Back home in New York, Monica, Joey, and Chandler still couldn't face each other. After a couple of days, the others forced them to confess about the whole jellyfish trauma; it was embarrassing, but at least the three of them could look at each other again.

Then Phoebe's birth mom came to visit her, and they managed to reconcile, so overall the beach trip turned out to be a good thing.

Chandler tried once more to get Monica to date him, at least hypothetically, but she told him that he would always be "the guy who peed on me."

So he gave up and returned across the hall to his and Joey's apartment.

"Hey," Joey said, still playing with his homemade cards.

"Hey." Chandler sat down with a beer.

"So, she shoot you down again?"

"Yep."

Joey smiled. "You wanna play cards?"

"Not strip poker?"

"Okay, okay. Your choice."

Chandler picked up the deck and prepared to shuffle it, but then he noticed how flimsy the cards were, being made of paper. "You know, I've got a real pack in my room, Joe."

"Oh yeah. Get those."

"Okay."

After playing a few rounds of gin, they watched some TV until it got late.

Finally Chandler stretched and headed toward his bedroom, but then he remembered something and turned back for a moment. "And stop yelling 'Do it! Do it now!' through the wall, okay?"

Joey laughed.

"It's not funny, freaking me out about that. How would you like it if I made fun of your 'stage fright'? Better yet, what if I mention it in front of your next date?"

"You wouldn't!"

"Who knows? Maybe I'll make it sound like it's not stage fright for peeing, but stage fright for..." He raised his eyebrows suggestively, but when Joey didn't get it, he clarified: "Sex."

"Hey!" Joey looked shocked.

"That's right. You couldn't do it for Monica, so I had to step in and do it for you. How cool does that sound?"

"Not cool! I've got a reputation!"

"I know all about your reputation, Mr. Show Off. I hear you through the wall every time."

"Yeah you do!" Joey stood up and came over to him, making him step back warily. Joey caught hold of Chandler's arm to stop his retreat. "Look, I'll stop yelling through the wall, okay? But--but how about we do... something?"

"Something?"

Joey put his hand onto Chandler's butt, shocking him greatly. "I wondered why your boss liked slapping your butt so much," he smiled. "Very nice."

Chandler tried to push Joey's hand away, but his grasp remained firm. "Hey! Stop it!"

"Come on! You felt up my sister once to get over Janice. I'm getting over Kate."

"Then--then go feel up Monica, or Phoebe, or Rachel!"

"None of *them* made me go to sleep and miss Bonnie leaving!"

"Hey, don't blame me for when she left! That was all Ross and Rachel!" Chandler was getting desperate. "How about you go call up Ross?"

Joey laughed. "You know, Ross told me that you got so drunk at my birthday party that you even kissed him! Huh, I wonder how good you kiss, if Ross is willing to forgive you." Joey leaned close and kissed his mouth.

Chandler resisted at first, but then was drawn into the kiss, because it had been a while for him. His last date had been Ginger, with the wooden leg, who was turned off by his third nipple. She had once dated Joey too.

Joey slid a hand into Chandler's shirt, searching for that third nipple. There was only a slight scar left, because after Ginger dumped him, Chandler had the nubbin removed by a doctor. Joey quickly found the scar and began stroking it.

Chandler found himself oddly aroused, and he nodded yieldingly when Joey suggested that they go into the bedroom. So they maneuvered around the oversized entertainment center, and slid inside Chandler's room.

They kept kissing and undressing one another, then got into the bed and fooled around quite a bit. Chandler was overly sensitive about caresses on his butt, saying that it was sore from all the smacking his boss did, so Joey laid off that area and teased everywhere else without mercy.

"You--you've got some moves there," Chandler moaned. "Good moves. I always heard you through the wall, but I never thought..." He bit his lip and didn't finish.

"What was that thing you did? Yeah," Joey grunted pleasurably. "Yeah, do that again. Sometimes girls, even slutty girls, don't know everywhere I like it."

They made Chandler's bed creak with their sweaty, passionate loving, and soon Joey was urging, "Do it! Do it now!" in a way that Chandler didn't mind at all. Neither one of them got stage fright at that critical moment.

Finally Joey lay back with a satisfied sigh. "Best bed creaking ever, huh?"

Chandler smiled in return. "So you're over Kate now?"

"Yeah, I won't watch her on *General Hospital* anymore. Gotta move on." He reached over and kissed Chandler gratefully. "Thanks."

"Any time." He felt like thanking Joey too for ending his dry spell, but knew it would be unwise.

Joey laughed a little, then kissed Chandler's lips again. "Um, I guess I'll go now."

"Okay." Chandler tried to shrug casually.

So Joey got out of the bed and picked up his clothes from around the room.

Chandler realized that he no longer minded seeing Joey naked.

Joey headed to the door and called back, "Good night!"

"Good night."