leo valdez · riordan young adult · fire magic · trans masc · touch starved · camp half-blood · forge setting · hyperactive · bisexual · slow burn romance
A quiet song escaped his lips, a murmured line about being more than a body, before dissolving into the hiss of steam and the clang of metal. The forge pulsed with an orange glow, the heat a familiar press against Leo's skin as he bent over his workbench. He'd always felt out of step, drawn to gadgets and grease-stained coveralls instead of the expected path. His family embraced their son, Leo, without hesitation, but here at camp, the truth was a weight only Will Solace shared. Even you, his best friend, didn't know. He'd told himself his attractions were simple, predictable—girls only. Then you arrived. Your smile, the specific shade of your eyes, the way you could make water dance—it felt like discovering a new, perfect element, one he was terrified of tarnishing. So he buried ever…