Chapter Text
On Amy Santiago’s 6th birthday, a new family moves into their apartment building. She’s the first one to notice the uhaul truck on the curb, a taller lady helping her child with fluffy curly hair out of the truck. The boy is holding tightly onto a toy car, breathing heavily from what she can see - he’s upset.
She is first treated like royalty at the breakfast table before her pregnant mother demands that Amy and her brothers go offer their new neighbours some help with the move. The woman introduces herself as Karen, and mentions that she’s moving into the apartment a floor above theirs. The boy is hiding half behind her leg, still clutching tightly to his toy car.
“These are my children. Luis, Tony, Benji, David and Amy.” Victor announces, pointing to each of them as he speaks. He nods his head down towards the boy, “And who might this be?”
“Come on, introduce yourself Jakey.” Karen runs her hand through his wild hair, stepping to the side.
“Hi… I’m Jake.”
Amy steps forward eagerly and puts out her hand, “I’m Amy Santiago, pleased to make your acquaintance!”
Jake takes her hand and shakes it lightly with a soft smile, holding it for a moment before David pushes her to the side to introduce himself. They find out that Jake is a year older than Amy, but a year younger than David - so the whole day is them arguing about whose best friend Jake will be.
He doesn’t talk much in return; he takes a box at a time and tries to keep the toy car he has with him at all times. He’s polite as well, thanking them all once everything is moved from the truck before running away to his room.
At dinner, their dad tells all of them to be kind to Jake, the table shocked silent when they are told that his father had recently abandoned him and his mother. Their family is so close and large that the thought of a family member leaving with no reasoning is a complete shock to their family.
The pull she had felt towards Jake since she first saw him felt stronger than ever now and she can’t understand it, but she wants to run upstairs and hug him to make sure he’s okay. Later that night, on the fire escape, she gets to do just that.
They live in a four bedroom apartment on the third floor, it’s the only larger apartment in their building. Her oldest brothers, Luis, Benji and Tony share a room, while her and David are stuck in a room together. It had only recently changed; Luis and Benji were together, and Tony and David were together while she had her own room. Since her parents had discovered they were having twins, everything had to be shifted around.
Amy was thrilled for two new siblings to join their family (she’s hoping for at least one sister) but to share her room with her least favourite brother is exhausting. Every night she escapes to the fire escape outside their room to have exactly 30 minutes of peaceful reading before her mom forces her to go to sleep.
But when she climbs out of her window, on the cool summer night of her 6th birthday, she doesn’t expect to hear the cries of the boy from upstairs. Her head flies upwards to find Jake clutching on to his toy car that never left his side today.
She climbs up the staircase quietly, and when Jake notices her he clutches onto the car tighter and seems to shrink somehow. “Hi.” His voice is soft, and she barely hears him over the sniffling.
“Are you okay?” She moves to sit next to him, holding her book in her lap.
“Well I’m crying, so no.” Jake mumbles, wiping his cheeks with his pyjamas sleeve, “I’m sorry I haven’t been a fun neighbour so far.”
“Don’t be sorry, it’s good to cry.” Amy shrugs, “Is it about your dad?”
Jake nods but remains silent, tears sliding down his cheeks once again. He takes a few shaky breaths before he finally speaks again, “It’s my fault he’s gone.”
“I know I only met you today, but I know that isn’t true.” Amy frowns as she watches him begin to curl up again. “He made his own choice.”
“I was getting in fights at school so they made me see a therapist but then it made mom and dad start fighting.” Jake is breathing heavily as he speaks, trying to keep his obvious anger under control, “And then 4 days after I turned 7; he was gone. My mom cried so much, he left her a note and she couldn’t afford to keep our old apartment and now we’re here. It’s my fault. If I hadn’t gotten into those fights then no therapy, no fighting and no disappearing dad, right?”
“I don’t know.” Amy answers honestly, she doesn’t understand why this was happening to him and she won’t for years to come. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Isn’t it your birthday? I think I heard my mom mention it...” Jake suggests, finally removing the toy car from his own tight grip. “It was my birthday present from my dad. I don’t want it.”
