{~Deku one-shots with angst~}

The Right to Judge (Prohibited.)

A/N: Hi, sorry for the little wait, but I'm back! One last update before school starts again xx

This is a gift for okayantigone on AO3, for their series 'the bridges you burn'! Please check it out! Link: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2327492

Hope you enjoy!

AU: Midoriya Izuku is the leader of the Hero Commission. It's no ideal, but what choice did he ever have? And what right did others have to judge.

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"Hello Eri. It's nice to see you again." Midoriya smiled thinly, closing his eyes- so alike to the smiles of the past, the days where he could dream, where he could laugh- and did not miss the minute flinch from the teenager in front of her.

"Midoriya-senpai." Eri nodded, not unkindly, though fear sparked through every inch and cell of her.

The boy in her memory was once different, was once kind, gentle; she remembered how his touch had been oh-so affectionate but not pitying. Then he had told her about the programme the boy had worked in, before Dad had promptly kicked him out.

Back then, she had felt betrayed- so soon after a life of broken trust- at the thought that someone she had already felt comfortable with was taken from her once again. The pain of knowing that even thought she had escaped and was safe from Overhaul's painful hands- breaking her again and again, putting her back one piece gone each time- there was still no one she could fully trust.

And here the young man with the last remnants of her broken heart was, staring at her with those hollow, emerald eyes. The light seemed to be flickering in those eyes, long diminished but recently ignited once again.

Dad and Papa could've save those eyes, Eri thought. If those eyes had been seen before they'd succumbed to its own light, if this smile had been saved before it was cracked and distorted, if this heart had been healed before it was teared into shreds and dyed in helplessness.

She wondered if he could still be saved.

Alas, it wasn't...it wasn't her responsibility; there was nothing she could do. No matter how much she wanted to be a doctor, a hero in her own right... the President of the Hero Commission was just too unreachable.

"I hear you're doing very well in Somei Private!" Midoriya said, voice painfully positive, smile even more tense. "I hear you're aspiring to be a doctor?"

It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Underlying it, there was a sense of doubt, a belief that he didn't believe it was the suitable path for her.

But Eri was done with others' opinions; this was her future, and one she would decide, not someone else.

"Yep, I am!"

The lights in the gala felt too bright, the gorgeous silk of her dress felt too warm. She had been excited all week for this event, and yet she couldn't deny the urge to leave right there and then.

"I do have my doubts...your quirk is so amazing, Eri-chan! While being a doctor is a respectful career on its own, the Commission would pricelessly be able to help hone your abilities to its maximum advantages! Don't you think that would be so amazing?" Midoriya asked, tilting his head to the side; paired with his doe-like eyes, and short statue, he was the image of innocence.

Eri Aizawa-Yamada knew better.

The slyness in his smile, the cunningness in those eyes- it was like a trap, and Eri would be damned if she let herself fall into it.

"I understand, but-"

"Eri." a gruff but obviously affectionate voice spoke, and an instant wave of relief flooded over her, as she let her dad step in front of her, almost in a defensive stance.

"Oh, Aizawa. How nice to see you again." Midoriya speaks, voice so neutral and bland, but Eri can see it: anger. The rage as bright as a million little fires, burning bridges and illuminated by the water below. His anger was even more heated than Katsuki-senpai's.

What Eri can also see, is the anger in her Dad's eyes as well, burning just as intensely, if not more. A hurricane of blades and smoke, ready to strangle and suffocate.

"Midoriya. I thought I would've made it clear, but it seems I have not." Aizawa started, voice slowly turning into a growl-like sound. "Leave. My. Daughter. Alone."

"Have I done a thing of sin to have warranted such a reaction?" Midoriya laughed slightly, fingers flexing. "But the Commission will not give up when Eri could be such an important asset to us."

Asset.

That's what they thought of her- no, her quirk.

A tool, something to be used.

And hell, if she and her family was going to let that happen.

"I am not a tool to be used." Eri stated carefully, letting the bitter anger slowly trickle into her words. "I never will be."

"Well, of course-"

"How can you be so heartless?" Aizawa cut in, eyes glaring with all the venom he could possess. Eri saw the grenette flinch, just slightly, more like an exaggerated wince than anything else. A moment of hurt flashed across his perfectly balanced mask, but it was gone as fast as it had come, and Eri almost thought she imagined it.

In his rage, Aizawa didn't notice anything.

"How can you try and literally soldier a young teenager? She has a future, she has hope, she has aspirations! She does not need you to break them down as if it was nothing! You're a cold, pathetic leech who tries to take advantage of anyone and everyone!"

Silence reigned, as the three tried to process the words that Aizawa had just spat out, until it was broken by a quiet laughter, that started to grow hysterical.

Eri looked warily at Midoriya, and she felt her heart squeeze uncomfortably- was that guilt?- as the tears in his eyes shone like gems in contrast to his dark eyes.

"Future? Hope? Aspirations, you say...I had those once too, you know. I wanted to be a hero, more than anything in the whole, entire, f*cking world. Eri is lucky- she has someone like you, Eraserhead, who will help her build them back up if they come crashing down."

Before, Midoriya's expressions had seemed fairly bemused, as if he had the knowledge of far too many things despite his age.

Now, it looked solemn. It looked...like someone who had lost everything: heart-broken.

"I didn't have that. I never will. I may be a heartless, cold, sly, leech-" Aizawa flinched from his harsh wording, since despite his anger, he was still a bleeding heart. This Midoriya...he was no older than his own infamous Class 1-A. The young man could've been his student.

What went wrong? What could've been done?

"But this? This was the best thing I could've done to survive. And you have no right to criticise that." the President of the Hero Commission said, voice shaking slightly; Eri could tell how much effort he was using to try and keep his emotions under cover.

"Don't judge my decisions when you don't know my options."

Midoriya walked away coldly, in reminiscient of the last time he had talked to Aizawa, and the two Aizawa's share a gaze.

Another person lost to their society. Another person they could only wonder if they could've saved.

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A/N: Hope you enjoyed and till next time! I don't know if it was obvious, but the prompt for this chapter was 'Don't judge my decisions when you don't know my options', so I hope I nailed that! Once again, read okayantigone's series! I could've went for so many different characters here! Bakugou, All Might, Mirio...but in the end, I went for Eri!

Have a Plus Ultra day/night~!