don't walk away from me

"Detective Santiago! Don't walk away from me!"

— Fuzzy the bear, in which Jake hid the nanny cam

(s1 ep 1)

Jake Peralta was one of those guys that walked into the room and brought the sunshine with him. You could see it from the way the rest of the Nine-Nine looked at him as he went through that morning's briefing — like he was some type of comedian doing stand-up instead of a detective going through the Morgenthau murder.

He was funny, she did have to give him that. Funny in an I-don't-care-what-anyone-else-thinks-and-I'm-not-afraid-to-break-the-rules, reckless, careless kind of way.

Honestly, sometimes Amy Santiago wished she could be that carefree.

All of her life, she was driven by one thing — to be the best. Growing up with seven brothers, she fought to earn the respect of her siblings and to make her parents the proudest. She had a love for rules that Jake called "frankly disturbing," brain muscles that were as large as Terry's biceps (also a Jake-ism), a zero-bullshit tolerance that Rosa applauded, and a competitive streak that Gina called "absolutely terrifying" (and Gina knew Rosa).

Which is how they really got into this mess in the first place.

Jake had overheard Terry calling him "his best detective," and couldn't resist rubbing it in Amy's face. Amy was understandably nettled. She couldn't let it go — just as Jake knew.

"Let's make a bet," he said, looking down at her as he sat on her desk, purposely rumpling all of her neatly stacked papers and causing the organized-by-color pens to go askew. "Whoever has the most arrests. I win; you go on a date with me."

He made it sound like he'd be winning for sure, and that infuriated Amy even more. "And what do I get if I win? Which I will, by the way," she asked.

Jake shrugged. "Whatever you want."

Amy stopped to think. Honestly, the man didn't really own anything of value. He had no girlfriend, no pets, all his friends were in the Nine-Nine, he'd come to work in sweats and a T-shirt if he'd be allowed to… what would he hate to give up?

Ah.

"Your car," she replied, smiling sweetly.

"My —?" Jake looked shocked for a second, then shook it off. Literally. Jesus, sometimes the man was like a dog.

"Yep. Cool cool cool. My car. So you in?" he responded.

"I'm in. You'll be so sorry when you lose," she said, widening her smile ever so slightly.

"Can't wait to go on a date with you, Santiago!" he smirked as he hopped off her desk. "You're going to love the dress I picked out."

Amy rolled her eyes. Men.

Lost in thought (or as lost in thought as you could get, herding a handcuffed robber into the precinct), she bumped into Jake as they both turned to head back out the door at the same time. His eyes widened as he backed up, but found that he was pressed against the doorframe. Unable to back up any more, Jake and Amy were close enough for a millisecond that she could smell the bagel and coffee he'd had this morning on his breath, along with an underlying scent of… did he still use Old Spice? Like a college boy?

She smirked and put her hands up in a yielding position as she backed out of the doorway, giving Jake some space. He kept his eyes carefully blank as he turned as well, unsure of what to make of her smile.

She didn't know that Jake would swallow thickly and think about that moment for the rest of the day — what it'd be like if there had been no electronic store robbers or overly curious co-workers watching.