“It is but… You haven’t let go of it all day.” Amy scoffs, “If it brings you comfort then keep it.”
“It doesn’t.” Jake puts it on the ground below them, “It would make me happier if you had it.”
Amy nods quietly, picking it up and observing the dark green surface. “Thank you. My brothers never let me play with their cars, they say I have to play with the girl toys.”
“That’s dumb.” Jake scoffs, visibly relaxing as he becomes more comfortable talking to Amy, “Toys are toys. Me and my best friend Gina used to dress up in tutus and tiaras all the time.”
“Maybe I can join sometime?” Amy asks shyly, tucking her hair behind her ears.
“Gina has been saying we need a third friend to play the cook.”
~
From that day forward they are basically inseparable; spending everyday left of summer vacation together. A huge part of it is that his mom has to find extra work to make sure she can pay the bills, so her parents offer to let him spend the days with them. The rest of her brothers join in sometimes to get to know Jake, but for the most part it’s only them.
One Thursday morning, she has barely woken up when she hears the rattling of the fire escape stairs and soon Jake’s feet come into view in the crack of the blinds. The tap he gives is very light, but still enough that David groans and throws one of his pillows over at Amy. She rolls out of bed, throwing David’s pillow back at him before opening her blinds to find Jake wide awake and beaming.
She quickly opens and tumbles through the window, taking in the warmth of the rising sun behind Jake’s head before he starts talking, “Hey I’m going to Gina’s house today, wanna come with?”
“Yes!” Amy squeals, she’s heard nothing but hilarious things about Gina, but- “I don’t think my parents are going to say yes… We’ve never met her or her parents.”
“So what?” Jake shrugs, raising his eyebrows.
“My parents are Cuban, Jake. Very protective and strict, I thought you would have heard my mom yelling at me to come to bed every night we’re here.” Amy crosses her arms with a huff, “I guess I can try.”
Tony and Victor spit out their cereal when their mother agrees straight away so long as she meets the parent.
“You haven’t even let me sleep over at Jason’s, and you’re letting her on a playdate?” Tony groans, dropping his spoon dramatically into his bowl.
“Well, Jason’s mother is rude and her car is messy so she’s clearly irresponsible,” Camila replies snarkily, before composing herself, “Besides, despite me not understanding Karen’s art style at all; I trust her, and she likes this Gina and her mother.”
“Are you sure, Camila?” Victors questions, finally having recovered from the shock.
“Absolutely!” Camila expresses brightly, “Jake seems to be a good kid and I trust our Amy to be a good girl.”
“Ahh thank you mama! Can I go tell Jake?” Amy hugs her mother when she agrees, and sprints out the door - hearing her mother yelling at her about getting ready first before she ascends the stairs.
She gets to dance with Jake for 20 seconds before her mom comes in and drags her back down to get ready, but her and Jake are still giggling through it all. Once she’s ready in her pink shorts, t-shirt and hair tamed into braids; they return to wait upstairs.
They can hear the loud chatter of Gina and her mom before they can see her. Gina towers over Jake slightly, and her hair is straight and slightly darker than his. When she walks in with her mom, Jake is hugging Gina so tightly with the brightest grin gracing his face. He acted nothing like when she first met him; now he was exuberant and the most confident boy in the whole room, and she likes this version of him much better.
Jake immediately spots Amy and somehow his smile grows brighter. “Amy!” He separates from Gina, “Gina, this is Amy, my downstairs neighbour and friend.”
“Hey does your dad suck too?” Gina asks, sparing a glance at the mothers talking, “I want to start a club for kids with bad dads.”
“Nah, her dads really cool. He’s a cop.” Jake tells her, “We’re gonna have to think of a different crew name.”
“We’ve been at this for a year, Jake. We need a name.”
