"Yes... and I doubt my life would have been quite so difficult. It does puzzle me, why someone would want to imagine facing the kind of baseless persecution and prejudice that I did..." Unless Max had his own motivation for that as well... another reflection of his unhappy life? Perhaps Max had been persecuted unfairly himself for some reason or another, and just unconsciously worked that into his fantasy, although he seemed to have given a happier ending to ZEX in a way. He tried to keep his voice light, but it was a bit difficult with his current train of thought. "One might think in an ideal world, I'd be interested in my own species, even... but perhaps Max had his reasons for that as well. It's hard to say."

Although, he couldn't imagine not being interested in humans, particularly the one sitting beneath him right now with a hand over his eye. He did smile, this time genuinely, at how his human changed color in that fetching way he loved. He leaned in quite close to him, one hand on his face and the other idly running along his human's side. "That's what I told him," ZEX whispered. "He worries too much." And if there was anything that could get ZEX's mind off his problems, and indeed off of mostly anything else...

ZEX shifted a little, slowly, on his human's lap, his wandering hand toying with the edge of his shirt, and he briefly touched his lips to his Captain's skin before whispering again. "Besides, there are... other things you could hold against me..."