"You don't stay together because you're soul mates, you're soul mates because you stay together."

It was another Friday night drawing to an end in the same way they had grown accustomed to surprisingly quickly. Amy figured that after she and Jake started dating that at least some parts of their relationship dynamic would change, but it really didn't. They were still Amy and Jake, still partners, still friends, with the added benefit of being able to kiss each other whenever they felt like it. There was still the teasing (that they both pretended to hate) but now it was spread in between whispers of 'I love yous' and some fantastic sex.

He was still weird as ever though. A couple months back he started a challenge where they'd go to a site that gave them a randomly generated movie on Netflix and the first one who backed down and turned it off (common excuses were too boring, creepy, etc.) had to the chores for the next 3 days. Unsurprisingly he hated foreign subtitle ones the most with sports coming in a close second, while Amy couldn't stand musicals- even though they could both hold their own for the most part. The worst they saw was their last random night where they started a horror movie with the ambiguous title of Teeth that surprised Amy that she had to be the one to turn it off (because teeth and... she couldn't finish it. Jake didn't seem to mind all of the dick violence though). So she was beyond relieved when the random generator spit out Homeward Bound.

It was nice just watching something from childhood with him. About halfway through she had laid her feet on his lap and he massaged them which felt amazing and wasn't too distracting, but towards the end of the movie all she could concentrate on was him.

Jake was still watching the screen with a slight smile on the face and he wasn't even doing anything particular, but it just hit her all at once how crazy she was about him. The image of the two of them together was just so saccharine sweet that it was almost embarrassing how much she adored it. Amy pictured doing this with him for years, and she never wanted to let the picture go.

"Do you believe in soul mates?" She asked as the credits started rolling. She hadn't meant to ask it out loud, but it was too late to take it back after the words were already out of her mouth. Jake turned to her with a curious look on his face and a quirked eyebrow.

"Where did that come from?"

"I don't know. Just answer the question," she urged, already overwhelmingly embarrassed. He was pretty sappy himself, but Amy still wasn't good at the overly sentimental stuff. They had both already told them they loved each other, and they knew all the things they didn't say, but Jake was much better at voicing his affections (even if it wasn't the typical way- like when he told her the other day that he would actually make the sacrifice and go to a police seminar with her if she wanted him to). She wasn't even good at letting her family members know how much they meant to her and she'd had years to work on that. She was fine saying 'I love you' but that was just a generic phrase that anyone could say to their boyfriend. She wanted to tell him about all the things that only Amy could say to Jake. She wanted to tell him about how she loved all text messages he sent her with random emojis throughout the day filled with all the nonsense running through his head, and how even though she rolled her eyes at most of his jokes the only times she didn't laugh were because she was biting her tongue to hold it in, and how happy she was because she wasn't sure they would ever get to this point but it was the best thing that ever happened to her. Amy knew that he wasn't bothered by anything she said or didn't say, and she was sure that he knew all of the things she felt, but it didn't change the fact that she wanted to actually tell him all of it- out loud. She was just working up to it.

"I'd rather not. I hope they're not real," Jake shrugged as he went back to scanning the credits. When he asked her why the voice to one of the dogs was familiar and she told him he was an actor in Back to the Future he didn't believe her but was too lazy to look it up, so he had more or less been waiting for the movie to end so he could prove himself right (which he would soon discover he was completely wrong). It was probably a good thing that he wasn't focused on her, because then he would have seen her shocked face.

"Why?" Amy asked. She hadn't expected that at all. Jake was the kind of person who wouldn't need any convincing if you told him you saw a unicorn. He always made her make a wish when she blew out birthday candles and every time he looked at the clock and it was the correct time he would shout "It's 11:11!" whether she was in the other room or right next to him. They always watched romantic comedies together because he wanted to watch them, and said since she was his girlfriend she was "legally required" to watch them with him otherwise he would get his "man card revoked", so she humors him. And yeah, he gets teary eyed when the main characters finally get together, so she really wasn't expecting anything other than a yes (in his own weird words of course).

"I guess I like thinking that I choose who I love, and so does the person who loves me. Like I get from those boring awful documentaries you trick me into watching with you say it's all science-y and brainy and shit and there's some stuff you don't have control over, but there's gotta be some stuff that you do. I don't want to be with someone cause it's destiny or whatever, I want to be with them because I make that choice, over and over, not because it's a trap. And people use that as an excuse all the time when it doesn't work out 'it wasn't meant to be' and sometimes people are bad matches, but sometimes it's because they're just shitty at relationships and think that because they have to put in some work that means they're not soul mates or whatever cause it's not perfect like they expected it to be, so the give up. So I want it to be a choice and I don't want anyone to be stuck with me. And I-" He paused when he glanced over at her she realized the look on her face was probably what made him stop.

She knew she had that look on her face that she gets when she's just amazed by him. Because Jake really was amazing. He was always amazing and it was far too easy to get accustomed to his consistent amazingness, but sometimes he would go above and beyond and she'd remember just how lucky she was. And even though she couldn't tell him all of the things she wanted to tell him, she made sure that he could see it in her eyes with every look she gave him.

A lot of times Jake tried to hide behind jokes and sarcasm or make some egotistical comment to distract people from finding out that he was actually a good person, but sometimes he would let his guard down and say something genuine and sincere. Those were always Amy's favorite times with him, when he was just so utterly honest. But sometimes when he did forget himself like that, he would realize she was giving him an 'You're amazing' look and get all bashful and flustered like he was at that moment.

"I- I don't know," he stuttered slightly. "I think it's nice for someone to love you because they really want to love you..." he trailed off and his eyes widened when Amy shifted herself so she was closer to him and balanced herself with her hands on his shoulders.

"I didn't know it was possible, but you just made the idea of soul mates sound like the most unromantic thing in the world," she smiled, and he returned it easily. Amy knew that nothing could get better than this. Amy and Jake, together, not even having to try.

"I love you," she said as she pressed a kiss into his forehead, but instead of pulling back she murmured into his skin "You beautiful soul."

She was almost sure he stopped breathing until she felt his shoulders shake under her and she realized he was laughing.

"I think that's the lamest thing you've ever said to me," Jake chuckled, and she just rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"Don't lie and say you didn't love it," she tried her best to sound annoyed, but she couldn't hide her smile, not from him. He was grinning at her with those bright eyes and she knew she would never need anything else ever again.

"Yeah, I actually kinda did," he conceded full of mirth. He rested his hands on the side of her face for a solid sweet moment until he finally guided her lips to his.

She wasn't sure if she would ever get used to his kisses.

And she was okay with that.

AN: So the first movie mentioned is called Teeth, and if you've never heard of it and didn't get from the context clues it's about a girl who has teeth located in her vagina and yes it exists and yes it is available on Netflix, even though I still haven't watched it yet. And unfortunately Homeward Bound is not available on Netflix (Yet!) but I wanted it in there to get through the expo, so there it was.
Let me know what you guys thought and if I should put more up of my disgustingly sentimental crap planned for these two.
I've been listening to Grouplove over and over on repeat for most of this fic, with Shark Attack, I'm with you, and Itchin' on a Photograph getting the most plays.
And please do let me know if the extraneous details about the movies and stuff like that is annoying or something (I was trying to go for more realistic).