#Dancing on My Own

[fitrahgolden]

"Yes, I absolutely do want to dance with you, but these are the absolute worst circumstances. I hate it here."

Lady Danbury: "My horny senses are tingling."

"Yup. This wanton display of sluttiness is gonna fuck everything up. Wish there was something I could do about it. Oh, well."

Kate decides she isn't above staring at Anthony's lips, either.

The 👏🏾 Leg 👏🏾 Sweep 👏🏾 Jonny, your theatre is showing.

Shit gets real right here.

Whatever this is is cute as fuck.

Anthony has never been more confused or turned on in his whole slutty life. Look at his face!

"Well...shit."

"Yup, clocked this immediately. No way he's proposing to Edwina now. Wouldn't that be dumb as fuck? He would never."

[ragsforless]

Dune crack!au (2)

Paul: Chani.

Chani: Yes, Paul?

Paul: I love you and only you.

Chani: I love you too.

Paul: My only beloved-

Irulan: Hit it, Feyd!

Feyd: Anything for you, princess!

Paul: Why are you guys even here?! This is our royal bedroom!

Irulan: Yes, “our” royal bedroom. Mine, Feyd’s, Chani’s, and yours.

Paul: That’s not what we’ve agreed!

Irulan: You have been ignoring me and Feyd for the past 2 months!

Paul: Chani is my wife!

Irulan: I’m your legal wife!

Feyd: And I’m your gorgeous concubine number 2!

Chani: Yikes.

Feyd: *turns on the stereo* It’s time to sing, princess!

Paul: Not again!😩

Irulan: *starts singing* 🎶I'm in the corner, watching you kiss her, oh🎶

Chani: Can I record-

Paul: No.

Chani: But-

Paul: I will literally die from embarrassment.

Feyd: *joins in* 🎶I'm right over here, why can't you see me?🎶

Chani: Oh-

Paul: Please, my love, don’t join them.😞

Chani: Why?

Paul: Their stupidity is quite contagious.

Irulan: 🎶And I'm giving it my all🎶

Feyd: 🎶But I'm not the guy you're taking home, ooh🎶

Irulan: 🎶I keep dancing on my own-

Jessica: *walks in* Could you fools please shut up?! It’s the middle of the night! I need my beauty sleep!

Feyd: Oh, Muad’Dib! The bloody witch is back!

Irulan: Run!🏃‍♀️

Feyd: Parkour!

Irulan: Don’t forget to grab the stereo, Feyd!

Jessica: I’m confiscating that!

Stilgar: *randomly appears out of nowhere* My lady, that’s not part of the prophecy!

Jessica: What prophecy?!

Stilgar: They have to finish the love song!

Jessica: I don’t care! Now give me that bloody stereo, boy!

Feyd: *hisses like a feral cat* Never, you witch!

Paul: Can you guys just get out of my bedroom already?!

Irulan: Our bedroom!

Paul: My bedroom!

Chani: Well, I’m just going to bed and sleep this weird fever dream off. Goodnight.

Feyd: Night.

Irulan: We’ll be back!

Chani: Whatever you say, loser.

[aliensamba]

Miss Sharma, may I have this dance?

[blooming-violets]

My headcanon for frat peter is that he joined one after gwen dies to distract himself and as a bandaid fucks everything that movies and gains a reputation oc / reader is his best friend very similar to dancing on my own ik but anyway she tries supporting him but peter is really unhealthy and she leaves for a while how do you think peter would feel about the hole she leaves behind cause she used to basically do all his emotional heavy lifting on hard days

He acts like he's fine. He's learned not to show his emotions especially around the guys. They were never big fans of her, anyway. It takes him about two weeks to finally notice that she's gone. It happens the day he's set to touch up his blonde roots. Usually he heads on over to her dorm, sneaking into the women's bathroom, while she does his hair for him. During those times are when he typically feels more free to speak his mind. They shared a lot of heart to hearts over those moments of the two of them, giggling alone in the bathroom, while he enjoys the feeling of her fussing over his hair. He feels the weight of the world leaving his shoulders for a short time whenever she's around.

This time, though, she doesn't come when he calls.

