free writing idea. as much as tims a great guy all his character traits are mostly just shared with the rest of the batfam. stephs character is criminally underused the only real stories involving her are she isn't up to par so batman kicks her out > she keeps heroing anyway > disaster. a (in my opinion great) solution to these problems would be to have stephs pregnancy go all the way through and they have to raise a kid. what do you think?
It could be a pretty interesting AU, especially as (if memory serves me right) Tim was only 14 and Steph 15 when she gave birth.Because of their ages, a big part of that arc would be about asking for help and relying on others because there’s no way in hell either of them were parent material at that moment in comic book continuity. I think Tim would put a lot of effort into hiding the fact that he’s part-time fathering from the rest of the Batfam (for fear they’d ask him to stop being Robin because this was a time where he didn’t have much confidence in his place in the family and where Bruce was very emotionally distant and strictly professional) and ultimately (but only after months) confide in YJ (I don’t think he was in the Titans yet) and then maybe Dick and even later Alfred. In the meantime, they’d probably rely heavily on Steph’s mother, since Steph falling pregnant was the time where Crystal started trying to become a good mother again. (Maybe eventually Jack and Dana find about it and help out as well?)I could definitely see this as slowly becoming their generation’s mission to take care of the kid. Kon would probably freak out a little at first but I think Cassie and Bart would take to it pretty quickly. Like, in this AU Steph would actually become integrated into the YJ/2nd gen of Titans group as opposed to the slight animosity they have between them in the canon comics.
Steph showed a lot of maturity during her pregnancy in canon, especially with her decision of giving away the baby at the end. Since she wouldn’t have done that in this AU, she and Tim would have to develop quite the responsible edge during the first few months after birth instead, and start thinking like adults earlier on. I’m not sure she’d want to continue being Spoiler unless she was somehow taunted or challenged into doing so.
The baby would be Steph’s responsibility more than Tim’s no matter how close they got. I mean Tim’s already torn between the Batfam, his own parents and YJ/the Titans and I hardly see him as the type to commit 100% to it when he’s already shouldering so much responsibility. He really cares about Steph but he’s always compartmentalized his life in neat, clearly defined cubes.
When Bruce finds out he’d probably be really pissed cause it was hell of irresponsible of Tim to hide that from his guardians and to continue being Robin without letting anyone know about that extra bit of info. For once Babs would definitely side with him, and she wouldn’t have let Steph ever join/intern with the BoP. There would be a bit of drama over Tim and Steph wanting to help the family in some ways and the whole family giving them the ‘you wanted a pet you take care of it’ speech baby-version. Idk, I just feel like both of them should eventually get a heavy backlash for deciding to raise the baby because honestly if they do decide to keep the baby, it’s a bit... selfish? I mean canon Steph gave it away cause she wanted the baby to be happy, and it is true that her situation is pretty shaky at that point in canon. I could see it happen because it was at a stage where they were still growing and maturing and they could make mistakes, but I don’t think it should be portrayed as a particularly stellar decision.
Sorry for ranting, I love thinking about AUs xD, it would definitely be a fun idea to develop further!
I have to disagree about Tim’s character being everyone else’s traits, though, and Steph being criminally underused (in the 90s and 2000s at least, post-flashpoint your statement would be quite right on every level). I’ve always found their arcs, their growth and their relationships with the rest of the batfam to be the most interesting among the 90s and 2000s Bat-comics. But I suppose that is a matter of opinion, and if I get started on that I will never finish so for both our sake’s I’ll stop there.
In anyways, it would be great if DC remembered the whole Steph has a child thing! Thank you for bringing it up :D
