Fatherhood (Platon)
is a Steven Universe/Epithet Erased crossover fic by Platon.
Greg Universe isn’t what anyone would call a hero in the traditional sense. He’s just some guy compared to his son and his weird alien surrogate family. But when he sees a girl without a father, he learns that sometimes giving people love and kindness is as heroic as beating an evil monster.
A link to the story on Archive of Our Own is here.
’’ Fatherhood’’ contains the following examples:
- Deconstruction Crossover: The fic shows how an outsider, in this case Greg Universe, would react to Molly’s situation with her moron father: horror at how she’s forced to fend for herself at a young age functionally.
- Establishing Series Moment: The fic opens with Molly being ordered around by her idiotic father, Martin, and having to do his job for him, reflecting the central conflict of the fic.
- Foil: Greg Universe and Martin Blyndeff are both wacky bumblers who struggle with parenting. Both lost their significant other and are raising their child alone, with Grag losing his girlfriend Rose, who died giving birth to their son Steven, and Martin losing his wife Calliope in a fire accident four years ago and is raising his daughters Molly and Lorelai. The key difference is that Greg ‘’tries’’ to be a decent parent, and despite his mistakes, he’s a genuinely good parent and caring person, while Martin is too happy to neglect his kid and, despite appearing to be a goofy, fun-loving parent, is actually a very selfish man. Flashbacks revealed that Greg was immature in his past and relied on his friends for help, but eventually matured, got a job, and became more considerate towards his friends. According to the Word of God, Martin and his wife perfectly balanced each other out, with him making the toys in their business while his wife does the business work, but it’s made clear that he never matured as a person even if his wife did balance him in the past. Greg is heartbroken by the loss of his love, Rose, but does not let that affect him being a parent and trying to move on; Martin completely ignores the death of his wife and puts all the responsibilities his wife had on running their business onto his daughter Molly while he slacked off and became a worse person than he was before. The story made clear that despite his immaturity and flaws, Greg is a good man and a good parent, while if Martin ever had positive traits and ever tried to be a good parent, those traits are gone, and now he’s just a bad person and bad parent.
- Nice Guy: Greg. When he realizes Molly’s family situation, Greg immediately offers her a snack.
- Tastes Like Friendship: Greg begins his relationship with Molly by offering her a donut.
