July 23 - Coulda Been A Contender

[pompey_01]

 Title: Coulda Been a Contender 
Author: Pompey 
Universe: BBC 
Rating: PG 
Warnings: reference to murder and grief hallucinations 
Word count: 300
Summary: John watches the 2012 Olympics by himself, but Sherlock's ghost won't leave him alone. 
Prompt: July 23 – Olympic style sport

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It took some channel flipping but John finally found coverage of the pistol shooting. He tried to enjoy it but found himself overanalyzing everything.

"You could have qualified," Sherlock's voice told him.

John closed his eyes momentarily and tried to focus on the telly. He'd had occasional grief hallucinations in the past months but not for a while and he hoped he'd finally seen – and heard – the last of them. Apparently not.

"The only reason we have countrymen shooting at all is because we're hosting the Olympics this year," Sherlock's voice persisted. "You should be competing. 50 meter pistol. You're the equal of any of them. For God's sake, South Korea is leading!"

When John made no response, Sherlock persisted. "That night you shot the cabdriver to save me. Perfect kill shot from how many meters away, through a window, with an illegal handgun. Imagine what kind of shooting you could do with a proper weapon and proper equipment. John, you could've been an Olympian."

"Oh, come off it," John muttered before he remembered that speaking to hallucinations was Not Done.

"You come off it," Sherlock's voice retorted. "You're an Olympic-caliber shooter and you know it. And you know that you know it, because I'm your hallucination. I'm not saying anything you don't already know."

Shut up, John thought viciously.

"You could have tried out for a position but you didn't. This is why nothing ever happens to you. It's because you no longer allow any opportunity for anything to happen. That's why we were good together. Things happened when I was – "

"Shut up!" John shouted. Suddenly the only sound in the room was the quiet commentary from the telly. Silently he hunched into himself, stared at the screen, and tried to convince himself that this was all fine.