Corners of the Multiverse (Scomiche Oneshot Compilation)

Your Love, Your Love, Your Love Is My Healing Poultice (Fantasy 'Verse Pt. 1)

Hello lovelies! Here is part one of a two-shot set in a fantasy-historical setting. The next part should be up in a week or so, hopefully :) 5 points to Gryffindor if you can spot the reference in the title.

Please enjoy! And as always, please point out any mistakes.

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As an apprentice to the Queen's royal healer (who also happens to be his father), Mitch is accustomed to being woken up at all odd hours of the morning; whether it's soothing the fever of an ill child or bringing herbs to elders whose joints ache from the winter winds.

Lately, however, Mitch has been spending a fair amount of his time in the kingdom's training camp, tending to the bumps and bruises of the new knights-in-training.

Well, to be more specific, the bumps and bruises of one knight-to-be in particular.

"Mitch!"

The apprentice startles, immediately recognizing the smooth baritone. Mitch quickly straightens his tunic, fixes his bangs, and tries to tamp down his excited smile. He places the mortar and pestle he'd been using to prepare a poultice back onto his work table, and wishes the apothecary wasn't so messy all of the time.

"Squire Hoying," he greets, finally turning to face the boy entering the healer's chambers. He's not really a boy anymore, though. Mitch has known him since they were small, and the smiling, bearded man approaching him is certainly not a child any longer.

"I've told you not to call me that," Scott says with a chuckle, pulling Mitch in for a hug and lifting him off of the ground a little. "It feels strange, coming from you."

Mitch laughs, returning the hug. "Okay, okay, Scott. Now put me down!"

Scott sets Mitch back onto his feet, resting his hands on the smaller man's shoulders, and Mitch takes a second to admire the way that Scott fills out his maroon doublet. Knight training has broadened his shoulders and strengthened his arms, and Mitch is hardly complaining (although the racing heart it causes can be troublesome).

Scott's face is smudged with dirt, his hair is flopping onto his forehead and he's kind of sweaty, but between his sparkling blue eyes and huge grin, he's never looked more beautiful to Mitch. He also looks unharmed, which is a first.

"What harebrained adventures did you and your knightly horde get up to today?" Mitch asks teasingly, feeling brave enough to wipe a smear of dirt off of Scott's nose with his sleeve.

Scott immediately looks sheepish, which sends up about a million red flags. "Uh...about that."

Mitch sighs. "What happened this time?" he asks, unable to hide the fond exasperation in his voice.

Scott unbuttons his doublet, revealing a muscled chest and what looks like a severe rash, his skin peppered with angry patches of red. "What do you know about hornetflowers?"

Of course it was hornetflowers; a yellow bloom whose beauty is only outshone by the venom in their petals. Mitch sighs again, already mentally compiling the list of herbs needed to make the salve. So much for unharmed. "I know how to heal the rash. And I know you have a good explanation as to why you dove face first into a patch of them."

Scott laughs, shrugging off his doublet and undershirt and hoisting himself onto Mitch's work table. His legs are so long that his toes nearly touch the floor, and he's swinging them back and forth idly. "Unfortunately, not really. I just tripped while chasing a bandit."

Mitch's brain is fighting to focus on anything other than the naked chest now in front of him. Luckily, the severity of the painful-looking rashes dampens most of his interest. He begins to gather the ingredients for the poultice; and it's blessedly simple. He whips it up in a matter of minutes but he can feel Scott's heavy gaze on him the entire time.