Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Spot was walking down the hall to potions as he felt a nudge against his shoulder.
He looked forward to find Racetrack had just sped past him.

“Screw you!”
He called after the boy. “We’re destroying you today!” Race yelled back, sticking his tongue out.

Spot watched as Race sped threw the crowds and groaned. They had a quidditch match against Slytherin that day and they had just barely beat Gryffindor last time, only winning because Mush had just managed to grab the snitch before Finch could.

Regardless, Spot was determined to beat Jack Kelly- ahem, he was determined to win this game- if it was the last thing he did.

He turned into his potions class and made his way to his table, next to Katherine.
She was also on Slytherins team, and while she was nice, she got competitive. Not unlike Spot did.

“Hey Spot. Ready for tonight? Better make sure Mush is ready to swoop in again.”
Spot sighed. He could take some trash talk, he wasn’t a baby, and Spot would’ve said the same to her.

“We’re more than ready. We’re gonna wipe the floor with your sorry asse-“
“Quiet everyone!”
Wiesel cut Spot off, and Katherine snickered. He sent her a look before giving his attention to the weasel.

“Today we’re brewing amortentia. Are any of you smart enough to tell me what that is?”
Spot scoffed at Weasel’s words as Race raised his hand.
“It’s a powerful potion that can cause deep infatuation with the person who gave it to you. It also smells like what you’re attracted to.”
Spot caught Race glancing at him as he spoke and Spot furrowed his brows. “Something doesn’t make sense, Conlon?”
Wiesel asked him. “Everything’s fine.” Spot glared at the man.
“..good. Now, you’ll be working with the person next to you to brew this before the end of class. If not, detention.”

The class got to work quickly. They all knew he was being serious and no one wanted to stay in that class with their vermin of a teacher more than they had to.

Katherine turned to Spot. “Open up the book and let me know what we need.”
He did so and after they collected all the ingredients, they got to brewing.

“So,” Katherine began as she sprinkled ground dragon scales into their cauldron.
“So?”
“What do you think it’ll smell like for you?”
“Are you just asking if I’m attracted to someone?”
She looked over at him and rolled her eyes, before grabbing the next ingredient.
“Maybe.”
“No.”

They were done pretty soon, and after it was checked that is was done correctly, they took the time to see what they smelled.

“So?” Spot asked Katherine. “Hm, ink. And vanilla.”
“Weird combination.”
“Well you go then.”
Spot smelt it and jerked back.
“What?”
“It’s fire? And.. shea moisture.”
A grin spread across Katherine’s face. “Curly heads? Huh.”
“Shut up.” Spot glanced at Race before he began to pack up his stuff just as class ended. He had to get to his dorm before the game, and maybe try to figure out what that potion was telling him.

As he entered his dorm, he saw Crutchie sitting on his bed.
“Oh, hey Crutch.” Spot said pulling his robes off.
“Hey! Game today, right?”
“Yep, in an hour. You’re coming, right?”
Crutchie smiled. “Of course. Can’t wait to see us win again.”
Spot shrugged. “Between you and me, I wouldn’t be too sure. We won by the skin of our teeth last time.”
The boy but his lip. “Okay maybe.. but we always pull through! And you’re always so focused on winning, it works out in the end.”
Spot looked at him and shrugged. “Not too focused right now.”

“Why?”
“We brewed amortentia in potions today and I smelt fire and shea moisture.” Spot looked to Crutchie. “Huh. I wonder who that could be.”
“Yeah it’s really annoying me..” Spot checked the clock. “Well I gotta go, I’ll see you after the game.”
Spot turned out of the room, grabbing his scarf and throwing it around his neck.
“See you!”

——

It was time for the game and Hufflepuff was in the changing rooms, slightly panicked.

“Okay, we got this. Now Slytherin is really good, but so are we! We’ve beat them before, we can do it again. We’re winning this.”

“I dunno Spot. I think it’s gonna rain. How am I supposed to see the snitch?”
Spot stayed silent for a bit, before an idea popped in his mind.
“Everyone come here.” Spot held out his wand to Mush’s face. “Impervius.”
Spot did this to the rest of the players and himself. “The water will repel from your face if it ends up raining. I learned that from a Ravenclaw. Now we have a few minutes, get ready to go out.”

Soon the teams were called onto the grounds, and were announced by Les, who had taken over his older brothers job.

