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It started two months after they left the safe house and the Incident™ at the precinct. Amy was finishing one of her first shifts as a sergeant and told Jake she was going to be home late. He was happy for her, really, but he was bored. And restless. He really needed something to do. But then, hit with sudden inspiration, he picked up the DVD he needed and headed out. Kevin walked to the door, disgruntled. He, too, received a call from his spouse telling him dinner was cancelled and he wasn’t too pleased. Also, a person should tell you before showing up to your house, especially around dinner time when it’s rude not to offer someone food. Ever the gentleman, he opened the door anyway, surprised by what he saw.“Kev!” Jake said without preamble, as he walked into the house and took off his shoes. “I was sitting at home when I remembered that you’ve never seen Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. You were so mad when you found out that I figured you’d want to see it. And now is as good a time as any.”“Good evening to you, too, Jacob,” Kevin responded, slightly taken aback. “Thank you for the offer, but it is dinner time and Raymond should be home soon. I’ll have to pass.”“That’s a lie, Kev. Captain has been working late trying to get the commissioner job and today looked like it would be one of those days when I left. I promise not to eat all your food, but we’re doing it.”“I absolutely do not think I can stand another one of those ridiculous movies, regardless of how intriguing the title is.”“You’re right. I’m sorry.” Jake moved into the living room as he spoke, making it impossible for Kevin to try to force him out. “How about a deal? We can watch one movie of my choice and one of yours. That way we’re both happy.”Resigned to the fact that his husband’s coworker would not be leaving anytime soon, Kevin made his way over to the DVD shelf. Naturally, they were neatly organized in alphabetical order, so he knew exactly where to look. “Fine. But my movie goes first so you don’t try to leave before we’ve watched it.”“Deal!” Thus, an accord was struck and a tradition begun. Once a month, Jake and Kevin would have a movie night. Often they would pick a movie to see if it would torture the other, but the two would always have a good time.About four months in, after they had chosen to meet on the second Saturday of each month, they ran into their first hiccup. Raymond was home. Jake took a little longer to choose the movie this time, which caused him to be 3 minutes late. He was already working on an explanation for Kevin when the door opened, revealing his Captain.“Oh, um, hi, Captain,” Jake sputtered, all excuses flying out of his head. “Um, is Kevin home?”“Jacob!” Kevin called as he moved into the view of the slightly open door. “I was beginning to think I’d been stood up. Glad to see you came through.”“It’s only three minutes,” Jake responded, eyes still locked in on the uninterpretable stare of his boss. “I couldn’t make a decision.”“Raymond, what are you doing? Let the boy in,” Kevin said, finally forcing his husband to open the door all the way. “It’s movie night and if we don’t start soon I won’t get my solid 8 hours in. I don’t want to be irritable on our morning hike tomorrow.”“Oh, right,” Raymond said, finally realizing why his detective was asking for his husband. “I will just be upstairs, I guess.”“Nonsense, Captain. You gotta watch, too. I’ve made the most epic of choices and Kev is going to love it. So will you! Let’s get this party started!” Jake was worried at first about watching movies with both his boss and his boss’ husband, but it was just as good, if not better than the original arrangement. He even suggested that Raymond also pick a movie, but the older man refused.“Three movies is far too many, Jake. We’d have to start in the middle of the day to fit them all in and that’s a waste of sunlight. I enjoy Kevin’s picks well enough.”Amy, on the other hand, could only pretend to be happy when Holt joined in on Jake and Kevin’s little tradition.“I’m happy you’re having fun, babe, but he’s my mentor, too! You can’t just monopolize him because you’re friends with his husband.”Jake took his wife by the hands and looked her in the eyes, saying, “Ames. I hope you know how crazy you sound. But, for realz, you can come next week. Kevin and I talked about it and we decided it’s time.”Her dance in response nearly broke her favorite reading lamp, but Jake wouldn’t have had it any other way. The next week’s movie night was a hit. Jake picked Die Hard for the second time in a row (“No more Die Hard for 4 months Jacob, I mean it,”) and Kevin chose a documentary about the Trojan War (“Well then, Kevin, no more documentaries for 4 months. Your movie’s gotta have a story,”). Raymond and Amy were happy to see their husbands enjoying themselves and enjoyed Kevin’s pick. Die Hard was only interesting to all the people who had been forced to watch it a hundred times because Jake attempted to act it out the whole time. The following month, Jake called Kevin the week before the event.“Dr. Kevin Cozner, PhD. To whom am I speaking?”“Kevin, I know it’s you, I called you. And, I know you have caller ID so you know it’s Jake.”“Good afternoon, Jacob. To what do I owe the pleasure?”“I was thinking about next week and I have an idea, but it might seem a little crazy.”“I think most of your ideas are crazy, but continue.”“This month, Ray and Amy should be able to pick the movies. We can switch off who gets what month from now on so they feel included. It’s not really just our thing anymore and it hasn’t been since Ray was there the first time.”“You’re absolutely correct, Jacob. I think that’s a great idea. However, if you thought of this as a way to get out of the Die Hard ban, then it’ll be 4 of our turns before you can pick it again.”“Then the same goes for documentaries, my friend. I’ll tell Amy and you can tell Ray.”“I’ll see you next weekend, Jacob. Goodbye.”“Later Gator!” Jake could hear Kevin’s sigh as he hung up, but didn’t care. When he told Amy the exciting new method, she was less than thrilled.“Oh my god, Jake. That’s way too much pressure. What if they hate the movie I pick? What if it causes them to hate me? What if I pick the wrong movie and then they never talk to me again? You know I can’t not talk to Holt again, he’s my mentor and he’s a cavern of good advice.”