Imagine this
After the Promised Day, Ed doesn’t have a job anymore - so Roy offers him to go and help him with paperwork, like a secretary of sorts: it’s well-paid, a bit boring, but he doesn’t have to work a lot and he can use the paycheck to help Al recover.
Ed reclutantly accepts, complaining about how “he’ll be forced to see Mustang’s sorry-sss face the whole time” and about “the inhuman amount of shit he’ll have to sign for him”.
Now, Ed isn’t tall in this - he’s short, around 1.58 m (5'2 feet), and whenever he has to reach a binder on Roy’s bookshelf, he has to stand on his tippy-toes… and sometimes, for the highest shelves, he needs a stool.
He feels mortified by it, and it’s even worse because sometimes people see him, and they snicker behind his back about it - it makes him mad: Roy loves to see him stretch to reach the binders, because he looks adorable, but he doesn’t want him to feel like that everytime he needs something.
One day, Ed goes back into the office, and he can tell something’s different… but he can’t put his finger on it.
He keeps on working for a few hours, before he needs a binder - but when he reaches the bookshelf, he realises that the one he needs is way lower down than he remembers… and the same goes for the others.
“Yo, General, did you… did you change the bookshelf?”
“Yes, Fullmetal, this one is better crafted, and the handiwork is impressive.I had it custom-made… It makes my office look much bigger, as it’s shorter than my old one. Gives the impression of a higher ceiling.”
“If… if you say so…”
But when Ed turns to look at him, the smug bastard has a knowing smile on his face, and chuckles lightly when he catches the short man staring at him - Ed mutters something under his breath, and blushes because the General always has to overdo everything.
And yet, when he tries to reach the binder, he realises that… he still has to stand on his tippy-toes.
Because Roy’s not ready to give up on that.
