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đłď¸âđ The Miracle of Living Pt.1 (Bianca Del Rio/BenDeLaCreme ig??) - LitaÂ
In this world we're just beginning To understand the miracle of living
Hello everyone! Welcoe to the long-awaited prequel to the Bitney San Junipero AU that I technically started writing five years ago (???) but recently decided to try and breathe new life into and complete. In theory this can stand alone as its own story with a few vague references to Black Mirror future tech sprinkled in, but it's really just setup to the main fic that kind of got away from me. The story has gotten a complete overhaul, so if anyone from Ye Olden Days remembers it - please do stick around and read this new version, I promise it's better.Â
Massive thank you to @veronicasanders for giving me the kick up the ass required to get this story back off the ground, throwing her ideas at me, and being my Google when it comes to divorce court and the American college system. Love you mom - I hope this story is everything you'd dreamed of <3
Summary: Bianca is twenty-one, flunking college, and - thanks to a night of drunk bad decision-making - she's pregnant with her gay best friend's baby.Â
Los Angeles, California
 January 17th, 2022
âBEN!âÂ
Biancaâs furious voice rings out through the small apartment. Sheâs sitting on the toilet with her pajama pants and underwear around her ankles, willing the second blue line to disappear. If anything, itâs getting darker.Â
âUhâŚyeah?â The reply comes from the other side of the bathroom door. Â
âI thought you said you wore a fucking condom!â
âI did!â Ben protests. Then, meek and cautious: â...It might have split.âÂ
âIt might have what?â
Two and a half months ago, Bianca and Ben had gone out drinking to commiserate the ends of their respective relationships - Ben had found out about his long-term boyfriendâs secret Grindr profile and dumped him, then Biancaâs longest-lasting FWB had called it quits with her less than a week later. When they got home, drunk and dumb and miserable, theyâd started making out with each other on the couch - as a joke, just for something to do. And then, since they were shitfaced and apparently didnât know any better, one âjokeâ led to another, and theyâd woken up naked in Benâs bed. They had laughed it off the morning after, hunched at the kitchen table over alka-seltzer and black coffee - too much liquor, too many emotions. Shit happens.Â
And then tonight, Bianca had mentioned offhand that she was incredibly overdue her period, and suggested going out to buy a test half as a joke. Ben had gone along with it a little too willingly, and heâd been overly-energised and super fucking weird on the walk to the drugstore. Really, Bianca should have known something was up when he detoured via the liquor store across the street, and came back with two bottles of tequila.Â
âBen, are you fucking kidding me?â Bianca says through her teeth.Â
âI was gonna tell you,â Ben replies, sounding flustered. âIs the door locked? Can I come in?â
Bianca wants to say no, but it was Benâs curiosity about her vagina that got them here in the first place, so who cares about whether or not he sees her now? She reaches over to turn the lock. Ben shuffles into the room in his leopard-print boxers and an oversized pajama shirt, and perches on the edge of the bathtub, looking at the floor.Â
Part of Bianca wants to burst into tears - another part of her wants to scream until she throws up. Not now. Not fucking now - not like this. Sheâs twenty-one; Bianca doesnât even know that she wants a goddamn kid at all, forget about one fathered by her gay best friend.Â
âLook, I didnât notice until after we were done. And I didnât want to freak you out - I figured it would probably be nothing, and then there was never a good time, and then you told me you were late and IâŚâÂ
âYouâre a faggot, we were hammered, we fucked because we thought it would be funny - if you knew that there was any chance whatsoever that youâd knocked me up, you should have fucking told me!â Bianca snarls through gritted teeth.Â
Ben doesnât say anything for a moment. He doesnât really react either. He just sits there and looks at her; composed, taking it in.Â
Bianca met Ben at a theater summer camp when they were sixteen. Ben had just moved from Seattle; he was about to start junior year at the private school across town. They led fundamentally different lives - Bianca had found herself seethingly jealous of him and his cakewalk of a fucking existence when she first met him, resolved that she had no other choice but to hate him on premise. But theyâd been assigned as duet partners for the end-of-summer showcase and, faced with no other choice but to get along with him, sheâd discovered that they were fucking made for each other. Ben didnât mind that Bianca was kind of a bitch; he laughed at her jokes, he seemed to understand her. All three qualities sheâd never experienced from other kids her age. One juvenile performance of Waltz for Eva and Che later, and sheâd found an apparent friend for life.Â
And then, once high school drew to a close and Bianca was confronted head-on with the unblinking abyss of her future and its hopelessness, heâd offered her an exit route. He was freaked out by the idea of sharing a dorm with a stranger, so his dad had eventually relented after months of begging to privately rent an apartment - he just needed a roommate. Sheâd never expected that that offer would land her here.Â
âSo, youâre pregnant?â He asks cautiously.Â
âYeah - no shit, Sherlock.â
âDo you think you should take another one? To make sure or whatever?â Ben asks. Bianca presses the heel of her hand to her temple, still not breaking eye contact with the pregnancy test.Â
âNope - that looks pretty positive to me,â Bianca shows it to him, wiping the mist of stress-sweat from her brow. Ben pulls a vaguely disgusted face. Thereâs a moment of pause - Bianca bites her lip, struggling to make sense of the messy cocktail of emotions swirling around inside her head.Â
âAre you okay?â Ben tries to take Biancaâs hand. It feels weirdly violating to have someone touching her while sheâs sitting on the toilet. She swats him away.Â
âI think so. I need a little time to get my head aroundâŚeverything.â Bianca grits her teeth.Â
All the scary new problems are dawning on her all at once, like sheâs being descended on by a swarm of wasps. College. How to tell her parents. Hospital bills. College again. The apartment is too small for another person. Sheâll probably be a shitty mother. Ben. Benâs pending status as an absent father. Sheâs never changed a diaper before. College. Fucking college. Â
Sheâs currently scraping through year number four of her two-year community college program. Which, as it turns out, only takes two years if you arenât working full-time to try and keep yourself fed and housed. Benâs impending graduation from USC - full ride for a screenwriting major, family that gave a shit about him - made that feel even more grim. Â
This whole convoluted, stupid journey to something better had felt both never-ending and deeply hopeless for the last thirty-six months, and now the whole endeavor is decisively fucked. Even if she does make it to that prophesied something better - enough credits to earn her a spot in the fashion merchandising major sheâd been declined acceptance to straight out of high school - thereâs no way she can handle real college with a fucking screaming infant permanently attached to her. She can feel the dream crumbling in her hands. Â
Bianca makes a silent resolution that sheâs not putting her own kid - who still feels very much like a hypothetical even though it very much isnât - through the same shit. Youâre eighteen now, youâre not our problem any more. It really didnât help that every screaming argument with her mom in the leadup to her high school graduation had been silently spectated by her brother - in all his uneducated, unemployed, twenty-seven year old glory - from his position fossilized into the living room couch with his PlayStation controller in his hand. Weâre not paying for you to stay in this house and fuck your life up - why her specifically?Â
Her desire not to be their problem had trailed her from NOLA to LA with Ben, and that was its own issue. She leaves on her terms and sheâs abandoning her family, even though it was their sharp insistence that she got a job or an apartment or fucking something else that didnât involve her living at home and taking up too much space that had pushed her in that direction in the first place. What the fuck was there for her at home anyway? Community college and shitty waitressing jobs? At least she could do the same shit against a prettier backdrop on the other side of the country.Â
Bianca realizes sheâs staring dementedly at the test in her hand again. She sniffs, trying to blink away tears she hadnât noticed forming.
