Ren booked his return flight for the day after his birthday, on Friday the seventh of July. So on Thursday, they all went out at Ouzo Ston Pinaka, in Athonos Square, to bid him goodbye and to celebrate his birthday.

Jimmy had asked for the day off, so he got to spend the whole day with Ren and not just the evening. The more time passed, the harder it had become to keep away from him, even to go to work or sleep. He couldn’t even imagine spending Ren’s last day any other way other than with him.

They visited some of his favourite places like the Old Town and the parks by the promenade and also did some window shopping through the streets of the town centre. Naturally, their last visit was the comic book store, where Ren felt necessary to restock with a bag’s worth of titles.

‘It’s for the journey,’ he justified when Jimmy side-eyed him.

‘’Course it is. Are you ready?’

He looked at Jimmy with a patronizing frown Jimmy had only come to know as Ren’s boyfriend. ‘You know I’m not. Are you?’

Jimmy approached the taxi rank and opened the back door of the first stationed cab. ‘You’re joking, right?’

‘It will be fine,’ he said pressing Jimmy’s shoulder and getting comfortable in the back seat.

The driver sped off, heading for the centre, but Jimmy’s insides felt as if they were taking a ride on a rollercoaster. Like Ren had said, it would all be fine. Jimmy had Ren by his side, for now, and for the foreseeable future, despite the distance that was about to separate them.

‘Is Markos coming?’ Ren asked.

Jimmy squeezed Ren’s hand, out of sight from the driver. ‘Of course he is. He wouldn’t miss your last night here.’

‘Cool. So everyone will be there.’ He nodded and looked out the window.

Everyone would be there. Jimmy couldn’t decide if that was terrifying or exciting. It was something. Something that made him feel slightly nauseated.

They reached Aristotle Square in no time; the traffic had been minimal, and despite the ongoing, never-ending construction work around the city centre, the taximeter was in their favour. The driver dropped them off right in front of the Venizelos statue, and they came out into the humid evening air of a Greek summer. They crossed the street and turned left at the first alley, Balanou Street, dotted with tavernas and life.

They found Stelios and Markos sitting at a table in the far end corner, both sipping retsina and smoking. As soon as they saw Ren, they cheered and both got up to give him a hug and a pat on the back. When Jimmy and Ren sat down, Katerina and Antonis emerged, Katerina holding a silver gift bag in one hand and a cigarette in the other. She screeched when she saw Ren and gave him a tight, long hug, which he reciprocated with his gentle hands. Jimmy lit a cigarette while the attention was held by Ren and his party.

‘Happy, Happy Birthday, Ren!’ Katerina gushed.

Everyone took their place on the rectangular table and the waiter graced them with more retsina, Coca Cola as well as some bread for the table, which everyone picked on. When the order was placed, the attention returned to Ren when Katerina passed him the silver bag.

‘This is from all, Ren, to show we love you and we’ll miss you. I hope you like it,’ she said, and Jimmy’s eyes felt a sting, which he blinked away.

Ren took the bag from Katerina and pulled the stapled top apart. He opened it and, using both hands, pulled a wrapped box out. Katerina laughed as he tore through the delicately and tightly wrapped present.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said and shrugged, batting his eyes.

‘It’s okay,’ she replied.

Antonis crossed his hands and huffed. ‘Speak for yourselves. I slaved for so many hours putting this together.’

Ren held the unwrapped box on top of the table and he gasped. ‘This—this is—extraordinary. H—how? Where? What?’

Jimmy pulled a corner of it, urging Ren to show him. He had not participated in the present, and he didn’t know why they had left him out of it. He had not bought Ren anything, not for the party, anyway. Nothing he could show in front of everyone. Ren turned the box around to reveal a thirty-centimetre clay statue of Ren in a superhero attire with an R right in the middle of the chest with a heart shaped around it. The colours on the suit were blue and white and the cape had the pattern of the Greek flag. The likeness was astounding.

