History Main / PlatonicCoParenting

* ''{{VideoGame/Touhou}}'' fanworks occasionally depict Sanae (who came to Gensokyo as a teenager) as being raised by the goddesses of the Moriya shrine, Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Moriya (and sometimes goes into HasTwoMommies instead). It gets complicated when you remember Suwako is actually Sanae's very distant ancestor.

* ''Series/GimmeABreak'': Nell, ostensibly just the housekeeper, served as a surrogate mother to Chief Carl Kiniski's three teenage daughters. A flashback featuring the girls' late mother showed that she asked Nell to stay with her family for that purpose (as she'd recently learned she had terminal lung cancer). There was some mild ShipTease between Nell and Carl in the fourth season, which was cut short by the death of Carl's actor, Dolph Sweete.

* ''Series/GimmieABreak'': Nell, ostensibly just the housekeeper, served as a surrogate mother to Chief Carl Kiniski's three teenage daughters. A flashback featuring the girls' late mother showed that she asked Nell to stay with her family for that purpose (as she'd recently learned she had terminal lung cancer). There was some mild ShipTease between Nell and Carl in the fourth season, which was cut short by the death of Carl's actor, Dolph Sweete.

* In ''Fanfic/HarryTano'', Ahsoka raised Harry alone for four years until they met Sirius and Remus when he was eight. The three adults quickly form this relationship with Harry, as Ahsoka is Harry's adoptive mother, Sirius is his godfather, and Remus [[CloudcuckoolandersMinder keeps Sirius from doing anything illegal/dumb]].
* ''Fanfic/IfWishesWerePonies'': After Harry ends up in Ponyville, he is taken in by Twilight Sparkle. While she is his primary caretaker [[spoiler: and later his [[HappilyAdopted adopted]] [[InterspeciesAdoption mother]]]], it is shown numerous times that Twilight's friends look after him just as much as Twilight does (with Pinkie Pie ''always'' making sure he eats). While he never outright calls any other member of the Mane 6 his parents, he clearly cares about them/trusts them more than any of the other adults he knows.

* In the TMNT and Spiderverse crossover ''Fanfic/{{Spider-Ninja}}'', April met the turtles and [[GenderFlip Petra Parker]] when they were kids. Due to being the only other adult in the kids' lives, she became a parental figure to them and has this relationship with Master Splinter. Petra outright says at one point that April is the closest thing she has to a mom.

* ''Film/DungeonsAndDragonsHonorAmongThieves'': Edgin and his best friend Holga raise Edgin's daughter together after the death of his wife with assistance from the rest of the team. Edgin and Holga shut down any indication of romance between them.

* ''Series/TheOrville'': In the third season, Bortus' child Topa [[spoiler: transitions back into a girl, causing Klyden to leave his family.]] As a result, Commander Grayson steps up and becomes Topa's mentor and mother-figure. Kelly and Bortus have one of the strongest friendships on board, but they have no romantic attraction to one another. Still, they work together to provide Topa with a strong support system, and Kelly remains a part of the family [[spoiler: even after Klyden returns]].

* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'': Drake and Launchpad are not romantically involved, but rather best friends (though Launchpad occasionally gets on Drake's nerves). They work together to raise Drake's adopted daughter, Gosalyn.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': Donald and Della are twin brother and sister. However, when [[spoiler: Della gets lost in space for ten years,]] Donald raises her kids as if they were his own. [[spoiler: When Della returns, she begins to take an active role in raising her sons, but Donald continues to treat them as his own as well.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': After the death of his mother Rose, Steven is raised by his father Greg and Rose's war compatriots the Crystal Gems. Neither of them date Greg, though at one point the Gems FusionDance into a single being to pretend to be his wife. Luckily, the parents they feared would judge them for their unorthodox family actually don't mind as long as Steven is raised responsibly.

* A similar example as above in ''Circumstances of an Unexpected Trio'' series by ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/u/4838495/Musicangel913 Musicangel913]]'', though they are also raising Draco along with Harry, who was given to them by Narcissa after her husband was tortured into insanity and learning that she'll be killed soon as a liability for being more loyal to her family than to Voldemort. When Harry asks Sirius how come he and Lily never got together romantically, Sirius admits that both were still holding a torch for their [[TheLostLenore deceased partners]] (James for Lily and Marlene for Sirus), and their attempts to come together due to the stress of raising the two boys and the approaching dates of their dead lover's anniversary lead them to admit they were BetterAsFriends, which in the long run helped their family unit.

