Disclaimer: I don't own any characters, locations etc. mentioned in this fanfic. Hooray!
Author's Note: After being inspired by one of my other fandoms, the TV series Red Dwarf, and of course, movies like Freaky Friday, I thought I would have a go at writing a 'body swap' fic in the setting of Friends. I have always thought that this device is a great way of exploring characters, their motivations, and the relationships between them. I really hope you enjoy it – please read and review! I have altered a few minor details of locations in order to make the story work, so please excuse this. Hehe.
Setting: AU, at the beginning of Season Five during Monica and Chandler's secret relationship, just after The One Hundredth but before TOW The Kips. Mainly Chandler & Joey friendship (not slash), and a little mushy CM. Because we all like that.
-Reflections-
A Friends Fan Fiction
Prologue
Chandler awoke with a start. The first thing he noticed was that his head was pounding, throbbing, as if someone was beating against his skull like it were a drum. Thump, thump, thump. He groaned, and clutched his pillow. This was far worse than any hangover. It was a pain he'd never experienced before; a rhythmic, intense ache that erupted in his brain and seared down his spine. He buried himself in his sheets and attempted to go back to sleep. But as much as he tried, the orchestra in his head would not stop playing. Bleary-eyed, he sat up, and stubbornly threw open the covers.
Half-blind with sleep, he reached for the dressing gown hanging from the back of the door, and shrugged it over his shoulders. He tied the cord around his waist and yawned. As if in response, the blazing pain in his head struck again, harder this time, and resting his hand against the wall he took a few deep breaths. Idiot! Those cheap painkillers had better do the trick. He steadied himself, and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, shuffled through into the living room.
Wait a minute.
It took him a few short seconds to realise that he had just come from Joey's doorway, and a further few before a frightening thought occurred to him. If this was a hangover, just how drunk had he been last night? He peered back into the bedroom. It was almost pitch black, but from the faint shaft of street-light that shone through the window, he could see that it was empty.
Turning toward the bathroom, he frowned with confusion. He glanced at the kitchen clock. It was just gone six in the morning, and he distinctly remembered going to bed at midnight. Six hours. Enough time for one of Joey's pranks, he thought. A shiver ran up his spine. It was cold in the apartment, and the wooden floor felt clammy and uncomfortable under his feet.
He walked into the bathroom, shut the door and flicked on the light switch. The orchestra in his head had expanded now, and new sections – trumpets and flutes and violins – had begun to play. He winced with the pain. Opening the cabinet on the wall, he found a rainbow of medicine boxes: green, blue, red, and yellow. He fumbled through them quickly, barely reading the labels, until he came across a box of ridiculously-sized orange pills. These oughta do it. He prised one out of the packaging and turned toward the mirror above the sink. And that's when he saw it.
Eyes growing to the size of ping pong balls, he stared, hypnotised, at his reflection. Oh God, he mouthed, and then out loud, "oh God oh God oh God," his voice full of urgency, of disbelief.
He was Chandler Bing.
Why was he looking at Joey Tribbiani?
A/N: Please read and review! I don't usually upload chapters this short, but I just want to know if there is interest before I continue. Please let me know if you would like to see more!