyway!

Words: 2296 Warnings: none Pairing: Sonny x Reader Summary: Three weeks into dating Sonny and he already wants you to meet his family… AO3 here

Some days you actually have to pinch yourself as a reminder that your life is real. It’s been three weeks since Sonny showed up to your class. Three weeks since the two of you confessed your feelings. And three weeks of dating Sonny. While your schedules didn’t allow for a lot of one-on-one time, the two of you keep in touch and steal away for dinner whenever you can.

A steady beeping sound rouses you from your sleep and you roll over to shut off your alarm. The sun is starting to peek through the curtains, signalling a new day. Glancing at your phone screen, you smile.

Mornin’, doll. Have a great day! Talk to you later xoxo

Everyday you wake up to a text from Sonny and, though a seemingly small gesture, your heart aches in the best possible way from knowing he cares. You unplug the device and lay back in bed, phone perched on your chest.

Morning, Sonny. Hope you have a great day too and stay safe! xoxo

As you hit send, you imagine him smiling at his desk when the message comes in. You get ready for class and head out, a spring in your step while you journey to campus. Sonny texts you back around lunchtime with a message saying that he should be free tonight. He asks if you’d be up for having dinner and you eagerly accept. That evening you put on a nice outfit, fix your hair and set out to meet your date at a nearby restaurant. But SVU work can be unpredictable. You were made very aware of that during your summer there. One day could be quiet while the next could be so busy that you didn’t know whether the detectives were coming or going. So understandably, this line of work would sometimes force Sonny to be late. Nevertheless, if he was, he would apologize profusely and you would always reassure him that you understood. Tonight however, as you wait alone inside the restaurant lobby, Sonny is later than he’s ever been before. Not only that, but he hasn’t even sent you a message to confirm that he was caught up. His silence has you worried. You crane your neck towards the door once more before sending him a quick text:

Hey. Hope everything is okay.

Not a moment later your phone vibrates.

Shit. Sorry, doll. I’ll be there in 15.

