#this series permanently changed my brain chemistry

[scarletttbitch]

screenshots from yugioh abridged that I think about every day

[little-hermit-crab56]

Oh shit guys, I think I found another childhood franchise to hyperfixate on.

[wyrm-on-a-string]

it's hesperos' special day which also means it's the hesponysus anniversary. happy pride gay people!!!!!!!!!!

[kitkatkenma5]

genuinely believe that (re)watching haikyuu (specifically the training camp arc, of course) is healing on a spiritual level. its like the ultimate comfort food for the soul

[hibiscuslynx]

yeah like all of my time is spent doing other things and consuming other content and i have not watched a wttt episode in over a month and not consistently watched in a few months and im not active here like i was, but when i tell u i think abt these mfs every single day . like they will not leave my brain. i am still here daily in spirit o7

[unicornlovers10]

Me with LBP lol.

i meant to be a casual fan but it ended up ruining my life

[curse-maniac]

Have you ever heard of mystery dungeons?

is that a kink thing? Like, doing riddles while doing the do?

[pastel-clown-friends]

“The Death Game Victors” Updated, Circa 2025

I made a similar piece back when Secret Life ended with a Scar win, and I’ve been itching to do a new one. Wild life came to the rescue and gave me an excuse to make another one with the new winners. Congratulations to Joel SmallishBeans and Zombie Cleo, my beloved.

I plan to be making more with each new season of the life series, as this series has changed my brain chemistry permanently. Thank you Grian for creating it and for keeping it going this long. I and many others will cherish it until the end of time.

[flyingwargle]

fics that changed my life in 2024

the movie sucked me back into the hq fandom and with that, fanfic. i read an obscene amount this year (as evidenced by my monthly recs, haha) and some of them have permanently changed my brain chemistry. here's my shoutout to these fics.

note: some fics are rated e!

general

With a little water (and a little bit of sunlight) t. 25.5k. 19/19. onigiri miya catches on fire and atsumu helps osamu in the aftermath. i revisit this from time to time for the brotherly bond, friendships, prose, and imagery. this fic proves that nothing is stronger than family.

sakuatsu

particularities t. 5.7k. everything about this fic is hilarious - the prose, premise, realization, confession - everything. the interaction with osamu lives rent-free in my head.

Watching You for Love t. 6.6k. the prose brings me to my knees. the imagery is vivid and incredibly connected to sakusa, and his pining for atsumu is so subtly displayed and beautiful.

Hall Pass t. 6.8k. i still don't know what a hall pass but i do know this fic is funny and one of my comfort fics. everyone needs to read saeko kissing atsumu. you're doing yourself a favor.

point of view t. 27.9k. 3/3. one of my first fics i read with insecure atsumu and sakusa wanting nothing more than to love him. i hold onto any fic that portrays mental health tightly because of the different ways it's portrayed, and this fic showed atsumu's insecure side vividly.

frankenstein's monster t. 83.6k. 10/10. one of skts' treasures that focuses on ocd. i love fics like these because of how writers are able to use their experiences to write deeply personal stories by knocking characters to their lowest and persevering through it.

easy to love t. 145.5k. 40/40. i love everything about this, from the prose, character development, slowburn romance, and side relationships. this fic made me like suna and sunaosa (they were portrayed so well) and pushed me deeper into skts. the confession scene is my favorite, of course.

terminal curiosity e. is there anything i need to say about this series that others haven't said already? it honestly changed my brain chemistry, like many others, and it's my comfort read, like many others (my poison is laid bare). honestly one of skts' best treasures.

sunaosa

a type of hunger m. 9.1k. this fic influenced how i view suna's character, with his desire and envy, self-doubt and struggle with identifying his relationship with osamu. it resonates deeply with how i want to write folded promises, which is why it sticks with me.

somewhere to lay the flowers t. 25.6k. trans suna is an icon we don't deserve. i love the mystery, the characters, the plot and conflict, and the web of interconnectedness between everyone involved.

iwaoi

Lost in Translation t. 9.6k. this fic is untagged but the summary gives you everything that you need to know. loved this for the humor and amazing ocs. it's one of my favorites for being a fun read.

we'll walk the mile and change it (if we can) t. 49.2k. 7/7. a devastating fic where oikawa undergoes a procedure to forget about ushijima and kageyama but forgets about iwa in the process. amazing prose, climax, and resolution.

bokuaka

in the same room, at the same time t. 22.1k. i read this in one sitting and did not regret any second of it. first: bokuaka proposal. second: it's just so tender and fluffy?? loved the setup and aftermath. it continues to live rent free in my mind.

truth is such a violent force t. 41k. 8/8. such delicate yet impactful writing on painful themes. i love how supportive fukurodani is to akaashi and the eventual getting together.

other pairings

Common side effects m. 89.9k. 16/16. kuroken. this captures the monotony and depression of adulthood so well, and delves into different kinds of relationships in a poignant way. beautiful character development and eventual getting together.

