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Superpowers

"Jax! Look! Look at this!"

My little brother comes bursting into my room, waving his phone in front of my face.

"Calm down, Cas. I can't see anything like this." I put down my glass of water on my desk and take the phone from his hands. On the screen, a video's playing on loop. I can make out the shape of two guys standing in a field at night, before the grass suddenly catches on fire.

"What am I looking at, exactly?" I ask.

Cas hops up and down, barely able to contain his excitement. "That's my friend Daniel. He discovered his superpower! Isn't that cool?!"

I shake my head and hand him the phone back. "Fire? That's so common. He's not gonna get far with that."

He rolls his eyes. "Whatever. You're just jealous. He's already been recruited by the STP. He's gonna be a real hero."

The Superhuman Training Program. It's everyone's dream to be a part of that. Well, most people's, at least. The problem is that you have to find your superpower first, and that's easier said than done.

"Well, what does he have to do to activate it? They could probably use someone with an easy one. I've heard that most recent recruits have complicated or weird activations, like doing some specific acrobatics or consuming weird things."

Cas looks away, embarrassed. "He has to... eat grass."

I laugh. "Eat grass? That's such a stupid thing to do. No way he's ever gonna be a superhero. There are way more people with fire powers that are easier to activate."

"It's not stupid! And it's not difficult either! It's just grass. That's basically everywhere!"

"It's still stupid. Do you think any villain is going to take him seriously when he has to put grass into his mouth before being able to use a mediocre power?"

"You're just jealous," he deflects. "because you haven't activated your power yet."

"I don't plan on doing a bunch of stupid things just to find out what might trigger my powers." I take a sip of my water before continuing. "And you shouldn't either! I know people who have died or gotten seriously injured while doing dangerous things to try to activate their power."

He rolls his eyes again. "Fine, I won't. But if I never become a hero, it'll be your fault!"

"I don't care. As long as you're alive." I look at his phone again, the video still playing on repeat. "Why were your friends eating grass in the middle of the night in an open field?"

He quickly hides the phone behind his back, like he didn't show me the video himself. "I don't know."

"Were you there?"

"No."

"Were they drinking?"

"Maybe. I don't know, I wasn't there."

I try to look him in the eyes, but he quickly looks away. "Cas, why are you friends with people who do things like that?"

He shrugs. "I'm not doing it, so what's the problem?"

"They're a bad influence." I take another sip of water. "Promise me you won't hang out with them again."

He doesn't answer. I finish my water and put the glass down on the desk with more force than necessary, for emphasis.

"Promise me, Cas."

Another eye-roll. "Fine, whatever, I promise. But you're ruining my life!"

"I wouldn't be a big brother if I didn't. Now get out of my room!" This time he obeys without complaining.

I smile. Mind control is such a useful power. And no one suspects drinking water.