âI really didnât see being a single mom in my life plan,â she mutters - thinking out loud.
Except she had. In her bleaker moments - the ones in which she was seventeen and terrified of what would happen if she never got out of her hometown. She hadnât had that nightmare since she and Ben had packed his car and left at the beginning of September four years ago.Â
âWho says you have to be a single mom?â Ben tilts his head, reaching a hand out for her again.Â
Bianca scoffs.Â
âWhat? No- Ben, I really donât want to date you - one night was bad enough.â
âThatâs not what Iâm saying. But likeâŚif youâre gonna go through with this, Iâm not just leaving you by yourself to do it. Both of us did something dumb, and now weâre here - so, both of us should have to parent the consequence.âÂ
Thereâs a quiet, sympathetic smile on Benâs face. Bianca still wants to fucking kill him. She eyes him up, searching for any hints of deception or fake-niceness. Surprisingly, he passes the on-the-spot analysis.Â
âYouâre just saying that so I stop being mad at you.â
âNo! Anyway, I canât let you raise it by yourself - I love you, but the world really, really doesnât need two of you.â
âHa-ha, go suck a dick,â Bianca rolls her eyes. She canât help but crack a smile.Â
âIf this is what happens when I try to go outside my comfort zone, then yeah, thatâs what Iâm sticking to.â Â
****
2nd May, 2022
âThat was less excruciating than I thought it would be,â Bianca arches her back as she perches on the edge of the bed, stretching out. Her hair is still elaborately styled; what little of her makeup had survived the day still on her face.
Sheâd abandoned her dress on the floor the second that they got to their hotel room. Sheâs basically naked, which Ben seems perplexingly unbothered by; married, heterosexual life seems to have changed him quicker than she thought it would. Itâs a relief, finally being alone with him. Sheâd have preferred to actually be alone, but after a day of forced smiles and overwhelm, he was better than nothing.Â
âAbsolutely,â Ben nods, sitting down to untie his shoes. Heâs still wearing his tux - his black curls are coiffed back from his face, and heâd almost pass for straight, were it not for his meticulously groomed eyebrows. âI mean, I could have done with maybe seventy percent less beer and sports talk from your dad - I was starting to think he was onto me.âÂ
âI thought everyone knew thereâs no home runs in football - thatâs not a gay thing, youâre just dumb.âÂ
The shotgun wedding hadnât really been a part of the plan, but after Biancaâs mom had found out that she was pregnant, and then proceeded to call her non-stop for weeks in order to berate her for bringing shame on the family like it was the fucking 1800s, Ben had suggested it. Her motherâs bizarre and endlessly changing standards of behavior continue to baffle Bianca. Â
The decision to go ahead with it seemed a bit weird, but âweirdâ had become a default preset of Biancaâs existence since January. Ben had thrown himself into the organization with immediate, over-the-top passion - opening up Pinterest and starting on the moodboard five minutes after Bianca had agreed to it. It had kept him entertained and out of the way, which was nice - heâd already started reading parenting books, and was being a little overbearing about prenatal vitamins and whether or not Bianca had made her birth plan yet.Â
Outside of picking out her dress, Bianca hadnât really had to do or think about anything. Marrying a gay man had its perks. Sheâd had a brief reprieve from Benâs preemptive helicopter parenting, which gave her more energy to focus on finding bigger apartments, since otherwise the kid would be sleeping in the closet, and trying to convince her job that no, four weeks definitely wasnât enough maternity leave.Â
The wedding day had been quietly excruciating - her family, her mom specifically, engaging in that grim unspoken facade of keeping up appearances. Pretending that everything was completely fine and normal, denying any knowledge of Biancaâs pregnancy when asked about it. It would be embarrassing if it wasnât so fucking normal for her. The atmosphere had been thorny, and Bianca had spent most of the day choking back alcohol-free prosecco and waiting for it to be over.Â
Benâs family - who seemed confused but generally enthusiastic about the whole ordeal, probably only half-buying Benâs assertion that he was actually bi and Bianca was definitely the one - seemed to like Bianca though, and that was refreshing. Some kind of normalcy in As Yet Unnamed Kidâs extended family was deeply necessary. They, and Ben himself, had been the only bearable part of the whole thing. Plus theyâd fronted most of the expenses and organized the reception at their country club, which was a damn sight better than the social hall of the church that Beaâs family pretended to attend.Â
âAnyway, Iâve got proof that weâve fucked at least once, so I donât think anyone was super suspicious,â Ben continues as Bianca flops back onto the plush bed, letting out a heavy sigh. âHow is she doing?âÂ
âSheâs fine - she let Mommy keep all of her food down today, so thatâs something,â Bianca says.Â
Sheâs kind of starting to show now; although just to the point where she looks spectacularly bloated, rather than recognisably pregnant. They didnât actually know what gender she was yet - but Bea had a feeling. Maybe it was more of a hope, actually; if it was a boy, Ben got to pick the name, and she wasnât sure how she felt about calling it Raphael.Â
The kid had been a little bitch recently - whenever Bianca tried to complain about it, Ben would just laugh and remind her that she clearly took after her mom. After a lot of smugness about how sheâd not had morning sickness at all, it hit her like a truck for some reason the moment she hit her second trimester. Sheâd spent the better part of the month before the wedding bent over a toilet bowl. Bianca is already pretty fucking sick of being pregnant, and sheâs not even halfway done - sheâs always tired, and her boobs hurt, and she misses comfortable sleep and coffee. She thought that nine months with no booze would be the hard part, but dragging herself through life without caffeine is proving to be the real kicker.Â
