#draft cleaning day! have some sprace analysis I love them!

[loving-jack-kelly]

i think spot and race are funny because they present as extreme opposites like race is generally very cheerful and friendly and happy to chat and spot is very stoic and deadpan and often comes across as an asshole. and most people don't see past that initial impression because, for both of them, that's very on purpose. they choose to come across the way they do.

but they see right through each other. prime enemies to lovers territory here because I absolutely know that race meets spot for the first time and is completely unimpressed by his whole vibe because he can tell immediately that spot is putting on an act even if nobody else can. and spot is instantly way more on guard around around race than he likes to be because spot can also tell immediately that race is putting on an act and can read him like a book.

but i think that's ultimately what drives them together and makes them work so well together. because as much as everything about both of them is on purpose and that's the way they like it, it's exhausting, isn't it? to keep up the act all the time. but for race, if he drops the act it's even more exhausting because nobody knows what to do with him when he isn't being goofy and friendly and cheerful. and for spot, if he drops the act he risks losing the respect and influence he's so carefully built up for himself.

and then they find this kind of refuge in each other. where spot can drop the act and just be a kid, for once, just relax and not try to seem untouchable. and race can be grumpy and super smart are let his mean streak shine through more than he usually can. i think they also start to revel in the other's act. race has fun watching spot work, watching him be mean and harsh and tough, watching him command respect and refuse to back down. spot likes watching race joke and flirt and charm his way into learning everything he wants without most people even noticing he's anything other than a silly guy. spot is one of the only people who actively understands why jack trusts race the way he does, because spot understands the way race works. race is one of the only people who understands how spot has earned and held onto the respect he has, because race understands the motivation driving all of spot's actions.