[salty-ironstrange-shipper]

Hi. I saw this post asking for a fic that changed one's brain chemistry. Now there are a lot of fics I like; over 2000 bookmarked on ao3. And a lot of fics I love; I have 400+ of those fics tagged 'fave'. Of those 400, there are only around two dozen I would say legitimately changed me as a person. 1% changed the way I saw relationships and the world, changed the way I read and write. And I couldn't narrow it down to one - or ten - and didn't want to dump in OP's tags. So have this list of fics that permanently changed who I am as a person.

Warning: I love long fics, and some of these are the same specific tropes that I love or that really affect me personally (ex. arranged marriage). Expect angst, and especially angst with a happy ending. That said these fics are all objectively amazing.

(sorry to people who don't like long fics, but we are simply not the same. and that's OK.)

listed in order of fandom, then length.

Banshee In A Well - 43k, complete, DC, Tim Drake. Childhood trauma, childhood trauma, came back wrong/can't stop coming back! Tim is a little FREAK and I luv him.

straight on 'til morning - 102k, complete, DC, timkon/Kon-El. This is within the niche genre that for some reason appeals to me specifically, of characters having a LOT of feelings about sex and dealing with it poorly.

variations on a theme - 5k, complete, MCU, ironstrange. This is one of the fics that made me truly love ironstrange. Stephen sees through millions of possibilities and in doing so, falls in love with Tony. Evocative, beautiful, succinct.

The Art of Losing - 33k, complete, Red White and Royal Blue, firstprince. This fic made me cry. This fic BROKE MY HEART. And I WENT BACK TO IT. Multiple times! This is a breakup fic that breaks you down then puts you back together. You will come out different, and only you can say if it's for the worse or the better.

With so much of my heart (that none is left to protest) - 65k, complete, Red White and Royal Blue, firstprince. There are so many firstprince fics that essentially translate the events of the book into a different setting. And I love all of them. (My own fic, then fucking have me, also does this, self plug self plug self plug). I had to narrow this selection down to just one, and this is probably my absolute favorite.

You Don't Have To (Say Yes) - 192k, complete, Star Trek, spirk/Jim Kirk. This is within the niche genre that for some reason appeals to me specifically, of characters having a LOT of feelings about sex and dealing with it poorly (yeah, again).

THE MARRIAGE OF TRUE MINDS - 262k, complete, Star Trek, spirk. Star Trek arranged marriage epistolary fic. I read this 4 years ago, and I STILL think of a line from this fic constantly (we're aligned, we're aligned, we're aligned). If you don't read anything else for the rest of your life, read this.

DON'T THE WAVES PULL THE SAND? DON'T THE MOON PULL THE TIDES? - 58k, complete, Star Wars, finnpoe. I don't even go here. And yet. And yet. This is within the niche genre that for some reason appeals to me specifically, of characters having a LOT of feelings about sex and dealing with it poorly (yeah, AGAIN).

Not Part of the Plan - SERIES, 8 works, 337k, complete. Supernatural, destiel. This is an arranged marriage fic au series, that started with a oneshot pwp, and somehow grew into a sprawling, world and character building EPIC. And that to me is always a marker of quality. You KNOW it's good if the author couldn't stop themselves.

wander your own land - 379k, incomplete, Yellowjackets, shaunajackie and others. I told you I like long fics. Girl survival situationships, cannibalism, jealousy, cabin fever, hallucinations, trying to keep a fucking baby alive in some of the worst possible circumstances.

