regardless, NaN has still learned to go with the flow and work around them, and I'd say they're pretty skilled at it at this point

So Fancy has talked about NaN’s design changing during their journey and sort of “aging up” to reflect their emotional growth and maturity (since time is weird in blaseball and players don't really age unless it makes the story more interesting for them to do so). All this time NaN's been trying to figure out who they are and to some extent who Wyatt Mason was (NaN being a Wyatt shaped hole in reality). Here's the thing though... what if Wyatt/Microphone hasn't been "aging" in the same way. What if they're still a kid (or at the very least, less mature than where NaN is at now). Where I'm going with this is that maybe MaX looks at NaN and sees an aspirational figure. NaN is in some sense the living embodiment of the adult MaX could become if they survive the trials ahead. I like the idea of NaN and MaX both seeking answers to personal existential questions in each other's existence. It's a nice mirror image.