Peter finished getting ready, topping it off with a couple sprays of cologne. He stood in the bathroom, looking at himself in the mirror. He fixed his hair again for the thousandth time.

Earlier, Peter put on a long sleeve shirt. It was the only "merch" he bought from the band. It was bought online though, so seeing them in person would be much different and better. However, the shirt was a bit thin and tight, making the bandages on Peter's arms show underneath.

Easy fix for him, though. Peter took off the bandages, his cuts already scabbed from earlier. His phone buzzed, receiving a text from Ned that he was outside and ready to pick up Peter.

He grabbed his new wallet Tony had gotten him a couple weeks ago, also filled by money Tony put in there. He put his phone in his pocket and was about to leave, before he stopped and decided one more spray of cologne wouldn't hurt. He took the cap off and sprayed the manly perfume in the air, proceeding to walk into its mist. He placed the bottle back on the counter and made his way outside to Ned.

Before he was out of the building, Tony, who came out of no where, stopped him.

"What time will you be back?" Tony asked.

"Um, I'm not sure. I've never been to a concert before, so I don't know how long they last. I promise I'll be back as soon as it's over, though," Peter replied.

"Don't feel rushed, just don't come back too late."

"Thanks," Peter said, then made his way out to Ned.

"Don't drink or do drugs!" Tony said.

"Yeah right, I'm sixteen!" Peter shouted back, shutting the door behind him.

He found Ned's car (technically Ned's parents car), and got in.

"Hey man," Peter said.

"Hey Pet— my gosh, a little overkill don't you think?" Ned said, plugging his nose to block out the smell of Peter's cologne.

"Sorry, guess I got a little carried away there."

"No girl is gonna want you if you smell like that!"

"Good, I'll use it as my excuse now anytime you try to get me to "find a girlfriend," as you say," Peter said, air quoting with his fingers.

"Whatever. Tonight is gonna be awesome!"

"I know, I can't wait!"

The car ride was short, but mostly consisted of Peter and Ned fangirling over the band they were about to see. Soon enough, they arrived. The concert was outside, which Peter thought would be awesome because the weather was perfect. It wasn't too cold or hot, and there was an occasional slight breeze, not one that was chilling but comforting.

"Thank you for taking us, Mrs. Leeds," Peter said.

"Yeah, thanks mom," Ned said.

"No problem. You boys have fun, now. Ned, here's some money in case you want to buy anything," Ned's mom said, reaching her hand out to give Ned $40.

"Oh, I have more than enough money to buy us both food and merch," Peter said.

"We couldn't take your money, Peter," Ned's mom said, still holding the money out for Ned to take.

"Please, Tony Stark is my legal guardian. He replace his toilet paper with hundred dollar bills and still be rich. Besides, you brought us, and you're gonna take us home. Think of this as me repaying you," Peter said reassuringly.

"Well… are you sur—"

"Mom, of course we're not gonna take Peter's money— or Mr. Stark's money, whosever it is," Ned said, cutting his mom off and taking the $40 from her.

"All right, I'll pick you guys up later. Text me when it's over," Ned's mom said, before driving off.

"You're really not going to let me pay for the both of us?" Peter asked.

"What? Of course you're going to pay for both of us. I'll just tell my mom I spent my money and keep it instead."

"Sometimes I don't know if you're smart or stupid."

"I'll take smart for one hundred."

Peter just laughed. "I think you mean forty. The doors open in fifteen minutes, let's get in line."

The fifteen minutes felt like three, and the expression "time goes by fast when you're having fun" proved true for the two boys.

This was the first time they had hung out outside of Ned's house since Aunt May's death. Normally, Peter would fake acting like he was getting better, but tonight was all real. Every smile his face showed was genuine, and for the first time in what felt like forever, he was having fun.

The concert started, and both Peter and Ned sang along to every song. For some of their favorite ones, they would compete to see who could sing the loudest. It annoyed the people around them, but they tried not to do it too much, and overall they really didn't care. They were having the time of their lives.

After 30 minutes, it started to rain. Not a heavy rain, but a light, constant rain. Even though that sounds like something that would wreck the day, it only made it better. Each time the lights would flash, the raindrops would all be lit up, making it look like Christmas, but even better. Not to mention they weren't getting soaked from it.

The night went on, with the boys singing their hearts out. This was Peter's first concert, and any ones he would go to in the future might never live up to the hype this one was.

At one point, they decided to get food since they were hungry. They stood in line, squinting their eyes to read every item on the menu.

"Six dollars for a hotdog?!" Ned said loudly.

"Quiet, Ned. It's a concert, of course the food is going to be expensive. But I have Tony's money, remember?" Peter said, subtly pulling out his wallet and showing Ned the inside, filled with hundreds and hundreds.

"Jeez Peter, you weren't kidding. You can't buy the food with hundreds though."

