Chapter Seven: Headspace

Chris felt when they started moving, sniffling a little as one of his hands drifted upward, thumb sliding into his mouth, the fur and claws receding as he calmed. "All that action wore the puppy out. Though I guess falling off a roof and two panic attacks in the span of half an hour would put anyone down. Should we pass him off to one of the teachers?"

"No. I'm sure they're all more than capable of taking care of him, but I'd rather take him straight to Professor Xavier so we know exactly who he would be comfortable going with. I don't want to scare him anymore than he already has been." The tired little tried to say he didn't want any of them, that he just wanted to go to his room, but what came out was slurred and mumbled, thanks to his thumb being planted in his mouth and his 'big boy' mind taking a step back. "Shh, baby boy, I know. We're going inside now. You'll be taken care of soon and I bet you're more than ready for a nice, long nap, huh?"

Cool air brushed past Chris as they entered the school, and distantly, he could hear the shuffle of feet around–upstairs and in the library mostly, but there were some scattered around. The two men with him were talking, softer than before, to each other, but he didn't bother to try and listen to either of them, more concerned with how comfortable he was, and how Mr. Rogers was right–a nap sounded great.

"Mr. Stark, Mr. Rogers. I must say, this is quite the surprising sight." That was… the Professor. "Thank you for taking care of him. I know I gave you a bit of insight on how he may react to either of you upon seeing you, but I can see now that allowing you to watch out for him as he descended was indeed the best choice." Professor Xavier smiled at them, "I did plan on having a talk with him about his actions, but seeing him in his proper headspace is not a common occurrence, so I will have to address it at a later date."

The words did worm their way into Chris' mind though and he whimpered, trying to burrow further into Mr. Rogers, who immediately started rubbing his back, once again bouncing him as Mr. Stark spoke up, "Probably for the best. Kid needs a change for sure and he's about passed out on Cap here. We wanted to know who to give him to. Didn't know if he'd have another panic attack if we just went up to the first teacher we saw."

Nodding with a small smile, the Professor spoke, "I shall call Ororo. He's more trusting of our female teachers, but I believe Jean is preoccupied with Ms. Romanov and Mr. Barton at the moment. They've got a bit of a rowdy group with them in the library." It went quiet for a moment as the older mutant focused, then his smile grew, "She shall be here in just a moment and will take him up to his room."

A moment turned out to be just that, and Ororo entered with only a single knock, offering a sad smile when she saw Chris in the visiting hero's arms. "Poor Chris. I was hoping with Rogue there, he'd be alright…" She let out a soft sigh, "Alright, set him down gently. I can't quite carry him to his room, but I'll keep him balanced. He's nothing if not stubborn."

"Ma'am, I can carry him if–"

"I've got it, don't worry. You two wanted to see Charles for a reason, right?" The two Avengers shared a look, Mr. Rogers smiling sheepishly. "Mhm. Alright, come on, let's get him down." Ororo got closer, gently placing her hands on Chris as Steve readjusted his hold, slowly lowering the boy to his feet. Steve's suit had nothing for Chris to hold onto, and he let out a whine as he was put down, eyes half-lidded and glassy. "Hey there, Chris." At the sound of his name, said mutant's ears flicked and he looked up at her, eyes opening a little more, though he kept his thumb in his mouth. A sure sign that he was deep in his headspace. "Let's get you upstairs, yeah? I know a certain little boy who needs a good cleanup and some food."

"'ood.." Chris mumbled out around his thumb, letting Ororo take his free hand as his stomach let out a hearty growl.

Ororo nodded at him, "Yeah, maybe some graham crackers? I know they're your favorite. Can you say 'bye-bye' to Mr. Rogers and Mr. Stark?" It took a few moments, but Chris shyly turned his head upwards at the two men, eyes widening a little at just how much bigger they were than him.

With his fluffy ears folding back, he cast his gaze back down, shaking his head as he squeezed Ororo's hand. "It's okay, Chris. You tried and I'm proud of you. Thank you for what you did, both of you." She gave the two men a smile and led Chris out of the Professor's office, heading for the elevator to take them up to the second floor. "I'll get you cleaned up and comfy then I'll go grab you a snack, okay?"

Chris simply nodded, letting out a small yawn, his eyes starting to droop. The elevator made a soft beep as they made it to the second floor and Ororo led Chris down the hall to his shared room, fourth door on the right. Knowing his roommate was downstairs–she'd seen Dan with Jean, Clint, and Natasha, pouting over the lack of 'Cap'n 'Merica and Ironman'-she opened the door and let the sleepy boy toddle in first, releasing his hand.

It was adorable, she thought, how he seemed unsure what to do, just standing in the middle of the room, brow furrowed as he tried to piece together where his things were and what he needed. "Gotsa change.." He mumbled softly, rubbing his eyes before returning his thumb to his mouth.

"That's right. Just wait right there and I'll grab you a new pull-up and some comfy clothes, okay?" Ororo walked into the closet, looking to the right side where all of Chris' belongings were kept, frowning. They tried to make sure all the littles had nice things—clothes and shoes, a couple of toys just for them, their own backpack, plenty of diapers or pull-ups (sometimes both), wipes and powder… but compared to Dan, he had almost nothing. Just enough clothes to get through laundry day, she didn't see his shoes at all, and there were no toys to speak of.

