Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer were crushing on one other when their characters, Rachel Green and Ross Gellar, were getting together.

“The first season I had a major crush on Jen,” Schwimmer said, before adding, “It was reciprocated.” During the recent “Friends” reunion special, which aired on HBO Max on Thursday, Schwimmer disclosed.

“At some point we were both crushing hard on each other, but it was like two ships passing,” he continued. “One of us was always in a relationship and we never crossed that boundary. We respected that.”

Aniston went on to discuss their mutual attraction to one other, recalling Ross and Rachel’s legendary first kiss on the sitcom, which occurred in season two, episode seven.

“I remember saying one time to David, ‘It’s going to be such a bummer if the first time you and I actually kiss is going to be on national television,’” she said. “And sure enough, first time we kissed was in that coffee shop. So, we just channeled all of our love and adoration for each other into Ross and Rachel.”

Despite the fact that their sentiments were never expressed, costar Courteney Cox felt their onscreen connection was palpable. “That scene in the coffee house, their first kiss, I was watching it the other day and I was weeping at the end of it,” she remarked. “The tension, it was just palpable, it was just perfect.”

They agreed that there were touching moments off-camera. “I thought back on the first year or two, when we had breaks from rehearsal, there were moments we would cuddle on the couch,” Schwimmer revealed. “And I’m thinking, ‘How did everyone not know we were crushing on each other?'”

“We knew for sure,” Cox added.

However, as Cox pointed out, it was probably best to let their off-screen relationship feed their chemistry rather than complicate matters if they dated and things didn’t work out.

Schwimmer said that his and Jennifer Aniston’s mutual attraction was “a situation that we couldn’t do anything about,” but he expressed no remorse. And, of course, there’s always Vegas!

“How great, though, ultimately,” Cox says. “Because if you had, and it didn’t work out it,” she says, it wouldn’t have “probably been as great.”

The highly anticipated “Friends” reunion featured stories and discoveries from all six cast members, as well as celebrity guest appearances from Lady Gaga and David Beckham.