Made for Each Other
Co-written with: A'Phrionnsa Fala

Story Notes: According to myself and Fala, each episode of Foster's (unless stated otherwise) takes place each week. So this story takes place a good few episodes into the first season, but not into the second. So Eduardo hasn't yet been employed into carrying Duchess to her bathroom yet.
Plus, given the latest episode 'Squeeze the Day', if the guys go to the beach then they obviously would have gone before. But this time, Wilt and Eduardo are left to their own devices. Thank you.

Chapter Three

Bathroom Part 1

The months once again, continued to roll along, the calendar hanging in the kitchen soon having many of its pages ripped off. It's now a Spring day, and the date has been circled with red marker. It says 'Beach!' with a added smiley face to add effect. Madame Foster thought it'd be a wonderful idea for the whole bunch of them (and when she says that, she means the whole bunch) should go to the beach for a full day of sun, surf, and beach volleyball. Everyone was ultimately thrilled with the idea - sans Mr. Herriman who thought it was a big waste of time. But who was he to go against Madame Foster?

They had to hire many more buses for the day, to transport everyone from the mansion to the Beach. But out of everyone, one lone friend wasn't all that thrilled with the idea. Eduardo had voiced his concern the day the idea had been brought up in the usual House Meeting. He was terrified of large crowds full of strangers. And the beach was no exception - imagine all the strangers there. Why, he could be snatched away from Fosters to who knows where! The idea scared him more then it should. Mr. Herriman settled the matter almost instantaneously. He had asked the crowd who'd be willing to actually stay home and house sit - and of course, Wilt offered his services.

It was early in the day when the buses were already parked outside and full. Mr. Herriman - dressed in a very old fashioned bathing suit complete with hat and umbrella - was stood at the front door speaking with Wilt and Eduardo. "Now you've read the rules, and should I find you've broken any you shall be dealt with accordingly!" but honestly, he couldn't think of anyone better then Wilt to house watch for a day. After promising that Everything would be ship-shape for when they got back, Wilt and Eduardo waved till the buses drove away. They then turned to face each other and just broke out to massive grins... this was going to be fun! Granted they still had to complete all of Frankie's usual chores in her absence, but once that was done, the day had gone just a short while past noon, and the pair were sitting on the couch, leaned up against each other every so slightly. Wilt's one hand clutched the remote, stabbing at the buttons with his thumb, channel surfing. He sigh-moaned. "Man, why is nothing but "Neighbours" on?"

Eduardo grunted in disapproval. "Is nothing good on." he muttered, displeased with how many channels they had yet were seemingly full of... dare he think, crap. He sighed a bit, leaning his head against Wilt, who was nearly overbalanced as Ed shifted his weight against him. Laughing, he readjusted himself, flipping through channel after channel of the same old stuff... an image of a giant pink arch flashed on the screen and Wilt frantically flipped back to it, his mouth falling open in a worried gasp.

"I know that place, it's the Minka Textiles outlet. That's right on the way to the beach!" his worries were well founded; the screen displayed a news report about a bad collision on the highway involving a bus. He looked carefully at the screen, squinting his good eye, then sighing in relief. "Oh, it's not the Foster's bus or any of the ones they took today. Still, those poor kids."

True to his word, there was a cloud of school children standing by, numb with terror as they watched paramedics run by. Eduardo suddenly paled. The crawl along the bottom of the screen read about a driver who lost control of his car, and it had struck the bus... and one child - reportedly a girl - had been injured in the crash while the others had gotten away uninjured. His eyes widened as it showed the paramedics moving a hospital stretcher, a little girl on it. She already had a paramedic helping her breath, and she was covered in a white sheet. His skin almost went as white as the sheet she was covered in, and he began to visibly shake. It caused the sofa they were sat on to shake as he tuned out what the reporter was talking about. Wilt was about to make another erevelant, but not entirely useful comment, but he turned and saw that Eduardo had gone pale and was trembling violently. Alarmed, Wilt laid his hand on the other friend's arm. "Eduardo! Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Is... is... she..." he whispered, his voice quieter then a whisper now. The news had now moved on, but the image had burned itself into Eduardo's mind. It was also bringing back some memories he thought he had moved on from - he was kidding himself, sure. He would never be okay with seeing things like this.

