Brown skimmed over the packet that his school counselors had just handed him. Every student at his middle school got them. It was all pretty standard information, so he should be able to get it done pretty quickly.
"The packet contains questions pertaining to what schools you're looking to apply to, as well as career paths," his counselor was explaining. "It also asks things about your quirk, and strengths and weaknesses," she added.
Easy, he already had all the answers in his head anyways. "All and any with heroics programs, and hero work, of course," he answered. He didn't miss the flash of worry in his counselors eyes whenever he mentioned the word, "hero".
It was common now that All Might had retired. Still, he wouldn't let something like that stop him.
"And strengths and weaknesses?" he was asked.
He wasn't too sure if that applied to his character, or his quirk. Still, his answer for her remained the same either way. He flashed his counselor a playful grin. "Strengths: I'm awesome. Weaknesses: What weaknesses? I have none".
Somehow, hearing this, the worry in his counselor's eyes only increased.
"Overconfidence?" he offered sheepishly. He watched nervously as she jotted something down on her clipboard. He'd go another hour without eating to see what she was writing.
Almost as if on cue, his stomach growled at that moment. Okay, then, maybe he wouldn't. He reached for one of the snacks that he kept in the pockets of his sweatpants. Still, he really wanted to know what she had written.
"Thank you, Brown. You can go now," he was told. He said goodbye to his counselor before heading back to his apartment.
That night, all he could think about as he inhaled his third helping of chicken-stir-fry were potential hero schools, and his chances of being accepted into them.
"What a loser! You think you can be a hero? Not even Hinotori would accept you!" the words caught Brown's attention immediately. As he looked around the park, he could see a boy, surrounded by several others, yelling at someone.
As he walked closer to the scene, Brown could see another boy, one who didn't seem to be part of their group, nervously stuttering and trying to reach a backpack that one of the others was holding hostage above his head. The kid had dirt all over his clothes, and a bruise was beginning to form above his jaw.
"What makes you think you can be a hero with a worthless quirk like that? Stop trying already, it's so disrespectful to everyone with actual talent, anyways" someone said, and oh, did does words bring back memories. Worthless. Brown's fists clenched on instinct, and he felt himself glaring daggers into the back of that boy's head while he approached the group.
"At least he's trying," Brown said. "Unlike all of you. I mean, if the best use of your free time is picking on someone else for working hard, then I don't think you have any room to call someone else a loser".
Several angry glares were shot in his direction, but Brown didn't back down. He hated bullies.
"Why don't you mind your own business?" someone all but shouted at him.
"Why don't you get a life before telling someone else how to live theirs," he shot back.
So, he's not too sure who threw the first punch (certainly not him, since he never initiated violence. Okay, almost never. But when he did, the other person had it coming). He hadn't eaten in a little while, so he had no fears of losing, even against multiple opponents. Maybe he had been a bit too overconfident going in, (he hadn't expected one of them to have a strength quirk) but one black eye wasn't the worst thing he had to deal with. After all, all of the other guys certainly looked much worse.
"Th-thank you," the boy who was being picked on said to him, eyes wide and nervous, but there was a bit of happiness there, that hadn't been there before.
"No problem," he responded. He looked at the kid again. He appeared to be around Brown's age, maybe a bit younger, with fluffy brown hair and green eyes. And maybe, just maybe, when Brown looked at him, a small part of him saw a little boy with wild orange hair and clear blue eyes desperately trying to fend off bullies throwing those same words and insults at him.
That boy had nobody to defend him. Nobody to tell him the words he so desperately wanted to hear.
So, he would tell this boy that. To make up for the words he himself had never been told.
"Don't let anyone else put you down," he began. The other boy stared at him as he spoke, hanging on to every word. "If you want to be a hero, work your absolute hardest to make the best of your quirk. No matter what happens, don't let anyone ever make you feel like you're worthless. Because you're not".
The smile he received in return made his black eye completely worth it, a thousand times over.
Overall, it was an eventful day, and the scolding he got when his mother saw his black eye was not fun at all.
Still, he had helped someone. That was amazing.
In addition to that, it was the first time he ever heard of Hinotori High school. He looked it up on his phone as soon as he had free time. Apparently, it had a hero course. That was all he needed to know before deciding that he would apply.
Brown ending up applying to as many schools that had heroics programs as he possibly could.