âThis is weird,â Bianca muses, staring up at the ceiling. Â
âWhatâs weird?â Ben turns to look at her, eyes landing on and then immediately flashing away from her exposed tits. Â
âTry and think about it for like, slightly longer than you wanna think about it. Youâre my husband, and Iâm pregnant with your kid,â she says plainly. âIn what universe was that ever something either of us would have wanted a year ago?"Â
âOkay, so maybe youâre kind of messy and annoying, and you talk with your mouth full like, all the time and itâs really gross, but I can think of worse people to spend the rest of my life with,â he shrugs. Bianca swats at him with a pillow.Â
âThanks a lot.â She aims for pissed, but a smile cracks its way through. âAnyway, itâs not the rest of our lives - play pretend for a few years, then split up and go and live our truths or whatever once she moves out, like we agreed,â Bianca says. Ben nods knowingly. Â
That was another aspect of things that she was a little hesitant about. Ben had meant what he said about sticking around and raising the kid, but theyâd always planned for something more like coparenting. Theyâd have the baby, and then grow the fuck up and get their own relationships and apartments and lives while splitting custody.Â
So, the sham marriage thing had interfered with that master plan quite a fucking lot. The situation had divulged into a years-long commitment to lying to people - no dating, since what was gonna happen when the kid started talking and blabbed to whatever set of grandparents about Daddyâs boyfriend? They were gonna be stuck living together for the foreseeable. So, even more keeping up of fucking appearances, which Bianca canât stand doing it. But the ring on her finger is a glaring, expensive sign that sheâs already committed. Â
Theyâd talked about it already; pretend to everyone, including the kid, that everything was entirely fine and normal until she was old enough to understand it, get a divorce in about eighteen years, and go their separate ways while continuing to be friends if they could still stand the sight of each other. Easy.Â
âThinking about it like that just makes it sound worse,â Ben leans back to lie next to her, loosening his tie. âItâs gonna be fine. One step at a time.â
âSure,â Bianca replies, distant.Â
âI mean,â Ben rolls over onto his side, lowering his eyelids into an expression that Bianca imagines is supposed to be seductive. âIt is our wedding night - how about round two?â
âEw - no, never.â Bianca cracks a smile, pushing him away. Ben laughs.Â
âThank god, I barely got through saying that without puking.â He starts unbuttoning his shirt and glancing around the expansive bridal suite - still a mess from Bea getting ready that morning. âDo you want me to take the couch?â Â
Bianca thinks for a second.
âNah - that doesn't feel fair. Iâve been averaging getting up to pee about ten times a night though, so you can look forward to that.â She looks down at her belly, putting both hands around her barely-noticeable bump. âI hope you know youâre already a gigantic pain in my ass, baby.â Â
****
September 29th, 2022Â Â
Ben had left to go and get coffee - which is probably a good thing, since Bianca was getting tired of looking at him. Heâd beenâŚway too intensely supportive, to an extent that sheâd found a little smothering. But at least heâd been there. Throughout the last nine months, Bianca had been worried that he was eventually going to get sick of her shit and leave her to deal with it by herself. Sheâd given him no shortage of shit to get sick of.Â
The epidural hasnât quite worn off yet; Bianca has no idea what sort of state her pussy is in, and sheâs not sure she wants to know. Sheâs sweaty and exhausted, but she feelsâŚgood. For some reason.Â
Her water had broken that morning. Ben had been at work - fatherhood looming over him and in desperate need of something more secure than his old three shifts a week at TGI Fridays, heâd picked up a job doing data entry or some other boring crap in an office full of middle-aged straight women about two months ago. Apparently it had been hilarious to watch his reputation as the super fun token gay guy shatter in real time when heâd announced to his boss in front of most of his coworkers that he had to leave because his wife had just gone into labor.Â
Yeah, heâd been fucking insufferable with the constant âyouâre doing amazingâs, but he was trying his best. Bea couldnât exactly be mad at him - heâd just put up with eight hours of her screaming bloody murder and telling everyone who came near her to go fuck themselves. And sheâs pretty sure sheâd been gripping his hand so tightly she came close to breaking a couple of his fingers.Â
The room is quiet now. Itâs bliss, compared to the chaos of the last few hours - the mad rush of doctors and nurses and blood and sweat and swearing. Itâs getting dark outside, the glow of the city lights flickering through the thin curtains. Thereâs a plastic crib next to Biancaâs bed, with a pink label on its side. Adore Del Rio, 6lbs 3oz.Â
No matter how disgusting and tiring her day has been - and it was really tiring, and really, really fucking disgusting - a sense of enormous, beautiful calm had washed over Bianca when she held her daughter for the first time. Her daughter.Â
Sheâd never felt anything like this before, looking down at the tiny, squishy, pink bundle in her arms. Sheâs asleep now, wrapped in a blanket and held to Beaâs bare chest. Sheâs soâŚlittle, and so delicate, Bianca thinks as Adore - her fucking daughter - wriggles and murmurs, reaching up for her with one perfect, miniature hand. The delicate curls of her wispy brown hair, and the gentle rise and fall of her chest as Bianca holds her close - she canât believe that she fucking made her. Sheâs so perfect, and so goddamn fucking small - and Bianca feels both blissfully zen, and absolutely ready to tear anybody who tries to take Adore away from her limb from limb.Â
