song: the lakes - taylor swift
warnings: none
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'Jake, Jake, Jake!' (—) called out from inside the store. She'd found a Die Hard gift set and her first thought upon seeing it was her best friend, who had been admiring a Lego replica of Nakatomi Plaza.
But at the voice of the friend that meant everything to him, he rushed from the other end of the store to come see her.
At the sight of the gift set, his face beamed with excitement, as if he was face to face with an angel. And then his face made an extremely weird face, his mouth trying to smile but was straight as a plank, and his eyebrows were wiggled in such a way that (—) couldn't stop herself from laughing.
'Jake.' She crosses her arms.
The detective smiled, head tilted to the side. '(—).'
'You spent your money on that mini ping pong table, didn't you?'
He pouted. 'At least it's usable! Remember when I bought that mini fridge from that mini market?'
'You bought that?' She winced.
He nodded quickly before grabbing the gift set. 'Look on the bright side! If you buy me this, you'll be receiving money from me for the next five years.'
(—) contorted her face in both amusement and exasperation. 'What kind of spending control do you have, Peralta?'
But she made her way to the cashier and didn't utter a word when her best friend placed the gift set on the table. She took out her debit card, and the entire time she was paying, she didn't take her eyes off of him. And so they made their way out of the store and to the park they'd always spend their time in, spread a blanket under a tree by the lake and ate sloppy hotdogs.
While laying on his side, taking bites of his hotdog (extra mustard, because it made (—) make that funny face), he watched her, who was sketching something with her toes feeling the cold water of the lake. And she glued her eyes to her sketchbook, her pencil moving in smooth glides. But she was picturing him, with a cup of orange soda in his hand and his badge dangling from his neck.
Under the shade of the tree, Jake started to play a song, though kept it at a lower volume. He continued to admire her, because she wasn't looking at him. And he'll be damned if she ever caught him being sentimental. But the song—oh, the song!—it was Taylor Swift's the lakes, and he knew what he was doing when he put (—)'s favorite song on.
(—) noticed this but decided to finish her sketch until she realized how he kept smiling at her. Cheekily, yes, but still, that stupid smile of his wouldn't be wiped off. So she walked up to him and sat down, leaning against the bark of the tree.
But he grabbed his phone and paused the song. He put his hand on his hip, though still laying on his side, and smiled.
(—) laughed. 'Have you ever considered modeling?'
He sat up. 'Why- why, do you think I'm, like cool or something?' He giggled nervously.
She furrowed her brows, leaned forward, and crossed her hands. 'Why are you being weird?'
He shrugged, pretending to not know what she was going on about. 'What do you mean?'
(—) sighed again, though this time she was amused. 'You got that... that look on your face, like when you were looking at that Die Hard gift set.'
"...like when you were looking at that Die Hard gift set." And he looked at it like he was face to face with an angel.
He took a deep breath and tried his best not to blush.
'Ok, look, I'm going to say this in less than ten seconds because I'm uncomfortable with emotions and we both know that.' He smiled, his stomach filling up with butterflies. 'I like you, like, a lot. Like how much I want to Die Hard off a roof. I know we've known each other for, like, eleven years, but... I don't know, you just... I don't know if it was me or you, but suddenly you were more than cool.'
(—) was tongue tied. She was amazing at reading people through their behavior—how could she possibly have missed this?
'You're like... like that Die Hard gift set.' He finished.
His best friend looked at him weird. 'I—thank you, I guess?' Those were her first words after he confessed his feelings. She couldn't bring herself to focus off of his last sentence.
'Cool cool cool cool. Ok ok ok ok.' He spiraled, thinking his love was unrequited.
(—) punched his arm. 'I like you too, you idiot. I'm sorry, I just couldn't get my mind out of that last sentence you just said.'
He nodded in understanding.
'I like you, like, like you-like you. So don't... don't worry. We have the rest of the evening to ourselves and we can talk about literally anything.'
They were quiet for a moment, the breeze passing through them before she leaned closer and kissed his cheek. And right after that he resumed the song he started playing before the conversation.
'Oh, dear god, you're sentimental.' (—) commented, looking at him for the millionth time that day. But this time, there was some sort of endearment to it, as if he was the sunset and for the first time her eyes noticed the beauty of it.
'Taylor Swift is never wrong.' He joked. Because, after all, he took her to the lake where artists went to die, but there she was, an artist creating art, and he had the opportunity to marvel at it for the rest of time.
