Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, etc.
Set during season seven.
Chandler paused on the stairs to listen, unable to make sense of the sequence whilst thundering down them with an armful of dirty laundry.
"Ow," step, "ow," step, "ow," step, "ow," Rachel appeared around the corner below, trudging gingerly up the stairs towards him.
"Hey Rach,"
She looked up, noticing him, and groaned, "Oh, my feet are killing me!"
"Really? Mine just give me the occasional rebellious glare – although there are times when I've had to sleep with my socks on…"
"It's these new shoes that Monica bought me. Don't get me wrong, I love them, but I wore them to work today and it's like every shoe I've ever thrown out has come back to get me," she explained, taking another step. "Ow!"
Chandler shifted his grip on the laundry, "Well I've got my hands full, but I've – Monica – has some foot moisturizer in the bathroom that might help. Our apartment's open,"
"Thanks Chandler,"
"No problem; always happy to help in cases of podiatric aggression," and he continued down the stairs. Rachel made her way slowly up the remaining flight and down the hallway to Monica and Chandler's apartment. She pushed open the door and stepped inside.
On the couch, Ross looked up from his book and turned around, "Hey,"
"Hi Ross," Rachel sat down in the kitchen on the nearest chair and proceeded to take off her shoes. A blister burst and she reached for a paper towel to soak up the fluid.
"Are you – are you alright?" Ross wandered over to inspect the damage, "Ouch."
"Yeah," Rachel agreed, gazing with him at the red, chaffed patches that covered her feet. "Chandler said that there's some foot moisturizer in the bathroom that might help. Could you get that for me?"
"Yeah, sure." He returned a minute later with two unequally-sized bottles, sat down on the chair next to hers and lifted her feet onto his lap. She read the labels. The larger of the two contained foot moisturizer; the smaller, antiseptic. He poured antiseptic onto another paper towel and she made a face.
"Hey, do you want these to get infected?"
"No…"
"Good, now I just need you to hold still…"
Rachel leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes, wincing as he started to clean the sores, "Oh… oh that's not so bad…" The blisters began to numb and she opened her eyes to see Ross shoot her a grin. Suddenly they heard footfall and voices coming up the stairs towards them.
"Don't you need to do your laundry soon?" Chandler asked.
"Nah, I just did it a week ago," Joey responded.
"But don't you only have like, six pairs of underwear?"
"Well yeah, that's why I do my laundry every twelve days. Right now I'm only on day six, so I haven't even started using the other sides of them yet!" Ross and Rachel laughed, and he reached for the moisturizer.
She couldn't help squirming while he smoothed it carefully over her feet,"Stop it, Ross, that tickles!"
Footsteps stopped outside the door and Joey and Chandler entered, heading for the couch.
"Stop what?" Ross asked innocently, continuing to run his fingers lightly across the underneath of one foot until she kicked his hand away.
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Author's Note: I've pretty much got all of this story planned out already, so I'll update soon - I just have to type the next chapters up and figure out the details.
This is my first Friends fanfic, so I would really appreciate any feedback!