Wilt, now frightened for his friend, barely managed to return his gaze to the screen. "I-I don't know." he looked back to Eduardo, who looked as if he'd slipped into an incurable terror. He moved closer, snaking his arm round the massive, muscular bicep of his friend, trying desperately to bring him back to the same plane of awareness. "Eduardo... What's the matter? Please, you're scaring me!"

"She-she DEAD!" he suddenly screamed, as if it had taken him over a year to come to this conclusion. It was obvious his mind wasn't on the girl who was injured just now, but to back before Wilt had known him. His nightmares had long since stopped, but the terror they used to give him had suddenly came flooding back. She was dead. Carmencita was dead - she wouldn't come to see him on Reunion Day, and he didn't even know where she was buried. He covered his eyes and broke down, leaning into Wilt as the tears began pouring down his face like someone had just turned the taps on as high as they could go.

Wilt was perplexed. He knew perfectly well that Eduardo was sensitive and that the unhappier aspects hit him hard, but… there was something more to this that he just wasn't realising. It was almost as if Eduardo was speaking about someone he knew. "I-I'm sorry, Ed..." he said, looping his arm round his friend, speaking quietly and gesturing toward the television. "Did you know that girl from somewhere?"

He shook his head, hands still over his eyes. How could he say it, how could he form the words? His throat felt tight. Eduardo managed to pull his hand away and rummage in his shorts and pulled something out no one had ever seen but him. His tears were still bluring his vision but he knew the picture by heart - the pink sunset, the three trees - bushes, and the little girl with the blue flower in her hair. All he can do is hold the photo up to Wilt, hand shaking. It's him, well, a quarter of himself in the photo with the top half of Carmencita's head. That's who he meant. Wilt took the photo from him and suddenly, realisation dawned on him... this little girl was his little girl, his creator. As Wilt thought back... the lorry, the SUV, it all suddenly made earth-shattering sense. "She was hit by a car, wasn't she? Oh Ed, I'm so sorry..." he tightened his hold round Eduardo and laid his cheek against his friend's brow. Eduardo shuddered, trying to stop himself. If he didn't stop, he'd probably be sick. And he didn't want to be sick - but the realisation of what all this meant, it was over powering his judgement and control of himself. All he could do was hold onto Wilt, and wait for when the tears would finally stop falling.

While Wilt held Eduardo, petting his fur and letting him cry, he had grown rather quiet, himself. Memories were clamouring at the back of his mind, trying to force their way to the forefront. He'd blocked them from his mind for so many years, but now they were slowly leaking out, reintroducing themselves to him like old friends... old, grotesquely mangled and utterly horrifying friends... but he forced himself to remain levelheaded. Eduardo needed him, and damned if he would abandon a friend as he, himself had been, so long ago. So he simply took deep breaths and ran his fingers soothingly through the fur round Eduardo's horns, murmuring quiet reassurances. "It's okay... It's okay..."

It was a good twenty minutes until the tears finally stopped falling. Eduardo's chest was heaving now, his eyes red and his throat ached. But at least, finally - the crying had stopped. Eduardo whimpered, finally calm once more. He shut his eyes, but that made them sting even more so then when he was crying. Forcing them open he slowly sat back, his head feeling more heavy then it should. Without looking at Wilt, he could sense his companion's feelings. It was his job, after all, to sense when his friends were scared, upset… but he lifted his gaze, partially able to see Wilt through his blurred vision. "…s… sorry I… I no mean to… to cry so bad…" he managed to choke out, before taking Wilt's lone hand into his and actually kissed it a few times before putting it against his cheek – letting Wilt feel just how much his temperature had gone up. "T-thank you…"

Wilt had felt his face grow warm at the kisses his hand had received. In spite of the situation, it was still endearing... then Ed placed Wilt's hand against his face and Wilt was alarmed to feel the change. This had really struck him with all of the fury and ruthlessness of a paralysing fever. All thoughts for himself fleeing him, Wilt leaned in close, sliding his hand free so that he could and full-on hug Eduardo... well, as much as is possible with only one arm anyway. He pressed a kiss of his own to Ed's brow and just held onto him. "Ed... are you going to be okay? What can I do for you?"

