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"Pierre! What time did you say they would post them?" Max asked from the kitchen, where he was making coffee and pouring popcorn into a bowl before taking it to where the aforementioned Frenchman and Charles were waiting.
The three lads were about to watch MasterChef, as they did every Thursday night, but before that, they were dying to know the grades for their first semester exams, in their first year -first year together- in the University.
"Nine o'clock." He replied, his eyes glued to the computer, where he was refreshing the University's virtual campus every second.
"Damn it's already ten past nine! What a bunch of lazy asses." Charles added, sitting on the couch, mobile phone in hand and also looking forward to it.
Max sat down next to him and kissed his cheek.
"You'll see it surely went well."
"I don't know, on the second one I was missing some things and the graphs looked weird. I don't think I passed." Pierre admitted.
"You always say that and you always pass with the best grade, sweetheart."
"That's true." Max complemented Charles' words, to which the Frenchman stopped watching the screen for a second and ran up to them smiling, giving each of them a sweet kiss on the lips.
The three had known each other since before they had entered their dream college, and having all three applied the same year and gotten accepted, upon graduating high school they decided to move in together at Max brand new apartment in Brussels. That, coupled with the dynamic of studying together, exercising together and basically doing everything together all the time, made them realise how well they worked together materially, emotionally and sentimentally.
They maintained a harmony, containment and daily life that any fraternity or even any marriage would envy.
And in difficult or tense moments, such as the one they were going through at that moment... they were there for each other. Always united and looking forward to an optimistic future after the three of them graduated.
When Pierre returned to the computer, the grades were already uploaded.
"God, the results are in!!!" That alerted the other two, who immediately looked at their mobile phones.
"I GOT EIGHTY."
"ME TOO."
Pierre and Max hugged and congratulated each other, but instantly saw that Charles didn't move from his spot, and kept a neutral expression.
"Charles?"
"I didn't pass." The younger one muttered, letting out a shaky sigh that let Max know that Charles was about to break into tears.
"Oh no..."
"Honey..."
Max wrapped him in a tight hug, clinging to his chest and stroking his back, just as he felt Charles' whimper on his shoulder.
Pierre sat next to them, behind Max and taking Charles' face in his hands to kiss him gently to reassure him.
"I'm so stupid."
"Of course you're not. It was a difficult exam, babe. It was possible for you to get it wrong."
"But you guys did great. I'm the one who had problems."
"Charles, stop it."
"We studied from the same classes, from the same books, damn it! What did I do wrong?!"
And he went back to hiding on Max's shoulder and cry, so the others said nothing more and just remained there beside him, wiping away his tears and whispering that everything would be okay.
"You're brilliant, Charlie. You'll do it again at the end of the period and you'll get the grade you deserve. Pierre and I will help you study and together we'll see what needs to be reinforced."
"You guys don't have to..." He said breaking away, but Pierre put his head on his shoulder and squeezed his hand.
"We will study with you. And that way we all arrive knowing everything we need to the second semester. It'll end up benefiting us."
"Yeah, the correlatives will be so easy after reading everything again."
"I hate you guys for making me want to look on the bright side of this." Charles said, but now he wasn't crying and was smiling a little, or as much as his partners let him, between so many kisses and words of encouragement.
"You're welcome. Now, let's forget about that horrible exam and watch TV."
The three of them cuddled in with the snacks beside them, and let themselves be distracted from the academic pressure, at least for a little while.