Harlem, "Ground & Found" Coffee House.Gwen had been through a lot of weird today already.
First, her grandmother had texted her "Come to Ground & Found, bring your eyebrows, I've summoned fate", which was cryptic even by Nonna's standards. Then she walked into the coffee shop and immediately tripped over a yoga mat some guy had left under a chair. And now—
Now she was staring at Ethan Cain, the nearly six feet tall young man built like a statue sitting across a tiny reclaimed-wood table while her grandmother absolutely beamed like she'd just won the dating lottery.
Ethan looked up from the pastry menu and grinned at her, that lazy, knowing grin that made her want to simultaneously roll her eyes and maybe melt a little.
"So… Gwenneth," he said, deliberately mispronouncing it like an old English duke. "This how you usually spend your mornings? Surprise ambush dates with flower children and caffeinated teens?"
"Nonna." She groaned.
"Yes, dear?"
"You didn't tell me who you invited." She pronounced each words, trying to have calming, happy thoughts that didn't involve the boy in front of her having the time of his life.
Nonna sipped her tea like a woman who had absolutely told her.
"I told you I invited someone who pulled me out of oncoming traffic. I thought that was enough of a clue." She said way too happily to be honest.
"You left out the part where it was Ethan Cain," Gwen hissed under her breath.
"Hey, I was just as surprised as you." Ethan held up his hands in mock surrender.
"And yet here you are. With your smirk. And your dumb eyes."
"You think my eyes are dumb?" He grinned wider.
"You know what I meant." She turned pink.
Nonna was just watching this like it was her new favorite telenovela. "Oh, this is better than I imagined. You know she's been talking about you, right?"
"NONNA." Gwen choked on air.
Ethan looked like he'd just won a gold medal in emotional jiu-jitsu.
"Oh really? What kind of talk?" He leaned forward, not even pretending anymore.
"She says you're annoying," Nonna said, stirring citrus honey into her tea. "But in that tone girls use when they mean 'he's cute and makes me feel things I'm not emotionally prepared for.'"
Gwen stared at her grandmother like she was a Disney villain. Ethan just sipped his drink, clearly trying not to laugh.
Nonna continued, utterly unfazed. "And you, mister, apparently haven't been texting her back lately."
Ethan looked over at Gwen, eyebrows raised.
"I was giving you space," she muttered, pretending to be fascinated by the sugar packets. "You've been busy. Working all the time. Skipped the ESU expo, remember?"
His smile faltered a little, guilt creeping in behind the charm.
"Yeah. Sorry about that." He said, and she could almost picture the way he rubbed his forehead when he felt bad and didn't know how to react.
It was kind of cute.
"I know," she said, eyes still down. "But it kinda sucked."
There was a pause.
Then Ethan leaned forward, voice softer. "I wasn't trying to ignore you. Things just happened all at once. I'm working through it."
She finally looked up. His face was serious now, the mask pulled back just a little, and it made something warm bloom in her chest.
"You still helped Peter," she said quietly. "When Uncle Ben got hurt. You hate hospitals, but you went anyway, gave him a job too."
How he could give him a job in the first place was something she just filed under Ethan's general aura of oddity.
"Peter needed it," He shrugged, before smiling a bit, "And gotta show you dad I'm not that bad,"
"Good, then you better keep it if you want to convince him." She laughed, to say her daddy wasn't too happy with Ethan would be an understatement.
It was quite funny, since the two were pretty similar when she thought about it, except for one's obsession with systems and the rule of law while the other didn't hide his apathy.
Both were the strong, silent type, who could crack a joke right after breaking their bones.
Both weren't nearly as smart as they thought they were, but she loved them anyways.
…for the sake of her mental health, she would do her best to remove the last sentence from her memory.
Nonna clapped once, startling them both. "Well, this has been a delightful emotional breakthrough! Now if you'll excuse me, lovebirds, I have a bingo game to lose and a poker game to win. I need my beauty sleep."
"You're going to the speakeasy on Lenox again, aren't you?" Gwen said dryly.
"I do not confirm nor deny." Nonna stood with theatrical flair, scarf fluttering like she had a wind machine. "To be young again," she sighed. "Now you two behave. Or don't. I'm not a cop."
She shuffled off in her sandals, leaving behind the scent of patchouli and chaos.
Ethan watched her go, then looked at Gwen, amused. "Is she always like this?"
"Worse," Gwen said, sipping her drink. "This is her on low battery."