“Welcome everyone to the Hufflepuff versus Slytherin game today! So great to see all of you- especially you Dais-“
“Les.” Medda raised a brow.
“Right!” He brushed himself off. “So to start off we got our Slytherin team.. The captain Jack Kelly-who who I’m sure has all the ladies swooning!”.
Jack waved with a big grin on his face and Spot rolled his eyes.
“Anyway he’s a chaser, along with Sniper and Katherine! Then we have our keeper, pie eater! Not sure how he got that nickname but moving on- our beaters Oscar and Morris!” They both made a point to flex their muscles.
“And finally our seeker, Racetrack Higgins! You all know and love him!” Race did a few spins on his broom and blew a kiss to the stands.
Everyone erupted in cheers and applause as Jack hit him upside the head.

“Now, moving onto our Hufflepuffs!” A chorus of cheers came from throughout the stands. “We got our team captain, Spot Conlon!-“ There were more cheers and the noise became deafening. Spot spread his hands out for a while, basking in the cheers.

“Who is a beater!” Les called after Spot drew his hands back and the applause settled down. Just to show off a bit more, he did loops on his broom, flipping upside down.

“Along with Buttons! Then we have Hufflepuff’s chasers who consist of Sarah Jacobs- my sister! She’s so awesome you guys- Jojo, and Romeo!”
Les cleared his throat. “Someone’s gotta get me a water, this is a lot of work. Anyways then we have Henry, Hufflepuff’s keeper! He’s great at his job and the only boy without a nickname, huh. Anyways last but certainly not least, we have Mush Meyers, the seeker! He saved Hufflepuff last time they went against Gryffindoor, close game.”
Spot rolled his eyes. Would people stop mentioning that?
“But those are our teams folks, let the game begin!”

The game started and Sniper, from the other team, got a hold of the quaffel.

“Sniper weaves through the players and dodges a bludger from Buttons, passing the quaffel to Jack, who attempts to make a goal but is blocked by Henry! Now on the other side of the pitch we have Mush looking for the snitch, Spot standing guard for him.” Les began.

“Sarah on Hufflepuff grabs a hold of the quaffel and- damn! She’s fast! Almost immediately she makes a long shot and.. she scores!”

Hufflepuff gained ten points and Spot quickly sent the girl a thumbs up.
Buttons was keeping an eye on any bludgers the Delancey brothers might send their way. The two had a history of playing dirty.

The game continued and the score was 35(Hufflepuff) to 40(Slytherin).
They were losing.

“Alright, Romeo gets a hold of the quaffel and passes it on over to Sarah, just dodging Katherine who was trying to intercept it at that moment! This game is looking good for both sides so far, folks!”

The crowd cheered as the players flew around the field.
Les groaned as he began to get wet. “Oh it seems it’s started to rain.” Dave walked over and opened an umbrella over their heads. “But Hufflepuff must’ve been doing their charms homework because the water seems to be repelling from their face- Hold on! I think Mush has caught sight of the snitch, and so has Racetrack! Who’s gonna get it first?! The rain has made this tricker, what will happen?” Dave rolled his eyes fondly. Les had always had a love for the dramatics.

Spot keeps an eye on Mush as he chases the snitch and speeds right past him, Race following shortly behind. Was that Shea Moisture?

Suddenly, Spot saw a bludger hurling at Mush, and no one was noticing.

….Act fast think later.

“Oh my god! Spot Conlon just got hit hard with a bludger to the leg! Is he okay- oh my gosh he’s falling, someone get him!”

At that very moment, Mush grabbed ahold of the snitch, and didn’t realize the boy falling beneath him.

“And he’s caught by Racetrack!”
Mush let out a sigh of relief and the whole stadium seemed to let go of a breath, but stayed silent. Spot had been hurt at games before but it was still concerning, especially if he were to fall off his broom.

He was rushed into the hospital wing, Mush and Jack following behind.

—

Spot woke up in a bed in the hospital wing, with Jack Kelly standing over his side.

As Jack saw him open his eyes, he called for Madam Pomfrey, who made her way over quickly.

“What happened?”
He asked Jack. “Delancey’s bludger hit your leg-“
“No, I mean in the game. Did we win?”
Spot smirked.
Jack rolled his eyes. “Yes. Mush caught the snitch. But you should be more concerned on who caught you.”
Spot looked up again and raised a brow(an action that took him a while to perfect.) “Race.” Jack answered.

