Two weeks later, Spider-Man was swinging through the city again, when his heart sank. He swung past the balcony of a restaurant on the top floor of a skyscraper building and saw Betty Brant having dinner with Ned Leeds.
He couldn’t confront her as Spider-Man. He had to do it as Peter Parker. It was still early evening. He kept tabs on them until Ned dropped her off at home at 10:00 pm and left. Spider-Man changed to Peter Parker and went up to her apartment and knocked on the door. Betty opened it and gaped in surprise.
“Peter! It’s very late,” she said in her sleeveless nightdress.
She had grown her hair long in the months that they had started dating. It now fell almost to her shoulders. The combination of her hairstyle and that dress made her look more beautiful than ever. He had to win her back.
“We have to talk,” he said softly, “I … saw you with Ned at the restaurant tonight.”
“How?” she asked, “I didn’t see you there.”
“I was outside. You know how I take pictures of Spider-Man for J.J.”
“I thought I saw Spider-Man swing past,” said Betty, “Come in.”
He entered and she shut the door and walked to her bedroom and sat on her bed. Peter sat beside her.
“Peter, I like you, and I know you like me. Yet you’ve stood me up so many times, even run out in the middle of dates. You make a lot of money off our common employer by selling the pictures you get of Spider-Man, but I would have thought that, after all your speeches about loving me, that you’d put our nights ahead of some excuse to run off and shoot more Spider-Man snaps.”
“Betty, you don’t understand. Spider-Man has to do what he does, for the good of the city.”
“But YOU don’t have to document it around the clock,” said Betty.
“I guess it’s time I trusted you with everything,” said Spider-Man, “If I don’t, then I couldn’t blame you for leaving me if you did.”
He willed his costume to take on its Spider-Man costume look. Betty stared in surprise.
“You’re Spider-Man! No wonder you could fight off those thugs the night we got together.”
“Yes, but I’ll do anything to keep you, Betty. Some of my new powers are in this costume. If you don’t want me to be Spider-Man, I’ll give the costume to some non-powered Super Hero, and he can replace Spidey.”
“Do you like being Spider-Man?”
“Most of the time.”
“Then I wouldn’t want you to give up part of who you are. I just want you to share everything with me.”
“I guess you did start seeing Ned because I kept secrets. From now on, I want to tell you everything,” said Peter, “including this.”
He willed the costume to shrink him to tiny size and then retract again.
“It’s amazing!” she said, “You look cute in those PJ shorts too!”
“You think so?”
“Definitely,” she said, lying down on the bed, “How about you show me your acrobatic skills?”