Pizza & Ketchup.
A Peraltiago fanfic

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It didn't matter how many cool, calm and collected times John McClane whispered yippee-ki-yay into the mouth piece of his walkie talkie. No matter how often Jake hit rewind on his remote and watched the infamous scene over and over again, he would always mouth along with his hero. And the spine tingling moment would always send goosebumps ricocheting up Detective Peralta's arms.

But on this particular night, and perhaps for the first time in his entire life, Jake's attention wasn't solely on his television while his favourite movie continued to quietly play through. As the soft, brown colour of his iris darted down to one corner of his eye and glanced across to the kitchen, Jake felt his heart skip a beat.

It was certainly still a little mind-boggling to Jake each and every time he saw Amy standing so casually in his kitchen. Sure, she had popped into his apartment a couple of times before they were dating, but only to drop off some random case files here and there. It was a whole other experience to see the beautiful brunette skip across the tiles of his floor with her hair in a high, messy ponytail, and nothing covering her but a plain, white tank top and a pair of tiny, purple pyjama shorts.

A small smirk popped up in the corner of Jake's lips as he subtly spied on her. Amy's hips were swinging from side to side and her head was bopping along with the music coming from the radio on the counter as she continued to prepare dinner. Normally, Peralta would require absolute silence to properly enjoy what he described as the greatest cinematic moment in the history of film. But in all honesty, he had seen it from start to finish so many times that he could probably recite the entirety of Die Hard off by heart by now. Amy's cute little dance moves were much more entertaining to watch, anyway.

The smell of the freshly purchased pizza wafting from the small kitchen across to the even smaller couch was making Jake's stomach rumble where he sat. He had been looking forward to this Friday night all week long.

As of that evening, Jake and Amy had officially been dating for one month. One whole month of actual romantic stylez. Not that they were being totally lame and making a big deal out of four measily weeks, or anything. But between the Vulcher becoming their new captain, Charles meeting Genevieve, Jake locking up the Oolong Slayer, and Captain Holt making his long awaited return to the Nine-Nine, the month in question had certainly been a long and exhausting one. What better way to celebrate than a relaxing night in with some pizza and a movie?

"Alright, make room, Peralta," Amy suddenly exclaimed, shuffling her way towards him with an adoring grin, "And how's about picking a movie that both of us are going to enjoy, hm?"

Jake feigned a pouting expression before he scrunched his face up at her and teasingly stuck his tongue out. Pushing himself up from where he had been comfortably stretched across the couch, Peralta reached for the remote and switched off the masterpiece of a movie. As the Netflix home screen materialised on the screen, Jake eagerly rubbed his palms together at the sight of the food Amy placed on the coffee table in front of him.

The two large slices of pizza on his plate covered with pulled pork, bacon, jalapeños and drizzling with barbeque sauce were accompanied by a tall glass of orange soda. Glancing back up at her as she scooted into the kitchen to grab her own plate, Jake smiled softly. For such a cosy, relaxing night in, Amy had definitely outdone herself.

In the very next second, though, as his thoughts of how wonderful she was were replaced with something new, Jake let his filter slip slightly.

"Oh, hey, can you grab me the ketchup please, baby?"

Amy froze in her place, a shiver racing up her spine.

After a surprised couple of seconds, her brain began to backtrack and pick apart each word Jake had just spoken to her. Subtly looking over her shoulder to shoot a hidden glimpse his way, Amy felt the tightness in her chest relax at the sight of her boyfriend simply scrolling through Netflix in search of another movie.

Her heart was racing a little, trying to keep up with the speed at which a swarm of butterflies was suddenly soaring in her stomach. This wasn't the first time Jake had made her feel like this. The butterflies had been there for their first real kiss, their first night together, and practically every time he shot her a cute little smile from his desk at work opposite hers. She was used to all that now. She was used to being his girlfriend, Ames.

But one thing that Amy wasn't quite used to was being Jake's baby.