You breathe a sigh of relief knowing he’s safe but then your gut knots when the alternative creeps into your mind. Restaurant patrons pass you by and the hostess keeps glaring while you’re standing there. They’ve seen it all before: a girl left waiting for a date who doesn’t show. You look up and let out a shaky sigh, hoping that Sonny hadn’t simply forgotten you. Practically 15 minutes on the nose from his text, a rather frantic looking Sonny comes barreling through the restaurant door. His winter jacket is unbuttoned and you can see his badge still clipped to his suit underneath. He hasn’t had time to change. “Hey,” he breathes out with apologetic eyes. “I’m so sorry. I shoulda texted you. It’s just Rollins -” Sonny takes a breath, chest heaving. He must have ran here. “She had a scare today. There were complications with her labor. Luckily, she made it though n’ delivered a healthy baby girl, but Lieu and I stayed there with her for a while. She’s gettin’ some rest now and Fin is gonna check up on her later.” Immediately you flood with relief. “I’m glad she and the baby are alright,” you say, “and I’m glad nothing had happened to you either.” “You dunno know how sorry I am for not lettin’ you know what was goin’ on. I shoulda texted. But things got hectic and we were all pretty worried about her…” “Sonny,” you cut off his rambling and force him to meet your eyes. “It’s okay. I’m not mad. Like I said, I’m glad Rollins is fine and I’m also glad she wasn’t alone through all this.” Sonny looks back at you and takes a breath. Your words seem to calm him right down. He smiles. “You’re amazin’.” You blush. “Back at you, but I’m starved.” He chuckles and the two of you approach the hostess. She grabs your menus but rolls her eyes as she turns to lead you to your table. She seats you at a little booth in the corner, Sonny taking your coat before you sit down. You braved wearing a knee-length dress despite the November weather and are rewarded by an expression of awe from Sonny when he sees it. “You look beautiful, doll,” he compliments, drinking you in. “And here I am, lookin’ shabby in comparison.” A little tired, yes. But shabby? Never. Sonny’s dark hair is still combed back and he’s wearing a tasteful burgundy tie over a white pinstripe shirt. You lean in and peck him on the cheek. “You always look handsome to me.” The two of you order and share a drink, happy to finally be catching up. “Shadowin’ Barba was fantastic!” exclaims Sonny through a mouthful of bread. “He’s so polished in his delivery n’ so sharp at findin’ the littlest things to drive it all home to the jury!” “Fanboy alert!” you joke. “Guilty!” he grins, raising his fork in surrender. “But I learn so much from him and it gives me new ideas for doin’ my written assignments.” “I’m happy for you, Sonny. You work so hard and you deserve every ounce of success you earn.” You truly can’t help the pride you feel for him. “Aww, thanks, doll. That means a lot.” Sonny gazes at you with the utmost affection and you nearly melt in your seat. “Say, what’s new with you? Anythin’ excitin’ in the ol’ biology class?” “Same old, same old,” you shrug. “Just gave the second midterm back to the students, so I expect a lot of office visits from them on Monday.” “You don’t have ta work or take emails over the holiday, do ya?” asks Sonny, pushing food around his plate absentmindedly. “Nope. Why?” You sense there’s something more to his inquiry. “Well, I was wonderin’…now, I know it’s short notice ‘cause I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to get off myself, but I was wonderin’ if…if you’d like to spend Thanksgiving with me at my parents’ place?” Sonny looks up. It’s the most hopeful expression you’ve ever seen on him. “I..uh…” you’re lost for words. You want to scream out ’YES!’ at the top of your lungs but at the same time it’s not that easy. “Sonny, that’s t-tomorrow. And it’s also your family time. I wouldn’t want to intrude on them.” “You wouldn’t be intrudin’! My ma’s been askin’ to meet my girlfriend n’ even said to ’make sure you bring her over for Thanksgiving’.” Your voice goes quiet. “I’m your…g-girlfriend?” The word floors you. Most guys don’t want to dive head first into labeling relationships, especially not after only three weeks. But here is Sonny Carisi, happily calling you his girlfriend and wanting you to meet his family. “Yeah, of course doll,” he answers a little perplexed. “We’re datin’ aren’t we?” Sonny fixes his gaze on you, trying to read what you’re feeling. You shake your head to snap yourself out of it. “Yes, y-yes. It’s just that…Never mind. I’d love to spend Thanksgiving with your family!” An uncontrolled smile spreads across your face and you’re pretty sure it makes you look like a complete dork. If it does, Sonny doesn’t point it out, but instead reaches across the table to hold your hand. He too is smiling from ear to ear like you’ve made him the happiest man alive. Suddenly your smile drops. “What?” questions Sonny. “What time will you be heading out tomorrow?” “Uh, well, I was thinkin’ we could get there for ‘round four o'clock. Time enough to introduce ya to everyone before we eat?” “Four?! That doesn’t give me much time to make anything!” you gulp. “Make somethin’? Doll, my mother wouldn’t want you to bring anythin’. Believe me, she cooks for a small army.” “Sonny. You can’t show up to someone’s house for dinner empty handed.” Sonny opens his mouth to argue, but you shush him instead. “How many people are gonna be there?” Conceding, he sets down his utensils, freeing his hands to count. “Well, there’s gonna be mom, dad, me, you, Bella n’ Tommy. Their little one doesn’t eat the good stuff yet, so I won’t count her.” Sonny unfolds that finger. “Then there’s Resa and Mia and Gina. Maybe a plus one for Gina, but who the hell knows with her.” Looking down at his two hands, he raises them to show you. “Should be nine altogether.” Good to know because you were going to be up early the next morning baking. -x- You don’t realize your knee is bouncing until Sonny reaches over and places a warm hand on it. “Don’t be nervous, doll. My family is gonna love you.” You turn your head towards him, flashing a weak smile. Sitting in idle traffic is only making your nerves worse. “Trust me. Besides, ya even baked fresh bread rolls on short notice. They’re gonna disown me and keep you instead.” Sonny taps your knee reassuringly before returning his hand to the steering wheel. The Carisis live in a quaint little suburban house complete with a petite yard and front porch stoop. It seems small for a family of six, yet still cozy and welcoming. You can’t imagine Sonny growing up anywhere else. Sonny leads you up the steps and knocks on the door. It instantly flies open and a short woman with grey hair greets the two of you with open arms. “Sonny!” she coos, scooping her boy in for a hug. Sonny plants his mother a kiss before introducing you. “Hellooo! Welcome, hon,” exclaims Mrs. Carisi as she ushers you into her home. The place smells delectable. If someone asked you describe the scent of Thanksgiving, you would say ‘the Carisi household’. “I’m so happy you could make it! Y'know, Sonny has told me so much about ya and I’m glad that boy finally got the nerve to - ” “Ma!” blurts Sonny, flashing his mother a warning look. Sonny must have spent those months apart dwelling over you, just as you had done over him. “What?! It’s true, honey,” defends the Carisi matriarch before turning back to you. “Whateva. You just make yourself at home dear. We’re all family here.” “Thank you, Mrs. Carisi,” you say sincerely. You’d never been so instantly accepted by another family. After sharing a hug with Sonny’s mother, you are swarmed by the rest of the Carisis. Sonny introduces you to his father first, who gives you a solid nod. Next is Bella, bouncing a tiny infant with Tommy by her side. Theresa and a shy Mia chime in a ‘hello’ before a solo Gina caps off the meet-and-greet. Mrs. Carisi is over the moon when you hand over your baking and the bread rolls end up being a major success. In true Italian fashion, the Thanksgiving spread is full of flavor with Sonny’s mother sparing no expense in variety or quantity. Everyone joins in saying grace before dinner and, though not a common practice in your house growing up, you don’t mind linking hands with Sonny and Gina while Mr. Carisi leads the family in giving thanks. Because you do have a lot to be thankful for: a great job, an incredible boyfriend and now a whole new family to spend time with. The rest of the meal is occupied by sharing in conversation, fond memories and laughter. You find it all sort of surreal. During the summer Sonny had entertained you with tales of this very family: How they could get on one another’s nerves but that at the end of the day still loved each other. And this is exactly what you see before you. Maybe it’s a light buzz from the wine, but you feel all warm and fuzzy as the chatter of the Carisis surround you. Eventually the evening winds down and everyone seems to be groaning over how full their tummies are. You know you’ve eaten too much but wouldn’t have it any other way. “The food was absolutely delicious, Mrs. Carisi. Thank you all for having me,” you say appreciatively, looking at everyone in turn. “Our pleasure, hon,” smiles Sonny’s mother sweetly. “Know that you’re welcome here anytime.” She clasps your hands in hers and gives them a few quick pats. You say your reluctant goodbyes before you and Sonny head to his car. Once inside, he looks at you. “So?” “Your family is wonderful, Sonny and I had a great time.” This makes him flush with pride. “Glad to hear it, doll. Sometimes they can be a bit much, but they mean well.” He turns the key in the ignition and his car grumbles to life. The two of you wave as he backs out of the driveway. Once you’re cruising down Arden avenue, Sonny pipes up again. “Y'don’t have any more of them rolls, do ya? I didn’t know you were such a good cook.” You let out a laugh. “I’m not that good. For every two-dozen there’s about a dozen that come out flat and ugly. But if you’re indifferent to what they look like, then I can hook you up with the rejects.” You wink just as the car passes beneath the glow of a streetlamp in hopes Sonny will catch it. He grins. “I don’t mind. Besides, it gives me a good excuse to walk ya to your door 'n steal a kiss goodnight.”

-x-

I have a bunch of ideas planned, the next being x-mas (wrong time of year, I know) but I just have to check dates from the episodes. Let me know if you’d be interested in more of these stories and any feedback would be loved!

Next part here!

#Sonny Carisi x Reader #Sonny x Reader #Sonny Carisi #Sonnyshine of my life #The Carisis #svu fanfic #law and order svu #my fanfic #Three Weeks In #SVU 17x09 #Depravity Standard #The Changes verse

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peralta-guaranteed · 4 years ago

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Bullies, Black Eyes, and Big Brothers

(read it on AO3)

“Let’s not jump to conclusions right away.”

“What’s there to ‘jump to’, Jake? He got in a fight and gave another kid a bloody nose and knocked out two baby teeth.”

“Yeah, okay, I know that sounds bad.” Jake sighs while shifting gears. They’d gotten the call from Mac’s teacher just fifteen minutes ago, but from Amy’s fidgeting, he could tell she would’ve liked to have already arrived at the school. For what it’s worth, he’s still surprised Holt let them both go without much explanation - he supposes the sentence “Mac’s school called” is some sort of magic spell to turn their captain into grandpa mode.

“I just remember a lot of times where I got into trouble and wished my mom had listened to me first before the punishment, you know?”

Now it’s Amy’s turn to sigh.

“Okay. He gets one chance at explaining himself, and then we ground him for punching someone.”