Sheâs barely been here for an hour, and Bianca loves her more than sheâs ever loved anything else before.Â
*****
March 18th, 2041
âDid you finish your homework last night?â
âYes.â Adore, lacking in any semblance of enthusiasm, grunts from the kitchen table; pulling out one of her earbuds and looking at Bianca with a mix of indignation and fury. Â Â
âThen how come Iâm getting emails from the school - again - about you not turning it in?â Bianca places the last clean plate on the dishrack and turns around, leaning against the counter and drying her wet hands on the ass of her jeans. That fails to elicit any form of response from her asshole teenager, and she tries again. âCome the fuck on, Dorey- itâs like you donât even want to graduate.â
âMaybe I donât?â She tilts her head, shit-eating grin on her face. That was a deliberate attempt at pissing her off - Bianca has gotten pretty good in recent years at telling those apart from Adore pissing her off without meaning to, and she tries not to let it. Even if her blood is already quietly simmering.Â
âOh, you absolutely do if you wanna keep living in this house-â
âLeave her alone, Bea.â Ben laughs, sitting opposite from Adore, as he looks up from the article heâs reading on his tablet.Â
He only got home from work about an hour ago - most of Biancaâs days off fall on weekdays, so sheâs been at home all day, doing pretty much nothing of note until Adore got home from school. Theyâd had a minor screaming match about the state of Adoreâs room - Bianca had threatened to withhold phone privileges and her car keys until Adore relented, threw out the fifteen water bottles sheâd been accumulating on her nightstand, and hid the rest of her mess in the closet. Fuck it, good enough.Â
They only seemed to either argue or ignore each other when Ben wasnât home which wasâŚjust fucking great. It made Bianca feel totally awesome about herself. But Ben is back, order has been restored, and Bianca is cleaning up after dinner like nothing had happened.Â
âWhose side are you on?â Bianca replies, faux-shocked. âFucking traitor.âÂ
âClearly mine, because Iâm his favorite,â Adore smirks. You donât know the fucking half of it, Dorey.Â
Bianca isnât saying anything, but the way that Adore is looking at her tells her that she probably still looks mad. This recurring point of tension is getting several million miles up Biancaâs ass.Â
Adoreâs latest thing, with her last months of high school on horizon, has been threatening not to go to college. Sheâd gotten her applications in by some fucking miracle, and by even further fucking miracle had been accepted for a songwriting major at some prestigious music school that Bianca couldnât remember the name of - and was now adamant that she wasnât going, in favour of driving around the country with the âbandâ that her and her dumbass friends had formed last summer, playing gigs in basements and doing god-knows what else.Â
Bianca feels like she knows on some level that this is all talk; of course Adore is gonna graduate and go, sheâs not stupid. But sheâs been in the midst of a prolonged rebellious phase since she was about thirteen. Every time they fight about it, Bianca wants to shake Adore and tell her youâre gonna fucking do this because I couldnât, stop being fucking ungrateful - but her failed aspirations arenât Adoreâs fault.Â
It just annoys her. Adore, in every possible way, has had an easier life than Bianca ever did and she struggles not to hate her for it. Her future is available to her on a silver goddamn platter, sheâs looking for reasons to not take it, and for fucking what? Being cool?Â
Ben, against what had seemed like all odds when they were in their twenties, had really fallen upwards from the joint error that had changed the trajectory of both of their lives. That first âpay the billsâ office job doing whatever-the-fuck had unlocked Benâs secret talent for playing corporate ball, and a little less than eighteen years later he was the CFO of an LGBT charity, and making what Bianca deemed to be a fucking stupid amount of money. Enough to afford their too-nice house in a too-nice neighborhood in West LA, and Adoreâs too-nice performing arts high school.Â
Bianca had climbed about as far up the ladder as sheâd been able to, but given that she was a college dropout with no real experience in anything else, the depressing non-failure of retail store management was about the best she could manage. It wore her down; the feeling of uselessness and guilt as she inhabited this existence that felt a million miles above her means.Â
âThis is insane - have you guys read about this new Cookie Heaven thing theyâre trialing?â Ben looks up again, breaking the frosty silence - Bianca disinterestedly flicking through her phone, Adore disinterestedly pretending to finish her homework. âGuys?âÂ
Ben had been bizarrely fixated on this emergent technology for the last year or so - some shit about consciousness transfers and virtual afterlifes that Bianca didnât understand and didnât care to. It made her skin crawl, not that she had any idea why. Truly, the rate at which Cookies as a principle had been developed, outlawed, un-outlawed, given rights, made illegal again but only in certain situations - it felt like it dominated the news, and with every possible turn it got weirder. Their trajectory had felt like trying to find a point for something that had been invented pointlessly. Criminal justice, entertainment, smart home tech, medical advances, god knows what else - Bianca just thought they were a bit macabre.Â
âNope, donât want to. Itâs creepy.â Bianca shudders, kicking off the process of shutting him up about it before he talks about it too much and gets under her skin. âIs this like that chick who died in that AR art thing at Burning Man and got stuck in the Cloud? Because that freaked me the fuck out.â
