for anglais

Mads
"Alright, I think this is it" announced Josh and stepped back. I took a quick look in the mirror, and indeed, this was it.
"Perfect", I said as I turned around, then stopped for a second when I saw a little blue spot on his head.
"Hey you... You've got something there" I informed him with a grin and gave way to the mirror so he could take a look. "Looks like you've got blue roots now."

Josh
It was at this moment that Josh knew - he fucked up. This couldn't be happening. "Seriously? Oh my god..." For a few seconds i just stood there in silence, not knowing what to do or say now. I started scanning the room for something to keep me from losing it until my eyes landed on Mads. I slowly looked up from his face towards the top of his head. And suddenly, I had an incredibly stupid idea. It would fix my issue, but at a high price.
"Hey, uh... you wouldn't wanna help me dye my hair again, would you?", I asked in a very defeated voice.

Mads
Obviously I didn't decline, and so a short while later both our heads were blue as the summer sky.
While my hair was dry with the rub of a towel, Josh's would be needing a minute as I didn't have a blow dryer, so we decided to sit the time out in the yard, seeing as th UK had decided to bust out all it's sunny days during the quarantine and sun and wind basically made a blow dryer, right?
I didn't have more than one cheap Fisher chair to sit on, so we were both hanging out on the floor in solidarity.
As I was thoughtlessly staring at the blank grassy earth around here, I suddenly remembered something. Didn't I have a pack of wildflower seeds that I'd been wanting to throw out here for millenia but never got around to doing because I was too lazy to loosen up the ground?
"Josh" I called him to get his attention, and after he looked at me, "You wanna do some gardening with me?"

Josh
I shot a questioning look Mads' way but I agreed to do it either way. As long as I could be outside, right? About 30 minutes later we'd dug up a moderately sized plant bed and also covered our clothes in dust and dirt. I let myself drop to the floor. Even though I already felt annoyed about having to shower again in the evening, I also felt accomplished about our gardening efforts. What can I say, everything's easier with a friend. I smiled up at Josh who was bringing me a can of beer from inside and also a small bag of seeds. "Ready to plant?", he asked while holding his hand out towards me. I nodded and took his hand to let him pull me up.
Another 30 minutes later we both were sat on the ground in front of our finished flower bed, beers in hand. I let out a content sigh. "You're really lucky to have a backyard, even if it's just a small one. My dorm really had nothing to provide in that sense, that's why I always hung out outside. Glad I didn't have a garden, huh?", I grinned at Mads while saying that last sentence.

Mads
"You bet I am" I agreed enthusiastically as I sat down next to him and opeden my beer. "Would be proper boring around here without you. And I'm pretty sure the door to here would be blocked by all kinds of bullshit now, you keep me cleaning" I admitted. I really hadn't been taking care of my place when it was just me. Maybe I'd be able to carry this good behaviour on after this was over and Josh went back to the States.
It made me a little sad to think about it, I'd grown really fond of his company over these last two weeks or so. But the lockdown wouldn't last forever, and neither would his semester.
"Are you excited to go home again?" I asked, staring at my neighbour's wall. "Not just getting out of here, getting back from your semester abroad and stuff. You gotta miss your kin. I know I would."

Josh
"Yeah, I do miss my friends a lot. I missed them even more when I was still living alone and had no one to hang out with. At least we can all stay in touch until I go back, right? But I've barely arrived here, the semester is still long. I still wanna see some places around here- well, at least I wanted to", I realised my own mistake, "but I'm still glad to be here. I even made some new friends." I took a sip from my beer and thought for a moment. "Usually I only change my hair colour if I really want a change, not only concerning my head hue, but also in my life, you know? So I guess I achieved that too..." I trailed off and smiled to myself.

Mads
I looked at him and smiled.
"Suits ya. I hope the new life phase does, too." Then I put my head back to look at the sky above that perfectly mimicked both of our hair. The semester wasn't that long any more was it? Certainly not longer than this pandemic would last.
"You know we can still go out and look at some stuff if you want. Not in the city for that matter, but the country's nice too" I proposed and looked back at him. "Might not be the sights you anticipated"

Josh
So we got on a bus one day. Sadly this isn't the beginning of a romantic getaway story where we get on a random bus and never look back again. More like the beginning of a romantic getaway with questionable legality which might get us possibly into trouble but we're ignoring this hypothetical outcome. Either way, I was excited to see something else other than the same house after being basically confined in there. Mads sure was too. He'd been buzzing around the house all morning, gathering the perfect array of snacks and the right amount of beer for us to enjoy later on.
After a short drive, we got off the bus and set off in the direction of the hills. To be fair, hiking never was my favorite, but it wasn't as steep of a climb as I'd feared. Once Mads had pulled out two beercans from his bag, the climb was over as soon as it started, it went by that fast. As they say, time flies when you have fun.
About 45 minutes later we arrived at our final destination on top of the hill. I already knew my legs were gonna be so sore the next day. But the view was definitely worth the effort already, I couldn't stop staring at the city below us and the surrounding area, it was all so pretty. The best part, there were no people around whatsoever.