A sad reminder that even after being with them for a year, he was still nervous, still couldn't settle. There was a room set up specifically for all of the students to pick out things they wanted (with the help of a teacher), but aside from that first day when they finally got Chris out of medical, he never went back. But right now, she couldn't focus on that. She had to get her charge cleaned up and comfortable before he fell asleep where he stood.

So she grabbed a fresh pull-up, the wipes and powder, his blue hoodie, a pair of matching sweatpants and socks before emerging, setting all the items on his bed. "Can you walk over here, kiddo? Let's get you out of those dirty clothes." Ororo couldn't help the smile that crept onto her face as Chris walked towards her, his steps slow and uncoordinated as he tried to stay balanced.

She'd only personally seen him in his proper headspace once before, when he'd gotten a rather nasty flu, just about two months after he started staying with them, but he'd still fought against it so hard that Jean or the Professor had to be around constantly in order to help keep him calm enough to take care of him, especially when it came to getting him to take medicine.

She knew it wouldn't last. Chris would likely be right back to fighting against his instincts the moment he woke up from his inevitable nap, but for now, she would treat him just like she would any other little, with as much love and care as he deserved.

When he stood in front of her, she smiled at him, "Okay, I'm going to take off your hoodie and shirt first, can you lift your arms." Nodding, Chris lifted one arm up all the way, but the other only part way, as his thumb was still in his mouth. "Going to have to take your thumb out for a minute, okay?" There was a small whine, but he did so and she saw the little indentations from his teeth around the flesh. "Guess we need to get you a proper pacifier, huh?"

She unzipped his hoodie, sliding that off first, then worked on his shirt, "Keep that thumb out for a little longer. Once we have you re-dressed, you can put it back." The two items were dropped into the hamper by the dresser, then she reached for his shorts, watching his reaction as she did so. He didn't do anything more than yawn, so she continued, pulling them down, "One foot at a time, up and out." Ororo was surprised when he put his hands on her shoulders to steady himself, but he did as asked, leaving him in just a pull-up, but there was a large, obvious wet spot on the shorts where it had leaked, which she made a mental note of.

"You'll need a good bath later, but I think baby wipes will do for now." It took a fair few wipes to get the dirt and grime off of Chris, but it worked well enough. If he was more awake, and she wasn't worried about scaring him, she'd have tried to give him a real bath, but with all the other kids still running around (nap time had been postponed as they all had far too much energy to try and get any of them down), it wasn't going to happen.

"Does a hoodie sound good to you, kiddo? I know how much you like them." Ororo held up the one she'd picked out of the closet and he nodded, holding up his arms again. This one was a size too big, possibly two, as it swamped Chris, making him look even smaller, causing her to smile. "Now your pull-up, then we can put on some warm pants and get you comfy."

It had to be removed carefully, but any excess liquid seemed to have re-absorbed, so there weren't any leaks or drips as she tore the sides and removed the soiled garment, setting it to the side to toss into the diaper bin once she was done. A few more wipes to clean up his lower half, all through which she watched him carefully–noticing that he was now watching her, nervousness creeping into his eyes. His hand was moving again though and once his thumb made its way back into his mouth, it faded away and the little just looked tired once more.

As clean as he was going to get for the time being, she nodded, opening another pull-up–a simple low-riding blue and white with a big smiling sun on the front that would fade when wet. After sprinkling in some baby powder and lowering it to his level, Chris stepped into it and let her pull it up into place, smiling down at it. "Happy to be nice and dry?"

Chris nodded, then pointed to the pants lying on the bed, "Pan's?"

"Of course. We can't have you getting cold, silly." The pants were a little trickier to get on, with Chris nearly stumbling over, and Ororo having to catch him before he landed face down on the floor, which she'd never be able to explain how he went from facing her and wiggling into them to turned the other way and tangled up in the material, but it had him making the most adorably frustrated face. She carefully helped him stand back up straight and fixed the legs so that he was no longer tangled, then tugged them up and into place. "There we go. Now you're clean and comfy."

Chris nodded once again as his mouth opened wide in yet another yawn, so Ororo figured it was time to get him into bed. He didn't look like he'd stay awake long enough to enjoy a snack, but she would go retrieve one from the kitchen anyway and leave it where she knew he usually stashed food.

She turned to the bed and pulled back the blanket, though it didn't take any prompting for Chris to climb into his bed, shuffling into a comfortable position. Ororo placed the blanket just up to his chest and with one more yawn before placing his thumb back into his mouth and closing his eyes, he was out for the count.

Taking advantage of this rare opportunity, she ran a hand through his hair, smiling. One day he'd be adopted, she knew that for a fact, and he'd get a real chance at happiness, with someone who would help him heal from everything that he'd been through. If she was being honest, she considered adopting him herself a few times, but she had this feeling that someone else, someone perfect for the young mutant, would find their way to him and she didn't want to take away that possibility.

With a soft, content sigh, Ororo left the bedroom and headed downstairs. She would get him an easy to eat snack for when he awoke and… Well, a pacifier wouldn't hurt, even if he might not want anything to do with it once he came out of his headspace.