#guys I am not a Tim hater I just love Steph

[kennedy-salem]

I think if I told your average “comic bro” that I prefer Stephanie Brown as Robin over Tim Drake they would faint

[erinwantstowrite]

Okok fr questions because I’m obsessed with Tim figure skater AU

Because the bats aren’t aware of tim being the one behind his vigilante mask, how are his relationships with them out of the suits? Do they interact often or on spare few occasions? (I see the happy birthday Bruce message and think they don’t talk *too* often? idk)

ALSO JANET AND TIMS SIGNATURES… them being so similar has me rocking back and forth crying (interpret as you will)

AHHHHH I LOVE FIGURE SKATING TIM AUUUUUU

be prepared i am about to YAP cause i love this au sm and now i gotta talk about it LFMAO

So far, the backstory is that Jay ended up not dying and was just extremely injured after the Joker incident. When he got back on his feet again, he joined a hockey team to make more friends outside of the hero community. Cass wanted to try figure skating and they start going to a rink in Gotham, and that's where they met Steph, who is "not" a vigilante. (She is, but more on that in a sec.)

While there, they start to hear more about "Tim" who comes by sometimes and is Steph's friend (they met when they were much younger and they are besties), and they end up connecting that the Tim they're talking about is "that famous figure skater from Bristol" that's always in the news. Cassie is a huge fan of Tim's, and she freaks out when she hears from Jason and Cass that this rink is one that Tim frequents. That's why she ends up dragging Bart and Kon to the rink to see Jason's practices or to hang out with Cass- so she can meet Tim.

However, it's sort of a well kept secret that Tim and his rink friends have. He's not supposed to go there anymore, because he has a private rink. Janet lived, but Jack went into his coma still. He eventually woke up and while Jack is recovering, he finds out they moved back to Bristol full time and there's no more travelling. In turn, they spend more time with Tim, but it's also a strain on their relationships. Jack gets on Tim's case about school, and Janet becomes Tim's manager and pressures him about skating. So Tim doesn't get to visit the rink as often anymore because of his workload. Like, he's in the gym 24/7, does his schoolwork online (he's grades ahead), doesn't ever get a break. Meanwhile, Jack and Janet are always fighting and sort of using Tim as an outlet/weapon against the other.

Buuuuuut, when he does visit, he meets Jason, Cass, Cassie, Bart, and Kon through the connection with Steph and other unnamed rink friends. They start getting to know Tim through the times that he's at the rink, and Steph, who is Janet's #1 hater and an instigator at heart, starts pushing for the vigilantes to look more into Tim's life and befriend him.

The dynamics at play are super funny because Steph and Tim are a vigilante. "A" vigilante, as in sharing the same identity. Tim doesn't have the time in his schedule to go out there, so Steph takes up that part of the role and they share this identity together- Steph taking out the bad guys as "Bird Watcher" and Tim doing the computer/tech work as "The Ornithologist". They're both detectives in their own right and work so well together that it's incredibly hard to distinguish that they aren't one person. They both know that the Bats are the Bats, but the Bats are unaware that these two are the same vigilante they've been trying to figure out for years now.

The rest of the family meets Tim through Jason's hockey stuff, away from Janet and just who he is as an individual. And then they see his figure skating side and the dynamic he has with Janet when Cass enters the same competitions as Tim. (This is my world and they compete against each other.) Obviously, Bruce sees this black haired, blue eyed kid who has parents that treat him like shit and goes "Another one, thank you!" So Tim ends up getting closer to them that way and Steph (again, Janet's #1 hater and looking for members for her club) is having the time of her life causing chaos on the side.

There is... a "tiny" little detail that I won't share yet, cause I truly do want to write this au at some point, and it's way more fun to see people react in real time to it. (I have SOOOO many Tim aus it's not even funny. Blame alighterwood for that.)

