A/N: Round one.

Everyone was too busy staring at the box to notice Sherlock quietly re-activating the app, his fingers typing nimbly under the coat. A quick vibration reminded John of what was to come. He nodded at Sherlock, who in turn, nodded hesitantly back. John furrowed his eyebrows in thought – did Sherlock look worried?

"Well, now that we have your attention..." Tom dragged on, with a smirk. He seemed to be enjoying every moment of the suffocating tension in the room. If looks could kill, Tom would have been killed fourteen times.

"I would like for our producer, Ms. Summer to reveal the contents of this box to our..." his eyes wandered off to all the couples "...slightly impatient contestants".

Someone snorted and it took Tom considerable control to not giggle.

Miss Summer slowly opened the box. It had eight black blindfolds and eight silver ones. The cameras focused onto them, while she slowly took one from the box and displayed it to all the contestants. They all looked confused, until Victoria (the cheating red-heeled woman) grunted:

"Blindfolds"

Sherlock, in the mean-time, was silently fidgeting more and more in a way only recognisable to John. He cast a look at Sherlock but Sherlock refused to meet his eye.

Tom immediately chirped in, reclaiming the attention of the audience.

"Round One: Blindspot." For some reason, he imitated the female voice from A Minute to Win It with considerable success. He was really into game shows, this man.

"You and your partner will be blindfolded and will be left in a room. Your objective is to find your partner and pull one of the ropes hanging from the ceiling. There are only four ropes, which sadly means that we'll have to say goodbye to eight of you very soon." His expression turned solemn.

"That's it?" one of the contestants asked, incredulously.

"Oh, no, no, we are not that merciful" the spark in Tom's eyes returned. "You are not allowed to speak nor use your hands – we will be monitoring" he said, pointing to the cameras. A huge Cheshire grin spread on his face, once he saw the discomfort of his contestants.

"Any questions?" his eyes sparked, not unlike Sherlock when he proposes an extremely mad plan. (to which John eventually agrees to, of course)

No one answered. Everyone was looking at each other with hope and worry. Ruby (our previous make-up artist), came to blindfold us. She put the fold on Sherlock and then slowly put on John's.

"I am so worried about your eye-make up!" She fretted, while tying it from behind.

"It's okay, you can do it again." John replied, his mind clearly on bigger things than Ruby's eye-makeup.

"But it won't be like William's!"

"Wait, what?"

"He silently begged me to do your eye and lip makeup too, you know. Don't tell him!" she giggled in his ear.

John was glad that Sherlock was already blindfolded because his cheeks were burning red. The vibration was not helping, goddamnit.

"Okay, just hold each of my arm, both of you" she directed John's hand to hers.

They were led into another room along with the other contestants. John was left at the entrance (he assumed) and Sherlock was taken further along the room. Tom's voice came in through the speakers of the room.

"Hello everyone, this is Tom again! Eye-see that all is going well. This is quite the spectacle! How are my pupils doing?"

Two or three people groaned at his puns. John had to admit – they were so bad that they were good.

"Sorry, sorry. I guess my jokes got too cornea"

"Oh, come on!" someone whined.

There was flutter of laughter from the speaker.

"Okay, alright. The game is simple. Find your partner. Pull the rope. Got it?"

There were several murmurs of assent. Ruby came back, wished John luck and left.

"This is it, guys" Tom's voice was quivering with excitement.

"Arms behind your back" said Alexa.

"Get set" said Diana.

"GO!" yelled Matt.

John's phone had stopped vibrating but he was not very worried. He walked forward slowly, trying different directions to see if the phone would vibrate. He could hear the frantic scuttling all around him and Tom's never-stopping commentary although John could not comprehend a word of it. He moved slowly, not wanting to hit his face to the wall (which, by the sound of the cursing, someone already had). One of the ropes hit his face once, but he quickly moved away because he was not allowed to loiter near it without his partner.