âWhy? I think itâs really nice. According to this, theyâve been successful with people whoâve been uploaded prior to death, so now theyâre looking at trialing it for long-term coma patients, end-of-life care, people with Alzheimerâs - it could be really promising.â
âAbsolutely not - when I die, let me rest in fucking peace.â Bianca pulls a face. âDon't throw some gross little computer clone of me into a weird simulation and force me to live forever - itâs weird. I donât like it."Â
âBianca, Cookies arenât just computers-âÂ
âItâs messed up.â
Adore shuffles uncomfortably in her seat, pushing her earbuds in further. Bianca half-watches her, pursing her lips.Â
âI think itâs sweet. It says in the article that if this trial thing works, then theyâre going to look at options for letting family members visit,â Ben says a little wistfully.Â
âAh.â It takes a moment of thought, but Bianca feels like an asshole.Â
âLook, I just think that if something like that had been around thirty years ago, it would have beenâŚâ he stops, not sure how to finish his sentence. Benâs mom died when he was ten, and that tragedy has been underpinning Adoreâs entire adolescence; his constant anxiety over something happening to himself or Bianca, not wanting his daughter to have to suffer through the same lifelong, unshifting grief. âThink about Adore-â
âYeah - maybe think about me enough to not have this conversation right in fucking front of me?â Adore bolts to her feet, her hands clasped at her sides. Her eyes look moist. Bianca half-opens her mouth, trying to say something, but no words make their way out. âThis is freaking me out - stop it!â
She scrubs at her eyes furiously with a balled fist, storming out of the room and letting the door swing shut behind her with a thud.Â
âDorey-â Ben calls out weakly after her.Â
âWhat the fuck was that?â Bianca walks around the table, slumping down into the seat Adore had just been occupying. She hears Adoreâs bedroom door slam from upstairs.Â
âI dunno - I guess that got a little heavy? I mean, who wants to sit around and listen to their parents talking about whatâs gonna happen when they die?â Ben looks uncomfortable, chewing at his bottom lip. âI shouldnât have said anything.â Â
âYeah,â Bianca replies distantly, not really listening.Â
âI do mean it, though.â Ben says, leaning across the table - looking past Biancaâs folded arms and frosty expression. âIf Iâd had some way to still talk to my mom - even if it wasnât fully real, even if it was just a simulation - Iâd have wanted that. And I donât think itâs fair that we should stop Adore from having that chance.â
âWhat, so I have to commit to being alive forever even when I donât want to, for her benefit? I donât think she even likes me anymore, Ben - she wouldnât care.â Bianca sounds more morose than she wants to, but itâs true. She loves Adore, but god knows the kid is going out of her way to make that difficult.Â
âBelieve me, she would.â Ben looks at her a little too seriously. âIâm just saying I think we should look into it.âÂ
âLook into it all you want - Iâm not doing it.âÂ
âSeriously, Bea-â Ben is looking at her with puppy eyes and itâs making her feel nauseous. âFor Adore?â
Thereâs loud music blasting upstairs, and Bianca is wondering if itâs Adore picking up an old habit of putting her speakers on when sheâs crying, so that nobody can hear her. She wants to go and check on her, but sheâs glaringly aware that any interference from her is perceived as a pending attack by Adore right now - how powerless she feels hurts. Bianca looks at the floor, picking at her cuticles.Â
 âFine.â
*****
August 4th, 2042
âSo, Iâm sure this isnât gonna come as a shock to you, but your dad and I got a divorce.âÂ
Adoreâs eyes practically pop out of her head as she spits her coffee out. More of it gets on Biancaâs face than she would have liked.Â
âWhat?âÂ
âI donât think I left much room for interpretation there, Dorey,â Bianca grimaces, wiping secondhand iced latte off of her cheek with a napkin.Â
âYeah, okay, whatever. Why the fuck did you get a divorce?â Adore looks sullen. Almost angry, actually.Â
Regardless of how different theyâd seemed to become as sheâd grown up, every so often Bianca was hit with a very, very strong reminder that Adore was her motherâs daughter. Calm and rational, per fucking usual.Â
Sheâd debated back and forth with Ben about who should tell her. Theyâd been dancing around the subject since June, when Adore had first come home for summer; practically rehearsing the conversation. Eventually theyâd settled on Bianca - Ben had admitted himself that Biancaâs at times abrasive directness was the way forward. Adore didnât hold well with people pussyfooting around her, and Ben was always a little too delicate with her feelings. Heâd been the ideal Good Cop to Biancaâs bad one when Adore was little - but she was nineteen now, had moved out almost a year ago, and was as close to a real adult as she was realistically ever gonna be. She needed someone to be straight with her. And, well, out of the two of them, Bianca was probably the closest thing to straight. Even after nearly twenty years of marriage.Â
The split itself had been more than amicable, since years of planning had gone into it. The only slight point of contention had been, in the process of unpicking and rewriting both of their advanced directives, Ben had been pretty insistent on her keeping the part about San June-whatever-the-fuck - that weird Cookie Heaven thing which sheâd hoped would just be a passing fad when Ben brought it up last spring, but had only gained more traction and more apparent success.Â
Sheâd tried to reason with him about Adore being a grown-up now, and how sheâd made it through the last year without shuffling off this mortal coil, and so their respective deaths were probably a far-future issue that they shouldnât be so worried about right now, but it hadnât flown. Bianca had spent long enough in lawyersâ offices debating bullshit to have any useful argument left in her. Sheâd thought the divorce process would be less of a nightmare since it was agreed upon by both parties prior to the fucking wedding, but apparently sheâd thought wrong.
