Finally, after days of training it is time for the exam.
FME is notorious for being hard, and just like UA's exam it is hard to find any information on it besides the official materials. At least FME has official materials instead of UA's vague as shit front page.
Kimura-sensei drives them to the exam, with Midoriya-san sitting shotgun.
"Okay kids, this is it. You need to get in there and show them what you're made of. We'll be waiting outside." Kimura-sensei's pep talks are always short and to the point like that. They nod resolutely, unbuckle, and get out of the car, looking at the building in front of them.
They register for the exam, and are pleasantly surprised that the newest regulations allow them to take parts of the general test together, to register their maximum fusion distance and similar. The rest of the tests they will have to face alone however.
They get their numbers and spend some time in the waiting room, anxiously awaiting their fate. They're called in for their pair tests first. They show off how quickly they can fuse, which is under a second, and watch as the main organiser of the exam takes off her tinted glasses to look at them with surprise. Next up is distance fusing. They go to the very ends of the enormous hall they're in and fuse, with barely any strain. The examiners note their fusing distance as tested maximal, with a note to do some outdoor testing on even bigger distances. Then the next part is how long they can stay in the fusion state without actually fusing. It frankly becomes boring after the three minutes mark, but they resolutely stay like that for a full ten minutes before the fusion happens. Next up is an exercise they could do with closed eyes. They have to run three laps while fusing and unfusing. Compared to Kimura-sensei's hell obstacle course it's nothing. The examiners ask them a question for the last part. 'How long have you stayed fused for the longest?' The answer is… they don't know, so they have them stay fused for an hour. Thankfully Diana can use their phones in the meantime, otherwise it would be extra boring. Finally they have Diana use Hitoshi's quirk on someone, and with a great deal of reluctance, she does. It works. She makes the guy who walked out to be her guinea pig do a few squats, everything is written down to be working correctly.
For the next part of the exam they have to separate, and Hitoshi breathes out an uneven sigh at that. He already misses Midoriya-kun's presence. Nope. No. Stop it thoughts. He should be focusing on the exam. Bad thoughts. Bad brain.
He's thankful he chose to cut himself off mentally from Midoriya-kun, so that he didn't hear any of his embarrassing thoughts in case of failure.
The examiners call his number and he walks into the room, where several people are already waiting for him. They're all dressed the same, in neat white clothing. One steps out of the group.
"We're ready to begin testing," an examiner announces from the side.
He goes through all the steps of the previous tests with Midoriya-kun, but this time with the guy who stepped out, creating a mish-mashed fusion (since he doesn't know that guy at all) in under a second, they fuse from a distance (and they have to take this one a few times because it doesn't work out on maximum distance, but it is still in the higher range), and they try to stay in the fusing state as long as possible, which Hitoshi thinks the guy is making harder on purpose. They last seven minutes, but it's still not bad. At least he thinks so from the approving nods from the examiners. Next up is running laps while fusing, and they do decently too.
Hitoshi wonders how Midoriya-kun is doing… but no. He cut himself off on purpose. He can learn after the exams.
"Normally we would test mental blocks now, but you've been consistently doing it throughout the entire exam, so we can check this one off," the examiner lady tells him, nodding at his temporary fusion partner, who smiles.
"Not a thought could be heard," he confirms.
"Alright, one last part of the exam, Shinsou. Show us how many people you can force-fuse." She commands.
Hitoshi decides to show off a little, and force-fuses the guy he's been fusing with from a distance, which makes the examiner gasp in wonder, and then he comes up to each person in the group and gives them his hand. Soon enough he has twenty-three people in his head. The examiners didn't think they would need more, probably. He turns around and finds the examiners slack-jawed.
"Did I do good?" he asks, and the lady examiner frantically corrects her glasses, before marking something on the clipboard she's holding.
"You can let them go now," she says instead of answering his question. He does, and then and only then she says: "Number three hundred and fifty-seven Shinsou Hitoshi, you officially passed the Fusion Masters Exam in both the general and force-fusion portion."
Hitoshi pumps his fist and hisses out 'Yes'. They escort him into the hallway and give him a slip he's supposed to give to the receptionist to receive his diploma.
