Fetish

"Here let me take those off for you." Wash sat down next to his wife and began removing her boots. Zoe laid back against the arm of the couch and let her husband take off her brown leather boots.

"How was your day sweetie?" Wash asked as his fingers began to caress her toes. He pressed his thumb into the pressure points as she curled her toes and tried faintly to pull her feet away.

"No baby, not here. Let's go back to our bunk."

"But sweetie we're already here, you're comfortable oh and look at that I've already got them off and ooh" –he winked at her- "I've started".

Zoe groaned as his hands started working her tired feet.

"But what if someone comes by?" Zoe said almost as an after thought.

"So what!" Wash shrugged. "We are a happily married couple. If I want to, and if my beautiful wife allows, I can drive her wild with the small pleasures she so richly deserves."

"Trust me husband, I would never call it a small pleasure." She said giving him a satisfied grin. Wash stared at what could only be described as the most adorable pair of feet nestled in his lap. He gently traced the veins atop her feet, committing them to memory. Carefully, he studied them as he did the rest of her body, like when they made love. He pressed his thumb into her big toe then dragged it over the ball of her foot. He relished watching her toes curl in electric euphoria as he firmly dug his knuckles into the arch of her foot. She groaned loudly when he pinched her Achilles tendon and began working his way up her leg.

"Ooooh! You better stop that!" She tried stifling the bout of giggles that he'd tried conjuring.

"You know something Zoe; I wouldn't mind seeing these in something other than leather." Zoe made a face at him. But he went on like he hadn't noticed.

"Maybe some of those thong-y thingies that Kaylee wears when ever chance she gets. Or a sparkly pair like the ones Inara tries hiding under her many fancy gowns. They're shiny!" Zoe lifted an eyebrow in his direction.

"You've been looking at Inara's –"

"I mean, like, really shiny blinding, even. I think she uses them to distract from her hideous face!" Zoe gave her husband a 'nice try' look and smirked in spite of it.

"Husband, I think it's safe to say that you're obsessed."

"Awww, come on, honey! It'd be fun! Next time we hit Beaumonde we could cruise the shops. I'm sure Kaylee wouldn't mind coming along. Inara could recommend some moderately priced stores. Those people could direct us to the cheapest place they know and those people could direct us to some old, run-down pawn shop that sells things second hand. Things more in our price range." Zoe's eyes were closed and she looked suspiciously like she'd fallen asleep. Wash pouted his lips, squinted his eyes in suspicion of his wife. Thinking, he let an idea slip into his head; his mouth formed a slick, cocky grin. He placed his right index finger on the bottom of her left foot. Pressing gently, he swiftly drove the finger from the heel to the ball of her foot.

Zoe's mouth curled into a cat smile as she tried pulling her foot away, but he held tight. "I'm not sleeping."

"Then what were we talking about?"

"Going to the shops and picking out things that might satiate your kink."

"I don't think it's kinky."

"Liar."

Wash smiled and began pulling her toes. With her eyes still closed Zoe's face screwed up with a mix of emotion. He knew this face to be the trademark of her trying to think past the pleasure. He squeezed her heel again and her face clouded further. Damn he was good.

"Wash …"

"H'mmm?"

"About that trip into town …?"

"H'mmm?"

"Maybe Simon could get River fitted for a pair of her own? Hardly ever see her wearing any when she's on ship."

Zoe pointed her feet then lifted the right one in the air, stretching her leg out above her body. She then bent her leg over her left side shifted her weight as she turned, settling onto her side. Her feet drifted back to Wash's lap. She pulled one of the cushions under her head as she shimmied down until her body met his, her bottom coming to rest against his hip and the side of his tummy. He rested his forearm along the length of her thigh; the fingers of his right hand drumming out comforting rhythms on her kneecap.

"Great idea, hon! A trip for the whole crew, we'll make a day of it." He let his voice fall to a relaxed softness.

"Is there anything in particular you've had your eye on?"

"H'mmm. Something with strong laces, that tie in the front."

"But you already have that, dear."

"They're practical."

"Yes. But what do you want?" He looked over at her resting on the shabby second hand couch cushion; her eyes still closed and leant over to brush the hair away from her neck.

"Something in red", she cooed. The thumb of his left hand circled her anklebone and their body heat melted in to each other radiating comfort and tranquility.

Wash smiled to him self as he tried again to test Zoe's state of consciousness.

"Maybe I could wear them."

Just then Mal rushed out from the direction of the passenger dorms wild eyed and agitated. Well, you couldn't actually see his eyes because he had one hand up acting as a blinder blocking any view he might have had of the two resting on the couch.

"Alright I've had just about enough of this from the two of you on this boat! If you all are gonna insist on sexin' each other up and talkin' about your dirty underwear purchases, you could at least do it in the privacy of your own bunk! I mean there are other people that live here!" Mal hadn't removed his hand from his eyes nor had he faced the pair. Zoe hadn't budged from her comfy spot sprawled across Wash and the couch. Her eyes were still closed.

"Sir," she said in simple acknowledge. Wash raised his eyes to meet what would have been the Capitan's line of site, but it was still askew.

"I'm not gonna say it again Corporal." Mal's voice was low and threatening despite his back still facing them. "Put your clothes back on and take it to your bunk, both of you." Wash cast a confused look to Zoe whose eyes were still closed.

"Mal …?"

"And I don't want to hear anymore about little Kaylee's thong-y thingies, or Inara's sparkly ones. And I don't even want to know how you ever figured that tiny River doesn't wear them at all on the ship!" Mal shuddered while trying to shake loose all the sordid images that cropped up in his head.

"…We do have our clothes on, all of them in fact. Well, except if you count Zoe being bootless at the moment, but I take full responsibility for that. "

Mal's stance stuttered a bit as he said, "Bootless?"

"Yeeeeah, Mal. Her feet are naked, is that what ya meant?" Mal turned slightly giving a peek through his fingers. Upon seeing his pilot and first mate minus the boots but nonetheless completely dressed Mal physically relaxed.

"Oh. What? …. But you said 'thong-y thingies.'"

Wash closed his eyes and tried to will away a round of tummy aching laughter. He succeeded in only letting a high-pitched snigger out and got a red face for his trouble. Wash felt Zoe hand close around his just when he thought he was going to lose it. He held tight but kept his own eyes closed. He felt her shift a little from her side of the couch, but she didn't budge from where she lay.

"Thong shoes, sir," she simply said, "as in, sandals. As in, 'things you put on your feet'." He heard the smile her voice. Even if Mal couldn't see it, Wash knew he saw the amusement in her eyes. Zoe propped herself up one arm to rub her thumb over Wash's knuckles. It worked to calm him a bit, but if Mal didn't leave soon Wash was going to laugh in his face.

There was a minute standoff between captain and first mate as the silence built. But Wash couldn't take it anymore and lay his head down on his wife's thigh and began shaking with laughter. Mal looked from Zoe to Wash as his face turned its own fun shade of red from embarrassment. He looked back at Zoe to see she was now stroking her husband's neck in what he'd guess was a calming fashion. Her mouth formed a curved line across her face and her dimples were showing through. Mal turned to head up the stairs that lead to crew's quarter's feeling stupid, angry and bit shameful for the misunderstanding.

The conversation started out weird but he'd only really started listening when he heard mention of Inara's shiny ones. Mal heard the snickering from the couch grow into raucous laughter. Hearing the 'His & Her' voices compliment each other, he made a hasty retreat up the stairs and away from the happy couple. Well at least he was right about one thing. Shipboard romances complicated things.