Soft

It took Rose some time to realise she had a crush on Mack.

They were friends, a team, and he just...wasn't her type. Rose had dated before, of course, but they'd been like her. Smart and academically inclined, they usually challenged her intellectually, until she got bored. Her mind was always looking for another challenge. And, unfortunately, many of them had made the mistake of thinking that she wasn't smarter than them.

Which, she almost always was.

Strong, take-charge and always ready to leap into action, Mack was very different to the men that Rose had grown up around. Having gone to college much younger than most, Rose was used to smart men thinking they were better than her. Mack, however, looked to her for the answers that he didn't know. He admired her knowledge, and while he teased her about knowing everything, he wasn't malicious about it. In fact, he seemed to admire her for it.

As the team grew closer, spending time together in battle, during training, and time off, Rose started to lower her walls just a little, getting to know her team. She found Dax's excitable personality adorable, Will's confidence admirable. Ronny's competitive nature, once she'd dialled it down, encouraged Rose to work harder in the areas she wasn't great in - particularly the physical areas. Ari's determination was also something that Rose envied and worked harder to achieve, and when she saw how close Ari and Xander were, a part of her envied that bond too.

Mack though, was on a whole other level. He was brave, willing to learn, and always there to help his friends. He was dependable, something that Rose hadn't come across in a friend before. His eagerness to get out and explore, his passion for their goal, it made the entire team work harder. Even Ari, who'd been a Ranger three times before, seemed to grow under Mack's leadership.

It was a few months in, when Rose found Mack in the library, surrounded by a large amount of books.

"Doing some research?" she asked, a little amused. He jumped, looking around, before smiling shyly.

"Some of us still have some learning to do," he told her, making Rose smirk. She wouldn't say it, but she loved the comments about knowing everything. While she admittedly didn't know everything, she still knew a lot. "I'm reading up on where the next jewel could be. There's bound to be some mentions in these books," Mack said, and Rose slid into a seat opposite him.

"Mind if I join you? If there is anything, we'll find it faster together," she offered, making his smile grow.

"Of course. We'll make it a competition. If we find a clue, whoever didn't find it has to buy lunch," Mack challenged her.

"Now you're sounding like Ronny," Rose teased. "Besides, Spencer normally makes lunch," she pointed out. Mack's smile didn't fade.

"Sounds like the words of someone who's scared they're going to lose," he teased, and Rose found herself bristling. At the risk of sounding like Ronny herself, she didn't back down from a challenge. Especially an academic challenge.

"Okay, you're on," she agreed, reaching for a book. However, Mack was faster, grabbing it first and flashing her a taunting smile. "Oh, now you're in for it," Rose laughed, and was surprised when he handed the book over to her anyway.

"I'll take pizza, by the way," Mack told her, making her laugh again.

"I prefer Chinese," she shot back, the pair giggling as they started to work. As she opened the book to the first page, Rose's eyes lifted to Mack, who had a look of focus on his face as he scanned the words carefully. The intense look in his eyes made her heart start to thump against her chest, and her cheeks began to warm, before she realised she was staring at him. Quickly looking down, Rose stared at the words in front of her, though not really reading them as thoughts ran through her head.

"Oh god," she whispered.

"What's that?" Mack looked up.

"Nothing!" Rose said quickly, refusing to look up as she blushed even harder, the warmth spreading up to her ears. Mack tilted his head, before returning to the book in front of him, starting to focus again. Rose dared to look up again, and took a quiet breath before looking back down.

Yup, she was completely enamoured.

Tyzonn joined the team after helping the Rangers fight the Fearcats, and his kind, sweet personality, wore away at Rose's walls even more, encouraging her to be even more open with the team after he pestered her enough. Not that she held it against him at all. She felt closer to her team and more at home with the people who'd become family to her, and she found herself growing closer to Mack, sometimes wondering if he shared her feelings.

Then Mack had dropped a bombshell on the entire team that nobody had expected.

"So..." Ronny had been the one to break the silence. "You're an android..." she gave a weak smile. "So what? That doesn't change you," she insisted.

"Yeah, come on Mack. You guys took me in," Tyzonn had been next to comfort their Red Ranger, who was reacting badly to this news, not having known it himself. "I'm an alien, it doesn't get weirder than that!" he laughed, which drew a small smile from Mack.

As the rest of the team spoke up, Rose had remained quiet, trying to process the news herself. An Android. A fully sentient, self-aware, android.

The irony of someone with one of their specialist fields being robotics, having a crush on an android.

After that, Rose had tried to keep her distance, knowing that her feelings wouldn't go anywhere. But they were still a team, and they still worked well together, except when Mack went on one of his self-destruct runs. No matter how much she told him that a replacement wouldn't be him, no matter how many times all of them told him that he mattered, Mack didn't listen, thinking himself beneath them.

Finally, she'd exploded at him, after Flurious had threatened them by holding him hostage in the mansion, forcing them to hand over their hard-earned Jewels.

"You shouldn't have given him the Jewels," Mack had told her when he found her in the halls, upset and, as usual, blaming himself for what had happened. Annoyed at losing the Jewels, angry at Flurious for getting away with stealing them so easily, and frustrated at herself for still having such strong feelings for Mack, Rose finally had enough.

"You're lucky I value fighting with two hands, or I'd probably hit you like Ari did," Rose snapped at him, taking him by surprise. The Pink Ranger so rarely snapped, and never at him. "If it had been anyone, I'd have given them over. But you..." she sighed heavily. "You most of all," she confessed.

"Why?" Mack frowned, confused. "I can be rebuilt, the others can't!" he'd pointed out, like she didn't know that.

"But it won't be you, Mack!" Rose was aware that her voice echoed, but she didn't care. She wanted Mack to finally get it into his head that he was worth saving. Especially to her. "I care about you!" she shouted at him, making his eyes widen. When she realised just what she'd said to make him figure it out, she put her hands to her mouth, horrified.

Ronny knew, and so did Ari. Tyzonn, she knew, had some suspicions on her feelings. Dax and Will might have been oblivious, but Mack most of all, and she hadn't wanted him to find out. Especially now they all knew that he was an Android.

"But I'm..." Mack stopped himself, still staring at her, utterly confused. While he now understood that he was important to the Rangers, and his dad and Spencer, he hadn't expected Rose to have harboured feelings for him. Especially now. But he wasn't stupid, and she was blushing an almost crimson colour. It was cute, he thought, reminding himself that before finding out his true identity, he was beginning to think he had feelings for the Pink Ranger. "Dad wants us all to convene downstairs," he finally said.

"R-right," Rose was all too happy to run off and never be reminded of what she'd just said again.

"And Rose," she stopped at his call, looking around in confusion. He grinned at her. "Thanks. Me too. About you, I mean," he told her. Rose couldn't stop the bright smile at his words, quickly running off as his response rang in her head. Even though he was an Android, he cared about her.

Those memories ran through her head in an almost movie-like reel, when he kissed her.

After the final battle, after he'd sacrificed himself and been brought back as a human, he'd repeated what he'd said. He cared for her. And she told him properly, that she cared for him too. The kiss they shared was exactly as Rose had imagined it, for months, but it still took her by surprise.

Despite being originally made of metal and wires, Mack's kiss was soft. Softer than anything that she could ever have believed.

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