Lessons in Life and Love

Title: Slippery When Wet: Part 1
Author: NekoEro
Rating: M, with later parts being NC-17
Characters: Ed x Winry

I make no profit from this fanfic.

Summary: Winry has waited a long, long time for Ed to show some interest in her. But when a unique opportunity arises, she gets to let him know the full extent of her feelings.

Warnings: Again, this is part one of a PWP, which means after this part, it becomes NC-17. Not for everyone, but immensely enjoyed by many. Mangaverse futurefic, it takes place after the end of the manga storyline. Kinda AU, but still well within cannon.

A/N: This is only one part of a very long story arc which encompasses three separate stories. Lessons in Life and Love contains Slippery When Wet, Unexpected Adjustments, and a third, yet untitled story. Slippery When Wet ended up as a 30+ page behemoth, so I decided to break it up into two, perhaps three parts. I've been working on these fics for quite some time and after many false starts, here it is--finally. (Updated 4-6-2010: The middle story has changed from Unexpected Adjustments to You Can't Hurry Love. Once YCHL was finished, the original title didn't fit anymore.)

My eternal thanks to ibshafer for the beta and putting up with the numerous times I angsted over writing this fic. I owe you big time...


Slippery When Wet

Part 1


Morning always came too early, even if her morning happened to be one o’clock in the afternoon. This was the conclusion Winry Rockbell came to as she finished her coffee and set her empty coffee mug in the sink before yawning and stretching like a cat. After holding her outstretched arms above her head for a long moment, Winry took in a deep breath to then let it out as a sigh. As she relaxed, the young blonde woman dropped her arms to scratch at an itchy place on her stomach before shuffling out of the kitchen and toward the staircase. It was tempting to return to her nice warm bed—after all, she was still clad in her nightgown—but no, the day was already half over and she had to finish the automail order she’d stayed up until four in the morning to work on.

Hunger now satiated and the dose of caffeine somewhat recharging her, Winry made her way up the stairs, planning to at least change into her work clothes. Hopefully, she would be finished with the order by evening, especially if she resumed her work right away. As soon as she made a quick stop in the bathroom to brush her teeth, she’d get dressed and get busy.

But her steps slowed as Winry approached the bathroom door and she eyed it suspiciously after noting it was ever so slightly ajar. Beyond the wooden barrier she could hear the sound of water running in the shower and was struck with mild annoyance; had someone left the bathroom without taking the time to turn the water off?

Wait a minute…there’d been no one around when she’d gone downstairs for breakfast. She’d made a quick tour upon rising only to discover a cool, quiet house without any trace of its other occupant. Winry had assumed Pinako had gone off to town or perhaps to the neighbors, but was it possible her grandmother had been somewhere about and had somehow managed to get past her without her noticing? Granny could be notoriously quiet, even for an old woman and Winry couldn’t count the number of times her grandmother’s silent approach had caught her unawares.

And lately, that seemed to happen more often when a particular young, and very handsome blond alchemist came for adjustments on his automail…

Grasping the doorknob, she gently put her shoulder against the wood and slowly pressed her way in. Inside, she was greeted by a thick fog of steam hovering throughout the room, which immediately caused her hair to wilt and dampened her face. She squinted over at the shower enclosure, a fixture of her own creation that was nothing more than a plastic curtain strung around a L-shaped length of small diameter pipe and suspended from the ceiling by brackets in the corner where the tub used to be. She still couldn’t make out the occupant of the shower; the room was just too hazy.

Winry was rather proud of the work she and her grandmother had put into remodeling the bath. Her and Pinako had updated the room only a few short years before, bringing it up to more modern standards. Her advancing age finally catching up with the feisty old woman, Pinako had developed problems climbing into the old, deep clawed-legged tub, and the decision was made to install a shower, one that didn’t need to be stepped into. The tub had been removed and replaced with an over-sized shower enclosure, one that took up the majority of one corner of the small room. Now, new off-white linoleum graced the floor except for in the shower enclosure where there was pale aqua porcelain tile. Winry missed the old tub; it was great for a long, hot soak, particularly when a difficult job would overtax her muscles, but she also understood her Grandmother’s well being was important. For now, she could live without the old cast iron and porcelain monstrosity.

Steam continued to billow around her, obstructing her view across the room. Logically, it had to be her grandmother, but it made no sense that she would leave the door ajar and unlocked. Was something wrong?

“Hello?” she called out as she leaned around the door. “Granny?”

“Hell no, it’s not Granny!” an irritated male voice shot back, a voice she knew all too well and was rather surprised to hear, “Get out! I’d like to take my shower without spectators!”

A mix of relief and surprise swept through her; it was only Ed.