When they finally make it to the classroom with Mac’s teacher waiting in front of it, Amy seems to have forgotten all about it though, as she already starts apologising to Ms. Hernandez for the trouble Mac has caused.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions.” The teacher says, and Jake remembers why he’s so glad that Mac got her as homeroom teacher in this grade instead of that nasty old Mrs. Lipschitz he had last year. “Yes, Mac and Dennis got into a fight, and they’re both a little worse for wear, but we have no idea who started it or why. Neither of them will talk to me, so I hoped that you might get more out of him than me. Dennis’ parents couldn’t make it yet, I’m afraid.”

Jake nods and sneaks a peek through the little window on the door - Mac and Dennis (he guesses - not a classmate he’s familiar with) are sitting 4 tables apart, both staring down at the desks with the most forlorn looks he’s ever seen on two 10-year-olds. He remembers his first fight that ended with heavy bruises and a bleeding eyebrow, right around the same age, after stepping between Gina and some teen she’d been mouthing off to. Dennis is still holding a slightly bloody towel up to his nose, and Mac’s t shirt is ripped at the collar, and - yeah, that’s definitely a black eye on his little guy. His stomach swoops down sickenly low and he wants to walk in and just carry him home straight away to ice cream and cartoons on tv and no stupid classmates that fight him anywhere.

As it stands, he tries to walk in as calmly as Amy does, now that she’s pulled herself together again, before crouching down in front of Mac’s desk.

“Hey, bud.” He smiles at him, but Mac only looks up for a second and then back down to the table, and God can he please just hug his kid and not see the worry and fear in his soft chocolate-brown eyes?

“Do you want to tell us what happened?” Amy says from his side, equally crouched down, and her voice is far softer than it was on the drive here. She’s probably thinking something very similar to Jake.

Mac, however, shoots a look over to Dennis, who’s decidedly ignoring all three of them, and then up to Ms. Hernandez stood beside him, before shaking his head.

“C’mon, Mac.” Jake tries to give him one more push. “We can’t do anything if we don’t know the story.”

Mac rubs at his eye - the non-black one - and sniffles, but that’s the only sound he makes. Jake fights back another sigh before looking up to the teacher.

“Do you think we could talk to him alone?” You don’t interrogate suspects with their aggressor still present, his detective mind adds, but he’s not sure if that’s an appropriate explanation for an elementary school classroom.

Ms. Hernandez nods, anyway, and tells Dennis to step out with her.

Once the door clicks shut behind them, Jake fully lowers down to one knee and smiles at Mac again.

“How about now? Do we get a story?”

Mac still seems hesitant for a moment, sniffling once again, but then-

“He kicked Maya.” he almost whispers, and his voice sounds sore, like he’s been yelling, or crying, or maybe both. “She was on the merry-go-round that he wanted to go on and he kicked her to make her leave and she fell off and I think she hurt her elbow. Ms. Mabel took her away for a band aid. I couldn’t check. I was too far away.”

“Oh peanut.” Amy says after she’s made her way round the desk to softly ruffle through his hair (it’s a mess anyway, probably from the fight as well). “You didn’t have to be afraid to tell us that. But it also wasn’t okay to hit him. I’m sure Ms. Mabel would’ve talked to him later.”

“He’s called her names before and makes fun of her.” Mac continues, the floodgates apparently finally open. “And he always pushes her out of his way. And she said he chased her around with a stick once until she hid in the toilets. So now she doesn’t wanna go outside during recess anymore. And he took her turrón de maní that abuela gave us that you packed us for lunch.” He looks up at Jake now, and so luckily doesn’t see the way Amy’s face begins to change from soft worry to unbridled mom-rage. “I gave her half of mine.”

Jake has to take a deep breath too, because he reasons that running out to punch a fourth grader in the stomach is probably not a good thing to do, no matter how strong the impulse.

“Why didn’t you tell us about all that earlier?” He asks instead and hopes that there’s no admonishment in his voice, because he really doesn’t want it to sound like he blames him for anything.

“Maya said not to.” Mac sniffles again and rubs his nose, smearing the back of his hand with snot, and Amy has a handkerchief drawn to wipe it as quickly as only she can. “She said she has to be the ‘bigger person’. ‘N I said she should punch him instead but she didn’t want to, so I did.”

Putting aside the fact that their second-grader has definitely picked up lingo that she’s nowhere close to old enough to really understand, he’s glad that at least one of their kids was decidedly against a violent approach - however fitting it would be in this situation.

“Okay, Maya was right that you shouldn’t hit people, unless you have to protect yourself.” Jake vividly remembers that heated discussion about principles in parenting he’d had with Amy not long ago, that ended in his ridiculous argument of ‘so if you’re getting kidnapped and the only way out would be to throw a punch you wouldn’t do it?’ and reminding her of the several times she’s actually punched him in mistaken self-defense before. It had convinced her to agree with him, though.

“But if someone is being that mean to you or her and bullying you like that, you definitely should tell someone who can help.” Amy finishes for him. “Even if you’d promised not to say anything.”

Jake nods at the same time as Mac, and they look so similar that she can’t help but smile, as inappropriate as it might be for the situation.

“I’m sorry I started a fight.” Mac mumbles again.

“It’s okay.” Jake answers a bit too fast, and Amy’s raised eyebrows in his direction tell him more than enough. “I mean, it’s not great. And it’s good that you’re apologising. But I’m glad you stood up for your sister and protected her.”

Now Amy nods to that, and Jake’s knees ache only a little bit as he gets up after crouching down for so long.

“Tell you what. Maya’s classes are over by now, so what do you say we go pick her up and go to Sal’s for dinner?”

It only takes seconds for a bright smile to finally, finally break across their son’s face as he jumps up and Jake tells him to get his backpack from the other end of the classroom. Amy sidles up to him and nudges his elbow.

“Sal’s, really?” She says almost inaudibly, but Jake can hear the exasperated amusement.

“What?” He whispers back. “I think he deserves a reward far more than a punishment.”

“You only say that because you would’ve punched Dennis too.”

“Well, let’s see how bad Maya’s arm really is and then I decide if he deserved the bloody nose.”

“Alright, let’s not get carried away. You go tell Ms. Hernandez what happened and Mac and I pick up Maya in the meantime.” Amy only mumbles as Mac bounces back towards them.

