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Tobias Miller's POV

^^ Dr Tobias Miller.

"And that concludes today's lecture! Assignments will be graded by the end of the week." I call out.

A bunch of scattered 'Thank you Dr Millers' and 'see you next week Dr Millers' fill the room and are drowned out by scraping chairs and flapping lab coats as my final class of the day start to leave.

I start to carefully pack my bag, slotting my laptop and its charger into their respective compartments.

I make sure that the lab technicians don't have too much work to do.

Once the final student has left the room, I breathe out and sit down to collect my thoughts.

Another lecture well done.

I hear a knock at the lab's door.

"Come in" I say, already knowing who it is.

"I called you like three times Doc" Ximena pouts.

I stand up, grabbing my glasses and wearing them again, dragging my hair tie off of my hair, letting my locs fall back over my face.

"Who keeps letting you back in here, Xim" I ask one of my best friends, with a dry chuckle.

^^ Ximena Castillo

And I'm only half joking.

Ximena has been my best friend for as long as I remember.

She was the loudest one in our elementary class, but was the first to put her hands over my ears when she sensed that I was becoming overstimulated.

I nearly chuckle at the memory of the time she pressed down on my ears and then proceeded to scream at the top of her lungs that everyone should "Shut the hell up!" Because "Her best friend feels uncomfortable!"

She was swiftly put in time out for 10 minutes for threatening a poor girl who accidentally sneezed too loud for her liking.

"Your lab techs think I'm cute." She shrugs, pulling me back to the present.

As if extorting my staff, is the most normal thing in the world.

I'm the Dean of my mechanical engineering department at Cornell University.

It's a position I worked extremely hard for and I was told at a very young age by my parents that as much as they loved me, they would not use any of their connections to get me into any jobs or schools.

It would have to be my hard work.

And I'm glad for it.

My acceptance to start lecturing at one of the country's most prestigious universities for one of its most prestigious programs right after my Ph.D was an honour.

The first thing I did was to create a safe space for Black students, who might struggle with being at a white majority university.

It's difficult for Black kids to sometimes integrate in places that aren't always built for them.

Passive aggressive behaviour is tough to navigate.

Outward displays of racism are a lot less common than when my parents or their parents were in university but nonetheless.

My parents and siblings showered me with love and support.

My friends started referring to me as my title every chance they got to make sure that I felt as good about it as they did.

I am truly blessed and grateful.

"How was class?" Ximena asks, cutting into my thoughts.

I nod.

"It was good. They're doing well" I respond.

She gives me a side glance.

"Do they have a choice?" She asks.

I look her dead in the eyes, knowing what she's referring to.

"No" I respond, without hesitation.

My class is extremely intense.

Anyone who gets a grade that I don't like, meets up with me in both of our spare times to undergo a brutal set of tutorials, based on their area of weakness and then everything learned throughout the semester.

At first, a lot of privileged students who thought mommy and daddy's social and economic power would extend to my classroom, gave me some pushback.

Some of them even got their parents to write letters asking me to reconsider and to allow their children to pass my class 'just this once'.

Some offered bribes and some offered threats, threatening to have me fired.

In return, I offered them a chance to see the progression of their child's demise in my department, should they decide not to attend my sessions.

I also offered to have the dean of the university, the law and all of their social circles all become aware of their underhanded approaches to their child's education.

Their children all started either receiving straight A grades or swiftly transferring soon after that.

Ximena sighs.

"You and your iron fist" she chuckles.

"I'm a Black man in a place that people don't think I even deserve to have the opportunity that I have, despite my hard work. If I slip up even a tiny bit, there will be more repercussions than congratulations" I tell Ximena.

Having heard me say this before, she just smiles at me fondly, knowing my mind can't be changed.

"Sir, yes sir" she says with a mock salute.

I smile back and we continue to walk.

"Idris wants to meet up with us" she tells me.

"I remember" I respond.

I wrote it down on my appointments for the day.