After a few minutes of idle passing, his phone started buzzing slightly and John took a step forward to test it. It buzzed a little harder and John immediately changed direction. He walked in a zig-zag manner, every step sending more blood to his heart, every vibration getting more intense.

"This is Sherlock, the guy you lived with for ten years. Stop embarrassing yourself." he repeated to himself, although not quite achieving the desired result. There was something about the blindfolds – John would have never felt the anticipation he was feeling now.

He walked a little further and stilled. He didn't need the phone anymore – he knew that Sherlock was a feet away from him, also moving in his direction. His hand stilled and his breathing became slightly ragged. He moved forward – and they collided.

"Congratulations, Tony and Hannah! You go to Round twooooo" Tom announced, in midst of the celebratory phrases the band were yelling in the background.

Tom's voice knocked some sense into John. Sherlock prodded John with his shoulder for the sake of the people watching. They both faked an expression of delight on finding each other (not so fake in John's case, however). Sherlock took John's hand in his and strode forward, clearly knowing what he was doing. John just held on to Sherlock's hand, savouring the touch while it lasted. Sherlock halted to a stop, cursing slightly. Tony and Hannah had already used that rope. What were the odds? 0.25.

"Oooh, there's a couple almost about to make it. Will they? YES THEY DID! Congratulations Jonah and Amy! You made it to round two!" Tom announced, clearly happy with how things were going.

Jonah and Amy were laughing loudly as they passed John and Sherlock, clearly happy with each other.

"Things are getting a little intense now. Two ropes, four couples who have already found each other. The odds are not in your favour, fellas! I would hurry if I were you!"

"Remember what's at stake guys" said Alexa cockily.

Sherlock increased his pace, clearly not happy with how things were. John was a little worried too, he wanted to win so badly, for reasons he did not know what.

"You never were a good liar, Watson!" admonished his inner conscience. John calmly pressed Shift+Delete. Sherlock Holmes was not the only person who had a mind palace after all.

"Two couples are approaching their conquest...Oooh, who'll win I wonder! So close, so close! Oh, oh, that's it! Ana and Jonathan will be seeing Round two! Congrats, you guys! Alexa was rooting for you..." he was cut off, probably by Alexa.

"I love you all equally" she said cheekily into the microphone while Tom let out a soft yell.

"Okay, yeah, we believe you, Alexa. God, that woman has sharp nails."

Sherlock halted in triumph and John's head met his shoulder bone (no complaints mate).

"There you go! Hamish and William find the fourth! Congratulations, both of you!"

The entire room was filled with a deafening din of noises whilst Sherlock pulled the rope. A bucket of water fell from above, drenching them head to toe. John immediately removed his blindfold, giggling after he realised what happened. William seemed to have done the same, because John found himself staring at William's eyes. A light drizzle still continued, but neither of them moved away, instead they focused on smiling at each other. This was normal, this was two friends enjoying a joke. This was just like the million other times John and Sherlock shared a joke, just the two of them. This was familiar territory, this was home.

The drizzling finally stopped and John found rose petals taking their place. He stilled, he could feel a strange pull in his stomach. William's eyes met his and they seemed to be searching his whilst the rose petals still fell all around them. Sherlock came closer; his eyes still intent on John's. John's heart began beating a lot harder; his fingers were itching to touch Sherlock. He stood where he was, afraid to move. Sherlock stopped two painful inches away from John, and stared at him with an intensity that almost scared him. Then, in the midst of the din everyone was making, with all the cameras pointed towards them, with rose petals swaying gently between them, Sherlock Holmes kissed John. It was a quick peck, very hesitant and immediately pulled away. It was almost as if he was scared that he would burn his lips. He immediately turned away from John and smiled at the cameras. John soon joined him, his smile quite real.

Even though Sherlock Holmes was an incredible actor, even though the whole thing was a set-up, even though everything was lies, for those glorious five seconds, John Watson felt complete.

A/N: I have an end-semester examination tomorrow y'all. Wish me luck!

Please review, it really means a lot to me! :D