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hayleythesugarbowl · 10 months

Note

since you're taking requests for joey from friends, could you possibly write an angsty one-shot (with a happy ending)? i love your writing sm and i love joey so im sure it'll be perfect <3

The One With the Pie || Joey Tribbiani x reader

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ masterlist • f•r•i•e•n•d•s masterlist ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚

summary: after your crush on joey ends before it can begin, you start to move on. but maybe, just maybe, the story of you and joey isn’t over just yet

word count: 6.6k

warnings: suggestive material

a/n: thank you for this request love!! i hope you enjoy this and it’s angsty enough for u 💋 there’re two ocs in here (james + jessica) so if you don’t recognize them from the show that’s why!! also somehow i made this way longer than i intended to so sorry about that but enjoy!! <3💌🩰

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~°~❦~°~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Joey, stop!”

You jumped towards Joey, trying to retrieve your stolen piece of pie from him, which he was currently holding above his head.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

“That pie had my name on it,” you huffed, making another jump for it.

“I don’t remember seeing a name,” he acted innocent, crumpling up a piece of paper that most definitely had your name on it.

“Oh yeah? And what is that?” You made a grab for it and he threw the paper behind him, catching your wrist.

Your heartbeat picked up because of the jumping and certainly not because of the sudden physical contact with Joey. Or, that’s what you were telling yourself.

“That is just my…grocery list.” Joey gestured at the ball of paper.

“You don’t buy your groceries,” you countered, “so nice try.”

“Curse you, Chandler.”

You shook his hand off your wrist and gripped his forearm for leverage as you tried to twist to grab the pie again.

“So you admit, my name was on that pie?”

He smiled. “Nope. Still no. And unlabeled leftovers are fair game.”

“Not when they’re from my fridge,” Monica walked over to you and Joey, pinching him and grabbing the pie. She handed it back to you.

“Ow, Mon,” he rubbed at his arm, “I was going to give it back. I was just borrowing it.”

“Yeah, and I had it under control.” you realized your hand was still around Joey’s arm and you quickly put a hand on your hip.

Monica watched the movement and then rolled her eyes at both of you.

“And you’d better make sure you didn’t get crumbs all over my floor with that,” she called as she walked back towards her bedroom.

You’d been staying with Monica and Rachel while you looked for a place. You appreciated her sharing her apartment with you but you couldn’t say you didn’t miss being able to put your feet on the furniture and drink milk out of the carton.

As Monica disappeared from view, Rachel walked out of her room in a bathrobe.

“Hey (Y/n), hey Joey,” she said on her way to the fridge, “Wait a minute, what are you doing here, Joe?”

“Stopped by before my audition to eat my leftover pie,” he said. You elbowed him in the ribs. “Ow, ok (Y/n)’s pie. Happy?” He looked at you.

“Very,” you said, satisfied.

“Well, good luck at your audition,” Rachel said, looking in the refrigerator.

“Thanks,” Joey said, sitting down at the table, before standing up again quickly. “Oh right, my audition! I’d better get going. Last time I was late to one of these the casting director made me pay.”

“What’d they do?” You asked.

“Made me give her 10 bucks for wasting her time. Like I had 10 bucks with me,” Joey said as he walked towards the door.

“Break a leg! You’re going to kill it,” you called after him.

“Thanks (Y/n),” He kissed you on the cheek before leaving and you watched him go, trailing a hand over your cheek where Joey’s lips had been.

“You’re so obvious,” Rachel said pouring milk in her cereal.

“I don’t know what you mean,” you told her, as if she didn’t know that you’d been crushing on him for the past few weeks. Rachel just raised an eyebrow at you.

You hadn’t known what had changed. You’d been friends with Joey for nearly a year. But sometime recently you had started to see him differently and you wanted more and more to be something more than just friends.

“You say that every time,” Monica said, obviously overhearing and walking back into the room. “And so I’ll tell you what I tell you every time. Tell him.”

You had been avoiding that part for a while. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to make a move—you knew you’d have to at some time if you wanted your relationship to progress any further—but it was more that you didn’t want to ruin the friendship you had with Joey. You valued it so much and you couldn’t bear to make things weird between you if he didn’t feel the same way. And you doubted he did. He’d never exactly expressed interest in you.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Monica continued.