Huh. He didn’t remember that.
He didn’t remember much, actually. Only that he saw the bludger going straight to Mush’s head as he and Racetrack sped to catch the snitch.

….

Spot kept an eye on Mush as he chased the snitch and sped right past him, Race following shortly behind. Was that Shea Moisture?

….

Oh yeah.

“Oh yeah.”

“Anyway the bludger hit your leg bad, shattered it. Pomfrey’s great though, so you should be out in a an hour or so.”
The older witch came to Spot’s side. “Yes, perhaps less. Regardless, visiting hours are over. I’ll see you later, Kelly.”
He clicked his tongue and smiled, leaving the wing.

“So, you’re in my office again.” She remarked as she tidied his bedside table.
He scoffed. “Indeed I am.”

She turned to him seriously and made sure Jack had left the room completely so they weren’t at risk of being overheard. “This can’t keep happening. Stop all the playing with fire!”
He bit his tongue begrudgingly and looked away. “I’m serious. You need to take your life more seriously. You always have a tendency to place yourself in danger when you don’t have to. You didn’t have to take the bludger to the leg, I know you could’ve hit it.” Her glare was ice. “I wonder what went through your mind as you sped over there.”
“I-“
“Move fast, think later?”
“Oh my Merlin, I’m not trying to die!-”
“Yes but you’re not trying to stay alive!”

He looked at her with his eyes wide.
He didn’t want to die. It didn’t matter if he was careless, he just didn’t take everything so seriously. If he landed himself in the hospital wing a few times it wasn’t a big deal.

“You came to me in your third year because you had “accidentally” slashed your own arm open. I kept my mouth shut but I’m very worried. If you ever need something, come to me.”
He sealed his lips before looking back up at her. “Can I go?”
“..yes. You can go.”

Chapter Text

Spot walked through the tired halls of the castle. His leg was better quick, it felt good as new, and he had won his game. Plus, the Delancey’s were probably crying in their cribs because the bludger didn’t hit Mush.

Spot was glad. Not only would Mush being hit in the head be more serious than Spot’s leg, but they also would have lost. It sounds selfish, Spot knows, but he wouldn’t know what to do with himself if they didn’t win that game.

Hufflepuff could not be a disappointment, it had to be the best. Otherwise, his respect would be gone. He had worked so hard to get it.

——

The next morning after their victory, Spot was clouded with cheers and congratulations. Also a few glares and threats but he found them sort of funny.
Katherine was nice enough to congratulate him when she saw him but Race and Jack did try to hex him now that they knew his arm was better. They didn’t succeed, to be clear.

It was actually comical. The spell directed at Spot bounced off a knight and hit Jack, which gave him jelly legs.

Spot didn’t even want to take credit for that, it was embarrassing enough on its own.

It was a Saturday so Spot wasn’t doing much. He played a a few games of not really-quidditch with Dave, who enjoyed the sport but didn’t care to be on a team, he talked to Moaning Murtle, and caught up on homework(so he didn’t have to worry about Weasels four foot long essay on moldy toads the next day.).

During dinner he received a letter and brought it back to his room to read.

It was from his dad. This was bound to be good.

‘Dear Sean,

How are things? How are classes and how is quidditch? I understand you’ve been leading your house to victory. At least you can be good in Hufflepuff as well, but you’re bringing shame to Slytherin. Nevertheless, make sure your house is the one to come out on top.

Good luck on your exams. Getting a good score on those is the least you could do. Begins preparations for N.E.W.T.s as well.

Once more; don’t fall behind, Sean.

Respectfully, Jasper Conlon
Your dad’

Spot scoffed as he read the letter over. ‘Respectfully.’
His dad seemed to care about him so much. At least he took the time out of his day to write the lousy thing.

Spots response was short.
It was going well, he had won, sorry about Slytherin, he’d promise to do well, he’d stay ahead of the curve.

He sealed the envelope then fell backwards onto his bed. Crutchie, Mush, Henry, and Romeo were in the common room, getting the party for their win ready, so he had the dorm to himself.

Maybe with this time he could think of who exactly he might have smelled.