"I know. That's why we're going to use your 40 dollars," Peter said, elbowing Ned now that they were next to be served.

"What? No way, I told you I'm keeping it."

"I'll give you a hundred for it."

"Did you even need to ask?" Ned said, with a big smile on his face.

They got their food and drinks, quickly devouring it and then going back to their spot in the general admission area. Again, they sang loudly, until the concert was over. The flood of people leaving was like a stampede. A drunk girl tripped, and spilled her beer all over Peter, and some of it got on Ned, but not a lot.

"Oops, haha—I-I'm sorryyyyy," The girl said, then just left, while Peter was soaked. She didn't even pick up her dropped cup.

"How nice of her," Peter said, still frozen with his hands up like he had been when it was all spilled on him.

"Sorry, dude, but I don't even think all that cologne you put on would be enough to cover that smell."

"Oh well, I just hope the smell comes out. This is the only merch I have."

"You know what that means," Ned said with a wink.

"What?"

"Time to spend all of Mr. Stark's money on more merch, duh."

"Very funny. We're not spending it all. I don't even think they would have enough variety for me to buy both of us one of everything and run out of money."

"Only one way to find out," Ned said, grabbing Peter's arm as he began to drag him to the merch table.

Peter almost jerked his hand out of Ned's grasp in pain, which didn't go unnoticed by his friend, but didn't and managed to hold back a yelp of pain. The best he could do was visibly winced. But since Ned wasn't looking, it didn't matter. Phew, close one, Peter thought.

The line was crazy long, considering the concert just ended and everyone was wanting to buy stuff. Once again, the pair made the wait feel like nothing as they talked about all sorts of things, from their favorite breakfast foods to Star Wars.

"Oh man, I like that shirt! Oh that one's cool too. Peter! Do you see that hat? It would look great with the hoodie and—"

"Relax, Ned. I still don't want to spend a crazy amount," Peter said, cutting his friend off.

"But, but, but—"

"No buts. What are you, 5?"

"What are you, 5?" Ned mimicked, then realized his mistake once Peter laughed at him.

"You just proved my point!"

"Whatever. I want that shirt and that hat," Ned said, pointing to his selections. "What are you gonna get?"

"Probably just that hoodie at the top right."

"Where?" Ned said, unable to find it.

"The top right, Ned."

"I don't see—" Peter took Ned's head and turned it in the direction of the hoodie. "Ohhh that one. Nice choice, dude."

They made it to the front and told the people working the table what they wanted. As Peter reached for the hoodie, Ned noticed his sleeve ride up and saw what looked like a cut on his arm. He decided to wait until they were out of line to ask him what happened.

Once they were, Ned spared no time in asking, "What happened to your arm?"

"What? Nothing," Peter said quickly, instinctively pulling his sleeves down past his wrists.

"C'mon, I saw a cut on it. Did a cat scratch you?" Ned teased.

"Nope, nothing happened."

"Are you okay, dude? Why won't you just tell me what happened?" Ned asked as he reached to pull up Peter's sleeve, starting to wonder if he really did see a cut or not.

"I went out as Spider-Man and got cut. No big deal," Peter said, making up the best and most believable lie he could on the spot.

It seemed to work, cause Ned just nodded. A couple seconds later, and realization hit him.

"You said you haven't been able to go out as Spider-Man," Ned challenged.

"Well Tony had a change of heart."

"Mhmmmmm… When?"

"Last week."

"Aha! Tuesday we were texting and you said you hadn't been able to go out as Spider-Man still. Since it's Friday, that was…" Ned counted on his fingers, "3 days ago!"

"Congrats, you're good at math," Peter said, desperately wanting to change the subject.

"So what did you do?" Ned asked, crossing his arms.

Peter heard his phone go off, and internally sighed, hoping it would end the conversation. "Is that your mom? Is she here?"

"I'm not checking until you tell me what's up."

"Nothing's wrong. I'm fine, seriously."

"Okay, then let me see your arms."

"Ned, can we talk about this another tim—"

"No, Peter. Now either you lift up your sleeves and show me, or I'll do it myself. I don't care if you're Spider-Man, I will beat you."

It sounded like a stupid thing to say, but Ned was right. Peter didn't have the strength to fight Ned. He didn't want to either. Hesitantly, he pulled up his right sleeve, since it had fewer cuts.

Ned dropped his merch to the ground and delicately grabbed Peter's arm. "Peter…" He said in a low whisper.

"Let me see the other one," Ned insisted.

"What? No it's the same as this one, there's nothing to see—"

Ned grabbed Peter's left hand and lifted the sleeve up himself, exposing more cuts, probably four times as many on his other arm.

"Peter… why?" Ned asked.

"Why what?" Peter shyly replied, dumbly hoping Ned didn't know he was cutting himself.

"Why do you hurt yourself?" Ned demanded.

