#one beta reader that hates me so we die like i do in co-op

[a-998h]

Aska nd ye shall receive!!!!!

SAGau idea!

Reader almost always plays on co-op since they unlocked it alongside their three friends at scheduled intervals when they all have the time.

Said reader can also code, and to make up for the fact that not all their friends can buy or pirate (cuz of lack of cash or storage) games they have, they make mods they add in, then add out, alongside lots of solo beta testing.

(if this isn't possible IRL, suspend your disbelief)

Also theres no NSFW in this ask or being requested it's just jokes a la "3AM challenge gone wrong! Gone sexual"

also there's one implication of catholic trauma

plus capital letters

Sorry if anything makes no sense

Anyways—

===============

The Backrooms

*insert law & order audio*

Reader, playing Aether. "I added the Backrooms."

The Kaeya Main "Oh God."

The Childe Main "You added the what??"

"Same." «== they're playing and want to adopt Ferminent

"The Backrooms, this fictional idea that even an infant hitting their elbow wrong has the .000001% chance of—this is not mathematically accurate—teleporting you to this uncanny infinite realm, and the only way out is to somehow repeat what got you in there. And I don't think doing either on purpose is humanly feasibly."

"I understood none of that but okay." The four laughing ensued.

"okay but" wheezing "how— how are we gonna get in if you can't do it on purpose??"

"yeah that sounded like a little bit like an oversight."

"a LiTtLe BiT"

"literally just click that button that wasn't on the screen before."

"oh "

pop!

"oooh god. I'm getting catholic flashbacks!"

"oh shit you okay? Do you need a break or—"

"no. No I'm good"

"oh good"

"Any monsters to worry about?"

"yes." They all start laughing "Unless it's bugged in co-op because I only play tested this on single player!"

"backrooms gone wrong! We died! Gone sexual!"

"cops called!" "sixty nine hospitalized!"

"no!" Laughing continues and as it dies down: "we're escaping the backrooms, and I'm using the version with clues to reaching the next levels so we're not stuck here all day."

"so are you gonna help us oooorrrr . . . "

"you're alone, I'm gonna be following you around as you screw around!" The dying laugher peaks again

"you put us in this mess!" "you allowed me too!!!"

And then the loudest inhumane scream ensued, alongside theirs as they scattered.

"Kane pixels monster is real! Is this the Kane pixel backrooms? Oh good we're all fucked!!"

"and the wikidot!" Now only reader was laughing

"are you speaking a different DIALECT?!"

"pretty much" gasp "it's chasing meee!!"

"you deserve it! Daaance deluded puppeteer daaance!!" And then the reader ran in their direction from behind "you used me as a meat shield!"

"to demonstrate we all get four lives! If we die a fifth time, we start at the first level again, repeat!"

"yeah that reassures me" they say sarcastically, now controlling Zhongli "wait first level—?"

"there's arrows on the walls" "tell me where, I'm gonna carry this team"

==========

"What the heeellll, I can't even see any damage on the monsters" "you can't kill what cannot be killed"

"oh crap." Dies. Xiao takes Zhongli's place

"disorder? In MY backrooms??"

"it's more likely thank you think!"

=================

"Since when did you change from Kaeya to Ayato?"

"since when did you die all the way back to Freminet?"

"I didn't I got gooood!!" Spinning circled around them "Aahh!! Friendly fire! Friendly fire!"

Freminet is replaced with Gaming "I literally hate you"

"I love you too <3 AAAAAA—"

================

"guys help! I clipped into the walls!"

"you reap what you soooowww, fucker!" A sword strikes them "AAHHH!!"

================

"I think this is what the abyss feels like"

"I think that's an insult" "you've never been in there"

===many deaths & respawns later===

"you're a monster you know that right"

Giggling, "yes yes yes!!"

"we should do that again" "as the one with arthritis from carrying you idiots, I veto it."