Well, thinking about it technically, it was just what he was attracted to, so it could very well be no one. He could just have a thing for a hair care company and.. fire.

But he had remembered while Race was speeding past him, he smelled the distinct scent that was the curl cream.

But to be fair, Mush used the same cream and conditioner. It was stocked in their bathroom, and Spot was sure he didn’t like Mush.

He didn’t know how he felt about Race though. He was a pain in the ass, annoying, he had no filter, and he talked a lot, but Spot supposed he didn’t really know him.

Still, the scent didn’t have to be a person. Just something he liked, and yeah, it smelled really good.
Making friends with Race didn’t seem too bad though, it’s not like they hate-

Spot shot up as he heard a clash at his window.
He slowly moved towards it and groaned upon seeing who was there.

Racetrack Higgins, rocks in hand.
Maybe he did hate him.

Spot opened the window. “Want me to toss down my hair?” Spot called, a smirk present in his voice. “To come out here with your broom would be nice enough!”
Race called back.

Spot sat considering it. “Why should I?!”
Race froze. “Because this is the only time you’ll ever hear me asking you for help!”
Spot snorted. “Good enough for me. Wait there.” He threw a sweater over the tank he was wearing and grabbed the broom from the corner of his room, before climbing out of the window.

Soon he was on the ground next to a rather flushed Race.
“You’re freezing, right?”
“What? No, definitely not. I’m fine!” His teeth chattered.

“Okay then.” Spot shrugged. “What do you want?”
“Can you..” he bit his lip. It was obvious Race did not want to ask this; and Spot was going to bask in every minute of it.
“Oh go on. You can do it, I believe in you.”

Race glared at him. “Can you.. help me..”
“Sorry, can I what?” Spot put a hand to his ear. “Can you help me with quidditch?!”
Spot’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Yes.” Race grumbled. “I know you could play like- every position if you wanted to and I need to get better.”

Spot stood and thought. On one hand, Race was annoying. On the other.. nope, he was still annoying.
But it had to be fun, why not.

“Fine.”
Race jerked back in surprise. “Really?”
“Yeah, I guess. Do you have your broom?”
“Uh yeah.”
“Let’s go then.”
Spot started to walk in the direction of the pitch. “Wait, now?”
“Now.”

They found themselves on the quidditch pitch far after curfew, but it wasn’t Spot’s fault Race had come to him so late.

“Okay so what do you want to improve the most?”
Race hesitated. “I feel like I need better balance. I’m like, really fast, but I could go tumbling off my broom when I go that fast, y’know?”
Spot nodded slowly. “I do. Show me how you sit on your broom.”

And they went from there. Surprisingly, Race was easy to talk to and pretty funny. He was not a fast learner though and he had many habits to break, but even so it came as a surprise when Race asked Spot to meet him there again the next week.

Spot shrugged, agreeing and Race walked him back to his window, watching Spot go in, then leaving.

Before he closed his window, Race flew up to him and began to speak in a whisper. “By the way, I don’t think we should tell anyone we’re doing this. I mean, I know the Delancey’s aren’t fond, of mingling with the team that made us lose.”
Spot didn’t really care. He supposed it would work better for him too, he did have a reputation.
“Yeah, sure.”

Race nodded and waved goodbye, before leaving and going back to his own dorm.

Spot closed the window quietly and laid on his bed. He thought of their now ‘secret.’ It made him feel like he was doing something forbidden, like Romeo and Juliet. Except they weren’t lovers and Spots wasn’t an old freak in love with a sixteen year old girl.

Before Spot drifted to sleep, he thought of how he hoped Race didn’t get hypothermia from being in the cold.

-

“Spot! Get up.”
Spot slowly blinked his eyes open and found it was still dark. “What do you want?” He looked up at Crutchie. “You’ve been missing the party. Get dressed and come downstairs.”

He groaned as he pulled himself up. A party after an hour of flying wasn’t ideal, but what was Spot supposed to say? Also, he was expected to be there, being the captain and all.

He put on jeans and kept his black tank on as well as a gold chain necklace and walked downstairs.

“Spot!” Dave called to him.
“Hey Mouth.” “Hey, good game.”
Spot smirked. “Thanks. Les did a good job y’know. You should consider giving’ him the position, maybe try out for the team.”
Dave scoffed. “Oh cmon, I bet Skittery’s gonna get kicked off soon anyway, he’s been getting detention.”
Dave sat silent. “If he gets kicked off, I’ll consider it. I’d have to play against you and Sarah on one team though, also against Jack. I dunno if I could do that.” He chuckled.

