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~ Day of the party 7:57 p.m. ~
The earpiece crackles with static before clearing into the familiar voice.
“Deku, come in Deku, are you in position?”
Izuku holds his breath as he stares down at the guard below him. Float is keeping him pressed against the ceiling and Blackwhip secures him in place, but if he so much as sneezes, let alone verbally answering Ochako, everything will be over right now.
Silently he slides a finger down the side of his earpiece to lower the volume just in case. Then, right as a couple passes the entrance check below, he clicks the earpiece off and back on again, hoping the conversation and bustle of the new arrivals is enough to drown out the muted beep as the tech powers back on.
“Ah, he has signaled that he is, Uravity,” Tenya’s voice comes through next. “He must be unable to speak at the moment but his earpiece only blinked off once for yes.”
Izuku resists the urge to do it again in confirmation. That’s all they’d need, a misunderstanding where Tenya thinks he’s changing his answer at this the most crucial of moments.
“Alright then!” Ochako’s voice cheers. “I’m lining up too!”
Izuku nods even though she can’t see him. Showtime.
At exactly 8 p.m. the new bouncer arrives to take the old one’s place and Izuku readies himself to move. He’s been hiding up here since long before the party was called for all for this one crucial moment.
The bouncers greet each other, taking a moment to stop letting people in as the first goes over some relevant information.
And for that one glorious moment, the clipboard with the list of names is left abandoned by the podium.
Izuku makes his move.
A thread of Blackwhip snags the board whip-fast, pulling it up to where Izuku is hiding. Quick as a whip, Izuku swaps the top paper there with the modified one in his hand, dropping the board back down as soon as the page is in place.
Step five complete.
Now he just needs to find a way to get out of here without being seen.
Piece of cake.
~ Day before the party 4:30 p.m. ~
“First things first!” Tenya proclaims as soon as they decide to actually make this a mission. “We need a plan!”
“Agreed!” Ochako cheers, clearly taking the situation more lightly than their super serious friend. “Lay it on us Bossman!”
“Step one:” he proclaims, clearly choosing to ignore her sass as he starts writing things out on his miniature whiteboard. “Find out the details of the event.”
“That’s easy,” Izuku nods. “Shouto can help us with that.”
“Step two:” Tenya continues, nodding to Izuku to show that his contribution has been noted. “Acquire the necessary outfits and disguises for the infiltration.” He pauses in his writing to point at himself with his marker. “I can take care of that.”
“Thanks Tenten!” Ochako grins.
“Step three:” Tenya says, a pleased smile now pulling at his lips. “We create airtight cover identities in case they are on the lookout for us specifically.”
Izuku opens his mouth to question before thinking better of it. Honestly that makes sense.
“Step four: find out the method they will be using to screen arrivals and Step five: get ourselves added to the list. We’ll need to time that one for a shift change about halfway through the night since they’ll be lulled into a false sense of security by then at our absence.”
“I dunno Tenya,” Ochako frowns. “Doesn’t this seem a bit much? We’re already on a blacklist, you really think we need to go this far?”
“Ochako!” Tenya gasps, utterly scandalized at her flippant tone. “Don’t you understand what’s at stake here???”
Izuku lays a comforting hand on Tenya’s arm. “It’s a good plan,” he says. “Simple yet airtight.”
Tenya preens at the praise. “Thank you.”
“Alright so step six: successfully infiltrate and step seven: profit?” Ochako jokes.
“Ochako,” Tenya scolds lightly. “We will not be making any money on this venture. This is purely an infiltration.”
Ochako sweatdrops but chooses not to correct him.
“Alright team!” Izuku says, rubbing his hands together as he stares at Tenya’s whiteboard. “Let’s get started.”
~ Day of the party 7:30 a.m. ~
Tenya had taken charge of the disguises, mostly because as a member of the Iida house he a) had access to more money than the other two, and b) apparently had more knowledge in these types of fancy parties and the people who attended.
“If it’s an established security firm then we’ll need more than fake names to get in, we’ll need fake ties to the usual crowd in order to pass muster. I’ll take care of crafting those as well.”
“Gosh Tenya, leave some jobs for the rest of us,” Ochako jokes.
Mentally running through the list of action items, Izuku hums thoughtfully. “Ochako, I think we can take care of step four. Once we know the firm name, we’ll just search them up, or if needed, we can walk in and pretend to be potential customers.”
