1 Malleus, Incus, and Stapes

Something had changed.

Ochaco wasn't sure what it was, but Katsuki seemed... different. Not a bad kind of different, but different all the same. It was like he was happier. While it was kind of hard to tell with him, he definitely acted that way.

That wasn't what worried her, though.

While he was no doubt more content- if his increased patience and calmness were anything to go by- he also seemed more distant on some days. Like he was there physically, but not present mentally. She'd tell him something and he'd ask her to repeat it because he'd... spaced out.

It was weird.

Something changed between him and their teacher, too, she'd noticed. It was hidden in the brief lingering touches shared when they'd exchange papers. The longer stares, more smiling, more eye contact. Katsuki actually seemed more comfortable with openly badmouthing Dabi-Sensei and his classmates, like he wasn't afraid of getting in trouble anymore. And Dabi-Sensei let him- he even smiled when it happened like it was the most endearing thing in the world!

What was even worse was this change seemed to happen right after Katsuki had gone back to the school to grab the pencil pouch she'd forgotten. That was the night Tenya died and he'd been gone for over an hour. Ochaco didn't know what happened because whenever she asked, the blonde would shrug and say he got lost. Blatant lie aside, since she knew he studied and memorized the map of the school grounds, it was odd that he felt the need to lie about it to begin with. What did he know?

He wasn't very good at lying- which she could never tell him to his face no matter how she wanted to. It wouldn't have been obvious he was lying if the small furrow in his brows and the barely concealed quirk of his lips weren't things he never did together. If he'd gotten angry and shouted at her for questioning him- then she would have believed him because that's normal Katsuki behavior. But why did he smile when asked about the night Tenya died?

So in short, she suspected two things.

Dabi-Sensei and Katsuki were closer. They must be dating- or at least interested in each other. If she'd seen them kiss, which she hadn't (sadly), she'd be more certain. But for now, it was merely speculation. She still shipped it, though. Dabi-Sensei was really nice (most of the time, anyway, sometimes he was almost vindictive. But everybody had their moments, she supposed) and Katsuki had been very depressed with all the murders that had happened, so she was glad he got himself some support system- even if it was unconventional and illegal. Katsuki was an adult, he could take care of himself.

Secondly, Katsuki either knew something she didn't, or was entirely blocking out the recent occurrence. It made sense when she thought about it. He was happy for the first time in months, why ruin that?

While his change in behavior was alarming- since really, a week prior he'd been spacing out all the time thinking about the murders- it still made her glad to see. Yeah, he was still spacing out, but it was clearly about something different now. The fact he didn't want to talk about it with her was fine, too. Sure, they were good friends, but she'd been lying to him as well.

Ochaco had told him she didn't blame herself for Tsu's murder. She lied. No matter how many therapists she sees, and how many sessions she attends, she's still stuck on the what-ifs of that night. What if she'd walked her home? What if she left earlier? What if she left later? What if they did the project at Tsu's house, instead? What if she spent the night instead of walking home alone? What if I could have done something that would ensure she was still alive today?

So yeah, she'd lied to him. She had not recovered from her girlfriend's death and she doubted that she ever would. Survivor's guilt sucked, but most of the class had it at this point. The empty seats taunted them silently and they would continue to do so until the day they graduated. She'd even done good to remove the patches of red spider lilies popping up in her yard with the season (they were dying out now that it was late October, luckily). The death omen was only bad if one let it linger, right?

That's what she thought, anyway. Tenya died later on either way.

If somebody told her that her final year in high school was the year she'd lose her girlfriend and one of her best friends, she doesn't know if she would've believed them.

Ochaco thoughtlessly picked at the stray threads of her Sailor Moon pencil case from where it sat at the corner of her desk. It was a bad habit to have if she wanted the bag to last, but she couldn't help herself. Recent events made her terribly anxious, and was that really so wrong?

Twirling a strand of her brown hair with a finger, she decided to ask Katsuki in art class. It was difficult to reach him otherwise between classes and his… recent behavior, but art was a pretty lenient class. Among Toga-San's erratic teaching method and the hands-off style Dabi-Sensei took on when he sat in the corner for that period, it was easy to convene with friends.

So she did exactly that. She barely focused on the lesson- because while it was an English class, they covered a lot of American literature, too, and right now they were covering literature about McCarthyism and The Salem Witch Hunts. First, they read Half-Hanged Mary, like, a week ago (before Katsuki started acting weird, but that didn't mean anything). Dabi-Sensei claimed it was one of his favorite poems, talking about kindred spirits and whatnot. He was weird like that. It was nice. Now they were doing their own rendition of The Crucible.