“Eh, the doofus’ll just fall deeper in love with you. And Gryffindor could use you. They stopped being good after those like Plant Potters left? Y’know the ones with the glasses.” Dave shrugged with a grin on his face. “You’re probably right. Speaking of that doofus.” Dave waved goodbye to Spot and made his way to where he saw his boyfriend.

Spot was bored. He had no one to talk to and his back was killing him. Race knocked him over an hour or so ago and it messed with him.

He made his way to where the punch and cups were and grabbed a red solo cup, sipping on whatever was in it.

Spots eyes scanned the room, looking for someone he could talk to.
Oh. Race ended up going.
He shrugged. Good for him.

The boy caught his gaze for half a second before he looked away, seemingly immersed in a conversation with a fifth year.

Spot just leaned against a wall, sipping at his drink, keeping a cold glare on his face. Out of the corner of his eye he saw two fourth years that were so drunk they wouldn’t remember any of this tomorrow. They were not allowed here, as the parties his year held were for fifth up. He saw them start up the stairs and groaned, walking over.

“Hey, you stay downstairs and don’t drink nothin’ else or else you go back to your house.

The two looked at each other and giggled before running to the other side of the room.

Spot grabbed another cup. He hoped he wouldn’t remember anything tomorrow.

Chapter Text

Spot woke up with a headache the next morning. This wasn’t much of a surprise to him, but it didn’t stop him from shoving his head into his pillow and cursing at Merlín.

Crutchie of course, was perfectly fine. Why would the bottles of fire whiskey he drank last night affect him?

The boy was humming John Lennon to himself as he got dressed and it drove Spot absolutely insane. He did not like John Lennon. Apparently this was a horribly outlandish viewpoint but Spot just could not care less.

Did Spot sing along to a song that he didn’t know John Lennon sang once? No, why would you even ask that?
…

Spot woke, throwing a pillow at Crutchie’s
head, effectively hitting him.

“Hey!”
Mush walked out of the bathroom at that moment. “Bathrooms free.”

Spot picked himself up and trudged to the bathroom. He gagged as he looked himself in the mirror. His cheeks were swollen and chubby and his eyes were sunken and gray.
His hair was quite frankly a mess and his breath smelled horrible.

Spot hated how he looked. He’d never been happy with it. He’d never been happy with much about himself actually.

Spot pushed away those thoughts with a splash of water to his face and a beauty charm, something he’d perfected much too young.

It smoothed his jaw line, put color in his face, and got rid of the dark circles.

After doing his business, he left the bathroom and got changed.

“How do you always look so good in the morning?” Mush groaned. “Think about how the girls would swoon to my feet.” Romeo dropped down on his bed.

Henry laughed. “You’re such a poof.”
Romeo gasped dramatically with a laugh as Spot sat there. You’re such a poof.

He got up. “Going to Breakfast.”

Spot left without another word.

He didn’t think they were like that. Were they like that?

They couldn’t be, they were friends with Jack and Dave, but Spot didn’t even know if anyone else knew about the two.

The way they used it wasn’t serious but it hurt to be called that, Spot would know, but it didn’t get to him anymore.

At least he thought it didn’t.

Spot shook it off. They were at liberty to say whatever the hell they wanted and it wasn’t much of a big deal anyway.

Spot passed through the people congratulating him once more. It felt good knowing you did great. They could’ve done better, but it wasn’t time to think about that. It was time to eat.

For breakfast he didn’t have much, though he always yelled at his teammates to. If they didn’t eat enough they wouldn’t have enough stamina to play well, and Spot would not have that. Spot on the other hand was trained to play under any circumstance, so a little malnourishment didn’t do much to him.

His Saturday was empty and boring. His homework was done and everyone was too busy for a game of mock quidditch, plus he didn’t want to talk to people, so he really had nothing to do.

He got up from the table to just roam around the halls, only to sit back down when his owl placed another letter in front of him.
This time, it was not from his father.

‘My dearest, Sean’

His stomach wormed at the heading. Maybe in a good way.

‘I hope you remember me, it’s Sling’

Spot scoffed. How could he forget him.

