June 19, 2011
Author's Note: This chapter was quite fun to write. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. It's greatly appreciated. *Insert Chandler's victory dance!* Plus reviews feed my muse! No Phoebe in this chapter, but she's going to show up soon.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original Friends characters.
IV. ~TOW all the ping-pong
Wednesday, December 23, 2026 (Erica's POV) – Morning of games
We are all in the basement. Rhythmical pings can be heard every time the ball meets against a ping-pong paddle alternated by the thumps that occurs when the ball strikes the table. Daniel and Rosalie are playing – both are equally excellent (They have inherited their talent from their fathers). As they scurry around and rally, they are upholding a rather extensive conversation about everything else, other than ping-pong. Their conversation shifts into a discussion about the differences between integrals and derivatives (as Rosalie is taking Advanced Calculus in high school.). Neither is playing to win, so they hit the ball back and forth with regular precision. (Why on earth would they play a game and not care about winning?)
Matt, Jack and Andrew are all lying on the floor with their laptops and they are having their own little intensive LAN (local area network) game of Warcraft. They sit away from each other to prevent the others from peeking at their screens. They are mostly silent, but the silence is punctuated by profanity or some internet slang whenever something doesn't go their way, or when things get heated up (rather often, since they are all playing against each other.). Normally, I would join them, but Matt is really into computer games (and I hate losing), while Andrew, Jack and I play once in a blue moon. Matt's fingers move like lightning on the keyboard (similar to how Daniel's hands move when he's coding).
I am sitting on the floor against a wall, playing Angry Birds on my iPad. (I am trying to get three stars on every level. It's very hard. Damn physics!)
All of a sudden, there is an excited commotion that occurs in the guys. Andrew has taken down Jack. Jack doesn't seem fazed at all by his loss and goes to sit beside Matt to look over his screen. The noise disrupts Rosalie, who misses the ball.
Then we all hear mom calling us to lunch. (Matt and Andrew both stop their game, while Daniel and Rosalie put the paddles and the ball away.)
Afternoon – (Chandler's POV) – The origins of the ping-pong table
I make my way downstairs towards the basement to fetch the laundry that Monica had left in the dryer earlier. The ping-pong table comes into view and I remember the perplexing day when we (or I should say Monica) acquired the table.
~Friday, May 23, 2014 – Flashback~
It was a warm Friday afternoon, and I had gotten off work early. I walked up to our front door, whistling and I unlocked the door with my keys. (Monica had the day off work and the children were going to be at Ross and Rachel's after school.)
"Honey, I'm home!" I called out as I stepped through the doorway. There was silence. (This was really odd as Monica's car was still parked on the driveway – meaning that she had to be at home.)
I walked through the house, calling for Monica. When I got to the basement door I heard Monica's voice telling me to come downstairs. When I reached the bottom, I see Monica come up and she greets me with a kiss which I returned. (She had a really suspicious grin on her face. I should have suspected that something was up.)
"What were you doing in the basement, besides worrying the heck out of me when I was upstairs?" I ask. I was paying very little attention to my surroundings.
Her smile grew bigger when I realized that there was a ping-pong table at the corner of the room.
"That was totally NOT there this morning before I left for work." I remarked.
"I know! It just arrived an hour ago and I set it up! Play with me!"
Monica handed me a ping-pong paddle before I could process what she had just said.
Soon I found myself hitting the ball back and forth with my wife. (Then I consciously realized that I am playing ping-pong with Monica and that I must lose at all costs or suffer the consequences.)
So I deliberately threw the game.
And the one after that.
And the one after after that one.
At that point, Monica realized what was going on.
"Chandler! Stop purposely playing terribly! You're no fun! And I know that you are amazing at ping-pong!" She pouted.
"But-but, you are going to lose!" I stammered. (Crap, the lose-lose situation has just turned up.)
"So? Why can't I play an honest game of ping-pong with my husband?" (Am I in another dimension? Monica is not caring about losing? What the HELL is going on here?)
"But... *insert one of Chandler's noises* but..."
"No buts!"
"Who are you and what HAVE you done with Monica?"
"Chandler! I am being serious!"
"So am I!"
"Just play!"
Monica served the ball, and we rallied intensely for a few turns before I hit the ball at an angle. The ball bounced off the corner of the table on Monica's end and she misses it.
We played several more games. (I won all of them except one and was getting more and more perplexed at Monica's lack of needing to win.)
We stopped at what was the tenth round. I was panting and out of breath. My muscles felt sore (unused to the sudden onslaught of activity.).
We went upstairs after that and Monica drew me a bubble bath with the works. She actually grabbed the sponge and washed me down while gently massaging my sore muscles. (Monica got Phoebe to teach her how to give better massages after our discussion about the "worst massage" many years ago.)
"So, what's with the sudden I-don't-care-about-losing attitude?" I was completely in the dark.
Monica looked rather embarrassed.
