Downton Abbey fic rec

I don't particularly mind spoilers for Downton Abbey (confession: I'd seen bits and pieces and already knew something that happens to Bates and when I got invested in the character i checked out his character wiki to find out what that was all about) so even though I'm only 1.5 seasons in I went looking for fic about Robert and Bates - I would love to read fic about their experiences together that formed such a strong bond between and Earl and his valet.

I kind of want all the BFF bonding fic in the world - during the war, back at Downton, wherever, I'm not averse to slash, but nothing that goes against canon, so I was vaguely thinking I wouldn't mind a 'comforting each other during the war' type fic, and out of only four Robert/Bates fics on AO3 (the other three of which are tiny) I found this wonderful, evocative story.


Ha, and then I had a quick look at what else the author has written and found this cute little Bobby/Crowley fic about The Kiss.