“Mm. Well, there’ll be no ice bath for you today.” Only after running a hand over Francis hair does it occur to Raju to think twice about where the impulse is coming from, when he feels the soft smile on his face, that the kind of tenderness which had felt so natural before —- which feels so natural now — might not actually be the natural extension of friendship which Francis wouldn’t wonder about. He moves his gaze and hands down to the gauze, businesslike.

The way Francis has to sit in the tub means his thighs block Raju’s view of anything too personal. Once he’s already looking that way, Raju’s mind notes the detail for him. He steers it back to the movements of his hands over the gauze, familiar now, and the gentle way of nudging Francis to sit forward so Raju can unwrap the gauze from behind him.

“Why did you wait so long?” he asks as he watches his hands move. “To ask for this, I mean. I would have been happy to do it earlier.”