And it's the simple gestures that have come to matter most. Witness the way Pitt kept his arm around Aniston's waist, clutching the back of her black leather skirt at the L.A. premiere of Spy Game Nov. 19 -- and responding immediately when, several hours later, his wife tugged at his sleeve in a silent bid to go home. Little wonder Aniston makes sure to find time on a girls' night out to check in with her husband on her cell phone. "She's very affectionate with him," says Najimy. "He makes her feel grounded and whole and smart." And she makes him feel like Fred Astaire -- which is no small feat. At a Jane's Addiction concert at the Hollywood Bowl on a recent Saturday night, Pitt took to the aisles and wowed onlookers with his, well, unusual moves. Says one: "He dances very herky-jerky."

Aniston could not have cared less. "It's very cool when you have your best friend at your side," she says of her life with Pitt, whom she met on a date set up by their reps in 1998. The feeling is mutual. "If you can find someone who can stand you for 24 hours a day," Pitt said of his contentment playing husband, "I highly recommend it." Nor does he pass up a moment to show it: During the Friends rehearsal and shoot, Pitt got to share the dressing room where Aniston has their wedding photo propped up -- the same room he filled with roses last Valentine's Day, spelling out "I Love My Wife" in petals on the wall. And during filming of Ocean's Eleven this past spring, "he flew home every time he had off, even for 24 hours, to see her," says producer Jerry Weintraub. When they're together, "they don't take their eyes off each other. They touch and kiss each other."

But it's not, like, you know, gross or anything. "They're not like two 14-year-olds learning to kiss," says their friend, Manhattan-based stylist John Sahag, adding that he is taken by the "mature, intelligent affection" the two show each other -- whether working, doing art projects together (Pitt was hands-on in the design and renovation of their Hollywood Hills studio; Aniston draws and sculpts) or just cracking each other up. "They're both funny," says one friend. "They're very, very much alike. They have the same appreciation for aesthetics, a shared love of antiques. They are like the same person, only he's a guy and she's a girl."