Compare LikeASonToMe, ParentalSubstitute, FamilyOfChoice, HonoraryUncle, and HappilyAdopted. This could also occur between parents and eldest children who are PromotedToParent. May be a reason for HasTwoMommies if the same-sex parents aren't a couple. Also see AmicableExes for when divorced parents are on good terms and co-parent their children.

There are all kinds of families. Some characters have a mother and a father. Some may have a stepparent (with varying levels of [[GoodStepmother goodness]] and [[WickedStepmother wickedness]]) thrown in. Some were RaisedByGrandparents. Some have [[HasTwoMommies two mommies or two daddies]]. Some have a single parent.

Depending on the story, Alice and Charlie might undergo a RelationshipUpgrade... but even if they don't, if they're not related, it's a pretty safe bet that a good chunk of the fandom will [[FanPreferredCouple want them to]]. Odds of an official upgrade are actually pretty low; a LastMinuteHookup ''might'' occur, but most of these couples are relegated to JustFriends status, sometimes with the occasional ShipTease. (If Alice is Alan or Charlie is Charlotte in this particular scenario, or if there's more than two of them involved, the chances of an actual upgrade are even slimmer.) If the creator really wants to hammer in that the setup is strictly platonic, there might be an IncompatibleOrientation involved, or they might be sure to place emphasis on the "heterosexual" part of HeterosexualLifePartners. One or both parties might also be involved with someone else, often with the other as a ShipperOnDeck. Some works might have the characters actually consider dating, before concluding that they're BetterAsFriends. (Not that ''any'' of this ever stopped the shippers...)

* In the TMNT and Spiderverse crossover ''Fanfic/{{Spider-Ninja}}'', April met the turtles and [[GenderFlip Petra Parker]] when they were kids. Due to being the only other adult in the kids' lives, she became a parental figure to them and has this relationship with Master Splinter.

* ''Film/DungeonsAndDragonsHonorAmongThieves'': Edgin and his best friend Holga raise Edgin's daughter together after the death of his wife with assistance from the rest of the team. Edgin and Holga shut down any indication of romance between them. This comes to a head at the end when [[spoiler:Holga is killed, and Edgin decides that rather than using the Tablet of Reawakening to resurrect his wife as he'd planned, he instead uses it on her so that his daughter can keep the only mother she's ever known.]]

* ''Film/DungeonsAndDragonsHonorAmongThieves'': Edgin and his best friend Holga raise Edgin's daughter together after the death of his wife with assistance from the rest of the team. Edgin and Holga shut down any indication of romance between them.

* In the TMNT and Spiderverse crossover ''Fanfic/{{Spider-Ninja}}'', April met the turtles and [[GenderFlip Petra Parker]] when they were eleven and ten, respectively. Due to being the only other adult in the kids' lives, she became a parental figure to them and has this relationship with Master Splinter.

* In the TMNT and Spiderverse crossover ''[[Fanfic/{{Spider-Ninja}}'', April met the turtles and [[GenderFlip Petra Parker]] when they were eleven and ten, respectively. Due to being the only other adult in the kids' lives, she became a parental figure to them and has this relationship with Master Splinter.

* In ''[[Fanfic/SpiderNinja Spider-Ninja]]'', April met the turtles and Petra when they were eleven and ten, respectively. Due to being the only other adult in the kids' lives, she became a parental figure to them and has this relationship with Master Splinter.

* In ''Fanfic/Spider-Ninja'', April met the turtles and Petra when they were eleven and ten, respectively. Due to being the only other adult in the kids' lives, she became a parental figure to them and has this relationship with Master Splinter.

** Rumpelstiltskin was raised by a pair of spinster sisters after being abandoned by his biological parents.

* [[BigBad Ganondorf]] in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' was adopted and raised by the twin sisters, Koume and Kotake, who also serve as his CoDragons. Despite them being a pair of [[WickedWitch Wicked Witches]] with an EvilSorceror as a foster son, it's implied that they actually do make [[HappilyAdopted a surprisingly functional family]].

[[folder: Webcomics]]
* Davan in ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive'' is considered Rory's father, especially by Rory himself, even though he biologically isn't, was only briefly in a relationship with Rory's mother, and is now married to someone else.

* ''Manga/Yotsuba'': Although Mr. Koiwai raises his adoptive daughter on his own, his [[HeterosexualLifePartners close friend]] Jumbo frequently visits their home to babysit or to take Yotsuba on impromptu trips. The neighboring Ayase family can definitely fill in this role as well.