Fitting my friends and family into my schedule is important to me.

I love them and I want to spend time with them when grading and tutorials are not so intense and time consuming.

We walk to my car and as per usual, I put my things in the back and open the passenger door for Ximena.

^^ Tobias' car

My dad always taught me that no matter who the woman is, you always show them respect.

"You could hate their guts and want to never talk to them again or you could kiss the ground they walk on. Women should always be respected unless they are putting you in any danger" he said.

Ximena sits down, used to this and I take my seat, starting the car.

"How was your day?" I ask, making sure her seatbelt is fastened.

"Yeah it was okay. I had a few unruly guests, but that was handled" she says.

Ximena owns a hair clinic, the same place I go to get my locs cleaned up every once in a while by one of her employees, a Jamaican woman called Tashelle.

She's an older brown skinned lady, who refuses to deal with any non-Black hair types in regard to Black hairstyles, under the false pretence of cultural appreciation.

That's why I like her.

She's a gatekeeper and I like it.

"Also Tashelle says that you're due a clean up soon, so to hurry up and come through" Ximena says, while texting.

She's probably letting Idris know that we will be there soon.

We sit in comfortable silence for the rest of the trip and once we get there, I park and get out of the car to open Ximena's door for her.

She takes my hand and gets out then we start walking to the cafe.

We walk inside, and immediately heads turn to look at us.

I sigh internally and the first thing I do, is what my mother taught me when I became a teenager.

I straighten my back, head up and shoulders relaxed.

I walk towards our usual spot with confidence.

I will never get used to being stared at like that in almost every building I walk into.

We approach our table and Idris looks up, smiling at us both.

^^ Idris Baker.

"Jacob, say hello to auntie Xim and uncle Bibi" Idris coos at his 7 year old son over FaceTime.

Happy to hear from him, I snatch the phone out of my best friend's hands.

"Hi nephew!" I call gently to the dimpled, chubby faced baby who was a carbon copy of his father.

"Uncle Bibi!" Jacob calls.

"How was school? They looking after you?" I ask.

"Yes! Also you promised to buy me that new game if I ate all my food" Jacob pouts and I smile even wider.

"Ask mommy what the gift fairy dropped off this morning" I say.

His eyes widen and he gasps in surprise.

"Mom!" He calls, getting up and running to the kitchen.

Idris got married to his wife Taliyah as soon as we graduated from high school.

They stayed married all throughout college and had their son Jacob in their final year of university.

It's safe to assume that Idris is absolutely enamoured with his family.

He'd die for them without thinking twice.

He retired his wife from her nursing job and she started staying at home as soon as he opened up the cafe and it started gaining traction.

It's an African-Caribbean fusion cafe with different tea styles and an amazing breakfast menu, homage to his parents, who were Jamaican and Cameroonian.

They died when we were teenagers in a car accident and I remember Idris showing up to our house in the middle of the night and doing nothing but crying on my shoulder while I silently put my arm around him for about 30 minutes, before Ximena showed up and cried with him until he fell asleep.

We all slept in the living room that day, grieving the loss of our parent, auntie and uncle.

The next day, my parents comforted him some more, my mother rang the school to get us all the next couple of days off and my father asked him what he wanted to do.

Idris maintained that he would be looked after by his oldest sister, who was driving down that morning.

Soon, his wife comes up on the screen with a smile.

"Hi sugar how are you?" She asks me.

I smile back.

"I'm good ma. You see what I sent my nephew in the mail?" I ask.

She smiles even wider.

"You have got to stop spoiling him! But still... Thank you, doctor" she says and I roll my eyes.

"Will you all ever stop callin' me that?" I ask.

She shakes her head, braids shaking with her.

"Absolutely not, boy." She says.

Ximena snatches the phone from me.

"Girl I've missed you!" She whines.

"I've missed you too! We're due a girls night soon right?" Taliyah says.

Ximena nods and they start going into details, chatting happily.

I turn to Idris.

He stands to hug me.

