jeaneil age/pet regression headcanons
part 2 of my little!neil headcanons, jeaneil edition! part 1 can be found here. also including some pet regression because that is jean’s little fox kit mhm mhm.
a lot of my jeaneil headcanons tend to lean heavier into the dissociative parts of neil not necessarily because i think jean is any better at reading neil than andrew, but i do think he has more capability to adjust and be flexible with neil’s needs without a lot of processing time or verbal communication. i don’t really have a canonical basis for that, i just can picture neil going through a lot of different states while at the nest and jean very quickly learning to just go along with whatever.
all that to say that pretty much all of my headcanons from the first part are still applicable, jeaneil just adds some more elements and variety. to me at least <3 requested by @queenconsort and that one anon who asked for some agre headcanons. love y’all, thank you for asking.
jean is such a natural caregiver. he has such a big heart and just wants to keep the people he holds dear happy and safe, whatever that means for that specific relationship. he likes to meet people’s needs and wouldn’t think twice about taking care of neil once it became evident that was what would help neil
neil has a tendency to mix headspaces between little and fox, usually resulting in some variation of baby fox. but his behavior can change pretty drastically depending on which headspace is more dominant. he’s much more excitable and mischievous as a fox compared to when he’s primarily little
the whole “little kit” thing came as a sort of joke on jean’s part while in the nest. “little” was used from the start to insult neil’s size and remind him of his place on the court, while “fox” was also said in a demeaning manner because of their trickery. later on, when it became clear that neil was starting to lose his identity and jean was becoming more desperate to remind him of where he came from it became more of an endearment. “kit” came after when neil started to regress and jean looked up what a baby fox is called
neil has some trouble with verbally communicating when regressed. he can use basic signs sometimes, but he’s very animalistic when primarily fox and mostly nonverbal with a not great grasp on language. he likes to growl and yip and make other fox noises
jean relies very heavily on his ability to read neil and yes/no questions because even when neil does speak, it’s sort of a toss up on whether he remembers french or not (depending on how regressed he is) and it can be very difficult for jean to parse out the meaning of neil’s not super well formulated english
oral fixation is even worse. neil is little kit teething 24/7 and uses biting as a form of communication when he can’t speak (even when not regressed tbh big emotions little body = biting). jean is very used to being used as a chew toy of sorts and adept at interpreting depending on where/how hard he’s being bitten. chewing on fingers? self-soothing/comfort. little nip? playful and wants attention. hard bite or repeated bites? genuine upset/annoyance
they have a little shared safe cozy corner in the closet with lots of blankets and pillows and comfort items. the ceiling has glow in the dark stars to remind jean that the dark isn’t scary. they made it because neil has a tendency to hide in small spaces when scared and little, and jean got tired of trying to coax the baby out from under the bed or out of the bathroom cupboard. neil considers it his fox den and jean uses it on bad days too
little neil is fascinated by everything jean does. he likes to watch jean solve rubik’s cubes under the guise of learning how, only to mix the cube back up when jean solves it and hand it back to him to solve again. he also enjoys watching jean cook and has very limited tasks that he can help with in the kitchen or he sneaks little bits of ingredients to snack on and jean pretends not to notice because regressed neil is not nearly as sneaky as he thinks he is
being primarily little is harder than being a fox because it tends to come with bad memories of when neil really was a child. sometimes he forgets where he is and isn’t sure what’s really going on. thankfully, he usually hides rather than runs but jean has had to catch a slightly older neil on a few notable occasions when he thought he was still on the run with his mother. similarly, neil tends to have more varied triggers and stronger responses when little because he remembers more of his childhood and isn’t as emotionally repressed
jean loves taking care of neil. obviously he loves his partner and would do anything for him, but neil being regressed really gives jean a chance to dote on him. he draws on every suppressed but never forgotten older brother instinct and is so glad that the little spitfire trusts jean enough to be vulnerable around him



















