Sherlock preferences

Attempting an escape room

A/n - Hey guys! As I was writing this part, I realised that it was getting waaaaaaaayyyyy too long for one chapter. I decided, instead, to split it in two. This part is just John and Mycroft, part two will be Sherlock and Moriarty and should come out some time next week. I hope you enjoy!...
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John-
So far, you had been stuck in the room for thirty five minutes...
It was not a small room by any means, there was a large table in the centre, various wall ornaments like clocks, paintings and lamps, any of which could be concealing a secret code or safe. There were a few rooms attached to the room you were in, meaning the layout as whole was open plan featuring a kitchen, living room, bedroom and small walk-in wardrobe area. The place was warm, smelt like embers and overall had an embracing homely feel to it. You had expressed previously to your boyfriend that, if he took you to a scary escape room, you would violently murder him in the process. So, here you were... Just over half an hour in, and stuck. You had spent quite a lot of time pressed against John's chest. Although the room was considerably large, the knowledge that you were actually locked in there made you a little claustrophobic and the feeling of his string torso agains you're gave you a sense of security. His arms too. The feeling of them around your waist and shoulders made you want to hug him all day, literally, you could never, ever get tired of his company.
"Right, what do we have so far?..." John scratched his head, as he leant against the great oak centre table. You looked at the scrap of paper in your hand. Initially, your face displayed a look of confusion, a sense of curious fluidity dripping at your brow. But then you realised you were holding upside down...
"Oh, well me genius." John chuckled as you faux scowled at him, sticking your tongue out like a displeased child.
"It's a picture."
"Of...?" John commented, leaning over your shoulder
"A lady."
"Oh! I've seen that! It's above the bed-frame. Come, look!"
You scrambled past each other childishly in an attempt to get to the painting first. She really was quite beautiful. Sitting there, staring with a subtly judgemental gaze across the room.
"You do it." You whispered excitedly as John stood on the bed, wobbling slightly as the springs fidgeted under his feet with the sudden uneven weight distribution upon their fragile coils. John reached up to the frame of the painting and lifted it off the cream wall. Behind it was a small hole with yet another piece of paper in it. It was crumpled and torn a little, the product of major disregard. On hopping down from the bed and turning it over, you saw the next clue...

"Congratulations worthy ones, you've almost spent your day... But here you find the final clue, it at 255K"

"Well, what the hell does that mean?..." John asked, befuddled as his hands met, once again, with his silvery blonde locks. He gripped you hand softly, in thought, as he glanced around the room.
"255K?...two hundred and twenty five thousand?... What could that be in here?" He was speaking out loud to himself as you giggled. He often spoke out loud when deep in thought. You lead him back to the centre of the room and both sat down to think.
"There's a safe in the wardrobe...maybe 225K means money, like in the safe?" He rose from his chair and tried to open the stubborn metal box but to no avail, it's door was as jammed as the Buckingham palace gates...
"John..." You murmured, causing him to turn and his eyes to glisten with a depth of peculiarity.
"Yes (y/n)"
"Don't laugh... This may be a bit of a long shot but... Let me go to my... Mind palace..."
You clenched your eyelids for a brief moment, cringing at the words that had just passed your lips.
"Your what?" John stuttered, unable to process your suggestion.
"My mind palace John... I created one in my year at college to aid with my revision... Maybe I could dig something up that may be of use?..."
John came over and sat beside you, reaching his arms round your shoulder and pulling you into a hug. His arms felt amazing against your tensed ribs.
"If you think you can do it babe... I'm game for trying anything. I just... Never knew you had one that's all."
You smiled at him warmly as you rose from your chair and stood in a section of the room which had superfluous space to move around in if needs be.
"Okay..." You inhaled deeply through pink, pursed lips and closed your eyes. You were under. John marvelled at the spectacle. Your fingers quivered and twitched as if typing for a few seconds before your arms began to move more vividly. Your hands caught into a string of thought, a chain of intellect that you nearly forgot you possessed. Your arms danced around the air, swiping away useless information and digging for that one tiny piece that would actually be of some use to you.
"Come on, come on..." You murmured to yourself as you gritted your teeth. John could see you begin to behave more and more like Sherlock... The straight poise, the dancing elegant hands, the furrowed brow which was obviously deep in thought. You bit your tongue lightly before opening your eyes wide and covering your mouth with a satisfactory achievement.
"John!! I've done it! It's not K for thousand! K stands for KELVIN!!! Don't you see!?" You leapt off the carpet, punching the air with your fists with a kind of childlike energy. John still just stood there, confused.
"It stands for what?..."
"Kelvin John! KELVIN! A level chemistry! 225K is -18 degrees Celsius! The freezer John! Look in the freezer!" You chewed your nails with a sickening anticipation as John approached the kitchen. Before you knew it, John was holding the freezing cold key in his hands an you burst out crying with happiness.
"You, (y/n), are absolutely bloody amazing you know that?"
"I don't know why I'm crying!.." You laughed as tears flooded down your cheeks like a dam had burst in your eyes.
"You're crying because you are so fucking smart." John kissed your forehead repetitively as you hugged his warm torso. You smiled into the wool of his jumper as your brain relaxed once more.
"Now I see why Sherlock uses his mind palace so much... It's absolutely amazing!!..." You gasped through your hysterics as you approached the door together. Turning the key in the lock felt like the most satisfying thing ever...
"I guess you're the smart one now..." John laughed as your hands interlocked.
"Step aside Sherlock... There's a new mind in town..."

