Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Nedzu looks far too amused.

It doesn't bode well, and the staff room is tense, stiff as a board as they watch him.

Every so often, he lets out something between a laugh and an animalistic chirp, and no one is having a good time in the interim between them noticing the behaviour and him putting them out of their misery.

“I have hired a new teacher.” The rat-demon eventually says, and the room is filled with confused glances.

That doesn't seem so bad.

Famous last words.

“She will be arriving shortly. She will be assisting with 1-A’s homeroom with Aizawa, and will be teaching a new class, Weaponry.” The rat-demon continues, handing out copies of the timetables for all the teachers, showing when their classes would have the new class.

The USJ had only been a few days ago, and Aizawa was still making a very good impression of a mummy with all his bandages.

Teaching the kids weaponry wouldn't be a bad idea, especially if they cannot rely on their quirks like some hadn't been able to at the USJ.

So why was absolutely nobody comforted?

(Because they'd met Nedzu, and could see the clear feral joy he was feeling, and had learned that an excited Nedzu was never a good thing for anyone involved.)

“Is she at least qualified?” Aizawa drawls, giving a slightly scathing look to All Might, who deflated and coughed up blood in response.

“Oh yes! She has a hero license here in Japan, along with one in America.” Nedzu assures him, and Aizawa grunts.

Can't be any worse than All Might at teaching, he supposed.

“Oniichan!” Someone said, and everyone blinked when they realised the woman coming into view was talking to Nedzu.

Brother? Older brother?

The rat-demon had a sister?

“Ah, there you are! Staff, meet Addams Delora.” Nedzu grins with all his teeth as the woman sweeps fully into view, all deathly pale skin and dark hair. She's wearing a black dress and has several silver rings on her hands, and several knives attached to her belt.

“Dreadful to meet you all.” She says with a smile, as if she means the exact opposite, and All Might vomits up more blood.

“Addams, you said?” He coughs out, and the woman cackles with glee.

“Oh yes, Oniichan told me about you! You went to America for several years, I believe you put my Uncle Fester into an asylum? Oh, how wonderful, he is always raving about how kind you were and how firm the straitjacket you put on him was!” She says, bounding over to shake the thin man's hand, and All Might looks so entirely done with his life.

What. The. Fuck.

Uncle? Asylum? Straitjacket? And this was a good thing?

So many questions and yet no place to fucking start.

Aizawa groans as his head starts to pound with a migraine, and he regrets ever letting Hizashi talk him into being a teacher.

His only solace is that Hizashi also looks like he's regretting his career path too.

“And oh! Is that a whip? It's been so very long since I got a good lashing.” The Addams has moved on from All Might, who looks like he might be praying to a god he doesn't believe in, and started towards Midnight.

“I could always give you one~” Midnight offered, smirking, her whole face lit up with sadistic glee. She balks when the other woman is suddenly right in her face, their noses almost touching.

“Or maybe I can give one to you.” She hisses with a grin, and Midnight jerks back as if burnt.

“Nope. Nope. Nope.” They hear her saying as she darts away to hide behind Ectoplasm.

“Delora, please do not traumatise my staff on the first day.” Nedzu calls, and the woman honest-to-god pouts at him before skulking back to his side.

“Are we sure she's, like, okay to be around the kids?” Present Mic asks, just a touch louder than he meant to, and suddenly the room went ice cold.

“I assure you that these children have never been safer than they are with me here. To imply that Oniichan is so negligent-” her voice turns deep, as if several people are talking through her at once.

(They are, generations of Addams who were born to protect children with brimstone and flame using her as a mouthpiece in their indignation.)

The lights flicker and the rooms seems to gain more shadows, and no one can actually inhale because the air has gone thin until -

“Sister, please calm down. They meant no offence.” Nedzu says, and it all goes away.

As if she'd never left, the smiley woman is back, albeit this time with Nedzu perched on her shoulder.

They leave to go over paperwork in his office, and leave the staff to ruminate upon her arrival and demeanor.

“What the fuck?” Cementoss whispers, and they all turn to All Might.

“You know of the family?”

All Might grimaces.

“They delight in the macabre and in death. They live for an indeterminate amount of years. They're monsters in human flesh, but she is right. The kids have never been safer.” He tells them before moving to leave.

“Where are you going?” Midnight asks, and All Might gives them an exhausted smile.

“To find a beer.”

And yeah, that seems fair.

*******

The teachers decide to watch the first lesson Addams teaches, out of curiosity more than anything.

She stands in an all-black jumpsuit, similar to Aizawa’s own, her knives still attached to that blood red belt of hers.

“Who here can use a weapon already?” She asks the assembled 1-A, who have met her before, but she had simply just sat on Aizawa's desk silently while their pro-hero teacher had tried his best to ignore that she was there.

A few hands went up - Iida, Yaoyorozu, Shinsou, and Midoriya.

Several of the assembled teachers were confused by Midoriya, but they were quickly distracted by Addams moving on.

“Iida, correct? What weapon have you used?” She asked and Iida puffed up proudly when he announced that he had been fencing since he was a child. Addams smiled at him and nodded in approval.

“Fencing is an excellent way to train for dexterity, which is needed for a quirk like yours. Well done.” She said, and Iida smiled happily.

Yaoyorozu had also done fencing, along with training with guns due to the fact that she could make them, and her parents had wanted her to be safe, so had enrolled her at a range to learn firearm safety.

“Guns are useful, but do not be too reliant upon them. Bullets can ricochet when met with certain quirks. However, it's good that you know how. I believe UA has a range that Snipe manages, and it would be good for you to keep up with those skills.” She told the girl, who nodded and made a note to inquire about such a thing.

(“She really is a good teacher.” Ectoplasm murmured, and he sounded somewhere between shocked and pleased.)

Shinsou confessed that he had experience with knives, and Addams absolutely lit up with excitement.

“Oh, how wonderful! I shall work with you upon improving those skills!” She told the boy, who flushed red at the praise and looked away.

Midoriya, however, pulled out a literal Bō staff, and Addams almost vibrated through the ground with joy. She pulled out her own Bō staff (from God only knows where) and smiled at the boy, who was also vibrating with excitement.

“The Bō is a versatile weapon! Have you thought about incorporating electricity in your staff? It works as a tazer.” She suggested, and Midoriya lit up with ideas, muttering to himself about the capabilities of such a thing.

(“Never mind, we're doomed.” Ectoplasm said, rocking back and forth in his seat.)

“Now, come and choose a weapon from the ones behind me. They're all blunt and foam tipped to start with, to die during training because of an accident is entirely uncool! You have the rest of the lesson to choose a weapon to train with this semester and explain why you chose that weapon.” Addams told them, gesturing to a table behind her that somehow no one had noticed until now, absolutely overflowing with weaponry.

The kids went feral; Shinsou went straight for a matching pair of knives, Midoriya kept his Bō after an affirmative from Addams, Yaoyorozu picked up a gun (it was a paintball gun, for now), Kirishima found some nunchucks and accidentally brained himself in the face with them (he was fine, had activated his quirk), Kaminari also chose a Bō after the explanation of it becoming a tazer, Bakugou chose a broad sword, Sero found a length of piano wire that made the teachers blanch before Nedzu explained that it was elasticated and not the real thing for now, Uraraka brandished a pair of escrima sticks with a relish that makes several people shudder, Mina finds a katana, Asui latches onto throwing knives, Todoroki finds some form of large dart that he looks at with gleaming eyes, Iida takes a set of tonfas, Hagakure also chooses piano wire like Sero, Satou picks up a sledgehammer, Ojiro takes a long dagger, Tokoyami finds matching black sets of brass knuckles for himself and Dark Shadow, Aoyama lights up at a sparkling blue Bō staff he digs out, Shoji laughs aloud when he sees a set of darts, Jirou smirks when she finds a metallic whip, and Koda whispers something as he settles on a gun like Yaoyorozu.

(“Oh, we are fucked.” Present Mic mumbles, unable to drag his eyes away.)

Addams goes to them individually and asks them about their choices, and she smiles at some of the answers, patting some kids on the head and adjusting a few choices to better fitted ones if she sees fit.

The bell rings, and the teachers let out a sigh of relief when it's finally over.

The kids gush about their new teacher and their weapon choices, and in the background, Nedzu absolutely cackles.

Well, at least they'll be better prepared for the next villain attack, Aizawa thinks hysterically.

*******

Addams gets a desk in the staff room, of course, but no one is prepared for the day a package arrives and is placed on it.

And the package is fucking moving.

It doesn't seem to deter the woman, reaching for the package and ripping it open without fear.

Midnight lets out a shriek when a literal hand falls out, tapping on the desk urgently in morse code.

-Wednesday-sent-me-here-

“What the actual fuck?” Snipe yelped, darting away from the woman who was smiling at the hand.

“Thing! Did mother and father send you to keep an eye on Wednesday?” She asked, and Thing (is that it's name?) tapped out an affirmative and pulled a note out of the box.

Addams read it and laughed, shaking her head.

“You should know better than to tease Wednesday, I'm surprised you still have all your fingers.” She told the hand, who seemed to sulk.

-But-she-found-her-one!-

Addams paused.

“My baby sister found her True Love?” She asked, and Thing jumped up and down in excitement.

“Uh, sorry to interrupt, but what is that?” Thirteen asked, and Addams turned to them and smiled.

“This is Thing! He's an Addams like me. He's a sentient hand.” She introduced them, not seeming to mind when the hand crawled up her arm and settled onto her shoulder.

“Nice to meet you, Thing.” Chorused around the room, and it replied with similar sentiments via morse code on Addams’ shoulder.

“Anyway! Tell me everything about who my sister has fallen for!”

-Her-name-is-Enid-and-she-is-a-very-colourful-werewolf-

“A werewolf? A colourful one? Oh, my little sister always would be attracted to the opposite of her.” Addams laughed before tucking Thing into her bag (which he didn't seem to mind) and tapping on the crystal ball upon her desk.

“What do you want, sister? Time zones are a thing and you're cutting into my writing hour.” Wednesday's grouchy voice echoed through the room, and Addams smiled at the sound.

“I apologise, little sister. I just thought I'd let you know that Thing arrived safe and sound. How is Viper doing? And how are you dealing with having a roommate?” She asked with a chuckle, and her sister groaned.

“Viper is at an impasse. And the roommate is…an adjustment. She's colourful and loud and likes kpop of all things.” Wednesday hissed as if the words had personally offended her.

Addams seemed to visibly by trying not to start laughing, her eyes wide with excitement.

Everyone else connected the dots - the roommate was the True Love that had been mentioned.

“How awful, but I suppose it must balance out well with your melancholy cello music.” She said finally, and Wednesday hummed.

“I suppose.”

And then the call died, and Addams spent the next few minutes giggling hysterically.

“Oh, that girl has so idea what's coming to her.” She said with a sigh, before moving to steal some of the papers on Aizawa's desk to grade for him.

******

The Sports Festival was coming up, and the kids were excited, as were most of the staff.

All Might and Vlad King had taken Class 1-A and 1-B to Ground Beta, to help them get some extra training in, and the rest of the staff were going over plans for the Festival.

Then the crystal ball rang, and Addams answered it while still discussing seating arrangements with Snipe and Ectoplasm.

“Delora, I had a vision. A building fell upon your students!” Wednesday gasped out, her whole face so pale it was almost grey.

“Fuck.” Addams swore, before she remembered that the kids were at Ground Beta. A mock city filled with buildings that could fall.

She didn't even end the call. The shadows surged to her and suddenly she was gone, leaving an open connection and a staff room full of staff staring in confusion and horror.

“Listen to me! I see the future, and my sister has gone to stabilise the building. But my vision showed her not being able to hold it up for long, so move your asses and help her! And if she's screaming, don't erase her quirk or move her. The scream will be what's keeping your students alive.” Wednesday spat at them, and the room burst into motion.

They didn't have time to question the girl, wonder how she knew such things, or wonder about the details of the scream. An alarm sounded and Nedzu pulled up the cameras to see that one of the buildings was indeed collapsing.

And holding it up as best she could?

Addams. Shadows swarming around her and holding the building as best they could, flickering in and out of existence as her body shook. She had her mouth open and her face screwed up in concentration - she was screaming.

“Let's go!” Cementoss called, dashing from the room with Midnight, Present Mic, Snipe and Ectoplasm.

“I'll call for Recovery Girl.” Nedzu said, his face grim, and Eraserhead groaned as he tried to move as fast as he could to help. The bandages did not help.

“Don't let my sister die.” Wednesday told Nedzu softly, and the rat-demom nodded.

*******

They got to the scene within minutes, and it was a fucking shit show.

Several students were injured, and Addams wasn't holding up well. Her mouth was dripping blood and her whole body was shaking with effort.

“Get the kids out!” She managed to say, somehow, through her scream.

Cementoss stabilised the building with his cement, allowing for the others to grab the students.

Shinsou and Midoriya were the worst off, broken and bleeding heavily, their faces grey and their bodies twitching.

Addams didn't stop screaming, the sound turning hoarse and wet with blood. She kept going, even when Recovery Girl got there, her quirk working wonders on the boys and getting their conditions to something more stable so they could be moved.

Shinsou had a piece of rebar through his left thigh, and Midoriya’s pelvis was crushed.

Still, even as the boys were moved and Recovery Girl was sure they'd survive, the screaming didn't stop.

It became clear that she couldn't stop now, working on instinct and pain, having crumbled to her knees with blood soaking down her clothes from her mouth, her teeth too sharp to be human.

“Hey, hey, you can let go now. You can stop.” Present Mic told her, the only one who could get close due to being deaf already from his own quirk.

“No, no.” Addams groaned, still screaming, still bloody. It was an alarming amount of blood leaving her mouth now, spilling into a puddle on the ground.

Finally, Eraserhead arrived, and when he saw that the kids were stable and Addams couldn't stop her quirk even if she tried, he activated his.

The scream faltered, stopping and starting as she fought Erasure, and then she dropped.

She was a mess, dirt and blood streaking across her whole body, her chest rattling with damp breaths.

“You saved them. You did it.” Mic told her, scooping her into his arms and starting to walk away, aware of several of the kids following him, asking if their teacher would be alright.

Monoma brushed a hand against Recovery Girl as she passed him before darting up to plant a kiss on his teachers’ hand.

“She saved us. Now I'm going to help her.” He said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck with his unbroken hand, and Mic smiled at him.

“Good job, little listener.” He told the boy, who flushed red and walked away to where Kendo was waiting for him.

Immediately, her breathing seemed to get easier and her eyes fluttered open.

“Kids…okay?” She asked in English, too tired and hurt to even think about speaking in Japanese.

Thankfully, Present Mic was the English teacher, and he reassured her that they would all be alright.

“They're fine, because of you.” He told her, and she sighed and leant against him.

“Good.”

And then she fainted.

Chapter Text

Addams doesn't protest much about being kept in the infirmary for the rest of the day, even though it's clear that the only reason she stays is so she can personally keep an eye on Shinsou and Midoriya - eyes hawk-like every time she looks up from the reports she's reading.

And then she reads the USJ report and rage like nothing she's ever felt before fills her whole body.

Villains had attacked her students. Her students that she swore an oath to protect. She reads about how Shigaraki almost got his hands on Asui, how only Eraserhead had managed to stop it with his quirk while having his face beaten in.

That was another thing that angered her. Aizawa was kind. He was a good teacher. He cares about the students.

Shigaraki and his so-called Nomu had put their hands on him. Had disintegrated some of his elbow, had caused his whole body to be bandaged and damaged.

“I'm going to fucking kill them. Slowly, painfully.” She hissed, startling Aizawa and Present Mic from their own quiet conversation.

They'd offered to stay by her - Mic being able to handle her quirked screams and Aizawa being able to erase it entirely if needed.

“Uh, who?” Mic asked, and he almost recoiled at the absolutely venomous look on her face.

“The League. They hurt our students. They hurt Aizawa. They violated UA and they hurt you, and so I'm going to slaughter them like the little rats that they are.” She swore, and both men took a second to process that.

It was sweet, in a way. How protective she was.

“I will be fine. The students are managing. Take a few deep breaths.” Aizawa told her, and it did not help at all.

“They are fifteen! They should not need to manage this kind of trauma now.” Addams shrieked, a tiny bit of her quirk entering her voice, then dying in her throat when red eyes shone at her.

“RG said not to use your quirk!” Present Mic fussed, and Addams growled deep in her throat before giving in, relaxing on the bed with a scowl.

“As for the slaughtering, maybe wait until we have to fight them again. To, you know, keep from being arrested.” Aizawa said, entirely aware that the League would try to get their students again, and a very unsettling grin came on Addams' face.

“I suppose you're right. I very much look forward to hunting them down.” she said, and Mic shuddered.

A problem for another day.

“What's your quirk, anyway?” He asked, and Addams gave him a grin, thankfully a less violent one this time.

“It's called Banshee. Very much like the myths. I can control shadows, even travel through them like I did earlier, though that's exhausting to do. I also have a screech that can keep someone alive for as long as I keep screaming. I can sense when people I care for are in mortal danger, too. The screech can be weaponized, turning to a higher pitch to burst ear drums. The screech has its drawbacks though, such as tearing my throat apart and making me bleed. If it goes on for long enough, it starts to rip at my lungs and diaphragm.” She explained, seemingly pleased with her quirk.