The word washed over her as she nervously tucked the loose strands of her ponytail behind both ears. That was the first time Jake had ever called her anything that wasn't just her name. And it made Amy feel amazing.

As she collected her own meal and switched off the radio on the counter, Amy dived into the pantry, granting Jake's request and snatching up the bottle of ketchup for him. The detective strolled back towards her boyfriend, nestling right beside him on the couch. She stared down into her lap for a moment and tried to will away the feeling of a pink blush glowing in her cheeks.

He looked up at her with the sweetest little smirk that made her heart melt as he took the bottle from her and proceeded to absolutely smother the food on his plate with the red sauce. She raised an eyebrow at his quirkiness for a second, but quickly shook her head to herself. She wasn't going to let any part of his adorable nature distract her from what he had just said thirty seconds ago.

Amy only hoped that Jake had meant it. And that they still weren't moving far too quickly in all of this.

Taking a deep breath and bravely licking her bottom lip, Amy cleared her throat.

"This is good, right?"

Just as he had been about to chomp down on the hulking piece of pizza that sat only an inch away from his mouth, Jake froze. Looking across to Amy, he instantly noted the wary glisten in her brown eyes. He swallowed, placing his food back on the small table as he nervously tilted his head to one side.

"What is?"

A number of worried wrinkles immediately creased into the lines of his brow as he narrowed his vision at her. It made Amy's stomach flip. She tried to croak out a hasty answer, but her voice had totally disappeared on her.

"I - " she stuttered, "The, uh - "

And as the timid expression in Jake's face continued to slice through her conscience, Amy chickened out.

"The... pizza."

The frown in Peralta's brow deepened as he hesitated for a moment, "The pizza?"

"Mhm."

"You're asking me if I think the pizza is good?"

"Yep."

Jake didn't believe her for a second. He may have been an oblivious goofball when it came to his relationship sometimes, but that didn't mean he couldn't read Amy like a book. He gave his girlfriend one more chance to correct herself and say what Jake suspected she had really meant to ask him. When she chose to stay silent, Peralta simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, I dunno' yet, lemme find out."

Amy watched on curiously as her partner picked up the first of his two slices and basically engulfed the whole thing between his teeth. He chewed and chomped his way through the delectable combination of meat and dough, making a number of pleased sounds as he did. Santiago stared at him with an impatient frown, wondering just what the heck Peralta was up to and why he was suddenly acting so sarcastic. She tried to bark in over the top of his loud chewing, but he silenced her by daring to hold up a commanding forefinger in her direction.

Before she had the opportunity to snap the defying extremity clean off his hand, Jake finally nodded his head, "Oh, yeah. Yep, this is definitely some good pizza."

Rolling her eyes at the tone that she imagined was making fun of her somehow, Amy felt the muscles in her shoulders tighten. Scooting away slightly from Jake, she reached for the remote to the television, "Okay, well, good for you, can we just pick a - "

"Wait, wait, wait," Jake interjected, taking another smaller bite, "You just asked for the expert opinion of a pizza aficionado, did you not? You can't just cut me off in the middle of a review to the standard of a connoisseur such as myself."

The cynicism in his expression was still painted across his smirk as clear as day. Amy felt an uncomfortable ball of regret churn in her stomach. Why did she have to go and open her mouth when she knew it was just going to give Jake a new reason to tease her so mercilessly?

"Now, you know that I've eaten a lot of pizza in my time," Jake began, pausing for emphasis, "A lot of pizza. But for whatever stupid reason, I could just never manage to find the right pizza to commit to."

As her eyesight sharpened towards him, Amy froze on the spot again. Jake stared right back at her with a cheeky glisten in his brown orbs.

"Most people tell me it's all my fault for being so picky and for runining so many good pizzas," he added, continuing right along, "But there's something about this pizza, ya' know? I mean, yes, it's not the kind of pizza I'd normally go for, but I almost feel like from that one, huge bite, it may have made me happier than any other pizza ever has before."

