Archive of Our Own ^beta

Joey came back to the apartment slightly upset. None of the guys would help him out and he wasn't brave enough to go out and find a man himself. Chandler had to be only a few minutes behind him, they left together but Joey lost him a block or two from the building. 

About ten minutes later, the front door opened and Chandler stepped through while looking nervous. "Dude, where'd you go? We pretty much walked home together until I lost you." Joey looked up from his chair, the TV playing a rerun of Baywatch. Chandler didn't answer right away, mostly paced around the kitchen for a minute with his hand up. 

"Okay, so I've decided that I'm gonna help you. But here's the deal, this is specifically to help you with your audition and nobody else knows about it. This stays between us!" Chandler finally met his friend's eyes. Joey could tell he was frazzled. 

"Hey not a problem man, I get it. This stays between us and it's only for the audition." Joey stood from the chair and walked over to him. "Do you want to do this now or do you need a minute?" Chandler let out a breath and waved his hand again. "Okay, well do you want a beer?" Joey asked but didn't wait for an answer. After pulling two from the fridge, he handed one off and went back to his chair. "Let's watch Baywatch for a few minutes." All he wanted was for Chandler to stop panicking. 

Chandler nodded and plopped down with his beer next to Joey. They sat in silence while the commercial played, tension building. 

Chandler started fiddling with his shirt and finally Joey couldn't take it. "Alright, why do you want to help me out? It's not like you're obligated to man. I mean you're nervous as hell about it, you really don't have to if you don't want to." Joey was looking at the side of Chandler's face while Chandler was staring at his own fingers.

"You're my best friend Joe, I always want to help you. I don't know why I'm nervous, it's pretty much the same as kissing a woman-"

And that's where Joey had to stop him, "No, apparently it's not pretty much the same as kissing a woman. Otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. It's just a kiss though, you're right. It means nothing man." Chandler suddenly stood and put his beer down on the counter behind the chairs. He walked back over to Joey and pulled him up as well. "What are you doing?" 

"The more we sit around talking about it, the more nervous I'm getting." He looked into Joey's for just a second and took another breath. Then he waved his hands around for a second, "Well come on, let's get this over with!"  Joey grinned at him and put his hands on the sides of Chandler's face. Chandler, slowly and softly, put his hands on Joey's waist and met his eyes.

Joey's smile softened and he looked down and Chandler's lips then back into his eyes. Chandler gulped and closed his eyes. He leant down and Joey stretched up, meeting in the middle. 

At first, neither really moved, it was just the rough feeling of lips pressed together. It really took a second for one of them to get it together. Joey took the first move and pressed a little harder into Chandler's body. Then his hands travelled to his friend's hair. Chandler opened his mouth a little and then pulled back. "What the fuck was that?" He squinted his eyes at Joey, who took a second to open his eyes.

"I don't know, that was pretty bad. Nerves I guess?" Chandler scoffed and closed his eyes. 

"Okay so now that that is out of the way, we should probably figure out what feels good? I mean from a guy to guy stand point?" Joey nodded furiously though Chandler wasn't looking. 

"Yeah." He didn't give Chandler another second to open his eyes again. Joey's head shot up to meet his friend's and they were kissing again. This time it wasn't as stagnant. Chandler had gotten the hint to actually use his mouth like he normally would and Joey followed suit. It started soft, but after a minute, Joey pulled on Chandler's hair tried to pick up the pace. Chandler's fingers pushed their way under Joey's shirt to get to his skin and he let out a tiny huff. Joey took this as a good sign and continued working his friend.

Chandler was pretty lost in thought, couldn't believe his best friend's lips felt this good. Was it just Joey or was it all men? He didn't really care to find out as long as he could keep this going. Joey pushed his tongue out a little to graze Chandler's lower lip. Chandler couldn't help but smile a little and he let him in. Chandler's fingers wandered over Joey's sides and stomach while Joey's hands kept switching between his hair, neck, and face. Chandler pulled back and laughed a little more while catching his breath. "I can see why you've made a name for yourself Tribbiani." Joey's lips were a little kiss swollen and his cheeks were flushed. 

"Shut up and give me your face Chan." Chandler shook his head and looked behind them at the counter. Joey followed his gaze and got the idea. They travelled to the counter and Joey hopped up. Chandler pulled him to the edge and shoved his hands into Joey's shirt again. "Now come here." Joey mumbled while pulling the other closer. 

"You're cute when you're kiss drunk Tribbiani." Chandler laughed again against his lips. Joey pulled back and jumped off of the counter. 

"I uh, I gotta go uh, feed a um, cat?" Joey said it as a question and bolted out the door, leaving Chandler staring at the open door. 

"You mean he called you cute?" Monica, Phoebe, and Rachel were sitting on the couch at Central Perk listening to Joey tell them about the entire ordeal. 

"Yes! He said I was cute when I'm kiss drunk! Like I don't even know what that is!" Joey was drinking his normal and glaring at the ground while trying to process. 

"So why did you come to us? Didn't you say at the beginning that this was supposed to be a one time thing that was never brought up with anyone else?" Phoebe curled her legs up on the chair next to the couch while she sipped her tea. Joey looked at her and nodded. 