A muffled squeak from across the room alerted them to Midoriya, who was awake and almost vibrating with excitement.

“That's such a cool quirk! Can the screech shatter glass, or bones? Or do you only have two frequencies? How does the screech keep people alive?” He asked, before grimacing, and Addams gave him a grin.

She got up and fussed over him for a moment, ruffling his hair and tucking him back into the blankets.

“From how I understand it, the screech keeps people alive by activating the adrenaline reaction, forcing their heart to keep beating and their bodies to keep working until I let go. I've never tried to break bones with it, but that's such an interesting idea! I never thought of such a thing, you're an Addams in the making, kid.” She told him, and he went beat red with happiness and told her he would write her a page in his notebook about suggestions of things to try.

Addams muttered something just slightly too quiet to hear, but she was smiling so everyone decided to leave it be.

Nedzu entered the room, holding a crystal ball, glaring at his sister when he saw her out of bed, and she rolled her eyes at him before going back to it, sliding under the covers with a huff.

“You know I'm fine, you tiny demon. You're just using the infirmary to punish me.” She grumbled, and Nedzu gave a little laugh and nodded.

“I am! Also, Wednesday is worried about you.” He said, handing her the ball and letting Delora (and consequently Present Mic and Aizawa) see the emotionless face of Wednesday Addams.

“I was not worried, rat-demon.” Wednesday drawled, but the twitch in her eyebrow shows that she was.

Before Delora could call her out on it, however, a bright and chirpy voice entered the call.

“You so were! Not that I'd blame you, I'd worry if one of my brothers was almost killed by a building! Not sure they'd worry about me, but it doesn't matter.” A colourful girl who could only be Enid entered the frame, despite Wednesday’s muttered threats of disembowelment.

Ha! As if she could, Wednesday couldn't cause her harm because of The Addams Family Curse and she knew it.

Wait a second.

Her brothers wouldn't worry if she was hurt by a building?

“What? Why wouldn't they worry?” Delora asked, her tone flat, though Enid didn't notice.

“Oh, my family don't like me much since I haven't managed to wolf out like them.” She said, as if that was normal, as if that was okay.

That thing inside Delora, that Addams blood and instinct, swirled in her chest with rage.

“Do you want me to kill them? Because I can kill them and adopt you. It would be so easy.” She offered, and Enid giggled and shook her head. Apparently she'd already become desensitized to Addams-brand violence and kindness.

Present Mic and Aizawa, however, were not used it. They exchanged a glance and then looked at Nedzu, who waved off their concerns about their murder-happy colleague.

“No thanks! Wednesday and your mother already offered.” Enid told her, and Delora smiled. This girl was infectiously happy, and Delora was looking forward to having her as a sister-in-law.

“If they ever hurt you, let Wednesday or my mother know. We will keep you safe, Enid.” Delora promised, feeling the oath bind to her bones, and Enid smiled.

“I know. I appreciate it, thank you. Now, I'm gonna go so you can catch up with Wednesday! It was nice to meet you! She talks about you a lot.” Enid said, darting out of the way as a knife flew past her with a laugh, and leaving the view.

“I do not talk about you often.” Wednesday says, and Delora smiles at her.

“It's alright, Wednesday. I know you have a heart of stone, you do take after Mother, after all.” She teased, and Wednesday hissed like a pissed off cat.

“I am not like Mother!” She said, and Delora rolled her eyes.

“Of course you're not. You only look like her, act like her, have the same quirk as her, and have her talent for botany.” She said, and Wednesday growled something under her breath.

Delora softened.

“I'm only joking, little sister. I know you're not like Mother. If anything, you're like me.” She said, and Wednesday huffed.

“I suppose that's acceptable.” She muttered, and Delora had to physically stop herself from cooing aloud at the slight pink tinge to her sister's cheeks.

Enid, however, seemed to have no self-preservation instinct and gave an “aww!” from across the room.

“I shall have to say goodbye, sister. I have to slaughter a wolf.” Wednesday said before she cut the call and presumably went to fight with Enid.

“Your family is…interesting.” Mic said after a moment, leading to Nedzu and Addams cracking up with laughter.

“Oh, that's an understatement.” Nedzu chuckles, and doesn't hesitate to curl into his sister's side like the cutest stuffed animal when Addams pats the bed next to her.

It would be cute, if they weren't a rat-demon and a murder-happy hero.

****

She entered 1-A’s homeroom the next day to see a card awaiting her, and she almost wept when she saw that everyone in Class 1-A and Class 1-B had signed it. Even Bakugou, though his signature was a little drawing of an explosion.

“I love it, thank you all!” She told them with a grin, happy to see that Midoriya and Shinsou were back in their seats and mostly recovered.

“You were so manly, Addams-sensei! You held that building up all by yourself.” Kirishima said, and Addams grinned.

“I wasn't about to let any of you die. You'll get to graduation if it kills me.” She told them, and the students got the strangest sense that she wasn't being dramatic.

They would graduate from UA, even if they had to use her corpse as a stepping stone.

“It just might.” Aizawa drawled, slightly less bandaged now he was healing better, and Addams laughed.

“What a way to die.” She smiled, and suddenly Dark Shadow appeared and was dragging an alarmed Tokoyami across the room to her.

“Oh! A sentient shadow! How wonderful, may I let him?” She asked Tokoyami, who sighed and would definitely be blushing if he wasn't covered in feathers.

“I suppose so. What a mad banquet of darkness.” He told her, and soon the room was filled with Dark Shadow’s purring as she was petted.

“Go back to your seat now, little shadow raven.” She told them, and Tokoyami did so even while Dark Shadow whined at him.

“Today you'll be picking your hero names, I'm no good at this so Midnight and Addams-sensei will be leading this lecture.” Aizawa said before crawling into his sleeping bag for a nap.

The lesson went well, especially with Addams giving out suggestions to each kid with a smile.

Until she saw Midoriya’s.

“No.” She told him, and he blinked at her.

“Uh, why?”

Addams stared at him before she let out a huff.

“I am not going to let you call yourself Useless. That's not going to happen. It'll be awful for your self-esteem and it's simply untrue. Pick something else, kid.” She said softly, running a hand through his hair idly, and Midoriya frowned.

“But it means something else to me now.” He protested, but Addams didn't care.

“No. Also, the name Deku isn't going to bring fear to your enemies or relief to victims. Imagine if someone tried to save you and told you their name was useless.” She told him, and he sighed and nodded.

It was clear he didn't really like it anyway from the slump of his shoulders, and then Bakugou used the name with a huff.

Immediately, Addams was at his desk and glaring.

“Do not, ever, call your classmates anything like that. It's cruel and frankly, beneath you as a hero student. If you're going to insult someone, at least have the decency to do it properly. Got it?” She spat at him, unaware of how Aizawa was smiling into his sleeping bag behind her.

Bakugou, for the first time in his life, was told off, and in a way he understood. He gave a single nod and a thoughtful glance at Midoriya, before focussing on his own board.

“Addams-sensei, what's your hero name?” Uraraka asked, and Addams smiled at the girl.

“I am the Shadow Hero - Umbra.” She told them, and it inspired a few of the kids to change their names.

Midoriya, however, still looked stumped. He was meant to be a spotlight hero like All Might, but he is aware that Underground would suit him better. He needed a name that would work for both.

“How about Vibrant? It's a shade of green, like you, but also a very versatile name.” Addams said to him quietly, and Midoriya thought it over.

Vibrant, yeah, he liked that.

He grinned and wrote it down after erasing Deku, and Addams smiled at him.

Shinsou was next, and Addams almost fell about cackling when she saw it.

With glee, because this kid’s name was perfect.

“Hijack? That's an awesome name kid. Love it.” She told him, and resisted poking his cheek when he turned faintly pink at the praise.

The lesson ended with the kids happy about their names, chattering and smiling.

Except for Iida, who Addams resolved to keep an eye on. His shadow twitched, not enough for anyone to notice that Addams was using her quirk unless they were looking for it.

A sample of his shadow attached to her own, and Addams knew that she'd be able to trace him if needed.

She had this feeling in her gut that the kid was going to get himself into trouble.

*****

The Sports Festival came and went with no major incidents (other than Midoriya and Todoroki trying to murder each other on live television and Midoriya shattered both of his arms), and Delora had gained a new person on her personal shit list.

Enji Todoroki.

Her shadows had heard Shouto’s entire tragic backstory (she got that feeling again when she passed both Todoroki and Midoriya, the same as she got from Iida, and had taken a bit of their shadows to monitor too) and she'd seen the way the man reacted to his child using his fire side.

It did not sit well with her. At all.

So now he was on her shit list, and she'd grinned to her brother when she submitted the paperwork to offer Todoroki an internship with her.

It was up to him if he took it, and she wouldn't begrudge him if he chose to go with his father. After all, he was new to using his fire and Enji Todoroki was shit at almost all things, but he was good at using flames.

As his property damage reports would show.

(Yes, she was gathering blackmail on him, sue her. She didn't like people who hurt kids, especially not when they're her kids, her students.)

****

Imagine her surprise when he chose her, and she realised that she actually had to make a plan to help this kid.

Good thing she'd already gotten an underground patrol route from Nedzu, huh?

Chapter Text

To say that Endeavour was unhappy would be the understatement of the century.

He was absolutely fuming, though that seemed to be his default state.

“I demand that you take back your internship offer, and that my son interns with me!” He rages in Nedzu’s office, where the rat-demon and Addams were having tea and playing chess, and Aizawa was watching them with something they couldn't name, masked as boredom.

“Demand? You have no right to be making demands, Enji.” Addams laughed, her voice shrill and unkind, the low light of the room making the shadows seem to grow.

(Enji’s imagination, he's sure. He ignores that screaming instinct in his gut saying that he should get the fuck out of dodge right now. Do not pass Go, do not collect £200.)

“He is my son, only I-” he is cut off by Addams suddenly being so close to him that their noses brush against each other, and fuck, those shadows hadn't been his imagination.

“Your son? More like your little child soldier. It wasn't hard to find all those medical reports for Shouto, you know. All of the ones where he was coated in burns and bruises, where he got amnesia from concussions you refused to treat. I wonder what I'll find if I actually try, hm?” She grinned, and he swore that her teeth turned sharp and needle-like.

“Are you threatening me?”

“Yes. Was I being too subtle? You will let Todoroki intern with me, for which he will be spending the ENTIRE week with me, without you there. Once he returns home, I will be checking in on him once a week at minimum with absolutely no warning or schedule, and if I see a single thing I don't like, I'll dig so deep that you'll end up in Tartarus prison like the little rat you are, got it?” she told him, and he blanched.

He hadn't done anything Tartarus-worthy, he doesn't think. He doesn't think that matters much to the woman in front of him.

“Understood.” He grit out, and she blinked with a smile and moved back to her chess game.

“And Enji? Remember that the shadows are mine. Including yours.” She told him sweetly, and he left the office to the sound of tea cups clinking against saucers, and a newfound fear of his own shadow.

****

“Who did you choose to intern with, Todoroki?” She hears Midoriya ask, and hears her own name mumbled shyly.

“Oh, I think that would be good for you, actually. Addams-sensei is unusual, and a little crazy, but I think she'll really bring something special out of you.” Uraraka says, and they walk away, leaving Addams smiling.

****

The first day of internships is a little nerve-wracking for both Todoroki and Addams, neither of them used to being alone together.

“Come on, kid. We'll be staying at my house.” Addams told him, leading him through the streets away from UA.

They stopped next to, of course, a black and grey painted house that could only be hers, and they entered it without much fanfare.

Todoroki placed his bags on the bed in one of the guest rooms and met Addams in the kitchen.

“Okay, ground rules for the week.” She started, then paused when she saw the boy hunch in on himself.

Yeah, she was definitely going to slaughter Enji Todoroki. Violently. With a rusty spoon.

“Rule one, if you're hurt, you come to me. None of that Midoriya-esque ‘I’ll be fine!’ attitude. You come to me and I'll help, or take you to Recovery Girl.” She told him, and he blinked up at her dumbly for a second.

Then he nodded, frowning a little.

“Rule two, if you're hungry, you get something to eat. I don't care if we've already eaten, I don't care if it's 3 in the morning. You're a growing boy and you need food. If nothing we have in is tickling your fancy, you can order food to the house, as long as you get me a milkshake. There's a bank card on the microwave just for that.”

Todoroki was outright staring at her now, not understanding what the fuck was going on.

“Rule three, if you need me, come and get me. If you had a nightmare, got a splinter, need to talk, want to play Scrabble? I don't care, if you want me, come and get me.”

“What.” Todoroki manages to get out, and Addams gives him a sad smile.

“I want you happy, and safe, Shouto. You're a teenager, you deserve to go a little feral for a week, as a treat.” She told him, and Todoroki think he might start crying.

He doesn't, just about.

“Thank you, I will follow the rules.” He told her, and she grinned.

“Let go, kid. Aren't you tired of being nice? Don't you just want to go ape shit?” She said, laughing to herself as she quoted an old meme.

Shouto thought it over.

He was tired of being nice. He did want to go ape shit.

“What's vine?” He asked her, and she gasped and dragged him over to the TV.

“I have so much to teach you, young padawan.” She told him, and he gave her a confused glance.

“What does that mean?” He asked, and she groaned.

“Oh, I'm going to need much longer than a week to educate you.” She said, and then she queued up YouTube, starting a video called ‘Vines that SLAP my POTATOES’.

It had begun. This was the turning point.

Todoroki Shouto would never be the same again, and he was glad for it.

****

The first day was spent watching vines and Star Wars: A New Hope. He absolutely loved it, and asked to watch the next one the next day. Addams also introduced him to Dance Dance Revolution, and showed him how he could incorporate the moves into his fighting style.

The next day, they watched more Star Wars and sparred, Todoroki trying out his new moves with a smile that still didn't feel quite natural, but was getting there.

Shouto realised, belatedly, that he'd never had this much fun in his entire life.

They went on patrol, and he helped apprehend a few muggers, and stopped a man from attacking a woman in a dark alley. It felt good, he realised, to save people.

His father did hero work for popularity, but Umbra was an underground hero. She did this to help people, and did not expect thanks or fame for it.

Shouto took to Underground Heroics like a duck to water, and his entire life plan went sideways.

He wants to be a hero. An Underground Hero to be specific. Just like Umbra.

****

The next days followed in a similar fashion - pop culture education, sparring, dancing, and patrols.

On the fourth day of his internship, Addams woke him up with a smile and told him they were going to the mall.

He'd never been to one before, and he stared at the sheer amount of Hero Merch that was available.

“Pick out anything you want, kid. I'll pay, we'll call it a souvenir from your internship.” Addams told him kindly, and Shouto asked if she was sure.

“Kid, I'm an Addams. My family has so much money that we could buy Japan if we really wanted to, despite my father trying to deplete the family bank account. Go ape shit, remember?” She told him, and he grinned before dragging her into the nearest Hero Merch store and finding the most obnoxiously yellow Present Mic hoodie ever made.

It was garish, it clashed with his hair, and it made him look like he was half traffic cone.

Shouto loved it.

“Oh, that's hideous! I love it, let's get me one! Mic might die if I turn up to the next staff meeting in it.” Addams cackled, tossing them both into the basket she'd grabbed before directing Shouto to the rest of the store.

He was like a kid in a candy store. He got some Mirko joggers, a Midnight crop top, about six pairs of Mt. Lady skinny jeans, Gang Orca socks, a Bronze Age All Might hoodie for Midoriya, and at least four pairs of Edgeshot gloves.

Then he saw the plushie section, and frowned.

“My father will not let me keep the soft animals, he says they are for children.” He said softly, and Addams had to reign in her temper before she destroyed the store.

“Then keep them at my house. I'll give you a key, I was planning to anyway. It means you'll always have somewhere to go, if you need it.” She told him, and he blinked rapidly, trying not to cry.

“Can I hug you?” He asked shyly, and Addams chuckled, opening her arms.

“Always, kid. You're my kid now.” She told him, and there was an undercurrent to her tone that made him think that she wasn't being metaphorical.

He couldn't bring himself to care, diving into her arms and basking in the first hug he'd gotten from anyone but Fuyumi in over a decade.

Addams pulled back, and gestured to plushies.

“Go on. Grab what you want.”

Shouto did, grabbing one of literally every hero available except his father.

By then, they were done, and the bill would be eye-watering if Addams wasn't richer than she knew what to do with.

The staff at the store had someone who could shrink items down and reduce their weight for seven hours, and Addams paid extra for that, along with leaving a very generous tip that got them a handful of keychains on the house from the gobsmacked cashier.

****

The fifth day dawned, and that churning in her gut got worse.

Whatever stupid thing Iida was going to do would happen today, her shadows chattering at her with urgency.

“Kid, we're going on a field trip to Hosu.” She told Shouto, who blinked at her before nodding. She tossed him an overnight bag, and he stuffed it full of his new clothes and his hero uniform, along with the obnoxiously bright All Might plushie he'd latched onto.

“Any reason why?” He asked her, and it showed how far he'd come that he was actually asking her questions, rather than silently trying to work it out.

“Part of my quirk is sensing when danger is coming. I took a sample of Iida’s shadow when he started acting off, after his brother's attack. Then he went to Hosu to intern with Manual, and my senses went through the roof. It reached a fever pitch today. Something will happen with Iida today, and like Hell am I not going to Hosu to help him.” She told him, and he nodded.

