the sound of silence - criminal minds

three. checkmate

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

the plane grew quiet every couple minutes,
someone only saying something if it related to the case, aria, being the last one on, took the empty seat across from spencer, as she usually did.

"do you know chess ?" spencer speaks up, setting up a game in front of him and the brunette girl who say across from him. the others not batting an eye, distracted by music, or a book, or just zoned out looking out of the window.

"i do, i used to play a lot with my dad, before he-... yeah, i do." aria says, an unexplainable and unheard story almost slipping from her mouth.

spencer gives a curious look, catching the slip up, but not making a big deal out of it, at least not visibly.

"just a warning, spence, there's not a single time i've been beaten, and thats saying a lot being as i beat my dad years ago, although it's definitely been a minute soo." aria says, a smile followed by the look of confidence appears on her face.

"oh, no way, martinez, spencer plays chess religiously, and i've never met someone so determined." derek morgan says, looking between the two, then sitting next to spencer, diagonal from aria.

derek is greeted by aria, who rolls her eyes at his exclamation. she doubts she'll actually beat spencer, but if she shows an exceeding amount of confidence, there's a slight chance of him becoming intimidated.

the game continues, the two competitive brunettes, focusing every ounce of attention on the board sat in front of them, exchanging hasty looks between turns.

"damn, this is getting heated guys", he says, gripping spencers shoulder, "what turn are you going with, genius?" he says, only distracting the boy from his next turn.

"so spencer, new tie ? very nice, looks good on you." aria says, her strategy of distraction hopefully pursuing successfully.

morgan chuckles slightly, looking up from his book at the girl, spotting her strategy, wondering if reid will spot it too.

"o-oh, you noticed ? yes, it is new, t-thank you. actually, i dont know if you knew, but basically, the city of shengzhou in china is one of the world's biggest tie producers, with 200 million ties made there each year. pretty crazy numbers if you think about it." spencers says, completely and stupidly distracted by aria's strategized compliment.

spencer stays thinking about that compliment, totally caught off guard with the act, trying to get back into the game, but his gaze could not get enough of the beautiful brunette sitting across from him.

minutes later

"checkmate!" aria says, flailing her hands up, celebrating confidently and proud. spencers jaw hanging wide, shocked of his absolute defeat. morgan giggles and shakes his head, not sure if aria's plan would work, but to his surprise, it totally did.

"w-what ? how did you- what did you-" spencer says, still in absolute defeat, but awe at the girl's happiness.

"i told you, i never lose." she says, gloating right in front of spencer. she had doubts of her success, but she could not show doubt, although, being the profiler he is, reid probably saw the slightest doubt in her eyes.

"i gotta say, i did not think you would pull it off, tinez, nice one girl." morgan says, still laughing, but standing up, giving aria a congratulating pat on the shoulder, then walking over to sit with JJ.