âBecause weâŚâ Bianca sighs, facepalming. Adore has tears in her eyes. Shit, she really hadnât been expecting this. âBecause heâs gay, Adore.âÂ
Adoreâs eyes pop again. Bianca clamps a hand over her mouth before she gets a chance to cover her in overpriced coffee again.Â
âDaddyâs gay?â Adore blurts out as soon as she manages to swallow.Â
âDuh?â That just tumbles out of Biancaâs mouth without any real thought. âAre you really telling me that you never suspected anything?âÂ
âNo? I thought he was just likeâŚI dunno, really into theater. Did you just find out? Holy shit, are you okay?â Adore reaches for Biancaâs hand a little frantically. Bianca laughs, shaking her head.Â
âNope - Iâve always known. Dorey, IâŚâ she sighs again, realizing how ridiculous this sounds. âListen, when a gay man and a bisexual live together, and they get really, really drunk this one timeâŚâÂ
âOhmigod, youâre bi?âÂ
How unobservant is this fucking kid?Â
âYeah - surprise. Now you know why we were so fucking chill about it when you cut all your hair off and started begging for a pair of Doc Martens when you were twelve,â Bianca says, chuckling.Â
A confused look washes over Adoreâs face. âBut IâŚyou always seemed so in love.â
âWe decided we were gonna get married and pretend to be normal so that we didnât fuck you up,â Bianca shrugs. âWhich clearly worked super well.âÂ
Adore cracks a smile. It feels good to see her smile.Â
Since Adore moved out for college - miracle of fucking miracles - the rift between them that her teenage years had created seemed to fill itself in. Bianca felt closer to her; felt the warmth of her love without hesitation or denial for the first time in years. She was like a different person. Happy - blossoming into herself. Sheâd started posting her music on social media, and was getting enough buzz to land gigs here and there. And she hadnât just stopped pushing Bianca away, but had started actively reaching out for her. She called her at least once every couple of days because she missed her; messaged her constantly. Just frivolous little updates about her days, or pictures of dogs that sheâd seen - silly little shit. But it felt good.Â
Sheâd worried that it wouldnât last. But Adore had come home for summer, and as it trailed to an end, thereâd been no second coming of their years-long bitch-feud. Everything had been fucking glorious.Â
âBoo, youâre mean,â Adore says playfully.Â
âFor the record, we were good at faking being in love because we both love you,â Bianca says, reaching out to take Adoreâs hand. Sheâs bitten off two of her acrylics again - Bianca is a little suspicious about which two exactly, and briefly debates calling her out for it. Whatever - sheâs an adult, she can do what she wants. But Bianca is taking her to get a manicure once they get done oversharing in the middle of this cafe, because it looks like shit. âThatâs not gonna change. But youâre probably gonna end up with stepparents.âÂ
Adore looks down. Sheâs always done this cute little smirky thing when sheâs embarrassed - eyes fixed to the floor, quietly smiling to herself. Bianca loves it.Â
âAre you dating anyone right now?âÂ
Bianca rolls her eyes.Â
âWeâre not dating-dating. But yeah - her name is Katya, I met her online.â
âIs she hot?â
âNone of your business - sheâs too old for you anyway,â Bianca shoots Adore a warning look. âYour dad was on a date last night, too - some guy called Darius, apparently it went really well. But Iâm gonna look into getting his room soundproofed.âÂ
âEwwww,â Adore clamps her hands over her ears, laughing. âYouâre being gross. Stop being gross.âÂ
âDonât ask questions youâre not prepared to hear the answer to,â Bianca grins. âAre you good now? Or do you feel like spitting coffee all over me again? I really enjoyed it that first time.âÂ
âHonestly? I always wondered why none of my friendsâ parents had their own bedrooms,â Adore thinks out loud. Bianca shakes her head, chuckling.Â
âI love you so much, you fucking moron.â
Pride Challenge Points: 10,312
#rpdr fanfiction#the miracle of living#lita#bianca del rio#adore delano#bendelacreme#fic challenge#bianca x dela#adore & bianca#mother/daughter au#s6#san junipero au#black mirror au#parenting au#m/f au#tv crossover#dystopia#accidental pregnancy#fluff#rpdr art
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Columbo and the Knight (1984)
put me in the universe where Columbo ran through the 1980s and had a crossover episode with Knight Rider. I think they deserved it, and I am not just saying that because they're my two favorite Old Shows. @telebeast wrote a little fanfic blurb about it and I HAD to visualize it into a comic (which is also the longest comic I have finished thus far at five pages...), so writing credit goes to them.
Autism W!
#columbo#knight rider#art#michael knight#kitt#comic#highlight reel#crossover#telebeast#there are two small easter eggs here. can you find them. they were somehow not Entirely lost when i resized these for the public#this is what i mean when i say I Draw And It's Everyone Else's Problem. look at my INCREDIBLY niche crossover comic boy#if the knight rider fandom has like 12 people in it. how many of y'all have seen columbo#this comic is for like 4 people and me and phoenix are already two of them#niche is my specialty lets be real. weird niche obscure shit and ships nobody's paid attention to yet#not to suggest this is ship art. columbo has his wife and michael has his car lmfao#stylizing real people is EXTREMELY hard btw sorry for when they get off model. its partly a 'better imperfect than never finished' situatio#cant tell you how much i redrew some of these panels. weeps#this took me 2 weeks but i think i thumbnailed it all in may and the ideas been rollin around in my head since march#is anybody good at editing. please edit michael and columbo into an image together like its a screenshot. NOT generated. edited.#it would be so cool#ive drawn columbo a lot but i haven't drawn a lot of michaels. i was learning things about his outfit AS I WAS DOING THE DAMN#COLORS ON THIS. all the lines done. it was too late to change anything. i did all the lines and colored page by page#i realized my mistakes on like page 3. 1 and 2 were already done. it was Too Late.#imagine it though. them working a case together. switching between the more serious tone of columbo vs the goofier#action antics of michael and kitt. columbo being so impressed by Modern Technology. there's more i could say but phoenix may write#more of this crossover and i don't want to spoil it :'3#there's opportunity here though i swear. there's gold to be dug.#i like how kitt gets shading but columbo's junker peugeot doesn't. kitt looked wrong without any. columbo's car is matte and dirty#i also applied effects to this to make it look a little film-grainy and VHS like. some CRT TV vibes#the only question left is. did they put knight rider into columbo; or columbo into knight rider đ¤
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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Those Old Scientists
#Star Trek: Strange New Worlds#Star Trek#SNW#Strange New Worlds#stedits#my gifs#tv : Star Trek#Star Trek SNW Episodes#Those Old Scientists#Star Trek: Lower Decks#Star Trek Lower Decks#Lower Decks#Crossover#Brad Boimler#Christopher Pike#Una Chin Riley#Spock#Joseph M'benga#Erica Ortegas#Nyota Uhura#La'an Noonien Singh#Christine Chapel#Beckett Mariner#we are living in wonderful times#the blessings that star trek bestows on my un deserving soul
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I love when tiny things are big strong and use it to swoop up their giant counterparts.
Buffy saves Dean. Again.
#illustrator#illustration#digital artist#buffy fanart#buffy fanfic#buffy art#buffy summers#buffy the vampire slayer#dean winchester#Dean and Buffy#crossover#crossover fanart#spn fanart#spn#supernatural fanart#supernatural#scooby gang#90s tv series#buffyverse#gleafer art#gleafer
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Woo, spring break is here!! Take some more doodles! (wanted to do Belos and the Diamonds, but too lazy atm, will do them later ^^
#my art#digital art#clipstudiopaint#fan art#random art#art#practice#digitalart#disney tv animation#digital illustration#the owl house#the owl house fanart#steven universe#fanart#crossover#steven universe pearl#steven universe peridot#amethyst#steven universe amethyst#clip studio art#clip studio illustration#doodles#steven universe greg#greg universe#willow park#gus porter#hunter noceda#eda clawthorne#lilith clawthorne
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Solving Crimes đđ
They're both single dads with alien boyfriends đ¤đ¤đ¤
#Kusa Art 0-0)/#it took me almost a year to make a crossover lmao#Loki#Loki TV#Loki Series#Mobius#Mobius M Mobius#Agent Mobius#Transformers#transformers rescue bots academy#transformers rescue bots#tf rb#tf rba#Chief Charlie Burns#Charlie Burns#maccadam#maccadams
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Would PAY for them to interact. Omg????