After Sal’s and an entire Meat Supreme at display temperature for Jake, Mac and Maya (and one slice of spinach & feta for Amy), they watch their two little ones settle down in front of the tv for the one allowed nighttime episode of Adventure Time, Mac holding a small bag of frozen peas to his black eye, Maya snuggling into him on his other side and beaming up at her big brother from time to time.

“If we tell your mum about this”, Jake grins at Amy across the kitchen island where she’s busy making hot chocolate because apparently she agrees on the reward-over-punishment thing too, “I bet she’s gonna send them like a pound of turrón each.”

“We’re not telling my parents any of this, or my dad is going to have Dennis expelled from school or something equally over the top.”

“Hate to agree with Victor about anything, but I do think-”

Luckily Amy pushes a marshmallow into Jake’s mouth so he can’t finish whatever stupid joke he was going to make.

#B99 #Brooklyn 99 #Peraltiago #Jake Peralta #Amy Santiago #mac peralta #Maya peralta #fic #my writing

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thadelightfulone · 5 years ago

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The Firm - Chapter 12

Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11

Summary: Erik has been hired to find an embezzler for an old friend. The whole gang is back at GBI, ready to fight an old enemy and save their friend.

Pairing: Erik x Black!OC

Genre: Suspense

Bridges checks the time; it is about 4 in the afternoon. The sun is still out, so they have to make sure they set up where they will not be easily found. Green pulls the SUV into a parking lot across the street from where Gina’s warehouse is located. They are guarded by another abandoned warehouse. Kill’s phone is out, checking for any heat sources coming from the inside of the building. He nods to Green, who parks and gets out to stretch out after the drive.

Kill, Bridges, and Green walk around the SUV together. Inside the back is a trunk full of lethal goodies for their use. Kill pops the lock, showing them the inventory. Matt stays inside, looking on as they make their decisions on what to take with them. All the items are equipped for hand-to-hand combat. They already know that this fight will be up close and personal. Gina made it that way both in her intentions and her chosen location for this meeting.

Bridges is standing there, weighing a .40 caliber Glock in her hands. It has been years since she held one or even had a need to use one. She grabs a 22 round magazine to load the gun, releases the safety, and hands it over to Green. Green thanks her and holsters the gun under his arm.

The Glock 19 that Kill loaded in the car is in his tactical holster on his leg. One side of his matching vest holds two more Glocks and about 4 additional magazines. He takes a moment to once again check his phone screen before reaching for a few throwing knives and an M9 bayonet fighting knife. Bridges stops helping Green and watches as Kill gathers everything he wants, adding it to his vest or his holsters.

Green clears his throat, and Bridges hands him the other gun she loaded for him. He steps back as he has everything he needs. But he grabs a laptop from one of the other bags before getting out of her way. Bridges grabs 2 Glocks and additional magazines for herself. She puts on her tactical vest and loads her weapons.

Once everyone has all their desired weapons, they return to the front of the SUV. On the hood, Kill rolls out the warehouse floor plans that Stacey printed. He sets his phone aside as he looks things over. The screen shows 6 heat signatures surrounding Gina’s building.

“Alright, there are 3 floors, including the basement to the warehouse. Our focus needs to be on the first and lower floors because she would never be dumb enough to use the top to hold hostages.” Pointing to the entrances, he shows Bridges and Green the matching locations on his phone. The two side entrances have two people on them, while the front and back doors only have one.

“It looks like the best way to enter is through the back door since there is an elevator and stairs to the basement on that side.” Green states as he looks at the basement floor plan.

“Do you know how much security she has out here?” Bridges asks.

“Yo Matt! When you met up with her anywhere, how many men did she usually have?”

“Ummm, she always had two near her. But whenever I met her onsite like this, it was about 6 or 8 additional guys. Everyone always near an entrance or something, doubling as a clean-up crew.” Matt sits back again as they all take in what he said.

“So, let’s go with a possible 10-15 total inside and around the warehouse. We won’t be able to detect the others until we get a bit closer.” Green says.

“Not a problem. Once we clear all entrances, we can enter from any point and have enough cover to take out anyone left.” Kill responds.

“Sounds good to me.” Bridges pipes in.

“Now, we wait for it to get darker before going in.” They all jump back in the car, waiting for the sun to set.

---

It has been about an hour since LaNyah found out that every person she holds near and dear is in the crosshairs of one Miss Gina McCoy Williams. Gina left to get them food after LaNyah was settled from her panic attack. While she was gone, Laura shared how she knew who she was. So, now LaNyah knows that Matt didn’t choose her, but Gina did, and her connection to Ashley and Alex was just a bonus. But the connection to Erik was confusing to her, she just met him, but Gina made it sound like more and she didn’t know how to feel about that.

Gina came back in with her two associates, LaNyah recognized them as the guys who moved her from the other room. They had covered dishes in their hands and placed them in front of the women. “Go ahead and eat.” No one moves, “Neither one of you is good to me dead. Now please, Laura, if not for you then for the baby. And LaNyah, I know you just cried everything out. Nibble, if you must, but I promise I did not poison the food. Besides, Kimmy’s makes the best sandwiches.” LaNyah looks at her strangely. Gina waves them both to eat while uncovering her plate.

LaNyah lifts the cover to see her exact order from the last time she met Ashley at Kimmy’s Café – grilled chicken club on sourdough, fries, and fruit with a side of ranch. She groans while looking at it, since that was also the day she figured out that she had a small crush on her new boss, Erik. She was about to put the cover back on when her stomach gurgled loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. She looks over at the two men, who are tucking into their meals. Laura has pulled apart the sandwich and is picking at the inside.

Gina glances over at LaNyah. “You have been intravenously fed for the last three days. Eat up while you can. Or should I have them replace the IV for you?” LaNyah picks up a fry and dips it in the ranch. “Good girl. Thank you. I really do hate to be mean to other women.” She wipes her mouth, “When we finish eating, I will continue with my story.”

Laura scraps the plate with the fork, “You aren’t done?”

“Oh no, I need you to understand why they must be destroyed.”

LaNyah mumbles, “I don’t think that’s necessary.”

“Of course, you wouldn’t, dear.” Gina drops her napkin in her lap. “Since you both are so chatty, I guess now is as good a time as any.” Laura and LaNyah sigh in unison as Gina moves around, taking LaNyah’s old chair since they are both on the couch now.

“I would rather eat if you don’t mind.” Laura tries to pull the sandwich together and takes a big bite and smiles.

