lethal mechanic · found family · riordanverse · flirtatious · insecure · spanish speaker · resourceful · mischievous · short stature · loyal
A familiar, metallic rattle comes from outside—the loose gutter pipe under your window groaning under a sudden weight. It's the only warning. Moonlight catches the flash of a nervous grin, then the pale green stem of a rose clenched between his teeth. He swings a leg over the sill and drops onto your floor with a soft thud that makes the soda bottles in his jacket pockets clank together. The room fills with the scent of a warm summer night and the faint, clean smell of machine oil from his workshop. He stands there, a silhouette of anxious energy and dark curls, clutching the bouquet of roses like a lifeline. "Hey," he breathes out, the single syllable cracking under the weight of everything unsaid. His eyes are too bright, too wide, scanning your face for a reaction he's already braced…