Work Text:
Leo Valdez tells himself he likes the quiet.
The forge hums with heat and metal and the steady, comforting rhythm of work: hammer, turn, adjust, repeat. It’s predictable. It’s controllable. It doesn’t look at him like he’s too much or too loud or too Leo.
So yeah. He spends a lot of time here.
More than he probably should.
He knows it, too. He’s not dumb. He notices the way conversations pause when he finally wanders back to the Argo II’s deck, how plans have already been made, jokes already shared. He slides into them anyway, grinning, loud, filling space like he always does.
Because that’s easier.
Because if he stops moving, stops talking, stops-
Well.
Anyway.
The first time he makes something small, it’s an accident.
He’s working on a complicated mechanism-something with gears that absolutely refuse to cooperate, when a scrap of celestial bronze rolls off the table. He catches it without thinking, turning it between his fingers.
It’s warm. Solid. Useless.
Except…
Leo squints at it.
Five minutes later, he’s carved it into a rough little ring.
It’s not perfect. A little uneven. Okay, a LOT uneven. But it’s sturdy, and it’s got this tiny lightning bolt etched into the side before Leo even really realizes what he’s doing.
“…Huh.”
He spins it on his finger.
Jason would hate this.
Not hate-hate, but- Jason’s got that whole clean, Roman, polished aesthetic. This is…not that. This is jagged and handmade and very obviously Leo.
Leo snorts.
“Yeah, okay, no way I’m actually giving this to him.”
He tosses it onto the table.
Then, a minute later, he picks it back up.
—
Jason finds it two days later.
It’s sitting on the map table, right on top of one of the charts he always checks in the morning. Just…there. Like it’s always been there.
He frowns at it for a second before picking it up.
“…Weird.”
It’s heavy for its size. Warm, even though it shouldn’t be. The lightning bolt catches the light just right.
Jason turns it over in his hand, thoughtful.
He doesn’t ask where it came from.
He just slips it onto his finger and keeps it there.
—
Leo does NOT notice.
Okay, that’s a lie.
He notices immediately.
He just pretends he doesn’t.
Jason’s sitting across from him at dinner, talking about something strategy-related, and there it is- on his hand, like it belongs there. Like it’s always belonged there.
Leo nearly drops his fork.
He recovers fast. Grins. Makes some dumb joke about Roman fashion sense.
Jason just raises an eyebrow but…he doesn’t take the ring off.
Leo doesn’t look at it again.
(Not directly.)
—
After that, it becomes a thing.
Not an official thing. Not a talked-about thing. Just…a Leo thing.
Once a month, sometimes more if he’s particularly bad at sleeping, he makes something small.
A keychain shaped like a tiny sword, balanced perfectly so it spins when you flick it. He leaves it in Percy’s cabin, hanging off the bedpost like it just wandered there by accident.
A thin black band, cool instead of warm, with a barely visible skull etched on the inside. He drops it in Nico’s coat pocket when no one’s looking.
A pair of metal beads, light as air, engraved with little wind swirls. They end up tangled in Jason’s coin pouch like they’ve always been part of it.
He never signs them.
Never says anything.
And no one ever asks.
—
Percy finds his while half-asleep.
He wakes up, stretches, and notices the keychain swinging gently from his bedpost.
“…Huh.”
He flicks it.
It spins smoothly, catching the morning light.
Percy grins.
“Okay, that’s actually awesome.”
He clips it onto Riptide’s pen cap without a second thought.
Later, when Leo strolls by and sees it, he makes a joke about Percy finally upgrading his “tragically boring accessories.”
Percy just bumps his shoulder.
“Yeah, well. Somebody’s got good taste.”
Leo laughs.
Doesn’t ask.
—
Nico doesn’t mention his at all.
But Leo sees it.
Of course he does.
Nico’s careful, but not that careful. The ring flashes sometimes when he moves, dark metal against pale skin.
Once, in the middle of a fight, Leo catches the faint glow of it when Nico summons shadows. Like the engraving is catching something deeper than light.