“Oh, I’m not stopping you. Enjoy your meal. It will probably be your last anyway.” Gina looks at her watch, then crosses her legs getting comfortable. “Now, where were we?” She taps her knees before clapping her hands. “Yes, Erik ‘Killer’ I mean ‘Killmonger’ Stevens. Boy, does that man have quite the reputation. He killed 5 men all by himself once while on a mission. Came out unharmed, barely a scratch on him. I mean, do you know what kind of cold-blooded killer would do something like that?”

“You said they were all military. That sounds job-related to me. Kill or be killed, right?” Laura wipes her mouth with a napkin.

“Sure, when you kill your enemies. And that time, he did. But the last time was the murder of a known associate.” Gina stands and paces the room, “He set up a shooter’s nest and gunned down my brother like he was picking off a deer. If it really were enemy fire, then someone else would have been there with him, and he would not have drowned on his own blood with no attempt at saving his life.” Her voice is increasing in volume as she shares the details, choking on a sob. “He planned it out to the last detail, even brought in help to lie for him. He left enemy guns at the scene so no one would question him or the others about what happened. They crafted the perfect story together. Him and Green.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“Why are you telling us this?” Laura is louder than LaNyah, who has stopped eating and has curled up on the couch. But Gina heard them both.

Looking towards Laura, “I have my ways. And money talks even in the military.” She waits until LaNyah cautiously glances her way, “I want you to know the truth about your beloved Erik.” LaNyah opens her mouth to talk, but Gina cuts her off, “It’s not hard to see why he would fall for someone like you. I mean opposites do attract. And it can’t get any further apart than the two of you.”

LaNyah is listening, but she is not comprehending what Gina just said. Erik doesn’t like her. She likes him, but he would never want a girl like her. She occupies a small space compared to what he has seen and experienced —and he’s done much more, all over the world, according to Gina’s rambling about his military career. A man like that goes for the Staceys of the world. A woman who knows herself and actually lives life. LaNyah’s life is too narrow for someone like that.

Her head is spinning as Gina continues talking, more for Laura at this point since she has tuned out. Her crush is not going anywhere. They work together, and that’s it. LaNyah can think or figure that mess out later. She just needs to focus on the fact that they should be coming to save her and Laura; she rolls her eyes at the thought of the woman. She hates her for something that Nyah was used for; how does that even work. I AM THE PAWN PEOPLE!

She hears a far way sound that becomes clearer when she blinks. LaNyah looks up to find Gina standing right in front of her. “What?”

“Just wanted to make sure that you are here. I can’t have you hiding in that pretty little head of yours. I need you here.”

“It’s not like I can go anywhere,” LaNyah grumbles.

“Very true.” Gina looks down at her watch again. Sending a signal to her men, who suddenly walk out of the room. “Why don’t you both go over to the beds? Get comfortable.”

“I’m fine right where I am.” Laura nods in agreement scooting closer to her and grabs LaNyah’s hands. If they are safe anywhere right now, it is next to one another.

Gina takes a seat on the chair beside the couch. “Suit yourselves. Doesn’t matter to me.” LaNyah looks at Laura, who is just as confused after watching Gina, who grabs a book from the table and starts reading.

---

Green drives the SUV behind Gina’s warehouse after getting an all-clear from Kill. He ran across a few minutes before and slit the throat of the guard on backdoor duty. Any gunshots too early would give them all away. He pulled out the laptop to see if he could pinpoint the rest of them inside the warehouse.

As they pull up, he runs over to them, “I got ‘em.” Kill announces as he jumps in. He opens the laptop, angling it for all to see, “There are 10 men total on this level – it looks like she increased the number surrounding the building, and then there are three between the stairwell and elevator.”

“That doesn’t count the men that Matt says she normally has with her.” Green counts off.

“They are probably below with her, and we won’t see that until we clear the first floor.” Kill states. Green shakes his head.

“Are we handling this like earlier? Two rush front?” Kill nods in the affirmative at Green.

“You’ll stay here with Bridges until we get everyone out.” Kill tells Matt, as he stands beside the SUV stretching out his limbs. The sky is pink and orange over the horizon, so they all stepped out, ready to make their move.

“Excuse me!” The high pitch screech comes from the other side of the vehicle.

“I didn’t stutter, Bridges.” Kill rolls his eyes as Ashley makes her way in front of him. “You are watching Matthew. End. Of. Story.”

Puffing out her chest, “Did you not just hear what I told my husband earlier?” Kill looks at the plans in his hands, rolling them up before turning to her.

“Yeah, and you are here. So, you will get to see LaNyah after we save her.” He steps up to her, forcing her to look up at him, “But you will not be joining us inside the warehouse. So, get comfy out here.”

“Seriously? I can be useful in there, Kill.” He turns away from her, focusing on the heat sensors showing up on the computer screen on the back seat. Bridges stomps away. “This is bullshit.”

“Ashley, come here. “ She walks over to her husband. “We need someone to handle shit out here. Remember, she has more men than us. You see anyone run out; you shoot they ass. No questions asked.”

Rolling her eyes, “Lookout?”

“The most important part of the job, sweets.” He tries to hug her, but she pushes him away. “Love you, too.”

Bridges roughly grabs Matt dragging him to the front driver’s seat. “Get in, sit down and shut up.” When Matt is comfortable in the seat, she cuffs his hands together, then pulls the steering wheel down, and with a chain locks his cuffs to the wheel. “He’s locked in tight.”

“Great. Make your way around to the front. Green and I have the side entrances.” He looks over at Bridges, who pulled out her gun. “On my signal,” Kill points towards the building, and they all move forward in unison spreading out to their locations.

As soon as Bridges makes it around the corner to the front of the warehouse, she immediately opens fire on the guys standing there. 3 shots, 3 bodies drop. Damn, the front was only supposed to have one, maybe 2 guys up there. She carefully walks through them, shooting each one a second time to make sure they don’t get up.

Making her way to the entrance, she notices a wide-open space with a desk in the back. Bridges hears movement headed her way. Lifting her gun, she ducks as a bullet passes to her left. She runs behind a stack of boxes, peeking out before and shooting out at the two men running towards her. One drops and the other makes it to her as she puts her foot out to trip him. She steps over him and shoots him in the head.

She walks the rest of the warehouse floor, checking for anyone else and goes back outside. The front is now clear. Bridges moves back to the edge of the building to watch for any strays who might run out.

---

Gina looks up as her two personal guards and another man enter the room. They are dragging something behind them. “We found him tied up to the side of the building, Boss.”

A piercing scream shatters the once quiet basement as Laura looks up to see Matt standing between Gina’s men.

