single dad au part 3!!
heya!! hiro here bringing more zhongluc single dad au brain vomit
i apologise in advance for the inconsistent posting about the au but i'm thinking for part 4 would be on father's day! because hehe single dad au
without further ado here's part 3!
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after a few days of gathering information, bennett consults his friends during lunch
he's...quite stumped. nothing about his notes make sense no matter how much he reads them again
the only conclusion he can come up with is that mr zhongli (he heard his dad and uncle kaeya mentioning him a lot) is the reason why his dad is acting so weirdly
they're just friends?? right??
when bennett arrives at their usual table he goes to chongyun first to tell him what happened before explaining his situation to the rest of his friends
razor and chongyun are deep in thought while xiangling, hutao, and xingqiu are all laughing to themselves
bennett lowkey gets upset by this because hey it's his dad and he cares a lot about him
xiangling explained that they meant no harm by it but they just find the whole thing cute
....cute?
xingqiu continues by saying that his dad developed feelings to this mr zhongli
this only causes bennett to become even more puzzled but hutao rolls her eyes with a smile and explains that his dad may have a crush on mr zhongli
chongyun wonders if that really is the case while razor gave up on thinking and went back to eating his fourth sandwich
bennett tries to connect all the dots and comes to another conclusion: ask uncle kaeya because he certainly knows what's best
right?
they all carry on to the rest of their classes but by the end of the day he's approached by ganyu...in the clinic
bennett tried helping a cat get out of a tree only for it to scratch his hand...again
the school nurse was busy tending to another student and so ganyu volunteered on helping which was perfect since there was something she needed to talk about to him
after patching him up she asks him if they could talk on the way out (with xiao but technically he just followed behind)
she explains to him about their plans to get their dad and his dad together since they obviously are interested in each other
with this bennett finally understands and is incredibly happy to help them out (and his dad of course)
bennett explains that he never had another parent figure
though kaeya, jean, and lisa filled that in of course it wasn't exactly the same
diluc happened to adopt bennett since he was abandoned one day by his original parents
apparently a few days prior his dad crepus died in a car accident and then later found bennett as a baby and decided to adopt him as his own
this brought a smile to ganyu's face (xiao as well but he's walking behind them...coward)
she's glad to know more of the kind of man her father is interested in and since they were on the topic of their parents ganyu decided to talk about her mom as well
her mom guizhong used to be gentle and kind. really witty too as their dad would describe when ever he reminisces about the past. he even comments they got their wit from their mom
unfortunately she was quite sickly and died of an illness years ago. ganyu and xiao were a lot younger back then so they don't remember too many details of what happened
when ganyu felt sad remembering about her mom bennett smiled and said that she sounds like a lovely person and that he would definitely love to meet her
as ganyu was about to reply she recognized childe and...his boyfriend kaeya??
turns out the two of them decided to pick up the kids from school and head to the cafe for their top secret mission of getting zhongli and diluc together
bennett gets all excited and punches the air, ganyu chuckles to herself, while xiao rolls his eyes at this
they all discuss in the car since it was a lot safer that way instead of discussing it in the cafe where so many people can hear them and it's too risky
childe updated them on zhongli's schedule saying that he moved all appointments this saturday to different dates
kaeya asked his friend eula to work part time to cover diluc's shift (he asked if she could just work in the cafe instead but she explained she had other things to do first)
ganyu decided on a restaurant with the help of her girlfriend keqing and it was all set
now all that's left is for bennett to encourage his dad and for xiao to invite his father (along with aether) on a little cafe date
the only problem is...it has to happen today
as much as childe wanted to free up zhongli's schedule for the rest of the week that man was way too busy
ningguang was already taking a few of his responsibilities but it was too much on her plate (she overhead childe on the phone with kaeya talking about the plans and she wanted to help out)
kaeya mentioned he made diluc run some errands so that he could join childe in picking them up today so that he could explain the current situation
thankfully it worked since kaeya mentioned he "rarely gets to pick up bennett from school"
but deep down diluc knows his brother all too well and believes that kaeya just wanted some time with his boyfriend
he's not wrong tho
after going over their plans, they're 5 minutes away from the cafe, xiao is currently calling aether whereas bennett was thinking of ways of encouraging his dad to ask mr zhongli on a date
once they arrive at the cafe there current plan was set in motion
kaeya goes back to his shift, bennett runs to his room to get ready and xiao patiently waits for aether to arrive
ganyu has somewhere to be and it was up to childe to picl zhongli up from a business meeting
it's all running smoothly since diluc arrives with a bag of groceries 10 minutes later and bennett drags him away (and creates a mess but that's fine) and talks to him about mr zhongli
while they talk, aether arrives after being dropped off by his sister lumine and her girlfriend amber
xiao explains that he wants to introduce him to his father to which aether turns red immediately and swores under his breath
xiao tries to question it but aether only explains that he lost a bet with his sister
meanwhile diluc is blushing furiously when bennett mentioned having a crush on zhongli
how??? how do people know is he that obvious???
bennett starts to encourage his dad saying to grab this once and a lifetime opportunity!
diluc is hesitant about it but his son comments that sometimes he looks a bit lonely looking at all the other couples
before diluc was able to ask a question bennett fell off the chair he was sitting on,,,
zhongli arrives and sees xiao and aether together
after simple introductions zhongli orders for all of them and greets kaeya
kaeya mentions that diluc is just at the back fixing the groceries to which zhongli just smiles at him
behind the counter, diluc is taking deep breathes to shake the feeling of nervousness
but first of all why is he so nervous??
for many reasons you idiot!!
one, he doesn't have any relationship experience
two, he has never asked nor has been on a date before
three, he's afraid of ruining his little friendship with zhongli
he tries to remind himself of the things bennett told him which calms him down a lot
he prepares the orders of zhongli and noticed that his son xiao keeps...staring?
is he watching him or something??
because when diluc prepared he tray xiao mentions something to his father before standing up and walking away with aether, leaving their things behind
this only made diluc more confused but that's besides the point right now
when he places the orders on the table zhongli offers if he would like to join him
he explains that since his companions are busy buying something elsewhere, zhongli doesn't have any company and insists that diluc should join him if he wasn't busy
diluc takes a seat in front of zhongli and at first it was quite awkward since nothing was happening between them
until zhongli mentioned the type of coffee beans diluc used to make his coffee and the conversation went well from there
they talked about coffee, work, their kids (and shared a few photos) and some other random things
diluc discovered they had a lot of common interests and that hey, zhongli is a really nice guy
they were talking for a while they didn't realise xiao and aether coming back, nor how late it was
before going their separate ways diluc asks zhongli if he was free and if maybe they would like to have dinner together
"to get to know each other more of course!" diluc frantically says before turning as red as a tomato
zhongli chuckles at this and mentioned that he's free on saturday
this...shocks diluc because wow
holy shit
HE HAS A DATE??
the only thing he could do is nod and zhongli seemed to acknowledge it and tells him they can decide on a place later on since they exchanged numbers
what they didnt know is that xiao was listening carefully on their conversation and smiled to himself
EDIT:
link to part 1 | part 2 | part 4 | part 5