A/N: Written for a Tumblr anon who requested something about getting caught in the rain without an umbrella.
The afternoon had been calm, peaceful in fact! But that changed (as these things often do) with Master Erik stumbling in the door. Drenched and shivering he threw off his cloak, hung his hat on the hook, and tore off his mask. Frankly, he looked as if he'd crawled out of the Seine. Darius decided it was likely better not to pass any remarks, especially when Erik then walked into the parlour and sprawled on the couch. Master Rahim took one good look at him, and set his writing aside.
"Draw a hot bath please, will you, Darius?" he asked and Darius knew by his voice that he was schooling himself to remain calm. As he left to draw the water, he heard Rahim quietly ask Erik to take off his wet clothes "or you'll catch your death," and found himself relieved that he did not have to face the sight of that. The face, at least, he can bear.
It was, as it transpired, not a trip into the Seine that caused the mess, but rather the rain. It had begun pouring as Erik was on his way back from the Garnier, and, the weather having been both warm and dry when he left the Rue de Rivoli in the morning, he had neglected to bring an umbrella. A proverb drifted back to Darius, about wisemen carrying umbrellas on fine days, but he restrained the chuckle that bubbled up inside of him. It would not do to laugh at Erik's misfortune. He did, however, catch a slight twitch of Rahim's lips, and his own restraint very nearly crumbled at the sight.
Bath ready, towels laid out, fire stoked, and fresh clothing to hand, Darius returned to the kitchen, and his cooking, while Rahim tended to Erik. And that, too, the closeness existing between the two men, is something that he learned to turn a blind eye to long ago. It truly ceased to trouble him in the early days of their relationship, and (if he were to be honest with himself) he must confess he developed a fondness for Erik when he observed the effect of him on Rahim.
The musing distracted him as he was chopping the ginger, and he set all such thoughts aside, lest he risk losing a finger.
Evening found Erik again situated by the fire in the drawing room, this time dry and his head pillowed in Rahim's lap. Darius served them tea laced with brandy, and softly made his departure. As he closed the door behind him, to grant the two privacy, he heard Rahim gently slip into his lecture about "being prepared for all weather conditions and in January, Erik.." and counted himself lucky not to be on receiving end of it.
Three days later, Erik lying abed half-delirious with fever, coughing so harshly that Darius can feel it in his own lungs, and Rahim gently tending to him, Darius counts himself substantially less lucky as he ventures into the rain in pursuit of a doctor.