Next Time, Call
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Listing Series
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Next Time, Call by artfullyunhinged
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
02 Aug 2026
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Summary
Peter knew someone was there before he turned the corner.
His spider-sense had been humming low since the second floor. Not a spike, just enough to keep him alert. Not long ago, every footstep, flickering light, and knock in the pipes would have hit him at once and turned the warning into a migraine. Now it arrived clean, and he almost trusted it.
He turned the corner and saw Jean Grey on the floor beside his apartment door, her back against the wall under the yellow asbestos warning sign. The wide hood of her tan coat was pulled over her red hair, with a dark green layer visible underneath. A small travel bag was wedged between her knees. She looked up when his footsteps hit the hallway but didn't stand.
Or:
Fresh out of the hospital, Peter finds Jean Grey waiting outside his apartment.
Series
- Part 1 of Next Time, Call
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This Is Not an Emergency by artfullyunhinged
Fandoms: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
05 Aug 2026
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Summary
Jean picked up the paper. Put it down. Picked up the phone. Put it down. She did this three times before she caught herself and thought, with sudden embarrassing clarity:I am sitting alone in a motel room having a nervous breakdown over a phone number.
Which was melodramatic. But also basically accurate.
The problem was that she didn't have a reason.
Every time she'd reached someone before, there had been instructions. A target, a body, a way through. People were the buildings she walked through. Now she had a phone with sixty prepaid minutes on it and no way to know what someone was thinking unless she asked out loud.
Peter wasn't a building. He was a person who had given her his number and told her to use it, and she didn't know what to do with a connection that didn't come with a target at the other end.
Or:
Jean Grey has Peter Parker's number, sixty prepaid minutes, and no emergency to justify a call.
Series
- Part 2 of Next Time, Call
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Emergency Contact by artfullyunhinged
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Punisher (TV 2017)
09 Aug 2026
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Summary
The visitor form asked for her relationship to the patient.
MJ stared at the line. It was a small box, the kind designed for one word. Wife. Sister. Mother. Friend.
She could write "friend." That was the closest honest answer, and it still felt like claiming more certainty than she had. She could write "ex-girlfriend," which was technically true and also felt like claiming a relationship she couldn't remember having.
The box was not big enough for that.
MJ left it blank and handed the clipboard back.
Or:
MJ has ten minutes at Peter Parker's bedside, a drawing in her pocket, and no honest word for what she is to him anymore.
Series
- Part 3 of Next Time, Call
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Normal People Hours by artfullyunhinged
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
09 Aug 2026
Tags
Summary
"So," he said. "What's up?"
"Nothing."
He waited.
"Literally nothing," Jean said. "Nothing is up. I have no emergency, no crisis, no federal agents at my door, and no update on anything you'd need to know about. I'm calling because..." She paused. Her voice when she came back was flatter, more careful. "I'm calling."
Peter looked at the eggs. He looked at the pan. He looked at the wall. He waited for the part of his brain that solved emergencies to accept that there wasn't one.
"Okay."
Or:
Jean calls Peter after midnight with no emergency, no crisis, and no update. Forty-seven minutes later, his eggs are cold and neither of them has hung up.
Series
- Part 4 of Next Time, Call
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Plus One by artfullyunhinged
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
11 Aug 2026
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Summary
Peter held out his hand. Ned took it. What started as a normal handshake shifted on the second beat. Peter moved, and Ned's hand met him there without thinking. Then came the third move, the fourth, and the rest of a sequence Ned had no memory of learning.
The handshake.
His hand had known the pattern. Not the first move - that could've been coincidence, a standard grip, everybody did that. But the whole thing. His conscious mind had arrived about three beats late going what the hell was that, and his hand had no answer except I don't know but it's right.
The name had already been sitting in Ned's head since MJ let it slip at the apartment. Spider-Man was Peter. Flower Guy was Peter. The handshake connected them before Ned did.
"Peter," Ned said.
Or:
Three weeks after his hand remembers a handshake his mind doesn't, Ned has Peter Parker's number, a Saturday invitation, and no idea how to text a near-stranger who doesn't feel like one.
Series
- Part 5 of Next Time, Call
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Read Receipts by artfullyunhinged
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Ms. Marvel (TV 2022)
16 Aug 2026
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Summary
Her phone buzzed.
Peter's number. Not a reply. Not a continuation of anything she'd started. A photo.
The photo loaded one stripe at a time on the cheap screen. Mister Business covered most of the bodega counter, one orange paw resting on a screwdriver beside something Peter had apparently agreed to repair. He looked like a building inspector who'd found a violation and was not going to discuss it further.
I need the screwdriver under him
Move him
He bit me last time
You tried to pet him first
He looked open to diplomacy
Jean typed two words and watched them sit in the text field. She knew what they'd meant the first time. She hit send.
Simple spider
Or:
Jean has six percent battery, maybe four minutes of airtime, and three days before the only number Peter knows disappears. Holding onto it means accepting help from a stranger and waiting for answers she could take.
Series
- Part 6 of Next Time, Call
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Background Check by artfullyunhinged
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Punisher (TV 2017)
23 Aug 2026
Tags
Summary
"Everyone gets the questionnaire," Ned said. "Then references. Basic background check, if we get that far."
Peter looked at him.
"With permission," MJ said.
"Right. Yeah. Obviously."
MJ produced a printed form from the counter. One page, double-sided, sections labeled in her handwriting. Name. Birthday. Current address. Employment. Emergency contact. Schedule. Habits.
Peter borrowed a pen. The first field was Name. He printed carefully: Peter Parker. His hand stayed on the page for a second after the last letter.
Or:
Frank checks Peter's scar. Then MJ and Ned ask if he wants to apply for their empty room. Somehow. the bullet wound is the easy part.
Series
- Part 7 of Next Time, Call