Jumping up, she claps in excitement, “Our guests have arrived. Go ahead and sit him next to Laura.” The men drop Matt on the couch; he reaches over and holds Laura, who is crying loudly into his chest. “Now, the fun begins.”

LaNyah says nothing as she watches the two blubbering idiots next to her. All she knows is that if Matt is here, so is everyone else. Her friends, the cavalry, and they are here for her. And them, or whatever.

Gina moves to stand near LaNyah and signals her men to stand near the door. The other man radios for back up but hears nothing but static on the other end. LaNyah curls up on the couch as they listen to the barrage of gunfire above them.

---

Green has his gun out and shoots down the first guy to approach him. The other two run out of the side entrance towards him, guns blazing, and he gets nicked on the shoulder right as he hits one in both knees. He rolls along the building, killing the man on the ground and shoots the last guy standing before slipping into the side entrance door.

Kill sneaks up on the first guard near the back of the building. He once again takes out his M9 knife and brings it across his neck. Lowering his body to the ground, he continues forward to the side door. Two men with guns turn around and let off a couple of rounds. Kill throws the knife and pulls out his gun, shooting the one who is still facing him. As the other guy swings away, grabbing his shoulder, Kill walks up and shoots him through the temple.

Green leans against the wall waiting for Kill to appear on the other side directly across from him. He hears a few more pops before Kill bounds through the side entrance. They nod to the other and move forward as one heading to the back of the warehouse where the stairwell and elevator are. Kill pulls out his phone to check for the location of everyone down below. They can make out 5 shapes down below. Moving towards the stairwell, they hear some shuffling and immediately turn their guns on the person approaching them.

“What the fuck, Bridges?”

“God damnit, Ashley!” Kill and Green exclaim as she bounces into view.

“What are you doing here? And where is Matt?” Kill quickly rushes out.

“I have him locked up outside of the building. Besides, I figured you could use the help.” She explains.

“Bridges -” Kill groans.

“No Kill, I want this bitch.” Bridges cuts him off, “I’m going down there with you. Done deal.”

“Fine, take the center.” He concedes and allows her to step in front of him.

Green leads them down the stairs leading to the basement. Bridges follows, and Kill pulls up the rear. They know everyone is located in the center of the basement. Walking along the right side, they slowly approach the door leading to the massive room. In a semi-circle, the group looks at one another before Green steps forward, kicking the down the door as Kill and Bridges rush through.

All three of them are standing at the top of the room, looking down at everyone when Gina’s men move in. 3 loud bangs are heard as each one of her men hit the floor. In the same order, they make their way down the stairs. Bridges notices Matt on the couch with Laura, motioning to Green, so he knows.

Gina watches all of them before snatching LaNyah up from the couch. She holds her right in front of her as all the guns in the room turn towards her.

“Hello Everyone! It’s nice to meet you finally.” Gina cheerfully greets the trio. Matt covers Laura as he watches all of them keep their guns on Gina. “See LaNyah; I told you they would come. It was only a matter of time.”

LaNyah looks up after gaining her balance when Gina pulled her off the couch. All her friends are here, but she has never seen them like this. If looks could kill, Gina would be dead where she stands, and Nyah would be caught in the middle. All the guns were pointed at Gina, but also her since Gina is using her as a shield.

Ashley is off to the left, hair in a disheveled bun with specks of blood splattered across her face. Mr. Green is standing near Laura and Matt on the right, keeping an eye on them with two guns up. Is that a hole in his arm? LaNyah shakes her head, and then there’s Erik. He is dead center watching her with that same intensity that he always does, but it just feels scarier somehow. Like a caged lion prowling the land, ready for action at the slightest movement. He also has a gun in each hand and blood all over the front pocket of his fatigues. There they are her friends, the soldiers.

“Everyone put your guns down.” Gina calmly requests, to no response. “NOW!” She yells. Still, no one budges. “Of course.” Pulling LaNyah closer to her chest, she whispers loud enough for the room to hear. “You know why he won’t shoot me, right?” LaNyah knows who she is talking about but closes her eyes, so she doesn’t have to meet his gaze. Gina shakes her, “Open your eyes! Go ahead and look at your Killer lover.”

“Leave her alone, Gina!” Kill yells out, lowering his guns. “I get it; you want us all. But I did it, so deal with me.”

“Look at him, trying to be all chivalrous. It’s only because I have you.” Gina continues to speak in her ear. “Just look at him.” LaNyah opens her eyes to see Erik lowering both of his guns to the floor, and kicking them away from him. The look on his face, what is that? LaNyah bows her head, looking away from him.

“Let her go. You can take me instead, and no one else has to die.” Kill lifts his hands in surrender.

Locking LaNyah’s arms to her side much tighter now, Gina looks at him. “Now, you want to show some compassion? Where was your sympathy when it came to my brother, huh?” Gina slowly walks back towards the table, “Fuck you, Killmonger!”

Ashley has been watching LaNyah the whole time, and when she finally catches her eyes, she makes a signal to her. As soon as Gina reaches back to grab something from the table, she shouts, “NOW NYAH!” LaNyah stomps her heel down into Gina’s foot before ducking and rolling out of the way. Bridges aims for Gina taking her down with a double-tap to the chest.

Green goes over to Matt and Laura, leading them out of the building. While Bridges and Kill watch Gina drop, they can hear her struggling to breathe. She grabs at her neck, choking on her own blood, just like her brother did nearly 20 years ago. Bridges approaches Gina and aims one last time, shooting her point-blank in the head.

LaNyah banged her head against the table, rolling away and tries to sit up as Erik rushes towards her. When he leans over with his hands out to help her up, she scoots away, backing up into the wall and bursts into tears. Ashley makes her way over, grabbing her into a hug. “I’m so sorry, sweetie.” She sits down next to her, rubbing her back and starts crying along with her.

Kill stands up and walks over to Gina’s dead body. He looks at the table to find what she was reaching for. There on the edge is a remote clicker with one button. Probably a bomb linked to the whole building. Damn, she was going to take everyone out, including herself. That was one crazy bitch. He disables the remote, leaving all the pieces on the table.

Green returns and taps Kill on the shoulder as he makes his way to Ashley and LaNyah. “Are we good, ladies?”

Ashley looks down at LaNyah, who is sniffling now, “It’s ok, LaNyah. You’re safe now. We got you.” Nyah looks up at everyone, including Kill, who stands besides Green. She nods and follows Ashley’s lead to stand. Ashley takes Green’s hand, and LaNyah just looks at Erik’s outstretched hand. Once Ashley is up, she turns back to LaNyah, who reaches for her. Ashley helps her up and holds her hand.

