Work Text:
Once the storm had died down and the squad was on their third game night, Jake decided it was safe to approach Rosa. He asked to speak to her in private, and she took him into a different room.
“Is this your bedroom? It looks so normal. I expected you to sleep stuck to the ceiling like Batman or something like that.”
She ignored his comment, “What’s up, Jake?”
“Right, I have to tell you something.” He usually rambled when he got nervous, but this time he couldn’t even find the words to do that. “This is harder than it should be.”
“What is it?” She asked, taken aback by Jake’s sudden seriousness.
His eyes were unfocused, vaguely looking at the wooden floor but not taking it in, “You know the whole bisexual thing?”
Rosa raised her eyebrows, “Yes, Jake, I know about ‘the whole bisexual thing’. It’s kind of a big deal to me.”
“I know, I know. I don’t mean it like that. It’s- it’s my thing too.”
It wasn’t the most articulate thing he’d ever said, but then again, he wasn’t known for having a way with words. Rosa understood, so that was that.
They were both quiet for a moment.
“You’re bi?”
Jake’s gaze shifted, but still didn’t move up to meet his friend’s examining eyes. “Yeah, I wasn’t sure when it was the right time to tell you. I didn’t want to take your spotlight or whatever.”
“What are you talking about, man? This is great.” She punched his shoulder amicably, but didn’t let her hand fall back down, instead keeping it there and putting it on his arm. “You okay?”
“You’re the first person I’ve told, so it’s just a bit weird.” He grinned awkwardly and finally looked up. Their eyes met for a second, but he quickly looked away again before forcing himself to maintain eye contact.
“I know it’s difficult to say at first.” She said, squeezing his shoulder. “Thank you for telling me. That’s kind of cool.”
He smiled, “You’ve already done it all, I just thought you’d be the best person to talk to. I’m going to tell Amy soon too, though, of course.” He added.
“It’ll be alright. Your mom’s cool, she’ll be fine with it, right?”
“Yeah, probably. Don’t know about my dad, but I also don’t know if I really care, you know what I mean?”
“Your other dad is cool with it.” Rosa said.
Jake gave her a puzzled look, but quickly realized what she meant. “Holt’s the only dad that really counts, anyway.”
“You already have one family who thinks you’re all good the way you are, so your other family can go do one if they don’t accept you.” She shook him softly and added, “That’s what you taught me yourself, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember. Thanks, Rosa. I’m glad I came to you first.”
They stood in silence for a few seconds, Rosa dropping her hand back to her side and both of them breaking the eye contact at the same time.
“So do you want to like hug or something?” She asked tentatively.
She didn’t appear too eager to actually do that, but when Jake opened his arms she didn’t hesitate to pull him in.
He was a physical contact kind of friend, but he respected that Rosa wasn’t like that at all, so he usually didn’t push it. They rarely hugged, but when they did, Jake relished in it.
“You’re a pretty good friend.” He muttered.
“Don’t get mushy on me now, Peralta.”
“Sorry.” He laughed and let go of her. “Good talk, detective Diaz.”
“Yeah. Now let’s get back in there; I’m going to kick Hitchcock’s butt in Risk tonight.”