Apparently, Hinotori High didn't have the best reputation among hero-schools. Still, that didn't matter to Brown. Sure, U.A was his top choice, but reputation didn't mean much in the long run. As long as he learned whatever he needed to know to save people, that would be enough.
That is why, when Hinotori was the first school to accept him into its hero-course, he immediately committed to going there.
Brown was late for his first day at Hinotori. Or, his first night, to be more specific.
His flight had been delayed due to the weather, so he ended up arriving at the dorm rooms at two in the morning.
He didn't actually make it inside until three, since he had to sign in and undergo security clearance, and the people who were usually in charge of that were all asleep.
Still, he was here, and about ready to pass out on the spot. He struggled to keep his eyelids open as he walked up five flights of stairs to reach his room.
The dorm rooms at Hinotori were much larger than he had expected. It took awhile for him to find his room, but eventually, he found it. He knew that he had a roommate, who was probably asleep by now, so he tried to make as little noise as possible.
Oddly enough, when he actually entered the room, there was nobody there.
"Huh, maybe his flight got delayed too?" he wondered out-loud. His eyes scanned over the luggage sitting next to one of the beds. No, his roommate was definitely here at some point. He had also been informed that they weren't allowed to leave their rooms past curfew. Weird.
Oh well, he would just have to meet him in the morning.
Then, after changing clothes and brushing his teeth, he promptly collapsed onto his bed, and let sleep claim him.
Brown forced himself awake at six-twenty in the morning. Although he had barely gotten any sleep the previous night, he was used to waking up early, so it wasn't an impossible feat.
The other bed was still empty. Maybe he should be concerned, but it was probably nothing serious. At least, he hoped not.
He quickly showered and changed into his uniform. He carefully brushed his teeth, making sure not the damage the toothbrush any more than necessary on his sharp teeth. Now he was making sure he had everything he needed. He didn't plan on coming back to the dorms after breakfast, so he had to double check.
According to his schedule, he had been placed in class 1-b. The heroics department was about a five minute walk from the cafeteria, which was about the same distance from the dorms.
"I should be alright, time-management wise," he said to himself as he bent down to sort through his backpack. It was lying on the dorm room floor, right next to a writing table. "Still, I can't risk being late on the first day of class". He was going to be a hero, after all. What kind of hero couldn't manage to arrive on time for the first day of school?
"That probably wouldn't make a very good first impression on the teacher," a voice behind him said. On instinct, Brown quickly rose to stand up fully, and promptly smashed his head straight onto the corner of the table.
"Ow," that actually hurt. He turned his head to look at the owner of the voice. He was another teenager, probably around Brown's age, with fluffy hair that was the color of the sky on a bright, cloudless day, and eyes that looked like someone had emptied an entire bottle of royal-blue food-coloring into.
The boy was sitting on the other bed, the one that was definitely empty when Brown had passed by it about a minute ago, wearing a loose white shirt and sweatpants.
"Sorry, about that," he said, referencing the slight ringing sensation that now plagued Brown's forehead. He looked genuinely apologetic.
"It's fine," Brown told him. He wondered when he might've entered. Brown certainly would've heard him or noticed a new scent in the room if he had just come in through the door. "Did you just get here?" he asked.
The blue-haired boy shook his head in response. "No, I got here yesterday around six, and I've been in our room since ten," he answered. He seemed to notice the confusion on Brown's face because he quickly added, "It's my quirk. My body is completely made of water that I can manipulate and solidify, but when I'm unconscious it loses shape," he explained.
Brown kind of understood it now. "So, you turned into a puddle?" he asked.
"Pretty much," the boy shrugged and started walking towards the bathroom. He looked complentative for a moment before addressing Brown again. "If you make any bed-wetting jokes, I will fight you," he said, completely serious.
Brown grinned. "Nah, man, it's too early for that. Maybe later though, and I don't plan on losing," he replied enthusiastically. "I'm Brown," he said.
His roomate smiled in return. "Call me Natsu. I'm gonna get changed. Were you heading out? You don't have to wait for me," he said.
It was about six fifty now, and classes didn't start until eight o'clock. They had plenty of time left.
"I was going to go to the cafeteria to grab some breakfast, but I'll wait. I suck at directions anyway, and I missed the tour last night since I came here late. I'll probably need you to show me the way," he reasoned. Natsu seemed to accept this response.