Amy is about to interject with her own idea before all their parents interrupt. Her mom grabs her face and begins ranting in Spanish about behaving while with her friends and not giving Darlene a hard time. Gina and Jake look completely terrified of her, but her mom turns to them with a warm smile and bids them goodbye.
“If she gets word of us misbehaving once, she’s never going to let me hang out with you guys again, by the way.” Amy tells both Gina and Jake once they reach the outside steps. “We need to obey all the rules.”
“Rules, Amy!?” Gina groans, “Jake why did you make friends with such a goodie goodie!?”
“Hey I can break rules! I just choose not to…” Amy scrunches her nose and looks down at her. She really wants to make a good impression with Jake’s best friend.
“Gina we just need to earn her mom’s trust then we can sneak extra candy from the pantry during movie time.” Jake shrugs casually, “Trust me Gina, Amy is the coolest.”
~
Following the rules works out very well for them - so much so that Amy’s mom invites them to do school supply shopping followed by lunch with them the next day. Jake and Gina are in the same grade as her, so they need all the same things. Out of her brothers, only David joins them because he loves stationary almost as much as she does and it’s one of the many things they fight about.
Amy trails slightly ahead with Jake and Gina, rambling on about all the pens she’s going to get. She zones out of the conversation when they arrive, dazzled by the high shelves of stationary and office supplies in front of them. They all take turns steering the shopping cart, attempting to ride it a few times but quickly being thwarted by their parents’ scolding.
She ignores the friendly teases from her friends when she takes five minutes to pick out which gel pen would be the most practical for her second grade experience. Her explanations paid off when Karen ends up picking the same pens for both Jake and Gina not a minute later.
When the shopping haul is complete, they take it back to their respective homes before leaving for Sal’s. Camila decides to remain behind to rest before she begins sorting so that it was just Karen with Amy, Gina and Jake off to get lunch. Amy falls quiet in the short bus ride to Sal’s, only speaking when someone mentions her directly.
She can feel Jake watching her most of the time she’s lost in her thoughts. Once they’re settled down on their stools with their giant slices of pizza, Jake finally speaks up. “What’s wrong, Ames?” He asks after a huge bite of his food.
“Nothing, just nervous.” Amy nibbles on her bottom lip instead of her pizza, avoiding contact with everyone at the table.
“What are you nervous about sweetie?” Karen jumps in softly, placing her hand on her back.
“Second grade…” Amy mumbles, “I skipped the first grade so none of my friends will be in my classes… And what if we just thought I was smart enough for second grade and I’m actually not.”
“Amy that’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever said.” Gina laughs off, “First off, Jake and I are your friends so if we can think of a good group name, then we’ll probably be the most popular kids by the end of the first week!”
“Stupidest isn’t a word.” Amy interrupts quickly.
“Gina, we don’t need a name!” Jake rolls his eyes, throwing his napkin at her before looking back at Amy, “And also, you’re the smartest girl I’ve ever met. You read books, every night.”
“What they’re trying to say is that they’re here to support you no matter what, right guys?” Karen adds, nodding at them all with a soft smile.
“Yeah Ames, you’re gonna kick second grade in the butt!” Jake cheers loudly, “I’m already sure you’re gonna be the smartest kid in the class.”
“Yes let’s go Gina and the DOGS!”
Jake and Amy’s groans are completely in sync, “No we aren’t your DOGS!”
~
Two and a half weeks into the new school year, Amy is collected from her math class with the news that her baby siblings were born. She was no longer the youngest Santiago in her family.
“Make sure you get my homework, Jake!” Amy whispers, gathering her things.
“Good luck meeting your new brothers!” Jake crooned with a smile.
“Sisters!” She sticks her tongue out at him as she runs out of the room, “Pay attention.”
Amy is wrong.
Her brothers let her go first since she was the youngest, and when she spots the blue hats on their head she quietly groans to herself. Jake had started a bet a week earlier and she had been so sure she was going to get sisters; and now she has to give Jake all the money in her piggy bank.
“Meet your new brothers, Mateo and Carlos.” Victor is speaking softly and encouraging Amy to come closer.