"I... I no know..." Eduardo shook his head slightly, smiling a tad at the kiss his brow had received. He heaved again, his chest still aching. Then he remembered back, when... when she got overly upset, like when a calf had died too early she used to cry so much. Mama told her to have a bath - that helped relax her a lot. He blinked back to the time at hand, and he mumbled - more to himself. "Is bath allowed?" he asked, probably referring to the list Mr. Herriman had told them about what not to do and what could be done.

Wilt blinked, a little surprised at the simple request and unwrapped his arm from round Eduardo to retrieve the Rule Book from the coffee table. He flipped through it, checking under "B" for baths and "T" for tubs and "R" for royalty with an overactive territorial streak. "Nothing in here says we can't... and Duchess is off at the beach till tonight..." Wilt resisted the urge to add "probably being rubbed down with lotion by four Italian boys in their twenties". "I don't see why not!" he smiled, happy to be able to cheer Eduardo up.

"T-then... s-sí... sí... bath... bueno..." Eduardo still felt detached from himself. A bath in warm water would help him calm down, surely. It always worked before, why shouldn't it work with him? After gathering himself up as best he could, he followed Wilt through the deserted house. Normally it'd be disturbing, walking through such a giant house that was normally so full of life, now dreadfully quiet. It'd normally make him nervous, but even now that wasn't getting past his shell of disbelief and sadness brought on by a simple news report.

The door to Duchess' bathroom was pink, with a golden handle bar. Wilt turned and what welcomed them was something that looked like it belonged in a furniture magazine. Pristine tiles, towels hanging from towel racks, a bath on legs, golden taps... the mirror was huge up against the wall, the sink and counter equally impressive. Eduardo had no idea such a place was inside Fosters - and for good reason, after a... mishap with the Duchess' requests one day she'd banned him from even breathing by her door. "Oh my..." he managed to cough. Wilt laughed, trying to be upbeat in hopes of cheering Eduardo up.

"Yeah, that pretty much says it all, doesn't it?" he strode into the bathroom, pulled open the cabinet over the sink and selected some ornately decorated bottles. "Bubbles!" he said cheerily, indicating them. "I actually used to love this place till Duchess came along. I haven't been in here in years! The lilac bubbles were always my favorite." he set the lilac bottle among a few others along the rim of the tub. "Well, that's that. Enjoy! I'll leave you to it, then." he started off on his way.

"Wait!" Eduardo grabbed at Wilt's slim wrist suddenly, pulling him back in, Wilt nearly fell over has he was brought to a sudden halt by Eduardo snagging his wrist. Ed's face was still red, but it was hard to tell if it was because of his crying or if he was blushing for some yet unknown reason. "I... I no want you to go." he said quietly, which was true. He feared if he was left by himself and he began crying again, well... he didn't know what he'd do. Dazed, it took a moment to process what Eduardo had said, before Wilt could reply.

"Oh! Um, sure, I'll stay with you if that's what you want. I'd be happy to!" he smiled, hoping to banish the worry and residual sadness in Eduardo's expression, then stepped back into the bathroom. He went ahead over to the tub and started the water, testing it with his fingers to be sure it was warm. For a moment, he just stood there before realization struck and he let out a little. "Oh, sorry!" and turned round to give his friend some privacy. Ed stood there for a moment, before he began unbuckling his belt. Now, unlike many of the friends there in Fosters, Eduardo wore pants. He wore them for a very good reason after all.

Eventually his belt, pants and boots were off and folded neatly in the corner. Now naked, he dipped one of his hooves into the water to test it himself. Satisfactory with the temperature after a few minutes he climbed in over the rim and sat - oh, pleasure upon relief upon Thank you God. Eduardo, now already partially invisible due to the lilac bubbles that had been added to the water earlier let out a throaty groan of relief as he laid forward. He looked like a yak now; half submerged in water then an Imaginary Friend enjoying a bath. Wilt heard the sound and had to laugh. "Safe for me to turn round, then?"

"Sí... sí sí..." Eduardo purred in response. Wilt turned round and felt a very unmanly giggle rise in his throat when he saw Eduardo huddled in the bubbles and looking several sides happier than he had about three seconds ago.

