"Umm," Chandler starts, dragging a hand down his face, clearly nervous.

Joey fiddles with his bottle of water, sure he knows where this is going.

"Monica and I have decided to live together... here." Chandler claps his hands together, rubbing them nervously. "So, I'm going to be moving out, man."

Joey's heart sinks into his stomach as he leans back in his chair, eyes darting to the table.

He can't look Chandler in the eyes right now. He can't look at either of them right now.

When he found out the he and Monica had been sleeping together he had been shocked. He never thought Chandler would date one of his friends and he definitely never thought it would be Monica, but they started dating.

They still lived together though.

He thought, foolishly, that it was a sign that maybe he had time. Maybe Chandler didn't love Monica and he wouldn't have to lose him.

Then Chandler comes running to him one day, glowing with joy as he rambles on and on about how he's in love with Monica and she said it back.

Joey tries to feel happy for him, but his hope is starting to fade away with each day as he watches the two of them fall further in love with one another.

It hurt, but Joey was stubborn and still held out hope that maybe Chandler would see him, would see the person that had been waiting for him for years, that was living with him right now. Maybe he'd see that someone already loved him unconditionally.

Monica and Chandler hadn't moved in together yet. There was still a little ray of hope, even after the whole almost getting married thing.

Not anymore.

Chandler was moving out and Joey could see his last shred of hope drifting away, heart getting packed into a box and shoved into a closet with all the other things Chandler had Monica didn't approve of.

"Wow."

The word is grating on his ears and he can hear how choked up he sounds and he knows that they heard it too. "I'm happy for you guys," he says, quickly standing to give them each a hug, hoping to cover the sound of his heart slowly breaking in his chest.

He gets half way to giving Monica a hug, looking at Chandler over her shoulder and realizes that he can't do it.

"See you later." The words come out choked and he's practically running to the door in a desperate attempt to keep his tears rom being seen by his friends.

He doesn't want them to know how much this is hurting him, even if it's a little obvious already.

Monica tries to stop him, but he really can't stand to look at either of them now, so he runs over to his apartment and locks the door, pushing a chair in front of it for good measure to make sure that Chandler get in.

Joey's shoulder's slump and he resigns himself to watching cartoons until he feels better.

Rachel is sitting in Chandler's arm chair, a pint of ice cream in her hands, eyes rimmed red and he knows that she's in the same boat he is.

Instead of saying anything, he just grabs another spoon and settles on the floor beside her, gratefully accepting the bucket from her when she offers it.

She joins him on the floor and the two of them watch the cartoons flitting about the screen, reveling in the comfort of one another.

He could learn to be happy for Chandler. The man deserved it.

One day he'll learn to be okay.

For now, he's got cartoons, ice cream and Rachel and he really couldn't ask for anything else.