‘Wow. This is awesome. Who did it?’

Markos put his cigarette out and leaned on the table. ‘A friend from school does sculpting, so I kindly asked him if he could make one. We all chipped in for the tools, and voila!’ he said.

‘This is fucking amazing, guys. Thank you so much. I will take extra care of it. It’s the best thing I’ve ever been given.’ Ren’s eyes had opened wide and the grin on his face could match the excitement of a four-year-old eating sugar.

‘You’re part of the group now, Ren. We wanted to make it official,’ Stelios said.

‘Thank you,’ Ren replied and looked at Jimmy with a hot stare.

Jimmy pulled his gaze away and instead looked at the waiter approaching with a tray full of mezzes. They all helped distribute everything across the table.

‘How do you feel going back?’ Antonis asked.

Ren swallowed his bite of cheese croquette and answered. ‘I’m nervous. And sad. I’m gonna miss you guys so much. But hopefully, you’ll visit me soon and we can catch up.’ Ren looked at Jimmy again.

Jimmy bit his lip and drank a mouthful of retsina. ‘I’m actually going to London,’ he said.

Everyone turned to him, and Markos asked him when.

‘September. I—I’ve applied for an Erasmus exchange,’ Jimmy replied.

Surprise was written across everyone’s face. ‘That’s so cool. So, you’ll be like a Greek Ren in London,’ Antonis commented.

Jimmy laughed. It hurt his stomach. His feet were numb and could hardly feel them anymore. ‘Yeah. Kind of. There’s something else I wanted to say.’

Everyone stopped what they were doing as if frozen in time, their eyes piercing him with their curiosity. Ren, sitting across from him, was staring at him too. His eyes were warm and gentle, and his mouth curved into a grin, giving Jimmy his telepathic love and support.

‘It’s really hard. I—I’ve not told anyone else before,’ Jimmy said and was suddenly thankful for the lack of people surrounding them. ‘I—I’m—Ren and I—Ren and I are in a relationship. I’m—I’m gay,’ he said, and his heart nearly shot out of his chest. He held his breath and looked at Ren. And waited.

Katerina stretched her hands across the table and put them on Jimmy’s. Stelios put his arm around him and Antonis hugged Katerina and smiled.

‘And this is news to us, why?’ Markos shouted from the other end of the table.

Jimmy looked at Markos first then at the rest of them. Katerina’s affectionate smile turned into a laugh. Antonis took a piece of meat from a plate and chewed pointedly, feigning disinterest.

‘What?’

‘We’re not stupid, Dimitri,’ Katerina exclaimed.

‘I mean, you practically strip each other naked every time you look at each other.’

Both Ren and Jimmy turned to Stelios in protest.

‘Yeah, we weren’t sure before, but since you’ve met Ren, you’ve got agapi written all over your face,’ Antonis added.

Agapi. Was it love they felt for each other? He didn’t know. Agapi was deep, meaningful love, the one you can’t build overnight. Maybe what they felt was a taste of it.

Jimmy looked at Ren and shrugged. ‘Why didn’t you guys say anything?’

Katerina lit a cigarette. ‘Because you will do it when you’re ready. We are not going to get you out of the closet before you accept yourself.’

Jimmy looked around the table and everyone’s grins had turned to smiles.

‘You guys are the best. I love you,’ he told them.

Katerina rolled her eyes and laughed, but the guys drooled.

‘Now aren’t you glad we forced you to make up?’ Stelios asked.

Jimmy looked at him.

‘What, you think the whole trip to Possidi, the shared tent, the privacy, was all so you guys could be friends again? We knew something had happened between you two. Although, I have to admit. The whole getting your head out of your ass part was all you, Jimmy.’

Jimmy punched Stelios’s arm and locked him into a hug. He really did have the best friends. All this time, he’d been worried for nothing.

Now there was one last person to come out to. And he dreaded this more than anything.