Now it was your turn to raise an eyebrow at her.

“Ok I get it, a lot,” she said, “But what’s love without a little risk.”

You preferred not to risk anything, thank you. But she was right. You knew it. You ran a hand through your hair as you thought. “I don’t know, Mon.”

“Come on sweetie,” Rachel added, “Joey would be lucky to have you. You’re sweet and funny and kind. Heck, if he doesn’t take you I will.” She smiled at you.

You laughed and gave in. “You really think I should tell him?

“Yes,” they said at the same time and you laughed.

“But only when you’re ready,” Rachel added, putting a hand on your arm.

Were you ready? You supposed you never really would be.

You steeled yourself, “Alright, I’ll talk to him.”

You walked towards the door.

“Honey?” Rachel called, “Love the enthusiasm but Joey’s not home.”

You remembered the audition. “Right,” you walked back towards the kitchen, “tomorrow.”

You couldn’t say you were sorry about the delay. It would at least give you more time to think about what to say. You sat down at the table with Rachel and Monica and began to peel a banana, thinking about what tomorrow might bring.

₊˚ ✧ ‿︵‿୨୧‿︵‿ ✧ ₊˚

You knocked on the door of Joey’s apartment. You weren’t exactly ready, but it was now or never, you thought, as you waited for Joey to answer the door.

You were greeted by Chandler instead. You let out a breath.

“Oh, I thought you were going to be Joey,” you told him.

“No need to look so disappointed,” Chandler said, “Good evening to you too.”

“I’m not disappointed,” you told him, “I just—is Joey home?” You asked.

“You know, if I had a dollar every time a girl said that to me when opening this door…”

You shook your head, smiling, “I just have something I need to ask him.”

“He’s out right now but he should be back soon. Can I take a message?”

“This is kinda something that needs to be said in person,” you said, playing with a strand of your hair.

Chandler led you in to the apartment and you sat down on the couch.

“So how did Joey’s audition go?” You asked Chandler, trying to make small talk so you wouldn’t die of anticipation while you waited for Joey to get home.

“Not great,” he admitted, “Something about apple juice and a wild parrot which I’m assuming means he didn’t get the part.”

You laughed despite your nerves. You didn’t even want to know what Chandler meant by that.

“I thought maybe he was at a callback,” you said, thinking aloud, “but never mind.”

“No, Joey has a date,” Chandler said. “Some hot girl he met at the audition, so I guess it wasn’t a total waste.”

You stopped listening. Hot girl? No. This couldn’t be happening. Joey was out right now with some beautiful woman and you were waiting in his apartment ready to confess your love for him.

“(Y/n), are you ok?” Chandler must have noticed your expression because he looked concerned.

“I have to go,” you told him in a hurry before bouncing up and walking towards the door. It was only then when you heard footsteps approaching and the sound of Joey’s voice as he talked to someone—presumably his date. You ran the other way back towards Chandler.

“You have to hide me,” you gripped his shirt in your hands.

Chandler looked absolutely baffled. You didn’t have time for this.

“Now!”

“Um, my room,” Chandler said as he hurried you in there.

“If he asks just say you have a girl in here,” you called out to him in a whisper.

“He’s not going to believe that!” Chandler whisper-yelled back to you before you started to shut the door quickly.

“You’ll think of something,” you said back. “Tell me when the coast is clear.”

You left Chandler looking lost in the living room. Safely behind his door you relaxed but only a little. You would just wait until Joey went to the bathroom or something and then Chandler would sneak you out. No harm done, right? You would feel sad later.

You heard Joey enter the apartment and you could just make out his and Chandler’s voices.

“So how was it?” Chandler asked him.

“Amazing! Jessica’s great! She stopped to say hi to someone she knew down the hall but she’ll be here any second.”

“Well that’s fantastic, Joe,” Chandler said.

“What’s fantastic?” You heard a female voice and your hearing sharpened.

“You are,” you heard Joey tell her smoothly.

“No you’re fantastic,” she said back.

You were going to be sick. Every word they said was like a punch to the gut. And you didn’t mind admitting that you mocked Joey’s date behind the closed door like any self-respecting person would.

