The two upperclassmen’s jaws drop in shock. You’d think Cameron had told them he strangled cats for fun by the sheer horror on their faces. The junior nears him cautiously, arm wrapping around his back. Cameron fights to not lean in too much as she pulls him in.

“Honey, you’ve never had fish and grits?” Jaz gently rubs Cameron’s back, pity obvious without her even having to say, ’Oh, bless your heart.’ 

The ginger did not hate the contact whatsoever, loving the namesake wafting from the collar of her top. He couldn’t help but demurely shake his head, looking beneath his lashes as she gave him her undivided attention. 

“I’m so sorry for your loss.”

Loss? What loss? Cameron didn’t understand what was going on, but he didn’t hate it either as her hand smoothed across his spine. Amari breaks the spell too quickly.

The senior holds his hand up in a stop gesture. “Wait, he’s got to have had grits before, right? You’ve had that at least,” Amari insists.

“Uh, um, y-yes? Once. Maybe? Yeah, once.” Amari gestures for more, and Cameron thinks a little harder on the faint memory. “But it wasn’t really good.”

“The question is why. Answer me,” Amari asks with a finger up. “One, were they sweet? And two, could you stick a fork in them and it remained upright by itself?”

“Yes, and it was honestly kind of soupy–”

“Ah lawd,” the two friends shout. 

The president pulls him away from Jazmine, gently grabbing his hands. 

“It’s okay. We’re going to change that. I’m going to help you fix a plate,” Amari says as if he were going to cure him of a previously assumed fatal disease. “Jaz, can you-”

“Mingle? Always. You betta take care of him!” 

“I will!” 

Cameron can’t help but feel like he is experiencing what they call being adopted by an extrovert, especially as Amari starts shepherding him to the buffet line, mouth going a mile a minute. Looking back over his shoulder, he sees Jaz waving after them like a mother sending her kids to school. 

Huh. Never would’ve imagined this.

“I hear you’re the one that brought Lucky Charms,” someone whispered into Jaz’s ear. Turning to the voice, Jaz rolled her eyes as she saw her best friend, Maia. The knowing smirk on her face was made even more dramatic with her recently completed moko kauae. 

It was great that her closest friend and former team member has recovered from a nearly life-ending accident. Of course, it was even more awesome that she got to heal with her father’s side of the family, coming away feeling closer than ever. But now that she’s back, Maia has been very invested in her life. A little too invested. Which is why Jazmine had attempted to hide from her under the guise of volunteering on kitchen duty.

“I’m not the only one that invited a white person.” 

Jaz can feel her friend’s overly inquisitive stare as she packs the food into the fridge. 

“True. But you know it’s not about that.”

“Then why were you guys gawking at him so much?” Jaz didn’t realize how much it bothered her until she said it, but it had. Slightly embarrassed, she roughly cleared out the last of the warming pans into tupperware. 

“Jay, everyone at the breakfast are members, partners, or close friends. He is none of those.” Figuring out where she was going, Jazmine’s head was already shaking as she dumped the water from the bottom pans. “We’re not making judgments, it’s just…unusual because he’s none of the above.”

“I’m just-” Jaz stops as another person enters the kitchen with trash. Forcing smiles, the two women waited until the kitchenette was clear again. “Being friendly. Can a girl not meet new people?”

“Un-huh. Yeah. Let’s go with this answer, Steve. But isn’t this a little bit more than necessary? I heard from Lakan you’re just trying to get him to model for you.” 

Knowing she doesn't have much of a defense, Jazmine does her best to hold in her grimace. If she gave her best friend so much as a whiff of something, that girl would hound her to no end. And it's not like that. Seriously.

“And I heard from Lakan that your mom is still giving you shit about the tattoo.”

“I swear,” Maia groans as she leans back into the counter. “I don’t see how the hell my parents ever were together. Black Pentecostals are so finicky. Colonizer religion? That’s fine. A man connecting back to his roots with tattoos and some chanting? No, no, nooo. That’s demonic.”

Jazmine is wiping the folding tables, but pauses at this.

“Isn’t he Christian?”

“Eg-zack-ly," every syllable punctuated with a clap. "But not to her standards. Why did she have a kid with him then if she didn’t think they were ‘equally yoked?'”

“Easy. Ya mama wasn’t saved when they met, and got dick-stracted on vaca-”

“Stop, stop. God, I don’t need that image.” Maia walks over to the trash can, dry heaving for a moment before putting a hand on her stomach. “Don’t ever say that again. And I know you’re trying to di-hurr. Kill the visual, Jesus. Kill the visual… You're trying to throw me off.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jazmine tries to say nonchalantly as she tips the table to the side. Walking to help her, Maia uses the close distance to say under her breath:

“If you're trying to butter him up for the big ask, I gotta say this feels a little manipulative, my friend.”

She hadn’t thought of him doing more than basic semi-nude modelling to get good references. At least not until Maia opened her big trap. The image of Cameron–

Nope. No. Not going there. 

“I’m not doing this to ask him to pose for…the fanservice pieces,” Jazmine says with a lowered voice just in case someone was listening. “He asked me to help him, and that’s what I’m going to do whether he models or not.”

Table collapsed, they both stand upright eye to eye, and Maia purses her lips without budging.

“Okay, fine. Would I love for Cam to be comfortable enough to consider posing for my more mature work? Sure. But I’m not even on that part of the process. I’m literally just trying to get through the character design so Lakan will get off my ass and let me storyboard.” 

“And that’s it?”

“That’s literally it.”

“Mmphf,” her best friend huffs as they carry the table to the wall with the other ones meant for storage.

“It’s a fresh start for him, Maia. He didn’t get the opportunity to be himself at his last school. Who better understands needing a space to freely express themselves than us?"

Maia, lips still pursed, is the first to glance into the emptying communal space. It's nearly 10:40, and despite his first class starting soon, Cameron is still there. The sight made Jaz proud of the ginger because he not only stuck around to the end, but also did his best to chat with different people. Although it seems Amari and he hit it off the most, since they’d kept gravitating toward each other the whole breakfast, and are currently beside each other even now, with a few people coming over to join. 

Said individuals are members of the 4/For Fundamentals Club, the only registered disability-focused group at the university. Jazmine’s smile unknowingly spreads on her face as Amari and the two members type their numbers into Cameron's phone. She faintly overhears the sophomore agreeing to join their meeting next week.

“I guess you’re not wrong,” Maia says, hands lifting up in surrender. 

“I thought so.”