Crap. He knew. What was he supposed to say? Tony took away his dress up and he couldn't handle it? He was plagued with nightmares and this made him forget for a short amount of time?

All that came out was, "It's too much."

"What's too much?"

Peter blinked hard, looking down. "Everything! Aunt may, Tony, Spider-Man, the dreams, the pain. Everything is too much."

"Peter, you could have told me. I'll help yo—"

"No!" Peter said, pulling his hand out of Ned's grasp and puling the sleeves down. "Besides, it isn't that bad. It's not like I do It all the time."

"But you have super healing abilities. This was recent."

Peter looked down again. The grass was pretty boring to look at but it was better than seeing Ned's eyes. He couldn't figure out what emotions they held. He guessed disappointment. Pity. The last thing he wanted was pity.

"Peter, when did you do this?"

Peter looked Ned in the eyes. He could tell Ned was concerned. Worried. For him. He hated making people worry about him. Aunt May did it all the time.

"Before I left…" Peter said in a hushed voice, just below a whisper.

"Dude… we can fix this," Ned said hopefully.

"Is that what this is? Just something you can fix? Cause it's not. It's much more than that, Ned. It helps me! You said it yourself, I have super healing abilities. A couple days go by and it never happened!" Peter said, frustrated. Ned wouldn't understand.

"Of course it happened! As long as it doesn't kill you, physical wounds such as cuts will heal! They leave scars, Peter."

"You think I don't know that? It's worth it. I just can't take the pain. This," Peter said, lifting up his sleeve, "This helps. It distracts me."

"What happens if you cut too deep, huh? What if you slit your wrist on accident and bleed to death? Ever think about that?"

"It's not like there would be anyone here that would care!" Peter almost shouted.

They had been outside the arena where the concert was held, so luckily nobody was able to hear their conversation.

"I would care! Heck, my mom would care! You know she thinks of you as her son? What about Tony, or—"

"Tony would celebrate. He would throw the biggest funeral ever, in celebration. He would bring confetti, and tell people to dress in bright colors instead of black. You guys are basically all I've got." Peter said, running a hand through his hair.

How did this go from the best day ever to the worst of his life in a few minutes?

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is that not enough, your majesty?" Ned said, then bowed.

"You know I didn't mean it like that," Peter said.

"Let me help you, Peter!"

"How? You think I haven't already tried? It isn't something I can just stop. Maybe over time, I will get better, and as a result I'll be able to resist the urge to hurt myself. But right now, I just can't."

"Pete—" Ned was cut off from his phone buzzing like crazy. He quickly dug it out and answered the phone.

"Hey, mom…. Yeah, no we're done. We just got some stuff, it was a long line… Yep, okay. See you soon, love you," Ned ended the call, looking back up to Peter.

"Dude, we could tell my mom, she could—"

"No way! We are not telling your mom how much of a baby I am that I have to cut myself."

"So what are you going to do when the pain isn't enough anymore?" Ned asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Eventually, your body is going to be used to you cutting. You'll want to feel more, and because of that you'll do worse. Soon enough, even suicide probably wouldn't do the trick."

"How do you know?"

"My mom had a close friend that committed suicide. Then she went into depression, like hard-core. Luckily she came out of that, but I don't want you to be her friend. And to be honest, I don't want to end up like my mom was," Ned said sadly.

That's when Peter made a stupid decision. Truthfully, stupid was an understatement. He thought about what Ned just said. And he was right. What if Peter killed himself? How would it affect Ned? But he couldn't just stop.

That's when he decided it would be better to stop talking to Ned now so he could avoid the pain later. Peter thought if he and Ned stopped being friends, it wouldn't hurt Ned too bad when he did something very dumb, like committing suicide. On purpose or accidentally.

"You're right," Peter said, making Ned feel super happy, but that was short lived when Peter finished his sentence.

"I can't hurt you. We shouldn't be friends anymore."

"What? Peter, that is not what I meant—"

"Just, go to your mom. I'm walking home. Please, Ned, forget about me. Save yourself from the hurt. I'm walking home," Peter said.

"That's ridiculous," Ned said as he watched Peter put his new hoodie on. He pulled the hood over his head and put his hands in his pockets, then started walking away.

"Peter! You can't get rid of me that easily," Ned said, but to his dismay Peter kept walking.

Ned wanted to chase after him, he really did. But they were in New York, and his mom would kill him if he was even ten feet away from the arena area. Once again, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He answered it.

"Yeah, I'm coming….. Oh, Peter? He uh… said he was going to walk home. Nice weather, I guess."

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Wow, it has been over 2 months since I updated this. I am so sorry. Things really got crazy, and school started again, and I just wasn't able to find time to write. Also this chapter was the longest one I have EVER written, but I was just pounding the keyboard and this is what I produced. Is anyone still here and reading this? If so let me know and please review :)