Then another question leapt into her mind: Ed and Al had returned home this morning? With her tendency to sleep deeply, a bomb could have gone off beside her and not even make her stir, so it was no wonder Winry hadn’t heard the arrival of her childhood friends.

However, now that she thought about it, Winry couldn’t recall any previous announcement about the two brothers returning home today. As usual, leave it to Ed to not bother calling ahead. And now that they were here, or at least Ed as far as she could tell, she wondered where both her grandmother and Al were at the moment—the only living thing she’d found earlier was an aged Den sleeping in the morning sun on the front porch.

So, how had Ed managed to elude her during her search of the house? He wasn’t always the quietest person, especially considering his left leg was made of metal.

“Well, hello to you, too!” Winry shot back, “Nice of you to let me know you were coming home today! Where’s Al? And, by the way, what the hell’s your problem? Close the door and lock it when you’re using the bathroom!”

“Yeah, yeah,” came back the sardonic reply, “Al went into town with the old hag. Now get out!”

Satisfied with his answer, Winry started to duck out of the room then paused as an additional thought came to her, “Just why are you home, anyway?” she asked suspiciously, “Did you break--.”

“Can we discuss this after I’m out of the shower and DRESSED?” Ed’s voice was edgy and nervous as it came from behind the opaque plastic curtain, the last word practically coming out in a snarl. Winry held back a snicker; it was just too much fun to torment him.

“Oh, come on, Ed,” she intoned, trying her best to keep her mirth out of her voice, “Why can‘t we? It’s not like I’ve never seen you naked before,” Winry mocked, amused by his modesty and obvious discomfort with her proximity, “Well, almost naked, anyway.”

A strangled roar of frustration came from behind the curtain and much to Winry’s surprise, was followed by a bar of soap bouncing off the door mere inches from her nose.

“Why you--” Her words came out in a threatening growl.

He’d almost hit her!

Her amusement swiftly turned to indignant anger. The fingers of her right hand twitched reflexively; what she wouldn’t give to have her trusty wrench in hand right now! Her rising ire fueled her thirst for revenge; she wanted to get even, put Ed in his place for his intolerable behavior.

One by one, iniquitous scenarios flashed through her head as her anger bordered on rage: she could wait until his next automail re-attachment and make it more torturous than usual. Or she could hide all his alchemy books and research notes—it would be fun watching him search for them, running about like a chicken with his head cut off. She could also do something as simple as loosening the lid on the saltshaker…but that was too juvenile and none of these ideas would grant her immediate gratification.

She wanted to get REALLY even, NOW!

Her eyes settled on the commode next to the shower enclosure and a devious scheme came to her; there was one way to get even with Ed and it was so simple and easy that she couldn’t help but smirk with satisfaction. It was the perfect punishment and would also grant her the immediate gratification she craved.

All she had to do was flush the toilet.

Flinging the door open hard enough to cause it to clap against the wall, the young woman purposely strode toward her weapon of choice. ‘Little twerp! Maybe if I scorch his ass he’ll remember not to throw things at me like a spoiled brat! As she approached the porcelain fixture, Winry happened to notice the offending bar of soap on the floor next to the shower enclosure. ‘And after a good scalding, perhaps bouncing this off his hard head will finish putting him in his place!’ Without slowing down, she made a slight detour and bent to scoop up the makeshift missile, planning to gracefully pick it up on the fly.

However, as her fingers went around the slippery rectangle of soap, the shift in her center of gravity coupled with the slippery tiles next to the shower stall caused an unanticipated reaction. Her bare feet suddenly lost their traction, moving erratically beneath her, making her wind her arms in a futile attempt to right herself. Too late she noticed Ed had splashed a fair amount of water out from under the curtain, and with the soap leaving a slick residue in its wake, the normally innocuous surface was now slippery as ice.

At first it seemed like she might win her struggle to stay upright, her body righting itself for a heartbeat. But in the next instant, Winry found her feet going out from underneath as she finally lost her battle with both gravity and momentum. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as she felt herself go down, hard, onto her backside before her forward inertia carried her, now on her back, through the shower curtain and into the blinding spray from the showerhead. The feeling of overly warm water almost instantly drenching her confounded her senses, making her sputter in astonishment. She felt her long blonde hair to stick to her face and scalp and her thin cotton nightgown, which was now up around her waist, promptly adhere suggestively to her skin.

Stunned by the sudden turn of events, Winry pawed at the wet hair plastered to her face, only to look up helplessly into the horror-filled liquid gold eyes of one, Edward Elric. His hands were frozen mid-lather in his hair, leaving the rest of his body unguarded. Suds obscured most of his blond hair, rivulets of the white foam flowed down over his shoulders and chest, forming a path for her eyes to follow. Involuntarily, her eyes were drawn lower, to his abdomen, where toned muscles left defined ridges. Absently, she wondered just when he’d gotten so ripped—was it before or after his last automail adjustment…? Or even longer…? Her eyes continued their journey downward, until they reached his groin.

