Chapter 2
At first, the pain is so great that his body shuts down; he doesn’t remember who he is, he doesn’t remember May’s loving touch, he can’t even remember Ned’s excited babble, because as soon as he returned from the war, it was all gone; all he had left was a girl who called herself Michelle, who claimed that she was a friend of his.
Once he remembers again – remembers the pain, remembers the excrutiating heartbreak of watching companions and mentors (Tony, he always remembers somehow, Tony is always the most painful) die – once he remembers, he tries to forget how the Avengers saved the world time and time again; he forgets how patient Tony was with him; he forgets Ben and May and everything that made him Spider-man, and he does it all on purpose.
It hurts too much to remember.