Mads
I'd been itching to get out and wander about for a while now, so when the day finally came that we decided to get out of the city on a semi legal hiking trip, I was basically ready before we went to sleep the day before. Hadn't been this excited about a getaway since year four.
I'd chosen a relatively short route, seeing as both of our muscles had probably degraded these last weeks, but long enough to help them rebuild a little. The way up was about as fun as can be, a beer can in hand each we eventually arrived on top of the hill that let us oversee the city, and some of the surrounding landscape too.
It was one of my favourite spots because of this. Seeing the world at your feet like that gave you a beautiful sense of freedom.
But today I didn't run up to the end of the plateau like I usually did, may it be a conscious decision or not, I stayed a few steps behind Josh and watched him while he took a look around.
The excitement on his face made me smile too, even brighter than before - I'd been all smiley ever since we'd gotten off the bus, and I found it almost as peaceful to keep looking at him as to take in the view. Well, I guess he was part of the view - he must be some kind of prism that I brought into the right position, because the sun has never shone so warmly on the UK as it reflected off his face, and his hair melted into the sky.
"You belong in the sun" I noted quietly, catching up those last few steps I'd waited for, only now taking my eyes off him and joining him in admiring the view.
"Do you like it?" I eventually asked. "Not the most impressive skyline we have, but I still love coming here."

Josh
"It's amazing nonetheless", I replied while Mads was making his way next to me. It's amazing because you're here, I thought to myself. My eyes followed him walking around the area, soaking up every single ray of sunlight he could possibly get. I smiled. He really appreciates every so little thing as if it's the best thing in the world right now. I kind of envied that about him. On the other hand, I could learn some of that from him for sure.
"I don't know about you, but I'm actually starving at this point", I voiced my stomach's feelings. Someone has to speak for it, can't do that itself. Duh.

Mads
"Right, almost forgot about that"
I was known to forget about food on trips like this and then scarf down the entire day's ration at the bus stop before the ride home. Didn't have to do that in front of Josh now did I - although after living together there probably wasn't much that could put him off any more. Still, now that he mentioned it I could feel my stomach speaking up too.
I set my backpack down in the grass and got out the sandwiches we'd made for lunch and threw one over to Josh, and while I was at it scrambled out some fresh beer as well. "There you go"
"You know" I broke the comfortable silence after we'd both had a few bites, now sitting next to each other, "This is where I really got to know the lads, James and Alby. Took me here bout after a month of middle school or so, I had no idea what they wanted with me."
I took another bite before I continued.
"James the bloody idiot stole his dad's cigarettes, that was the start of our financial ruin." I still smiled at the thought. Bastard.
"I guess I complained about some stuff then, Alby said it all doesn't matter as long as we're in it together. I hadn't even realized we were friends until then." I finished the memory with a grin on my face. "And he was right you know. I don't even remember."
I looked at Josh.
"So much irrelevanr bullcrap in this world to get hung up about, but it all doesn't matter as long as we're together."
That was a bit cheesy, so I decided to ruin the moment by taking another bite and falling on my back.
"Gotta come back once in a while to remember that"

Josh
I smiled when he said that. "As long as we're together, huh... I think that's nice", I thought out loud and looked over at Mads who'd laid down on his back, eyes closed. He looked so content. God I wish that were me. Though actually, that could be me. If I just followed his example.
And so I laid down on my back as well, folding my hands behind my head, closing my eyes. Feeling the warmth of the sunlight, worrying about getting a sunburn a little bit, and that despite my own skintone. If anyone, it was Mads who had to be concerned about getting sunburnt. But I was sure he'd manage, just like he managed seemingly anything he ever had to face. I ended up letting those thoughts go and listened to the sounds around us. Birds and crickets chirping, the wind in the trees... it was all so soothing and perfect to fall asleep to. Which I eventually did. Who could blame me?