"How are you big guy?" He asks.

I sigh.

"Enjoy this hug quietly before I knee you in the throat, short rib." I say.

Idris and I don't believe in toxic masculinity.

If he needs a hug, I'll give it to him.

If he needs comfort, or a rant or to talk to someone other than his wife at 5 am, I'm here.

That's what brothers do.

"I'm not short you piece of shit, you're 6 foot fucken 6. I'm a regular height, bitch" he fumes.

"You want me to tell your wife you're speaking like that?! Also I think the short man syndrome is kicking your little ass" I say, turning my hug into a headlock.

"You started it, you lanky ass nigga." He responds, trying to disarm me.

"Boys!" Taliyah calls and we stop immediately.

I let go of Idris and we look at Ximena who has a shit eating grin on her face.

Snitch.

"Cut that shit out! You're in public!" She admonished.

"Yes ma'am" we both say.

Idris sits down and I sit opposite him, stretching my legs out, making sure they aren't in the way.

Idris says goodbye to his wife and hangs up the phone.

"I need to talk to y'all" he says.

As he says that, Naa one of his waitresses walks over and puts our usual orders on the table for us.

I reach for my wallet and Naa holds her hand up.

"Tobias, we do this every time. Put ya wallet away before my boss has a heart attack. These college funds aren't gonna pay themselves" she says and we all laugh.

"Thank you Naa" I say and she waves me off, going to her next table.

I pick up my fork and tuck into my beef patty, sighing happily.

Idris looks at us in turn.

"Now don't act a fool" he starts and I feel a headache immediately coming on.

Here we go.

"But I got y'all two very expensive tickets to that senator's event" he said.

"Fuck politics. I'm not going" I respond immediately.

"What are we wearing?" Ximena asks, ignoring me.

"First of all, Hobi fuckin' Brown, you're going! And you're going to dress up nice, mingle and you're gonna like it" he tells me.

I glare at him.

"I didn't spend 600 United States Dollars on you both, just for your anarchist ass to refuse." He continues.

I sigh thinking about the pros and cons.

Pros:
- Free food
- I get to spend time with my friends
- ... Free food.

Cons:
- I have to leave my house
- I have to socialise
- I have gripping anxiety
- My best friend is going to recruit his wife and my adorable nephew to emotionally blackmail me.

"I'll stay there for an hour" I say.

"4 hours. That's the whole event" Idris says.

"3. And I'm leaving at the first sign of fuckery" I negotiate.

"Done." He says shaking my hand.

"Also you're fucked because the event is actually 3 hours and I need your green giant ass to help me pack up" he triumphs.

"D'you wanna die, Carlton?" I ask, with a big grin that says that I'm anything but happy.

"I'll call my wife, RIGHT NOW" he says.

"Mandem!" Ximena calls, grabbing the backs of both of our necks.

It's then that we notice that people are watching us.

I stand up.

"We apologise for our rudeness and as a token, I will be paying for everyone's meals here" I say.

A pleasant murmur rings through the crowd and I give Idris my best shit eating grin.

He silently fumes.

He hates it when me or Ximena pay for anything, so me spending this much on his company is going to make him steam over.

I see the notification on his Apple Watch signal that his heart rate has elevated and I nearly cackle.

"Cry about it bitch" I say, gripping his shoulder.

I nod at Ximena that it's time to go.

"What time is the event" I ask.

"7:30 and if you're a minute late, I'll tell auntie Violet about that party in sophomore year" he says.

"Go to hell" I say walking off.

"You first, nigga" he clips, standing up to take our empty plates and glasses.

Ximena walks ahead to the car and I open the door for her once again.

She sits down and I take my seat too.

"Let's go shopping!" She says excitedly and I side eye her.

"Is it every day?!" I ask.

She pulls out her phone and shows me my mother's number.

"Will you ever stop being a snitch?" I ask.

"Over my dead body" she responds and I sigh.

I guess we have an event to get ready for.