"veto denied :D"

The Wither Storm

Playing Kokomi "what is it this time"

"Wither Storm :)" Reader, playing Fischl looks up at them

Playing Xinyan "uh oh"

Eula "on a scale of one to backrooms, how difficult will this one be?" "Collateral damage"

"and that's ignoring the proximity voice chat!"

Fast paced breathing "oh thank God that wasn't a thing in the Backrooms, we were just using discord"

"yeah it's a shaaaame"

"wait, we couldn't lay a finger in the Backrooms"

"you can kill the wither storm and still engage in friendly fire"

"thank goodness!!"

"so what's in store?"

"I'm gonna teleport us to another plane—because we don't want Teyvat harmed in the process—and we're gonna summon the wither storm and kill it."

"let's do it blind."

"yeeeesss!!!"

"did we not learn from the backrooms???"

"no we did not!"

"blind it is! Let's go!"

"wait—!"

===============

The Wither Storm is summoned! And like a standard wither simple shoots out skulls that destroys where it hits and inflicts withering on any living being.

"WHAT THE HEEELLLL???"

"LOOK WHAT YOU DID!"

"guys get building materials—!" Xinyan is replaced with Lisa who is far, far away from where the death was "And I withered away. And I'm away from everyone

"wow, I can't hear anyone!"

===============

Beamed up by the Wither Storm: "guys help"

"one I barely heard you, scream next time, two it's already to late for you." Eula is them eaten in one piece by one of the storm's mouths

"oh my fucking god it has a halo . . . It has like four of them" Looking up, far away from the group with Yae Miko, running away after a head faces their way

Far far away, Kaeya takes Eula's place in the plane

(Google image "crackers wither storm" to get what I mean in the last paragraph)

===============

"bestie!!" Reader controlling Hu Tao walks up a small hill

"Oh my God! Bestie!" Another Hu Tao looks in their ideection, they run towards each other "regroup! Regroup! We gotta regroup cuz the next phase is gonna begin!"

===============

"we did all that work and never even got a nether star" Sitting down with Heizou

"says who?" Back with Fischl ":O"

"the inventory . . . " They habitually jump with Kazuha

"oh, what's this I see?" sticking to Hu Tao after the Wither Storm

"who wants to read the description?" By now everyone opened their inventory to find a fourth of a white, purple tinted four-pointed star

"As testament to your suffering, a piece of the Nether Star joins you growing treasury!! A Devastation reduced to a mere chapter in your life"

"look, I get that after we're done you just remove the mod forever and leave it to gather dust, but at least, at least let us keep this even after removing the Wither Storm mod."

"and let us make a beacon while your at it!"

"sure why the hell not!"

"what the hell is a beacon and will I want in?"

"you all will!!"

"yes we do!"

"you don't even know what it does!x

"and neither do you!"

===============

Personally I imagine that Teyvat is a bit split on this.

On one hand, their Grace is far too happy with their friends who Teyvat deems as fellow Creators they play around with and they're playing around with their divine powers.

On the other hand, making mods and bug testing is time consuming and both of these take attention their Grace could be giving them instead.

They've heard plenty times the Creator complain about their world's spaghetti code, the Reader has cursed the creator—"who the hell made this?"—many times and Teyvatians interpret this as either the Creator having lost their memories or an act of self-hatred or a blend of both.

It doesn't help how Reader curses themselves whenever they find an error in their own code

Though I wonder the thoughts of Vessels from four worlds being used for four gods to meet in scheduled meetings either during normal gameplay or modded gameplay.

No but imagine some vessels doing things their code supposedly shouldn't allowed but it gets brushed off as a mod glitch 😭 lmao, like say, Kaeya muttering "Cataclysm . . ." To himself during the Wither Storm and only barely not being noticed

BRO WHAT WILL LIKE KHAENRI'AH PEOPLE AND ARCHONS AND OTHERS THINK WHEN THEY SEE THE NETHER STAR FRAGMENTS FORM A FOUR-POINTED STAR TOGETHER AKA THE NETHER STAR WHICH IN TEYVAT THE FOUR POINTED STAR IS THE SYMBOL OF KHAENRI'AH?

