Author note: I've been a huge Friends fan since it originally aired. Back in the day, I became quite obsessed and made my own Chandler and Monica fan page which sadly (thankfully) I can't find today. Over Christmas, MTV aired a Friends marathon and I was taken right back to high school and my Mondler obsession came back. Pregnancy hormones have left me reading many a Mondler/Matteney fanfiction, so I decided to give writing a shot to take my mind off feeling like crap. :) I'll continue this story if there's enough interest.

"So today's the day, man! Are you excited?" Matt reached in front of Matthew and grabbed a muffin off the table.

"Excited for what, the new muffin selection?" Matthew joked and picked up a chocolate chip muffin, admiring it and nodding his head.

Matt looked exasperated and spit crumbs on Matthew as he said, "Dude, you get to start making out with Courteney today!" Matthew laughed and put the chocolate chip muffin back on the tray. "I didn't really look at it that way," he shrugged.

"Seriously, man? C'mon, the thought must have crossed your mind." Matt raised his eyebrows and took another bite of his muffin, looking skeptically at Matthew.

"Not really. I mean... when we first heard that Monica and Chandler were going to hook up in London, we didn't think it would go beyond that." Matthew started picking up muffins again, pretending to take a sudden interest in them to avoid looking directly at Matt.

"Yeah, but you heard Marta and Dave. If the fans are receptive to you guys being together, they might make it a regular thing! Think about how much action you're going to get with Court!" Matt exclaimed. Matthew frowned at him. "It's not action. We're just acting- you've done it a million times with all the random girls Joey goes through."

"But what if you guys have amazing chemistry? You never know what could happen," Matt smiled at Matthew. Matthew just laughed and shook his head.

"Alright everyone, we're filming the first scene in five. Let's go!" The production team announced and Matthew was thankful for the out. Matt shoved the rest of the muffin in his mouth and headed out of the room. Matthew lingered at the food table for a moment to take a breath. The truth is, he had put a lot of thought into today. Over the past six months, Matthew had developed a painfully secret crush on Courteney. When he found out that Chandler and Monica would be hooking up, he was both elated and terrified. Elated that he could somewhat live out his fantasy of being with Courteney, but also terrified at how crushing it could be to him. He wasn't afraid of a lack of chemistry and the disappointment of a built up fantasy. It was the opposite. Matthew was afraid that kissing Courteney would be as amazing as he had imagined, and that it would make it that much more painful for him to deal with his secret crush.

Matthew sighed at his dilemma and checked his watch. He needed to get on set. "Well," he whispered to himself. "It's just acting." Somehow, he wasn't convincing himself.

"Okay Lisa, get ready to put the bowl on your belly!" The director called out.

"Don't worry, I've been practicing a lot. I've never spilled a fruit loop!" Lisa proudly smiled.

Matthew, Courteney and Matt waited outside of Monica's apartment door until they waited for the director's cue to enter the apartment. They go through the scene, stopping to redo it a couple of times as Matt made improvised jokes about Lisa balancing things on her stomach- jokes that weren't appropriate to air. Matthew was trying not to let his nervousness and impatience show as it got closer and closer to his kiss with Courteney.

Finally they got through the scene with the four of them. When Monica and Chandler were alone, Matthew had to keep silently reminding himself that he and Courteney were just acting. The flirty looks and giggles were from Monica, not Courteney. It was easy for Matthew to deliver his lines as Chandler, as he couldn't help but imagine him saying those things to Courteney.

Finally, Chandler left Monica's apartment after saying that he should go unpack. Matthew only had a few seconds of being on the other side of the door before he had to open it again and go back into the apartment. Matthew squeezed his eyes shut and said quietly to himself "This is it. It's just acting." He took a deep breath, and opened the apartment door again.

He opens his arms in a gesture and says, "I'm still on London time, does that count?" Courteney looks at Matthew with lust in her eyes and voice and said desperately, "Oh, that counts." What unfolded next happened so quickly that Matthew didn't have time to remind himself that he was just acting. Courteney and Matthew stepped towards each other and embraced. Matthew's breath caught in his throat as he felt Courteney's lips press against him, finally. Her lips were even softer than he had imagined, and he thought he felt her gasp a little as their lips touched. It felt like electricity was running through Matthew's body as he held her waist and felt her hands on the back of his neck. Courteney brushed her hand against Matthew's ear as she moved her hands to cup his face. The slight touch made Matthew weak in the knees and he couldn't help but let out a small groan of pleasure. He desperately hoped that Courteney thought he was just getting into character, but at the same time he didn't care enough right now. Caught up in the moment, Matthew brought his right hand up to Courteney's face and caressed her cheek with his knuckles. He thought he heard a moan from Courteney, but it was hard to hear over the audiences cheering.

"And cut!" yelled the director. Matthew and Courteney pulled away from each other's lips, the audience still going crazy over Chandler and Monica's first kiss. With his hands still on her waist, Matthew saw something different in Courteney's eyes as she smiled at him, looking almost sheepish.

"Well, I guess that was a long time coming for the audience," Courteney grinned and looked out at the crowd who were still noisy. Matthew smiled at her and said, "Yeah... I hope we made it believable". Courteney smiled back at Matthew and gave the hand that she was still holding a small squeeze. "I don't think we have to worry about that." Matthew's heart flipped. Courteney was probably talking about their convincing acting, but a small part of him allowed himself to believe for just a second that maybe she had felt the same thing he did when they kissed. He smiled back at her as the crowd died down and the directors started shuffling everyone around for the next scene.