[Joey x Chandler] COMPILATION OF SHORT STORIES FROM AO3

Primavera

■●□○AUTHOR:CONFETTIICECREAM○□●■

Summary:

Joey cooks when he needs to think. Pasta sauce, specifically.

Notes:

A/N: This is my awkward foray into the world of fanfiction again after not having finished anything in over six months. Please let me know what you think, and enjoy this little ficlet!

Work Text:

When Chandler got home, the entire apartment smelled like pasta sauce.

"Not quite marinara," Chandler remarked, swinging the door shut and hanging up his coat. "So I take it you're not preparing for a date."

Joey looked up from the pot, smiling, about to say something, when Chandler held up a finger. "No, wait, don't tell me."

He paced the living room, hand over his eyes so as not to give anything away.

"It's not alfredo, we just had that at Monica's, like, two days ago, and you KNOW she makes it better than you."

"Hey!"

"So yeah, not alfredo, then, you're not heartbroken," Chandler mused, hand still over his eyes, stopping where he stood.

Chandler kept thinking out loud. "You're still going out with Jenny and you haven't fought with your sisters, at least not that I know of. My eyes don't feel spicy right now, so you're not mad at me. Hmm, what else? Family, girlfriend, money, acting –"

All at once, he spun to face Joey, if facing was still what it was called when one of the parties had their face covered. "Primavera."

"Bingo," Joey confirmed.

"Didn't get the part in that miniseries?" Chandler asked, blinking rapidly as he sat at the breakfast bar.

"Ah, well, no, they do want me," Joey explained reluctantly. "They just, just want me to, uh, do some stuff."

"How maddeningly vague of you."

"Y'know, I think I know one of those words!"

"That's an improvement. But, uh," Chandler stopped. "Don't try to distract me! C'mon, Joe, what's up?"

"You're gonna just make me say it, aren't you?" Joey said, stirring that particular pot of sauce a little more forcefully than Chandler thought was really necessary. But what did he know, he'd never made pasta sauce in his life.

"Maybe?" Chandler tried, and whoa, that was going to stain the walls. He reached over the table and took the wooden spoon from Joey, setting it on the table. "Slow down there, cowboy."

"All right," Joey said, resigned. "My love interest is a complete newbie. Doesn't know how to kiss, how to act in love, anything! It's really screwing me up here!"

"Aw, that sucks," Chandler said sympathetically. "How did-"

"He get the part?" Joey huffed. "I don't know. It's like they're just pullin' people in off the streets here! You know I'm pretty easygoing, but if he flubs his lines in rehearsal one more time, I'm gonna-"

"Let's back up," Chandler cut in. "He?"

"Yeah, he! You'd think he'd be better than he is, they're trippin' over themselves to cast him." Joey snorted and shook his head. "They just want the eye candy."

Chandler was still stuck on the pronoun, which Joey finally noticed.

"Hey, man," he said, a bit uncertainly. "You're not gonna go all weird on me, are you? You know this has happened before. I'm an actor, so's he, it's what we do."