‘I’m writing to tell you to come visit during the holidays!

We miss you and your brooding face at our table, and we know you’d rather be here than your fathers stormy tower.

Tell me you’ll come.

Yours truly, Sling’
P.s I’m coming to Hogsmede Monday, meet me where you do.’

Spot bit back a smile.
Sling was his.. friend that went to Durmstrang. He only got to see him every so often, but every time he did, it was full of adventures. Maybe those adventures.. changed over time, but it didn’t matter to Spot because he could confidently say that Sling was one person he genuinely cared about. He tucked the letter in his robes with a smirk on his face, and roamed around the halls.

Spot then thought of Race. He wasn’t sure if they’d be meeting up that night since they only scheduled for next week, but Spot hadn’t seen the boy so he wasn’t sure where that was going.

Spot stopped as he landed in front of the room of requirement, a confused expression painting his face.
What did he need right now? Sling probably, but the room couldn’t bring him Sling.

He went in anyways, concluding there was nothing better for him to do and saw- Racetrack? Playing the kazoo.. on a hammock.

Huh. Somehow that didn’t seem at all out of the ordinary.

“Hey.”
Spot said and Racetrack jumped. “Oh hi. What are you doing here?”
“I dunno. Room just showed up and I didn’t have anything better to do.”

“Do you need something in here?”
Spot looked around. Well, Spot never really considered playing the banjo. “Nothing I can think of. We doing quidditch tonight?”
“Why not. Oh before you go, you want yourself one of these hammocks. They’re so comfortable.”

“I’ll make sure to get one.” Spot turned and left the room, only sparing one last glance at Racetrack.

——

Spot left the great hall after dinner and went to his dorm to change. It still wasn’t too cold, only being early November, so Spot only wore his long trousers and a sweater, seeing no reason for a big coat.

He waited in his room until he heard the familiar voice and grabbed his broom, making his way to the pitch.

-

“See, you keep holding it like that. Your hands are too close, it’s making you wobble more.”

Race adjusted his grip and Spot nodded. “Now go around the pitch.”

Race did a few laps and landed in front of Spot again, who sighed. “You have to keep your hands in that position as you fly. Don’t shift them.”

“Alright I got this.”
Spot raised a brow. “Watch, I do!”
He put out a hand in front of him to signal Race to go ahead.

When he came back this time, his hands had barely moved. “Oh, great. Now just make sure you do that every time you fly, even if it’s not quidditch. It’ll become second nature.”

Race nodded. “And you know all this how?”
Spot shrugged. “My dad. He’s really big on all the traditional family values. Pureblood, Quidditch, N.E.W.T.’s, money, slytherin.”

“Well you’re not slytherin, are you.”
Spot sighed. “Unfortunately not.”
“Unfortunately? Why do you say that?”

Spot narrowed his eyes. He barely even tolerated Racetrack, he was not about to tell him about.. all this.
His father was not pleased at all when he learned Spot had been placed into Hufflepuff. It took five Christmas’s and five birthdays for him to get a present. He understood though. At least he got a card.

“Just rather do what the family is doing.”
Race scoffed. “Sorry but you’re Spot Conlon. You don’t do things because other people do them.”
“Family’s different i guess.”
“Guess so.”

The boys sat in silence, staring at each other until Race broke it.

“I’m freezing.”
“Bring a sweater next time.”
“No.”

Spot rolled his eyes. “Freeze then. It doesn’t faze me.”
“Shut up. Are we doing this again tomorrow?”

Spot bit his lip. Not that he would ever tell Racetrack this, but the days he met up with Sling usually turned into nights.

“Lessons the next day, no?”
“Since when have you cared about that?”

Spot raised a brow. Race was acting like they were friends.

They were not. They were absolutely not friends so why would Race know what he cared or didn’t care about.

Granted, Race may had thought that because it was a Sunday and they had lessons the next day as well, but that was insignificant.

Instead of saying this of course, he just shrugged.

“Let’s get back.”
“Yeah alright.”

-

Spot closed the window behind him and watched as Race flew away, his hands placed correctly. Spot felt a tinge of pride at the sight but pushed it down and focused on getting changed instead.

Now in clean pajamas, he dropped into his bed and let himself smile thinking of Race.

Sling. He was thinking of Sling. Why had he thought Race? He did not think of Race.