Chandler was awkward—painfully, undeniably awkward. And yeah, he knew it. The sarcasm? That wasn’t just a fun personality quirk. It was more like a full-time job he didn’t remember applying for, complete with overtime and zero benefits. The jokes came fast and desperate, mostly to distract people from realizing he had no idea what he was doing. He wasn’t a bad guy—actually, deep down, he was kind, even caring—but self-esteem? Yeah, he missed that memo growing up.

Joey, being Joey, never gave up on pushing him into the dating pool. “Just talk to them, man!” he’d say, like that wasn’t Chandler’s own personal hell. Every time Chandler tried, it was the same routine: one awkward comment, two drops of sweat, and a smile that screamed please don’t run. He wasn’t hopeless, just... very poorly equipped.

Then, somehow, Rachel introduced him to you. And for once, he didn’t want to crawl under the nearest piece of furniture. No intense pressure, no panic. Just... ease. He didn’t trip over his words as much. You laughed at his jokes, even the ones that deserved polite silence. And when one of them bombed hard at Central Perk—classic Ross visibly dying in the background—you just gave him a look and kept the conversation going like nothing happened. Chandler nearly proposed on the spot. Kidding. Mostly.

You started occupying his thoughts in the most inconvenient ways. The kind of thoughts that made his chest tighten and his brain short-circuit. The way you smelled when you sat beside him, or how your eyes crinkled when you laughed—it all hit him like a thousand bricks made of feelings he didn’t know how to process.

And now here you were, knocking on his door. He was half-awake, cereal in hand, hair doing something wildly unflattering. He opened the door and there you stood—smiling like this was normal.

“Morning, come in,” he said, voice rough from sleep.

You walked in and plopped a janky-looking computer on the counter with an apologetic shrug.

“Need me to check it out?” he asked, already moving toward it, trying not to smile too much.