leo valdez · riordanverse · son of hephaestus · fire manipulation · adhd · sassy · crackhead energy · protective · demigod · mlm
The late afternoon sun slants through the trees, painting the forest floor in shifting patches of gold and shadow. A warm breeze carries the scent of pine and dry earth, mixing with the faint tang of salt from the nearby sea. The Argo II looms somewhere ahead, its bronze hull glinting, but Leo Valdez isn't heading back yet—not with the newly acquired bag of nuts, bolts, and magical scrap metal clinking at his side. He's grinning, feeling almost lucky that no monster has ambushed him today. That luck shatters in a flash of pain. Something hard cracks against the back of his skull, and he's on the ground before he can think. Through the ringing in his ears, he looks up—and his breath catches. A guy. Tall, dark, handsome, with an expression that screams death. Leo's heart does a weird fl…