Erik drops his head as he pulls his hand back. Ashley watches him and smiles sadly in his direction as she and LaNyah walk out of the room. Killmonger vanished as soon as the threat was over. So, now Erik is left to feel the hurt caused by LaNyah being scared of him now. He would never hurt her, but there is no way for her to know that. And even if he would give his life for her, it wouldn’t even matter. Erik is a monster in her eyes.

Alex and Erik walk the room once more to check for any other surprises before leaving out of the warehouse.

---

All is quiet as the group heads towards the SUV. Alex and Erik stand back as they watch both the women they care about get inside the vehicle, safe and sound. Before Erik walks around to the passenger side, Alex pulls him aside.

“Stevens, thank you.” Erik shrugs him off, “I don’t just mean for today.” Erik stops at that. “For everything. For Ashley. Being brave enough to handle McCoy and not letting the military give him a slap on the wrist for what he did. And LaNyah, too. You are the best protector that she could ask for, even if she doesn’t know it.”

Erik looks at him before opening the door to the SUV. “And she probably never will.” Looking inside, he sees Matt and Laura curled up on the 2nd row while LaNyah and Ashley are in the back on the 3rd row. He can hear hushed whispers coming from them. She still wants to be as far away from him as possible. Erik shakes his head and leans back in the seat, closing his eyes. It’s going to be a long ride back to Orange County.

Chapter 13

Taglist: @killmongersaidheyauntie @muse-of-mbaku @panthergoddessbast @youreadthatright @princessstevens @nahimjustfeelingit-writes @stark-red19 @kreolemami @bidibidibombaclaat @iamrheaspeaks @missumuch1918 @simplyyamberr @cheychey10142 @ajspencer1892 @chrismarcs @loosewindmill @sydneebleu @semianta @eyeknowmywrites @alexundefined @itsjustmezari @goddessofthundathighs @guccixcucci @kissmyafropuff @gimmeface @fd-writes @jozigrrl @soufcakmistress @scrumptiouslytenaciouscrusade @shaekingshitup @localtrapgod @post-woke @theesotericqueen

#erik killmonger #erik killmonger x oc #black panther fanfiction #the firm #thadelightfulone

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amydancepants-peralta · 5 years ago

Text

chapter three: head over feet

(the latest instalment of we’re the fortunate ones - my entry into the 2020 Vision Challenge) ♥️🎆

Jake takes a long draft from the bottle of beer in his hand, resting his weight against the pillar in the middle of the room as he watches Amy talk to other attendees of the party in a corner.

They’d all been roped into attending a New Years Eve party at this random loft in uptown NY, hosted by somebody that Gina called an acquaintance but didn’t seem to have a name (or a face, for that matter). It was all very upscale, the widespread apartment floor decked out in hipster-luxe decorations and soft popular music streaming from the speakers installed into various points of the ceiling. The well-stocked kitchen lay claim to copious buckets of alcohol - a virtual buffet of drinks lay waiting for consumption - and the Nine-Nine has spent the majority of their evening rubbing noses with a veritable ‘who’s who’ of New York. He’s covered head to toe in a suit that - let’s be honest - makes him look way more suave than he is. And maybe Jake is completely biased (because he definitely is), but he’s certain that Amy is by far the best dressed in the room. Heck, best dressed in the CITY.

Her dress is black, covered in this mystical shimmery material that seems to catch the light whenever she moves her body, and like a moth to a flame Jake is completely drawn to it. There’s a smokiness to her eyes (and he doesn’t even know if that’s the correct term but wow those brown eyes of hers are drawing him in when they’re surrounded like that) and her lips are covered in a hot red lipstick, the kind that doesn’t seem to end up on his lips when she kisses him - a theory that he’s been oh so happy to test over and over. Her hair is soft and wavy and perfect, just as perfect as she is, and Jake genuinely still cannot believe that Amy Santiago is his girlfriend.

It had taken him less than six days of being with her to figure out that what they had was different from all his past relationships. To realise that until that kiss in the evidence lock-up, he had spent his whole life waiting for the rest of it to begin. Everything before that afternoon was Pre-Amy; where things were okay but often disappointing, and his days were best spent alone.

Now, his life was entirely with Amy: where mornings began with sleepy cuddles and regardless of whatever the day would bring, there was always going to be her at the end of it. A crazy intelligent, incredibly sexy woman with a heart of gold; whom’s opinion meant far more to him than anybody else’s.

And a life Post-Amy? Not gonna happen. Jake would rather quit the force than consider it. He’d had a gun pointed at his head a week ago, and her face had been the only thing to flash through his mind. There have been very few times in Jake’s life where he’s been grateful for Boyle’s ability to appear unannounced, but that evening at Goodwin’s was absolutely at the top of the list. Thanks to Charles, Jake had been able to wake up Christmas morning with the most beautiful woman in New York laying next to him, and that was honestly better than a thousand bottles of Heart Attack Soda.

She catches his eye from her position across the room, blushing slightly underneath his gaze before turning her attention back to the two other guests she had been talking to. Jake stands a little taller and waits, knowing that her curiosity will grow too great, and after a beat her gorgeous eyes flicker back towards him and he smiles in victory, nodding his head towards the outside balcony in a wordless invitation. Tonight has been great, but the countdown to midnight is creeping closer, and there isn’t anybody else in the world he wants to share his first moments of the new year with.

Amy turns her head back towards the woman to her left, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear before nodding vigorously, still giving the illusion of the others having her full attention because Santiago’s are nothing if not gracious guests at any party. But it’s the only signal Jake needs to rest his now empty bottle of beer on a nearby table and head towards the balcony, shifting a nearby potted plant in front of the doorway as a hopeful deterrent to others.

It only takes her a few minutes to join him, and Jake can smell her perfume before he can see her, the warm smell of spiced vanilla pulling his attention away from the glittering city lights below.

“Pot plant blockage, nice move detective.” Amy’s smile is coy, reaching out to smooth the tie he had begrudgingly put on earlier in the evening.

Jake captures her hand as it moves to leave, pulling her palm up towards his lips and leaving a soft kiss against her skin. “Do you think it’ll work?”

Her fingers curl around his, tugging him a little closer as she shrugs. “It might.” Taking a sip from her champagne glass, she winks. “That, and just before I left I mentioned how good the fireworks were going to look from that balcony on the other side.” Tipping the glass further back, she drains it all before continuing. “There’s a whole crowd heading that way as we speak.”