"Alright, then", he said before walking in and shutting the bathroom door.
It was definitely an interesting meeting, but all of the best ones were. If this was how his first day started, Brown couldn't wait for the rest of the year.
They made their way to the cafeteria not too long after and Brown was immensely glad that he had waited. Although Brown had initially said it so Natsu wouldn't feel bad about making him wait, it wasn't a lie at all. He really had no idea how to get there.
"Thank you so much, I would've been completely lost without you," Brown told him. "I owe you one".
"This can just be my apology for earlier," Natsu responded. Brown wouldn't accept that though.
"No, I told you it was alright. So if you need help sneaking extra snacks from the cafeteria, or hiding a dead body, you can come to me," he wasn't serious about that last part. Still, Natsu frowned.
"That doesn't sound very legal," he finally said.
"Nope! It really isn't. That's why it's a huge favor," Brown responded. They continued to talk on the way to the cafeteria.
When they arrived, they selected a table and left their backpacks there. Brown immediately headed for the pancakes, grabbing a plate and loading it sky-high. He then drowned them in maple syrup.
After grabbing some more food, Brown headed back to his and Natsu's table. His roomate sat there, waiting for him, while playing a game on his phone.
"You're not getting anything?" Brown asked as he made quick work of his pancakes. He was slightly concerned now. They would likely be doing some intense hero training, and they would all need as much energy as they could get.
"I don't eat," Natsu told him.
"Don't or can't?" Brown asked.
"Can't. I'm made out of water, remember?" came the response. Well, that sucked. Brown wondered how that even worked. Maybe he would ask one day.
"That sucks man. I literally wouldn't be able to function without food for very long, never mind my entire life," he said. It was true, thanks to the drawbacks of his quirk.
"It's not that bad for me. I'm used to it being like that," Natsu said. Alright, if that was how his quirk worked, then Brown supposed it was fine.
"Alright, fair enough. Quirks are weird. I couldn't control mine at all for such a long time. So yours is a mutant type? When you first explained it I thought it might be a transformation type, but this makes sense too," Brown had now finished his entire stack of pancakes and most everything else. He would have to get more food soon. He really hoped Hinotori didn't limit the number of meals he could have from the cafeteria like his old middle school had.
"Yeah, it is". Natsu told him. After a brief pause, he asked, "I'm in class 1-b, how about you?"
"Me too! That's great, it'll be nice having someone I already know in my class," Brown responded truthfully.
"Yeah, besides you, I met a few other people. There's Saito Touma, he's really nice, a bit over-energetic but I feel like you two would get along. Red boomerangs for hair, pretty tall. He's in 1-a. Then there's Tahara Airi, shoulder-length white hair, black pupils, white irises. She's in 1-b with us," Natsu told him.
"Awesome! I can't wait to meet everyone!" Brown got up from his seat. "I'm going to go get more food," he said.
Nobody came to tell him that he was now restricted to a certain number of plates per meal, so that was a good thing. He was, however, met with a server's incredulous look as he got his fourth stack of pancakes.
After breakfast, the boys headed towards their classroom.
"Are you ready for our first day of hero school?" Natsu asked.
Brown grinned, wide and bright, before announcing, "Heck yeah! I was born ready!"
Then, they entered the classroom and were met with chaos.
Well, here's the second chapter of We Could be Heroes! Thank you to seasel for submitting Brown Savage! He's been a lot of fun to write, and I hope I wrote him alright.
This was a slower, introductory chapter since there aren't that many characters yet. More plot and action will happen once more characters are submitted.
So far, in class 1-b, we have:
Tahara Airi - AstriAngels
Arakawa Natsu - AstriAngels
Brown Savage - seasel
Pompom Kawachi - JackHammerMan
Fujiwara Akami - OnlyTruePotterhead
Balek Rexavi - AnonymousAK
Remember, you can also submit characters from other classes, teachers, villains, pro-heroes, and anything else you want. Anyways, thank you for reading, reviews and feedback are highly appreciated as I would love to hear your thoughts!
new edit: *After thinking it over for a little bit, I've decided that it would be really helpful to have a beta reader to go over the chapters in advance and spot any plot issues / grammar errors, and to give general feedback. If anyone is interested, please P.M me! Thank you so much to anyone in advance!*