Answer from cs61c-fz (Sean Nyberg 16014383) for Question 1
Sure, you could have two instructions

beq $1, $2, L1

and

beq $1, $2, L2

and as long as L1 and L2 are the same number of instructions away from the the first and second calling instruction respectively and in the same direction, the bit pattern can be identical since branch instructions use PC-relative addressing.