Amy's shoulders suddenly relaxed and stopped cramping up under her neck. She wasn't sure if Jake was trying to be subtle in his analogy, but Amy was hearing her boyfriend loud and clear.

"I guess the jalapeños are a little spicy and pack a punch, but everyone needs a bit of fire in their life, right? And besides, when you mix it with the barbeque sauce, it all combines for this, like, totally irresistible sweetness. It's just a really, really delicious pizza," he went on, "And, well, you know that up until pretty recently I was loyal to another brand of hot, spicy, Latina pizza..."

For a split second, Amy sensed a twinge of hurt shoot across her chest. But then, Jake simply smiled at her.

"But this pizza is way hotter than that pizza ever was."

Finally cracking at this little jab at his ex girlfriend, Amy burst into an array of tiny, amused giggles. Jake chuckled under his breath right back at her, inching across the couch cushion to fill the gap between them again.

"And I mean..." Jake stopped for another moment, trailing off, "For the longest time, I was kinda', sorta' worried I had waited too long to give this pizza a real try and had blown my chance with it, and I don't wanna' be too forward and push it away and back into the oven, or anything..."

Amy's breath was hitched in her throat. She was almost certain that her real pizza would be getting cold by now, but she didn't care. All she cared about was how many more beats her heart skipped as Jake glanced up at her with a smiley blush.

"But I already feel like I'd be super happy to have this pizza every day for a really, really long time."

Almost instantly, Santiago sensed herself go giddy as her head spun. She had been with him for a whole month, and had known him for many more months beforehand, but still, Peralta continued to surprise her with his adorably sweet and genuine devotion. She was his spicy, Latina pizza, and he was her big, tall, vibrant, bubbly glass of orange soda. And he was way better than any boring, old bottle of Pilsners ever could be.

"Now, does that answer all your questions?" he challenged, draping an arm around her and raising a teasing eyebrow, "About pizza, I mean?"

Amy laughed softly again, settling with a snuggle under Jake's arm. But then, she bit down on her bottom lip and glanced back up at him with droopy eyes, "Actually, there is one more thing..."

Mirroring the brown water colour nervously floating in her orbs, Jake sensed every swooning shade of red drain from his face. He gulped just slightly, not wanting to let go of Amy as he wondered what she may have been about to say to him.

As she stayed quiet for just a second longer, Amy finally decided to stop torturing him. The detective cringed as she carefully picked up her boyfriend's disgustingly sloppy piece of pizza, "What the heck could you possibly find so appetising about drowning your pizza in ketchup?" she laughed, "Its already dripping with barbeque sauce, Jake, it's so gross!"

Feeling the weight of the world lift from his shoulders with relief, Jake spat out a single laugh of his own, "Hey, don't knock it till you try it," he told her, grabbing his second slice, "Here, you'll love it, I promise."

As the doughy mess of flavours and colours came darting towards her, Amy's eyes widened. She locked her hand around Jake's wrist, trying to wrench it away from her, "Ew, Jake, no! Get that out of my face!"

The reprimanding tone in her voice was all too familiar to Peralta, but it wasn't anywhere near as loud as the impulsive laughter Santiago was trying - and failing - to begrudgingly hold down at his childish antics.

Bringing his opposite hand up to loosen her grip around him, Jake was chuckling back with just as much silliness as he grasped at her shoulder and gently forced her to lie back on the couch.

"C'mon, Ames," he continued to taunt her, "Just one little bite?"

As each sly word slipped out from between his lips, Jake kept Amy firmly pinned to the couch cushions. He clumsily shifted his weight, climbing completely on top of her and locking his legs around her waist to stop any attempt of a daring escape.

The giggles exploding from the back of her throat were starting to make Amy's chest ache as she desperately tried to keep the edible torture device at arm's length. With an alluring playfulness still oozing from his eyes and his smile, Jake finally managed to out-muscle his girlfriend as the very edge of the pizza smeared across her cheek.