“I also worried about Iida. I'm glad we have you, to worry about us.” He said softly, and Addams knelt in front of him for a moment.

“I need you to understand something, Shouto. I am an Addams, and that means a lot of things, but first and foremost it means that I was given children to protect, and I will do it with everything I have. Addams are sometimes born, sometimes made - we adopt people, take them under our wings, and we never, ever let children come to harm. Nedzu knew exactly what he was doing when he called me and asked me to teach - he needed a teacher who would not hesitate to protect you, would not stop to think about things like morals or laws. Not that your other teachers would hesitate, but he needed someone who would not feel guilty. I will kill for you, Shouto, I will kill for you and your class and I would feel nothing but joy about it. Because you're my children now.” She told him, her eyes on his, intense and dark.

And Shouto?
Shouto smiled.

“I would kill for you too, Sensei.” He told her, and she threw her head back and laughed.

“You won't need to.” She told him, before kissing his forehead and leading him out of the front door.

The screeching of her shadows for louder the closer they got to Hosu, and when the train was stopped by a Nomu?

The shadow-screams clawed at her until she was bloody.

Chapter Text

-Three days earlier-

Nedzu's phone was ringing. This, in and of itself, was not unusual.

However, it was not his office phone that was ringing. It was his personal one.

Only six people have that number, and two of them are in the room with him.

“Are you going to answer that?” Aizawa sighs, and Nedzu hums. The number is unknown, as he weighs the pros and cons of letting it go to voicemail.

He answers and puts it on speaker, and does not speak.

“Honestly, you paranoid little rat-demon.” Wednesday's voice filters through the phone, and Nedzu raises an eyebrow.

“I didn't know you owned a mobile phone, Wednesday.” He says, and the girl huffs on the other end of the call.

“I don't, I'm using Enid's godawful device because you weren't answering your crystal ball.” She tells him, and he blinks before shrugging.

“I apologize. Now, what do you need?” He asks, and Wednesday goes quiet for a moment too long.

Nedzu’s cheerful demeanor drops, and he turns his full attention to the call.

“We are soon to be one cousin less, brother. And you might want to update the staff emergency contact on your student's files.” Wednesday tells him, and Nedzu hums again, considering.

“Might I ask why?” He wonders, and he pretends not to notice Present Mic and Aizawa signing to each other, wondering what the fuck was going on.

“Not while I'm on speaker.” Wednesday tells him, and the rat-demon rolls his eyes as best he can with animal features not meant for human expressions. He turns the call from speaker and holds it up to one of his ears, and his eyebrows go higher and higher as Wednesday tells him what she saw.

“And you're sure that this is certain?” He asks, and Wednesday scoffs.

“I am completely sure, I wouldn't have borrowed Enid's godforsaken pink cellular device and rang you over a possibility.” She tells him, and he nods.

“Understood, I'll get on that right away.” Nedzu says, and he bites out a chuckle as the line clicks dead.

“Anything for us to be concerned about, Nedzu?” Aizawa asks, and Nedzu gets that look in his eye.

“Oh, always! But I believe my sister has it covered. Now, I must cut this meeting short, I have a funeral to plan! It's always a shame when a cousin dies, but I suppose Stain always was a lost cause.” Nedzu trails away, still mumbling, while his staff gape at him.

“Did he say Stain was his cousin? Did he actually just say funeral? Is Addams going to murder Stain?” Present Mic whispered, and Aizawa gave him a serene smile.

“I've decided the best way to cope with things is to pretend they're not happening until it's definitely my problem.” He tells his husband, who blinks at him and shrugs.

Better than whatever plan he could come up with, and Nedzu was right. No one would miss Stain.

****

-Current Time, Hosu-

“Midoriya is here already, I can feel it. I think he's wherever Iida is.” Addams concentrated, sourcing her students via the link with their shadows.

Todoroki’s phone pinged, and he showed a map pin from Midoriya.

“Well, that's easier than trying to sort through every shadow in a city at night. Let's go!” Addams swept Shouto into her arms and pulled them both through the shadows to the map location.

Shouto dry-heaved for a second, shadow travel was incredibly disorientating, but he soon forgot about it when he saw Iida’s bloody body on the ground, Native’s prone form against a wall, and Midoriya facing off with a serial killer.

“Cousin!” Addams cried out, and Stain paused from where he was about to pounce on Midoriya.

“Delora? What are you doing here?” He asked, and Delora grinned, her teeth sharp and more like a sea urchin's spines.

The shadows writhed, and Stain looked nervous for the first time.

“You hurt one of my students.” She took one step closer to him, and he froze.

“You hurt one of my kids.” She took another step, and he lunged out of the way as soon as she leapt for him.

“Midoriya! Addams-sensei! Please leave!” Iida cried out, and Delora rolled her eyes.

Teenagers, always so stubborn.

“Shut up and let Addams-sensei help you, you fucking idiot.” Shouto told his friend, checking his wounds and then heading to do the same for Native.

Thank God someone said it, because Delora was a little too occupied to do it herself, weaving in and out of attacks from her cousin and watching his eyes widen as he tried his best to stay in the low light, and not enter the shadows.

A knife flew from nowhere and pierced his arm, and Shouto yelled out in pain.

And oh, wasn't that the worst thing Stain could have done? Because now, Shouto was bleeding and Delora had only been holding onto her temper by a thread.

Maybe Stain’s plan was to harm her student, distract her? We'll never know, because that was when Delora completely lost it.

“You hurt my fucking kids! You are a fucking failure of an Addams!” She screeched, her quirk shattering the windows above them, before the shadows exploded into a writhing mass, swarming Stain, digging into his eyes, his skin, piercing flesh while the man screamed and howled.

“Sensei!” Midoriya cried, and Delora looked at him. His eyes were bright with determination, and he made a gesture. His hands spread wide, and then pushed them down to the floor.

Delora grinned, flinging the Hero Killer up into the air and then slamming him back down into concrete.

By now, Native and Iida could move, though Native was supported by Shouto, who had bound his wounds as best he could.

“Who is that?” Native asked, and Shouto smiled.

“That's Umbra, one of our teachers.” He said, watching without a wince as his teacher lost her shit and broke Stain's body in every way she knew how.

“I think he's dead, Sensei!” Midoriya chirped, and Delora blinked.

“So he is. Shame.” She said, dropping his unrecognisable corpse to the alleyway ground, watching blood bounce from his rapidly cooling body.

Then she turned to Iida, and the boy gulped.

“Of all the stupid things to do! Do you think your brother would want you to get yourself killed for his revenge? I don't think he would. I understand that you're hurting, and angry, but trying to murder a serial killer much more experienced than you is not the answer. Now, you're going to come with me and I'm going to get you all to Recovery Girl, and you're going to take whatever punishment Aizawa dreams up for you without complaining. Then, you're going to apologise to your friends for the things you said.” She told the boy, who deflated in front of her, and then he started to cry.

Delora sighed, and brought him into a hug.

“It'll be alright. And trust me when I say that Tensei’s condition won't be permanent.” She told him as he shook, and he blinked down at her.

“But the doctors said-”

“Eh, the doctors have nothing on my Grandmama. She's already on her way to Japan to help your brother, after I asked nicely and promised to be her guinea pig for her latest concoction.” She promised, and Iida started sobbing again.

“Thank you so much, and I'm so sorry! I'm sorry, Sensei. And I'm sorry to you too, Midoriya, I was awful to you.” He managed to get out, and Midoriya smiled.

“That's okay. We're all stubborn idiots sometimes, but that's why we have friends. To help us out of the messes our stubbornness creates.” He said easily, with his sunny smile, and Iida gave a wet chuckle.

“I will be better. A better hero. A better friend.” He promised, and Delora sniffled.

Everyone turns to see her wipe a tear from her eye, and she gives them a glare.

“I'm very proud of you, don't call me out on my emotions.” She said, and it brought smiles to the assembled heroes' faces.

They tied Stain up (no need to, but it was very cathartic for Iida), and started to walk towards the main streets.

“Iida, oh thank god, you're alright!” Manual sped over, checking the boy over before blanching when he noticed their tied up villain.

“Is that Stain?!” He cried, and gained the attention of some detectives.

“He's fucking dead.” One of them called, and everyone turned to look at the kids.

“What happened?” They asked, and Addams stepped forward to tell the biggest white lie of history.

“Iida heard a fight and went to go and warn whoever it was about the nomus. He saw Native get attacked by Stain, and then was attacked himself. Midoriya found him and tried to help them, but was no match for the Hero Killer. He sent his location, a very smart move, to Todoroki because he knew he would be here for his internship with me. I got to the scene and tried to keep the killer away from the kids, but Stain got a knife in Todoroki anyway. My quirk allows me to control shadows, and while Stain was trying to avoid it, he fell and hit the concrete hard. We checked for his pulse and I tried to revive him with my banshee scream, but he was too far gone.” She told the officers, who were taking notes and then ushered them into an ambulance.

Addams was too drained to shadow travel them all back to UA, so she agreed to the local hospital. She refused, however, to leave her students, letting them grip her hand while they got stitches and tetanus shots.

The chief of police came in and started to talk about disciplinary action for the students.

A mistake.

“I gave them permission to fight.” Addams told him, staring blankly at him.

“You only had Todoroki as an intern. Therefore Iida and Midoriya were in violation-”

“Nope! I'm their emergency staff contact, and before their internships, I gave them permission to fight if needed to. Under section 7a, paragraph 12, of that paper you're clinging to, it states that permission given by an emergency contact supersedes any orders given by a temporary mentor. So the kids did absolutely nothing wrong, and you aren't going to take their hard work and make it seem like your police force did it. And if you try, I'll have UA sue your department for every single penny you have. Understood?” She told him, and he swallowed hard.

Not many can stand in the face of Delora Addams and win.

He is not one of the few that could. He left immediately with a rushed apology.

Soon, it was time to return to UA, and Delora didn't give Manual or Gran Torino much of a choice on that either.

Gran Torino, however, seemed absolutely delighted by her general attitude, and didn't put up much of a fight.

Manual, not an idiot but also well aware of when to let shit lie, hugged Iida and wished him a good recovery.

“Take my hands, Shouto, Midoriya. Iida, take one of their hands each. This will be uncomfortable, but it's the fastest way to get to UA.” Delora warned before she sank them all into shadow and spat them out in UA’s infirmary.

The kids gagged and heaved, and Delora swayed a little.

“I fucking hate long distance shadow travel, it makes the world spin too fast.” She groaned.

“What the fuck did you do?” Nedzu appeared, and Delora got the sense that she might be in trouble.

“Shit.”

Chapter Text

Nedzu was giving his most stern glare, not one often directed at his sister's, and Delora froze like a deer in the headlights.

“Uh, I killed Stain. The Hero Killer. Our cousin. Though the police think he fell.” She answered slowly, somehow knowing that that wasn't the correct answer.

“Oh, I'm not bothered about that. However, what you did do was leave me to call Mother and Father about it!” Nedzu hissed, and Delora bit her lip to keep from laughing.

“Got a lecture on the importance of calling family even when it's not to report a death?” She asked.

“Yes.”

“Then got lectured about how you didn't tell them I'd ended up in the infirmary?”

“Yes.”

“And then had to hear Mother and Father being disgustingly in love while Father calmed Mother down from ideas of stringing you up by your capillaries?”

“Oddly specific, but also yes.”

Delora should not laugh.

She really shouldn't. Then she caught a glimpse of Iida, Midoriya, Todoroki, Recovery Girl, Aizawa, and Mic all watching the argument, their heads swinging back and forth between them like they were watching a riveting tennis match.

Ah, fuck it, she was giggling. Nedzu growled with all his teeth, and she growled back.

“I mean, most of that could have been avoided if you'd call our parents.” She told her brother, who huffed and crossed his arms.

It didn't help his case, he looked absolutely adorable when he sulked.

“What the fuck is happening?” Mic asked quietly, quickly shushed by the others who were invested in this.

It's not often they saw someone argue with Nedzu, even rarer that they'd seen someone winning.

“I hate you.” Nedzu grumbled, and Delora pouted at him.

“You absolutely don't. I'm your favourite sibling.” She said, and Nedzu sighed.

“Fine. I forgive you.” He said, scrunching his nose up.

“Didn't ask for forgiveness, but thanks anyway. You know they'd love to hear from you more often, Oniichan.” Delora smiled as she picked him up like a teddy bear, and he didn't even fight when she pressed a kiss to his furry head.

“If any of you say a word about this to anyone, I will make your lives Hell.” He told the assembled students and heroes, who all gulped and nodded.

Nedzu was not someone to cross. Unless you were his sister, apparently.

“And…I will try to call our parents more often.” Nedzu mumbled, and Delora smiled at him before setting him down.

“Thanks for updating the emergency contact thing, by the way.” She told him, a verbal peace offering.

“Wednesday called me. With a mobile. Enid's, apparently pink, mobile. Of course I did.” Nedzu said, and Delora gaped.

“We owe that girl a gift basket. Do you think she'd prefer poisons or grenades?” She asked, and Nedzu hummed.

“Both? Both.” They said together, like the creepiest and most mismatched twins in existence.

Absolutely no one in the room liked hearing them speak together like that, shuddering.

“Out! Out! I need to check on the students. Aizawa, Mic, go and make sure Addams is alright. Don't give me that look, the kids already said that you refused to let a doctor look at you, and they're both first aiders.” Recovery Girl took her chance to usher them all from the room.

Nedzu, sensing weakness, leapt on the idea.

“Yes! My sister needs to be checked over for injuries and quirk exhaustion. I trust you both can handle this while I go and finish arranging Stain's funeral!” He chirped before darting away, Delora shouting after him and calling him every name under the sun.

“C’mon. Boss’ orders.” Mic laughed, tugging Delora into his office, and she scowled at him and an amused Aizawa.

“I'm fine. Nothing major, just a few scrapes.”

Just a few scrapes happened to be two small stab wounds that she hadn't even noticed from her fight with Stain, they found out after they bullied her into removing her hero costume, leaving her in a sports bra and shorts in front of them, her cheeks red and her pride aching.

“Hiding these things is illogical.” Aizawa told her, and she groaned and looked towards the sky.

“Someone kill me now, I can't be arsed with this.” She whined, then hisses when Mic poured iodine solution into one of the stab wounds.

“Totally fine, huh?” Mic teases, and she reaches over to yank on a bit of his hair.

His outraged squeak and his messed up hair is almost enough to make her forget her embarrassment.

“I hate you both.” She grumbled when they were finally satisfied that she wasn't going to bleed out, her cheeks fiery red and her eyes refusing to meet their faces.

“No, you really don't.” Aizawa told her, and she swore loudly.

No, she really fucking didn't.

That was the problem.

Being around them made her blush and her stomach erupt with moths (most people called it butterflies, but she is an Addams and she prefers moths anyway), and oh, fuck, please no.

Oh fucking no.

“...I gotta go call my Mother, I'll talk to you later, bye!” She rushed out of the room, leaving two confused men behind, finding her way to an empty classroom and pulling out her phone.

“Mother, how do you know if you're in love?”

****

Monday came with Nedzu darting into Class 1-A’s homeroom like the devil himself was chasing him.

“Delora, code slate grey.” He said, and Delora toppled off Aizawa's desk.

This, for many reasons, scared the living daylight out of the students and Aizawa.

One, no one had ever seen Nedzu run before.

Two, no one had ever heard of a code slate grey.

Three, Delora had fallen. They'd seen this woman trip and catch herself with her own shadow. The fact that she actually hit the floor? They were fucking terrified.

“Please, let that be a joke.” She wheezed from the floor before standing up.

“It absolutely isn't a joke.” Nedzu told her, and she groaned before smacking her head against the wall.

“You know how you said this class might kill me? Can they do it, please? Preferably now.” She asked aloud, and the students did not move.

Traitors, she thought.

“What's code slate grey?” Ashido asked, and Delora spared her an anguished glance.

“The end of the fucking world, kid.”

****

They were being a bit dramatic, truth be told.

Morticia and Gomez Addams were holding a ball in Japan.

And they'd invited all of UA, along with every single pro-hero and vigilante, plus wealthy members of society and the extended Addams Family.

“Uh, Nedzu? This says attendance is mandatory. We've never even met these people.” Midnight says at the staff meeting, and Nedzu groans into his paperwork.

“You will soon. Our mother doesn't take no for an answer. You'll be there, either willingly or kidnapped. Best to just pick out a suit.” He told the woman, who twitched in an effort not to run away then and there.

What the fuck?

“At least it'll be a good networking opportunity for the students?” Delora tried to bring a positive into the situation, but even she looked like she wanted to die.

“How worried should we be?” Vlad King asked, and the two Addams’ gave him twin exhausted looks.

“Less than a villain attack, more than heart surgery.” Delora decided, and with that note, she left to go and raid Mic’s desk for the nice bottle of whisky he kept there.

He didn't even protest.

****

“So we all have to go to a Ball?” Kaminari asked, and Aizawa groaned.

He did not want to go.

But he knew he definitely would be.

“I'm not sure my parents can afford to buy me a dress for it.” Uraraka said in a very small voice, soon echoed by a few other students.

Immediately, a black credit card slipped onto her desk.

