Title: Glitter
Rating: T
Genre: Syrup.
Word Count: 853
Author's Note: Healer-verse. Takes place sometime between whenever it is Ed's in Central and ficbit one. I realise the end is a bit abrupt; originally it was going to be used for a longer fic that never got written.

:x:x:x:

"Hey, Winry, I got you something while I was in Central," Ed said suddenly one night as they snuggled before a roaring fire.

It took her a minute to process his comment; the warmth of the fire and of Ed had lulled her into a half-asleep state. "Ed, you've been home for nearly three weeks and you're just now telling me this?" she finally said.

There was a pause. "Um. Yeah." Another pause, longer this time.

"So…do I get to see it?"

She felt rather than heard Ed sigh, then inhale deeply. She caught a hint of movement in her peripheral vision and turned her head to the side; Ed was fiddling with something. "Have you ever regretted…well, us?" he asked after a moment.

"Of course not," she replied immediately. "I love you, Ed, you know that."

"I do," he acknowledged. "I just wanted to make sure, I guess." He was silent for a long time; she restrained herself from saying anything, recognising from long years of experience that he was trying to say something important and that he would do it when he was ready.

"If someone had told me when we were kids that one day I'd fall in love with you, I'd probably have told them they were crazy," he said at last, very softly. "Well, actually, I'd more likely have said something about cooties—" he chuckled. "But…point being…even with all the other crazy shit that's happened in my life, I never would have believed that I'd love you like I do, much less that you'd ever love me back." Another pause; by the tone in his voice, he was probably grinning wryly to himself. "Then again, maybe it was inevitable. Do you realize we've known each other for nearly twenty years, Winry? You've been there forever, you've alwaysbeen there. Even back when I was running all over Amestris after that damned stone, you were waiting for me, weren't you?"

It sounded like he actually wanted a response, so she nodded against his chest. "Yeah, I was," she said. "But, Ed, what—"

"You are the onlyperson that has ever reallyknown me," he whispered. "Except for…for Al, but I couldn't exactly—well." He quit fidgeting and held his hand out toward the firelight. It glinted on something—

For a long moment her heart felt as though it had stopped in her chest. He was holding a delicate silver ring.

"I've been thinking about it," he continued quietly, "and I think, maybe, I'vealways loved you. I just didn't know how to admit it to myself. Thank god you were brave enough to confront me like you did, or who knows where I'd've ended up."

Winry couldn't stop staring at the ring. Is he really—really—she couldn't allow herself to finish the thought.

"Anyway," he was saying, "I'm rambling. Point is, Winry—I love you. You're literally the reason I'm still here. So…" he shifted out from under her and turned until he could look her in the eyes.

"Marry me?" he whispered.

Her heart started again. "Yes," she breathed, and flung herself at him, kissing him hard. He responded eagerly, and it took them a few minutes to recover enough for him to slide the ring onto the appropriate finger. Looking at it more closely, she realized that it was engraved with a pattern of swirling, convoluted spirals that somehow contrived to bear a striking resemblance to an alchemic array. Tiny chips of diamond had been worked into the design. "Oh, Ed, it's beautiful," she said.

He gave her a crooked grin. "Custom design," he said proudly. "Look on the inside."

She was reluctant to take it off, but did so anyway long enough to discover that along the inside of the band were inscribed their names, as well as a tiny design that even with its small size she recognized instantly – it was the same symbol that had been tattooed on his teacher's collarbone and had been painted on Alphonse's shoulder, as well as on the back of the jacket that Ed himself had worn for so many years. It had always been their insignia, a mark of the connection they shared that she couldn't breach – and now she had one, too. With an effort she kept herself from getting weepy over the gesture. She wondered for a moment if he realised its significance to her.

"It's not much," he said, in a sheepish tone of voice.

"It's perfect." She slid the band back onto her finger and leaned forward to kiss him again.

"I didn't think a huge diamond would suit you," he said a few minutes later, a bit breathlessly.

"It wouldn't have. And I don't need flash and sparkle, anyway." She wriggled her fingers and watched how the fire caught the miniscule facets of the diamond chips, making them glitter. "Well, maybe just a little."

He laughed and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close against his chest. "I love you," he whispered in her ear.

"I love you too," she whispered back, and smiled.

Outside, snow began to fall.