India, April 26 -- Friends icon Jennifer Aniston is "hooking up for real" with just "friend" Pedro Pascal and are free to see other people, per Radar Online.

"They're trying to downplay it because neither one wants attention on their private life," one insider told Radar Online. "But the word is they've been more than just friends for a while now."

It seems the Hollywood duo have gone to great lengths to keep whatever is going on between them out of the public eye. "They've worked hard to keep it discreet, and for the longest time, they succeeded," the source added. "Only a small circle of people even knew they were friends, let alone hooking up."

Notably, when an Entertainment Weekly journalist pressed Pascal about casting Aniston in ...