puzzles of a heart | spencer reid ✓

three

The balcony door was open and the wind rustled the floor to ceiling curtains with a gentle tickle, filtering the antiseptic and artificial aroma of the room and replaced it with soft ocean air. The two queen beds which took most of the space in the room were placed beside each other and separated by an intricate design of a coffee table; upon it, lay a reading lamp and the phone for room service. The spacious couch in the corner was occupied by a brooding Spencer who was scribbling down an assortment of information into his notebook, and his mouth chewed on the ends of his pen.

"What do you want for dinner tonight?" Valeria asked from her relaxed position on the bed, barely glancing up from her phone. She was texting her friends from college, fingers quick on the screen and partially absorbed. "Spence?"

His reply came a few seconds later. "I don't mind."

The pair of them would technically not be on undercover duty tonight despite the growing tension and the severity of the case. Hotchner, Prentiss and Rossi were scheduled to consult the director and the captain, while Derek and JJ began interviewing staff on the night of the murders. Spencer and Valeria were assigned to background checking, and in her opinion, decidedly the blandest and most uneventful part of profiling criminals.

"What are you doing?"

"Listing some characteristics our killer might possess."

She sniffled a groan and rolled over onto her side. Why is he so fucking boring? Valeria merely couldn't understand his obsession with his work and inability to enjoy life as it was in the present, always nose-deep in something. "What should I do?"

"Order room service."

"Why don't we go to a restaurant?"

Spencer stopped his pen, and the annoying scratching noise ceased its presence at once. "Why should we do that?"

"Why not?"

"I don't know, I just thought it was easier to eat in," he mumbled before resuming his work.

Valeria was irritated at his dull response to her invitation, and for a second considered how Derek wouldn't hesitate to take her out to the most upscale restaurant aboard. Derek, the polar opposite of Spencer in almost every way; his charming, outgoing persona that managed to make her feel at ease in a room of watchful strangers and entirely new places. How he could make her feel unique and included in his line of work despite her differences! "Come on, have you ever even been on a cruise before?"

"No, but I don't particularly want to either." When she didn't respond straight away, he added brusquely: "what's the point?"

"You're literally the biggest pessimist I've ever met."

Spencer threw her a closed-mouthed smile but she barely saw it from the corner of her vision. "Thanks, Val."

She turned off her phone and switched her full attention to him, unwilling to back down from her request. "Let's go to a restaurant later, and actually enjoy the first night aboard."

"There's no need... I don't particularly relish the atmosphere of fine dining, to be honest-"

"Okay, but I want to go."

"You can go if you want."

She was essentially pleading, struggling to believe what she was hearing; the harsh, direct rejection from a nerd who wanted to join the book club on a leisure cruise and graduated college at sixteen? "Really? Seriously, come with me."

"I'm just saying it's simply easier if we just ordered room service."

Valeria had to take a different approach. "Okay, what if I tell you that it'll be a great strategy to capture the environment of the cruise, in a totally casual and nonchalant perspective. Maybe we can even spot something or meet interesting people that can help us. Think about it, it's better than to sit here and do nothing while the team is working."