It was her turn for her eyes to go round as saucers. The bar of soap leapt from her fingers as her hand reflexively tightened into a fist and it scooted across the floor to stop near the drain.

“Wha-what THE HELL?!!” Ed roared, “WINRY?!!”

Her gaze shot back up to his face, a face that had gone very red, with eyes so wide they looked as if they were ready to pop out of his head. His automail hand flew to the washcloth hanging from a hook attached to the wall, yanking it free to frantically cover himself.

Almost instantaneously Winry was flooded with her own embarrassment. She scrabbled on the soapy, wet tile floor, endeavoring to rise without the advantage of a bath mat to give her traction, desperately struggling to regain her footing. After failing to get any further than her elbows before falling onto her back (several times, at that) she finally gave up and rolled onto her stomach.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” she repeated over and over as she tore her gaze away from possibly most beautiful sight she’d ever seen in her short adult life and scurried back under the shower curtain. In her hurry to exit the bathroom, Winry flailed her way across the room on hands and knees, not bothering to try standing until she was at the door. Once out of the bathroom where the flooring was wood and not linoleum, the young woman got up and made a hasty retreat down the hallway to her room, not bothering to close the bathroom door after her. In her wake, a trail of water marked her passing, leaving behind damp footprints and small pools of water.

Once in her room, Winry slammed the door closed, and threw her weight against it. Eyes unfocused, she stared sightlessly ahead, her thoughts racing in circles like a dog chasing its tail.

What the hell had just happened?!!

In the blink of an eye, the dynamics between her and Ed had changed, shifting the carefully balanced relationship between them that kept them figuratively dancing around each other at arm’s length. Now, the implied barrier between them was gone, vanishing the instant they had seen each other in an adult context, their playful innocence giving away to once forbidden knowledge.

For years, Winry had loved Ed, but feared he didn’t share her feelings. There had never been more than handholding (which she always had to initiate) or an occasional gentlemanly gesture on his part (sometimes he remembered to allow her to walk through a door he’d just opened as opposed to walking through it first and leaving her to fend for herself). He didn’t seem to notice any of the subtle hints she had given him over the years (baking him an apple pie, wearing more feminine clothing, not always beating him to a pulp when he returned home with damaged automail). However, Winry had always chalked it off to Ed’s usual cluelessness about anything that wasn’t spelled out for him. It was a well-known and simple fact that Ed could be very thickheaded when it came to anything stated in less than blunt terms.

So Winry had waited…and waited…and waited for the boy, now a man, to give her some indication, some hint of how he felt about her. As much as she would have liked to press him into confessing his feelings, she knew he would only dismiss her inquiry rather than admitting to anything. More likely, it would have the opposite effect and cause him to become withdrawn and sullen. She knew he had some interest in her as more than just a friend; more than once, she had caught him staring at her with an odd, unreadable expression in his eyes. Yet, the instant he would notice her looking back, he would look away and either walk off or make some snide remark—like he often did when he’d been caught red handed doing something he shouldn’t.

But now…

Unprompted, the sight of Ed’s all-too-perfect body rose in her mind’s eye, making her body respond with an exhilarating tingle that ran up her spine and made her jaw go slack. Winry closed her eyes and reviewed every detail of Edward’s delectable body.

…Water and foam from the shampoo threading down his strong, corded neck, lazily flowing over his broad shoulders and down his pecs. His chest, well developed and rippling with the movement of his arms, was aesthetically balanced by the automail port, the hard steel complimenting the hardened muscles. His ribs were also layered with muscles and funneled one’s eye down to the defined undulation of his abdominals... (She wondered what it would be like to touch them, to find out if they were as solid as they looked…)

The smooth furrows curving down from the top of his obliques had drawn her gaze still lower, accentuating the patch of dark blond hair where the dual lines met at the bottom.

And below that…

Winry nearly moaned when she recalled the sight. The very image, even the memory of it, caused her heart to race and her mouth go dry. He was so much better…endowed than any of her fantasies had even come close to and so different in appearance from when they were very small children bathing together.

Now, with the reality of having actually seen his physique with her own eyes, Winry felt her body stir with longing. He was perfection, from the top of his honey blond head to the silver tips of his automail toes and oh, how she wished she could touch him, wished that he would touch her, in ways that only mature adults could do. She longed to explore the uncharted territory that was Edward Elric’s body with both fingers and tongue, learning his every peak and valley, his every scar, and commit it all to memory; to discover where he was soft, where he was hard, to feel his touch on her and in her, to know him completely. He was everything she’d ever hoped for, fantasized about for so long, yet she could only imagine how it would feel to make love to him.

