A/N: This should not have been written. I have much more pressing stories to write, and then I go ahead and write, well, THIS?! Oh well...

I definitely should stop watching romcom. Really. Should be illegal for me.

Thanks my friend Darya for the beta! ^-^

Shiny Little Things

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Ed was rapidly getting more and more annoyed. He wasn't a big fan of surprises and secrets and, in general, things that were kept hidden from him. He let out an annoyed huff, and raised his hands to his face to remove Roy's hands from his eyes. The bastard fought his attempt, and Ed could hear the low chuckle, as well as feel it vibrating against his back.

"Not just yet," the words were almost whispered into his ear, making a turbulence of warmth swirl around in his stomach; but he didn't let that erase his irritation.

"But you know I hate not seeing where I'm going and you know I hate waiting! Come on, lemme look!"

"But we haven't arrived yet. Be patient, will you," there was a certain bite in Roy's words, but a small kiss on the top of Ed's head softened the harshness of it.

Giving up the fight to remove the blockage from his eyesight Ed huffed again, and lowered his hands to fold them over his chest instead. "I don't want to be patient. Where the fuck are you taking me? It's not like I don't already know this city way all too well with all those goddamned missions you keep sending me on!"

Now it was Roy's turn to sigh in displeasure. "Just relax, Ed. It's a surprise, and I'm sure you'll like it. Just wait and see, okay?"

"I would have waited and seen, if you hadn't fucking covered my eyes!"

"Relax already, will you? Gee, you're taking all the fun out of romance."

"I'm not a romantic guy, Roy. Thought that two years of fucking me will teach you that."

"Can't blame a man for trying, can you?" Ed could almost hear Roy rolling his eyes behind him. He was just about to say something more when he finally felt the hands being removed from his eyes and he immediately blinked, trying to get his eyes used to actually see again.

He wanted to turn around and scold Roy for blocking his sight for so long and dragging him somewhere without telling him where or why, but the moment he opened his eyes and looked around Ed paused. Roy had led him to a grove, one of the few Central City had to adorn its gloomy streets. At first glance, there seemed to be nothing special about the place: several trees surrounded them, a little picnic bench that Ed was pretty sure he saw some food on, but it was just so goddamned dark and he couldn't see clearly. The only illumination to cast light on the place came from a far away street lamp, and from the moon – which was half covered by clouds, anyway, so it wasn't of much help.

"A picnic? Really, Roy? That's your big romantic surprise? No need to cover my eyes for that!"

Ed felt Roy's presence retreating a little bit farther from him, and heard another short chuckle. He could just choke him right now – really – Roy should know that he didn't like eating outside! Too many bugs. Flies and mosquitoes and beetles and other things that could find their way into his food. Now, while he wasn't really a clean freak (oh, no, that was Roy's part in the relationship) or a very hygienic guy in general, he still didn't appreciate sharing his food with unwelcomed insects.

"I told you that you should be patient, why can't you listen?"

"Because, and I told you that a thousand times, I don't like being pa – "

While he was talking, Roy took a glove out of his pants' pocket and pulled it on his hand. Then he clicked his fingers, and sparks of fire mixed with the blue flashes of alchemy that shot from between his fingers and flew towards what at first seemed like random directions, and for a second Ed was afraid he might set the little thicket on fire; but that wasn't what made him stop talking. Roy's alchemy was incredibly precise, but he already knew that; he wasn't prepared for the little candles being lit, now illuminating the place around him and allowing him to see what was really there.

He was right about the picnic table, it was there all right, and there was food – at least he assumed so, because there was a closed basket resting on the table, as well as a set of two plates, two wine glasses, two sets of cutlery and a bottle of wine. Two tall candles stood at the centre of the table, and the rest of the light came from the ones spread around, on the ground or on random tree trunks and rocks. Not too far away he could see Central's river, with the candle fire reflecting beautifully, and now that it was brought to his attention he could hear its gentle flow.

Everything was so romantically perfect that it annoyed him.

