Over the course of five seasons of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) and Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero) have gone from flirtily contentious colleagues to a legit loved-up couple. She may love organized binders while he prefers to keep his bills in his bathtub, but these two crazy kids have managed to make things work, forming one of the healthiest relationships on network television. Following in the tradition of Jim and Pam and Leslie and Ben, Jake and Amy love each other and like each other, causing viewers to laugh and swoon in equal measure.
If we’re being totally honest, these two dorks may have made us all believe in love again. With their nuptials quickly approaching — the “toit nups” as it were — and Valentine’s Day just around the corner, what better time to revisit their best relationship moments?
The Worst Date Ever
To quote Jake, this was “the night that you flirted with me for 20 seconds and I became obsessed with you forever.” Sure, the chemistry was there from the first episode, but this was the turning point for these cuties. The date may have started with a losing bet, but it ended with peanuts and inside jokes. Jake secretly saying no to a relief team for their stakeout was just icing on the cake. This was the true beginning of the slow burn known as Peraltiago, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine was all the better for it.
Romantic Stylez
The confession was a long time coming, so when Jake has to go undercover for the FBI at the end of season one, he lets Amy know that he’s super into her before he goes. Leaving their relationship in limbo like that before he disappeared for months may not have been the wisest choice, but who can blame the guy?
The Jimmy Jab Games
After deciding that dating would complicate their work relationship, Jake and Amy give being just friends a shot. When the Jimmy Jab Games roll around, their competitive natures come out, which naturally leads to flirting, which eventually culminates in Jake throwing the game so Amy is the victor. She really needed the win, and damn it, he was going to give it to her. Rosa (Stephanie Beatriz) called him out on his shenanigans, but she also gives him reason to hope with…
The Double Tuck
Amy’s feelings are a little harder to read, but everyone has their tell. According to Rosa, Amy’s is the Double Tuck. Jake may have missed Amy’s inadvertent signal, but the audience sure didn’t. Sitcom rules dictate that of course, these two are going to end up together, but with any good show, the seeds of doubt are sown. And then, with one quick hair fidget, hope springs eternal.
Their First Kiss
After repeatedly kissing while pretending to be a couple on a mission, these two finally lock lips for real. Office dynamics be damned, because love just couldn’t be denied. Every relationship has their Rubicon moment, and this hot make out sesh in the file room was theirs. They may have tried to keep things casual, but there are friends with benefits and then there are soulmates. These two are definitely the latter.
Building Shared Interests
Part of being a healthy couple is figuring out things you have in common. Amy may be a huge Harry Potter fan while Jake’s heart belongs to the Die Hard franchise, but eventually, he was crying over Cedric Diggory and she was commissioning a cake shaped like Nakatomi Plaza for their wedding. These two could not be more different, but that only makes them stronger as a couple instead of tearing them apart.
Small Moments Of Growth
While you don’t want to completely change who you are in order to make a relationship work, good relationships help you become a better version of yourself. To be fair, Jake was the one who had to do the most growing up (drinking enough water and knowing how to boil an egg are pretty basic things), but it was the little moments where these two were so in sync that really proved that they were meant to be together. Screaming “ya jag!” in perfect unison is basically the definition of couples goals, to be quite honest.
Mutual Support
Jake and Amy are fundamentally different people, with Amy being more of a go-getter looking to climb up the ladder in the precinct. While a lot of dudes may feel threatened when faced with an ambitious partner, Jake knows that Amy deserves all the success that comes her way. Jake and Amy are always each other’s biggest cheerleaders, whether it’s breaking a sliding sock record or going after that big promotion.
Surviving Prison
While Jake’s time in prison was a bit of a nightmare (you know it’s bad when an admitted cannibal is your closest ally on the inside), knowing that Amy was 100% in his corner made things slightly bearable. It certainly wasn’t easy — Jake’s got the mashed potato wall mural to prove it — but this stint in jail was further proof that these two were built to last.
The Engagement
Those are the faces of two people getting married, y’all. Jake may have known he was going to propose when Amy found that error in her weekly crossword, but fans knew that these two were destined from episode one. While we have to wait a little while to witness their big day, at least we have the custom-made wrestling belt proposal to hold up as a romantic ideal.