“Go nuts, kids. It's the least I can do.” Delora told them, and they gave her grins.

The thought of shopping overshadowed the impending doom, apparently.

“Is it too late to run?” Tokoyami asked, and Delora gave him a weary sigh.

“If it wasn't, I'd be gone already.”

And on that cheerful note, class ended for the day.

Chapter Text

The next few days was a whirlwind of dress shopping, anxiety, and staff meetings.

Plus at least thirteen people asking what to get Delora and Nedzu’s parents as a gift. Weirdly, their suggestions of a new guillotine, a deadly nightshade plant, and their blood in a bottle made them all flinch and run away.

Odd.

Which brings us to the day before the Ball, where Delora enters the staff room looking like a zombie and approaching her rat-demon brother.

“How many of the giant robots have you got?” She asked him, and he gave her an appraising look.

“Thirty-six. Not sleeping?” He asked, and she gave an exhausted nod.

“Anxiety and insomnia is a bitch.” She told him, and he nodded sagely.

“I'll put twelve of them in Ground Beta for you to fight. Armageddon mode?”

“That would be appreciated. Hell, maybe have the Hero classes observe from the viewpoint. It'll teach them some stuff, if nothing else.” She nodded, and Nedzu brushed a comforting paw along her hip.

“Twenty minutes from now?” He suggested, and the woman slumped with a nod.

“Sounds good, I'll go get ready.”

She left the room, not noticing the concerned stares following her from her colleagues.

“Is she alright?” Snipe asked, and Nedzu sighed.

“She hates balls, they make her anxious. And she's going to be spending tomorrow making sure you and the students are safe. She needs to let off some steam, and destroying my Zero Pointers will work well enough.” He told them, and they nodded thoughtfully.

“Well, let's collect the students to watch. It'll surely be informative for them. Mind if I bring Gen-Ed along? If nothing else, it saves them from being feral for a bit, because I'm 100% watching this!” Mic asks, and Nedzu nods.

The teachers clear out, moving to the viewpoint and collecting their students.

Twenty minutes wasn't a lot of time to organise teenagers, much like herding cats, but they all went quiet when they realised they'd get to see their teacher fight.

****

Delora was exhausted. She hadn't slept in days, and her quirk was thrumming through her body along with her anxiety, making her twitch.

The robots were released - red eyed and armed to the teeth. She glanced at the viewpoint, seeing all the glasses assembled. It wasn't everyday they got to see a Pro-Hero cut loose.

Immediately, she leapt out of the way of a huge explosion, her shadows wrapping around her as she disappeared, reappearing behind the monster and letting out a screech that made the bulletproof glass of the viewpoint shake, the force of it tearing the metal armour away and allowing her access to it's controls, her shadows reaching inside the weak point and swarming it's insides, bursting out of several points, utterly destroying the robot.

She didn't stop, didn't pause, she went immediately to the next one and ducked under a very hot lazer beam, screeching once more to knock it over, tearing the metal with her shadow-wrapped hands, taking hold of it's ‘heart’ with her hands and crushing it.

It exploded in her hands, making them bleed from shrapnel, but she didn't even seem to notice.

Nedzu cackled and sent out two more, watching his sister bleed into the shadows, jumping in and out of them before taking out her Bō, electricity crackling around her as she slammed the butt of it into the robots’ eye, making it twitch and die as the current ran through it.

The next one was torn apart with her hands, the one after was flung about by shadows until its head came clean off.

Over and over, she destroyed the robots until she'd demolished the last one.

She stood, noticeably weaker, and gave a bow to the assembled kids, who were screaming with excitement.

Then she simply curled up into a ball, and fell asleep, finally tired enough to sleep.

****

The kids spent the day of the ball running around, picking out jewellery and fixing their hair, asking for help with their ties and doing up the back of their dresses.

Nedzu hired a huge stretch limo for each class, splitting the teachers up to escort them to the Ball.

Delora was waiting outside, not yet dressed and still in her hero suit, smoking a cigarette as if it held the answer to all of her problems.

“I thought you stopped smoking?” Nedzu asked as he approached with Aizawa and 1-A, and she gave him a raised brow.

“Are you judging me, or do you want one?” She asked, and he laughed.

“A bit of both, but I believe we should go inside.” He said, and she sighed, dropping the cigarette and putting it out with her foot, watching it vanish into her shadows.

“I suppose. Where is your capture weapon, Aizawa?” She asked, and the man grumbled something about Present Mic not letting him bring it.

Delora hummed and escorted them inside, rooting through the cloakroom to the left and emerging with a capture weapon. It was a much darker grey than his own, and showed signs of being used fairly regularly.

“Use mine.” She handed it over, and he gave her an odd look before slipping it over his head, allowing it to rest on his shoulders.

It smelt like her - an odd mix of petrichor and lavender. It was smoothing, he realised as he melted into the fabric, before he noticed the look he was receiving from his boss and straightened up again.

“Thank you, Addams.” He said, and she smiled at him.

“No worries. Feel free to wander around, Nedzu can give you all a tour if you'd like.” She said before slipping into the shadows, presumably to get changed for the party.

“We'll wait for the other classes to arrive and then I'll give the grand tour! Be careful not to wander off, I'm not sure if there's still a bear somewhere in the manor that Pugsley was trying to tame.” Nedzu said cheerfully, and the kids nodded, still gaping as they looked around.

See, there were houses. Most of them lived in houses.

Then there were manors, like the ones that Todoroki, Yaoyorozu and Iida lived in.

And then there were fucking castles.

The Addams House was definitely the latter, decorated in tasteful blacks, greys, blood reds and silvers.

“This place is a vampires wet dream, holy fuck.” Kaminari breathed, making Nedzu snort with laughter before schooling his face into his usual expression as Present Mic, Vlad King, Power Loader, the rest of the staff, and the rest of the students arrived.

“Holy shit, Addams-sensei is rich-rich.” Monoma said, and Shouto i bit back a laugh. He knew exactly how rich Delora and her family were, he'd spent a good 97090¥ on hero merch with their family money and hadn't even put a tiny dent into the fortune.

“Greetings, students and staff. Welcome to one of the Addams ancestral homes. I shall be giving a tour until it is time for the Ball to commence. You all look wonderful and I believe this shall be a very profitable night for all - many contacts that will be helpful for hero work shall be here today. The aim is to have fun and network as much and as little as you please! Please do keep up and don't wander, as I cannot guarantee that any of Pugsley’s pets aren't out and roaming.” He told the assembled children, who nodded with slightly uneasy looks.

“Who's Pugsley?” Uraraka asks, and Nedzu smiles.

“Addams and I’s younger brother! He will be here tonight, and he enjoys explosions and exotic pets.” Nedzu explains as he leads the gathered students and staff down a long hallway, pointing out portraits of family members and laughing when the kids jump out of their skins as one of them talks.

“Great-grandfather Azriel had a quirk that allowed him to place copies of someone's personality into inanimate objects. He did so with these portraits to ensure that any Addams knowledge was not lost.” Nedzu explained before making the most bizarre small talk with a woman named Corinthia.

“Wednesday and her little werewolf friend are about somewhere, please pass on my greetings if you see them, dear nephew.” She gave her farewell and allowed them to continue on with the tour.

Through hallways they went, seeing dungeons, at least five weaponry rooms, a fencing court that made Iida almost drool, six dining rooms, four kitchens, a room that just had a salt circle upon the floor that absolutely no one wanted to enter, twelve indoor greenhouses that they were warned not to touch anything from, and finally, the entrance to the Ball Room.

“Nedzu, oh, my darling!” Someone cried, and they turned to see a tall woman wrapped in pitch black fabric, a dress that emphasised every curve and sculpted her body beautifully.

“Mother!” Nedzu smiled, greeting her and allowing her to lift him up to place air kisses on his cheeks, then pressing a real kiss to his forehead.

“Students, I'd like you to meet our host for the night. This is Morticia Addams, my mother.” He introduced the woman, who immediately cooed over the students, bringing each and every one of them into a warm hug and cupping their cheeks.

Many looked starstruck, their cheeks red, and the staff had to keep from laughing as some of the girls clearly realised that they were not, in fact, heterosexual in the least.

“And you must be Shouto! Oh, my eldest daughter has told me so much about you. How was your internship, was it dreadful?” She asked, and Shouto, now familiar with how the Addams spoke, nodded with a smile.

“It was awful, and the most fun I've ever had in my life. She even bought me my first stuffed animal.” He said happily, not noticing the looks exchanged by the staff as they thought through the ramifications of that.

“Oh, my daughter was right. An Addams’ soul, you have! How wonderful.” Morticia said, hugging the boy again and kissing his forehead as she'd down Nedzu’s.

“And you must be the staff my children speak so highly of! I do thank you so much for taking care of them.” Morticia rounded on the staff, greeting each of them and bestowing sweet smiles upon them.

She smirked, however, when she saw Midnight swallow hard as she tried her best to keep her eyes on the other woman's face and not…lower.

“And that's enough! Father must be missing you, Mother. I shall escort the students into the room while you change.” Nedzu intervened before his students got an eyeful of something he himself did not wish to see.

Wait, get changed? Was the ethereal woman not already ready for the Ball?

Apparently not.

Morticia gave the rat-demon an amused look before nodding, directing them into the Ballroom as she went to change.

“...being heterosexual is going to be an up-hill battle.” Ashido whimpers, and several of her classmates nod in agreement.

“My mother has that effect on people.” Nedzu said, pushing the doors open and allowing them to see the Ballroom.

Holy fuck, it was huge. It was filled with heroes, journalists, business people, vigilantes, and people who could only be Addams’. No one else would come to Ball looking like they'd been at a funeral.

A shorty plump man with a curled mustache dashes up to them, picking Nedzu clean off the floor and throwing him in the air before catching him.

“Oh, my eldest son! It has simply been too long!” Gomez squeezed Nedzu, who looked entirely resigned to the treatment and sighed.

“I missed you too, Father. These are my students and staff.” He told the man, who fussed over the children and had a servant (a servant!) fetch them drinks and canapes.

“Mother has gone to change. I assume she will enter with Delora, and Wednesday.” Nedzu informed his father, who nodded and whirled off to greet some other guests.

“Shouto!” Endeavour boomed, making his way over, and no one missed how Shouto flinched.

Something colourful and bright slammed into the number 2 hero, and Present Mic took the distraction as chance to sweep Shouto into a shadowed corner, hiding him from sight.

“Oh em gee! I'm so sorry! Didn't see you there, Mister Flame!” Enid gasped in English, looking entirely contrite, but there was a slightly feral glint in her eye when she looked at the man who was grumbling under his breath.

“Where is my son?” He righted himself and looked around, realising that Shouto had vanished.

“He needed the bathroom.” Aizawa drawled, and Endeavour growled before storming off.

Shouto edged his way back to his class, thanking the teachers quietly.

“No worries, kid. We can help if you need it.” Mic tells him, and Shouto gives an unsettling grin entirely too much like Delora’s for anyone's comfort.

Maybe letting her take an intern was a mistake, but no one could complain. Shouto’s hand-to-hand combat had improved, he actually spoke more in class, and his social battery had improved because of the internship. The boy was more of a person than a husk of one now, and that was all because of Delora.

“I wouldn't worry. Delora has it covered!” Enid managed to say in stilting Japanese, stopping and starting as she tried to remember the words for what she wanted to say.

“What does that mean?” Mic asked, and Enid grinned a smile full of fangs and evil intent.

“Are you sure you're not an Addams?” Nedzu teased, and Enid gave him a feral look that was returned.

Wolf gaze meeting mutated stoat. Animal seeing animal and seeing someone just like them.

“No, but I think I will be one day.” She said, and Nedzu tipped his head back and laughed.

“Yes, I rather think you will be.”

Chapter Text

They spent about fifteen minutes mingling with pros and various other people, during which Fat Gum claimed Yaoyorozu for her Work Study and started hissing like a cat when Mt Lady tried to convince the girl otherwise.

Ashido got into a conversation with Mirko (after she managed to stop staring at the woman, who was wearing a long silver dress that accentuated her figure in a way that was almost sinful) and somehow ended up with the woman offering to come to the school to give the students tips on how to use shorter statures against larger enemies.

Shouto spent the time with Enid, speaking in a mix of broken English and stumbling Japanese as they discussed his internship with Delora. The girl growled when she learnt about his father, and promised to slam into him again if he came close.

Tokoyami and Dark Shadow were currently being cooed over by Gomez and a woman they called Aunt Rott (though the woman looked to be the same age as Morticia so it was confusing as to how she was her aunt), and was surprisingly pleased with it as they didn't belittle them or blink at their gothic nature.

Soon, the lights dimmed and Gomez was almost vibrating with excitement.

“Ladies, gentlemen, and assorted non-binary friends! I'd like you all to meet my wonderful wife, and our daughters!” He called, drawing attention to the door that was opening, revealing Morticia.

They thought she'd looked good before? Now she looked like an avenging angel in the most attractive way possible. The dress she wore was somehow even more flattering than the one before, all layers of black silk, a slit going up one thigh, the hem of the dress hitting the floor.

“I'm so fucking gay.” Jirou whispered, and she went bright red when Morticia gave the girl a wink as she went towards her husband.

There was no sign of Delora or Wednesday, until Morticia’s shadow began to move, and from it?

“Fuck me.” Enid gasped, watching Wednesday emerge from the shadows in a bless dress that floated around her as if she was flying, her throat adorned with silver jewellery that looked like thorns, and a long decorative knife hung from her waist.

Wednesday didn't look pleased with the attention, pulling a face and grabbing a glass from a passing servant, draining it before moving to see Enid.

“You look lovely, Willa!” Enid squeaked, and several people witnessed Wednesday’s mouth twitch into a half-smile.

“Thank you. You also look lovely.” She spat the words out like she was allergic to them, but Enid could see how her cheeks had turned pink as she took in Enid’s silver dress.

Then Delora emerged from her mother's shadow, and -

“Fucking Hell-” Mic blurted out, gripping Aizawa's arm hard enough to bruise as he watched his coworker and friend glide through the room.

Aizawa didn't notice, his own gaze locked on her, not blinking despite the dry eye he had.

“Addams-sensei is HOT!” Sero yelped, and the woman grinned.

No one could disagree.

She wore a black dress, a slit up both sides that ended at her hip, showing an almost scandalous amount of skin, along with the knives strapped to each thigh. Her hair was braided into a crown around her head, and her otherwise bare arms were wrapped in silver arm bracelets that looked like snakes wrapping around each arm. And behind her? She'd formed the shadows into wings, black mass detailed to look like feathers.

She looked ethereal. She looked sinful. She looked-

“You might want to shut your mouth, Yamada, you'll catch flies.” Nedzu smirked, and Mic managed to do so with a click of his teeth smacking together just a little too hard.

“Please, enjoy the festivities.” She said with a grin, before walking to her students and coworkers.

The second people started talking again, she slumped against the wall and sighed.

“I fucking hate Balls.” She grumbled, grabbing a glass of wine and draining it in one gulp.

“You did well, no one could tell that you were anxious! Though that might be because they were staring at your breasts.” Nedzu cackled, making his sister smile and ruffle his fur.

“We stay for an hour and then we bounce to the roof for an actual party, yeah?” She offered, and Nedzu nodded.

“You guys coming?” She asked Mic and Aizawa, both of whom had to figure out how to talk again.

“I, ah, suppose we could.” Aizawa said, burying his red cheeks in the capture weapon that smelt like her.

“Sounds good!” Mic said, only slightly higher pitch than usual.

****

They spent an hour dancing, talking, drinking and socialising, along with helping move Shouto around like it was a game of musical chairs whenever Endeavour came close.

Almost all the kids had gotten promises of work studies with the heroes here, and Hatsune Mei had gotten a deal with Best Jeaniest with his clothing line, where she could help design support items that were fashionable for the buyers.

Then, after a quiet and understanding word from Morticia, in which she kissed her children's brows and gave them her blessing to escape to the roof.

Power Loader, Snipe, Cementoss, Ectoplasm, Thirteen and Vlad King volunteered to get the students home, leaving Nedzu, Addams, Aizawa, Mic, Midnight and Yagi to escape to the roof.

“Oh, bless Lurch.” Delora said when she saw blankets and picnic baskets already laid out and waiting for them.

(In the ballroom, Lurch sneezed, and furrowed his brow.)

“Oh, there's fucking wine!” Midnight yelled happily, reaching into a basket and pulling out a nice bottle of Cuvée du Vatican Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

“And a bottle of Macallan Sherry Oak cask! God, I'm in Hell!” Delora laughed, pulling out the whisky she found and pouring a few heavy shots of it.

Aizawa had wine (he never was much of a whisky man, though he does enjoy the taste of it on Hizashi’s lips…he wonders if it'd taste as good on Delora's) along with Midnight, while Delora, Nedzu, Mic and Yagi had the whisky.

The baskets had cheeses, crackers, strawberries and melted chocolate, brownies and fudge in them, and between them, they demolished the lot, humming with delight.

They were all a little drunk, and Delora had somehow migrated from her own blanket to being draped over Aizawa and Mic, almost purring as Aizawa ran his fingers through her hair, which she'd undone from its braid crown and scattered an alarming number of silver pins across the roof.

“Your knives are so cool!” Mic was saying, and Delora unclipped one from her thigh and handed it to him.

