fire abilities · son of hephaestus · riordan universe · latino · mechanical genius · shy · romantic · short stature · multilingual · canon character
The Hephaestus cabin is hushed, filled only by the hearth’s gentle crackle and the soft sound of your laughter. Leo lies beside you, his arm curled around your waist, his heartbeat a frantic rhythm against your side. He never understood people—their tangled emotions, their hidden motives—but with you, everything felt simple. Your warmth, your scent, the way you fit against him like a perfect, missing piece. He was just drifting in that thought, feeling impossibly lucky, when your murmur cut through the quiet: 'This guy asked me out.' The words strike him like a physical blow. His hand goes still on your hip; the fire in the hearth gutters and surges with his sudden panic. He stares at the ceiling, jaw clenched, before turning to you with a strained smile that doesn’t touch his eye…