“Well, I’m glad you two had a good time,” Chandler said, “Now if you don’t mind, I’ll just be getting back to my room.”

You heard Chandler’s footsteps grow closer to you. They were both silent for a moment and you strained to hear. You leaned forwards and knocked an alarm clock off the desk. It crashed to the floor and you might’ve been fine if it didn’t begin going off loudly. You cursed Chandler under your breath for buying an alarm clock that made rooster sounds.

“Chandler, do you have someone in there?” You heard Joey say.

“W-why would you think that?”

“Yeah you’re right,” he said, laughing it off, “Like you would have a girl in your room that I don’t know about.”

“Yep, that’s me,” Chandler said wryly, “alone forever.”

Chandler opened the door just a crack and then stepped into his room.

“You better pretend to be my date next time we do this,” he whisper-yelled.

“You better have a normal alarm clock next time we do this!” You threw your arms up.

“It makes me think of the farm!” he said, indignantly.

“You’ve never lived on a farm!”

“Whatever,” Chandler gave up, “You can go now, Joey’s in his room with Jessica.”

You nodded and felt relieved as you made your way to the door. You only realized what this meant when you heard Joey and Jessica in the other room.

And from the sound of it, they were certainly enjoying the second part of their date.

And with that the reality of the evening crashed down on you. You and Joey weren’t going to happen. He was clearly interested in whomever this woman was and your plans for confessing your feelings were obviously ruined.

You sat down on Chandler’s bed and put your head in your hands—and over your ears so you didn’t have to hear what was going on in Joey’s room.

Chandler sat down next to you and placed an arm around you.

“I know,” is all he said as he rubbed your shoulders.

“How do—” You started, sniffing. You hadn’t actually told Chandler why you were here to see Joey. He ignored it.

“His loss,” Chandler said and you managed a weak smile as you leaned your head against his shoulder.

This was so not how you imagined this evening going.

₊˚ ✧ ‿︵‿୨୧‿︵‿ ✧ ₊˚

“…and then they did it for the rest of the night and Chandler and I watched a movie,” you told Monica, Rachel, and Phoebe as you took a sip of your coffee.

All three of you were at Central Perk and you were filling them in on the events of the past night.

Which had been, all things considered, fairly miserable. You appreciated Chandler hanging out with you all night and at least the volume of the movie drowned out anything else…almost. But you still hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Joey and the other girl.

“I’m sorry honey,” Rachel said, “is there anything we can do to help?”

“Get rid of Jessica?” You mumbled sarcastically.

“Well—” Phoebe started, an inspired look in her eye.

You interrupted her, “I’m kidding, Pheebs. But I appreciate the support.”

You sighed. You were just going to have to get on with your life and pretend nothing had ever been different. Pretend you didn’t want Joey every time that you saw him and be happy for him and his new relationship.

“Well, there are plenty of other fish in the sea,” Phoebe said.

“And if I don’t want any other fish?” You said, looking down at your coffee mug.

“You could always talk to Joey about it,” Monica said. “I mean, maybe if he knew how you felt—”

“Ok, don’t look,” Rachel said, watching out the window. “But Joey’s coming inside.”

Your stomach flipped. For all you told yourself about moving on and pretending, you weren’t sure if you were ready to see Joey yet. What if it was too painful or you were to obvious? You paused, contemplating how weird it was for you to be nervous to see Joey. You had been friends for so long and you weren’t used to it.

No time to think about that now, you told yourself as you jumped out of your seat and turned around. You saw Joey walk through the door and you backed up helplessly.

“Hey guys,” he said, seeing all of you.

“Hey Joey,” Phoebe said, “It’s great to see you but, uh, Monica and Rachel and I were just about to go to our…knitting class. Right?”

What was she doing?

“Right,” Monica said, elbowing Rachel.

“Oh yes, and we’re going to be late if we don’t leave soon,” Rachel said, understanding on her face.

They all walked towards the door and you stared after them hopelessly.

“Talk to him,” Monica mouthed and you bit your lip.

“Knitting?” Joey asked.

“Yeah, well you know how I like the smell of…yarn,” Phoebe fumbled, “We’ll see you guys later.”

