Hey! I've finally got around to updating this story, I'm really sorry it was so long in coming and I hope the contents makes up for the wait! If you think so, please review! :P

Smoking On The Rooftops

Part 2: To Poke a Sleeping Dragon in the Eye

"Hey Betty," Peter said, a touch more nervous than usual. It was only yesterday that he'd met Betty for the 'first' time as Spider-man, and they'd actually managed to hold a decent conversation for ten minutes or so. Now he was back to plain old Peter Parker, back to being treated like something rather disgusting on the underside of Betty's shoe that she'd stepped on earlier.

Betty Brant spared the young photographer beside her a glance, then sighed as if having to talk to him was like being asked to scrape the thing she'd stepped on earlier off her shoe with her bare hands. So, she delayed the inevitable and finished dialling a number into her phone with the lid of her pen.

Peter waited patiently as she was connected and said cheerily, "Good morning, this is Betty Brant from the Daily Bugle, yes, yes of course I'll hold…take as long as you want…" She flipped off the lid of her pen and started doodling idly on a scrap piece of paper as she waited, completely ignoring Peter. It was worse than when they'd first met, not 3 months ago. She'd been vaguely polite then, after all they were complete strangers. But as they'd come to know each other, Betty became more and more… familiar… with him, and didn't mind making him wait. Peter wondered if it was just him, and if he'd done something to offend her. He thought back over the last 3 months and came up with nothing, besides the occasional dumb comment at which she'd rolled her eyes. Perhaps that was it, perhaps his sense of humour was too much for her. But no, she'd laughed at Spider-man's jokes, so why not Peter Parker's?

"Hello, this is Betty Brant from the Daily Bugle, I was wondering if you'd be interested in doing an interview for-" Betty stopped speaking abruptly as the dial tone coming through the receiver signalled that the person on the other end of the line had cut her off. Muttering, she slammed the phone down and turned to Peter.

"Yes?" She said brusquely, without so much as a hello.

"Hi Betty." Peter sighed, and handed her the note from Jameson. Now he could see why she was always so annoyed with the world, the world was annoyed with her. He could understand that being stuck in a dead end job such as this one, with people jabbering at you all the time, could make your view of the world cynical at best, but that didn't mean she had to take out her frustration out on him. He sighed and decided to bite his tongue, figuring that was better than having his head bitten off.

"Here." Betty thrust the check under his nose and didn't wait for him to take it. It fluttered to the floor, and Peter quickly bent to retrieve it. When he looked up, Betty was disappearing up the stairway to the Bugle's roof, pulling her coat on as she slipped around the corner. Glancing back into Jameson's office, Peter saw he was busy arguing with Robbie, and so quickly followed her, at a safe distance, up the stairs.

Quiet as a mouse, he peeked his head around the doorframe, and saw Betty stomping to her usual seat at the edge of the roof, trying to light her cigarette. He hastily ducked around the corner of the stairwell, and, safely out of view behind the small building, he reached into his backpack for the famous red and blue material.

A few seconds later, Spider-man swung down seemingly from nowhere and startled Betty into dropping her lighter.

"Hey!" She shouted, an annoyed frown creasing her forehead as she watched the lighter tumble down to the road below. She was going to use this as an excuse to shout at someone, never minding that he was Spider-man, when he shot out a webline, quick as a flash, and reeled the lighter back into his hands. "Sorry." He apologised and handed her the object.

She sighed and lit her cigarette, deigning not to reply. She sat back down and drew her coat around her as the wind picked up. "Thanks." Betty said begrudgingly, a few minutes later.

"No problem." He replied, taking the unspoken invitation to sit down. He crossed his legs.

After a while the silence normally punctuated by Spider-man's jokes became so unbearable that even the stoic Betty Brant couldn't take another minute of it, and forced herself to start the conversation.

"So, you, uh, been busy today?" She asked, kicking herself inwardly for being such a bad conversationist.

"Uh-huh." He answered shortly and didn't elaborate.

"Right, well, I um, I guess you're busy everyday, right?" She valiantly continued.

"Yes." Spider-man replied and fell silent again.

Betty waited for a few minutes, feeling her patience truly being tested before she burst out, "What's wrong with you today?!"

"What?" He asked calmly, with an air of surprise, though he knew full well what she was referring to.

