FAVORITE

"Come on, I know she's your favorite out of the three of us." Phoebe said with a smug smile, like she was sure she was onto him. He fixed her with a raised eyebrow and a disbelieving look.

"I don't have a favorite. That's just...not right." Chandler countered.

"Everybody has a favorite, Chandler." Phoebe argued with an eye roll. "Just admit it already."

"Oh yeah? Then tell me your favorite." He challenged, convinced that he would win this one.

"Joey is my favorite, obviously." She answered with a shrug. He blinked at her, not quite believing it was so easy for her to say it with a straight face right in front of him.

"Uh─"

"Joey's favorite is me, too." She continued with a confident smile. "Rachel's favorite is Ross when they're together, but when they break up Joey gets her first place. Until, of course, she realizes she's still in love with Ross and he becomes her favorite once again."

"That actually makes sense." Chandler murmured as he remembered that everytime Ross and Rachel broke up, she spent a lot of time with Joey.

"Ross' favorite is always Rachel, no matter what." She continued and Chandler frowned.

"But Monica's his sister." He offered.

"That doesn't change much, Chandler." She explained. "Siblings have a love-hate rule. They are allowed to not want to be in each other's presence while still loving each other deeply. It's just how it works." She shrugged. "Besides, Monica's favorite is you, so it's not like she would be hurt about Rachel being Ross' favorite."

"Me?" He asked, hating how his voice was so noticeably high-pitched. He was about to sulk for hours about the fact that he wasn't anybody's favorite until Phoebe said that.

"Yeah, it works perfectly, actually." Phoebe noticed. "Everybody's somebody's favorite."

"But I didn't say Monica's my favorite." He argued even though he was pretty sure Phoebe wouldn't believe him.

"Please," she started. "it's so obvious it actually hurts to look."

"I don't understand─"

"Chandler," she said as if she was talking to a child. "it's okay that you love her."

"W-what?" He asked, startled. Of course he loved her, she was his best friend. But he didn't love her. He wasn't in love with her. That's absurd. "I love her as a friend." He explained straightening his back, hoping Phoebe would understand.

"Right." She said, clearly not believing him. "And I can't talk to my dead cat's soul." She said, sarcastically. Chandler frowned.

"But you can't talk to your dead cat, Phoebe."

"Of course I can! What do you take me for? Some kind of con woman?"

"Uh─"

"Chandler, you can't lie to me. I see right through you. Especially when it comes to Monica."

"What do you mean?" He was afraid to ask, but did anyway.

"I mean," she started. "you can't keep lying to yourself. You love her, and I'm pretty sure she feels the same way and is even more oblivious than you are."

Phoebe couldn't be serious, there was just no way Monica would ever love him as in being in love with him. Sure, they were really close, and she was the first person he'd go to when he needed, or when he just wanted to hang out. And, okay, maybe whenever he was in doubt he would always ask himself "what would Monica do?". Yeah, and maybe she was the only one who was able to actually make him feel better whenever he was at his lowest. And there was a strong possibility that she was the person he admired the most in the world, because she was so kind and so forgiving. He could admit she was his favorite, because really, there was no doubt she was, he just didn't say anything because he thought Phoebe would be hurt. And there was a part of him that adored her competitiveness, even though he had scars because of it. Also, she was really, really hot.

Oh damn. Maybe he did love her.

Author's Notes: I have no idea when I will post again lol. Most of the chapters will be pretty small, like this one, and they will all be unrelated. They will all be about conversations the group has about Mondler.