And with that, her and the other two girls were gone leaving you alone with Joey. Well, alone aside from the dozen or so other customers oblivious to your awkwardness as you tried to find words…any words.

Joey sat down at one of the tables and you sat on the edge of the couch a few feet away.

“That was weird,” Joey looked thoughtful, “Does yarn have a smell?”

You shrugged and Joey kept talking.

“Anyway, I’m starving, do you want anything?”

“No, thank you, I just ate.”

A lie. You hoped your rumbling stomach didn’t deceive you.

Joey ordered and then returned to his table, “So (Y/n), what’s new with you?”

“Um, nothing really,” you said, “You?”

You regretted it immediately when you heard his answer.

Joey ran a hand through his hair, smiling, “Well, I met this really great girl the other day and I’m actually waiting for her right now. We’re supposed to go bowling. I can’t wait for you to meet her.”

“Oh, that’s awesome.”

Was your voice usually this high?

“I’d love to meet her but, I have to go,” you checked your invisible watch, “now, actually. I’m meeting some friends.”

Another lie. You had to get out of here before you were stuck meeting—

“Jessica!”

Joey hurried over to her and kissed her on the cheek. You bit the inside of your cheek and watched as Joey brought her over to you.

“Jessica this is my friend (Y/n)…”

Friend.

“…and (Y/n), this is my girlfriend Jessica.”

Girlfriend.

You watched Joey smiling and looking expectantly between the two of you. You should be supportive of him. That’s what a good friend would do.

So you inhaled and said, “Hi Jessica, it’s so nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Jessica said, pushing her blonde locks behind her ear. “Joey and I really should be going but I’d love to get to know each other sometime.”

“Definitely,” you said and Joey looked thrilled at the two of you talking.

“See you later (Y/n),” Joey said and then more quietly, “wish me luck.”

“Good luck,” you almost whispered as you watched Joey and his girlfriend walk away, his hand in hers, him leaning slightly down to hear something that she was saying into his ear.

And you wanted to wish him luck, you really did. But as you watched Joey walk away with the Jessica, all you could think about was how desperately you wanted that to be you.

You weren’t paying much attention to what you were doing as you picked up Joey’s forgotten drink order and scone.

You turned around to go sit down and crashed into something—or, someone it seemed—on your way there. The coffee went flying and you fell to the ground.

“Are you ok?” You heard a male voice say.

You looked up and saw a tall man staring down at you, coffee dripping down his front and an arm out to help you up. You took it and dusted yourself off.

“I am so sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going,” you hurried out.

“My fault entirely,” he said.

“I’ll buy you a new shirt,” you said.

“I didn’t like it anyway,” he waved it off. “You did me a favor honestly. Don’t tell Aunt Ruth.”

You laughed despite yourself, and picked up the mug and scone from the floor.

“I’m (Y/n),” you said, filling the silence.

“James,” he shot back.

“Scone?” You offered him the pastry awkwardly.

“Sorry, he said, “but my parents always said never to take floor-scones from strangers. Even very beautiful strangers.”

You found yourself blushing and your eyes widened. What was happening?

“But I’d be happy to take you out for real food sometime. If that’s something you would be interested in?”

You played with the fabric of your shirt. You immediately thought of Joey bit stopped yourself.

Why should you be thinking of Joey right now? He clearly wasn’t interested in you, so why waste time on something that clearly wasn’t going to happen. Maybe you should take this man up on his offer and go on a date with him. He was funny and nice and had called you beautiful.

“Ok, this is getting embarrassing,” he backed up, “Let me down easy, ok?”

You laughed, “I would love to go out with you sometime.”

“Not to sound super eager or anything,” he said, “but do you wanna do something now?”

“Your shirt?” You prompted.

“Oh, I’m making it a style now,” he said. “I’m totally adding trendsetter to my resume.”

“Alright then, let’s do something,” you said, feeling better than you had in the past couple days as James led you out of the door of Central Perk.

Maybe this was just what you needed.

₊˚ ✧ ‿︵‿୨୧‿︵‿ ✧ ₊˚

“Are you sure he’s coming?”

“He’ll be here any second, I promise.”

You answered Phoebe and took a deep breath as you sat at Central Perk with your friends, who were all eagerly waiting for your boyfriend to arrive so they could meet him.