The hilarity of the theatrics aside, the characters were well-cast. Yuga took it upon himself to play Abigail when it was revealed to him that she was dramatic. Dabi-Sensei gave them all short descriptions of the characters, including saying Giles Corey was funny. Ochaco flipped through the script and she couldn't find any evidence of him being funny, but the praise was enough for Denki to volunteer himself for the role. Hanta decided to be Thomas Putnam since those two apparently get along. Katsuki decided to be John Proctor since- supposedly- the man argues with those two all the time.

Ochaco was playing Mary Warren. Kyoka wanted to play Tituba, for whatever reason. Shinso decided to play Reverend Parris for the extra credit since he had a lot of talking to do in Act One. Momo volunteered to play the part of Elizabeth Proctor, John's wife. Shouto made the executive decision to play Betty Parris, the little girl.

The rest of the roles weren't as well-cast. Mashirao ended up as Judge Danforth, Izuku chose Judge Hathorne, Toru played Reverend Hale, Koji was Rebecca Nurse, Rikido was Francis Nurse, and Mezo took on the burden of voicing everybody else. Well, almost everybody. Toga-San revealed she'd be there more often since her other job was on a break (Dabi-Sensei looked skeptical when she said this) and asked to play Sarah Good. She wasn't an important character by far but she still seemed to want the role. Their teacher scowled, tattoos and piercings twisting with the movement, but sighed and relented anyway.

Her suspicions of a secret relationship only increased when Abigail (Yuga) was actively flirting with and talking dirty to John Proctor (Katsuki) towards the end of Act One. The entire time, Dabi-Sensei seemed to be struggling to keep a straight face while Yuga had to verbally come on to Katsuki. He stopped trying when he thought nobody was looking, and Ochaco caught glimpses of jealousy in the set of his features. Toga-San quietly cooed and poked fun at him when that happened. Ochaco thought it was absolutely adorable.

The brunette wished Katsuki would tell her about it. She wanted to know everything. She would support him wholeheartedly, of course. But for now, with it still being a secret, she would only give her support from afar and within her mind. He didn't trust her enough to tell her yet, and that was fine. She understood and would give him time.

…It didn't count as pushing for information if she just expressed concern about his behavior though, right? No, not at all. She just wanted to know why he'd been such a space cadet lately. Exude vibes of warmth and acceptance. Nope, not pushing at all. If he just happened to tell her because she was so welcoming and amicable, then so be it. Nope, she wasn't even nudging him!

Which was why Ochaco silently pleaded with the clock to go faster. Art was the next class! It was so close yet so far! She screamed internally. When the bell finally rang, she practically leaped out of her seat and haphazardly threw all her things together, marching into the art room.

"Woah, Ochaco, got somewhere to be?" Denki joked as she strutted past him.

If she were a lesser person, she would've ignored him. She was a (wo)man on a mission, after all. But alas, she couldn't ignore a friend, "I'm just really excited for what we're doing in art today!"

Toga-San smiled brightly from where she was apparently walking beside them, "Yay! It's going to be so fun, I have something really nice planned!"

When they settled, Ochaco not so much- nearly vibrating out of her seat, actually- the blonde explained. They were to pick three symbols to combine into one logo that they thought represented them best. She gave them each three sheets; a sheet listing animals/animal parts and their symbolic meaning, a sheet listing flowers/plants/herbs and their symbolic meaning, and a sheet listing inanimate objects with their symbolic meaning.

"-Now, I recommend you pick one from each list to balance each other out, but it's up to you! Just make them super cute!" Toga-San clapped her hands together, a sinewy grin splitting her face in half.

Even Dabi-Sensei looked interested, studying the sheets. He didn't have to do the assignment, he was a teacher after all, but it seemed he wanted to anyway.

Denki also took note of this, sidling up to him like he always tended to do when he wanted something.

"So… Dabi-Sensei, what are you gonna draw?" He was clearly fishing for ideas. Ochaco held back a giggle as she looked at her own list. She supposed she would draw a heart filled with gears, a few missing, with white roses sprouting through each cog. Representing how her love was broken but she accepted that fact.

Dabi-Sensei looked at the blonde, thoroughly unimpressed, "Why do you need to know?"

"Well, you're pretty smart, so I figured you might have a really cool or good idea," He chirped happily.