"Well, that's better, isn't it?" he commented brightly. Smiling, but unsure what to do with himself, Wilt walked over and took a seat on the bathroom floor beside the tub.

"Es cielo." Ed said, rolling slightly to his side in the water, surprised himself at how quickly this helped relieve himself of much pent up emotions. He smiled at Wilt as he came closer and watched him sit; bringing a hand to the edge of the tub he looked over at him. "Gracias again, señ-I mean Wilt." he righted himself this time, before reaching out with - yes, a very wet soapy hand - and patted Wilt's head. "Gracias." Wilt laughed as suds were slopped all over him.

"Aw, hey, you're getting water all over the floor, not to mention me!" he playfully pushed the offending hoof back into the tub. Eduardo laughed, moving around in the tub a bit causing some water to splash over the side.

"It can no be helped," he said, grinning almost playful like. It was true, with Ed's vast size the water had gone up considerably and was now veering close to the top of the tub. There's bound to be some water splashing out onto the tiles. "Tiles, they can be cleaned."

Wilt flicked water droplets from the sides of his face on mock-annoyance. "C'mon, Frankie's given us enough stuff to take care of while the others are away. Besides, if you keep this up, it's going to be me who's more drenched than you!"

"So? Make it easier!" Eduardo turned to look at him, his tail splashing in the water a bit. "Join me Wilt! The water, she is muy bueno!"

Wilt's mouth fell open a bit in surprise. "You want me to... are you sure?"

Eduardo smiled at him shyly - the blush on his face now for sure showing it's not from his crying. "Sí. I am sure." he nodded.

Wilt just smiled. Again, if he wasn't already red, he would have been blushing quite obviously. "Sure, okay!" with that, he went about tugging off his shoes and socks and placed them carefully on the sink. "Sure, okay…" he said again with a smile. After pulling his wristband off with his teeth, he felt a little shy... he might not wear very much normally, but now that he was devoid of what little clothing he did have, he felt just a little exposed. More eager to get into the tub and under the cover of the bubbles, he carefully stepped into the water and sank down, bending his knees so as to make his long legs fit.

Eduardo had moved back a bit, giving him as much room as he could in his half of the bath. He laughed a bit, clapping his hands together. "Bueno, bueno!" he laughed, moving forward to grin at Wilt widely. "I is glad you join me." he smiled.

"It is nice" Wilt admitted, smiling. "Before Duchess, I used to come here for a bath sometimes. It was nice before, but now it's even better." he winked and gave Eduardo's arm a friendly poke. "Thanks for inviting me."

"Oh, I is happy you accepted my invitation mucho." Eduardo nodded, sounding as professional as he could while soaking wet, his purple fur hanging down in his eyes as well as over everything else. He let out another deep sigh and rolled to the side of the bath, the content smile on his face having grown ten fold now that Wilt had joined him. Feeling a rare flare of mischief, Wilt waiting till Eduardo's eyes had fallen shut with contentment. Careful not to make a sound or any sudden movements, Wilt's long arm slowly extended to the cabinet and he pulled out a bottle of sweet-smelling shampoo. Reeling it in, he leaned in close to Eduardo. Just as the bigger friend's eyes creaked open, Wilt moved like lightning and there was a healthy blob of shampoo between Eduardo's horns. Grinning broadly, Wilt promptly began working the stuff into Eduardo's lush, damp fur. Eduardo actually sort of squeaked as he suddenly felt something cold and goppy between his horns. He realized what it was the moment he felt Wilt's hand begin massaging the fur between his horns. His laugh echoed within the bathroom and he had to control himself so he wouldn't suddenly hug Wilt for the sheer joy of it all. "¿Cuál es éste? What is this?" he laughed, moving his hands to his eyes so he'd get nothing into them.

"It's a ham sandwich" Wilt commented dryly, laughing, "Just hold still. No, actually turn round so I can do your back."

He obliged, turning around slowly and arched his head up as he felt the long fingered hand work it's way down his back. This definitely sent shivers up his spine this time, and he groaned in response loving every single second of this. "Oh sí síí sííí... maravilloso..." he mumbled.