“Take it! It suits you better.” She told him, and they both descended into giggles at a joke that wasn't there.

“Okay, I think you're both a little too drunk now. Are we alright to stay here tonight?” Aizawa asked Delora, who hummed and nudged his hand with her head to keep him petting her.

“Mhm! There's like 70 bedrooms in this place! C'mon, I'll show you.” She staggered upright, clinging to Mic and Aizawa's hands like they were a lifeline, and guided the group down to her wing of the manor.

“Pick a room! Any room!” She told them, dragging herself and a barely conscious Mic into her own room, followed by Aizawa.

Both of them passed out on the bed before even taking their shoes off.

Aizawa sighed, a small smile playing on his lips as he took their shoes off.

A moment of weakness, that he would definitely blame on the wine, made him kiss them both on the forehead.

They smiled in their sleep, curling up together on the giant bed, and Aizawa chuckled.

“Night, loves.” He whispered before passing out himself, all three of them tangling their legs together on the black bedding.

****

Delora woke up to the sound of someone vomiting, and winced when she recognised that it was Mic.

“Zashi?” Aizawa said blearily, still mostly asleep, as Delora slipped from the bed and padded to the bathroom.

Mic was a mess, his hair everywhere and his face pale.

Delora knelt next to him, pulling a hair tie from a drawer in her bathroom and gently moving his hair into a ponytail, keeping it out of his face.

“It's okay, Yama. Just breathe. I'll get you some water.” She told him softly, quickly pouring him a glass and offering it to him, making sure he only took small sips.

“Urgh I'm so gross.” Mic eventually said, and Delora hummed.

“Eh, it happens to the best of us. Now, do you think you're going to puke again?” She asked, and he frowned before shaking his head.

“Good, now brush your teeth and go back to bed, okay?” She told him, handing him a spare toothbrush and nudging him to stand.

He swayed a little, but she held him firm while he brushed his teeth, before guiding him back to bed.

“You're an angel.” He mumbled sleepily, and she laughed.

“Heaven has gone down-hill then.” She told him, tucking him in along with Aizawa, leaving a glass on each bedside table along with some painkillers for the headache they'd have when they next woke.

She smiled, something warm and aching in her chest, and left the room.

****

“Urgh, never again!” Mic announced as he came down the stairs, startled and almost falling by the laughter that met him.

Morticia looked up at them from the bottom of the stairs, eyebrows raised, amused.

“Uh, sorry, Mrs Addams, we didn't mean to stay and we'll leave now.” Aizawa mumbled, stopped by Morticia holding up a hand.

“Not without breakfast! We Addams are known for our hospitality. Delora, Nedzu and your friends are already there. Come, I'll show you the way. Oh, and by the way? That's a lovely knife you have. And a lovely capture scarf.” She said with a smirk, making them both reach for the items and furrow their brows.

She said it like it meant something significant, but they couldn't figure out what exactly that was.

Chapter Text

Breakfast was an odd mix of strange and comforting.

Delora sat next to Mic, to the left of Wednesday.

The teachers watched as the woman bickered with Wednesday and a young boy they found out was called Pugsley, while their mother fed a baby that they found out was called Pubert.

This, once again, brought questions to their minds. Morticia looked to be around 40 years old, along with her husband. But she must be older, considering that Delora looked to be around 27, and they were definitely blood relatives.

However, it was rude to ask someone their age, so the assembled stewed in their questions while tucking into their eggs and bacon, sipping their coffees.

They watched Wednesday carry three mugs over to the table, handing one to Delora before placing the other two between her and Enid.

No one was fast enough to stop Enid when she reached for the wrong cup and gulped the hot liquid down.

“Enid, throw up, right now!” Delora told the girl, who frowned and cocked her head to the side.

“Why? Oh, did I drink yours by mistake, Willa? I'm sorry!” She said, looking exactly the same as before, which was odd considering both Wednesday and Delora took a lethal dose of cyanide in their coffee.

“...You don't feel strange? No stomach ache or nausea?” Gomez asked, almost vibrating in his seat.

“No?” Enid frowned at them as if they were the weird ones.

“Enid, Wednesday and I take our coffee with cyanide in. We're immune to it and enjoy the added bitterness.” Delora told the girl, who whipped around, suddenly panicked.

“Am I going to die?” She asked, and Delora bit back a laugh.

“No, with that dose? You'd be dead already.” She told Enid, who frowned.

“I must be immune too, then.” She decided, and Nedzu gave a snort of laughter.

“Something like that, yes, my dear!” He told her, and Enid smiled in confusion before nagging at Wednesday to accompany her to the mall.

“I will go, just stop your incessant whining!” Wednesday snapped, and Enid didn't even blink, she just grinned and thanked Wednesday.

Breakfast was over and the staff decided to start making their way to the school.

“What was that with the cyanide? Do you actually take it?” Midnight asked, and Delora laughed.

“Yes, it's a lovely addition when you're immune. All Addams’ are!”

“But Enid isn't an Addams.” Yagi said, and Delora giggled.

“Not yet. And it seems Wednesday has fallen victim to the Family Curse.” She got out through laughter, leaning against an amused Nedzu.

“What's the curse?” Mic asked, and Delora’s cheeks turned slightly pink.

“An Addams can only fall in love once. The person or persons they fall in love with is their True Love forever. We cannot harm our loves, not even indirectly. The cyanide didn't harm Enid because the coffee was made by Wednesday, and Wednesday loves her.” Delora said, and the teachers let that sink in.

“I mean, that's not much of a curse. It seems like a good thing.” Aizawa commented, and Delora let out a soft sigh.

“Usually yes. But it doesn't stop those we love hurting us. And if they don't love us back? It drives us insane. Like, properly insane. Insane enough to be euthanised.” She told them, and they paled.

“Fucking Hell. That's a fucking nightmare.” Yagi swore, and Delora shrugged.

“Genetics fucks us all up eventually. Can't do much about it.”

****

Things went well after that, until the day of the 7th of April.

Aizawa came into school with a scowl and red-rimmed eyes. Mic came in with a temper hanging by a thread and snapping at everyone who spoke to him. Midnight was silent - the woman was never silent, always singing off-key, always tapping on something, always talking.

Something was wrong.

It came to lunch and the staff room was tense, and Delora had had enough.

“You three, with me, now.” She told them, not giving them much time to argue as the shadows claimed them and spat them out in an empty classroom.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Mic spat at her, and she raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him.

“Something is wrong. So you're going to tell me what it is and I'll do what I can to help.”

“You can't help this.” Aizawa growled, and Delora shrugged.

“Probably not, but you're going to tell me anyway because I'm not letting you take your bad moods out on the students. So either tell me what's wrong or start swinging at me. Because either way, we’re working out whatever the fuck is wrong.”

It was Midnight who broke.

“It's the anniversary of our best friends death.”

Delora blinked, and her face softened.

“Tell me about them.”

And so they did. They told her about Oboro, about how he'd died saving people, about how he was only 17. They told her about how bright his smile was and how warm his eyes were.

Delora listened and didn't comment, letting them talk and cry as they needed to.

“Have you got a picture of him?” She asked, once the conversation lulled, and Midnight pulled one from her pocket.

It was stained with tears, but his face was still visible.

“One last question - if there was a way to have him back, would you do it? No matter the cost?” She asked, and they looked at her with teary eyes.

Aizawa nodded, and that was enough for Delora.

“Understood. Now, go teach the kids and don't snap at them. It's okay to hurt, but it's not okay to hurt others.” She told them, before kissing each of their foreheads.

She vanished into shadows, and everyone in the room got a Very Bad Feeling.

They shook it off. They were just grieving and overreacting to the atmosphere.

(They absolutely were not.)

****

“Aizawa-kun, have you seen my sister? She isn't answering her phone and hasn't been seen since lunch.” Nedzu asked, and that feeling got worse and worse until it was suffocating.

“She left. We told her about Oboro and then she left.” Mic told him, and they watched Nedzu somehow turn pale under his fur.

“Fuck! We need to leave, now.” Nedzu swore, tugging in their sleeves and dragging them with strength they didn't know he had from the staff room.

“What’s happening?” Midnight asked, and Nedzu looked at her in nothing short of pure panic.

“What did my idiot sister tell you about her quirk?”

“That she's like a banshee. That her screech can keep people alive for as long as she keeps going. That she controls the shadows and can travel through them. That the screech activates the adrenaline reflex.” Aizawa told him, and the rat-demon swore under his breath.

“She isn't like a Banshee. She IS a Banshee. And she left one part of her power out.” Nedzu dragged them to a car and directed Mic to drive, pushing the speed limit to the max.

“What did she leave out?” Midnight asks her boss, who growls under his breath.

“That she can bring back the dead. It's hard, and it hurts her. Last time she did it, she almost died. To bring back the dead and keep them alive, she shaves off some of her own lifespan and gives it to them. She already cut some of her life off, and now she's doing it again because she's a suicidal fucking idiot!”

“Who did she bring back before?” Aizawa asked, and Nedzu let out something like a sob.

“Me.”

****

-4 hours earlier-

Delora placed the photo on the floor of her living room and did some quick maths.

Addams, in general, had extended life spans. Banshees also lived for a long time.

Grandmama’s estimate for how long she would live was somewhere around 400 years.

She was closer to sixty years old now, though she didn't look or feel it in the traditional human sense.

She gave 70 years to Nedzu, 10 years ago.

So she had about 270 years left, if her maths was right.

She could spare another 70 years, she thinks.

She focussed on the picture and began to sing. It was slow, haunting, all vocalisations, humming with her quirk.

She couldn't rush this, it had to be perfect.

For Aizawa and Mic. And for Midnight.

She would bring their friend back.

Even if it killed her, which was a distinct possibility.

****

-Now-

They'd broken at least 10 traffic laws on the way to Delora's house, Nedzu unlocking the door and bursting into the living room with an urgency they'd never seen on him before.

It was like a massacre had happened. They're was blood everywhere, and in the middle of it?

Two bodies. One dark haired and female.

And one with cloud-like blue hair.

Chapter Text

Nedzu hadn't moved other than to eat and use the bathroom in over a week.

Delora still hadn't woken up.

They'd gotten her and Oboro to the UA Infirmary and told Recovery Girl what had happened, and she paled as she looked them over.

Oboro was fine, physically. He slept purely because his body was still getting used to, you know, existing again.

Delora’s state wasn't as certain.

She'd utterly torn up her throat with her song, and had been bleeding for several hours before they'd found her. They'd given her blood transplants, and she was stable, but she wasn't waking up.

Oboro woke up on the fourth day, confused and with a splitting headache.

“Oro-” Someone had sobbed, and he turned to see Nemuri, Hizashi and Shouta. Older than he remembered, actual adults now but still somehow the same as when he'd known them.

Something wasn't right, however. Something inside his chest screaming at him that Something Was Not Right.

He turned to see the form of a woman he did not know, yet did at the same time.

“You're an Addams now. My sister brought you back at the expense of her own life span, with Addams blood spilling on the floor. You're one of us, now.” Wednesday had told him from her own vigil by Delora's side, when it was clear that Nedzu could not.

They were curled together in the same chair, Nedzu wrapped inside Wednesday's cardigan.

Oboro, after being checked over by Recovery Girl once again and being given a clean bill of health (all the while the woman looked like she'd seen a ghost, and in a way, she had), asked who Delora was.

They told him about his sister. His sister who was bright and yet delighted in violence and darkness, who had a smile as bright as the moon and a heart so big that it took and took until she was bursting.

Oboro didn't leave Delora's side either.

Mic had tried, only once, to get him to leave. The boy (still 16, still a child where his friends had grown up and it Wasn't Fair), had spun around with dark eyes and sharp teeth that he hadn't had before, and told him that he wouldn't leave.

He wouldn't abandon this woman who had never known him, and yet had given her own life for his.

Aizawa was avoiding them both - Oboro and Delora. Unable to look at them.

He'd said he was willing to pay any price for Oboro back. He didn't mean Delora trading her life for his friends’.

It wasn't Oboro’s fault, he knew, but he couldn't even look at him without seeing Delora's blood streaking across wooden flooring, like how they'd been then they'd moved them like corpses.

Until Delora woke (and she would wake, she had to, because he couldn't cope with the idea of anything else), he couldn't look at who was once his best friend.

Oboro seemed to understand at least, something unreadable flashing through his grey eyes before he smiled weakly, and told Shouta to take all the time he needed.

Recovery Girl ended up created a separate room for Delora, with the amount of people standing by her side, waiting for her to wake up.

Wednesday, Nedzu and Oboro were constant. The rest came and went.

On the fifth day, Shouto arrived.

School had been cancelled and he got an awful feeling in his gut that something had happened.

He was right.

He, too, stayed by Delora's side as much as he could.

It was on the ninth day that Oboro started singing.

Low and haunting, vocalising - a song he remembered as if from a dream.

Wednesday joined him, her voice slightly higher pitch.

Nedzu, eventually, sang along. He knew the song well, remembered it as if it was yesterday. Remembered waking up with a gasp in Delora's arms as she sang until her throat tore, how she'd held him and promised him with bloodied lips that he would never be experimented on and tortured again.

On and off, they did this all day.

It wasn't until Morticia visited, Pubert in her arms, that something happened.

In the span of a week, Pubert had turned from a baby to a small child, looking to be around five years old now. No one questioned it, barely able to breathe in the grief that hung around like smoke around the hospital bed.

Then Pubert joined them. He sang with them, his voice filled with something More.

It was then that people remembered that quirks were genetic.

It was then that the shadows started to twist and bloom like flowers.

It was then that Delora sat up with a gasp, clutching her throat and looking around in panic.

Her eyes fell on Oboro, very much alive, and she softened.

“M glad it worked.” She croaked, sipping the water that Wednesday held up for her.

“I'll go and get Aizawa-kun and Yamada-kun.” Nedzu left the room, somewhere between relieved and furious. He wanted to cry, and cursed his biology because he simply could not.

“She's awake.” He said simply, jolting everyone in the staff room, and he watched Aizawa and Yamada dart past him to see their friend.

To see the woman they loved.

She was sat up now, looking unfairly healthy for a woman who'd been in a nine day coma, and she locked eyes with them.

“You fucking idiot. Why would you do such a thing?” Aizawa was suddenly furious, anger burning through his veins the second he saw her eyes open and her mouth moving.

“You were sad.” She said simply, and Aizawa gave a cruel laugh.

“So you decided to almost kill yourself and use my grief as the reason for it?” He spat, knowing he was being cruel and unfair, but unable to stop himself.

Delora let out a sound as if she'd been punched, and she looked away.

For the first time since waking up, Oboro met his friend's eyes and stood.

“Come with me. Now.” He told his friends, pulling them away with Wednesday hot on their heels.

The second they left earshot, Delora let out a sob that irritated her ruined throat, and had only her mother and Pubert to comfort her.

It wasn't enough.

****

“You really haven't changed, have you, Shou? You always knew exactly how to piss all over any goodwill anyone gave you.” Oboro told his friend, his chest heaving with measured breaths.

Aizawa didn't know what to say. All his words had left him the moment Delora had made that punched-out sound as if he'd struck her.

“If it weren't for the fact that my sister cares for you, I'd have killed you by now.” Wednesday hissed, hand on the knife at her waist to accentuate her point.

“She almost died! For someone she never knew!” Mic took over, somewhere between heartbroken and angry, and Oboro stared at him.

“Are you both fucking stupid? She didn't do this for me! She did this for you because she fucking loves you both, you imbeciles. She did this because you were grieving and she loved you so much that she was willing to die to make you smile!” He told them, and it was like someone had knocked the wind out of them.

“And that bullshit in there? You just broke her heart, and she's incapable of holding it against you because she's in love and she's a goddamn Addams. The fucking best of us. You know about the Curse, I know she told you, and I know she told you how you could hurt her over and over again and she'd never be able to stop you.” Wednesday picked the rant up perfectly, already in sync with her new brother.

Shouta and Hizashi felt horrible.

They'd taken their fears out on the woman who had only ever been kind to them, who'd only ever wanted to make them happy.

The woman they loved.

“I see you've finally gotten your heads out of your arses. Now, you're going to go and apologise to my sister or so help me, I'll find a way to make your lives a living Hell.” Oboro told them, and they nodded.

“I'm glad you're back, Oro.” Aizawa broke, tears forming in his eyes, and Oboro softened.

“I am too. Now, go and tell that woman that you both love her.”

Chapter Text

They approached the room, pausing when they heard a child's voice.

“My throat hurts.”

“That's because your song has awakened, little one. Sing, and it'll help.” Delora told Pubert, who was fidgeting.

“I'm scared.” He said quietly, and Delora hummed.

“I'll sing with you.” She told him.

They turned the corner to watch Delora scoop her baby brother into her arms, settling him on her hip as she used her shadows to keep upright.

Before anyone could protest that she absolutely shouldn't be standing or using her quirk so soon after waking up, she began.

The song was beautiful, if sad and held a deepness to it that no one could comprehend.

Oboro watched for a moment before singing as well, his voice deeper than theirs and adding a level of grit to the song.

The three of them sang, Delora rocking her brother as she smoothed a hand over his dark hair.

Hizashi could hear it. He could hear the song.

He didn't have his hearing aids in.

He hadn't heard songs without them in years, almost entirely deaf because of his quirk, and he smiled.