They sat for a moment, letting the quiet settle.
Then the waitress walked over; red headed, college-aged, definitely cute, definitely interested.
"Hey there," she said, flashing a smile at Ethan that Gwen did not appreciate. "Just wanted to say, you've got a great jawline. Like, wow."
She wasn't wrong, but the way she looked at his muscles as if he was a piece of meat made Gwen think she might not care that much about his jawline, just maybe.
"Thanks?" Ethan blinked.
"You in college?"
"No, high school," he said automatically, sipping his drink again.
Good! Don't suffer a bimbo to live!
"Shame," she said with a wink. "You look like boyfriend material."
Gwen didn't say a word.
She just reached across the table and grabbed Ethan's hand with all the subtlety of a small, protective kraken.
Ethan looked down at their interlocked hands, then up at her, amused. "Gwen?"
"I'm keeping you from making bad decisions," she said coolly, and her cheeks didn't flush one bit, thank you very much.
"You're hurting me." He smirked.
She squeezed harder. "Good."
The waitress snorted. "I'll let you two figure that out," she said, walking off, though not before slipping Ethan her number with the receipt.
Gwen stared at it like it was a ticking bomb.
Ethan, noticing the death glare forming on her face, gently pushed it toward her.
"Want me to give it to Peter?" He grinned.
She scoffed but cracked a smile. "Don't think it'd help him. He's still hung up on Liz"
"Liz Allen?" Ethan asked.
"Yup"
"It'll end badly for him." He nodded solemnly.
"Yup."
They both laughed.
Outside, the sun was warm. Inside, their drinks were starting to cool, but the space between them had definitely heated up.
"Hey," Ethan said after a moment, his tone gentler than usual. "You still mad at me?"
Gwen didn't answer right away, letting him simmer a bit.
"Only on the days you disappear." She ended saying after two seconds, she wasn't all that good at this mind games thing.
"I'm trying not to. Disappear, I mean." He said so earnestly, like he was afraid of literally disappearing and letting her down.
Cute.
"Good." She gave his hand a softer squeeze, all the while squealing internally.
They didn't rush the moment. Just let it hang between them like a hammock on a breezy day.
Ethan looked outside, then tilted his head. "Want to walk off some caffeine? Maybe pretend we're not two stressed-out Midtown kids for twenty minutes?"
"Yeah. Let's." She smiled.
They paid the bill, Ethan insisted, Gwen glared, and somehow Nonna's crumpled twenty ended up in the tip jar like a peace offering.
Then they stepped out into the mellow golden hour of Harlem, the sidewalks looking oddly beautiful with the quiet rhythm of locals finishing their day.
The air was soft, warm enough to walk slow. They wandered past jazz bars with open doors, corner bodegas, murals of giants and legends, Gwen humming along to music drifting from a stoop, Ethan quietly mouthing the lyrics until she caught him and grinned.
Halfway down the block, Gwen's phone buzzed. She pulled it out and frowned.
From Nonna:
"Tell Ethan he has my blessing. Also, if you don't kiss him by sunset, I'm writing both of you out of the will and leaving everything to my cat. 😘"
Gwen made a sound between a laugh and a horrified wheeze.
"Do I want to know?" Ethan raised a brow.
"Nope." She stuffed the phone away. "Just keep walking before I explode."
"Oh, now I definitely want to know."
"Drop it or I tell Peter what you did in chem class last semester."
"Noted. Walking silently now." He put his hands up.
They strolled for a while longer, bumping shoulders now and then.
Sometimes they spoke. Sometimes they didn't. But it felt easy. Natural. Like the city had taken a deep breath and was holding it just for them.
Gwen had almost forgotten what it was like to not be rushing somewhere, to not be worried about college, or crime, or her dad's job, or whatever Ethan was hiding behind those tired eyes of his.
And then—
A sound.
Not a regular Harlem sound. Not music, or traffic, or insults, or streetball.
A distant crash, like metal folding in on itself.
Followed by a deep, low roar that rolled down the avenues like thunder in a concrete canyon.
They both stopped walking.
Gwen turned to Ethan.
His eyes were already scanning the skyline, jaw clenched.
Another crash.
Closer this time.
Then silence.
Just for a second.
And then chaos.
Author's Note:
If you're enjoying the story and want to read ahead or support my work, you can check out my P@treon at [email protected]/LordCampione. But don't worry—all chapters will eventually be public. Just being here and reading means the world to me. Thank you for your time and support.