Infinite Variations of a Summer Day - 76k, complete, X-Men, Pietro Maximoff. I love Pietro, he is one of my favorite characters of all time, and this is such a great character fic. See Pietro slowly driven insane in a time loop that examines his relationships with himself, his team, his family, and his powers.

drop your own recs in the notes. and if you have any suggestions for griddlehark/the locked tomb, pLEA- *gunshots*

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

hello I just got caught up on the free chapters of tto:u and I just wanna thank you for making it! I had to go on a pretty stressful family trip this past week, and I had to fly (which I'm terrified of, not for logical reasons but for phobia reasons. irrational fear of heights runs in my family) and honestly this story got me THROUGH that week. i can't stop thinking about it, in a good way. it's getting me hooked on sci-fi again, falling in love with the genre all over again. I keep thinking about arborea, about a hacker obsessed with retro-futurism who plays doom on the side of buildings, about bees and sleeping in a nest in a tree. i haven't felt this way about a sci-fi story since I first read the Wayfarer's series, and that story permanently changed my brain chemistry. you write in a way that is so easy, getting across dense exposition in a way that Feels quick and easy and digestible, but grows like a fungus once it's inside my head.

I spent the flight over crying like a baby. I spent the flight home rereading ttou from the start, and all the fears I had about flying seemed so small compared to aspen crawling along the hull of the Courageous hours after waking up from a months/decades long coma. there's this current of teeth-gritted hope and a stubborn will to survive just a little longer, no matter how bleak the future looks, that I cannot get enough of. it's in all your work, but ttou resonates with something in me that's very unique.

basically just wanted to send you a reader's love letter. you did also make me miss SEVERAL buses, because I kept thinking 'ill just read this next paragraph and keep checking the road, there's no way I'll miss this next one by getting too distracted to notice the bus pass me" which honestly, is entirely my own folly. I knew what this story does to ADHD readers. still, getting home late was worth reading more. it's just so damn good.

also (apologies if you've answered this before), does TTO:U have a planned ending? I see the chapters titled but not yet available to read, and I'm not sure if those are available on Patreon or if those are the planned final chapters? I desperately never want to stop reading new chapters of this, but of course I understand that isn't likely Actually feasible. no matter how much is left though, I look forward to reading more, and to finding new things in the previous chapters to fall in love with

I'm so glad you're enjoying it! There's always another bus coming :P

TTOU is 183 chapters long, so you'll be getting the ending pretty soon. Patrons already have the whole thing. After TTOU, there'll be a new story called Child of a Wandering Star, which has bug aliens in it.

[majachee]

This Donnie and Raph move from Owari, while short-lived, changed my brain chemistry permanently.

These two end up having THE BEST battle choreography in every series, you actually can NOT change my mind. Unless you're talking about the rise movie choreography

We need more acknowledgement regarding Donatello's strength and Raph's agility in this series, because there are multiple moments where this boy is dramatically spinning and twirling. I think Donnie can bench press a schoolbus if he tried.

[fbfh]

god fucking dam it your magnus chase headcanons permanently altered my brain chemistry. what do you think he'd be like with a gf who died in the 70s who still wears flowy shirts with super deep v-necks and flared jeans and big hair and blue eyeshadow and plays queen and fleetwood mac etc.?

AAAAAAAAAAAH this is so cute. I don't usually do magnus chase asks since I haven't read the whole series but I feel like I can characterise Magnus well enough and this ask is SO cute so yes aboslutely. this is what he sees when he looks at you /hj. just soft big hair covered in flowers always doing shawl twirls covered in enough turqoise to get into stevie nicks's house (no questions asked)

magnus... he can't keep his eyes off you. like actually. you have his attention 24/7, anytime you look at him he's just... admiring you. he's lost on most of your media references and slang, but he's here for it. he dances around with you to fleetwood mack and donna summer. he lets you braid flowers into his hair and watches the way the shimmer in your eyeshadow catches the light. everything about you is so... flowy. you are hands down his comfort person. anytime he's stressed he just listens to one of your records you're always playing and he can feel the edge of all his problems falling away. he loves when you lay in his lap, cozy sunlight making you both glow. you ramble to him about the 70s, what your life was like, about how your parents just didn't understand you and what you believe in. then you tell him your takes that your parents thought were sooooo crazy and wild were "women should have rights, racism is bad, gay people should be allowed to exist in peace" and he realizes how far humanity has come and how far we have to go. more importantly, you're heart skips a beat when he agrees with you wholeheartedly. and like, dying wasn't great. it kind of sucked. but if it means you get to meet magnus and spend eternity together... you wouldn't change a thing. everything he does makes any lingering regrets about your time on earth just... fade away. you like that feeling, and magnus likes how he feels around you just as much.

