“Fourth. You?”
“Third.” Ody glanced at him. “Did you start late?”
Mano frowned. “What do you mean?”
“You’re twenty-three. Shouldn’t you be in your fifth year?”
“Ah… yeah.”
“Did you take the national exams twice?”
“No.” Mano kept his eyes on the screen. “I took a gap year after high school.”
“Oh.” Ody studied him for a moment, then leaned back in his seat and let it go.
“You’re twenty-one, right?” Mano asked, looking at him.
Ody nodded.
“Good student?”
Ody tilted his head. “Why do you say that?” he asked with a small smile.
“Pharmacy has high admission scores.”
“Oh.” Ody shrugged. “Yeah.”
“Total nerd.” A faint smile appeared on Mano’s lips.
Ody huffed under his breath. “How many nicknames are you planning to give me? Scaredy-cat, nerd…”
“I have more.” Mano turned to him again, his eyes locking onto Ody’s. “Mikre.”
It was a common Greek nickname used for younger men, teasing and familiar, sometimes joking, sometimes challenging, sometimes with a hint of affection, but always carrying that quiet reminder of who was older. The word, pronounced mee-KREH, wasn’t accidental. Mano watched him like he’d been expecting a reaction.
But Ody didn’t react. He just kept staring at him.
For a brief moment, Mano frowned, almost suspicious, before a quiet chuckle escaped him and he turned back to the screen.
“What’s so funny?” Ody asked.
“I figured your ego would hate that one,” Mano said, a sly smile tugging at his lips.
Ody didn’t answer. It was strange hearing that nickname from someone who’d barely used his actual name, and yet it felt like he’d been calling him that for years.
Mano’s voice pulled him from his thoughts. “Did you tell your buddies you were going out with me?”
“No.”
“Of course not.”
“I didn’t get the chance. We didn’t talk,” Ody defended.
“That, or they don’t like me. Especially the one, uh…”
“Steve?”
“Yeah. Him. Or maybe you just don’t tell them about me because then you’d have to admit those assholes beat you up.” Mano turned toward him again, almost accusing.