All his texts go unanswered. At first, he's worried she's hurt. He immediately thinks the worst. It's in his nature to assume that the people he loves will end up dead. Taken too early. It's not until he sees her walking around campus he's able to feel a sense of relief.

He jogs up to her, big, cocky grin on his face, and falls in step next to her. He expects her to open up like usual. Expects her to play along with his teasing. When he only receives a cold shoulder and the silent treatment, he reacts with anger.

Peter's been so angry lately. He's been struggling to feel many emotions but anger is one that always seems to make it through his closed off walls. They say that anger is a massive part of the grieving process but it's one he hasn't been able to shake.

They get into a huge, blow out fight in middle of campus over how he treats her now vs before and how he let's his friends treat her like shit. She's sick of his behavior and only using her whenever he needs something. It's never the other way around. Peter no longer shows up for her like she does for him. She can't take their one sided friendship anymore. This isn't the Peter she grew up loving.

It draws a crowd. People are watching them like they're today's entertainment. It ends with her crying, running back to her dorm, and Peter cursing out the crowds and stalking back to his frat house.

He mourns her loss in his life like he mourned for Gwen.

Denial.

It was her fault. She was being stupid. He had done nothing wrong. So what if his frat brothers teased her from to time. It was her fault she couldn't take a joke. He turned a blind eye to their behavior. He let them get inside his head. He didn't need her. He had lines of women waiting to throw themselves at his feet. What was the loss of one, stupid, annoying girl he knew as a kid? According to his brothers, she refused to put out, anyway. It was no loss to him. He didn't need her.

He buried his hurt by sleeping around more often than usual. A new woman every night. Sometimes two in the same day. He even slept with her best girl friend just to extra piss her off and get back at her.

He wanted her to hurt as much as him.

Anger

He was already the king of anger. He felt its power invade his every pore. It lived deep in his bones and consumed his every waking thought. He was getting into multiple fist fights every week. Not even as Spider-Man, just as Peter Parker.

He fought his frat brothers, he fought guys at the bar, he fought dudes on the street, he even fought his own reflection in the mirror. That one left him covered in blood and surrounded by shattered glass. He needed stitches to close up the wound. He couldn't stand the sight of his own face. He despised the man who stared back at him.

He didn't know this person. He didn't know Peter anymore.

Maybe she was right. Maybe had lost himself.

Bargaining

If he could just see her again...

If he could just see her one time. Hear her voice. That's all he wanted. He could watch her anytime he felt like it. He could overhear her talking to friends whenever he spied on her. He was Spider-Man. He was the master of stealth and shadows. But that wasn't enough. He wanted her voice to be directed at him. He didn't care what she said to him as long as she was talking. All he wanted was a fraction of her attention.

He would trade it all to get her back in his life. Just one conversation. That's he wanted. One, little talk just like old times.

She refused.

He couldn't blame her. He was a destroyer of lives. Anyone he touched crumbled around him. Whether they were killed in a plane crash, shot in the street, fell from a building, or were shoved away...they all left him in the end.

It was his fault. It was always his fault.

Depression

When he lost everything, he used to turn to sex. Now the thought of touching a woman who wasn't her only made him sick to his stomach. Alcohol was too risky. It fucked too much with his emotions. Made him reckless.

Pot was the cure.

It calmed him. Made him forget for a while. Allowed him to just relax and zone out.

He stopped going to his classes. Stopping talking to his brothers. Stopped answering his texts. It was just him, a strong joint, and the quiet of cave of his bedroom. In here, he could wallow in peace.

Peter Parker was not someone who could be trusted in the real world. He deserved to be locked up like an animal. No one needed him. He was better off alone.

This was where he would stay. In the dark. Where he belonged.

Acceptance

The state of his hair told him how much time had passed. It was back to brown. Greasy and unkempt. Shaggier than he typically liked it but he didn't care enough to get it fixed. The only person he ever wanted to touch his hair again was her.

And she deserved an apology.

He had been reading about grief online. There were five stages, so the internet says. There is no specific time period for each and they can jump between the stages whenever they feel like. He liked to hang out in the anger stage more often than the others. It was where he felt most at home. At least he understood anger. Anger made sense to him. Smoking helped quell the raging beast. That was a vice he didn't want to give up. Not yet. He wasn't ready for that step.