Wilt squeezed nearly half the bottle out for his friend's broad back and set the bottle aside. His single hand, doubly talented from the years of having perform the tasks of two, worked the shampoo into Eduardo's long fur, turning it from violet to lilac with the white of the lather. Wilt smiled to himself, feeling accomplished as he heard the purring he'd grown so fond of emitting from the much larger body in front of him. "I'm doing an okay job, I guess," Wilt commented, indulging in a little compliment onto himself. "Right, done. Turn round again, please?"

Once again, Eduardo did as Wilt told him and slowly turned himself around back to face him. He had to part some of his heavy fur from his eyes so he could see him, the fur now so heavy with the lather and bubbles it weighed much heavier then normal. But he wasn't about to complain about it, oh no. "Peek-a-boo, I see you!" he declared once his fur was parted a bit.

"I should so!" Wilt laughed, squeezing out some more shampoo. Again, he swore the cute-police would be kicking the door in if they didn't take care. "I don't think I'd much like being invisible. Anyway sit up for me?" he then applied the shampoo to that side of his friend, working it into a lather along his upper arms and upper torso... Boy, but the guy had a LOT of fur! When he was finally done, he dipped his hand under the water to rinse it, then reached across the bathroom again for a bathtub bucket that was under the sink. He waved this in front of Eduardo's nose. "D'you wanna do the honours, or shall I?"

"I can, I can!' Eduardo said, grinning like a loon. He took the bucket from his hand and it vanished beneath the water before he brought it back up and held it high above his head in his two hands before turning it upside down. The water made a 'sploosh' sound as it hit his fur, and majority of the lather was rinsed away. He did it twice, just to be sure it was all gone. Eduardo suddenly shook himself, something he always did automatically after rinsing himself. Almost automatically his fur made a 'POOF!' sound and puffed up a bit, before gently resting back against his bulky form. My he does look much better now. He had to laugh though, knowing he had probably sprayed Wilt with all the water when he had shook himself. "I sorry Wilt!" he laughed - really meaning that, but it was still funny gosh darn it.

Wilt, however was covered in suds and laughing so hard he was gasping for breath. It took a full three minutes for him to come back to himself and swipe the bubbles from his eye stalk and face. "E-Ed!" he exclaimed, still shuddering with hilarity, "That was brilliant! The way your fur went all POOF-Ah ha ha ha ha!" he collapsed in the bubbles, heaving with laughter. Eventually, it subsided and he was panting between little gasps of. "Sorry! Sorry!"

"No apologise, no apologise!" Ed laughed, having just sat and watched his friend laugh all the while not trying to stop him either. Seeing Wilt so absolutely happy made him feel incredibly pleased with himself, even if he hadn't done that much honestly.

Having recovered his strength somewhat, Wilt sat up, grinning all over himself. He leaned forward till his head hit Eduardo's chest. He sniffed, laughing. "You smell nice." Ed moved a hand to Wilt's back, holding him there gently as he shut his eyes happily. "Like flowers." he said. Lilac flowers, to be technical. Wilt nestled against Ed with the sound of skin moving over wet fur. He then realised that he, himself had gotten a little sweaty, scrubbing the kitchen floor and hoovering the arcade, among Frankie's other tasks for today. He shouldn't be leaning against clean, fresh-smelling Eduardo when he, himself had yet to wash! Murmuring a quick sorry, he scooted a short ways away and made a grab for the bar of soap that was sitting on the little shelf in the wall beside the tub. He then began washing himself.

Eduardo watched him silently for a few seconds before he reached out and grabbed the bar of soap clean out of Wilt's hand. "No no no," he tsked, sounding like a mother more then a partially wet Imaginary Friend. "You clean me, now my turn to clean you. Turn round." he motioned the 'turn around' with his free hoof. Wilt just smiled a little shyly and obliged, turning round and sitting up on his heels to allow his friend better access. Eduardo nodded, pleased Wilt agreed. He didn't want to resort to rough housing in the bath of all places. He moved closer, sat on his own knees and began running the soap against Wilt's back with one hand, the other one gently holding him there by the shoulder. The smile never left his face either, and he even hummed a bit to himself as he did. Wilt hmmmm-ed contentedly as the slick soap travelled over him under Eduardo's careful hoof. It never failed to amaze Wilt just how gentle the big, tough-looking friend could be.