Sass-off, Mog-off, daddy-issueâŚ.off
#lucifer#lucifer tv#lucifer show#hazbin hotel#hazbin lucifer#Lucifer x you#lucifer x reader#lucifer x y/n#Lucifer morningstar#hazbin hotel x you#hazbin hotel x reader#hazbin charlie#helluva boss#Lucifer TV Show#crossover#AU#girlblogging#hazbin#hazbin alastor#hazbin art#hazbin husk#hazbin spoilers
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itâs always been a lil â¨sus⨠the way they put so much buddie into the lone star x og 911 crossover. like,,, that wasnât even an episode of us, just for lone star. they used practically all the screen time in the buck x eddie buckley-diaz family conundrum. lingering glances. âfollow buck back plsâ. eddie mad that heâs staring. tk reading buck as a fruit. eddie appearing right after. like thatâs an incredible amount of effort bro lmao they truly were gonna canonize these homos
#911#911 abc#911 fox#911 tv show#buddie#evan buckley#evan buck buckley#eddie diaz#911 on abc#911 lone star#tk strand#marjan marwani#911 crossover
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Dp x dc idea 35
Amity park is a town with an info blackout. They are fed lies regarding the government, the Giw is just apart of the scheme.
When the fentons open the portal. There is fear that citizens will try to leave hence the GIW. They are there to make it seem like they have outside help.
Vlad is fully aware of it. He doesnât care all he wants is Maddie. The Fenton parents are also aware. They donât care they just want to hunt ghost. No one expected the Fentons to succeed.
The group planned on doing something with amity. Not to sure what. Something nefarious.
One day Danny overhears this. Him not having the brain cell for the day. Hides in the random persons trunk and leaves amity behind. Literally didnât tell anyone. Just went for it.
Thus enters a world with heroâs. Dudes shell shocked.
He gets caught up in a fight between a villain and hero actually on accident. Ends up panicking and knocks out said villain.
Hence how he meets a hero and finds out humans are a lot more squishy then ghost. He wasnât even using his ghostly strength.
He gets help for amity. And whatever the scheme is gets stopped.
#danny fenton#danny phantom#dc x dp#dp x dc#dp dc crossover#dp x dc prompt#dp x dc crossover#giw#is this loosely based off my weird dream last night#yes#cause Iâd like to know why i was dreaming of living on an island#only for it to be a lockdown island#and i escaped with a boat of someone who came to check in. in a crate#Danny can also live through my weird dream#Iâve probs seen a tv show or something like this#anyways#the heroâs help Danny#then help the town#Danny ends up getting taken away from his parents#they didnât necessarily abuse him#but Iâm sure you canât willingly lock your child in a town that has nefariousness schemes#like itâs culty and the kid had superpowers#idk where Iâm going with this#but đ¤ˇââď¸#jazz and cre panicked when he disappeared
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I think they should meet
#not-a-post#lucifer morningstar#hazbin lucifer#lucifer tv#supernatural lucifer#crossover#supernatural#hazbin hotel#you could probably make a venn diagram with these guys#i made a beta version of this with a less funny hazbin Lucifer screenshot but then i realized that he literally did the derp face
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Ectoberhaunt 2023. Day Nine
"Dragon"
Ao3 and as a stand-alone
âWould you like a drink, Danny?â
âJust some pop, please.â
Dannyâs boss snorted but accepted easily enough, handing Danny a can of cool Pepsi whilst he twirled his whiskey.
âSo, do you like your job, Danny?â His boss asked without preambles.
Danny didnât really need to think about it, he answered honestly, âYeah, itâs chill. The pay is good and Iâve been kinda nocturnal since I was fourteen so the late hours are no problem for me. The tips are great too, and the patrons are⌠wild, yes,â his boss huffed a small laugh at Dannyâs understatement of the night-club goers, but didnât interrupt him, âbut no one has, like, tried to punch me or something, so I donât mind.â
âThatâs good.â His boss said softly and drank some more of his whiskey. âLook, Danny, contrary to what you may have heard of me, I am not in the habit of conquering other realms and enthralling their rulers, so know that you are not my vassal and I donât want your Kingdom. I donât even want my Kingdom! Iâve quit! But! You donât look like you want to leave.â
âI would very much like to keep my job, if thatâs at all possible.â
Lucifer Morningstar, owner of the nightclub Lux and Dannyâs current boss (so far, at least), put his tumbler aside and gave his full attention to the young man sitting across from him.
âI donât want you to leave, either.â The Devil said. âYouâre a good employee and even Maze likes you!â He said this like it was either the biggest honour or the biggest abnormality.
Mazikeen was cool, even if a tad violent, so he took the comment both ways.
âBut you do know that itâs not a good look for the King of Ghosts to be working for the King of Hell, right? No matter that Iâm retired or that you are alive.â He rolled his eyes at the last bit.
âYeah. Thatâs, Iâll get an earful for that.â It would be from the Observants, though, and he really didnât care for their opinion, so it would just be a minor annoyance.
âAnd whether you stay at Lux or not, the pantheons have certainly taken notice.â Mister Morningstar rolled his eyes again and looked at Danny with pity, which, yeah, inter-pantheon relations was not something the Ghost Zone wanted or that Danny was interested in engaging with.
âAh, yes, the rammies.â He made a face at that. He really didnât want any god (lowercase g, all of them) snooping in his realm to see what his relationship with the Devil was.
But if shit was going to hit the fan anyway, why not keep his well-paid job?