The runny, sticky trail of barbeque sauce combined with the ketchup in a mess against the soft skin of her face made Amy squeal as she smacked the slice from Jake's hand. The couple froze, still keeping a loose grip on one another as their eyes darted down to the ground to spy the pizza sitting face-down and smudged into the rug.

Looking back up at him with a smug smile, Amy shrugged her shoulders, "Now you're gonna' have to eat it off the floor."

Jake raised his brow with a challenging grin, "Don't pretend like I won't."

Before her annoyed groan even had the chance to match the roll of her eyes, Jake leaned down from where he was still hovering over her and pressed his lips to the side of her face.

For a moment, she thought he was actually being sweet. But as soon as she felt his tongue leave his mouth and lick up the sauce that was staining her cheek, Amy shrieked in displeasure again.

"Jake!" she cried out, still laughing all the same as she shoved him off her, "You're sick!"

Peralta almost wasn't thinking as his response came in an instant, "Yeah, sick with emotion from how freakin' adorable you are."

His words left him with another slight chuckle, but as soon as the very last syllable fell from his lips, Amy went completely silent. Was this really still the same insensitive, immature jerk who had picked on her every day and driven her completely crazy over all these years at the Nine-Nine? Because all Amy saw when she looked at Jake now, his face still only an inch or two away from hers, was the affectionate, playful, handsome, sweet, caring man of her dreams.

Jake was quiet now, too, examining Amy just as closely as she was studying him. He brought one hand up to gently wipe away the remaining sauce stuck against her skin. Within a second, her hand was there, too, her fingers lacing together with his as their eyes absolutely locked on to one another.

Jake's throat felt dry. He wasn't sure if he was going to be able to outdo any of the romantic gestures he had already placed upon his gorgeous girlfriend that evening, but before he had to strain himself too harshly, Amy suddenly captured his lips again.

Only this time, she caught them with her own.

Jake snapped his eyes shut as he kissed the figure nestled underneath him slowly and softly. His legs were still awkwardly crouched up beside her hips as he straightened out on top of her instead and ran his hand along her side, caressing her waistline all the way down to her thigh.

Amy's heart raced as she kissed him back with just as much tender passion. Her hands cradled his jaw for the shortest moment before retreating to the top of his head to get lost in the smallest curls of his brown hair.

The exchange wasn't one that was met with an over abundance of lust and teeth marks and saliva, and yet, it was one that sent more goosebumps rocketing across Amy and Jake's skin than either of them had ever felt before.

As he finally pulled back from her with the most obvious reluctance, Amy sensed all her breath leave her lungs at once. She glanced up at him, his orbs twinkling with insane happiness as he stared right back.

Swallowing an almighty lump of anticipation she could taste in her throat, Amy chewed on her bottom lip again.

"Did you want to pick another movie to put on?"

Without saying a single word, Jake only raised a silent eyebrow.

Amy's whole body shuddered from head to toe.

"...Unless you have a better idea?"

Peralta remained quiet. He had already done more than enough talking for one evening. Letting his actions deliver all the enticing communication he needed, slowly but surely, he leaned down once more. He barely even brushed his lips with hers, taking a selfish moment to revel in the heat of Santiago's rapid breaths against his skin.

But it didn't take long for him to cave.

As soon as Jake finally made contact with her again and he trailed his lips along hers, across her jawline, and down her neck, Amy felt an intense thump in her abdomen that shot between each of her ribs and made her chest swell.

They were definitely going to have to order a fresh take-out for dinner. And they probably weren't going to be very interested in watching a movie any more. And Amy's tiny, purple pyjama shorts did still look super sexy sitting on her hips. But Jake ultimately figured they'd look way sexier on the floor of his apartment, instead.

Everything about this month had been amazing. Everything about him was amazing. But what was even more amazing that all of that and all of him was how Amy had actually managed to answer her initial question for herself that night.

This was good. Amy and Jake were very good.

-x-

Inspired by Ed Sheeran's 'Dive'.

Please review :) x