"Tell me." I coaxed gently.
"It's just that... It's just that when you play, I find it rather sexy."
(Oh, now it makes a lot of sense. Like how she was so turned on when I beat Mike at ping-pong for her in Barbados many years ago.)
Monica and I started playing ping-pong regularly after that and let's just say that said ping-pong sessions almost always led to more pleasurable activities.
~End Flashback~
(Jack's POV) – Jack's room
I am sitting on my bed, tossing my large stuffed black spider up and down. (I still can't believe I lost the game to Andrew. From Matt sure, but Andrew? Oh, and I am a lot better at hiding my feelings about losing than Erica.) Daniel and Rosalie are fooling around at the piano (sight-reading duets and doing a little improvisation) while Matt and Andrew have returned back to the basement to play pool. (Matt and Andrew are best of friends, and when they were younger, they would do everything together.)
The walls of my room is coloured a shade of dark green (the mouldings at the bottom and top of the wall are kept whitewashed). A large and colourful cloth periodic table of the elements hangs in front of my desk where my laptop sits, and several textbooks are stacked neatly in the corner.
I catch a glimpse of a framed picture that lies on my bookshelf. It's a sketch of me that Erica had drawn at least a decade ago. The lines are rough, but that gives the picture the energy that I had exuded when I was a kid. (I remember that she had drawn a sketch of everyone at some point, and I know that everyone who I've talked to have kept their portraits.) She has less time to draw now (but I often catch mom collecting all the random doodles that she leaves around.)
On top of my bookshelf is a large origami dragon (oriental style) that Daniel had folded for my birthday two years ago. I know that Daniel had spent hours folding it and he told me that the completed dragon is made up of eight separate pieces of large origami paper that he had glued together (to ensure that it doesn't fall apart). Daniel folds paper for his prototypes when undertaking engineering-ish projects.
There's a framed photograph beside the dragon, and this is a picture of me with my favourite Uncle, Uncle Joey. (Don't tell Uncle Ross that I said that!) Uncle Joey now lives in California, with his wife Alexandra, and his adorable little daughter – Adrianne Tribbiani. (Uncle Joey married pretty late in life, and his daughter is only ten.) He's a relatively successful actor, and he currently has a contract to do a show with NBC. I am a little upset that he won't be here this Christmas (due to job related issues), but he said that he will try his best to show up for New Years (for a day or two).
I hear the sound of feet in the hallway. Matt and Andrew show up, and inquire whether or not I would like to play a game of Jenga with them. I agree, and walk with them out of the room (and toss my spider back onto the bed).
Evening – (Daniel's POV) – Ping-pong redux
I smack the ball across the table. I am playing ping-pong again, but this time, with my dad. (He's good.) Unlike the game with Rosalie earlier, we are playing to win. He fires an angled shot and I reach out and barely manage to send it back to the other side.
I enjoy playing ping-pong with my dad. It is such a relief to play with someone that does not think losing is the end of the world. (Unlike SOME people I can name...) We rally back and forth for awhile before he sends another tricky shot. My reflexes are a little too slow and I miss it by a few millimetres. I give my dad the thumbs up. He smiles back.
Dad: 7; Daniel: 6. (We are playing up to ten points per game.)
I retrieve the ball and serve it again. Ping!
He hits the ball back with momentum. Pong!
Ping!
Pong!
And it continues.
(Chandler's POV)
I fire the ping-pong ball back at Dan. (He's gotten really good over the past few years.) I can still remember teaching him how to play when he was barely taller than the table. Looking at him kind of feels like looking at a mirror of youth – and seeing myself when I was Dan's age. (The flock of seagulls haircut!) I am glad that Monica and I haven't screwed him and the twins up too much.
I smile as I remember all the times while Daniel was growing up. Sure, the things we do together aren't what conventional fathers and sons do, but we enjoy it. I taught Daniel how to do Calculus, Algebra and Trigonometry while I was relearning it with Erica and Jack (Boy, did they need a lot of help!). I look over all the programs that he codes and give him some suggestions here and there. (I still do that. Daniel e-mails me his work from Cornell and we discuss it online.) We do jigsaw puzzles together (There's a 5 000 piece puzzle framed and hung on the wall of the main living room.) And I take him to see the New York Philharmonic Orchestra occasionally. (I take Jack to see Knicks games. Daniel isn't too interested in sports, unless if they deal with racquets.)
The ball ricochets off from my end of the table and I almost trip myself in order to get it. Unfortunately, I was too far away, and the ball bounces on the floor.
Daniel: 9; Chandler: 9.
Notes:
I. I got the idea for this one from the Barbados episode. I love the ping-pong scene!
II. I hope I haven't screwed up Chandler's POVs. I find him a little daunting to write. But I can totally hear everything in the flashback scene in his voice when I read it.
III. I play Angry Birds during boring lectures. And I played a little bit of Warcraft III when I was younger.