That's all I have in me today

feel free, not but pressured, to add your own ideas, add onto my ideas, etcetera, etcetera as you please, you got my absolute blessing

take your time as needed

Hope your having a good day!!

Thank you for sending me this.

This is awesome on its own and it must be shared.

But seriously, you're right. Teyvat wants you to be happy, but only with them. So they come up with a plan.

They're going to not work and basically annoy your friends off the game. They know I'll make you sad, but you have them to make you feel better.

If you friends are extra stubborn, then more extreme measures are but in place. Like bugging out, not ascending but taking the materials, and stuff like that.

Eventually when your friends quit the game, you go back to solo mode. Now you spend your time with them. While it makes them sad to see you upset about being able to play with your friends anymore, they'll be your new friends and be the best characters they can for you.

After, you'll be with them soon.

[novanitas]

There are Other Ways to Fall in Love

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31806577

- Warnings: Zhongli is manipulative? suggestive content?

- The work was written with the mindset of a female reader but no pronouns were used so any reader may enjoy~

Falling in love was supposed to be love at first sight, and for you, it was. Falling in love was supposed to be magical, every moment filled with bliss. Falling in love was supposed to be finding that one person in your life and staying with them forever, no change in heart. Falling in love was that way for you. But were you really falling in love?

They say the devil hides in plain sight, where he is easily seen and the star of the show. They say the devil can be as sweet as honey to the right person or as cold and cunning as the winters of Snezhnaya. They say the devil draws people in and traps them with their dashing looks and silver tongue. They say love is a game. Your heart the pawn.

Falling out of love was never a thought to you. You never imagined that if you did find that one love at first sight that you would find yourself tired of your lover's presence and wondering what went astray. You heard in the whispers of the wind that falling out of love was like falling out of a tree, swift and painful, knocking the air out of your lungs, leaving you gasping for breath. For you falling out of love was that, but it was so much more. Falling out of love was painful in the way that the love in your partner's eyes turned to something darker. Falling out of love was breathless for you in the way that you were swept off your feet by someone completely unexpected.

Love is like that of a summer storm coming in unannounced and ripping everything you knew to pieces, everything you knew to be true apart, and that is precisely what Childe did to your heart.

Zhongli was elegant, classy, breathtaking, and one hell of a man to look at. His golden eyes caught yours the second he waltzed through the room, his long coat chasing behind him. Slender legs making his gait seem as if he were from another world. His cologne engulfed every room he stepped in as if it were taking claim to the area, taking claim to your heart—a casanova in disguise.

At first, when your relationship began with Zhongli, you were stunned. How could someone of such stature be interested in you? How could the man you fell head over heels from the second he walked in the room even glance your way?

The devil is cunning, and so was Zhongli. He knew too much of everything. He knew just what to say to make any person come undone. He appealed to all your senses, and you found him intoxicating. He was like a drug you can't get out of your vein.

He came in swiftly and stole your heart, but he took so much more.

You stole away the pride that you once had in yourself. He ripped away your dignity. Zhongli slowly took everything that was you away.

You didn't notice it at first, the way that after he came into your life that everything seemed to falter. Money seemed to dissipate into thin air. Time seemed to be consumed by him. Family and friend's faces seemed never to be around anymore. Life seemed to be closing in on you, or was it Zhongli's hands around your life choking everything else out.

"Y/N," his voice purred in your ear. You stood there, still as the heat of his breath lapped against your ear. "Let's go out. For,"

Zhongli seemed to pause as if testing the waters as if testing to see how far he could push you.

You bit your lip, not daring to lift your head to meet his gaze, to meet his flaming eyes.

"Lunch," he said, placing his hand on the small of your back.

Your heart raced at his touch, flames on his fingertips, fear in your veins.

You, in fact, did not want to go out for lunch because you had no mora, and Zhongli always made you pay for the meal. You, at times, have had to pay for meals and other expenses with questionable means.

Zhongli stepped forward and walked around you, dragging his hand along your body as he went. You shuddered as he stopped behind you, placing his head on your shoulder, his lips grazing your ear.