Your boyfriend. You pondered the word. If someone has told you a week ago that you’d be seeing someone, you’d have laughed in their face. And no one probably would have, because your friends were just as surprised as you were. They all knew how you felt about Joey.

And until you met James you hadn’t thought it possible that you would get over Joey at all. Or at least not for a very long while.

But one date with James had turned into seven and you were actually happy. You had learned a lot about him and you had plenty in common. He was so easy to be around that it made you forget about Joey and Jessica and the relationship that would never be.

Almost. You still felt bitter at the thought of them together, but you tried to push those feelings aside and focus on this relationship. You reminded yourself that you should be over Joey.

You saw a glimpse of a familiar flannel through the window of the coffee shop.

“Alright everyone be quiet, here he comes,” you said.

And you were over Joey, you told yourself, as you watched the amazing guy you were dating walk through the door and catch your eye, smiling at you.

You hoped, you added as you looked over at Joey finishing off a blueberry muffin. He shot you a thumbs up and you gave him a weak smile back.

“Hey (Y/n)!” James, your boyfriend of exactly three weeks, said. “Everyone.”

A chorus of ‘hey’ and ‘it’s nice to meet you’ and ‘Well, now I know why (Y/n)’s dating you. You know, for the free firewood’ —that being Chandler—followed as you made the introductions.

You rolled your eyes at Chandler. James was an accountant, and not a lumberjack. He had talked about his love of numbers on multiple occasions.

“It’s so great to finally see you,” Monica shook his hand, “(Y/n) talks about you all the time.”

Did you? You supposed you did. You hadn’t let any of them meet James at first so your descriptions of your dates were all they had to go on. And if you exaggerated his perfection than it was just because you really liked him and wanted all your friends to like him. You shook off the thought that some of it might be to convince yourself.

Because on paper James was perfect. And you really enjoyed spending time with him. But—

You glanced over at Joey again.

No. He had his relationship and you had yours. It was better this way. Because he was still seeing Jessica and it sounded like they were hitting it off.

And if some of your gushing about James was for Joey’s benefit than so be it.

“All good things I hope,” James answered and you were brought back to the present.

Monica turned away and mouthed ‘he’s hot’ to you enthusiastically. You rolled your eyes at her.

“So, what do you do?” Ross asked James as the latter walked over and sat down next to you, throwing an arm around your shoulders.

“I’m an accountant,” he said.

Chandler passed a five dollar bill to Ross, mumbling something about “being sure he was a lumberjack”.

Rachel elbowed Chandler and as he rubbed his arm she smiled warmly at James and said, “Well, any friend of (Y/n)’s is a friend of ours.”

“Which hasn’t happened yet because all of (Y/n)’s friends are sitting on this couch!” Phoebe said, teasing. She wasn’t wrong.

“Well, you all seem really great but (Y/n) and I have to run. We have a movie to get to.” James stood up and you moved with him.

You said goodbye to everyone, taking James’s hand. On your way out you risked a glance at Joey. You couldn’t help it. He had been so quiet throughout your whole introduction. You didn’t know why, but you almost thought he was disappointed? Or maybe just bored? Probably wishing he was with Jessica right now.

Once you thought of it you wished you hadn’t because you felt awful all over again and you willed your cheeks not to heat. You sighed. Now, Joey was looking down, running a finger around the top of his empty coffee mug. He caught you looking at him and you tried to play it off by waving. Pretending you hadn’t just been staring at him. He gave you an almost too enthusiastic wave back and you just turned around and kept walking towards the door, away from Joey and towards your boyfriend who was waiting for you.

₊˚ ✧ ‿︵‿୨୧‿︵‿ ✧ ₊˚

“I’m just saying, if pineapple doesn’t belong on pizza then why is it on pizza?” Joey said, throwing down his cards on the table.

“You got me there,” Chandler said, rolling his eyes. “And I fold.”

You stifled a laugh as you examined the cards in your hand. You, Joey, Chandler, and James were all seated around Joey and Chandler’s kitchen table playing a game of poker.

The whole thing had been James’s idea, and at first you weren’t sure that it was a good one. You’d been doing a lot of different activities that he had planned with your friends lately as he tried to get to know them better.