Mycroft-
After many weeks of pestering and insisting, Mycroft finally took you to an escape room. You've always wanted to go to one, just to see if you would make a good detective...
The place where you found yourself was not how you had imagined. It was a bright, modern, open plan apartment with bright wide windows which allowed beams of light to flood across the floor and high ceilings. It was not the claustrophobic, gothic box you had anticipated. The antithesis in fact. There were tiny golden leaves painted onto the wallpaper which glittered an flicked with light as the sun caught them. The place was, in all, rather pleasant. As you pattered around, your shoes clicked against the wooden floor, the only break from this noise being the times you stood on the rug. A small red circle near the dining table. Mycroft looked around the room, his hands behind his back, creating a regal pose, and his his eyebrows were raised ever so slightly, giving his harsh eyes an odd sense of openness and vulnerability.
"Myc... We've been here an hour... I don't understand this clue! Please help meee!!"
Mycroft turned on his heel and placed his hands intensely on your waist before speaking:
"(Y/n), you are completely smart enough to figure this out in your own... Just give it another five minutes, you might have an epiphany!" You nodded half-confidently and looked up to the security camera in the corner of the room
"Can I hear the clue again please?"
A squeaky, pubescent voice crackled through the speaker, it sounded like a seventeen year old boy who smoked two packs a day...

"Ughhh.... Again?... Okay, fine lady...
To find the next clue, or so I'm told, get your head out of the clouds and look to your soul..."

You froze for a second, the information twitching through your eyes like a computer code. You sighed softly
"Soul... Soul...?... Wait!?" You suddenly perked up, catching Mycroft's eyes. The glint that had appeared in them made you certain that you had got it.
"He said soul! I was interpreting that as in your inner soul, like your spirit. But it means sole! The sole of my shoe! Look under our feet!! Get off the rug!!!"
You yelped and pushed him aside gently as you rolled the rug over. "God, I'm so stupid... There's always something under the rug..." Mycroft held your waist once more and starred at you, his gaze interlocking with yours with a muted severity.
"(Y/n), I know this is just a game but please, don't call yourself stupid, you did get the clue on your own after all..."
You nodded and rolled yourself onto your tiptoes, giving Mycroft a kiss on the cheek which he retorted with a cheeky hug and let you continue. You flipped over the red circle of carpet to reveal a number... 3.1415
"I know that number..."
You wracked your brains for a second before snapping your fingers, you eyes it up too, like someone flicking on a light switch in your corneas.
"3.1415... That's Pi right?... Why did they write Pi on the rug?..."
You pondered the irrational figure in your head for a brief moment, pulling out a chair from the table and perching on it like a bird perching on a feeder; precariously and ready to move at any second. You closed your eyes and leant back slightly, inhaling deeply thoughts flushed your mind.
"Hold on..." You stated, eyes snapping open suddenly as you inhaled again. As you took the warm air of the room into your lungs, a grin tugged at your lips. A feeling of homeliness and warmth engulfed you with a nostalgic blanket.
"Is that...? Cherry pie?... Oh, that's clever..." You grinned even wider as you took Mycroft's hand and lead him to the kitchen. As you opened the oven, a wave of warmth lapped over you. It felt almost exactly like the colour yellow. You grabbed a tea-towel and gloved your hands with it before pulling out the golden pastry from its hot cavern.
"Quick, get a spoon or something!" You giggled excitedly to your boyfriend as you set it down in the table. He presented you with a two pronged fork, presumably used for barbecuing, and smiled, knowing that you had enjoyed yourself that day. You tentatively pierced the top of the pie and marvelled at the elegant cloud of steam which shot in a plume from the opening. Your fork hit something hard. You tapped it. It was metallic in nature and had a long, thin, cylindrical barrel.
"The key!" You squeaked as you pulled it from the cherry blood and dropped it on the table (it was still very hot).
"Well done precious, I knew you could do it" Mycroft smiled genuinely as he placed his hands on yours which were resting on the marble countertop. He stroked the back of your hands with his thumbs and leant in for a kiss...

"Alright! Alright! I get the picture, you love each other, whoop-Dee-doo... Can you just get out?... I've got to clean up the mess you've made..."

The awkward pubescent voice rattled through the speakers once more, interrupting your moment of intimacy.
"Come on myc... Let's go, we'll have more fun at home anyway." You grinned suavely as you licked jam off the now cooled key. Mycroft scooped you up into his arms and carried you to the door despite your pathetic protests and giggling fits. You turned the key in the lock and were met by welcoming freedom...
"Well, that was fun! Same time next week?..."