AN: A series of vignettes purely from Chandler's POV (I think- there may be some chapters from the other Friends' POV's). This first one takes place in Season 1- sometime after TOW The Ick Factor. Further chapters may include mentions of Mondler. The title is from a Japanese song, which is also the theme to the show "Ghost in the Shell"
Pray for anyone affected by Hurricane Katrina.
One of the reasons Chandler likes to stay up so late is that there's a vague surreal feeling to it- padding around the kitchen in the near dark, the foosball table looming seemingly out of nowhere if you weren't paying attention. And when he was full-out exhausted (something that usually went hand-in-hand with staying up past three am), there was a crispness that tugged at his eyelids, and made him feel like an actual writer, if that made any sense. Made him feel like a part of the cliché- young working-class authors, living on coffee and things that you didn't have to cook. To put it as simply as he could ever put anything (which wasn't very), staying up late made him feel like a part of the writing world, even if he himself wasn't.
Because the rhythm of clacking keys on a keyboard still thumping determinedly in his ears wasn't a result of typing out his thoughts and dreams and the tangible air that made New York City what it was, but from reconfiguring data for other companies. And it was so mundane that he wasn't even sure what it meant anymore. Chandler just knew that he'd trade the sizeable increased paycheck in a millisecond for his co-workers seeing him as a friend again, instead of "Boss Man Bing."
But it's too late for moping- his bed called, and he could mold sentences until they sounded just right in his head some other time. Like at work tomorrow, in-between Doug's first ass-slap of the day and his secretary's third dump of papers into his In-box.
AN: There's an awful lot of run-on sentances, now that I reread this. Oh, well. Please review!
