𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊𝐒 | Jake Peralta

two.

T W O

"winner of the break-up"

—

Sarah's POV

SHE CHUCKLED. Even though Jake had accepted to go with her to Shaw's that night, Sarah had practically had to drag him inside the bar. She was amused, but he did not seem to be enjoying it. It was Jake Peralta, though, he was a total wildcard, the unexpected golden detective. When they first met, Sarah thought that Jake had ended up in the precinct like CJ, by accident. But then she saw they way his head worked... she was amazed.

"Stop!" said Jake, Sarah was pushing him into the bar, and he was not cooperating. He released himself from her, faking annoyance. "I can do it myself."

Sarah nodded and smirked mischievously, and bowed, pointing at a booth in a corner. "Wanna sit there, detective Peralta? No, that title doesn't suit you tonight..."

Jake scoffed and walked over the booth that Sarah had pointed at, and she followed, relieved because he had not ran away from there. His face bespoke patent sadness, it looked like he didn't even care about hiding it. She elbowed him to stop at the bar and he halted, as Sarah asked for two beer mugs. 

They grabbed their drinks and sat in the lonely corner, in silence. Sarah always told to herself that situations like that would only be awkward if she made them awkward, but she was really uncomfortable, and she knew that Jake must felt the same way. That was why she took a big gulp of her mug, just to loosen up a bit.

"Woah," said Jake, frowning. "Slow down, I'm supposed to be the one depressed."

Sarah laughed. Maybe if she made it look like a competence he would become less tense as well. "Yes, and I'm even better than you at that. C'mon, Peralta, are you actually that easy to beat?"

But of course her plan had a flaw. All that she caused on Jake was him to hang his head low, looking, if possible, even more pitiful. Sarah gulped. He thought that everything she did was perfect, he'd told that to her before, but he was wrong. She tried to fix it.

"Hey, where's the Jake I know? The funny, sloppy one?" said Sarah, messing with his curly hair. 

Jake giggled weakly, which made Sarah smile. Jake grabbed his mug, and, like her, he took a large gulp from it, and then sighed, as Sarah nodded. "Yeaahh," they chuckled. 

"That's what you were talking about?" said Jake, grinning.

"Yup, you get it," Sarah noticed how his face lit up, beaming... like he had finally found what had been taken from him.

Jake's POV

He took off his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt, beginning to feel the heat Sarah conveyed as she approached him on the couch. She took her bottle, they were done with the mugs, and took a small sip from it. Jake followed suit, pleased. He was glad to have accompanied her, but he began to feel that, in addition to helping him, Sarah also needed to put reality aside for one night and drink with a friend.

"... I swear Lewis was worse than Captain Holt," she was telling Jake about her rupture, her words ran over one another as she spoke. 

"Worse like what?" Jake garbled, also twisting his words. Their eyes were half-closed, relaxed. 

"Worse like listening to classical music while reading comics."

Jake hiccuped. "Oh. What a weird mix," he said, shaking his head, and Sarah yelled a "Right???" laughing along him.