Heroes Assemble!

Don't Eat All The Pop Tarts

This past week or so, Gwen had been run off of her feet. Not only did she have school and the internship at Oscorp to keep her busy, but as a favour to Harry, she'd agreed to take on a few extra shifts while he was away. A few, though, had turned into at least one shift lasting several hours every day. Sometimes, she'd even needed to come in before school, running the risk of arriving late.

It wasn't even that she was the Manager in charge of the Den. She wasn't. At least, not officially. The problem was that she was still the most senior employee and Phoebe, the staff member in charge of the day shift simply wasn't as organised as Gwen herself was. A fact which grated on her efficiency and perfectionism, thus her feeling of needing to come in so often.

This morning, at least, was a Saturday, meaning that she didn't have to rush off to school. That, of course, didn't mean that she wasn't still rushing about, for she was. The Den was a very popular little place for people of all ages. Customers were constantly coming and going and sometimes coming and staying for hours on end, making it near impossible for others to get a table. At least they continuously ordered something to drink so it wasn't as though the table was simple being taken by non-paying customers.

As was her habit whenever the little bell above the door jingled, Gwen looked up, if only to take note of where the new-comers chose to sit.

This time, though, she blinked at the sight of the boy standing in the doorway before breaking into a great smile and rushing across to him.

"Peter! You're back!" Gwen exclaimed, giving him a massive hug.

"I am. It's great to see you, too, Gwen, I missed you," Peter replied.

"Me, too," Gwen said before placing her palms on his cheeks and giving him a long, long overdue kiss. "When'd you get back?"

"Late last night. Too late to call. Figured I'd catch you here," Peter replied, staring into her eyes. "When's your next break?"

"Not for a while," she hmphed.

"No worries, I'll just take a seat over there and you can come see me when you can," Peter replied, indicating one side of the room.

Looking over, Gwen frowned. All of the tables over there were already filled.

"Peter?" she began, following him across only to stop at the sight of the messy, black haired man and the girl who looked to be slipping something from her plate under the table.

"Harry! You're back, too," Gwen exclaimed, coming around to smile at him.

"And how's my best employee?" Harry smiled.

"Run off my feet, to be honest," Gwen replied before switching her gaze to Doreen who was smiling up at her.

"Hey, Doreen, where've you been? I haven't seen you around for a while. Does Harry know you've been skipping school?"

"Uh, yeah, Harry knows and it's fine, Gwen," Harry replied for her.

Gwen switched her gaze between the two.

"I guess I'll just have to trust you on that," she said doubtfully.

"Don't worry so much, Gwen," Peter interjected. "Doreen's cool. And she's been learning a lot."

Gwen's eyes narrowed at her boyfriend but before she could think too much on it, the bell at the counter dinged and she rushed off to deliver a meal to a table on the far side of the room. From the corner of her eye, she noted Harry leaning across the table and having what looked to be a very intense conversation with both Peter and Doreen.