Spy & Scout

Spy & Scout refers to the familial relationship or friendship between the Spy and the Scout of Team Fortress 2.
==Background==
A connection between the Spy and the Scout's mother was established in the May 2009 "Meet the Spy" short, in which the BLU Spy flaunts photos of the RED Spy enjoying sexual congress with the BLU Scout's mother, to the BLU Scout's humiliation. At this point, the relationship between the Spy and the Scout's mother was simply a "yo mama" punchline establishing the two mercenaries' dynamic as bitchy assholes, but later materials would establish more serious connections between the Spy and the Scout's mother, and between the Spy and the Scout himself. Father-son Spy & Scout appeared in fan works as early as 2012-2013, though 2014 saw the rise of more solid canon evidence for their blood ties.
In Team Fortress Comics #4: Blood in the Water, released 2 October 2014, the Heavy makes a comment implying that he knows or strongly suspects the identity of the Scout's apparently still-living father.https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Blood_in_the_Water#/media/File:BloodInTheWater019.jpg In the 29 October 2014 comic "Blood Money", the Spy is shown holding a book titled How to Beat a Paternity Test. The July 2015 Gun Mettle Campaign included a voice line in which Miss Pauling leaves a message for the Spy: "Hey Spy. Pauling. I took care of that DNA test for you..." 
Other pieces of evidence include the two's interactions in shorts such as "Expiration Date" and shared similarities in appearance, including the Frenchman's Formals in-game costume exclusive to the Spy and the Scout.
Throughout all these developments, the Scout has apparently remained ignorant of any possibility that the Spy might be his father, maintaining that his biological father is the famous singer Tom Jones (known for hits such as "What's New, Pussycat?", "It's Not Unusual", and "Sex Bom[b]"), despite simple arithmetic showing that Jones would've been a prepubescent child at the time of the Scout's conception.
According to the fanbase at large, the father-son relationship was basically confirmed canon in Team Fortress Comics #6: The Naked and the Dead, released 10 January 2017, in which the Spy holds the dying Scout in his arms, confessing that he shamefully abandoned the Scout, and feels deep pride in his son... all in the guise of Tom Jones. 
While the Spy's soft spot for the Scout is pretty evident, the results of the aforementioned paternity test have not been explicitly revealed, meaning it's technically possible that the Spy could have cultivated a fatherly attachment under a false assumption that he is the Scout's biological father, and his speech was not a personal confession but part of an act to comfort Scout on his deathbed. However, as far as the vast majority of fans are concerned, the evidence for their blood relationship is sufficiently conclusive. 
==Reception and Popularity==
On Archive of Our Own (AO3), Spy & Scout is the most popularly tagged gen relationship in the Team Fortress 2 tag to date as of January 2024 with over 300 works;https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Scout%20*a*%20Spy%20(Team%20Fortress%202)/works there are also over 400 works in the "Parent Spy" tag.https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Parent%20Spy%20(Team%20Fortress%202)/works It is the most tagged gen relationship among the Spy (Team Fortress 2),https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Spy%20(Team%20Fortress%202)/works and Scout (Team Fortress 2)https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Scout%20(Team%20Fortress%202)/works tags, and among TF2 works in the gen category,https://archiveofourown.org/works?utf8=%E2%9C%93&work_search%5Bsort_column%5D=revised_at&include_work_search%5Bcategory_ids%5D%5B%5D=21&work_search%5Bother_tag_names%5D=&work_search%5Bexcluded_tag_names%5D=&work_search%5Bcrossover%5D=&work_search%5Bcomplete%5D=&work_search%5Bwords_from%5D=&work_search%5Bwords_to%5D=&work_search%5Bdate_from%5D=&work_search%5Bdate_to%5D=&work_search%5Bquery%5D=&work_search%5Blanguage_id%5D=&commit=Sort+and+Filter&tag_id=Team+Fortress+2.
Spy/Scout has also been popular as a romantic pairing, but its popularity may have declined with the comics' increasing number of allusions to a blood tie between the two characters. To date, Spy & Scout as a gen relationship has exceeded Spy/Scout in its volume of tagged fic on AO3.
==Fanon and Tropes==
Because of their fraught relationship, the Spy is often portrayed disguising himself so that he and his son may enjoy spending time together, without the Spy having to face parental commitment, or rejection from the Scout. The Spy commonly impersonates the Scout's mother or teammates. 
==Fan Works==
===Fan Fiction===
* Finally Getting 'It' by elysian_aviary
* Miami Vices by dotYoo
===Fan Art===
*I doodled something for the Holidays by wroughtwheat (13 Dec 2012)
*bloop just dumps here by fatherspy (circa Feb 2013)
*Guy’s a corny old jackass that laughs at his own jokes and complains non-stop about his feet. A fuckin’ clown. The kind of guy that gives pet names to his ties. Fuck ‘im, awright? Asshole steals the funnies from the newspaper every time he comes over. by stab-everything-now (12 Sep 2013)
*Dad Spy is the best Spy. by suja-janee (28 Mar 2021)
===Comics===
*Woop, there it is by astral-glass (12 Sep 2015)
*Happy father’s day! I made a comic for my favorite dysfunctional dad & son duo. Hope yall like it! (21 Jun 2020)
===Meta===
*Anonymous asked: why do you think Spy is Scout's biological father? by tf2imaginesandheadcanons (3 Nov 2016)
*TF2 Fandom, Here is a Thought by wroughtwheat (12 Jan 2017)
==External Links==
===Fan Communities and Archives===
*Archive of Our Own (AO3): Scout & Spy tag, Dad Spy (Team Fortress 2) tag
===Resources===
*Team Fortress 2 Wiki: The Scout's parentage
==References==
Category:Team Fortress 2 Relationships