He tilted his head to the side to allow his neck to he done and shivered pleasurably at the feeling of the bar travelling up his spine. "That's... really nice, Ed." he murmured quietly, far too content to bother with sounding cheerful or bouncy anymore. Now he was truly and utterly blissed out. The overwhelming feeling of total and utter relaxation and trust masked even the niggling little voice at the back of his mind that squeaked worriedly, 'please don't let him touch your scars!'. He simply sat back and enjoyed it, happily worry-free. Eduardo used his now well known gentleness all the while, as he washed up Wilt's back and along his neck. He even lifted his arm and washed his under arm - of course pausing to check wether or not Wilt was ticklish. It always made him wonder, given they had hugged so many times his fur never made him giggle. But out right tickling, he'd never done. As he felt his arm being lifted, he noticed Eduardo pausing tentatively. He didn't need to ask why. Wilt was, indeed rather ticklish, but it wasn't his arm so much as his feet that he worried about. Still, he gave Eduardo the go-ahead with a single nod and a smile. He squirmed a bit and let out a high-pitched little noise through his teeth as his underarm and side were given a scrub. Eduardo laughed a bit, tsking.

"So silly Wilt." he giggled, and surprisingly he was cautious of where he knew Wilt's scars were. When he washed the back of his head he was mindful not to touch the two scars he could see. The same went for when he moved onto the arm stub, not going near the scars at the end. He felt that was Wilt's business, he didn't want to intrude to much. Sure he was naked and washing him, but touching a 'no go' area would be the last thing he wanted. In all honesty, Wilt's scars almost reminded him of a stray dog he knew back in the old country - that had a leg missing. Never found out why, but he always regarded it with respect when he and Carmencita would... walk to school.. he shook his head before sitting back. "Okay, that part is done." he announced.

Wilt grinned, feeling surprisingly okay with all of this. Before Eduardo had come along, he'd always been nervous about being touched and especially about his scars... he'd always dreaded the day every six months when Frankie had to sit him down in the infirmary and take out his stitches so that she could replace them with new thread to prevent dry rotting. They made him self-concious. He didn't even like touching them, himself, let alone someone else. He'd gone into a panic attack the last time, when Lingo Rango's long tail had brushed the patched-up end of his amputated arm, it had triggered a nasty panic attack... and yet, Eduardo's hooves were mere inches away from them and he felt completely okay with that. He wasn't sure he'd ever get to the point where Eduardo could actually touch the scars themselves, but he'd still come a long way. Remembering that Eduardo had announced he was done, Wilt banished all thoughts of scars and self-conciousness and turned round so that he faced him. Eduardo had the regular smile on his face, pleased with his work.

But he wasn't done, not yet. He motioned to the end of the bath, "Okay, lean back." he instructed. He had noticed how Wilt wore his shoes all day, all night. His feet must be one mess, and since it was now allocated his duty to clean him, why would he disregard his feet?

Wilt froze, sensing what Eduardo must have in mind. "Um, Ed? I'm sorry, but if you're thinking of washing my feet, I should warn you... I'm super-ticklish there, especially." he smiled, a little embarrassed. He hadn't even thought to wash Ed's feet because he'd always assumed that was a "No Touchie!" zone.

"...oh." Ed said slowly, looking a little bit disapointed. He had understood that Wilt had not attempted to wash his lower half, due to... ahem... personal reasons. Course maybe Wilt doesn't even know about down there. He didn't know, or care to find out. Especially right now, that'd be ultra too embarassing.

Wilt laughed. "I mean, you can defintiely try and all. I trust you..." as if to prove his point, he lifted one foot out of the bubbles and wiggled his toes, which were shaped much like his fingers. "But don't say I didn't warn you!" he winked, flashing Ed a nervous grin. "Heh heh..."

Eduardo chuckled, "I give it best shot!" he said, before taking the foot into one of his hooves. "Your toes are cute." he commented, and really meant that. Kinda like his fingers, and he began to clean his feet but very delicately.

"Heh, thanks I guess…" Wilt replied to the comment on his toes.

To be continued