He does that, and goes to the car to tell Kimura-sensei and Midoriya-san the good news. And of course, learn if Midoriya-kun had the same luck.
When he arrives, however, he doesn't see the familiar mop of hair in the passenger seat of the car.
Kimura-sensei spots him first and gets out of the car, Midoriya-san does too. "Did you pass?" they both ask at the same time, and when he nods, he gets swept up in a strong hug. It only then properly hits him. He passed, he passed! He's a Fusion Master! He's gonna be able to take the Hero Licence Exam!
He tears up and starts sobbing uncontrollably. His dreams, so close!
Two hours later, two hours later, Midoriya-kun finally, finally, gets out of the building. He's crying but he's smiling, so they all immediately know he passed too.
After he gets choked to death by a hug from Kimura-sensei and Midoriya-san, they drive to McDonald's to celebrate with an unhealthy meal.
Full of junk-food and tired from the exam, they go home and collapse in their respective beds, ready for the day to end. Their official licences would arrive in mail in a few days, and then it would be all fine.
Hitoshi honestly almost forgets that he needs to go to school after that. Some part of his brain just feels so accomplished with what he's achieved, that it doesn't want him to even finish middle school, which is stupid at best.
When Monday comes he packs his backpack with reluctance, as if feeling that the upcoming week is going to be a shitshow. He doesn't know why he thinks that, but he feels it in his bones.
Three hours later he's walking in the corridor, alone as Midoriya-kun was in the library, checking out some books on engineering, when he hears a gasp in his brain, and a feeling of intense dread.
'Shinsou-kun you need to force-fuse me. Now.' There's horrible urgency in Midoriya-kun's voice and so he doesn't question him, just ducks into an empty classroom and yanks. Seconds later Midoriya-kun is in his brain, but before he can ask him what happened he hears him cursing. 'Run, get out of here before he finds us.' Hitoshi doesn't even need to ask who they're escaping. It's quite obviously Bakugou. So he gets out of the classroom and runs down the stairs, but before he can book it out of the school, he hears Bakubitch's yelling, then explosions, then he's pinned towards the wall.
"Where. Is. He!?" The blonde asks, explosions popping off dangerously close to Hitoshi's face. He gulps and considers lying, that he saw Midoriya run down the stairs, but before he can say a single word, Bakugou's eyes widen. "Why the fuck do you have green eyes, you didn't have green eyes." Hitoshi's blood freezes. Oh no. The force-fusion is visible? This is bad, this is very bad. He thought that maybe since he hasn't felt any changes physically it meant they were one of the rare cases where it didn't affect their looks in any way. Fuck. Fuck! "You…" A glimpse of understanding lights Bakugou's eyes. "I saw a flash of white. Like the damn nerd was fusing. And then he was gone and now you have green eyes…!" He takes a step back but doesn't stop holding him against the wall. "You force-fused him!"
Gasps are heard around the corridor. People who hadn't given them any attention whatsoever when Bakugou pinned him to the wall, are now taking out their phones and taking pictures of them, whispering among themselves with fear in their eyes.
"Someone get the teacher!" Bakugou yells. "We've got a villain on the loose," he whispers, getting close to Hitoshi's face.
Midoriya is so silent he can't feel him, it's like he's locked away in some primal part of his brain that focuses only on survival, and can't speak. Frankly, Hitoshi can't either.
What follows is a blur to him. Someone does get a teacher, he gets apprehended, someone starts yelling at him, something about Midoriya, but he can't, he can't, he can't understand them, he can't catch a breath, he can't—
Someone calls the police, he's handcuffed and escorted to a police car, the ride to the station is full of some policeman speaking to him in a harsh voice, about what? He has no idea. He can't focus, he can barely take a breath. He feels on the verge of passing out.
He's not that surprised when he's thrown into an interrogation room, but he still can't focus on anything and can barely breath.
He's done for. All his dreams, swept away because of one mistake, because he broke one grand rule of never force-fusing Midoriya-kun in public. He should have never agreed to it in the first place. He should have never trained that. He should have never done that.