"Sorry if my mum kept you up last night, she's a real loud crier." The teenager laughed awkardly and rubbed the back of his neck.
"It's just me and her at home so you know, big move for her too."
Alex looked at the boy about his age stood at his door. He'd been looking at his timetable for the day when he'd heard the knock.
The boy was tall and lanky, taller than Alex by nearly a head. His curls were tight and clearly well-maintained.
Alex was happy to meet his new flatmate and happier too that they seemed friendly, "I didn't hear a thing, sorry if you heard me snoring or anything."
The tall boy laughed and shook his head, "Nah I didn't hear a thing, I'm pretty loud myself."
The laughter died back and the hallway was silent again. Alex broke it, "I'm Alex, by the way."
The other boy's face relaxed and he grinned, "Damien, nice to meet you."
"I dunno what you were thinking or anything, but, I know literally no one here and I've got a lecture in twenty minutes, my mum went here back in the day too, she says flatmates usually have them together so..." Damien trailed off. Alex noticed that he was holding a printed off and neatly laminated timetable.
"I'm in building 12." He said, recalling what he'd read on his laptop
Damien laughed, "Me too, mum'll love that they still do that."
"I don't know anyone here either, you're the first person I've spoken to that isn't one of my parents. I'll grab my stuff, my sense of direction is pretty bad so if we're late its on you." Alex said.
Damien laughed and shrugged his shoulders, "I'm pretty shit with that stuff too."
Alex slipped his laptop into his bag and slung it onto his back. Damien stood at the door, holding it open with his foot. Alex wondered if his new flatmate played basketball. He was 5'10 and pretty well-built, but Damien stood nearly half a foot taller.
The two walked and chatted. They were both medicine students, both played basketball and both loved lasagna. Thinking about how happy his parents would be that he'd made a friend made him smile.
The building was old and ornate. Engravings and gargoyles decorated the high curving arches. There were a few minutes till the lecture started and the hall was packed with people. Alex scanned the hall, the seats at the back were completely taken.
Damien smiled, "Front row seats baby!"
Alex laughed and followed after him to the front of the hall. A professor stood at the front of the hall, reviewing her presentation on a computer. Up until then the front row had been entirely empty, Damien and Alex became the first to sit.
"So good to see such keen young students!" The professor said with a wide smile.
Alex and Damien laughed. Alex placed his laptop on the desk and Damien pulled out a notebook from his satchel.
"Still hanging out in the sixteenth century huh? If you want a buddy to go to the outhouse and clean out the rats I'm not interested." Alex said with a grin, pushing lightly against Damien's shoulder.
Damien flashed a row of white teeth. His response was immediate, "And when the power goes out and someone needs his mummy I'll make sure to get you some warm milk."
The professor tried and failed to contain her laughter. She cleared her throat and tried to return to the professional demeanour she'd had a few moments ago.
"Nice to see some wit in this hall, you two must channel that energy into answering questions. There's nothing worse than when a hall of students stare at you like dear in the headlights."
Alex and Damien smiled and nodded. The professor looked intently at the clock on the wall, the seconds ticked down to nine o clock.
Damien nudged Alex's shoulder, gesturing with his head to the front page of his notebook. Just as the second hand struck zero, Alex looked over.
Drawn with crude squiggly lines on Damien's notebook was a scared looking dear, rapidly approaching was an even more badly drawn car.
"Welcome everyone, please take your seats!" The professor's voice filled the room. Alex clamped his hand over his mouth, doing his best to contain his laughter and control his shaking shoulders.
The professor's gaze lingered on him for a second. The corners of her lips curved back into a smile that she'd only just managed to get rid of.
Speakers in the walls of the lecture hall carried her voice to every corner of the room, "You are here because you all share something. Do you know what that is?"
A handful of hands shot up immediately. There were always students eager to contribute, especially in a room full of students who'd gotten the grades to do medicine at a prestigous university. It wouldn't suprise Alex if half of them had volunteered at orphanages or saved the lives of a stranger whilst walking down the street.
The professor pointed to someone in the crowd. An enthusiastic voice answered loudly, "Because we want to change the world!"
The professor nodded, "That's true, anyone else?"
She pointed to another student.
"To make our families proud."
The professor walked across the stage, nodding and accepting a dozen different answers. There were still hands raised in the audience, but she stopped. She said slowly, "You're all correct. Some of you might be here to follow in your family's legacy or cure a disease and change the world, some of you might even end up working alongside the Guardians protecting the earth."
The professor paused and looked across the room, "But you're all here because you understand dedication. You studied, you practiced and you kept going. For that I congratulate each and every one of you. It's easy to try, sometime's it's easy to suceed. But to fail and get back up, that take's heart, that takes charecter."
Alex knew that his parent's would've loved the speech. It was exactly how they'd imagined and hoped that university would be for him. He made a note to check for a recording online later and see if he could send them a clip.