Also YESS Tim and Janet are so alike but so completely different it makes me CRAZY

[thatblondeperson]

Hi! I'm the girl who recommended "All I've Ever Known" from Hadestown from your most recent chapter, which, by the way, completely blew me away.

I wish I could send some of my own TimSteph thoughts/writing towards you, though I haven't done much. You are an excellent writer and I love your interpretations of both characters. They're so perfect together.

1. Do you have any fanfics concerning them coming after this one?

2. You have no idea how much it kills me that I have to wait 7 days to read another chapter. This fic should be CANON and no, I'm not joking.

3. Also, I recommend listening to Mr. Blue. It reminded me of Chapter 9 (was it?) when Steph said she was worried about Tim's mental health.

4. You said in Chapter 11 that you had a soft spot for Steph playing piano (that happened) and there would be more of "fun" Tim. Is it coming soon?

5. Have you seen Marcus To's art of TimSteph? They're so cute.

Again, so sorry for the long questions/responses. I just love TimSteph, which is weird, considering I'm not THAT big of a shipper and I'm more of a book fan than a comic book fan. I actually preferred DickKory when I got into the Batfam comics, and I still have them ranked high, but over time, these two grew on me. It was like, "Ooh, these guys are great BFFs! They can't get any better--"

Then I realized that they were dating, and the more and more I thought about it, THE MORE AND MORE IT MADE SENSE. I COULD WRITE A 10-PAGED PAPER ON WHY THEY WORK SOOOO WELL.

But IncoherentBabblings beat me to it with her incredible post on "Why TimSteph is Nice," and it's one of my favorite posts ever.

Hey hey!! Sorry, busy couple days at work!

I am so happy that you've been enjoying the fic!! I listened to the song and it's so so sweet!! I totally get the TimSteph vibes from it, where it's just the two of them clinging to each other in the face of everything else.

If you ever post anything lmk! I'm always happy to see more TimSteph content! You are too kind about my writing! I am just happy that I'm finishing my first multichapter fic like this. Never finished a big project before, honestly never thought it would happen.

1. I have a whole to-do list of little projects, god knows when anyone will see those. I'm drafting little things now that I'm winding down from FMWBTY. I am gonna be doing a collab project with @incoherentbabblings but we are just in the planning stages so far.

As far as with this fic, I would love to do a sequel to write the relationship more on this timeline, but we'll see! There's a lot more I'd like to cover, idk if it would be as long of a project. I do want to utilize Cass and Damian though, I want to bring them in since Cass is such an important person to Steph, and I'd love to see some forced bonding hilarity between Tim and Damian with Tim playing nice out of respect for Steph lol

2. lololol yeah I though a week would be a good amount of time in between chapters. It's better than waiting for me to write the chapters, I promise. I made my first draft of this thing in 2019!

3. I will listen to that too! It's on the list!

4. I use "fun" in an odd way. I'm trying to have Tim relax around Steph and act like himself again. He's kinda been battered by a lot of shit over the years, so he's kinda receded in on himself. I will drag him out a bit, but that's where a sequel would also be fun. Let him be a jokey, lovey dovey boyfriend for Steph.

5. Love Marcus! Hope to be able to commission a TimSteph piece from him someday. I do wish that she was drawn with more wavy, kind of untamed hair, since I just like the idea that Steph has this super thick hair. But his art is literally always stunning, such clean line work and I like that he doesn't draw the men too bulky, and that the women aren't oversexualized.

Long questions are fine! I think a lot of us started with DickKory in the form of RobStar in the Teen Titans TV show, that was definitely one of my first major ships, and it was a painfully wonderful slowburn. Wonder where I latched onto that trope? 🤣🤣🤣

Idk when I hopped onto TimSteph. I think I just latched on after I started reading Tim because their dynamic was so fun and sweet. And then fandom, cuz when I joined there weren't so many antis and Steph haters. Truly sad to see now.

Thank you thank you THANK YOU for all your support!! I definitely plan to keep writing TimSteph while I still have ideas! ❤💜