Raju watches him rolling up his sleeves, biting his lip over a smile. When Francis yells go without waiting at all after his ready Raju's smile breaks out into a grin and Raju dashes behind him. It seems like Francis is having an easier time finding his balance than Raju, those wobbly knees giving him more trouble than he'd expected. He feels like he could run faster than the sun, but the happiness let loose by their lovemaking is running lose inside his body, distracting it when he tells it to go. He feels loose all over and if he hadn't spent so long going back and forth through these woods in every moment he could stand to spend outside, he might have fallen on his face at least a couple times by now. He does come close.

He doesn't manage a jump quite high enough and only mostly clears a log, stumbling on the landing. "Have you ever waited a full count before a race?" he calls to Francis, laughing. "Or do you always cheat this way?"