“Amy. Chill. I’ve made Kevin watch all the Die Hard movies. And he’s made me watch so many things about Ancient Greece that I probably know more about the gods than Dionysus himself. And I know he’s a god because of all the documentaries! It’s never been about picking a movie for the other people. It’s about picking a movie you want to watch and then doing so with your friends. Don’t stress out, babe.” Amy’s pick was, in fact, very well received by everyone. Jake thought it would be boring, especially since it was about Ancient Greece, (“This is pandering, Ames!”) but the scene where the main character and his son ruthlessly slaughtered all his wife’s suitors won Jake over.He was even more worried about Ray’s pick, but soon discovered that even robots know how to pick good films. Dialogue or not, a good story is a good story. Life went on and with it, the tradition. It took a few months of Ray and Amy picks for Jake to stop being worried about being bored by their choices. The best movie night (in the eyes of Ray and Amy, at least) came about a year and a half after its beginning. It was a Jake-Kevin Night, and both of them had been forced into yet another Die Hard and documentary ban. Regardless, they were both excited for their pick.“Alrighty guys. Tonight I have selected something that might just been the best non-Die Hard movie of all time,” Jake said, walking around like a TV presenter, hiding the movie behind his back.“Amy, will you tell us what movie it is?” Ray asked, hoping to avoid Jake’s attempt at flair.“I can’t,” was her apologetic response. “He refused to tell me what it was. We’re in it for the long run, I guess.”“We got all the best qualities in a film: swords, brain games, pirates, princesses, horses, romance, adventure,” Jake continued, unfazed. “It’s the one and only… The Princess Bride!”“Oh, you’re kidding,” Kevin said, looking annoyed at Jake’s antics.“What? That was a beautiful lead-in!”“No, it’s not the presentation I take issue with.”“So you’re the one person alive who doesn’t like The Princess Bride? I should’ve known,” Jake put a small amount of bitterness into his words, just enough for everyone to know he was joking.“No, Jacob, it’s this,” Kevin finished his sentence by presenting the movie he was concealing himself. It was, against all odds, also The Princess Bride.Ray and Amy erupted into a fit of laughter. This thing seemed so impossible. Jake and Kevin had hardly ever like a movie the other picked. There was no reason for the two of them to have any crossover in their interests.“Well, you’ll just have to pick another one,” Jake said, choosing to ignore the giggles emanating from the couch.“Absolutely not,” Kevin replied. “My pick always goes first, so you’re the one who will have to pick another one.”“This is your house. I don’t have any of my movies here. Plus, I don’t wanna!”“Neither do I.”“Then I guess we’ll just have to watch it twice.”“That seems reasonable.”“Wait, what?” Ray paused his laughing fit and stared at his husband in disbelief. “Watch the same movie? Twice in a row?”“Yeah, Jake. That’s a little crazy. Even for you,” Amy said. “Why don’t you just pick something else?”“Absolutely not,” Jake said, motioning for Kevin to put the DVD in and start up the movie. “This is gonna be great. We can take a mini break in between to cleanse, though.”“As you wish,” his wife replied, causing him to smile as he sat down on the couch and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her blanket onto his lap, as well. Any cancellations due to particularly trying cases, last minute shift changes, or other minor inconveniences were planned around, and they would simply move the event to the next week.One time, however, Jake and Amy did not inform their friends of a reason they could not attend. They simply did not show up.“Is Peralta here yet?” Ray asked as his husband walked into the living room.“Raymond, call him Jake. He hasn’t worked for you in two years. Use his first name. And no, they’re not here.”“I would expect this from Jake, but Amy is historically punctual. Something must be wrong.”“There is no need to worry. I’m sure they’re just in traffic or something.”Just then, Kevin’s phone started ringing, and he pulled it out of his pocket while looking pointedly at Ray. “See, this is Jake now. Stop your fretting.”He answered the phone. Ray watched as his eyes grew wide and he nodded along to whatever Jake was saying on the phone. After a quick goodbye, he hung up.“Okay, now you are worrying me, Kevin,” Raymond said, looking at his husband’s shocked face. “What is it? What is wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong, Raymond. Amy had the baby. Jake got so caught up in everything that he forgot to call us. He wants us to come meet his daughter.”Raymond’s face lit up with one of the widest grins Kevin had ever seen. The two rushed out the door, all thoughts of the movie night gone, excited to meet their friends’ new child.Kevin would later argue that the day of the birth of his first surrogate grandchild was the best movie night, usurping “Princess Bride Night”. Jake would argue that they never watched any movies that night, so it couldn’t win that category. It was, however, ranked in his top 8 nights of all time, alongside Halloween of 2017, his release from prison, the birth of his son, his wedding night, the birth of his second daughter, the night he and Amy kissed for the first time, and, of course, January 14, 2014. The following months found movie night being moved into Jake and Amy’s apartment because the new parents decided it was too soon to leave Isabella at home. Raymond and Kevin were more than happy to oblige, using it as an unneeded excuse to spend time with the baby.When Jake and Amy did decide they were ready to have their first night out, Ray and Kevin were their first choice of babysitters. The two men were happy to accept, and it became a regular gig. And, since the babysitters were part of the event that brought Jake and Amy out of the house most frequently, Isabella (and, later, her siblings) became a part of the movie night tradition. Eventually, there would be a movie selected for the children’s enjoyment and then one for the adults to watch after the kids went to bed.Jake was always happy to see his family watching movies together. No matter how many times he had to pretend to care about Van Gogh’s life story, it was worth it to see the commissioner of the New York Police Department singing along to “Make a Man Out of You” with his children.