Chapter 2: Joey

Chandler & Moving In Together

Joey felt like a jerk when he realized he never expected this day to come. Chandler was his best friend, he loved the guy, he was totally able to see his good qualities, but if Joey was to be honest, he never really expected Chandler to be moving in with a girl. When he thought about the future, he always imagined him being the one to say goodbye to a bitter lonely Chandler. He didn't mean to see things this way – Chandler was the one constantly talking about how he would die alone, so Joey just believed him. Surely, they both couldn't be any more wrong.

After a year had passed, Chandler was for the first time ever celebrating an anniversary with a significant other. That was unusual in itself. To top that off, he'd had announced he would be moving out. To live together. With Monica.

If he was being honest here, the things crossing Joey's mind were the following: first dude, I can't believe I'm not gonna live with my best friend anymore!, the second one being is he really okay with that?

Later on, they talked, and Joey visibly gasped when he learned that not only Chandler was okay with the moving thing – he'd been the one suggesting it!

Even after knowing that, Joey was still skeptical. He really wanted to support this new level of his friends' relationship, but he kept expecting something to throw Chandler off. All the fights over a spare room seemed to almost ruin everything, but in the end, they just did it. They moved in together. It was still too out of place, in his opinion; he thought that maybe Chandler was still enjoying the spur-of-the-moment proposal and that any time soon he would come back to his normal self and just freak out. It isn't until one moment when Joey walks into them, in their home, one week after the moving, that he understands this is for the long run.

Chandler had tried to clean everything up a couple of days earlier, followed by a freak out about moving Monica's stuff around and waking the beast inside the tiny woman. He was so scared of pissing her off it was funny at the moment, but now, after some time had passed and things were back to normal, Joey allowed himself to look at his surroundings. Very small changes were already visible in the living room, Chandler's things already occupying the now shared space. Not only that, he noticed some things seemed shinier. Chandler had been the one to clean those things, just because he wanted to do something nice for his girlfriend. More than anything, what surprised Joey the most was how comfortable they looked in their place.

Chandler was sitting at the table, getting breakfast while reading his newspaper and Monica was making more pancakes as she knew the rest of their group would eventually show up. Seeing Chandler there, knowing that he slept in that place, woke up and showered in that place, and had that very serene expression on his face while getting ready for work almost made it seem like he always belonged there. He was so calm about sharing an apartment with a woman it nearly seemed like all the despair about commitment he used to sport had been a big joke. Everything looked so right, Joey was speechless.

"You okay, Joe?", his best friend's voice resonated through him, bringing him back to life.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Monica served her boyfriend an extra pancake without asking if he wanted more, an action followed by a soft thank you from the man. The intimacy was tangible. The moving in together felt right. Chandler was being the committed guy in the group. He had turned into the committed guy against all odds because of her. He must really love her, Joey concluded.

"You sure you're alright, man?" Chandler insisted, not knowing what was going on with his usually energetic friend.

"Yeah, everything's perfect."