You appreciated that he wanted to be friends with your friends and all of his efforts were actually adorable. You had already been with Phoebe to her grandma’s together, went with Ross to his museum, and last week you had gone shopping with Monica and Rachel—and James somehow went home with an armful of fabric swatches, talking about undertones.

But this was different. It was getting easier and easier to be around Joey as time passed and weeks went by and you were both in relationships, but things were still a bit awkward, on your part at least.

But it did seem like Joey was…distant lately as well. It was probably just the fact that he was spending a lot of time with his girlfriend and you scolded yourself for worrying about it. Right now you were just friends playing a game of poker. You looked over and James and found him trying to look at your cards.

“No peeking,” you told James as he looked over your shoulder, so not discreetly.

“Maybe I just wanted to kiss you,” he covered, leaning down and pressing his lips to yours.

“Full house,” you whispered to him, flashing him your cards and he smiled down at you.

Chandler reached his arms out to Joey and pursed his lips, “Show me your cards?”

Everyone laughed and Joey aimed his cards away from Chandler.

“Hey, is it my fault for wanting to kiss my girlfriend?” James acted innocent. “Since when is that cheating?”

He put an arm around you and you kissed him on the cheek.

“House rules,” Joey said.

James shrugged, “He didn’t say we couldn’t do this.”

As he grabbed your hand you heard Joey’s chair slide on the hard-wood floor.

“I’ll be right back guys, I’m going to go get us something to eat. Play this hand without me.”

You watched him leave the room and Chandler called after him.

“But you don’t have any money with you!”

“I’ll go to Monica’s,” he called back.

“You most certainly will not,” Monica said and you turned around to find her standing in the doorway of her apartment. “And your girlfriend’s waiting for you. Why in my apartment, I don’t know.”

“Oh, right,” Joey said sheepishly, “Can I use your apartment? I told her I’d be over there. It’s important.”

“Joey!” You heard Monica yell before Chandler got up and shut the door and their voices became muffled.

You tried not to think about what important thing Joey could mean. You pushed thoughts of him and Jessica away and reminded yourself that you didn’t care.

“Well,” Chandler said, “I think I’m out too before I lose anymore money and then who’ll pay the rent?”

“Yeah, I should get going. I promised my sister I’d help her clean out her basement,” James headed towards the door and Chandler raised an eyebrow at him.

“Hey,” James defended, “If you’d seen my sister’s house you’d understand why it’s a two person job. Or, a team of movers’ job. Bye, (Y/n).”

He kissed you quickly and then left the apartment, leaving you with Chandler. It felt eerily like a little over a month ago when you had gone there to ask Joey out.

“So, you’ve been seeing James for a while now,” Chandler prompted.

“Yep,” you said, “He’s really great.”

Chandler stepped towards you hesitantly, “So you and Joe?”

“What about me and Joe?” You kept your voice even, “He’s in a relationship and so am I. We’re both happy and that’s that.”

“Well—” Chandler started, but was interrupted by Joey sighing as he entered his apartment.

“Glad that’s over with,” Joey said.

“Did you let her down easy?” Chandler asked.

“As easy as I could. And then she started crying and—this is why I just don’t call people back,” he sat down on the couch. “Breaking up with people in person is hard.”

“What? You broke up with Jessica?” You could hardly believe it. “I thought you guys were so happy together.”

Joey looked over at you, “Well, you know, we just didn’t have that much in common.”

You were both silent for a moment.

“Hey,” Chandler announced, “This is awkward! So I’m just going to...”

He ran out the door and you cursed him under your breath.

“Weird,” Joey mumbled and you sat down opposite from Joey as you processed this new information.

Joey wasn’t seeing anyone. You stopped yourself before you could go any further. No. You were in a good relationship and Joey had just got out of one. Now was not a good time. And just because he wasn’t dating Jessica didn’t mean he all of a sudden wanted to date you. And you were over him. Right?

“So you and James are really serious now,” Joey said.

“Yeah, I guess,” you responded. You hadn’t really thought of it like that, but you suppose technically you were.

“Well, I’m really happy for you,” he said, “He’s a lucky guy.”

It doesn’t mean anything, you told yourself, he’s just being a good friend.

