𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐒 || 𝐌𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢-𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬

Mat Cauthon x reader [Pt. 1]

A/N: So I've been watching an admittedly unhealthy amount of The Wheel of Time lately which is how this was born LOL It was meant to be a one shot only but turned into a two-shot because I loved it too much to stop XD This one shot follows the premise of the TV series, not the books since I haven't read them yet. I hope y'all enjoy it all the same :)

Swathes of dark brown curls blew in the wind as Mat turned slightly in his saddle. His jade-green gaze locked on mine before I snapped my head in the opposite direction. I could feel a scarlet blush coating the skin of my throat as a deep chuckle resonated in the seat behind me, the horse neighing lightly at the sound.

"You can just shut up now, al'Thor," I shot over my shoulder in an angry hiss.

But that, of course, only made my best friend chuckle that much harder. Briefly, I glanced back to catch a glimpse of Rand grinning my way, his ginger hair a flame in the noon-day sun.

"You should just tell him. You know that, right?" he arched an eyebrow at me but I looked away, facing forward once more as the group of horses' hooves thudded on the dirt path winding its way ahead, "I see the way he looks at you, the way you look at him. You two have been playing this cat-and-mouse game for too long,"

It wasn't that simple and he knew it. And yet...yet he did have a point. It wasn't as if I hadn't noticed the chemistry between us, that electric feeling that had been building since the first day I met him all of those years ago.

My parents and I had traveled to the Two Rivers for my father's work as a blacksmith. I was only thirteen years old, barely a teenager but still a child in so many ways. I had no knowledge of the way the world worked, the way society worked. So when Mat came into my life after meeting Rand's friends in the form of a quick wink, a sleight of hand, and a gift in my palm I still cherished to this day...my hand went up to finger the pendant at my throat...I never realized there was anything amiss. I didn't notice my father's glances of mistrust at his ever-moving hands or my mother's distaste at the holes in his ragged clothes.

To me, he was only Mat Cauthon - the boy who smiled as he played with his sisters in the town square, dry humor spilling from his lips as he hung out with his friends, a kindness in his eyes he directed towards those he cared for.

I didn't realize then he was a pick-pocket. I'm not sure, though, if I would have cared if I had. It's not as if I condoned stealing - I didn't. But he needed the money more than most, more than the other four of us. Especially after his father began drinking and womanizing, his mother falling to pieces as Mat was left to raise the girls, desperately trying to keep them all together. The fact that he had no money also meant nothing to me. He couldn't afford the things others could, like a nice, warm coat or even a good pair of boots. He couldn't give me the most expensive things. But material possession always meant so little to me.

In short? He didn't choose the life he was given. But he was living it the best that he could.

Perhaps that was why I had fallen in love with him over the years. He made the best out of a bad situation, always a smile on his face or cracking a joke.

Unfortunately, we were still stuck in the small narrow-minded village we always had been and tongues began to wag over our unlikely friendship. My parents forbade me to never see him again, to strictly spend time with Egwene, Perrin, or Rand. Just not Mat.

It broke my heart more than I could even begin to voice aloud. I could tell it hurt him, too, from the way his eyes followed me around the market, his hand brushing mine ever so lightly as he walked past. I was always glancing down to find small trinkets he had left in my palm, surely stolen, of course, but that thought always flitted in and out of my mind just as quickly as it had come.

Rand always knew what I was thinking somehow and nudged me out of my stupor just then. We had been close from the moment I stepped foot in the village. In fact, my mother assumed we would wed in the coming years once we were of age. Too bad I only harbored platonic feelings for the ginger boy behind me.

"I can't...I can't tell him that, Rand. You know why. My parents, they-" I began, shaking my head but Rand interrupted my speech.

"-aren't here. Are they? You heard what Moraine said - we can't go back. And as much as I hate that because..." he trailed off then and it was my turn to finish his sentence.

"You miss your father," I supplied, a statement not a question.

Nodding, he continued, "We have to make the best of a bad situation. At least for now,"

I made a face even though I knew he couldn't see it, "I thought you weren't fond of the Aes Sedai,"

"Oh, I'm not. But I have to make the best of this. For Egwene's sake...and yours, too, of course," he added.

"Gee, thanks. I love being an afterthought," I quipped sarcastically and I could almost feel him roll his eyes.

"You, my friend, have spent too much time with Mat."