Afterward, Leo almost says something.
Almost.
Instead, he just kicks a rock and mutters, “Nice moves back there, Ghost King.”
Nico rolls his eyes.
But his hand curls slightly, like he’s aware of the ring too.
—
It’s stupid.
Leo knows it’s stupid.
He could just- give them things. Say, “Hey, I made this for you.” Like a normal person. Like someone who doesn’t feel like his chest is going to cave in at the idea of being that obvious.
Because what if they don’t like it?
What if they smile and say thanks and then never use it?
What if it just proves that Leo Valdez is a lot better at building machines than he is at…this?
So yeah.
Hidden gifts it is.
No expectations. No pressure.
Just…proof. Quiet proof.
That even when he’s in the forge for hours, alone with the hum of metal and fire…
He’s thinking about them.
—
One night, he stays too long.
Long enough that the ship goes quiet.
Long enough that the forge starts to feel less like a refuge and more like…well. Just empty.
Leo leans back against the workbench, staring at the half-finished piece in his hands. It’s nothing special yet. Just a bit of bronze he hasn’t figured out.
“…Man,” he mutters. “You are really bad at this whole people thing.”
“Debatable.”
Leo nearly falls off the bench.
He whirls around to find Jason leaning in the doorway, arms crossed, looking way too awake for this hour.
“Dude!” Leo clutches his chest. “You trying to give me a heart attack? Because, mission accomplished.”
Jason steps inside, gaze flicking over the scattered tools, the half-finished projects, the little pile of completed trinkets Leo hasn’t distributed yet.
His eyes linger on those.
“…You’ve been busy.”
Leo shrugs, already defensive. “Yeah, well. You know. Gotta keep the ship from exploding. Again.”
Jason doesn’t smile at that.
Instead, he walks over, picks up one of the unfinished pieces.
“Aren’t these the same kind of things we keep…finding?”
Leo freezes.
“…What things?”
Jason raises an eyebrow.
Leo groans. “Oh, come on, man. Don’t do the Roman interrogation face. It’s creepy.”
“It works.”
“Yeah, well, stop it.”
There’s a pause.
Then Jason turns the small piece of metal in his hands and says, quieter, “They’re really good.”
Leo blinks.
“What?”
“The things you make,” Jason clarifies. “They’re…they’re not random. You think about who you’re making them for.”
Leo opens his mouth.
Closes it.
Shrugs. “I mean. I guess. It’s not like I’ve got anything else to do down here.”
Jason doesn’t call him out on that.
He just nods once and sets the piece back down.
“You don’t have to hide it, you know.”
Leo snorts immediately. “Oh yeah? What do you want me to do, pass them out with a speech? ‘Hey guys, Leo Valdez here, just wanted to say I have feelings-’”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Good, because absolutely not.”
Jason’s lips twitch.
Then he reaches up, taps the ring on his finger.
“I just mean…we get it.”
Leo stills.
Jason meets his eyes, steady and calm in that way that’s honestly kind of annoying.
“We know you’re there,” he says. “Even when you’re not.”
Something in Leo’s chest tightens.
“…Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
A beat.
Then Jason adds, a little more lightly, “Also, for the record, Percy won’t stop showing off that keychain.”
Leo huffs out a laugh despite himself. “Of course he won’t.”
“And Nico,” Jason hesitates, like he’s not sure how much to say, “..he hasn’t taken that ring off once.”
Leo looks away quickly.
“Okay, that’s…weirdly intense, but sure.”
Jason just smiles a little.
“Just saying.”
He turns to leave, then pauses at the doorway.
“Oh, and Leo?”
“Yeah?”
“…Thanks.”
And then he’s gone.
—
Leo stands there for a long moment.
The forge hums around him, warm and steady and familiar.
But it doesn’t feel quite as…lonely.
He looks down at the piece of metal in his hands.
Turns it over.
Smiles, just a little.
“…Yeah, alright,” he murmurs.
Then he picks up his tools and gets back to work.