It was good to hear this, he thought, watching one of his loves sing while she mock-danced with her brother as much as she could.

Pubert stopped, his throat feeling much better and tucking his head under Delora's chin.

“I'm happy that I'm like you, Del’ra.” He said sleepily, and Delora smiled at him.

“I'm glad you're a Banshee too, little brother.” She told him, kissing his hair before getting back in the bed, tucking the now-sleeping boy in next to her.

“Your song is beautiful.” Yamada said finally, and Delora looked over at them
She watched, dark eyes gleaming in the light.

Her eyes on Aizawa more than him, wary and afraid.

It made Aizawa want to throw up.

He'd been cruel, unkind and nasty, to the woman who'd done nothing but make his life better, brought his best friend back, and protected these students who were as much his kids as they were hers.

“I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Delora. I was cruel and entirely out of line, I was taking out my fear on you and you didn't deserve it.” He told her, and she deflated like someone had let the air out of her.

To his horror, her eyes brimmed with tears.

“Wait a minute. Breathe. Fight off the instinct to forgive him because you love him for a moment. Think it through, you need to process.” Wednesday told her sister softly, not blinking at the immediate growl Delora gave.

Still, she breathed, wiped her tears, and observed him carefully.

Aizawa didn't mind. Would stand here all day and let her process if that's what she wanted.

He simply took Hizashi's hand and waited.

“I forgive you.” She rasped eventually, and then she sighed and laid back against the pillows.

“Can we come closer?” Hizashi asked, and Delora gave him a small smile.

“I'd be offended if you didn't.” She told him, and they made their way to perch on the bed.

Delora was quiet, smoothing her fingers over Pubert's hair before gesturing for Oboro to come close.

She threaded her fingers through his cloud-like hair, and tugged him closer, kissing his forehead with a smile.

“Welcome back. And welcome to the family.” She told him, and he beamed and bounced excitedly.

“I have literally so many questions.” He tells her, and she chuckles.

“I thought you might. But maybe they can wait until I'm out of the infirmary?” She asked, and Morticia took that as a chance to usher everybody but Aizawa and Yamada from the room.

“Talk. Or so help me, I'll feed you all to Cleopatra.” The woman told them with a fond eye roll, picking Pubert up with ease and smiling when the boy did not wake.

And then they were alone.

There were many ways of doing this - talking about feelings.

None of them were what Yamada went with.

He just blurted out “we are so in love with you” without thinking, and then flushed so bright a red that it was mildly concerning.

Delora, to her credit, didn't blink. She just chuckled and moved so she was tucked against Aizawa's side.

“I love you both too.” She told them simply, and Aizawa smiled.

“So what do we do about it?”

Yamada and Delora gave him matching exasperated looks.

“We go on a date, idiot. The three of us. And maybe one on one too.” Delora told him fondly, and Aizawa hummed.

He didn't hate the sound of that.

“Sounds good!” Yamada told them, and Delora grinned.

“After I'm out of here, of course.” She commented, and they rolled their eyes at her.

“Obviously. And thank you, by the way. For bringing Oboro back.” Aizawa murmured, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead.

“Don't thank me. I got a little brother out of it.” She smiled, and they laughed.

Sure, it was a bit odd that their childhood friend was now their lover's younger brother, but the world was weird and you took whatever good you could get.

****

Delora left the infirmary after two days of being treated for quirk exhaustion, smiling like a sunbeam and as energised as ever.

The first thing she did?

March into the staff room and kiss Yamada hard.

And then repeated it with Aizawa.

While their co-workers were watching.

“I hate you.” Aizawa told her, and she smirked.

“Oh, I'm pretty sure you don't.”

She was right, but still.

****

Their first dates were fairly chilled. She went for coffee at a cat cafe with Aizawa and made friends with the grouchy white cat that always tried to steal their cake. They'd talked about the students, Delora told him how she'd spent a lot of the internship teaching Shouto about memes and Star Wars, he told her begrudgingly how he and Hizashi had gotten their shit together eventually and started dating.

It was lovely.

(And if the date ended with her pushing Aizawa against a wall and kissing him until he was red-faced and his lips were bruised, well, no one can blame her.)

Hizashi took her to a concert, one of a band she doesn't remember the name of, but she remembers how much fun she had. She remembers dancing with him, twirling in the crowd, screaming her heart out and laughing so hard she cried. She remembered him pulling her into the sweetest kiss, and how bright his eyes were even in the darkness.

She remembers coming home to Aizawa and meeting their cats, cooing over all five of them and laughing when one of them made a nest in Hizashi's hair.

She remembers Aizawa, gently, awkwardly, asking her to call him Shouta.

She remembers whispering his name before pulling him into a kiss.

****

Delora had demanded that their threeway date was planned by her, and they'd nodded, though they'd grumbled when she refused to tell them anything, keeping it a secret.

She'd demanded that they clear their night, no patrols or radio shows. It wasn't an issue, they both had a frankly impressive amount of vacation days saved up.

Workaholics, the pair of them.

She'd appeared at their door (after a talk about her not appearing in the apartment at 3 in the morning because she wanted to kiss them, because they were heroes and their go-to reaction to a stranger in their apartment was attacking whoever it was), smiled and kissed them both, and took their hands.

“Brace yourselves. Shadow travel is incredibly disorientating the first few times you do it.” She said, waiting for them both to take a deep breath before plunging them into the shadows.

Shadow travel was cold, which wasn't a surprise, but it was also oddly peaceful. No light, no spinning, just the embrace of the cold and Delora's warm hands against theirs.

Then they were spat out and nausea hit them like a freight train, swallowing back dry heaves and a slightly quirked whimper leaving Hizashi.

Delora swayed slightly - long distance travel always made her dizzy for a little bit.

However, all of them recovered quickly.

“This is…” Shouta stares, taking in the beautiful view of the beach in front of him. White sand and deep blue water.

“We're at Kabira Bay, on Ishigaki Island. Come on.” Delora tells them with a smile, taking their hands once more and leading them down a path until they see a picnic blanket laid out under a tree.

“Delora, this is wonderful.” Hizashi says in awe, making the woman's cheeks turn slightly pink.

“I'm glad you like it. Come on, we have a picnic to eat!” She grins, darting to sit on the blanket and revealing the basket of foods from under another throw blanket.

“You took us to Ishigaki Island?” Shouta asks, and she smiles at him.

“Addams don't do anything by halves. Especially dates.”

They laid themselves out on the blanket, dividing food between them (who had told her their favourite foods, because Hizashi was almost inhaling his portion of Takoyaki, while Shouta himself was trying to resist doing the same with his Gyūdon), and laughing quietly together.

The sun set finally ended, showing them the night sky, and Delora told them the stories of each constellation in a soft voice that had Shouta almost dozing off in her lap while she pet his hair.

“So, how did I do?” She asks once they've finished, the blankets and basket tucked into her shadows (where did it end up? They were much too happy to ask).

“I love you so much.” Hizashi told her, and Delora smiled.

Shouta buried his face in his capture weapon, aware that he was smiling like a lovesick idiot, and simply nodded.

Thankfully, Delora seemed to understand, offering her hands again.

“Do I still need permission to enter your apartment?” She teased, and Hizashi tugged on a strand of her hair playfully.

“Stop being a brat and take us home.” Shouta told her, and she grinned.

It was a little easier the second time, shadow travelling seemed to be something that required practise.

Still, Shouta didn't enjoy the way the world swam before his eyes before everything settled again.

“I'll leave you to it. I love you both.” Delora said sweetly, kissing both of them before moving towards the door.

“You could stay. If you wanted.” Shouta said, still hiding his face so the clear want in his expression would be harder to see.

Delora lit up like a star.

“Are you sure? I don't mind.” She told them, giving them an out.

They didn't need one.

“Nope, you're staying. I'm owed cuddles.” Hizashi told her, lifting her into his arms bridal-style and making her let out a little shriek of laughter.

“Cuddles sound wonderful.” She told them, absolutely exhausted now. She'd been back and forth to Ishigaki Island several times that day, making sure everything was perfect for their date, and it absolutely wiped her out.

She would absolutely not be telling them that though, well aware she'd get a lecture about overusing her quirk.

Again.

She fell asleep wrapped in their arms, her fingers tangled in Shouta’s hair and her head tucked under Hizashi's chin.

Chapter Text

The night had started off well.

They were at Delora's house - Delora, Hizashi, Shouta, and Oboro.

Oboro lived there, wanting to be close to his new sister, and it still felt weird for his best friends to be adults while he was still sixteen.

(They also weren't sure if he'd age like a normal human, or like an Addams. Delora had never used her quirk-song to bring someone who had been dead for that long, and had basically created a whole new body for him, so they weren't sure exactly how much of an Addams he was.

The signs were pointing towards him being entirely Addams though, with his teeth turning sharp when he was angry, and him being able to consume cyanide like an Addams would.

They'd had fun testing it, starting off with tiny amounts, just enough to cause gastrointestinal distress. It had done nothing, and they'd worked up to giving him a full dose.

He had just wrinkled his nose at the bitter taste and laughed.)

They were watching movies, catching Oboro up on the media he'd missed. It was sweet, watching him get excited about the newer All Might movies.

Then there was the sound of someone struggling to put a key in the lock, and Delora stiffened.

She'd had a bad feeling all day, but had written it off as anxiety.

She hadn't had a chance to restitch pieces of her student's shadows to her own, their link fading.

Which is why she hadn't know what was happening. Which was why Todoroki Shouto opened the door with shaking hands and tears streaming down his face.

“Shouto? Shit!” Delora blinked out of existence, reappearing in the shadow of the door and steadying the boy.

Half of his face was frosted over and blue. The other half was red and irritated with burns.

“H-he didn't like that I want to be an underground hero.” Shouto mumbled into her neck as she scooped him up, carrying the teenager to the empty couch and giving a sharp look to Hizashi and Shouta, who'd both began to move.

Crowding the boy wouldn't end well, and he'd come here for Delora.

“Your father did this? Because you don't want to be a spotlight hero?” She asked, and Shouto gave a strangled sob. He nodded, and Delora inhaled sharply through her nose. Her temper flared, bubbling under her skin, but getting angry right now wouldn't help Shouto.

It seemed Enji Todoroki had chosen death by Delora Addams. Wonderful.

“Can you tell me where you're injured, sweetheart?” She asked him softly, cupping his face in her hands and trying not to flinch at how hot his left side was, and how downright freezing his right side was.

“Burns on my arms. Frostbite on my face. Might have a cracked rib or two. Sorry for bothering you.” Shouto finally noticed their audience, and shrunk in on himself.

“No, no. You did the right thing, darling. I gave you that key for a reason, and I'm so proud of you for coming to me when you needed help.” Delora shushed him, kissing his forehead.

“Oboro, can you please get the quirk-strength burn cream from the medicine cabinet, along with some paracetamol for his temperature. Shouta, can you make some tea, please? Hizashi, will you go into Shouto's bedroom, to the left of mine, and grab the All Might plushie, and a blanket?” She asked her lovers and brother, giving them something to do so they didn't feel so helpless.

Immediately, they did as she said, Oboro running through the house for the medicine she'd asked for.

“I don't want to go back, mom!” Shouto sobbed, and Delora hugged him as hard as she could without hurting him more.

“You don't have to. Sweetheart, can I take pictures of your injuries? It'll help the court case I'm building against him, but you can say no. I won't be mad.” She told him, and Shouto looked up at her through teary eyes.

“You're going to take him to court? For me?” He asked with disbelief, wondering why the woman would do such a thing for a kid she'd basically just met.

“Because you're one of my kids, Shouto. Because he's hurting you and you don't deserve that. I'm going to take him to court, I'm going to win, and I'm going to burn down everything he holds dear. For you. For your siblings. For the people he has caused injustice to.” She told him, and Shouto broke.

He wailed and sobbed into her chest, gripping her shirt with trembling hands, and Delora held him through it.

“I'm here, Shouto. I'll always be here for you.” She promised him, and he took several shaky breaths.

“Take the pictures. I want him gone.”

Delora smiled, all sharp lines and teeth.

Shouto smiled back in exactly the same way.

Together, they worked Shouto's shirt off just in time for Oboro to come back with what she asked for, and Shouta returning with the tea.

Delora took the pictures with a clinical air, refusing to focus on them for longer than necessary (because if she did, she was going to commit murder, and that wasn't what was needed tonight).

“Endeavour did this?” Hizashi asked, his arms laden with plushies and blankets, his voice sharp and cold.

Shouto didn't flinch - he knew Delora would protect him.

“He did.” He mumbled, wincing as Delora applied the burn cream and checked his temperature, testing his ribs to see if they needed Recovery Girl.

Luckily, it was just bad bruising, so she wasn't needed. Still, it should never have happened.

“I'll kill him.” Hizashi growled, and Delora felt a thrill run down her spine.

That tone was attractive. Addams always did like people who were just as feral as they were.

Shouta and Hizashi hid it well, but they were just as violent as her, and she fucking loved it.

“Here, kid.” Shouta said softly, handing Shouto a cup of tea. The boy smiled tiredly, sipping it and allowing it to warm him throughout.

“You should be fine in a few days. I'm going to take another piece of your shadow. The link was fading and I didn't renew it, and I should have. I'm sorry, Shouto.” Delora whispered into Shouto's hair, still holding the boy close.

“It's alright, mom. You can't know everything, and you helped me. Are still helping me.” He whispered back, and Delora hummed.

Mom, huh?

She liked that.

“I'm going to use my emergency foster license, send those photos to Nedzu and the detective working on the case. You're staying here, no matter what.” She promised him, and he hummed, pulling on the sweatshirt that Hizashi had grabbed for him.

“Thank you, mom.” Shouto told her, and she smiled at him.

“Wanna watch a movie with us, or go to bed?” She offered, and Shouto hummed.

“Movie. Sorry for interrupting your date.” He gave her a grin, shaky but teasing, and Delora laughed.

“It's not a date if we have my little brother with us. Definitely not now we have my son here too.” She laughed, nudging Shouto upright and tucking the Gang Orca blanket around him.

“Your son? Is he not ours too?” Shouta teased, and Delora hummed.

“That's entirely up to Shouto. Addams don't do family like most people do. Just because you're dating me doesn't make you his dad's. That entirely up to him. But…I think I'd like that, if it's what he wants.” She said softly, not meeting their eyes.

The Addams way of adopting kids isn't for everyone, and a nasty part of her is expecting them to leave. Having kids wasn't for everyone.

“We have a son. Shinsou, from 1-A. We adopted him, is that an issue for you?” Hizashi chimed in, tilting her chin up to meet his shining eyes.

“No, of course not.”

“Then why would you adopting Shouto be an issue for us?” Shouta asked, and fuck, Delora has never loved them more.

“I love you.” She told them, and they smiled.

“Gross.” Oboro complained, then gave an ‘oof’ as Shouto threw a cushion at the other boy.

Everyone froze, watching the two, and Shouto gave a shit eating grin.

“Yeet.” He said, and Delora snorted a laugh.

“Did-did Shouto just MEME?” Hizashi yelped, staring at the boy as if he'd grown another head.

“No, of course not.” Shouto said, his face a mask of indifference.

“Don't gaslight me! I've connected the two dots!”

“You didn't connect shit.” Shouto said automatically, then swore colourfully.

Shouta and Delora were too busy losing it to reprimand his language, not that Delora would anyway. She couldn't say anything, she swore like a sailor doing Dry January.

“I'VE CONNECTED THEM!” Hizashi screeched in triumph, and Shouto started laughing.

“You're never allowed an intern again, look what you've done to him.” Shouta chuckled dryly, and Delora gave him an offended look.

“I made him into a man of culture, you HEATHEN.” She told him, before they all settled down to finish the movie.

Shouto fell asleep against Delora's side, warm, comfortable, and safe.

Chapter Text

The final exams came and went without much issue (other than Delora having some very strong words with All Might about how much force to use when fighting children, and those words were spoken while three people were holding her back from murdering him, and All Might kept tripping over his own shadow for days afterwards).

Shouto was settling in, with very little issues other than Enji coming to the school and trying to take him home.

He was thrown out on his ass by a furious Delora, who reminded him exactly why he'd been afraid of his own shadow for weeks, and still was.

He did not try again. Apparently he did still have some form of survival instinct. Though that wouldn't matter for much longer, the court case was building up into something monumental, and nothing could save him from Delora's wrath.

Then came time for the Training Camp, and Delora pouted when she wasn't allowed to go.

Instead, she took new samples of every single student's shadow, her own shadow growing to huge proportions with all the added pieces.

She couldn't go with them, but she would still be able to save them if needed. It would be enough. It had to be enough.

Hizashi had decided he was staying at Delora's for the week Shouta was gone, bringing all of their cats to her house a few days before the camp started.

Shouto and Oboro loved the cats, and Oboro had cried when he learnt that the white cat was called Cloud. After him.

So Shouta and the kids went, and Hizashi was on Delora-duty until they came back.

She was struggling, being away from Shouta, Oboro and Shouto. It was hard for her, the separation anxiety.

Especially since she knew that the class was a villain magnet, and she wasn't allowed to know where the camp was.

Still, she handled it, curling into Hizashi's side and watching awful American movies with him.

God, she loved him.

It was on the fourth day of the camp, while they were in school for a meeting, that the cold dread consumed her.

Something was wrong.