“Well, I’m sorry about you and Jessica.”

“Don’t be,” Joey stood up, “It wasn’t meant to be.”

He took a step towards you.

“Do you ever wonder if anything’s actually ‘meant to be’? Or is it just our decisions that lead us places?” You pondered.

“I think if something is meant to happen than you’ll realize it and make the decisions that lead you there,” Joey said, taking another step closer to you.

“Really?” You asked, “You don’t think something could be staring you in the face and you don’t recognize the signs?”

“I think in a way you always know,” Joey said, more sincere now. “Even if you don’t realize it until it’s too late.”

You were saved from working out the meaning of that and this whole conversation by the phone ringing and Joey picking it up. His face got dark before he covered it up and smiled at you.

“It’s James.”

You walked over and took the phone from him.

“Hello?”

His voice was muffled but he sounded intense when he said, “Hey, (Y/n), I need to talk to you. Are you free…now?”

“Um, yeah, I can be at Central Perk in five minutes.”

“Sounds good,” he said, “I’ll see you there. Love you.”

You hesitated and he hung up. Joey looked to you, obviously curious about what that was all about.

“He says he needs to talk to me and to meet him in a few minutes.”

You headed towards the door and Joey handed you your coat.

“See you later,” you said and he shut the door behind you as you stepped out into the hall.

What could James possibly want?

₊˚ ✧ ‿︵‿୨୧‿︵‿ ✧ ₊˚

“James is leaving,” you announced.

You hung your coat on the coat rack of Monica’s apartment. All of your friends were lounging around in the living room but they rushed over towards you at this declaration and you held out your arms.

“No, I’m fine, really.”

In truth, you were too fine. More fine than you should be, after dating James for the better part of a month and a half. Which wasn’t a long time, but you had gotten to know him well and you really liked him.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Rachel asked, putting a hand on your amt.

“Yes,” you reiterated, “James was offered a new job in California and he is going to take it. It’s all very sudden, but I’m ok. And technically, he gave me the option. To either stay long distance or end it now. I’m…still thinking it over.”

You knew you should be more affected. But you felt numb to the sudden departure of your boyfriend. You knew you should be upset, and you were sad at the loss of him in your life. But it was more that you were going to miss spending time with him as a friend rather than as a boyfriend.

You didn’t pretend not to know why that was.

Either way, you still had to decide if you wanted to stay with him or not. He had left the decision up to you, saying that he’d be fine with whatever decision you made, and had told you to take all the time you need.

You told him you’d call him tonight. You didn’t tell him why you were hesitating to answer him. Because you wanted to stay with him. But you couldn’t make yourself say it, because what if you were missing other opportunities. Your conversation with Joey earlier had made you think and you couldn’t help but ponder what if.

Not that you had much confidence in that. Joey wasn’t even here right now, you realized.

You were brought back to the present. “So what are you going to tell him?” Ross asked.

“I don’t know yet,” you sighed, “I suppose I have no reason not to stay with him, even though we’ll be so far apart.”

That was the sensible thing, right? Stay with the great guy that wanted to be with you even miles and miles apart. You needed to stop focusing on what probably couldn’t be and focus on what already was.

“If you’re sure,” Monica said. “We’ll support whatever decision you make.”

“I’m sure he’ll send you lots of free wood from California,” Chandler said, and you chuckled.

“Phoebe?” Rachel furrowed her brow, “Are you alright?”

Phoebe stood over by the couch. She was biting her lip and looked like she was stopping herself from saying something.

“Phoebe?” You asked, “What is it?”

“Oh, it’s just—” she started, “No, I can’t tell you! It wouldn’t be right!”

“Tell me,” you said, walking over to her.

She backed up, “No!”

“Phoebe!”

“I can’t!”

“Phoebe!”

“Joey’s in love with you! Ok? There I said it,” She sat down on the couch and looked like she had been wanting to say that for a long time.

You felt like you had been turned upside down.

“He didn’t say anything because of you and James and, you know, but he loves you, (Y/n). And I know I shouldn’t be telling you and I promised him I wouldn’t but—” she stood up again, “I know you love him and before you make this decision you just need to know that.”