"Yeah, but he called me cute and I got these weird cute feelings and I panicked and now I'm here talking about them because running out of the apartment then coming back in a minute later didn't seem like an ideal thing. I just need someone to tell me what I'm feeling because Chandler is my best friend and roommate but now I want to make out with him and make him do that little huff when I pulled on his hair" Joey pouted a little and looked down into his cup. 

The girls smiled at each other and than moved to Joey, Rachel spoke first. "Joey, honey, I think you've gotten yourself in a pickle. I think you've got a little bit of a crush" Monica and Phoebe squealed a little. Joey couldn't believe what he was hearing. 

Two Weeks Later

It'd been two weeks and Joey still hadn't addressed his newfound feelings for Chandler with said man. They kept growing though, not caring whether Joey was with it or not. Every time Joey walked out of his room and Chandler was cooking, Joey's stomach fluttered. For the first full week he'd speed out of the apartment to go next door when this happened. But now, he's accepted the fact that he had a crush. The rest of it came in waves, mostly when they were sitting together watching Baywatch, or playing Foosball in the kitchen while waiting for pizza to arrive. 

 They hadn't so much as breathed a word about it after Joey ran out, and it was killing Chandler. He said something wrong. If he hadn't said anything about Joey being cute-if he hadn't said anything gay-they would be fine. 

Chandler was neck deep in regret and feelings and he could barely handle it. All Chandler wanted was for them to at least talk about what had happened so they can move past it. 

It took another day of stewing before Chandler finally broke and had a bit of a meltdown after work, inevitably finding himself at the girls' apartment. "Mon? Rach? I need to talk to you guys really bad, open the door." He was pounding on the apartment door. Monica opened a second later and ushered him in. 

"What's wrong Chandler?" Rachel looked up from the book she was reading and patted the couch next to her. Monica and Chandler joined her before he basically word vomited all over. 

"Joey and I kissed. Like two weeks ago, to help him out with the audition. And we made out and it was great then I opened my stupid mouth and said something. He ran out and ever since it's been really weird. Like we don't talk anymore, do all the normal stuff though, Baywatch, foosball, there's just no talking involved." He didn't give the girls any room to talk. He just kept going, "I don't expect you guys to know what I'm talking about because we said we wouldn't bring it up with any of you guys but it's been two weeks and I just want to kiss him again because I think he's cute as hell when I kiss him. BUT THAT'S THE ISSUE! WE WERE MAKING OUT AND I SAID HE WAS CUTE WHEN HE WAS KISS DRUNK AND HE LITERALLY HAULED ASS OUT OF THE APARTMENT AND DIDN'T COME BACK UNTIL THE NEXT MORNING!" Chandler finally took a shaky breath. 

"We know Chan, Joey told us that day." Monica put her hand on his leg. "He came into the coffee shop all flustered and told us about it. Said he would've gone back to the apartment if storming out and then coming back in a minute later wasn't so weird. We talked him through it, figured you guys would have talked about it by now." Chandler felt betrayed, Joey said that he wouldn't tell another person about what happened that day. "Chandler stop getting hung up on the fact that he told us. You need to go talk to him." 

"But Ross is over right now." Monica scoffed at Chandler's statement, "Then kick him the fuck out and sort your shit out. He won't mind." 

Chandler opened his apartment door and was met with Joey and Ross playing foosball. "Joe we need to talk." He deadpanned, hoping his tone would make Ross get the picture. It didn't. 

"Oo fun, can I join this conversation?" Ross smiled as Joey missed his shot. Both of the other men replied with a no. This made Ross get the picture and he quickly left. 

"Okay I've been stewing about the past two weeks and I can't handle it anymore. I know I called you cute and it set you off and I'm sorry. We do all the same things we did before but now we don't talk and it bugs the crap out of me man. I want to be your best friend again, not just your roommate." Chandler pulled Joey over to the counter, and Joey hopped up so they were eye level. 

"Chan, what you said only bothered me because I didn't understand how it made me feel. I got all light and shit and it made me panic. Okay, you didn't do anything wrong." Joey hesitantly put his hand down on Chandler's shoulder, close to his neck. Chandler took a step closer and placed his hands down on the counter on either side of Joey's hips. "I know I told the girls even after we said we wouldn't talk about it with anyone else, but I needed someone to talk to about it. I'm sorry I told them man." Joey's hand skirted up and finally rested on Chandler's jaw. 

"I told the girls too, so I guess we're even. I uh, I didn't know how to handle the entire thing so I went to them and they said we had to talk through it." Chandler's hands moved up to rest on Joey's hips. He moved his face so it was only a few inches from Joey's. "I can't stop thinking about what I said, because for me it's true. I thought you were cute when I kissed you, still think you'd be cute if I kissed you now..." Chandler's eyes rapidly flipped from Joey's own, to his lips, and the counter. 

Joey didn't leave him hanging for too long though because the smaller man leaned forward and brushed his lips to Chandlers. Neither pulled back, just moved right into a moderate kissing. Chandler couldn't help but put his hands under Joey's shirt and tug him closer. Joey smiled into it and dug his fingers into Chandler's hair. 

FIN