"You know you don't have a choice in the matter. Why don't you just say yes to me?" His voice was a low growl, an inhuman pitch to it.

"Of course, I'd love to go to lunch with you." The words stumbled out your mouth.

You were strong, but the Geo archon was stronger, eviler, a wicked sense about him.

"Good," Zhongli said, standing back up straight removing his hands from your body.

"Get changed. Your clothing is," he hummed to himself, "a little damaged."

A little damaged, you thought. They are more than damaged; they were charred, blackened to a crisp, barely clinging to your body as the flames ate at the threads and danced across your skin. The only thing saving you from burns adorning your body was the cryo vision you were graced with days before meeting Zhongli.

A Geo Archon using the ability of magma rocks was never a story told in Liyue folklore, but you assumed that most people that encountered it either died or were silenced by other means.

Falling in love meant staying in love even if you lost some of yourself in the process. You did love Zhongli, didn't you? Your mind would ponder over the thought often but never for too long in fear of the answer being something less than true love.

Going on dates to the Genshin Restaurant was a common occurrence for you and Zhongli. The thought of going there again made your blood run cold. But you loved Zhongli, or you thought you did, so you would go anyway. Maybe this is what love was? Perhaps love was giving yourself up for someone else. So you changed your clothes and stood proudly by his side and made your presence known to the people of Liyue once again.

Entering the restaurant, Zhongli's fingers trailed down your arm, leaving traces of golden dust on your skin, sparkling as the light hit it. You were timid, but you held your head high because this love at first had turned to be so much more. Ningguang waved a slight hand at you both as Zhongli elegantly weaved his way to the usual booth the two of you occupied. Ningguang, the owner, so graciously allowed "Zhongli" to "buy" the table permanently in exchange for something you'd rather never think of again. You shuddered at the thought, but your attention was snapped back to Zhongli as his searing hot hand pressed into your back, guiding you into the chair.

The two of you sat quietly, making idle conversation, waiting for the waiter to approach the table. Your heart froze as Ganyu sauntered over to Zhongli. In his eyes were flames, full of lust and want. You bit your tongue, holding back the feeling that you weren't good enough even after giving yourself over to him.

The devil finds in people their weaknesses, and he breaks in, destroying everything with the drop of a match.

"What will you be eating today, Mr. Zhongli?' Ganyu asked pen and paper in hand.

Zhongli looked at Ganyu head to toe and hummed.

"You," he said, pausing a little too long, "suggest something to me."

Ganyu's face flushed red "The um slow-cooked bamboo shoot soup is rather delightful. Only men with such a particular taste know how to appreciate it."

Zhongli looked at Ganyu, studying her before nodding his head.

"And for them?" Ganyu asked Zhongli, throwing you a glance.

Zhongli stirred in his seat, leaning forward placing his elbows on the table. He stared you in the eyes.

"Hmmm, what do you deserve?" He asked aloud.

"Water, and" he flipped his wrists, "whatever you're planning on throwing out."

Your face flushed pink, embarrassed once again by Zhongli's treatment of you.

He always treated you less than him, like you were a dog picked up off the streets, meant to eat table scraps and to be beaten.

You looked around, hoping that no one noticed, hoping that no one saw again how the amazing Geo Archon treated you.

How embarrassing was it to be treated like this by someone who was supposed to love you? But Zhongli did love you, just in other ways, right?

Childe stood off in the corner watching the scene he had witnessed too many times, and his heart ached and raged burned within him. He felt his water swords beginning to materialize in his hands, and he left. He tore out the restaurant and down the streets of Liyue, looking for something to take his anger out on. He soon found himself on the outskirts of Liyue, looking towards Mondstadt, a trail of blood behind him. Was the blood his, or was it the blood of the treasure hoarders and hilichurls, or was it both? Childe heaved in a deep breath and turned around, slowly walking back to Liyue, blood rolling off his hands.

"If that bastard." Childe started to say, war raging inside him. "If he touches Y/N again and I see him treat them like that again, I will not hold back anymore. I swear."