Her body began to ache like it never had during her fantasies about him, her yearning becoming so strong that she wanted to cry with frustration. An almost overwhelming urge to touch herself, to bring herself to a quick and satisfying peak nearly possessed her, but Winry fought it back.

‘No!’ she thought, ‘Not now!’

Not when Ed was in the room down the hall where he could overhear her; she doubted if she’d be able to stay quiet this time.

Biting her lip, Winry took in a slow, deep breath and struggled to calm the stormy mix of hormones, desire, and attraction controlling her thoughts. She wanted him, longed for him to want her, but the prospects of him returning her feelings appeared rather dim and the thought depressed her.

Would he ever be more than just a friend?

A shiver shook her body, not from denied lust, but from the effect of the wet nightgown and the cool air of her room on her skin. Rudely pulled from her erotic musings, Winry’s teeth began to chatter and she rubbed at her upper arms for warmth.

“I’d better get into dry clothes,” she mumbled through a tense jaw, “But I should dry off first--.” Of course, all the towels were in the bathroom… where Ed was at the moment. She groaned with annoyance. She’d catch a chill if she waited much longer, but she didn’t want to pull on dry clothes without first drying her hair and herself off.

With hope, Winry eyed her closet, the door open wide to reveal part of her limited wardrobe. There were mostly casual shirts, a number of pull-on tops, a few skirts, a small number of dresses, and a small variety of jeans, but nothing she was willing to put on in her current state of soggy.

Wait…was that a terrycloth robe hanging from the door? Winry sighed with relief. She’d forgotten all about the birthday gift Granny had given her last year; it would be perfect to not only dry herself with but could also offer her warmth.

Winry crossed the room, skinning the dripping nightgown over her head as she walked, tossing it into the laundry basket just inside her closet door. She hurried into the thick lavender bathrobe, grateful for its soft warm comfort, pulling it tightly around her and tying the sash at her waist.

“Ah, much better,” she murmured then frowned at the clammy, cold feel of her waterlogged panties on her skin. Without hesitation, she hitched the hem of the robe up to strip off the last of her wet clothing, adding it to the pile of dirty clothes. Pulling open the top drawer of her dresser, she reached into the compartment to file through the neat rows of carefully folded underwear and chose a dainty pink pair. When her eyes spied a modestly embellished paper box in the back corner, Winry froze in mid-action and frowned. There, neatly tucked behind her folded bras, was the box of condoms she’d acquired during her last trip to Central.

She’d bought them on a whim, optimistic that Ed would eventually make the first move and escalate their friendship, first into romance, then into something more intimate and connecting. But days, then weeks had gone by and the moment never came, leaving Winry in possession of a box of perfectly wrapped condoms (which was sure to bring Granny’s temper to a boil if she ever found them). It was as if the muted cardboard container was mocking her, making fun of her current dilemma even though it held nothing more than twelve lengths of sealed sheep intestine, rolled up into neat discs and modestly encased in paper wrappers.

Winry stared at them accusingly. It was as if they were taunting her by their sheer presence alone.

Yes, she had bought them with high hopes and, yes, she knew if Ed ever decided to take that big step, she couldn’t rely on him to be prepared. As blissfully clueless as he seemed to be about the simple facts of life, Winry knew better than to leave birth control up to the young alchemist. She didn’t want to risk something as important as a baby until they were both ready for it. Such as, say, after marriage?

Yeah, right. As if that was ever likely…

Still, one could hope.

Despite the residual chill from her wet nightgown, Winry felt a flush of warmth rush through her. She set down the undergarment to pick up the package and finger it wistfully. At this rate, she’d be waiting forever. Ed hadn’t even tried to kiss her let alone make love to her. His body language suggested he was interested, possibly as more than just a friend, but getting him to say how he felt or even do more than hold hands with her would be a monumental task if she left it entirely up to him.

And now that she’d seen her own version of the promised land, she was left to deal with her sexual frustration, alone.

Too bad she couldn’t corner him and make him decide how he felt about her. If he were cornered he couldn’t run…

For the second time in only minutes, another ingenious plan instantaneously formulated in her head. It was so beautiful and perfect in its simplicity that Winry was astounded she’d never thought of it before.

But then again, the opportunity had never presented itself quite like this before, either.

Yes, Ed could make it too easy sometimes.

A wicked grin tugged at her lips as she took one of the packets from the box and stuffed it into the pocket of her robe.


to be continued in Part 2...