AN: Okay, so this is my first fic for the fandom and I'm a lil nervous. All of the credit goes to fishycorvid for making a post about the goldfish subplot between CJ and Danny on The West Wing and how that it was definitely some cute ass shit Jake would've done for Amy during S1. Thank you so much for your kindness and encouragement, Sy!

Takes place after The Party and before Tactical Village.

Delicate Fins, Tender Hearts

"Your finest goldfish, please," Jake said to the teenager behind the counter at Petland Discounts. "And can you put it in a bowl with—oh my god, do those actually work?" He pointed to the glow in the dark aquarium gravel, and after seeing a nod of confirmation, grabbed the bag and plopped it onto the counter with an enthusiastic grin. "These?"

The teenager looked a bit bemused, but said politely, "Of course, sir."

Jake shifted from foot to foot, rolling from heel to toe as he waited, eyes scanning the tanks lining the wall, and cringing when he caught the sight of a tarantula. Butterflies began to swarm irrationally in his stomach, but he dismissed it. Yeah, he'd screwed up big time and she'd stormed away, leaving him to stew in the wreckage, feeling guilty and like a jerk, but it was going to be fine. They were always fine after enough time had passed for the rubber band of tension between them to recede from the danger of snapping.

Gina had hummed disapprovingly in the wake of the incident, fixing him with a judgmental look when he'd asked her for advice.

"Damn, kiddo. You're coming to me? You must be desperate."

"C'mon, goose! Please? I'll run tech for Floor-Gasm's next show if you tell me how to fix this." He tried to wheedle.

Gina let a long silence hang over them as she pretended to ponder over his offer. Finally, she extended her hand for him to shake and said, "You got a deal."

She then told him Amy liked goldfish, making him laugh in disbelief. "You think a goldfish is going to convince her to hate me less?"

"Take it or leave it." She shrugged, then her attention was back on her phone, effectively ending the conversation.

Jake had dismissed the idea almost immediately, but it had somehow slithered its way up to the front of his mind over the next few days, prodding relentlessly until he gave it consideration, leading to the current moment, where he handed over the only credit card in his possession that hadn't been maxed out.

(The fake date expenses were probably going to follow him till his grave, but it had been worth it. It went on the good date list and she'd looked at him like—)

With a rustling plastic bag of supplies hanging from his arm and a two point five gallon fish tank (he'd been told that tiny fish bowls were bad for all fish) hugged to his chest, he left the store, only to realize that he hadn't driven there, and while the tank wasn't heavy, it still wasn't nothing. He looked down at the goldfish in his arms through the peephole in the lid. Its wide fins were fluttering, its body wiggling around without a care in the world…it was actually kind of cute.

Okay, no biggie. We got this, Mr. Fins. He thought before descending down the subway stairs with his body turned sideways.

oOoOo

The butterflies returned once he stepped into the precinct elevator, bending awkwardly to press the fourth floor button with an elbow. As the elevator sounded a soft whir, nervous energy began to build in him. His head bobbed to the rhythm his fingers were tapping on the underside of the tank.

The rest of the detectives had already gone home. It seemed like it was always them who were last to leave, unable to tear their minds away from fiddling with the puzzle pieces of crime.

He approached her desk with uncharacteristic uncertainty. "Hey."

She lowered the case file covering her face, eyes immediately going to the tank in his arms but choosing to ignore it for the moment. "Hey," she said. "You were right about Baker's dog walker, they totally lied. Surveillance cams caught 'em at the store, and records show that they used a stolen credit card. Open and shut from here on out."

He forgot about his nerves for a second, a wide smile spreading across his face. "I knew it! That's awesome! I mean, not about the whole identity theft slash murder thing, but he was so shifty, right?"

"Super shifty," she said, eyes wide in emphasis. Then, faster than he had hoped, she moved on to the next topic. "So what's with the goldfish?"

His hands were sweaty and no doubt leaving marks on the glass. "Oh, um. It's for you."

"Really?" Her head tilted slightly in confusion.

"Yeah, I feel really bad about what happened the other day, and Gina said she overheard you at Holt's party saying that you like goldfish. So."

"Oh," she said, pressing her lips together in a poor attempt to keep her smile at bay. "Oh my god." She brought her hands to her involuntarily burning cheeks and looked at him with shining eyes. "Jake, I meant the crackers."

His heart kind of dropped into his shoes. Out of every possible reaction that had flashed through his mind, this had not been one of them, and now mortification burned through him. "Oh. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool."

She couldn't hold back her chuckles. "Yeah, my brothers and I had an obsession with them. We had to buy them in bulk."

"Oh, wow. All of you? That's a little weird," he quipped weakly to steer away from floundering further.

Head shaking in disbelief and with a smile still on her face, she got up from her desk and moved a stack of files to the perp chair before taking the fish tank from his tired arms, setting it gently on the vacated area. "Does it have a name?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah. Mr. Fins," he admits sheepishly, setting the bag of supplies down.

She crouched down to take a closer look at the fish, still happily swimming around. "Fitting." She nodded before looking at him with those shining eyes again.

His breath caught in his throat. It was the same way she'd looked at him the day after the bet, after he told her that it still made the good date list. Half-questioning and half-curious.

Almost carefully, she stood and approached him, wrapping him up in their first real hug, miles away from a previous single instance of a quick one-armed embrace born out of a near-miraculous breakthrough. He stood frozen and tense before his brain caught up to the present and allowed him to place his hands on her back, to savor the quiet moment.

"You're actually really sweet, Peralta," she murmured into his shoulder.

He snorted. "Well, don't sound so surprised."

"I'm not," she said, pulling back to look him in the face. "Seriously, thank you."

He ducked his head. "Yeah, no problem."

She moved to sit at her desk, but he tugged on her sleeve with a spark of excitement in his eye. "Hey, wanna see something cool?"

Deciding to indulge him, she sighed. "Sure."

"Stay there!"

He went to flip the light switches, letting darkness fall over the bullpen while simultaneously, the aquarium gravel lit up in neon green. He heard her gasp of, "No way!" and smiled to himself before calling back, "I know right!"

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