Mads
At some point I must have fallen asleep, although it just felt like a blink, because my skin suddenly felt a little tense around my nose. I immediately knew I must have gotten a sunburn, but oh well.
You remember in primary school when the teacher brought in some toothbrushes and strainers and told you to go wild with watercolour? Yeah, that's what my face was gonna look like in a few days. Up until then I'd be (more or) less elegantly flushed. People made a lot of jokes about gingers and the devil, but this truly was our curse. ((I'm mad at him now because he doesn't appreciate his gingerness))
I finally decided to open my eyes after listening to the bird and cricket song some more, and after my eyes had readjusted to the light, I was able to make out that the weight on my upper body wasn't actually my uneaten sandwich - let's be real, a seagull had probably smelled that from miles away and come to snatch it, but indeed Josh's forearm. How I thought those had the same weight distribution was yet another question science still can't answer.
Josh had also fallen asleep, and in his sleep he'd probably rolled over, and in that rolling over his arm probably landed on my chest. I wasn't mad at all.
I put the arm that wasn't blocked by his half hearted embrace over my eyes to give my skin a little rest, and looked at his face, half smashed into the floor and yet so peaceful...
I smiled and let my thoughts wander while I kept inspecting his face.

Josh
As soon as I woke up, I felt that my left hand had fallen dead asleep. It was TV static running through my veins. I also felt that I was laying in the grass almost face down at that point. Most importantly, I felt fabric touching the fingers of said left hand. I finally opened my eyes and looked over to Mads whose arm was currently held hostage by me draping my arm over half his chest. Feeling a bit embarrassed, I pulled my arm away quickly and mumbled a quick "sorry" before sitting back up.
As I was sitting up, I caught something in the corner of my eye. I turned my head to face Mads again and burst out laughing on the spot. "You, uhh... got a little something on your face there", I informed him of his beet red head. So much for a sunkissed look. More like a sun-punched-me-in-the-face look. The combination with his blue hair made him look even more hysterical. "You look like Papa Smurf with inverted colours."

Mads
"Do you like it?" I asked jokingly and held my hand up in a peace sign. "I thought I'd try out the egirl look, TikTok really inspired me you know"
Then I sat up as well, reaching for my backpack and summoning a water bottle from under the remaining beer cans.
"Anyway don't worry about it, just hope you had a good nap." I pointed to my face. "You've got some nice decorations as well" I grinned before taking a swig of water. Then I decided it would be more effective to hydrate more directly and poured about half of the bottle's contents straight on my face. The rest I gave to Josh to use as he pleases.

Josh
Confused by that statement, I patted the side of my face and managed to brush off a few strands of grass that were stuck on my cheek. That kind of decoration, got it. I just silently watched while Mads was baptizing himself with his own water bottle, taking it myself after he was done.
After taking a few sips, I paused to look over at Mads who'd turned away from me. One stupid thought later and I already was in the process of launching some of the water right in his direction. "My hand slipped", I said with a sheepish grin after he turned around to look at me.

Mads
Even though I was already kind of wet, the water from the back was still taking me by surprise and I turned around in shock.
"You..." I grumbled playfully, and a second later I had him pinned down with one of my hands and with the other was trying to make him pour the remainder of the water, which he was still holding, on himself. It worked to an extent before he managed to get out of my grip and poured the rest down the back of my shirt, making me freeze for a second.
"Wanker!" I exclaimed through a laugh and pushed him, falling into his shoulder in the same motion.
"I guess we're gonna have to drink beer now"

Josh
We had another good laugh before Mads took off his shirt and laid it out in the grass to dry. I wasn't sure if that was the smartest idea, seeing as dark clouds were starting to approach us, but I wasn't complaining either. Though after a while, said clouds were starting to look more threatening. "Hey, I think that doesn't look like good news", I spoke up, pointing in the direction of the darkening mass in the sky. Mads nodded and suggested that we should start packing up our things and get going.
It's been such a nice day, I haven't felt this content and at peace for a while. And all that thanks to Mads. I looked over at him while we were walking and smiled. He noticed me looking at him and gave me a questioning look. Just as I was opening my mouth to give an answer, I heard a voice behind us. "'Scuse me, sirs?" My smile froze immediately and my walking came to an abrupt stop. I forgot.

Mads
While Josh froze, I turned around swiftly and smiled broadly into the coppers face. Was it weird that I noticed I'd missed being confronted by the bluebottle? Wreaking a little havoc? Wasting a little time?
"There a problem, sir?"
"That's officer for you." he corrected me, I gave him my nicest schoolgirl smile. "There seems to be, you lads don't look to be related to me so I'm gonna need some identification"
I laughed. Show mode engaged.
"Be a little weird if we were, wouldn't it now darling?" I practically sang and wrapped my arm around Josh, who had turned around to face the man as well, and pulled him closer. "Can't a young couple grab a breath if fresh air? We live together." I then said with just a tad bit of a challenging undertone.
"Identification." he insisted firmly, though it was clearly visible he wasn't entirely comfortable with this situation. "I'm gonna need to check your housing registration."

