Denny looked up from his son, the human cheese magnet, to see Maria walking briskly towards him.
"Denny, may I talk to you for a moment? Bring Niko, please."
Denny was confused. Was he in trouble? He must be in trouble, Maria never asked to speak to him privately. It must be huge trouble if it meant he had to move away from Riza. Oh god, he was in massive trouble. Maybe even marriage ending trouble. His hands were trembling. He couldn't speak, he could barely move.
His marriage, his life, it was over, it must be. He tried very hard not to cry as he lifted Niko off Riza's lap and trailed after Maria to the other side of the room.
Maria looked him in the eye. What had he done that was so bad? Was she sick of his clumsiness, his devotion? He was too loving, that was always his problem, and she was going to leave him like he always dreaded she would. He could feel his eyes water.
Her expression suddenly softened.
"Denny, honey, what's the matter?"
He could barely get the words out.
"Please don't leave me…"
Maria, the love of his life, his reason for living, laughed full in his face. It was so loud that Ed, from the other side of the room, stopped drinking for a split second and stared very obviously until Scieszka elbowed him in the ribs.
"Denny," Maria laughed, wiping at his tears, "why on earth do you think I was leaving you?" The weight of the world lifted instantly from Denny's shoulders as peals of laughter erupted from his wife. "I was just getting you out of the way, Roy wanted to talk to Riza without her suspecting anything!"
Denny blinked back residue from his silly moment. He wondered if he could blame hormones the way Maria always did during her pregnancy, but somehow he doubted it.
He began to compute what Maria had said.
"Suspect what?"
xxxx
Roy could feel his hands trembling. He held on to Black Hayate's lead tightly as the dog instinctively guided him towards Riza, who was leaning on one arm on the table, feet kicked in front of her.
"Riza? Could I speak to you a moment?"
Riza tilted her head back. Roy could make out her beaded black dress, the glint of the silver in her ears.
"What is it, Roy?"
Roy shook his head. He took her hand, gently leading her away from the table towards the door leading to the balcony.
"It's quieter out here," he said. "Sit," he ordered Hayate, who obediently positioned himself by the French doors. He led Riza out the doors into the Amestris night.
The courtyard looked beautiful in the twilight hours; Roy thought the lights looked like those classic paintings Riza would always drag him to. Blobs of paint, he thought they were, until his sight was lost, and suddenly he appreciated the beauty of what he was attempting to see. The colours blended and swirled, as fresh as the breeze blowing through Riza's hair. He looked up to see an inky black sky. He couldn't tell if there were stars.
He looked down to see Riza standing right next to him, leaning in, breathing in the cool night air. She turned to smile at him, and Roy saw the stars he had been missing in her amber gaze. He saw the green hills of his childhood, the streetlamps under which they had shared their first tentative kiss, and the stars that they had slept under in Ishbal. He saw the lights of their home in the rain. He saw the life he promised they would live together. He saw the strongest woman he had ever known and would ever know.
Riza leant in, looking out and breaking his gaze.
"Riza."
"Mmh," she sighed, leaning in. He pushed her away to lean on the balcony edge.
"Riza."
She turned to see him kneeling down.
"Has your shoe come undone? Here, let me help – " She stopped short as Roy reached into his pocket.
Roy thought he was going to be sick, as he felt around for the little black box. Hands shaking like the leaves on the birch trees below them, he pulled it out his jacket, flicking open the box to reveal the small, sparkling diamond in the platinum band that he had picked out the week before. He held the box in his right hand; he took hold of hers in his left.
"Riza, lean forward so I can see you."
Riza leant in closer. Roy could see her face shining with tears in the moonlight.
"Riza, I love you. With you, I don't need my eyes; you are all I need to see. You are my light, my night, my world. You are my fire. You are my stars. You were everything I needed; you are everything I will ever need. I know I haven't been the easiest to live with, with everything that's happened between us, and I know that I have cut you out or shoved you away, and every time I feel like I've cut out a piece of my soul. Once, you told me that a man who was whole was someone who hadn't seen enough of the world to give you what you needed. You make me whole, Riza. I could travel the world twice over and I would never look back if it meant completing you too. Please, help me take that journey. I never want to travel without you ever again. I never want to lose you. I never want to shut you out of my life again. Would you do me the great honour of becoming my wife?"
Riza had shut her eyes. She leant forward, touching her forehead to his, brushing his fringe out of her eyes.
"Roy…I have to ask you something."
Roy clasped her hand tighter.
"Anything, Riza."
She opened her eyes, and cupped his face in her free hand.
"All those nevers…would you make them positive and promise those as your vows?"
Roy nodded, too overcome to speak.
"Then yes. Of course."