[huramuna]

i remember seeing that it is one of your favorite tropes, so do you have any fic recs for aemond x servant/maid/handmaid

hiii!! yes!! it is one of my favorite tropes!! here are the ones that came to mind (i likely missed some)

consequences by @targaryenrealnessdarling was one of my first fics i really got obsessed with in the fandom and it changed my brain chemistry permanently. its beautifully written and heart wrenching.

his handmaid's tales by @themotherofhorses is lovely and full of fluff for the handmaid and aemond. recently she's previewed an angsty ending to the series (one of two endings, i believe) that ripped me in two (in a good way).

take me down to the river, and bathe me clean by @randomdragonfires is a must read if you love obsessive aemond like i do, this is perfect. obsession, servant and religious themes all wrapped into one.

the softest whisper and the dearest embrace by @flowerandblood are amazing as well, hagi has a beautiful way with words and every piece of hers is a work of art in its own. these two are of the same story with the latter being an alternate ending.

last time around by @valeskafics is fun and delicious and the dynamic between cheeky reader and aemond is so entertaining and bel's smut never misses.

these are the first ones that came to mind from this ask and its more than likely i missed some that i love -- i am also always open to have recommendations dropped in my asks for this trope.

[queenofhearts7378]

Lol give us 5 of your recent Fave fic recs, any fandom!

Lol, if I did recent faves it would be nothing but TMNT cause I've been reading them for the past two weeks. But I did limit myself to the last five different fandoms. Which was a lot more varied than I thought

Shattering Stars - by SunniMint (TMNT 03/Usagi Yojimbo) Look AmevelloBlue permanently changed my brain chemistry by introducing me to Leosagi. And I am *losing my mind* over this story. It's somehow both a Gods & Goddesses AU and a Fake Dating AU without either party agreeing or setting up anything. It is misunderstanding shenanigans and I don't think pining is a strong enough word to use here. Definitely more Usagi Yojimbo focused then TMNT, but it doesn't change the enjoyment one bit. Donatello is the funniest person in there. How does this barely have 300 kudos

Dreamwalker - by GhostyMochi (Ghost Hunt) I don't think a lot of my followers care about one of the 3(?) anime's I actually like and definitely my favorite by like....a lot. But! This is such an intriguing AU???? That I don't think I've seen in this fandom before???? And its fascinating reading all these butterfly changes and her and Naru's relationship. Actually all the character's relationships with each other which I feel like is the main focus of the story. Well that and the ghosts. There's also a bunny god

Oh, You Don't Have to Do That (Communication) - GaleDragon (Miraculous Ladybug) As increasingly out of touch I am becoming with ML, I still love me some classic Lila takedowns and GaleDragon definitely delivers with every story they write. I just love this one in particular because it's basically what if the Lila Plots happen but the class actually talks about it. Like they all know something is sus, and she's lying about stuff, and they basically gaslight her into exposing herself, and they do it the nicest way possible. It's *so funny*. That and I have special place in my heart for stories that let's these characters actually be dumb kids who all have fun and like each other and not.......whatever the TV show is doing to them

The Secret Life of Candace - by TakingOverMidnight3482 (Phineas and Ferb) The original on FF.net was one of my favorite all time comfort fics, one I'd go back to every now and then and just read in its entirety because I just loved it so much. AND THEN!!!!! It got REWROTE!!!!! And now it's so much MORE and I didn't think it was possible to love this fic more than I already did but!!!! BUT!!!!! Actually anything written by her is absolutely fantastic but I'm pretty sure the pnf fics live rent free in my head and will for all eternity. Oh yeah it's a Candance is a mermaid AU, very H2O style. I was so caught up in the euphoria of reading this fic that I forgot to mention what it's about

How (NOT) to Survive Your Pet Death Worlder - by katydid & Zyla_SweetBean (My Hero Academia) It's a Space AU/Humans are Space Orcs story. I'm a sucker for a good Space AU. All the alien designs are fun and unique, there's a certain level of horror in both the whole "being something else's pet" thing and the "holy shit our boss decided to keep something that is actively trying to kill us and frequently escapes". I don't know something about human desperation at its finest and how absolutely horrifying it can be. The rest of the series somehow turns into crack & fluff and it's *delightful*. Oh yeah....it's a 12 part series. I enjoy it so much. McDonald's gets mistaken for a religion.