And a few days later, the time came where Childe did not hold back. You were seated in the usual booth of the Genshin Restaurant, eyes bloodshot and clothes charred at the edges. Zhongli was across from you, but his eyes were somewhere else, following the waitress around the tables.

"Excuse me," Childe could hear Zhongli say from the corner he placed himself in. His eyes trained on Zhongli watched as Zhongli stood up and waltzed over to the waitress and whispered something in her ear, his hand lingering on her hip before slowly falling away. Zhongli made his way to the bathrooms, the waitress not far behind.

Childe stood up from his seat and took the opportunity that presented itself to him. He strolled over to the table you sat at and grasped the chair before taking a seat across from you.

Your eyes shot up with surprise at the harbinger sitting in front of you.

You admitted to yourself at that moment that you had noticed Childe before, that you had stolen glimpses of him while Zhongli was infatuated with the waiting staff. You didn't fall for Childe instantly as you did with Zhongli, but your heart began to yearn for him whenever his presence was no longer in the restaurant or the streets you walked. You began to find comfort in knowing that his eyes seemed to find you in a crowd even though the two of you didn't know more than each other's names.

"I see you need some company, comrade," Childe said, a smile playing on his lips.

You smiled at him with a genuine smile, and Childe's eyes lit up.

You didn't know it, but in all these months that Childe has seen you, this was the first time he had seen a smile on your lips.

It was as if the atmosphere had lightened up as the sky did when a storm had passed.

"I would love no other company than yours." You said, truthfully. Silently you wished that Childe could save you from the devil's trap that you had so carelessly fallen into.

At fourteen, Childe fell into the abyss, and at (your age or 18+), you had fallen into the devil's snares.

"Well, you're in luck," Childe smirked. "I so happen to be free. Care for a meal?"

"I," you sighed, "have no mora. Zhongli, he-"

"I never said I would let you pay. When you're with me," Childe cheesily gestured to himself, "You will never pay anything. So order what you want, the most expensive dish. I'll buy it or this entire restaurant all for you."

"I just," your voice was small, "thank you. I'll have 'A Prize Catch' and an Apple Cider Vinegar then."

Childe sat there shocked, "You want 'A Prize Catch?'"

"If that's too much, then," you began.

"No, no. It's just that's my favorite dish, and I have never known anyone else to like it." Childe's eyes sparkled as he spoke.

Childe raised his hand above his head and waited for someone to notice. A waiter soon made his way over, and Childe placed the order, two servings of "A Prize Catch" and two Apple Cider Vinegars, one with light ice.

The two of you sat there in the quiet corner of Genshin Restaurant and ate the food as the conversation flowed between you.

Halfway through the meal, Zhongli finally made his appearance again, his hair slightly ruffled and his clothing half undone. His eyes turned to stone the second his eyes laid on Childe's silhouette.

"Y/N" Zhongli's voice shook the entire restaurant, an ice formed in your veins. Fear grasped your heart.

"Y/N, don't look at him, okay. Look at me." Childe said, his voice soft but strong, caring.

You lifted your eyes from the table and looked at Childe, his eyes a dark blue, determination swimming just beneath the surface.

"Don't answer him. I'll take care of this." Childe said, pushing himself up from the table.

"Childe," his name slipped from your lips.

"It's okay," Childe said, reassuring your beating heart.

And so it was okay because, in that short amount of time you spent with Childe, you realized that everything you knew about falling in love was wrong. You learned that there are other ways to fall in love and that love, at first sight, is just that, love of the eyes, not a love of the heart. You found that falling out of love was painful, but it is even more painful to stay in a relationship that wasn't there. You learned that the devil could be anyone and not just those that look the part.

In the end, Childe paid for your lunch that day, and he paid for it in the coming days after that. Childe crashed your date, but more importantly, he crashed into your heart.

Love is like that of a summer storm coming in unannounced, pouring water to the earth, and drowning out all the things that don't belong. Childe was the storm, you the earth, and Zhongli the thing that didn't belong.