âItâs not a problem for me,â the Devil kept saying, âIâm happily retired! For you, on the other hand, theyâll see you as my vassal if you donât really get anything out of this, âno, a weekly salary with legal benefits means nothing to these beings.â He said before Danny could interrupt. âIf there was something I could just give you as a boonââ He stopped and a large smile slowly spread on his face. âThatâs it! I am a genius!â He stood up and began pacing back and forth whilst Danny just clutched his can of pop.
âUh, what is it?â Asked Danny, sipping his pepsi.
âI will give you Hell!â Ignoring his employee choking on his drink, the Devil carried on. âWe can say you are my apprentice, or you can be my actual apprentice if you want me to teach you the ropes, and I will give you the Key of Hell and you can add it to the Ghost Zone! No one will be stupid enough to give you any trouble for it, and I will finally get my annoying family off my back.â
âBut theyâll be on mine!â Danny protested once he stopped choking. âI donât want to have Hell! I didnât even want to be King of the Ghost Zone, I was just the dumbass that defeated the old one! I- I just wanna get through college, afford my half-life, and become an astronautâŚâ He put his head in one hand, the other one holding the can against his forehead.
Why this? Why couldnât he be fired for sleeping on the bar, like a normal person?
âOh, please, Danny, youâre a young King, hardworking too; you must want more than that.â Mister Morningstar looked him in the eye not obstructed by pop and spoke slowly, with intent, âTell me, Danny, what do you desire?â
âTo protect everyone I care about, anyone that needs it, to help them.â
âMm, kind of basic and boring but-â
âAnd to reach the stars, to sail through them in the infinite night.â Danny blinked hard and shook himself off. âThatâs not cool, sir.â
âDual Obsession?â The Devil said, easily ignoring Dannyâs complaint. âNot very common; befitting for a King. So what you want to do is help. You can do it being King of Hell!â
âThat doesnât sound likely.â Dannyâs response only made his bossâs smirk return, and then the Devil really began his sales pitch.
How, if Danny became the new King of Hell, he could totally help redeem the souls of the damned, and since he was already King of the Ghost Zone, he could take the damned souls of the innocent there if Heaven refused to open the Gates for them, wankers that they were.
âWhat do you mean innocent souls in Hell?â
That only made the Devil lean in cheerily, âOh?â He asked. âHavenât you heard?â
Sold souls, of course. From people who sold their soul to delay their loved oneâs death, to wronged firstborns whose parents wanted power no matter the cost. All of them, in Hell.
âThatâs not fair.â Danny said with clenched fists.
âWell, itâs not like I have a neutral realm where runaway, wronged souls could take refuge in.â Mister Morningstar said, knowing he had the young adult hooked.
âI-â Danny tried to speak, but felt his core thrumming writhing him. He wanted to help. âI will⌠consult it, first, itâs- itâs too much.â
His boss nodded sagely, and once again looked him in the eye. âI will extend your insurance to your family and include dental.â
Danny would still consult it with Clockwork and his friends, but he knew he was sold.
#Danny Phantom#Danny Fenton#ectoberhaunt23#day nine#dragon#ghostly-scrypts#cross posted on ao3#CrossOver#Danny Phantom CrossOver#Lucifer (TV)#Lucifer Morningstar#surprise crossover#Ghost King Danny
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Danny working as a batburger employee.
And now I know that ain't the most original thing on this website, but consider;
When Danny comes into contact with food, it gains sentience.
I mean imagine the jokerized fries coming alive trying to kill each other, bc there can be only one, before seeing the real joker and immediately forming a team to take that bitch down.
Or the poison ivy salad (I think) combining their powers together to try and kill whoever bought them.
Or the batburger hiding in the shadows.
Or like literally anything you can think of.
Just Danny, tired employee, trying to convince ppl to buy normal fries, bc if he gotta deal w the joker version one more fucking time he's burning this whole place down.
Or just trying to convince the food to stay on the plate. (And stabbing it to place if necessary)
So I'm not sure if anyone thought of this, but this is my vision ââ¨â¨â¨â¨đ¤
#batburger au#danny batburger employee#danny fenton#dcxdp#crossover#dpxdc#dpxdc writing prompt#writing prompt#like.danny just going /so you really think its ok to order something named after a guy who killed a child huhđ¤¨đ¤¨đ¤¨/#jason who came to investigate /.../#idk this could be so much fun just the fries trying to beat up joker on live tv and danny jumping after them#trying to pick them up but also 'accidentaly' kicking the joker once or twice#........or maybe hes just beating him up to listen creepy clowns are creepy-#at one point i think the fries should just develop a mouth and laugh creepily#idk what im doing w my life#why#zucchinicurses
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who really cares
#the band ghost#ghost bc#ghost#ghost band#ghost the band#sister imperator ghost#young sister imperator#sister imperator#young papa nihil#papa nihil#ghost papa emeritus#papa emeritus zero#papa emeritus 0#tv girl#tv girl art#digital art#my art#who really cares#kiss the go goat#mary on a cross#the future is a foreign land#crossover
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if we got loki confusing jed for mobius could we get octy confusing mobius for jed?
#how do people draw hair....#anyway. Oct would probably think it was a real life sized Jedediah or something#ask#anonymous#loki#loki tv#loki series#mobius#mobius m mobius#marvel#night at the museum#natm#natm octavius#gaius octavius#octavius#art#fanart#traditional art#crossover
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So Hypothetically....
If I were to make a oneshot or series that's a crossover between Batman & White Collar... But like, cryptid batfamily. What kind of cryptids should they be? (Probably Dick-as-Neal but honestly still in very early idea brainstorming)
Also open to any story oneshot/chapter ideas too lol
#poll#batman#cryptid batman#batman au#cryptid batfam#batfamily#cryptid batfamily#white collar#white collar x DC#dc x white collar#batman crossover#white collar au#white collar crossover#white collar tv show#dc#dcu
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The last 2 shows you have watched become an AUâŚ. Whatâs yours????
For me itâs Nightsleeper x Gravity Falls (Nightfalls? Gravitysleeper?)
I regret blurring the background because I added some journal 3 ciphers behind ford on the train time things. T-T I had fun on them too ahahaha.
#gravity falls crossover#gravity falls au#gravity falls#the book of bill#stanford pines#stanley pines#tv series#nightsleeper#illustration#this took way too long
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