"If you wanted to have dinner we could've just had one at home, you know, without having to walk around for, like, half an hour just to have some trees around us," even though his words were again unappreciative and blaming, his voice lacked most of the stinging quality it had before.

"It would've taken much less if you didn't fight so much. Now, with all honesty, Ed, do you like it?"

Ed's eyebrow arched up at the seriousness of the question, and he looked sideways at Roy. The older man was looking at him, a somewhat worried look on his face that stood in complete contradiction to the cockiness of just a moment earlier. He suddenly felt bad for how he behaved – Roy really just wanted to give him a romantic evening. He knew that Roy had these moods; sometimes he'd go and buy him a present, or decide randomly they should go out to a restaurant and force him to put on fancy clothes he felt uncomfortable in. Once he even took him out to a hotel, just to 'change the atmosphere' as he put it. Ed never understood these things; he enjoyed Roy's company and he didn't care where they were as long as he ended the night embraced in his arms.

He let out a sigh. "Yeah, well, I guess it's not too bad," he answered with a shrug after a few seconds of thinking. The truth was, now that he was already here, and he saw the concern written all over his lover's face, he tried to pay more attention to the details and he noticed how much thought there must have been behind all this. Roy must have taken a day off work without telling him, which would explain why he hadn't seen him all day. He could vaguely Roy remember Roy telling him something about an important meeting, but he paid it no attention at the time. Preparing something like this without Ed noticing must have taken a lot of planning; the food, that Ed hoped would be something tasty (even though Roy's cooking had never failed him before) and the candles and making sure the place was empty… He would just be rude and ungrateful if he didn't say something better than that.

"It's nice. I don't like picnics so much, but I like it, yeah," he said, and walked towards the wooden table to glance at the contents of the basket. "There's food. Can't go wrong with food, right?" He added, trying to be a little bit lighter about the whole situation. He just sent his hand inside the basket when suddenly Roy was next to him, a somewhat panicked expression on his face.

"No, wait!" he called, and tried to close the basket lid. Ed frowned at him.

"But there's food in there. You took me out here to eat, right? I'm hungry. And I want to manage to get something into my stomach before some beetle or an ant decides it's theirs. You know, ants aren't really tasty, they sting, mostly – "

The pressure of the thatch lid on his hand was reduced to almost none-existent and he could feel Roy's gaze on him. He turned his head to look at him, seeing a somewhat disturbed expression there.

"When did you get to eat ants that you know so much about how they taste?"

"Well, when I was, like, eight Al and I were stuck on an island for alchemy training and we had nothing to eat, so what else could I do? Ah! Grapes!" Ed used the fact that he was free to search through the basket to keep doing so, and he pulled out a cluster of grapes. "Love grapes – "

"No! Put that back!"

Now the panic on Roy's face was more than visible; it was reflected in his voice, screaming from every part of his body. Well, that was strange.

"Why? Grapes are good. I'm starving!" he kept pulling the fruits out of the basket, moving Roy's hand from the lid so he wouldn't get in the way. He grinned widely when the cluster was finally out, held in his hand and begging to be eaten. He opened his mouth and shoved as much as he could of it into his mouth, much to Roy's horror.

He chewed for a second before handing the fruits to Roy. "Want some?" he asked, even though his words were barely understandable since his mouth was full of food. Much to his surprise Roy snatched the cluster from his hand as if his life were depending on it.

"It's only grapes, Roy, there's enough for both of us, geez. Oh! What was that?" Ed frowned when, while he watched Roy fumble with the grapes, he heard something hitting the ground. The sound was awfully resembling the sound of metal – which he knew all too well, from all the times screws fell from his automail – and he immediately looked down, afraid that he really just lost a part of his arm and Winry was so going to kill him if he lost anything she made. He noticed something shimmering on the ground, and immediately bent down to look for it, using his flesh hand to feel around.

"Shit, Ed, no -! It's fine, I'll search, you, uh, go take a seat," he heard Roy's now terrified voice, and he could see him crouching next to him and frantically searching about.