You couldn’t even begin to comprehend this. Joey loved you? That couldn’t be true. Phoebe must be mistaken and—

Joey walked into the apartment. You saw your friends look around at each other.

“You love me?” You mumbled barely able to believe it.

Joey’s smiling face went pale and filled with horror as he backed up slowly.

“Oops,” Phoebe mumbled and Joey glanced once at her before hurrying out the door and down the hall.

“Joey, wait!” You shut the door behind you and caught up to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to face you.

“Look (Y/n), I never meant to—”

“You love me?” You asked again.

“(Y/n), you have to believe me when I say—”

You stepped so you looked Joey directly in the eye.

“No, Joey,” you whispered, “I need to know, do you love me?

“I can’t love you, (Y/n),” his voice raised with every word, “I can’t love you. And I can’t love you so much that it hurts to pretend that I don’t….that I do…that I…”

He looked up, confused, “Oh, you get the point! And every time I see you with James I’m reminded of how I can’t have you.”

Your conversation about signs and realizations came back to you. Your heart stopped beating. When you found words your voice came out shaky and breathless. “But…Jessica?”

“Jessica and I broke up,” he said, taking a step closer to you. “because I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I just realized that too late.”

“And I shouldn’t be telling you this,” Joey continued, “I never planned on telling you any of this…”

He looked up at you and you tried to discern the expression on his face.

“Just forget I said anything, ok?” Joey said looking pained, “I hope you and James are happy together, I really do. Just, forget it.”

He moved to walk past you and you started talking trust to stop him from leaving.

“James is an amazing guy,” you said, your words coming out slowly, “he’s smart and thoughtful and attractive—”

“Is this supposed to be helping?” Joey asked, turning around.

“What I mean is, James is perfect,” you said, “but he’ll never be you.”

Joey’s eyes snapped to yours and you continued, “I only started dating James because I was trying to get over you. James is moving away and he left the decision with me to end or keep our relationship.”

You stepped closer to Joey. “So say the word. Tell me you love me. Tell me you love me and I’ll leave him and be yours.”

Joey closed the distance between you, fire burning in his eyes. “I love you (Y/n). God, I love you so much.”

And he kissed you. He kissed you like he had been waiting a thousand years. He backed you up against the wall and his hands went to your hair as you kissed him back. You threw your arms around his neck and took in the beauty of this moment.

It was passionate and raw and everything you had been hoping for and more.

Joey pulled away from you, reaching to brush the hair back from your face.

“Wow, (Y/n).”

“Yeah,” you breathed. “I guess I have Phoebe to thank for this.”

“You’re welcome!” You heard Phoebe’s muffled voice from the other side of the door.

You smiled at Joey, rolling your eyes and walking over to open the apartment door.

You turned the knob and all of your friends faces greeted you as they scrambled away from the door.

“Run!” Chandler yelled, “Scatter! She can’t catch all of us! It was Monica’s idea!”

“Seriously Chandler?” Monica smacked him in the arm.

You laughed.

“We’re just so happy for you two,” Rachel said. You tried to convey your gratitude to her—to all of them—for their friendship.

“I’m happy,” you said. You felt giddy in a way that you hadn’t in a long time—that you had never felt with James.

“We knew you’d get together,” Phoebe nodded. “My psychic totally saw it coming.”

“And we were only listening at the door for a little bit,” Ross added.

Joey put his arm around you and you leaned in to him. You couldn’t even pretend to be offended, you were just glad to be here in Joey’s arms, surrounded by your friends.

“What do you say we go get a bite or something?” Joey asked you.

You nodded as he walked out the door with you and down the hall once again.

“How about pie?” You teased, remembering your almost-stolen leftovers.

“My treat,” Joey answered in agreement. “Have all the pie you want!”

“Will it be mine this time?” You teased back.

“All yours,” Joey said, stopping to look down at you softly. His eyes sparkled as he said,

“Just like me.”

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ˋ°•*⁀➷ i hope you enjoyed this, i love writing for the friends characters so much!! you can find my other friends fics on my friends masterlist. as always feedback is appreciated and i hope you have a lovely week!! 🍓🪩

#joey tribbiani x reader #joey tribbiani #friends #f•r•i•e•n•d•s #fanfiction #fanfic #reader insert #x reader

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