Something Was Going To Happen.

“Nedzu. Something bad is going to happen.” She interrupted the meeting suddenly, and her brother looked at her.

He knew when she was anxious, and he knew when something was real.

It was very real now.

Delora staggered, the feeling pressing on her like an anvil on her chest, and she groaned in pain.

“Go. I've got drones at the ready, monitoring the camp. I'll send backup if you need it.” He told her, and she gasped out as she tried to sort through the shadows enough to get a location.

Then she was gone, and the teachers were staring after her while Nedzu brought up the cameras.

A villain attack.

Fuck.

****

Aizawa knew two things.

One: There were villains in the forest.

Two: The blonde girl with space buns was not one of them.

She slashed at him with a knife, tearing right through his costume, and leaned close to whisper in his ear.

“Go down. I'm with Delora. Pretend I stabbed you.”

So he did.

He looked from the ground, seeing villains everywhere, the forest burning.

He noticed that the flames were strategically placed, that all the students were standing within shadows caused by them.

Then Delora arrived, and the shadows swarmed, swallowing the kids up and sending them away, before they swallowed him up too.

He yelled out.

Delora was now alone, he realised, as he hit the floor of the UA staff room, surrounded by his students, Vlad King, Class 1-B, the Wild Wild Pussycats, Kota, and two people he didn't know.

Delora was alone, facing off with the League.

Fear gripped him. She was strong, but even she wouldn't be able to fight them all.

The screen showed the battle, a shit show of shadows and leftover flames, Delora dodging sword strikes and marbles like her life depended on it.

It truly did depend on it.

“She's holding back.” Nedzu said softly, watching his sister shake with effort.

“Why would she be holding back?” Hizashi asked, his voice high and rough with fear for one of his loves as he knelt next to Shouta.

“Because of the cameras. Because she's scared of what you'll think of her if she lets go.” Nedzu tells them softly, and Shouta swears.

How fucking stupid. They loved her, all of her. Why couldn't she see that?

“Can you broadcast audio?” Shouto asks, and Nedzu looks at the boy.

Shouto smiles, sharp and Addams-like.

And Nedzu? He smiles back, all fang.

He taps at the pad in front of him, then gestures to Shouto.

“Mom, stop holding back.” He tells her, and Delora lets out a groan as she dodges again, swiping at the man in a top hat with her shadows.

“Can't. They'll see it.” She grits out, screaming a harsh frequency that sends her opponents crashing to the ground.

“We don't care what you do! We love you, you idiot. Now beat these fuckers and come back to us!” Shouta growled out, and Delora let out a pained whine.

Shouto hums, before he lights up with an idea.

“Remember what you told me, Mom? Aren't you tired of being nice? Don't you just want to go Apeshit?” He tells her, and the world seems to stop.

For a moment, just a second, time goes slow like honey.

Then Delora laughs.

Her body vanished, and she became shadows. Her teeth were needle-like in an oversized mouth, her eyes were white voids in her face. She didn't look human - she wasn't human, at that moment.

“You hurt my kids. You tried to take them from me. You tried to hurt my mate. I'm going to fucking kill you all.” She said it through laughter, like it was the funniest joke in the world, and everyone who watched felt chills go down their spines.

None of the kids were afraid, however. This was their Addams-sensei. The woman who smiled at them, looked after them, let them use her credit card to buy things on a whim. This was the woman who had kissed Shouto's head and told him she'd keep him safe. It was the woman who had saved Iida from himself. It was the woman who listened to Midoriya's analysis and kept up, giving him suggestions.

This was their teacher.

Hell, she was their fucking mother, in a way.

And the kids cheered when Delora let go of her human form and, as Shouto had lovingly put it, went apeshit.

Shadows turned sharp, the fires died, and limbs were flying about as she carved them off her opponents.

She laughed the whole time, blood splattering everywhere as she hunted.

“What the fuck? Shigaraki didn't warn us about this!” One of them screeched, just before he was beheaded by a giggling banshee.

A warp opened, and they started running for it.

Delora stopped laughing, suddenly cold and angry.

“Running away? Oh, no, I think not. You hurt my children and you're going to suffer and die for it.” She told them, grabbing as many as she could with tendrils of shadow and breaking them apart with blunt force and extreme prejudice.

A few of them escaped, but the rest?

Massacred. Unidentifiable.

Delora started laughing again, on her knees in the dirt, her shadow body twitching and flickering.

“Come back to us.” Hizashi said softly, and Delora looked up at the camera.

“Come back. You did it. You saved them. Come back to us.” Hizashi told her again, and she whined as she fought her own body to become human again.

It hurt, switching forms, forcing herself back into a human body.

But she did it, for Hizashi.

She sank into the shadows, and appeared on the meeting table, gasping and twitching like she was having a seizure.

“It hurts!” She cried out, and Nedzu took her hand.

“I know. Breathe, little sister, it'll get easier. Just breathe and relax into the pain.” He told her softly, and she sobbed into his fur.

“Dela, you alright?” One of the strangers asked, one covered in scars and staples.

Delora took a few gasping breaths, before she nodded.

“I'm okay, Dabi.” She managed to grit out, pain coursing through her whole body as she sat up.

“Who are they? They came with the League, but didn't hurt us.” Kendo asked, and Delora gave a bloody smile.

“My daughter. And the final piece of my court case against Endeavour.” She mumbled, before she fainted and hit the table once more.

****

The room was a blur of movement and confusion after that particular revelation, especially from Shouto who had immediately moved to talk to the blonde girl (her name was Toga Himiko, apparently), asking about how she'd met their mom.

The girl had beamed, glad that no one at least seemed to be upset at her existence (that's new for her, Dabi knows, and he takes her hand in comfort), and began to speak.

She tells them of her quirk, and how her parents hadn't liked it. How they'd locked her up and starved her (because she cannot survive without blood, actual food is nice but she needs blood to live) and called her a monster. How she'd escaped through the window, bloody from beatings, and had accepted that she would simply die in a dirty alleyway.

She told them that she'd have preferred that death to one by the hands of her birth parents. She didn't notice the angry and sorrowful looks exchanged by the staff and students around her, rage filling them on behalf of the girl.

Then Delora had found her. Had picked her up, not minding the blood and dirt on her, had taken off the muzzle that had been forced on her (and oh, Shinsou was angry because he had also been abused like that and no one deserved it). Hadn't even blinked when the girl, starving and delirious, had sank her teeth into her arm and drank deeply from her.

How the woman had cleaned her up, gave her clothes, hadn't minded the bite, and had told her she wasn't a monster.

How she'd held her after nightmares and had kissed her forehead before she went to sleep. How she'd made sure the girl had access to blood at all times.

How Delora had adopted her.

Then she spoke of how she'd heard of the League and had been offered a place. Of how Delora had sat her down and told her of what the League had done, how they'd hurt her students.

Toga told them of how she'd joined the League, not as a member, but as a spy and an informant for her mother, with her shadow being monitored at all times for danger. Of how Delora knew the League would attack again, and how she'd wanted some of her people there to make sure the odds were in favour of the students.

Toga was out of breath when she finished, and blinked when Shouto held a wrist out in front of her.

“Drink. You look thirsty. We're siblings now, right?”

Himiko cried, being careful to avoid major veins and arteries and trying to be gentle as she drank from the boy.

No one blinked, or startled, or had an issue. Vlad King's quirk involved blood too. Her quirk was just part of her, and Himiko seemed like a very sweet girl.

Then it was Dabi’s turn, and he looked deeply uncomfortable.

“It can wait until Delora has awoken, if you'd like.” Nedzu offered, but the man had taken a deep breath, and huffed out a laugh as Toga took his hand as he'd taken hers.

He told them about his father, Endeavour. He told them about how he'd almost died when the man had pushed him too hard, trying to force the boy into being the perfect hero to combat All Might. He told them how his body was made for an ice quirk he didn't have. How he'd burnt and had woken up with no memories. How he'd gained his memories back and had been obsessed with revenge.

How Delora had quite literally knocked some sense into him, telling him that killing Endeavour now would only make him into a martyr. How Delora had grinned and promised to demolish everything his father had stood for if he joined her side.

He told them of how she'd asked him to join the League, to protect Himiko and for the same reason as the girl herself had joined. To make sure that the students would be safe.

Then the man finally looked at Shouto, who was staring with wide eyes, and apologised.

“I'm so sorry that I wasn't able to stop him from hurting you.” He told his brother, who swallowed hard.

Shouto regretted gaining emotional intelligence - he wouldn't be crying if he'd still been living in a detached daydream.

“It's not okay. But one day, it might be.” Shouto decided to say, and was rewarded by a pale hand running shakily through his hair.

Delora had awakened sometime during the interim.

“Mom, are you okay now?” Himiko asked in a small voice, and Delora smiled at the girl.

“I'm alright, sweetheart. Are you okay?” She asked, sitting up with help from Hizashi.

She couldn't look at them, Hizashi and Shouta, not yet. Logically, she knew they'd probably not stop loving her for what they'd seen her do in defence of them and their students.

Anxiety, however, was a bitch.

“Mhm! Shouto let me drink from him! No one hurt me for it!” Himiko said happily, and everyone felt a distinct sense of sorrow for the girl.

How sad it was that she seemed to genuinely be overjoyed that no one had beaten her bloody for eating what her body required.

“Good, because I'd have murdered them if they had.” Delora said with a smile, still a little too wide to be human, still settling into her body again.

“How about everyone go to the cafeteria? After all of that excitement, I think we could all do with some hot chocolate and cookies. Let's go find Lunch Rush, hm?” Midnight told the students, some of them still shaking with adrenaline, some still afraid.

Slowly, the kids trailed out, though not before each of them stopped near Delora and thanked her for saving them.

She waved it off. It was her job to protect them.

Soon it was only Delora, Nedzu, Shouto, Shouta, Himiko, Shinsou, Hizashi and Oboro left.

“Are you alright, sister?” Nedzu asked, and Delora made a face.

“Settling back into a human body is always painful. It'll take a few days before it fades entirely, but I'm alright.” She told her brother, who smiled at her and patted her hand with a small paw.

“Come, Oboro, we should give them some space.”

Nedzu and Oboro left.

And then there were six.

Delora wouldn't look at either of her lovers, instead fussing over Himiko and Shouto, both of whom looked secretly thrilled about it.

“Delora, love? Can you look at us, please?” Shouta asked, and Delora froze. Shouta didn't sound angry, or hateful.

He sounded gentle, the same way he did when they were winding down to sleep and he was whispering how much he loved her.

An encouraging nod from Himiko made her look at them, her face twisting into the look of someone expecting to be hit in the face.

It broke their hearts.

“You protected them. Protected me.” Shouta told her, and she swallowed against the lump in her throat.

She was not going to cry. She was not going to cry.

“I killed several people, and laughed while I did it.” She said, voice hoarse, and Hizashi chuckled.

“I'd have done the same, if they'd come near you or the kids.” He told her, pressing soft kisses to her hair as he pulled her into his arms.

Delora looked up at him, surprised, and Hizashi gave her a wink.

“You would?” She dared to ask, and the man nodded. He was entirely serious.

“I'd have screamed at a frequency that turned their organs into scrambled eggs.” He promised, and she slumped against him.

“You saved us.” Shouta reassured her, and she whined softly.

“But you saw-”

“We saw you. You, who protects what she cares for with blood and fire and brimstone. We saw you, who loves so fiercely that it sometimes burns you alive. We saw you, unwilling to let a single person get hurt. You were ethereal, and we love you. The form you take doesn't change that.” Shouta told her, pushing away his embarrassment at saying this in front of his son and his girlfriend's two children.

(Their children, as soon as they were ready for him to be their dad. And even if that never happened, they were still his kids in his eye, because they deserved a family and happiness. And also because he was arse over tit in love with their mom, as was his husband.)

Delora sobbed, and the two men pulled her into their arms.

“We love you, no matter what.” Hizashi promised, and Delora couldn't help but kiss him, and then Shouta.

“Now, let's go and get some hot chocolate, talk to the police about this whole shitshow, and then go home and eat enough takeout that we feel sick. Preferably while watching The Great British Bake Off.” Shouta said, helping Delora off the desk and steadying her when she swayed.

“Can we come?” Himiko asked, heartbreakingly shy, and Hizashi ruffled her hair.

“Of course, you're family now, kid.” Hizashi told her easily, and Himiko beamed.

“Can we get Thai food?” Shinsou asked, and Delora smiled at him.

“Absolutely, sweetheart.”

“Thanks, mom.” He said, then went so red that it looked like steam was about to come out of his ears.

Delora kissed his forehead, giving him enough time to back away if he didn't want the affection, and smiled.

“Three kids, and we aren't even married.” She teased Shouta and Hizashi, who snorted a laugh.

“C'mon, let's get this shitshow over with so we can have a sleepover in the living room.” Hizashi laughed, leading them to the door.

Chapter Text

They got home hours later, exhausted from talking to Tsukauchi about the events of the camp.

They crashed on the couches, tired to the bone, eating their Thai food that Shinsou had requested with gusto.

A movie played in the background, though none of them were paying it much attention. Shinsou and Shouto were tossing a ball back and forth lazily, maintaining eye contact in the most extreme staring contest ever, sometimes their lips twitching as they tried not to smile.

Himiko sat in front of Hizashi, where the man was braiding her hair for her and telling her about his latest radio show segment.

Shouta, Oboro and Delora were curled together, their legs tangled, while Delora told Oboro softly about their family.

There was a knock at the door, startling them all, and Delora frowned.

She opened the door and swore under her breath when she saw Pubert there. Alone.

“Sweetheart, how did you get here?” She asked softly, picking him up.

He sniffled, rubbing his teary eyes, and whined.

“Shadows took me. Bad feeling.” He mumbled into her shoulder, and Delora sighed as she rocked him back and forth in her arms.

“Do mother and father know that you're here?” She asked him, and he shook his head.

“Hurt?” He asked, pointing at her, and she blinked at him.

“Himiko, will you please crystal-ball my mother and tell her that Pubert is here? Tell her his instincts are kicking in. She'll know what that means.” She asked her daughter, who nodded and went to do so.

“He travelled from America to here?” Hizashi asked, knowing that the extended Addams family had returned to America after they were sure that Delora and Oboro were okay after Delora had brought the boy back.

“Am I in trouble?” Pubert asked, blinking sleepily, and Delora hushed him softly.

“No, of course not, darling. You couldn't help it, your instincts told you to find me.” She told him, and he tilts his head.

“What does that mean?”

Delora sighed, moving to settle him on the couch, aware that everyone was now paying attention.

Himiko came back into the room with a smile, saying that Morticia had been told and was happy that the boy had at least come to Delora, instead of ending up somewhere random and unsafe.

“Banshees are pack creatures, sweetheart. We thrive when being around each other. Your instincts told you to find someone like you, and they took you to me.” She explained to him gently, and he frowned.

“Pack?” He asked, and Delora hummed to him, thinking over her words.

“We aren't human, little brother. Being around humans is good, and they can even become pack. The people in this room are people I count as part of my pack. But we take comfort in each other, especially when we're small, like you are.” She told him, the words feeling inadequate, but she had no idea how else to word it.

“Who helped you when you were small?” Pubert asked, and Delora inhaled a sharp breath.

“I was unlucky, darling. I didn't have anyone like us to go to. But that's okay, because I have a pack now, and I have an adorable little brother who's just like me!” She told him, tickling him and making him laugh and squirm.

“Bedtime?” He asked through a yawn, and Delora smiled.

“Bedtime. Let's get you tucked in, hm?” She scooped him up again, leaving to take him to one of the guest rooms, leaving their audience gaping.

“I didn't know that.” Oboro said softly, and they all nodded. None of them did. For all that Delora could talk, she rarely said anything about herself.

“Do you think…we could do something? To be better pack members?” Shouto asked softly, and they frowned.

“We don't even know what a pack does, really. We'd need to ask Delora, and she's rather hard to get information out of.” Shouta said, and Himiko grinned.

“No she isn't! We just have to frame it as a game. Like 20 questions.” She told them, and Shinsou snorted a laugh.

“You think she'd play that with us?”

Shouto smiled, and nodded.

“That might work. Mom is competitive, if we frame it as a game with stakes, such as having to do a dare if she doesn't answer, she'll probably play.”

Delora entered the room to six people grinning at her, and got a weird chill down her spine.

“Mom! Can we play truth or dare?” Himiko asked, and Delora groaned.

She's going to regret this, she should definitely say no.

“Bet I can beat you.” Hizashi said slyly, and she narrowed her eyes.

Now, that sort of cockiness just wouldn't do.

“Fuck it. Let's play.”

****

“Tell us about what it means to be pack?”

They'd played the game for a while before starting with that line of questioning, not wanting to scare the woman off.

Instead, Shinsou had waited until the woman had let her guard down before springing the question on her.

The shadows thrashed a little behind her, almost acting like a cat's tail, swaying when she was annoyed or scared. She tensed, before she huffed out a sigh and gave them a knowing look.

“All this just so I'll talk?” She gave them an unimpressed look, and Hizashi shrugged.

“You don't really talk about yourself much.” He said, and she nodded, that was true.

“For the record, if you or Shouta had just asked, I'd have told you.” She told him, and Oboro snorted a laugh.

