(I LOVE YOU)¹ jake peralta

two.

"OKAY JAKE, YOU'RE SURE YOU'RE UP FOR THIS? my parents are really crappy. and will probably hate you."

it was sunday night and a slight breeze was blowing despite it being mid april.  oliver and jake stood outside on oliver's sister's doorstep, contemplating knocking or just going home. jake carried a pie and had a smile on his face, while oliver struggled to swallow back tears.

"i'm positive. now, knock." oliver tapped on the door with his knuckles and seconds later, his mother answered.

"oliver mclaren, where is your girlfriend?" skipping the hellos, she eyed jake with disgust.

"mom, this is my girlfriend. meet jake." both jake and oliver pushed past her into the house, greated by a gust of warm air.

"hey, ollie, i can pretend to be amy if that helps. 'your son is just... amazing at paperwork'" jake whispered, imitating amy, hoping to get a laugh, or at the very least, a smile out of oliver. he cracked a smile before they headed over to the table, with dinner about to be served.

they all sat, jake to oliver's left, his sister emily to his right, his parents across from them and emily's two kids in front of the tv, her husband richard somewhere else.

"so... oliver, what do you do?" his mom asked, everyone else silent.

"i'm a detective for the nypd, same as jake." she flinched at the mention of jake, who was currently focused on pouring champagne for himself and oliver.

"how is it? good pay? do you sit at a desk all day?"

"pay is good. i have a desk but a lot of the time i'm in the field, you know, being a detective. em, how about you?"

his sister put the salad back on the table before answering. "i'm a high school teacher, same as richard. i teach history. it's fun, but sometimes the kids are little bitches, but i'm sure you face more bitches then me."

"oliver," his mom spoke out loudly, almost shouting to grab his attention away from jake. "are there any nice girls where you work?"

fine, i'll play their fucking game. "yeah, sure, there's a few. amy, gina, rosa."

"rosa's scary as hell most of the time," jake spoke out to the group for the first time since arriving. "but also a badass." oliver's mom flinched at badass and his dad stayed silent. "amy is an amazing detective and gina does nothing most of the time but is sometimes, very helpful."

"how many have you dated?" oliver's mom asked, staring at oliver as he pointedly looked away and avoided eye contact.

"em, where's your bathroom?"

***

oliver stayed in the bathroom as he listened to the shouting from the dining room, trying to identify every voice, his dad and jake silent.

"mom, what the fuck is your problem with oliver and jake? you invited them and jake is clearly a nice guy." emily.

"i didn't invite jake, i invited my disgrace of a son, hoping that he had changed and had fixed himself up. cleary not. he is sick, emily. i knew i should have sent him to the catholic camp when he was younger. maybe he would have turned out better."

"what the fuck mom? he is not sick, you are. he already faces this enough of this shit at work but from his own mother? it's disgusting, you're disgusting, get the fuck out of my house."

"you are making a mistake emily mclaren."

"it's emily fawke now. get the fuck out of my house."

"can i have my tupperware?"

silence. then the slamming of the front door. oliver waited a few moments before going back into the kitchen to see his parents gone and jake watching cartoons with emily's daughters. before he could fully grasp hold of what had happened, he was being hugged tightly by his sister. "please stay, at least for a little bit. ava and bri seem to love jake. you don't have to eat if you're feeling sick, but please, don't go yet."

"yeah, uncle ollie, stay! you can watch spongebob with me and ava and uncle jake." jake smiles widely and pats the space on the floor next to him with the hand that isn't holding three barbie dolls. oliver took the barbie jake was offering and sat down next to him.

"hey, ari, bri... have you two seen the greatest cop movie ever made?"

***

"jake, you can stay over tonight if you want and we can go to work together tomorrow."

"okay, sounds good,"  jake managed out before collapsing on oliver's bed and falling asleep.  "night ollie."

"night jake."