Francis is kissing him and laughing while he does it and Raju laughs too, grinning, leaning into the kiss before moving into smaller, quicker kisses over the corners of Francis' lips, his hand moving up and down Francis' side over the spot that he'd pinched. Francis isn't kissing that sensitive skin behind his ear any more, not after Raju's distracted him, but he's laughing as he kisses Raju and that's just as good, if not much better.

Then Francis says what he says and Raju takes a sharp breath in through his nose, lets it out heavily through his open mouth. "Maybe I will," he breathes against Francis' lips, voice abruptly lower. Hearing that now, when Francis' body is so fragile still, when he'd been dying— The idea of standing between Francis and that kind of ruin and pain not only because he wants to but because Francis is his to protect that way sends a jolt through every part of Raju's body, a jolt that afterward leaves a little of itself behind. His hand on Francis' skin moves over to his other side, fingers stretched out wide to cover as much area as it can, barely touching, only covering the damage there.

"You should have told me that later." He lets his head dip lower, resting the sides of their faces together. "I can't leave my marks over this until it's all healed. Now I have to wait."