Josh
This whole situation was extremely stressful already since I was a tad bit scared of the police in general, but now I was gonna have to explain why our addresses don't match up. "Umm... I'm actually registered at Riverside dormitory, but we were ordered to move out... to our families or significant others, if we could", I started explaining quietly after we handed them our IDs. "I'm an exchange student, so I don't really have any family here, but I have him right there", I quickly glanced over at Mads, feeling my face heat up in embarrassment. "I informed the dormitory of my whereabouts, so you can ask them if you want-" "Okay, that's enough, lad, you sure talk a lot for looking so meek", the officer interrupted my rambling before walking away a few steps to relay our information via his radio.
"What if I'm gonna have to pay a fine... my parents are gonna kill me", I voiced my worries quietly. Then I felt something warm wrapping around my hand, at which I flinched a little before it clicked that Mads was taking my hand into his. I looked up at his eyes. "You're gonna survive", he said, smiling ever so peacefully. Smiling back, I broke the eye contact first. I felt a bit lighter than just before. "Hey lad, which dorm was it again? Riverside?", the officer's sudden voice made me flinch again. "Yeah, Riverside", I replied as coolly as I could. Were they really gonna call them...?
After confirming the dorm name with me, he got off his radio and walked back towards us, looking at our hands. "You're really a couple?", he suddenly asked. Well, if I were him, I wouldn't really believe us either. But before I even had the chance to think about our credibility some more, I was suddenly pulled in by the waist by Mads, my hips flush against his. "Well, if you really wanna make sure, we can invite you over tonight", I heard him say. If my face heat up a bit earlier, it was now pretty much on fire.

Mads
After that last move, the cop was suddenly in a hurry to get back to patrolling, so after a few hasty words about keepi g our distance from others, we were rid of him.
I moved my hand from Josh's waist to his shoulder, but didn't step away so to not look like we were scrambling away from each other as soon as he turned away from us.
"Fuckin bastard" I said under my breath, and then, taking a step back and looking at Josh, "Are you alright?"

Josh
"I'm, uhhh... yeah", I replied while avoiding Mads' gaze, still feeling very embarrassed. "Let's get going... unless you really wanna get soaked."
I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel awkward on the way back down. Because I definitely did. We still talked a little here and there, it wasn't like anything major actually happened just before, but there still was this kinda weird air around us. Or at least I felt like there was. I couldn't help but let my mind keep drifting back to the top of the hill either. That hand holding mine, this arm around my waist... I felt my face get warm again. It was kind of alarming to me. Maybe it was the lingering shock. Maybe I needed some time before I'd get over it. Hopefully.
During the bus ride, I started noticing some raindrops starting to hit the windows. And then some more. And some more. And suddenly it was actually pouring buckets, accompanied by the low rumble of approaching thunder. "Well that doesn't look too good", I quietly stated.

Mads
I was watching the raindrops race down the bus window when Josh spoke up, I shrugged.
"To be honest, it was about time. Was a little freaky getting all those sunny days, I thought climate change had finally hit the UK." I admitted with a laugh, but I didn't really get that same energy back from him.
That encounter earlier must have shook him more than I thought. Or maybe I'd been a little too touchy back there and made him uncomfortable? I did lack a bit of a filter when it came to this kinda thing, because we'll, first of all, I'd never had any problem with being close to other blokes, implications intended. Also, the lads and I all acted like this on a daily basis. And I hadn't really made a new real friend since Pidge, and he'd just kinda went with it, so knowing the levels of a friendship wasn't really my forte. Or maybe it was a cultural difference from the US? Or...
No, honestly, what did it matter what the reason was? All I knew for sure was that the last thing I wanted was for Josh to be uncomfortable around me, especially as he was dependent on living at my house.
"Josh?" I grabbed his attention, "Listen, mate, I'm sorry if I was... too much right then." I apologised, fumbling around with my thumbs.

Josh
My head turned to Mads quickly, surprised at the sudden apology. "Ohh no, it's fine, really, I just got a little surprised, we haven't been this close yet and you came out of nowhere and stuff... But it helped getting that cop off our backs after all", I added with a slight smile. Now I felt bad about making him feel bad.
"Also... the rain cooling down our dried and bracken soil is cool and all, but we've got like two stops left and it's still pouring as all hell. And we still have a ten minute walk in front of us", I changed the topic to a more burning one.

Mads
Relieved that he was back to joking, I chuckled and then shrugged.
"Aah you gotta try to see the bright side of it - free shower, saves on the water bill." I grinned. "Besides, ten minutes or two, I don't think it really matters at this point."

And I should be right, the second we stepped off the bus we were soaked to the bone. I stretched out my arms and welcomed the moisture, my skin could still really need some.
"Finally this shit hole feels like home again" I shouted over the sound of the bus driving off. The rain itself wasn't very quiet either.
For further dramatic effect, I spinned around myself and stopped when I was looking at Josh again.
A thought Sprung into my head how we could make this journey a little less depressing.
"Last one at the door does the dishes" I said with a grin, and at the last words I'd already started running.