"Grr, that!" She retorted. "I'm going out on a limb here for you and all you can do to keep conversation going is grunt, or… or…"

"Reply with a one word answer?" Spider-man offered helpfully.

"Yes!"

"I'm in a bad mood." He said as if that explained his attitude.

"Well so am I but you don't see me taking out my frustration on you!" Betty said angrily.

"Then who do you take it out on?" He shot back, knowing he was treading on dangerous territory, but finding he didn't care. He could feel his own anger at being treated so unfairly rise to the surface.

She instantly fell silent at that and her mouth snapped shut. Spider-man stood up and walked away from her, trying to calm down. Shouting wouldn't do anyone a bit of good. Betty's shoulders slumped with guilt as Peter Parker's face jumped instantly into her mind at Spider-man's question. She'd behaved atrociously in the last few months she'd known him, and it was only now that Spider-man had questioned her behaviour had she come to doubt it. Spider-man felt his anger lessen slightly, then the guilt of how he'd just spoken to her brought it down from the boil. Her shouldn't have behaved so callously even if she had treated him in the same manner in the past. Two wrongs didn't make a right, he reminded himself.

Almost ten minutes passed in contemplative thought before Spider-man cautiously sat back down beside her.

"I'm sorry." They said simultaneously, then laughed, releasing the tension from the air. They continued chatting in much the same way they had when they'd last met, each studiously avoiding upsetting the other by not mentioning the argument.

"So, what exactly do you do at the Bugle?" He asked, broaching level ground.

"I'm the person who gives out checks, organises Jameson's day and gets treated like a piece of… well I'm pretty sure you can guess how I'm treated when I have to interrupt one of Jameson's tirades to tell him his wife doesn't know whether to go for the silk of chiffon in the dining room." She said, smiling bitterly.

"Why don't you quit?" He said curiously. He'd never really known why Betty, with her fiery personality, had chosen to put up with being treated in that way when she could easily walk out the door.

She looked away, and for the first time since Peter had known her he got the impression she was embarrassed.

"Well… I hate being out of work… and… Robbie offered me the job… not Jameson, and we've been friends for nearly forever… I jumped at the chance, 'cause I didn't have a job at the time and to be honest it wasn't likely that I would get anywhere special with the grades I got in school." She started out hesitantly, but found it got easier if she said it quickly.

Spider-man obviously didn't know what to say. So he just said, "Oh." And left it at that.

"So, um, are you planning on going on holiday this year?" Spider-man asked without really knowing why. However, Betty seized upon the topic with relish and it lasted them until the sun disappeared behind a particularly huge skyscraper.

Eventually Betty worked up the nerve to 'subtly' bring up the topic of his being a superhero.

"So, I heard the Green Goblin is around." She said lamely.

"Yes, he's 'around'." Spider-man replied darkly. "It's just where exactly which is the problem."

"So, I also heard that you two are working together." Betty said after a long pause and immediately regretted it.

"Then you heard wrong." He snapped, glancing at her.

"Hey it's just what I heard." She defended herself. "I didn't say I believed it."

"Yet you still had to bring the subject up to make sure, is that it?" He retorted, shifting positions and looking at her intently.

"No, I just… I just… fine I give in I was curious, okay?!" She huffed.

"Everyone is curious." Spider-man replied tiredly, his anger abating as suddenly as it came. He looked out across the city. "Everyone wants to poke and prod and rant and rave and charge and condemn."

"I'm sorry." Betty said quietly. "I don't know how… I don't know what it's like but I can imagine it's pretty damn horrid for you."

He simply sighed and looked at her. "Yeah. You can imagine it is."

End of Part 2

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diggerthedirtyhorse: Thanks and here it is!

Jenn1: Thanks, Spidey talks about MJ in the next chapter I think. :)

Emily M. Hanson: Thanks!

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C.D Anders: Thanks, hope this chapter doesn't disappoint!

Kimberly Ann Stoppable: Does your name ever stop changing? ;) Thanks for the grade, I appreaciate it!

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In case you're wondering, there are 3 more chapters, not including this one, and all are written but not yet checked for mistakes and gaping plot holes. Tune in next time, when some more stuff happens that's more interesting than the stuff that happened in this chapter! :D