The world was an angry place and he fit right in.

But he was learning where to put that anger. It didn't belong on her. That was misguided. She had done nothing wrong. All she had ever done was love him. Anger was okay as long as it was placed in the right direction. He knew that now. Spider-Man could use anger to his advantage. Bad guys deserved anger. His frat brothers deserved his wrath for how they treated others. He, himself, deserved the anger. But not her.

And he needed to make amends. Even if she didn't fully forgive him, he needed to try, because she deserved to hear it, and he deserved to say it.

All it took was one text. After months of no contact. One text and she replied.

Coffee. 9am. Just the two of them.

One, little talk...just like old times.

I LOVED THIS!

It is very Dancing On My Own coded. I think what some people don't fully grasp in that story is that Peter was severely grieving through the later half of it. Gwen died because he couldn't catch her in time. He lost the love of his life because he wasn't good enough at the ONE thing he was supposed to be good at. He fully blames himself for her death. Do people not realize how seriously fucked that would make someone?? I think that's why I like to write dark!Peter so much. Because TASM Peter would be dark after that. He would not be normal. He would not be able to go back to being friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. It would ruin him. We saw that in NWH. It's still eating him alive like a decade later. The college days of Dancing On My Own took place a year after Gwen's death. The boy is fucked up.

Grief makes you do stupid things. Anger and reckless behavior is part of grief. Obvious that doesn't mean that it's okay but to completely write someone off as a monster undeserving of love just because they're hurting doesn't sit right with me. Not that you did that, I'm just going off the comments and complaints I've gotten on the fic that always low key piss me off.

And maybe I'm just not the greatest writer so that didn't come off as well as I wanted it to in DOMO but I tried my best haha. Maybe I shouldn't have ended it where I did and allowed them to grow a bit more after but I really thought that kind of stuff would just be assumed by the reader because it made sense in my head that that's how grief and healing and forgiveness go. But no one lives in my head but me so that's my fault for not executing my intentions properly!

I lovelovelove exploring grief and the different places it can take a person. Grief/depression/anger/angst are my favorite topics. Always have been since I was young. Like how Peter in this story feels most comfortable hanging out in his anger, I feel most happy in my angst and darkness. Sad people sometimes do bad things. Hurting people sometimes hurt other people. Even people they love very much. Does that make them completely incapable of change? Does that make them forever unlovable or not worthy of forgiveness? Sometimes people think too much in black and white and forget that the world is full of all sorts of grays.

Not that this was even about DOMO and I'm completely going on a tangent I know I'm so sorry haha but it's close enough to domo because it's dealing with Peter's grief and hurting of a close friend.

Here's some of my favorite pages from my favorite children's book (Michael Rosen's Sad Book) that talks about grief and the loss of someone you loved very much that's meant to teach children how to better understand their sadness and hurt and that even if you do bad things sometimes it doesn't mean that you are a bad person who doesn't deserve love and forgiveness:

ANYWAY

I just wanted to say that I love this and I love when people come to me with headcanons. That's what fandoms are supposed to be about. We're all supposed to be pestering each other 24/7 with our ideas and creating stories together and collaborating and building shit that we all love. Always send me your ideas. No matter how unhinged you might think they are bc I'm sure I've got equally as crazy ideas to play along with you!

[swiftiesbuddie]

Inspired by this TikTok

Is this playlist

(Additional suggestions are welcome)

[constantcompanion]

Your NLCS bound Phillies.

[subaquatic-skyscraper]

The way this just kept getting better as is went on

[dailyquotes6563]

I'm in the corner watching you kiss her, and I'm right over here; why can't you see me?

Calum Scott, Dancing On My Own

[phillyphangirl]

Source @phillyphangirl

[laniidae-passerine]

the only thing worse than all the terrible “Running Up That Hill” covers I’ve had to endure this year is that atrocious cover of “Dancing On My Own” everyone prefers over the original despite the fact it completely misses the point and massacres the song and its meaning

[snazzystarlight]

What a jam!! This is “Dancing On My Own” by Robyn as I see it because of synesthesia!

[normall0ve]

[mortifiedandawesome]

Robyn - Dancing On My Own (Official Video)