"No, probably just my automail, I've got this, Roy, it's no big deal," he said, and just as he was done his hand finally hit something metallic. But it felt wrong; a little bit too smooth to be his automail. He frowned, and grabbed it to bring it to his vision field. Only when he held it he realized what was wrong – not only was it too glassy, it was also too perfectly round and there was a hole in the middle, like a bolt. But all the nuts of his automail were hexagons or octagons, not round like rings.

He gasped when the realization hit him like a lightning, paralyzing him for a moment and making him almost drop the object back to the ground. No. There was no way. He had to be mistaken – but then if he was, then why was Roy so eager to find it himself and why did he try to stop him from taking the grapes and why did he go through the trouble of taking him here?

He could hear Roy saying something, but he was too occupied by his own thoughts to actually listen; however, when he felt Roy's hand on his shoulder it somewhat shook him from his paralysis. His eyes were wide open with shock as he looked down and slowly opened his palm, unsure if he wanted to see what was held there or if he preferred to remain in sweet ignorance for a little bit longer. His curiosity won, though, so he brought his hand to an area with enough light to actually see. He heard Roy sighing beside him as the sight was revealed to his eyes: glittering in the orange light of the candles, there was a simple, golden ring resting on his palm.

He couldn't help but stare at it. Such a tiny object, yet there was so much meaning behind it. Did Roy really mean to – did he want to – what the hell was the meaning of all this? And if – if Roy really was about to – about to ask him… that, what was he supposed to say? What did he want to say? This was so out of nowhere, and he felt confused and stunned and frightened and so damn happy it made him choke but he wasn't sure if he was choking because of this or because panic was rising in his chest.

"Ed?.." he could hear Roy's soft, careful question, and the fear and sadness he heard in that voice shook him back to reality, where Roy was there and waiting for anything – some kind of response – from him.

He tore his stare from the shiny object in his palm, trying to force himself to look up at Roy but failing miserably. He ended up closing his eyes, and he swallowed the grapes that were still in his mouth. They tasted foul now, too soft and squishy, but he didn't really care.

"Roy – I – uh – " he tired, but his words were chocked. What exactly did he want to say? There were so many things that ran through his mind – so many questions and emotions yearning to be expressed out loud, but everything ended up being jammed in his throat. He swallowed, and tried again. "What's that, Roy?" he managed weakly.

He heard Roy sighing next to him, a heavy, miserable kind of sigh. "It's, uh… I didn't mean it to be like that… Ed, I'm sorry, if it's too soon or if you don't want to, you don't have to say anything, it's just, uh, I've known you for so long… I realized I don't want to spend another day without you by my side. But I totally understand if you're not ready, we're not in the same place in life and you – well, you're you and I love that you – "

"Shut up," Ed ordered, shortly and flatly. Somewhere through Roy's blabbering he managed to open his eyes and look at the man stooping next to him. He could see the fear in his eyes, could hear the sincerity in his words and feel the emotion filling Roy's body like an overflowing bucket of water. Somewhere, while he was listening to the man's confused words, a feeling sunk in him as he finally managed to grasp what was being asked, and what Roy was saying, and even though he still couldn't completely grasp what was happening he knew he couldn't just let Roy think that this – he couldn't even think the word – wasn't something he wanted. Maybe he wasn't prepared for this, maybe this came as a total surprise, but the truth was that he couldn't imagine himself living without Roy, either.

The dark haired man stopped talking at Ed's words, and he was now looking at him, open and vulnerable. They remained in heavy silence for a long, awkward moment, before Roy spoke again. "I'm so sorry, Ed, I totally understand – "

"Stop fucking apologizing," Ed snapped. His throat felt thick, and he could literally hear his heart beating in his chest, and it felt like it was pumping all the blood to Ed's face because it was burning. He glanced at the ring he held in his hand once again, before taking a deep breath and looking Roy straight in the eye. "If you have something to ask, just go ahead and ask it. Don't apologize for wanting to ask me." The rest of that sentence, three simple words, were hanging in the air between them, unsaid yet very much present.

