Might edit it later so it's more consistent with canon. Not that important though.

The first time Mumford saw Pelair, he wasn't sure whether he had a concussion and was suddenly hallucinating a tiny tiefling sitting on top of the lockers. The boy looked so comfortable, so normal about it, that it just didn't feel like it should be real. At the sight of all the professional athletes coming into the locker room, the kid hardly even seemed fazed. Mumford almost asked if anyone else was seeing it when he dropped down off the lockers and ran toward the gladiators.

Mumford swiveled his head to follow the movement, and the boy was hugging one of Mumford's teammates, Tequar. Tequar was another tiefling, and Mumford vaguely remembered him mentioning he had a son. This kid must have been that son, and judging by the way he barely even noticed the other famous players, the kid really loved his dad. Mumford couldn't help but smile as Tequar picked up the kid and placed him on his shoulders, and it became apparent that a handful of other players were watching as they changed out of their practice armor or headed for the showers.

As Mumford rubbed a towel through his sweaty mane, Tequar cheerfully opened his locker across the walkway from him.

"You're like the best guy on the team!" the kid exclaimed, resting his arms on Tequar'shead.

"I wouldn't say that," Tequar laughed. "I'm just a wide receiver."

"But that's so cool! Nobody can touch you, and you just voosh! bam! whoosh! and you're gone! I wanna do that!"

Tequar put him down to change out of his armor. "I'd rather you not." He laughed, but Mumford could hear the sadness in his tone. "Maybe you could find something else to do. You could make something to blow people's minds, or you could help people."

"I wanna be like you!" the boy insisted.

"Okay, Pelair. If you still want to be like me in two years, I'll let you start training. How does that sound?"

"Totally!" Pelair exclaimed. Then Mumford left.

The next time they met was during the celebration following a championship game. Pelair was a little older this time, about ten, and the adults were drinking fairly heavily. Tequar wasn't drinking as much as some of the other gladiators, but he was still fairly drunk as the night went on. The more he drank, the more Pelair hung back to just watch, and Tequar didn't seem to notice. Mumford, who opted not to have anything, decided to talk to him.

Pelair sat cross-legged on a barstool, away from the adults. One of the bartenders had given him a club soda to tide him over until it was time for him to go home. He looked half asleep, but he still watched the gladiators intently.

"How's it going?" Mumford asked.

Pelair shrugged. "Pretty okay. I'm just waiting for my dad."

The men burst into raucous laughter, and Mumford crossed his arms as he leaned against the counter beside him. "Don't you have someone else to come pick you up? Your mom, a neighbor, someone?"

"It's really just me and him," Pelair answered, resting his chin on the bar. "We watch out for each other, you know?"

Mumford nodded. "Are you sure you want to stay, though? You look kind of tired."

"I'm fine," Pelair insisted.

They talked a while longer, then fell into companionable silence. Pelair fell asleep on Mumford's shoulder an hour later, completely exhausted.

Their third meeting was unfortunate.

It was fairly common for people to be severely injured in the colosseum. They were at an away game. There was no way Tequar could have seen the spear coming.

They stopped the game briefly while medics came on the field to carry his body out of the way. Then it carried on as though nothing happened.

The team came back to the locker room to pay their respects to their fallen teammate, just to find that someone had already beaten them there. Pelair was sitting in a chair beside the cushioned medical table, staring at the black leather that his dead father rested on.

Mumford crouched next to Pelair. The tiefling had clearly been crying, but must have stopped over the course of the game.

"We won," someone told Tequar, patting his bloodied shoulder. Pelair curled his tail around his huddled form, sniffing disdainfully at the useless gesture.

Mumford put a hand on Pelair's shoulder. "I don't think you should be here," he said gently.

"And why not?" Pelair snapped, glaring at the much larger lion. "He's my dad! I have as much right to be here as you do!"

Mumford held up his hands to placate him. "I'm not saying you don't have a right to be here. I just don't think it's good for you to see your dad like this." To see anyone like this, for that matter. The kid would probably end up with more scarring than the entire team combined, and not one bit would be physical.

"I'm fine," Pelair insisted, albeit somewhat more calmly. "I'm not going anywhere."

Mumford was quiet for a moment to let him know he'd won that round. "Do you have someone else who can take care of you?" he asked.

"There's this monk guy who's been teaching me for a while. Dad's been talking for a while about me staying with him to study, and the only thing keeping me from going was" --he wiped his nose and sniffed-- "It was him."

They had the funeral three days later. That was the fourth time they met.

It was too sunny. The service would have been short and simple if he hadn't been a renowned gladiator. Everyone and their uncle wanted to say something about how well he played and how friendly he was and this, that, and the other thing.

Pelair was clearly too warm in his suit that was slightly too large for him. He didn't say anything.

After the service (with moving speeches from a handful of people who may or may not have actually been friends with Tequar), Pelair stood at the headstone of his father alone. The humanoid rat that had been with him earlier was nowhere to be seen.

Mumford stepped beside him. "I know you've heard this a lot, but I'm sorry."

"Yeah, I know." Pelair didn't look up.

Mumford wasn't sure what to say. He'd never been great at funerals, and this was a hundred times worse. What could he say? He didn't know either of them all that well. He didn't want to make any assumptions, and he certainly didn't want to just annoy Pelair with more of the fluffed truths he'd heard all day.

He was startled when Pelair spoke.

"He always joked that this would be the death of him." He wiped his nose and sniffed, and for a moment, Mumford thought he was starting to cry again. Then the lion man looked over at him, and the tiny tiefling was laughing softly. "You never really see it coming, do you?"

Mumford fiddled with his hands. "A lot of the time, you don't," he said carefully.

"I think that's how it was with my mom," Pelair said. "I don't remember it, since I was just a baby, but that's how Dad made it seem. She was there, but then suddenly she wasn't, and it was just us." He kicked the dirt. "That's how it's always been. I don't know what to do now. I have Branch, but it's just..." He looked up at Mumford. "Will this ever feel better?" he asked, his voice cracking.

"Someday," Mumford answered. "Maybe not soon, but someday."

Pelair drew in a deep breath and sighed heavily. Mumford wondered how long they would stand next to each other before he could leave without feeling bad. They were quiet for a few minutes.

Just as Mumford felt that he could comfortably make his exit, Pelair threw his arms around Mumford's waist and buried his face in the fur hidden behind the rental tuxedo. "Thanks," he mumbled. Mumford hugged him back, mildly surprised. He wasn't aware that Pelair was on hugging terms with him.

After the embrace had had its full effects on both of them, Pelair pulled away, wiping his nose again, and Mumford knew what he had to do. He crouched to look at him directly in the eyes and put his hands on Pelair's shoulders. "Listen, Pelair, if you ever need anything, anything at all, just call me, and I swear I'll be there to help. All right?"

Pelair looked skeptical for a moment, but as he studied Mumford's expression, he nodded. "I will." He gave Mumford one last hug before walking off to join the ratlike figure in the distance.

Mumford didn't know if he wanted to hear from the kid again for his sake, but if the phone rang, nothing could stop him from answering the call.