A one-shot for Tenna this time! Based on an idea I had a couple months ago and my own experience with deltarune, bc I am, for some reason, very unlucky
It started because of how you played his games.
You would try to nudge every tile and tree, poke every crevice and explore every ocean. You tried so hard to find every secret you possibly could within these modded adventures. Which is why it hurt so much more when you would inevitably miss something and go far enough to progress in the game, subsequently locking you out of whatever secret there was.
This happened enough times to become noticeable for both of you.
"I swear to God, I'm not doing this on purpose." You pushed against a wall that just appeared to block the way back, locking you out of the previous area.
"I believe you, sweetheart! (But let's not talk about your acting on that one)"
"Hey!!" You smack his shoulder, causing him to laugh.
It was like some kind of curse. No matter how much you tried, you could never find everything before getting locked out.
So you started to get frustrated. Enough that one day, you turned to Tenna with a frown, and told him point-blank, "The next time we play one of these, tell me I'm going the right way if I'm still missing something."
And he tried to laugh it off at first, saying how it would ruin the fun, but you didn't budge. Your stern face remained, and he eventually gave in, promising he would do it for the next game. Though he wasn't promising any more than that.
So, the next time you booted up one of his modded boards, you started your routine as usual. Push against every suspicious tile, try to explore every area possible, so on and so forth. Tenna watched you with the same attentiveness he always did. He truly enjoyed seeing you have fun with his games, even if they weren’t always as amazing as he hoped they would be.
Until you stopped. You, assuming you had checked everything, started heading towards the exit to the next level. But you were wrong. He knew you were wrong. In your haste, you had skipped over a room made to look innocuous, which held a secret key. And, as he watched you get closer to the exit, he started to sweat.
He didn't want to ruin the game for you! The whole point of these mods was to make everything new and exciting! But you were so upset about missing things before, and he couldn't bear the thought of you once again being upset, now at him instead for not saying anything.
So, in a moment of panic, he blurted out, "Right way."
Immediately your character stopped on screen.
He messed up. He messed up and ruined the game and the show and-
Your character turned around and headed back through the level.
You mumbled to yourself, but he could still hear you well enough, "Missed something, huh?"
You walked through rooms you were confident you checked, eventually ending up in the innocuous room.
Should he- Should he say something? Would you know this was the room? His antennae were pointed towards you, waiting to pick up the slightest hint of any noise you made.
Before he could decide on what he should do, you made a triumphant 'ah-ha!' as the game played the reveal jingle. You made your way into the secret room to grab the key, then hastily ran back out. You went back to the exit of the level, and, upon not hearing Tenna say anything, left.
Tenna let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Somehow he had wound himself up thinking he would get in trouble for doing exactly what you asked him to.
During the scoring screen you turned to him with a smile on your face. "Thanks for letting me know I was missing something. Would've been pissed if I found out after we were done."
Tenna nods, "You did ask, after all."
And so, after seeing how happy it made you, it became a habit.
Every time you left something undiscovered, he would give you a quick 'right way' and you would go hunting for it instead of continuing. No longer did you find yourself frustrated by missing things, and Tenna didn't feel as bad letting you know.
It made him happy seeing all his effort being paid off by your curiosity,
And you were happy to go looking.