They stared at each other for a moment before Roy seemed to find the courage he was looking for. He nodded once, and reached to hold Ed's flesh hand in his. Ed could feel the tightness in his chest and throat growing with every second passing. He never imagined that moment happening – never thought it was even possible – and yet here he was, on his knees, waiting to hear the words he never thought he'd long to hear.

Roy's tongue darted out, wetting his lips before returning back to the safety of his mouth. "Edward Elric," he started, his voice almost stable, the effort required to keep it even apparent. "Will you marry me?"

The world collapsed at these words. Even though they were echoing in Ed's head for the past few minutes, hearing them, asked quietly and so seriously in Roy's deep voice wasn't the same, not even a tiny bit. He was sure that in a second his heart will explode and his mind will blow up, but nothing really happened except for a silly smile that forced its way onto the muscles in his face.

He didn't take his eyes off Roy's dark ones as his lips formed the words. "You idiot. Of course I will," he said, trying to sound sure and cocky like he always was but his voice betrayed him, coming out as a shaky whisper.

He watched the flames playing inside Roy's almost black irises, and could see the smile forming on his lips. His hand was trembling as he picked up the ring from Ed's palm and held his hand with the other one. Ed completely let go of the control of his hand, letting Roy turn it so now his palm was facing the ground, and he thought that he might not be stable enough when Roy placed the ring on his finger. Somehow though he managed to put it on without dropping it, the metal sliding smoothly against Ed's skin, like it was custom made just for him. Then he realized it probably was, and he felt his cheeks flushing even redder than what they already were at the thought. He couldn't take his eyes off Roy's actions, somewhere deep inside him knowing it was wrong – he shouldn't enjoy this so much, he shouldn't want this. That ring practically marked him under Roy's ownership – and he was no nobody's possession. However, it somehow felt so right; like it didn't render him as an object or property, but was a symbol of something he and Roy shared and that was completely and utterly theirs.

His breaths were coming out fast and shallow, and it wasn't until Roy left his hand and said his name that he was able to tear his gaze from the golden band encircling his finger.

"I love you, Ed," said Roy, breaking the silence once again. Ed stared at him, blinking stupidly for a short moment before he was finally able to find his voice.

"I love you too, Roy," he said, and leaned in to capture Roy's lips in a kiss. The older man cooperated, parting his lips and moaning lightly against Ed's mouth; although that didn't last long before Roy broke away. Ed looked at him with a questioning look.

"Let's get up first, my knees are killing me," Roy explained, his expression apologizing, and he straightened up before offering Ed a hand to help him up as well.

"Old geezer," he said, but now that Roy mentioned it Ed realized just how uncomfortable he really was, and he gladly held onto Roy and let him pull him towards him. He could feel the ring pressing against his flesh as Roy held him, and once he was up on his feet he was looking at it, trying to figure out if he'll ever get used to it, or to the meaning behind it.

He heard Roy chuckling shortly before he wrapped his arms around him and brought him close. "You have no idea how relieved I am that you said yes. For a moment… for a moment I thought you'd run from me in terror," he said, and Ed could feel his hand playing lightly with his hair.

He returned the embrace, wriggling the fingers of his left hand in another attempt to get used to the new feeling. "For a moment I thought I might, too," he answered honestly, moving slightly backwards to look at Roy's face. The older man was looking at him with his eyebrow raised, and Ed smiled at the sight. "But then I realized I don't think I can live – happily – without you… and I don't care what anybody thinks." He rose on his tiptoes to place a short kiss on Roy's lips. "I'll get you one, too, and then you'll have to wear it around and everyone will know you're mine."

"Just like you're mine?"

"No! I'm not yours!" Ed called, but his sudden anger softened at the smirk on Roy's lips, and he leaned in to rest his cheek on Roy's chest. "Yeah, just like I'm yours."