Zee had started coming to the conclusion that he didn't like his classmates very much. At this point, most of the nice ones had more-or-less backed away, leaving him to interact with primarily the malicious ones. These students had been getting progressively rougher with their pestering, but Zee didn't know what he was supposed to do about it. He could hold his own in a fight, could even fight rather well, but apparently human adolescents weren't allowed to fight each other. He tried to fight back against a particularly persistent classmate during gym class, but his teacher had seen it and he'd gotten in trouble. He wasn't sure why that rule applied to him and not the one who started it, though. Humans were just strange, he supposed.

Oh, well. It wasn't like their actions really hurt him much, and if they escalated to the point of causing injury, he would fight them regardless of what the rules were. After all, better alive and in trouble than dead.

On a better note, Zee had also found that he likes human fiction books. He'd acquired and lost a few 'books' over the years, but between living, lessons, and avoiding the clutches of the Irken Empire (pretty much synonymous with living), there was little time to read just for the sake of it. Even if he'd had the materials, he hadn't had the time. Now that they had settled down on a relatively-safe planet, he had more time. And the school gave its students access to an entire library of books, more than anyone could even read, so he now had the materials as well.

So, he now spent much of his free time reading, which he was currently doing while he ate lunch. This particular book was about a princess who was supposed to marry a prince, but wanted to marry the prince's sister. This was apparently a problem, though he couldn't tell what the big deal was. It seemed like the princess was worried about breaking her agreement with the prince's kingdom? But couldn't their treaty be upheld if the two princesses married? Well, Irkens didn't really get married, so he might just be missing something again. Regardless, he liked the book, and he hoped that the princesses would end up together in the end. It would be an unsatisfying conclusion if the princess just ended up marrying the prince. What would have been the point of the story, then?

He took a bite of his cookie. Today, it was a sugar cookie. He had baked them with Bee last night, and he thought they were probably his favorite Earth cookie so far. Along with his cookie, he was eating a peanut butter sandwich. He'd recently discovered that more Earth food was edible than they had originally thought, but even though Zee expanded his diet, Bee continued to insist that most of it was intolerable to her tongue.

"Hey, you're that new kid that transferred in a few weeks ago, right?"

Zee swallowed his bite of sandwich and looked up toward the source of the voice. It was an adolescent human with shoulder-length, black hair and a denim jacket. As he looked at them, they smiled.

"You're… Zee, right?" they asked. "I'm Ann."

"Hi."

At this, Ann settled next to him at the table, leaning their elbows onto it.

"I use they/them pronouns, by the way," they continued. "What about you?"

Zee shrugged.

"Ah, I get ya," Ann spoke while digging through their bag.

Eventually, after a good bit of digging, they found a crushed granola bar and began eating it.

"So, I saw the book you were reading. It's one of my favorites!" Ann told him cheerfully.

This piqued Zee's interest.

"Really?"

"Yeah! What part are you on?"

"Denna snuck out of her room to see Mare."

"Aaaaaah. Who's your favorite character? Mine's Denna."

"Mare."

Ann's grin widened.

"Yeah, she's really cool!"

"Hm."

XXX

Bee entered through the front door to find the house empty, which was strange. She worked odd hours at her Earth job, but Zee was usually home by now. She looked at the clock to confirm the time and found that it was, in fact, about 6 pm.

"Hm. I wonder where he is…," Bee mumbled to herself.

Though she sounded rather casual, and in fact intended to sound that way, Bee felt a small twinge of anxiety. She didn't like not knowing where Zee was. After all, for most of Zee's life, they had been running away from an empire that would have killed him if he had been found. Not knowing where Zee was could very well mean that he was in danger.

But, she had to remind herself, they were far from Irken space now, and Irkens were unlikely to find them here. Plus, Zee would be able to handle most danger he would encounter around the city. Anything that he couldn't wasn't likely to happen. And besides, school had only ended a few hours ago. He probably just went somewhere after school.

