In celebration of my finishing AP tests and being more or less done with Senior Projects... enjoy an AlMei oneshot!

There are very few things on this earth that are more annoying than when the object you desire is less than an inch within the tips of your fingers and you still can't reach it.

At only an inch taller than five feet tall, this was a feeling that Mei Chang was only far too familiar with. It didn't matter whether it was her water bottle she foolishly set on the table when she had already sat down, searching for an object under her bed, or in this case, the book on the top shelf that she had hunted across two countries, it was infuriating.

She was currently perched with her tip toes on the lip of the bottom shelf and gripping the 7th shelf in the vain attempt to reach it.

Before anyone asked, yes she had looked for a footstool, and no, they didn't have any. At least none that she had been able to find. Which was discrimination and once she got a hold of the book she would have words with the manager! If they were going to put books and impossibly high heights, they should accommodate customers that weren't impossibly tall! That had to be a law somewhere. Perhaps not in Xing, but at least there weren't as many giants there.

She hoped they had these shelves bolted into the walls.

If not… Hmm. If she were to make the shelf tip over that would be a lot of weight falling down on her at once. She was fast, but not quite that fast, especially if she was still clinging to it when it fell… Then again, while there probably weren't laws against discriminating against short people, there had to be some sort of safety law about bolting their bookshelves.

She was just debating how much danger she as actually in on the shelf – she was so close to reaching the book, her fingers were literally brushing the spine – when a voice spoke suddenly, making her squeak in shock and almost fall off.

"Whoa! I'm sorry! Are you alright!" the voice said again as she clung to the wood (thankfully having not tried to use the books to anchor her from falling).

"You almost made me fall!" she yelled back, face pressed against the spines of the books.

"I'm sorry! Though to be fair, you probably shouldn't be doing that. It's not very safe."

"I was perfectly safe until you nearly scared me to death and made me fall off!" Mei snapped, completely forgetting the fact that she had just been contemplating getting off for safety reasons when he came by.

"Sorry," the voice repeated. "Let me make it up to you – what did you need? What were you trying to get?"

"I don't remember asking for your help."

"You can't possibly be that stubborn. You nearly died there, let me help. What book were you trying to reach?"

He was probably one of those freakishly tall people that seemed everywhere here and probably just as rude as everyone else had been treating her while she was here. Even her own host was curt and reluctant to have her around. The only person she had met that had been truly kind to her here were the two other boarders – Marcho and Yoki, though Yoki was an odd fellow. She had thought that the house belonged to him when she first arrived, though Mr. Scar quickly established that it was his house and Yoki only one of his other boarders. But they had been kind. And Mr. Scar was warming up to her…

Everyone else had been perfectly rude to her because she was Xingese and a lonely girl, so she expected no less from this mystery man that had nearly killed her.

"It's the brown one with the red lettering."

There was a slight pause and Mei felt someone moving close to her by the shelf. He even brushed her arm as he reached for the book.

With annoying ease, the man was able to pluck the book off the shelf.

"There you go."

Mei backed away from the wood and pages she was clinging so tightly, peaking around her so that she was sure the space at the foot of the bookshelf around her was clear. Then, with extreme care, she dangled one foot behind her until she found the ground beneath it.

Once she had one foot safely planted, she allowed herself to detach from the bookshelf completely and turn around to finally face the man.

"This is the one you were looking for right?"

"Oh… uh… um…"

All of a sudden she couldn't speak.

This probably had something to do with the fact that standing in front of her was not the rude brute that she was expecting, laughing at her hugging the bookshelf like a lifeline and enjoying her pain. In fact it was quite the opposite. Yes, he was indeed tall, probably a good foot taller than her, but he was staring at her with concern and apology was written all over his face. He had golden hair, eyes to match, and soft features.

"This is the right one, right?"

"Uh…"

He glanced at the title of the book. "Might, Mind and Strength. Hey, I've read this book!"

He was also very handsome.

"You… you have?" she managed to squeak out.

"Yeah, I love this book!" He was smiling now which didn't help her thumping heart. "Are you an alchemist?"

"I… alkahestrist, actually."

"No way! That's so cool! I've always wanted to meet an alkahestrist. Why are you interested in this book? It's an alchemy one, isn't it?"

"Well, it doesn't have to be," she said, starting to warm up to the conversation. "It's about the relationship between the mind and the body, which is important in alchemy, but it's even more important in alkahestry. But you can't find copies of it anywhere in Xing, because it's always sold as only an alchemy book, and no one in Xing practices alchemy."

"So you came all the way here from Xing to find this book?"

Mei blushed and glanced down at her toes. "Not only to find the book… I'm here for a few weeks for a special leadership program my father runs through his company. It's very competitive, only two of us get to go."

"Two people in the company?"

"Two of my siblings. Well, me and one other sibling since I got to go."

"Oh. Sorry, I have trouble remember that not everyone only has one other sibling. It's just me and my brother, so if there was ever anything where only two of us could go… we both could!" She smiled widely at him, making sure not to mention that she had 42 siblings. That tended to weird people out.

"Are you an alchemist?"

"Yeah. Both of us are, actually. Me and my brother I mean. Our dad was one, and we used to sneak into his office and read his books when we were little. I'm interested in medical alchemy though, so I've always been interested in learning more about alkahestry. You said you were going to be here for a few weeks, right?"

She nodded.

"I know you're probably busy because of the leadership program and everything, my brother had a friend going through something similar and he's busy all the time, but… would you mind getting a cup of coffee or something and talking about it? Not now, if your busy, but maybe I could give you my phone number so you can call me when you're not so busy."

He fumbled for a few moments with his pockets before pulling out a small pad of paper and a stunted pencil. "For emergencies. You never know when an idea with strike you." He flipped past the first few pages that looked like they had some sort of lists written on them – she saw the word quiche crossed off and wondered what it meant… she'd have to look that word up later. He must have found a blank page though because he scribbled something down on it and then ripped it off and handed it to her. He had written his full name and phone number on it.

"Alphonse Elric."

"Yeah, that's me. Um… I just realized I don't your name."

"Mei. Mei Chang. Here, let me give you my number."

"It's nice to meet you Mei!" he said as he handed her the small pad and pencil. She scribbled her name and her cell phone number, wishing in the moment she handed it back to him that her hand writing was as neat as his.

"If you're ever not busy, call me."

"I'm not busy now. If you'd like me to start teaching you a bit about alkahestry." He paused, then smiled again.

"Really?"

"Yeah." No one was expecting her back until dark, and training really began tomorrow. It would be nice to have a good memory to have with her before dedicating her soul to defeating her half-brother.

"Alright then…" He smiled again and held out an arm for her to hold onto. The gesture made Mei smile again. She didn't know anyone who did that… Well, she supposed… she did now.

"Oh," he said suddenly as they were heading towards the door. "I totally forgot about your book! You probably want to buy that, don't you?"

"Right, yes, I do." He handed her the book, and she nodded gratefully. "And really, sorry about nearly making you fall off of the bookshelf. But that was a rather dangerous way to get a book."

"Well I just hope you're around next time."

He grinned. "I hope so too."