Ochako nods seriously. “Perfect! And the last two steps?”
“We should be set for the infiltration once all our preparations are done,” Tenya replies. “As for step seven…”
Izuku’s responding grin is borderline feral. “We improvise.”
~ Day before the party 7 p.m. ~
It’s easy enough for Shouto to pretend to mope around his house while extracting details from his father about the number of guests, the style and activities of the party, and most importantly, the level of security that’ll be in place.
It’ll be fairly formal, with only esteemed guests invited (Endeavor pointedly stresses this part to Shouto, who makes no reply). Most of the time will consist of intermingling and stuffy courtesy speeches, and of course, at the end Endeavor will show off his masterpiece and wax poetic about Shouto’s achievements as a young rising hero.
Security, apparently, will be strict but not overly hard to get by. A security company called Securanteed is being hired to take care of it. It’s a simple task to search them up online and research the service they provide.
Shouto relays this information to Tenya, who in turn adds everything to their planning spreadsheet.
Step one complete.
~ Day of the party 8 p.m. ~
Izuku manages to spider-crawl his way off the ceiling when the guard isn’t looking, and once he rejoins Tenya and Ochako and puts on the final touches to his disguise, it’s showtime.
They file into the very reception room that Izuku was just in, although this time he’s on the ground alongside the other two of them. The suits that Tenya bought and tailored are absolutely impeccable, and Ochako’s gown is equally perfect. Their wigs are pinned into place, hiding any hint of their distinctive colors in favor of generic hairdos. And of course, they have the most airtight alibis they could ever want. Nobody’s going to even bat an eye at them.
“Next,” the bouncer calls out without even looking up. Izuku smiles to himself as he steps up first. “Tanaka Hiroto,” he says.
“Next.”
“Sakura Akiyama.”
“Next.”
“Yasashiku–”
The bouncer looks up. From their positions in the doorway between the reception room and the ballroom, Izuku and Ochako freeze, but don’t dare to turn around.
“Aren’t you–”
Tenya lifts his chin ever so slightly. “But of course!” he says in his most stuffy and posh voice. “Acquaintance of Hisoka Aki. He’s my longtime business partner, in fact. If necessary I can call him–”
“That won’t be necessary,” Shouto interrupts, brushing by the bouncer to place a hand on Tenya’s shoulder. “You haven’t been giving him any trouble, have you?” Without waiting for a response, he turns to face Tenya. “You’ve kept me waiting long enough.”
And with that, the four of them walk past the reception table and into the calm before the storm.
~ Day before the party 2 p.m. ~
Shouto Todoroki frowns at his phone as he reads the text message that just rudely ruined his outing with his friends.
“What is it, Shouto?” Izuku asks. “Something wrong?”
Shouto sighs. “Endeavor wants me home tomorrow for some stupid party that he’s throwing.”
Tenya frowns as well. “That sounds painful,” he sympathizes. “Is it for the entire evening?”
“Five to eleven,” Shouto answers, nodding.
Ochako winces. “Well, at least we can come with you, so you won’t have to deal with him all alone, right?” she asks, trying to be cheery.
Shouto shakes his head. “He’s specifically banned you guys from going. There’s a whole blacklist this time.”
Izuku grins as he recalls the last time, when Shouto invited the entirety of 1-A and 1-B. Needless to say, it was great. It’s unfortunate that they can’t do it again.
But blacklist or not, they’ll find a way to accompany Shouto.
“No way are we leaving you alone,” Izuku informs him. “We’ll figure something out.”
“Yeah!” Ochako pumps her fist. “Your father’s not going to know what hit him!”
Tenya, ever the more rule-abiding one, refrains from actively encouraging them. But the smile on his face is all they need to know he’s one hundred percent in.
~ Day of the party 8 p.m. ~
They don’t get far past the reception table and that slightly suspicious guard before they have to duck out of sight and stop in a corner so Ochako can control her giggles.
“Oh my god,” she gasps, the long blonde hair of her wig rippling with her every movement. “Oh my god I can’t believe that really worked. I can’t believe we actually pulled it off.”
Shouto smiles at each of them in turn, taking Ochako’s free hand in his, as Izuku links arms with him and Tenya.
“I can,” Shouto says, nodding with clear pride in his voice. “Thank you.”
And with that the four of them enter the party proper, mission fully accomplished.