Jake nods in approval, taking the empty glass from Amy’s hand and sitting it on top of the heavy brick balustrade. “Genius. My girlfriend’s a genius.”

“Damn right she is.”

“And gorgeous.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Uh, YEAH.” Jake raises his eyebrows incredulously, lowering them with his voice as he wraps both hands around Amy’s waist. “And kinda amazing. Also? Brilliantly nerdy, and sexy. as. hell.”

Amy looks up at him with the softest smile on his face, a look similar to earlier today when she snoozed her alarm (something she’s begun doing with increased regularity, not that he will ever bring that to her attention), cuddled into Jake’s side and rested in the nook between his neck and his shoulders. It’s a place that has become her nook - a place that feels empty when she’s not there - and she gave him the same smile as now when the alarm blared ten minutes later, and Jake was forced to finally open his eyes.

There are a thousand things he could say right now, about how much Amy has changed his life for the better, but then her hands wander down his chest, diving underneath his jacket and wrapping around his midsection, and Jake finds himself completely lost for anything to say except the one thing that completely terrifies him.

He loves her. There’s no question about it. He’s probably been in love with her for longer than he can remember, but his heart had caught up with his head somewhere around October and for the longest time there have been three little words bubbling up to the top of his throat, threatening release every time Amy looks at him the way she does. It was different, this feeling - an all-consuming, undeniable force that has changed everything for the better, serving to remind him that whatever notion he had thought love to be before he’d started dating Amy had been completely wrong.

Emotions have never been comfortable for him; love has always seemed like a mysterious force before now, and he hates the defeated look that flashes across her face whenever she gets serious with her feelings and his doofus brain responds with a noice or a smort. Amy deserves better than smort and - in further proof that she is, in fact, incredible - being with her has made Jake begin to believe that perhaps he can be honest with her about how he feels, and not fear the response. To tell her he loves her without masking it with a joke, or adding it into a ramble that steers her away from the importance of what he’s truly saying.

Amy head rests against his chest and sighs contentedly, squeezing Jake softly. “Tonight has been fun, but this right here has been the best part by far.” He nods, throat heavy with unspoken words; letting his hands roam over the back of her dress and dipping to the small of her back before pulling her closer. The rest of the world can have all their sparklers and streamers; no amount of revelry could ever compare to this. This moment was all he could have hoped for, and he’s endlessly grateful to be able to say that it’s finally his.

In the distance Jake can hear the rest of the crowd counting down the final seconds, and as the world fades into the background with the muted sound of “eight, seven, six” he looks down to Amy, resting one finger underneath her chin and tipping her face to his. Her eyes are sparkling, catching the light from the party still happening inside, and he doesn’t know how she’s done it but it’s just further proof that she is magic and before another thought can be made, her hands are on his jawline, pulling Jake down until his lips meet hers for the kind of kiss he’s been waiting his whole life for.

The crowd cheers, the renewal of another year long forgotten as their tongues tangle sweetly, arms locked around each other. Resolutions of catching bandits and jumping from rooftops fall by the wayside as Amy’s fingers run through Jake’s hair, and the only promise he makes for the new year is make sure Amy knows how I really feel about her.

It’s a blinding bright flash of light that separates them, both blinking in confusion as they seperate and turn their heads towards the doorway it has come from. Boyle is standing there, because of course he is, his grin wider than the Hudson as he lifts a polaroid camera in glee, snatching the photograph from the front and blowing gently onto the developing film.

“Happy New Year, lovebirds!”

“Ugh, Boyle! How did you even know we were out here?!” Jake responds. He’s not ready to let go of Amy just yet, instead choosing to tighten his grip around her waist. She shuffles a little closer in kind, resting her weight against him and presenting a united front as they stare down their friend.

“I sensed there was a precious moment happening somewhere around here, Jakey, and let me tell you - I was not wrong. I am SO high on your relationship it’s ridiculous. I cannot wait to frame this photo and put it on my desk, where I can stare at always!”

“Jake!” Amy whispers, soft enough that only Jake can hear, and he flattens one hand her back.

“I’m sure it’s a great shot buddy, how bout you come over here and show it to us?” Jake calls out to Boyle, throwing him his best ‘come over here and join us, we’re not angry at ALL that you ruined our private moment’ face. It must have been convincing enough, and Charles scurries towards them, gripping the polaroid tightly in his dominant hand.

Jake waits until Charles is close enough to feel comfortable before snatching the photo from his fingers, shifting his body (and by proxy, Amy’s) towards the light of the apartment as he examines it carefully.

Admittedly, it’s a great shot - the two of them so wrapped up in each other that it’s hard to tell where Jake’s suit ends and Amy’s dress begins, save for the subtle sparkle of her outfit. Her head is tipped up where his is tipped down - the towering heels that Amy had chosen for the evening making the distance between them seem just that little bit smaller - and they are completely and totally lost in their kiss. It’s as plain as day that the two people in this photograph are in love, and Jake can’t help but smile as he takes it all in. “I’ve gotta hand it to you, Boyle. It’s a great photo.”

Charles nods eagerly, eyes widening into a mixture of confusion and horror as Jake flicks his wrist, tucking the polaroid into the inner pocket of his jacket lining, tapping the outside protectively as he goes. “Wait, no! That was going to - ” he huffs in frustration. “If you guys want me to stop staring at you in the precinct, then you need to give me an alternative, Jake!”

“How about a selfie?” Amy pipes up, pulling slightly away from Jake and resting her hand above his jacket’s breast pocket. “One of all three of us, to commemorate the evening. I think that would look great on your desk, Charles.”

Genius, Jake mouths in Amy’s direction as Boyle squeals in glee, quickly jumping into position in front of the couple and holding the camera up high. Their smiles are wide, the genuine happiness palpable through the film as they seperate, Jake linking his hand with Amy’s and letting Boyle lead them back into the party. Their friends were inside after all, waiting to celebrate the new year with them, and they could definitely sneak out of the party later once Four Drink Amy made her return appearance.

Jake had no idea what the new year would bring, but he had the strongest instinct that whatever would happen, he and Amy would face it all together.

#peraltiago fluff #b99 fanfic #NYE throughout the years #Peraltiago stylez #hooray for getting to the cute stuff #Jake x Amy fic #mine #myfic #b99 fandom events #b99 2020 vision challenge

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