With her self-reassurances in mind, Bee went into the kitchen to get a glass of juice.

XXX

Zee had completely lost track of time. Ann had asked him if he wanted to hang out after school, and he figured that it was a good idea to spend time with some of the humans. That's what humans did, after all. He also remembered Mr. Membrane asking him if he had any friends, and he didn't want people to start getting suspicious.

And Ann was pretty fun to talk to. They liked to read a lot, and they had shown him some books that were similar to the one he was reading so he could read them next. After they were done talking about books, they had gone to a nearby park and talked about other things. He hadn't even noticed that the sky was getting darker until Ann said they should go home.

After a quick goodbye, Zee began to make his way back home, walking a bit faster than he usually would have. He felt a tiny bit nervous, even though he really had no reason to be. It wasn't like he wasn't allowed to do something after school. He didn't even have a 'curfew', even though many of his classmates apparently did. And he wasn't even in any danger.

Yet, he somehow felt as though he had done something wrong, maybe even something dangerous. Actually, now that he thought about it, this was the longest he and Bee had been apart for since that time he'd been sick and Bee had been captured by some aliens they'd encountered on one of the many planets they visited. The aliens weren't Irken, but Zee hadn't known that at the time. All he had known was that Bee had gone to try to find some medicine and hadn't returned for three days, which was apparently how long it took to convince the aliens that she was no longer affiliated with the Irken Empire.

Perhaps it shouldn't have surprised him that others would hate them or fear them because they were Irken, but it had back then. His life was so focused on the idea that Irkens were his enemy and that he should avoid them at all costs that he had practically forgotten that he was an Irken as well. And, just as he'd had no idea of what happened to Bee those few days, the aliens they came across had no idea that they weren't part of Irk's endless expansion.

In fact, they'd needed to use that to their advantage quite a few times to get out of sticky situations. Doing so was always risky because it could let them be found and tracked, but many aliens would run from them rather than try to fight or imprison them. This seemed to be more effective the closer they were to the Irken Empire's borders, though it became more dangerous as well. Once, they'd even had to trick a group of Irkens into believing they were on their side. Zee couldn't remember it well, due to the general chaos and a mild head injury, but apparently, they'd encountered an Irken ship that had strayed off-course. It had approached them under the assumption that they were a small Irken scouting ship and asked for directions. That was about the time that an enemy ship attacked, which, while allowing them to avoid providing their pak numbers, had triggered the series of events that led to Zee's head injury as well as an immediate need for repairs. Regardless, aliens across the galaxy recognized them as Irken when they were out of their disguises, which was a mixed bag of luck. Since they were going to be recognized anyway, though, when the need arose, they would usually play up their Irken-ness as much as they could. Zee had even started wearing an Irken symbol in his shirt.

That, perhaps, was a bit strange. He wore the symbol of the empire that would have him killed as soon as he was found. Maybe it should serve as a reminder of the things that scared him most, but in reality, he rarely even thought about it. It was just one of many tools he used to survive, and he was disguised so often anyway.

So, maybe he was a bit on edge from being separated from Bee for so long. His mind conjured up images of returning home to an empty house that remained empty, but he pushed them aside. The images were ridiculous. Even if Bee wasn't home when he arrived, she would be home later. He doubted that the older Irken would do anything that would result in her capture again.

Sure enough, when Zee arrived home, he found Bee sitting in the living room and watching TV. He saw a glimmer of relief on her face and knew that she must have been thinking of worries that were similar to his own, but he didn't mention it.

"You're home late," she said. "Did you make a friend?"

"Yeah."

XXX

Just so ya'll know, the book Zee was reading is 'Of Fire and Stars' by Audrey Coulthurst. It has magic and lesbian princesses in it. I recommend.

On another note (and I can't believe I have to actually say this): Keep your drama out of the reviews, and stop trying to threaten me. Whoever you are, get some lives and let me enjoy myself. Christ.