[shiraishi-star]

spoilers for ava 11

Ig im putting my thoughts in the most incoherent way possible

I got to watch it with my brother :D except i later found out that he knew NOTHING about ava (he only watched avm) so we went on ava binge watching. He’s favorite is…Chosen I think????? idk but that was fun

Moving on to the actual ep, the animation was soooo good. I know sooo surprising but seriously when i saw ava 1 reanimated my jaw dropped. It was just so cool seeing the video that kickstarted the entire series in the new 3D animation. And the little watercolor scenes xkjsianeidnsoendks

Mitsi was also awesome to see. I really don’t want to add on to the negativity but i was a little disappointed by her death (also by the lack of role for the shepred. Justice for Shepherd and Silly Steve). Not surprised (like what that one post said, ava and avm is NOT passing the bechdel test 💀), but still. But i’m really glad to see she wasn’t just there to kick off victims revenge and actually left a huge impact on victim and rocket corp as a whole. She was also the CEO which was awesome omg i’m so happy about that. I might draw some doodles of her in a suit and stuff bc wow. If she’s going to die I hope she get ayano tateyama-ed and continues to haunt the narrative ❤️

Also

PURPLE?????? I remember seeing the two lies one truth thing in the newsletter and when i read the purples origin part i was like “yeah right. They’re just trying to hype us up”. How wrong i was 💀and ofc Navy cannot be on screen without being a complete asshole. The entire website is being blown up by godlike figures and your ditching your family. wtf

Talking about godlike figures (awesome transition), Chosen!

(i totally have to redraw this scene bc this is fire pun intended)

The way i screamed when i saw that tco killed Mitsi omg that permanently changed my brain chemistry. And honestly this explains soooo much like why victim was beating him up, not TSC. I saw that a lot of people felt conflicted about TCO or trying to come up with ways to defend him and honestly, i don’t really get why? no offense of course, i understand how seeing your favorite as a murderer might change some things but for me, it didn’t really change my perspective on tco much. Like we knew he blew up websites and was kinda implied to have hurt a lot of people, now we just got to see it firsthand. I always thought of him as kinda morally gray anyways like. Even if you’re good now, if you literally spend the first years of your life free as a cyberterrorist your moral compass probably isn’t really that strong. Anyways i’m liking the more nuanced TCO who might not completely regret his actions, he might actually be becoming one of my faves now

(also their little high five bc that was cute. TDL is kinda back wooooo. Also TCO kinda hesitating?)

Me when the cycle starts cycling. Oughhhh i love the whole victim and abuser thing that’s going on here. Noogai turning TCO and victim into victims, then TCO becoming the oppressor and ruining victims life again after he finally moved on. And then victim with his kinda sorta victim complex and never moving on from his past. And now victim becomes the oppressor by torturing TCO like. It’s all coming full circle. I love how this series has consequences for everyone’s actions. Even the smallest details or events can snowball into something major. Honestly i dont even know if that was comprehensible but whatever. The Cycle™️ honorable mention of victim being stuck in the cycle of being creating, tortured, and dying for a year

On that note, victim was there for a year? That means that TCO and victim was on the same computer for a year and never noticed ig. victim was brought whenever noogai felt on it and only got to exist for a few minutes at a time (im guessing???) and TCO was stuck as an ad blocker so. I saw some people said that TCO might have been created after victim left but I like the thought that they lived on the computer at the same time. Also i saw someone say that this might be how TCO knew about the outernet wifi portal and i like that theory.

On a completely unrelated note, i was NOT expecting victim to be hallucinating cursors and might have PTSD(?????) (honestly idk i don’t know enough about ptsd to make the claim). And him moving on thanks to Mitsi was so sweet ❤️ actually the whole farm village was so nice man if it only stayed that way. Also honorable mentions of my new favorite background character (other than corn dog guy)

THE TINY ONE🔥🔥🔥 TUMBLR PLEASE STOP CROPPING MY SCREENSHOTS

IM TOTALLY DRAWING THIS LITTLE GUY AND TCO POSING THEY SHOULD BE BESTIES

AND

THIS. OMG THIS LITERALLY CHANGED MY PERSPECTIVE ON TCO JSNDOANSOWNSISNSK THE ANGEL OF DEATH ARE YOU KIDDING ME. MORE RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM I LOVE RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM AHHHHHHHHHHH

anyways i think those are my thoughts. I probably have more but this is what i remember. in conclusion: I am soooo normal about this ep. Yep i will totally not be talking about this for the next month straight