Work Text:
Jake Peralta sees the most beautiful human being he’s ever seen at six in the morning.
Yes, okay, it’s mostly because he’s somehow hungover and drunk at the same time, and stumbling into work several hours earlier than he needs to come in is not the best idea. Good thing Jake isn’t famed for his good ideas.
What he finds is a straight-laced woman with her hair pulled back tightly setting things down on the desk opposite his. Jake stares blankly at her for several moments, unable to comprehend what he’s seeing, before finally realizing that this must be her – his new partner, transferred from the 9-7. Her name escapes him, but the fact that she’s here this early does not.
“Hey, you,” he says, unconvincingly trying to hide the fact that he doesn’t remember her name. She looks up at him briefly, takes in his appearance (particularly the large stain on the front of his hoodie that he’s hoping isn’t too unsanitary), and offers a wry smile.
“Hi, Amy Santiago.”
“No, my name is Jake,” Jake says.
Amy stares at him like he’s insane.
“Oh. Oh, my god. Your name is Amy Santiago. As in Detective Santiago.”
Amy looks at him in awed silence that Jake does not think is admiration. He thinks to himself that he might have just blown up yet another partnership – that this was probably the reason his last one jumped on the first job offer that came his way. Oh, well, this has to be a goddamn world record in losing your partner’s favor.
Then Amy laughs, almost in disbelief. Jake falls a little bit in love right then and there.
Jake finds out soon enough that Amy Santiago is not all dawn-soaked smiles and gentle taps of wood against metal.
It’s just that ‘soon enough’ comes a lot quicker than he expected. ‘Soon enough’ comes three hours after their first meeting, when work actually begins. She tosses papers onto his desk and berates him about how terribly he organizes his files, and how nobody could possibly find anything in this mess.
He stands and retaliates, rationalizing his organization system to her as the rest of the precinct watches. Gina giggles and takes pictures that she captions and e-mails to everyone. Rosa guffaws quietly as she eats a bagel, Charles contemplates opening the bag of popcorn he has stashed in the bottom drawer of his desk, and Mother Jeffords watches their heated confrontation for a full four minutes before intervening.
After an even longer lecture from Terry in which he goes to some very emotional places about trust and harmony, Jake finds himself sitting across from a very angry detective whose eyes are practically smoldering as she glares at him.
Her cheeks are tinged rouge. Jake doesn’t think he’s ever seen anyone quite so wonderful in his life.
“I genuinely thought that was going to end in them making out. Just me?”
“Just you, Gina.”
But Rosa still smirks behind her computer screen.
Jake shows up on Amy’s doorstep that Sunday morning, after a week filled with tension that Jake’s easygoing nature contrasted with Amy’s eagerness to perform well has done nothing to alleviate. Her eyes are sleepy and soft when she opens the door; her brow furrows in confusion when she sees him.
“Peralta?”
“Jake,” he says. “Look, I feel like we got off on the wrong foot. I, uh … wanted to buy you breakfast. As a peace offering.”
“You know what would’ve been really peaceful?” Amy grumbles, squinting a little in the sunlight. “Not waking me up at seven in the morning on a Sunday.”
“I was excited!”
“Of course.”
She smiles a little.
Amy gets a dab of maple syrup on the corner of her lips when she eats her pancakes and Jake can hardly stop himself from kissing her.
“Was that a date?”
“No. I didn’t eat anything. The definition of a first date is having a meal together.”
Amy laughs quietly and it’s warmer than the sun shining on their faces. She looks exactly like how a Taylor Swift song sounds. Jake wants to either wax poetry about her beauty or challenge her to a round of Mario Kart. It’s a confusing feeling that he really doesn’t want to put a name to.
On Monday, Amy shouts at him for not filing evidence correctly. Jake looks up at the sky briefly before promising to do it right and apologizing. It seems to surprise her.
Later, Charles suggests that it’s because Jake likes Amy. It’s really only because Jake will probably go broke if he has to buy Amy pancakes whenever he needs to pacify her. Really.