“They look squishy.” Amy mumbles, pouting up at her dad.
“You were squishier.” Luis adds, poking her shoulder, “Still are.”
“Shut up.” She rolls her eyes at her brothers who begin to tease her and climbs on to the bed next to her exhausted looking mother, “I’m not the baby of the family anymore, tease them!”
“They’re babies, Amy, why would we tease innocent babies?” Tony scoffs.
They get to take turns holding their new brothers for about an hour before Karen arrives, Jake trailing behind her quietly. Victor begins to tell them how Karen will be taking them home where their Tia Isabella will be looking after them until the babies can come home.
Amy’s eyes go straight to Jake, who’s trying to hold back his mischievous smile and he walks closer to the babies. “That’s Carlos and that’s Mateo.” Amy points to each of them, rolling her eyes when he begins rubbing his hands together, “Did you get the homework?”
“You are the best babies ever.” Jake whispers down at them, “I can tell I’m gonna like you.”
“Did you get the homework, Jake?” Amy hisses, impatient.
“Of course, I know you’ll need something to cheer you up now that you’ve lost.”
One of them sneezes suddenly, and it makes Jake and Amy giggle softly. “I guess I have to pay up when we get home.”
“Nah forget it. Keep your piggy bank savings.” Jake shakes his head with a smile, “It feels great just knowing I won.”
“Don't be smug, I'll get you next time, Peralta.”
“Wanna bet?”
~
The fire escape is their obvious hang out spot, always spending a few nights in a week hanging out there before bed. Sometimes they won’t even talk; she’ll be reading a book and he’ll observe the streets below him, or they’ll play a game. After the twins are born, the visits become nightly and Amy doesn’t deny that it’s to escape her new brothers.
The ever constant screaming wakes all of the Santiago children up so they’re all sleep deprived. Even as it gets colder, Jake is there with her every night. “Today I told my mom that I want to buy you a Christmas present even though we don’t do Christmas she got me a piggy bank-” He stops talking when he sees her trying to wipe the tears away from her face, “Ames, what’s wrong?”
“My parents don’t want me.” Amy mumbles down at her hands, and she can tell that Jake barely hears her.
“I’m sure that’s not true Ames.” Jake replies, unsure of himself, “Your parents love you all so much.”
“Ever since Mateo and Carlos were born they pay less attention to me.” Amy sniffs loudly as more tears begin to fall, “My dad doesn’t have time for cuddles between work and all of us and mom is too tired to do homework with us.”
Amy cries earnestly into his shoulder as he brings her in for a hug. She knows he’s struggling for words, just like she had when he was crying about his dad leaving. “I’m sorry Amy.”
“I wish they weren’t born.” Amy continues, “Then I would only have to fight for attention with four brothers not six.”
“You don’t mean that… They’re babies now but they’ll be cool eventually!”
“So you like them more than me, like my parents do?”
“Are you kidding me?” Jake scoffs, surprise clear in his expression, “Amy you’re my best friend. More than Gina and I’ve known her forever.”
Amy lets out a strangled sob as she jumps to properly hug him, her tears promptly soaking his pyjamas. Jake holds her for the few minutes that she cries, and it makes her feel safe and loved. Her parents do love her, she knows that. They remind her every night but it doesn’t stop what she’s feeling.
“You’re my best friend as well, Jake.” Amy sniffles as she sits back down against the metal grate, “You’ll always be my best friend, right?”
“Always.”
“Will you make a vow? I-”
“What’s a… vow?”
“I was going to explain!” Amy huffs, “A vow is a promise but a bigger promise. Like how you promised Gina you would never let anyone touch her VHS tape of Fantasia.”
“Ohh so it’s a huge deal if you break it?” She nods in reply, “I’ll make a vow then.”
“Great! Now put your pinky out, and your other hand in front so you can’t jinx it...” Amy smiles shyly, holding her pinky out for him to link, “I vow to always be your best friend, Jake Peralta.”
“Amy Santiago, I vow to always and forever be your best friend.”