Archive of Our Own ^beta

It all started the first Saturday of February.

 At first, it was a joke amongst the group, the notion that someone in Grid Battleforce might have a crush on the Yellow Ranger. But that thought had changed drastically since that fateful day and after days upon days of searching and hacking and resorting to blackmail, the team could safely say they were no closer to unmasking the identity of Zoey's secret admirer than proving the existence of Santa Clause (and believe them, they had tried). 

"I just don't get it," Ravi groaned, flopping down in a chair and burying his face in his arms. "It's been two weeks and we are still no closer to figuring this thing out!"

"Well, two weeks, thirty-seven hours, and fifteen minutes to be precise," Nate put in, warily glancing up from his blended health shake as his teammate leaned back in his chair and crossed his feet on the table. 

"However long it was, it's been too long," Ravi argued. "I'm starting to think we'll never figure out who's been sending Zoey all of these flowers." His gaze drifted from the group's table to the sparring mat below where Devon was busy training with a group of black belts. 

"You guys, it's not really that big of a deal," Zoey said. "Maybe it would be better to leave his identity a secret? You know, if he really likes me, I'm sure he'll tell me when he's ready. Whoever he is."

"I agree with Zoey," Nate added quietly. "Whoever he is, he's...kind of like a Ranger, isn't he? I mean, maybe he doesn't...want anyone to know who he is."

"Yeah, maybe he's shy," Ravi agreed. 

"Or afraid of Zoey finding out who he is," Devon put in, momentarily hopping into earshot, twirling his bo-staff lazily behind his shoulders.

"Ha! Yeah!" Ravi laughed. "Because Zoey is so scary. I'd be afraid if I were this guy too!"

Zoey scowled in his direction and he returned the glare with a wide grin. Zoey sighed and went back to people-watching, her gaze moving from one teammate to the next, eventually falling on Nate as the boy genius fiddled and poked at a heap of metal. "Hey, Nate, what are you doing?"

"Just...trying to realign the circuit board for the new blasters I've been designing," Nate answered without looking up. "It's been a little--" 

At his words, sparks began to fly around his screwdriver and he jerked back, ripping the tool out with a hiss.

"--finicky."

"Just a little," Zoey commented as the boy adjusted his glasses and frowned deeply at his invention as though planning to stare it into submission.

Meanwhile, below, Devon had pushed away from the wall and was once more jumping into battle--and holding his own pretty well too--as the others stared on with equally exhausted and bored expressions, their attentions once more falling on their drinks as they pondered their dilemma in silence.

"What's your take on this whole thing, Nate?" Ravi asked, glancing up from his sketchbook and tapping his pencil absentmindedly against the rim. 

"My take on...what exactly?" Nate questioned, wiping the grease off his hands and setting back to work. 

"Uh...the whole figure-out-who-sent-Zoey-the-mystery-flowers thing? You know? Kind of the topic of conversation for the past week and a half?"

"Oh." Nate frowned and squared his shoulders. "No, I...I don't have any more idea than the rest of you."

"But, you're the smartest one out of all of us!" Zoey exclaimed, clapping a hand on his shoulder, earning a tiny squeak of surprise from the boy. "Not to mention, you've been a part of Grid Battleforce longer than any one of us! If anyone can figure this out, it's you!"

He grinned weakly. "Well, though I appreciate the encouraging words, there are things that even I can't decipher. And besides, I've...never been strong in the romance department."

"Huh. Those are words I never thought I'd hear."

Nate hummed uncomfortably, fixing his gaze on his work and refusing to look at any of them. Kind of suspicious, Zoey noted. Oh, he was definitely hiding something. The question was; what was it and why wouldn't he tell any of them, especially her? 

"Well, whoever sent them obviously cares a lot," Devon put in, once again appearing below them, swiftly deflecting a blow from his opponent's staff. "The rest of us got a bunch of cards, yeah, but Zoey got a whole bouquet!"

"Yeah, I'm still confused as to how that happened," Ravi commented. "Since I am by far the most handsome." He flexed with a grin, earning no more applause than a groan from his team.

"Uh, huh," Zoey laughed, punching him roughly in the shoulder, enough to unbalance him. "But don't you already have a girlfriend? I'd think all those love letters wouldn't even catch your eye."

"Well, I didn't get anything, so you're doing better than me," Nate piped up.

"That's because you're not a ranger, dude," Ravi laughed, slinging an arm around the smaller boy. "You're just the guy who created Morph-X in the first place and learned how to harness it and all that geeky stuff."

"Not a ranger yet," Nate muttered, but the others didn't hear him, already moving on to the next order of business--watching Devon totally obliterate his rival with a powerful leap and overhead strike. 

"Without whom you would never have become what you are now," the leader pointed out, leaping back over to dangle on the gate below, lashing out with one final kick and knocking his last opponent onto the mat. "So maybe give him a little slack, Ravi. Good job, Andy," he added, twisting back to his rivals. "Stephen. Same time next week?"

The two boys nodded, lifting up their faceguards and trailing off the pad, leaving Devon standing alone, grinning, and collecting up the remaining sparring gear. "Well, one thing's for sure," the red ranger went on, hurrying up the steps and sliding into a seat next to Ravi who hastily grabbed his milkshake to spare a horrible death of strawberry and banana splatted against the floor. "Whoever is so interested in Zoey couldn't have made a better choice."

Zoey reddened at the compliment.

Ravi laughed, slapping her on the back. "He's right, though! Nate, come on! Tell Zoey how right Devon is!"

"Uh..." the boy squeaked. "Yes, of course, you're right Devon. Zoey is..." He trailed off as the blond grinned gratefully his way. "Zoey is amazing," he squeaked out after a moment, busying himself back with his own smoothie and averting his eyes.

"Aww, well, thanks, Nate!" Zoey laughed, slinging an arm around his shoulders and grinning at the pink blush dusting his cheeks. "I think you're pretty amazing too!"

There was an awkward silence between the rangers during which Ravi and Devon shared a knowing glance and Nate just sunk further in his seat, looking ready to melt into blissful non-existence right then and there. Ravi shot his team leader a sly thumbs-up and Devon nodded subtly. 

At that moment, their watches beeped, and all four shot to attention. Devon was the quickest to his watch and the others gathered around. "Go ahead, Commander," he said softly as Zoey checked to make sure they were alone.

"Rangers," Ravi's mother's voice boomed. "Avatar Roxi has been spotted in Sector Echo-136."

"136?" Nate repeated, already hurrying to collect his things. "Isn't that the shoreline?"

Devon nodded. "We're on our way," he told the commander, shutting off his communicator and shooing the others out from behind the table. The team obeyed quickly, scrambling out and slinging their backpacks over their shoulders.

Nate stepped back to make room for Zoey to slip out and pull out her Beast Morpher. 

"You'd better get back to the lab, Nate," Devon suggested. "We might need you for this one."

"Affirmative," Nate agreed, watching as the other three ran for the exit. With a knowing shaking of his head, he strolled up to the bar to pay for the drinks and then quietly wandered off to find a quiet place to set up his reconnaissance. 

Meanwhile, three transformed heroes were already rushing toward the scene of the crime; the two in the lead smiling to themselves and shooting their teammate subtle grins as they charged toward the newest threat and called on their weapons.

Stage 1 of Operation: Zonate (Ravi preferred the term GoldScreen) was now complete.

 And Stage 2: Getting Nate to unofficially out himself as her secret valentine, was underway.