He sighed, "I'm drawing a phoenix that is holding a silver wedding band, flying over a field of red spider lilies."

The brunette turned her head to where Katsuki was blushing furiously. Yep, definitely a relationship there. Screw speculation, it was so obvious. Now, if she could just ask…

Denki blinked, pulling out his lists and studying them momentarily, mumbling each meaning as he found it, "Rebirth, binding love, and death… uh… yeah, I don't get it."

"You will someday."

Her classmate looked unconvinced, "A wedding band, you say… oh! Did you fall in lo~ve?" He smiled sinisterly with his realization.

"That is none of your business," Their teacher side-eyed him before grinning, "But yes. Yes, I did."

Ochaco tried hard not to stare at Katsuki more with this admission.

Denki gasped scandalously and the rest of the class pretended like they weren't eavesdropping. Besides from Shouto, anyway- he was making it very clear that he was listening in. Before he rolled his eyes and went back to work, anyway.

"Who is she- oh, no, it's a he, right? You got a boyfriend! You gotta tell me about him, man!"

Dabi-Sensei snorted, "Yes, it's a he, now go away," He said jovially and without any real vitriol, "Keep asking personal questions and it's detention."

Like those were the magic words, Denki was instantly back in his seat, saluting their teacher silently. Ochaco chuckled into her hand.

As everybody really started to work, she kept casting more glances at Katsuki. She had several opportunities to ask, but it seemed that every time she tried, Toga-San decided to talk to her about what she was drawing. Hell, she'd tried when Toga-San was on the other side of the classroom talking to a different student, and she somehow managed to cross the room to Ochaco in an instant every time.

Just like that, Art class came and went, and Ochaco still had just as many questions as she did when they started, if not more. Sure, she liked Toga-San, but she was really odd. She wasn't even a year older than them but there seemed to be some kind of gap there. Once the brunette figures out the Katsuki Dilemma™️, she muses, she'll just have to figure out Toga-San next.

Luckily enough for her, the universe seemed like it was feeling rather generous, because Katsuki approached her after school.

"Hey, uh, Ochaco, can we talk?" Katsuki wrung his hands together, avoiding eye contact. It was incredibly uncharacteristic of him to do and oh, he used her name. The lack of a nickname proves it's serious. She made a mental note to ask what she wanted to afterwards.

She smiled at him, doing her best to seem uncritical and sympathetic, "Of course, Katsuki! You can come to me anytime. What's up?"

He shifted on his feet, "It's kinda fuckin' important, and uh… you're the only person that I can talk to about this-" He looked her in the eyes finally, "Promise you won't tell anybody?"

"Never! Cross my heart and hope to die," He winced, "Anything you want to talk about will stay between you and me." She drew a cross in the space over her chest. It pained her to see him this unsure of himself. She silently added, to what was basically a mental list at this point, to work harder so he eventually reached a point where he told her everything without hesitation.

Katsuki sighed, "I uh, started dating somebody recently-"

She nodded.

"-And I can't exactly tell anybody because of who it is, and I feel really self-conscious about it."

Ochaco placed what she hoped was a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Katsuki, you know you can tell me anything. I won't judge."

He swallowed and closed his eyes, "It's Touya- err, Dabi-Sensei…" The blonde paused, studying her reaction. When she remained smiling at him softly, her kind brown eyes showing nothing but acceptance, he relaxed monumentally.

"That's great! Does he treat you well?"

Katsuki nodded slowly, "He does- I just worry about the age gap or what people will have to say-"

"Hey," She interrupted softly, "You're an adult, you can make your own decisions. If he treats you well then that's really all there is to it, right? And who cares what people have to say? If they're really your friends, they'll be happy for you."

His red eyes studied hers again quietly, searching for any hints of malice, contempt, or deceit. When he didn't find any, he let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He even smiled at her. It was small; but genuine and full of relief. It made Ochaco's heart swell.

"Can I give you a hug?" The brunette asked. The blonde seemed hesitant but nodded, and she hugged him tightly, whispering in his ear how happy she was for him. Momentarily, he returned the embrace.

Ochaco was delighted. Her question was answered and she thought that maybe, just maybe, this was the start of the year turning around.

From afar, somebody admired the two. It solidified in their heart that Ochaco was one of a kind and pure of heart, and they fell for her harder. It was time for a new love story, and, unbiasedly, it was bound to be much better.

Ochaco's secret admirer was sure of that.