The professor went on to discuss how the first year was structured. They'd have opportunities to attend seminars by specialists and leading industry figures. Tests were numerous and varied in importance. The end of year exam was emphasised to be the most significant.
Alex listened and made notes. At the same time he couldn't help but practice a couple applications of his powers, small changes that would never be noticed by his classmates.
He'd loosely established an initial phase for practicing his powers. He'd named it, optimization. There were hundreds of factors influencing physical fitness, mitochondrial activity, electrical conduction, hormone levels, before he considered making significant changes he wanted to build a sturdy foundation.
Whilst he made notes, the cells in his body subtly developed. Unecessary or wasteful processes were reduced, defects in bone density or structure were ironed out and accumulated toxins were put aside to be excreted out later. The process was slow and gradual, various indexes only improved by a fraction of a percent each minute. Slow was steady and steady was fast, that was Alex's motto.
After an hour the lecture ended. The students began to chat and leave their seats, Damien returned his notebook to his bag and stretched, "Might just be me, but I think all that hard work we did has suckered us into a new chance to work even harder."
Alex laughed and closed his laptop, "Yep! That's what it's all about, pain is power and power is pain."
Damien scoffed, "Yeah I'll be sure to quote you on that if you ever speak to a girl."
The two climbed the stairs out of the lecture hall and emerged back onto campus. Damien pulled out his timetable from his pocket and looked at it, "Sports induction next. Let's see if you make the basksetball team, could use someone to make me a mid-game hot towel! So refreshing!"
The gymnasium was enormous. The university had organised the various teams to stand together in their neatly pressed uniforms. The basksetball team was noticeably taller. The weightlifting team were all broad-shouldered and well-built.
Alex thought about what team he should join. With his powers he could excel in any sport, building muscle could be done in seconds and some extra adrenaline could take his reflexes beyond what any ordinary athlete could achieve.
He'd played basketball for years, but the idea of a team sport had somewhat lost its appeal. He looked across the other teams.
Rowing. Tennis. Football. Soccer. Badminton.
One team caught his attention. The boxing team wasn't as large as many of the other university teams, the football team had nearly two hundred bright-eyed men and women, the boxing team only had twenty or so.
Athletes were used to pressure, despite the thousands of new arrivals looking at them, the members of the different teams looked composed. On the inside they might've been nervous, but they didn't show it.
The boxing team had a quiet and understanded kind of confidence. The captains, one woman and one man scanned the crowd. Occasionally their eyes would pause on someone. Alex wondered whether they were weighing up their chances. He noticed the male captain's gaze linger on Damien for a second or two. It made sense, the young black man was tall and wiry, his reach would be a strong advantage against a shorter opponent.
'Not seeking a fight doesn't mean one won't come to you.' Alex thought to himself. The decision was made.
He didn't plan to be a hero, he respected Omni-Man and Green Ghost for risking their lives to protect others, but he didn't share that selfless spirit. His parents only had one son, if he died there'd be no one to look after them, he wouldn't take that risk.
Knowing how to throw a punch could save someone's life in an emergency, Alex had listened to his friends brag and talk about how important it was to not ball your thumb inside your fist, but other than that he knew nothing.
The boxing team could teach him how to efficiently exert force and move his body, he estimated that it would take at least a month before he finished refining the processes and structures working inside him, but that kind of fighting experience would be useful no matter what. It didn't matter how fast his axons could conduct impulses or how strongly his muscle cells contracted, if he froze up when a fist was flying at his head.
Damien leaned closer to Alex and lowered his voice a few notches, "You see that girl on the hockey team, she is beau-ti-ful!"
Alex laughed, "Mr Angelic loses his wings."
"I never said I was an angel, never even said I had feathers. Maybe an ostrich, majestic king of the plains, but not an angel." Damien said, shaking his head and adjusting his hair.
The loudspeakers crackled to life. A lively male voice sounded through the huge gymnasium.
"Fresh meat, welcome to Michigan!"
The football team roared with laughter, their shoulder pads jostling together. Without prompting they began loudly chanting the Michigan university anthem and stomping their feet.
In the centre of the hall a handsome man held a microphone and grinned, "I'm just kidding guys. My name's Blake, captain of the football team. I know what you're thinking, typical jock. I'm also a final year astrophysics student so don't worry, there's still a couple brain cells rattling around underneath the helmet."
The football team quietened down and returned to their rows. They all had big smiles and proud expressions. Members of the other teams didn't hide their eye rolls.
"University's about more than grades. It's about friendships, it's about choosing to get out of bed and be a little better than you were yesterday.
There's a team for every one of you, doesn't matter if you've never played before, if you see a sport you like go along to trials!
Anyone tells you you're not good enough or you're too slow, come find me, I'm on the football pitch every day, I'm sports representative for this year and I'll kick anyone's ass who tries to put you down."
A tired looking teacher hurried over to Blake and whispered something in his ear. The football captain cleared his throat and added, "By kick ass, I mean report to their club secretary and start an investigation into discriminatory or poor conduct."