“Oh yeah! Mother mentioned that Addams can't lie to their lovers very well, I forgot.” He teased, and Delora narrowed her eyes.

“One day, you're going to fall victim to the curse and I'm gonna laugh my ass off at you.” She told him, and he shrugged.

“It isn't gonna happen anytime soon, so I'm okay with that.”

Delora rolled her eyes and sighed, rubbing her temples as if warding off a migraine.

“Pack is basically family. It's the people you choose to have by your side. It's the ones you go to for protection or comfort, it's the ones that you feel safe to eat with, or to change forms with.” She told them, and they nodded.

“So we're your pack?” Hizashi asked, and Delora smiled and nodded.

“I trust each of you.” She said softly, and they all felt touched at the display.

“Is there anything we can do? To be better pack members?” Shouto asked, and Delora ran a hand through his hair.

“You're already doing an excellent job. You make sure I'm okay, cuddle me when I need it, make sure I'm eating and make sure I sleep a decent amount. It's basically just acting like family, and we do that already.” She told them, and Shouta leant over to press a soft kiss to her temple.

A rumbling purr echoes through the room, and Delora blushes bright red while Hizashi grinned.

“You can purr?!” He exclaimed gleefully, moving to crush the woman in his arms and press kisses across her face while the woman thrashed and fought back the purr building in her chest. The shadows pried Hizashi off her while the man laughed, going limp in the hold before pulling away.

“Yes, I can purr. It's embarrassing.” She grumbled, but she smiled when Himiko curled up against her side, the purr starting up again when Himiko rubbed down her back comfortingly.

“That's so cool.” Shinsou said, no trace of mockery in his tone, and Delora grinned.

“What about mates? You called Sensei your mate when you were fighting the League.” Shouto asked, and Delora choked on her own breath.

“I did what?” She squeaked, moving to hide her face in her hands.

“You did say that. I wasn't going to bring it up.” Shouta told her with a grin, and she groaned and slumped to lay back on the floor.

“That's so embarrassing. Being a banshee is so embarrassing. I want to cancel my subscription.” She said, causing the kids to laugh while Hizashi cackled.

“You don't have to tell us.” Shouta told her gently, and she sat up again with a huff.

“Might as well. We've already covered packs, might as well talk about mates.” She grumbled unhappily, but her lips were twitching as she fought back a smile.

“Banshees have a mate. Or mates, in my case. People we love and want to spend our lives with. Much like the Addams Curse, we mate for life.” She said quietly, refusing to look at Shouta and Hizashi.

Hizashi tilted her chin up and let her see the smile on his face.

“So Shouta and I are your mates?” He asked, and Delora nodded.

“If you want to be.” She said, unable to stop herself from giving them an out, even if them taking it might kill her.

“How many times do we have to tell you that we love you, and nothing is going to change that? We love you, you idiot. No matter what form you take, and we're happy to be your mates.” Shouta told her, and she flushed pink again.

“I-ah, that's good!” She said, moving to hide her face in Hizashi's shoulder until her blush faded.

“This is so sweet. I'm going to get cavities.” Oboro drawled cheekily, then swore when Himiko slapped the back of his head.

“Hush! Mom and dads are having a moment!” She told him, and then her eyes went wide as she realised what she'd said.

“Dads?” Shouta asked her gently, and she swallowed hard.

“Y-yeah. I mean, if you want. You're nice to mom, and she loves you. Hizashi braids my hair for me and none of you are mean about my quirk!” She said quietly, and everyone took a moment to breathe through their anger at Himiko’s birth parents.

Basic human decency, and it's a wonderful thing to Himiko because she'd never had it before.

“I always wanted a daughter.” Hizashi said, and Himiko’s eyes brimmed with tears.

“C’mere, kid.” Shouta said, opening his arms for the girl, and Himiko almost knocked him over with the force that she dived at him.

“Are they my dads too?” Shouto asked, and Delora pulled away from Hizashi to give him an achingly soft look.

“That's up to you, sweetheart. Do you want them to be?”

Shouto frowned, thinking it over.

“Himiko calls them dad. So does Shinsou. If they're my siblings, doesn't that mean they're my dads?” He asked, and Delora moved to kiss the boy's forehead.

“You're an Addams now, sweetheart. We choose our family. Do you trust them? Do you love them? Do you think they'd be good to you? Those are the only things that matter.” She told him, and he frowned deeper.

“I think…I think I want them to be my dads.” He said after a long silence, and he looked with a blank face at the two men.

They'd had more time to get to know Shouto, and they saw the blank mask for what it was. A defence against pain, against rejection. His eyes showed hope and fear in equal measure, and it broke their hearts.

Once again, Hizashi thinks he wants to murder Enji Todoroki.

“We’d love to have you as one of our sons.” He told Shouto, who gave a short noise that might have been an aborted sob, before he dived at Hizashi.

Delora smiled, teary eyed, watching her kids hug their dads.

Shinsou nudged her, not looking at her, and she huffed a chuckle.

“C'mere, kiddo.”

She hugged the boy, motioning for Oboro to join.

This, she thought, was what made everything worth it.

****

A few days later, they were startled again by a knock at the door.

Pubert wasn't there anymore, Delora had taken him back to the Addams Manor in America a few days ago, and was still somewhat recovering from the exertion.

Shouto opened the door and stopped dead when he saw Fuyumi and Natsuo.

They stared at him, dressed in purple Mt Lady sweatpants and his obnoxiously yellow Present Mic hoodie that the man had teased him relentlessly over, and he stared back.

“Shouto, who is it, love?” Delora asked, moving to see what had made the boy freeze.

“Ah. Do you want them to come inside? Or should we have this talk in the garden?” She asked him, and Shouto swallowed hard.

“Inside.” He managed to get out before running inside, unable to look at his siblings.

Delora ushered the two elder Todoroki’s into the living room, civil politeness directing them to sit and offering them something to drink.

Both of them said yes to tea, and Hizashi went to make it before Delora could ask.

Shouto would want Delora here for this talk, when he came back.

“So, Shouto lives here now?” Natsuo asks, and Delora nods.

She couldn't decide if she hated the two older Todoroki's or not. Yes, they were raised in an awful situation. But also, there had been no indication of them trying to help Shouto.

It would all depend on this meeting.

“He does.” She agreed, not giving them any more information. It was up to Shouto if he wanted them to know anything.

The boy slinked back into the room with his All Might plushie (Small Might, he'd named it with a grin), moving to curl into Delora's side on the couch.

“Hi, Yumi, Nat.” He said softly, and the two give him weak smiles.

“Hi, Shouto. We came to check on you.” Fuyumi said softly, and Shouto frowned.

“Why?” He asked, face blank. Delora never knew how much she'd hated that blank mask until she saw it again in full force.

“You haven't been home for a while.” Natsuo said, and Shouto nodded.

“Yes, I live here now.” He said, and the two siblings exchanged a look.

Delora noticed Himiko, Oboro and Hitoshi (he'd asked them to call him that after their cuddle pile in the living room) edging their way into the room, on high alert to keep their brother/self-proclaimed nephew safe.

“Yes, we know. We just want to know why. And check in on you, make sure you're safe.” Natsuo said, eying the people in the room.

Delora inhaled sharply, fighting down her anger at the words.

They wanted to check on Shouto when he was here? When he was safe? Had they ever checked in when he was being beaten bloody in their own home?

Shouto had no such reservations about being angry, and he glared at them.

“Why? We lived in the same house for my whole life. You knew what Enji was doing, and you never checked on me then. I came here after dad had burnt me and almost broke my ribs because I told him I didn't want to be a spotlight hero. Mo-Delora looked after me. She kept me safe where everyone else failed. Including both of you.” He spat, suddenly furious, and both of his siblings reared back as if he'd hit them.

Fuyumi’s eyes brimmed with tears, and Natsuo was pale.

“We're sorry. We failed you. We have no excuse. I'm happy you have somewhere you feel safe.” Natsuo whispered, and Delora rubbed a soothing hand up and down Shouto's back while the boy shook angrily.

“I’m happy here. I get to play games and the training doesn't hurt! Delora bought me soft toys and lets me eat whenever I'm hungry. She hugs me when I want a hug and doesn't push me to train every single minute of the day! She's more my mom than Rei ever was! Himiko and Hitoshi are better siblings than you ever were. They'd fight for me! And you never did.” Shouto broke, sobbing like he was dying, and Delora brought him into her arms, holding him tight.

Fuyumi was sobbing, and Natsuo was tearing up too.

“I know. We failed you. I'm so sorry. We let our fear of Father keep us away from you, and we were complicit in his abuse. But we do love you Shouto. And if you wish it, we'd love to get to know you. And your new family.” Fuyumi sobbed, sliding to her knees on the floor and settling there in front of Shouto.

Shouto shook in Delora's arms, and the woman looked like she was going to cry herself.

Her son didn't deserve to hurt like this.

Hizashi entered with the tea, setting it on the table before moving to press a kiss to Shouto's hair, smiling when the boy stuck out a hand to hold onto his.

Fuyumi and Natsuo watched Shouto calm in the arms of others, watching a soft smile grace his lips.

Yeah, this place was good for him. Better than their home could ever be. And that hurt, but this was about Shouto. Anywhere that made him happy was good.

“I think I'd like that.” He said softly, letting Fuyumi take his hand, and the girl sobbed out her thanks before wiping her eyes.

“How about you introduce us to your new family, hm?” Natsuo said, clearing his throat and wiping his own eyes.

“Okay.” Shouto said, untangling himself from Delora and Hizashi, and moving to introduce his birth siblings to his chosen ones.

Fuyumi stopped by Delora for a minute.

“I'll give my support for you to have custody of him, at the trial. Thank you for loving him.” She whispered, and Delora smiled.

“He's very easy to love. You've got a second chance. Don't waste it.”

“We won't.” Fuyumi swore, before following Shouto to where Himiko and Oboro were eying Natsuo up and down.

“Should we, like, help make sure the kids don't murder them?” Hizashi asked softly, and Delora smirked.

“Absolutely not.”

No one died, but both the Todoroki siblings left with a chill in their bones after three very intense warnings not to hurt Shouto from the boys’ new siblings and uncle.

Chapter Text

The next week was a blur of legal proceedings.

The court case was ready, and Delora was confident that it would go well. She'd put too much effort into it for it to go any other way.

Dabi had gone to register the fact that he was alive, and was going to testify against Endeavour. He'd had blood work done to confirm his identity, and was all but frothing at the mouth to help take his abuser down.

They'd had several visits from a social worker, a lovely woman named Ito Sakura who insisted they call her by her first name. The woman had a kind smile and a quirk that allowed for her to take samples of someone's memories and put them onto disks - a quirk handy for her profession.

It was decided that Shouto wouldn't attend most of the trial, for his own mental health, and instead met alone with detectives and Sakura to give his testimony.

He'd been nervous at first, scared that the woman would take him away from Delora, but the woman had smiled at him and promised she wouldn't.

“Now, I need to take some memories for the court case. Take your time, but please think of incidents where you believe your father was abusing you.” She'd told him gently, her heart aching for the boy who just looked so small against the sofa he was sitting on in her office, clutching his All Might plush for dear life.

And it began. His earliest memories of his father screaming at him. Burns across his body. Concussions that his father refused to take him to a hospital for. Doctors who were paid to keep quiet after they healed him when his father had broken his arm, or burnt him too badly.

For hours, they stopped and started to soothe Shouto down from a panic attack.

Eventually, they got to the memory of the incident that had sent him running to Delora.

Of how he'd said he wanted to be an underground hero, to help people, to save people who were otherwise forgotten by spotlight heroes. Of how Enji had lost his temper and had beaten the boy with flames and fists until he'd blacked out. How he'd climbed from the window and ran to Delora's house and had all but collapsed in her doorway. How she'd cared for him, how she'd healed him and promised that she would keep him safe. How she'd used her emergency foster license to keep him from having to go back.

By the end, Sakura looked pale and sick, a pile of disks across the table in front of her, and her heart broken for the boy.

“You did so well, Shouto-kun. You're alright now. Do you want me to call for Addams?” She asked softly, and he nodded.

Delora swept into the room a minute later, bringing the boy into her arms and humming to him softly.

“You're okay. You did it. You did so well.” She told him, and he sobbed.

“Mom.” He got out, and she shushed him gently.

“You're safe. I'm here.”

Sakura watched, and she knew she'd tell the court that Delora Addams was the correct person to raise Shouto.

*****

The judge wasn't happy. The memories played to the court were visceral and showed cruelty towards a child that she'd never thought she'd see from the Number Two Hero.

Dabi, or Todoroki Touya as he was called during the court proceedings, sat now far away, glaring daggers at his father.

His own memories played, and several members of the jury looked sick at the display.

Enji sat and raged, but said nothing. His lawyer couldn't defend him from this, nothing could.

The truth will always come out, and here it was.

The judge called for a break, and asked the three older Todoroki siblings to come to her office.

Fuyumi had been crying for hours now, unable to look away like she always had when the abuse was laid out before her eyes.

“Who do each of you believe is best for Shouto to live with?” He asked, and Fuyumi sobbed.

“Delora Addams. She was there for him when I couldn't be. He has a home, a family that's good to him. He smiles. I've…I've never seen him smile before, other than when we visited him at his new home.” She said through tears, and the judge nodded.

“Delora. She's the best person to care for him.” Natsuo said through gritted teeth, so tired of being angry at their father, but what else was he supposed to feel after watching all of that?

“Addams. She's kind, and patient. She's good to him. None of us are emotionally or mentally equipped to look after him. He calls her mom, and he loves her. Taking him away from her would destroy him. All of us have failed him, but she hasn't. Delora should have custody of him.” Dabi rasped out, taking Fuyumi’s hand while she shook.

****

Shouto was present for the end of the case, at his own insistence. He needed to know, needed to see what happened.

The media had been wild for the case, several pro-heroes and influential families (such as the Iida's and the Yaoyorozu’s) giving their support to Delora after their children had told them about what had been happening to their friend. Nedzu, several social workers, and Detective Tsukauchi also gave their support for Delora, and their condemnation to Enji.

The judge called on him, and he blinked.

“I want you to have some choice in this, Shouto. Who do you want to live with?” He asked gently, and Shouto inhaled deeply.

“I want to stay with Delora. With my mom. She's nice to me, and she's never hurt me. She protects me, and she bought me my first ever soft toy. She lets me eat whenever I'm hungry and she plays games with me. I have a sister and a brother there, and two dads who love me too. I want to stay with them.” He told the court, holding tight to Small Might, that he'd been allowed to bring in with him.

There was another hour of legal talk before the gavel hit the desk, and the judge gave his verdict.

“I award custody of Shouto to Delora Addams. She is the best fit to raise him, along with her partners, and he loves them. I sentence Todoroki Enji to twenty years in prison without eligibility for parole, and his hero license to be stripped from him.”

There was a silence, and then cheers rose out from the jury, and Delora rushed through the stands to pull Shouto into a warm hug, quickly followed by Hizashi and Shouta.

Enji raged, flames flying across the now-burning desk, and he moved towards them. To hurt them, or scream at them, no one knew.

All they saw was shadows reaching out and slamming him to the floor while he thrashed, holding him in place for the security guards to force quirk-suppressing cuffs onto him.

“Do not ever try to hurt my son again.” Delora growled, shielding Shouto and her mates with her body and shadows, hissing like a feral cat.

Enji was dragged away, and they were free to go.

Shouto stopped by Fuyumi, Natsuo and Dabi, wringing his hands before speaking.

“We're having a party tomorrow, to celebrate. Will you come?” He asked, and they each gave a wobbly smile.

“Of course, Shouto.”

****

They got home, exhausted from the long day and the emotional wreckage they'd all been, smiling when they saw that Himiko, Oboro and Hitoshi had ordered food for when they got back.

“You're blessings unto mankind.” Hizashi tells them dramatically, almost diving face first into a slice, before spitting it out.

“This has pineapple on! Who is the heathen who likes pineapple on pizza?” He asks with a gasp, and each of them pointed at Oboro.

“It's good!” He defends, stealing the slice from Hizashi and munching on it pointedly.

“Gross!” Himiko says, drizzling blood on her pizza.

“Is that good?” Delora asks, and shrugs when offered a slice of the bloody pizza.

“Huh. Not the worst thing I've eaten.” She says, but places the slice back on Himiko's plate.

“Meat feast is the best flavour.” Hitoshi argues, and Shouto hisses like a cat.

“Wrong. It's clearly the vegetarian special.” He said, grabbing a piece covered in peppers, mushrooms and olives.

“You're all wrong. A plain cheese and tomato pizza is the best. You can't beat a classic.” Shouta said, grabbing his own pizza.

“Boring.” Delora teases him, and Shouta grins.

“You weren't saying that last night when-”

Delora slaps a hand over his mouth, blushing red.

“Not in front of the kids!” She hissed, and Shouta laughed.

“They're sixteen, they know what sex is.” He says, pushing her hand away.

“They don't need to know the details.” Hizashi squeaks, and the kids nod in agreement.

“We love you all, but gross, and thank fuck that mom's room is soundproofed.” Hitoshi says gravely through a mouthful of pizza.

They spent the night bickering playfully, playing Uno (where Shouto screamed in rage and threw a cushion at Hizashi, who was grinning as he showed a +4), and watching Tangled at Shouto's insistence.

They were home, and Shouto was finally free.