An excerpt from Book 1; Eye of the World; Chapter 3: The Peddler; Page 43:
"You shouldn't let Mat get you mixed up in his foolishness, Rand," Egwene said, as solemn as a Wisdom herself, then abruptly she giggled. "I haven't seen you look like that since Cenn Buie caught you and Mat up his apple trees when you were ten."
I have begun my first re-read of the series, and found this comment, thanks to our good friend Egwene, and while it was obviously meant to be a harmless comment, it could also hint at Cauthor (MatxRand). So here's my short fic building off of that. Thank you Egwene, and of course, Robert Jordan.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I just love them. They belong to Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.
"Light, Mat! How did you get up there?" A ten-year-old Matrim Cauthon grinned from above, in one of Cenn Buie's apple trees. "Want me to show you?" He giggled, swinging from the tree and dropping to the ground. He grabbed Rand's arm and steered him towards another one, shorter, with lower branches. He quickly climbed the up it, motioning Rand to follow. He clambered up the tree behind him, embarrassed at his obvious uneasiness at being up so high. He slipped, but was caught by the other boy. Mat led the way a little slower, checking that Rand was following, and led them up to the highest tree. It wasn't much higher than the one they had first climbed into, but just high enough that they couldn't reach even the lowest branches yet. Mat always boasted about how he was most certainly going to end up taller than Rand! It was a race to see who would be able to grab this trees' branches first.
Mat lounged across them, while Rand just held onto the tree, not wanting to fall. Mat didn't seem to care if he fell. Many people a likened Mat to Master Al'Vere's tomcat, sleepy, graceful, and clearly not afraid that he wouldn't land on his feat. Rand certainly thought of him that way. "Hey, Rand?" Mat asked, surprisingly quiet.
"Yeah?"
"Have you ever kissed anyone? Not like your mother, you know what I mean?" Mat giggled nervously.
Rand was surprised at the question. "I know what you mean. No. No, I haven't. Have you?" He blushed, wishing he could take the words back. "I mean, why do you ask?"
"H-have you ever, you know, wanted to kiss someone?" Mat shifted uncomfortably. Rand blushed harder, and turned away. "Yeah?"
The conversation was making them both rather nervous, and he still had no idea what the other boy was talking about. "You didn't answer my question. Have you?"
Mat managed a face of smugness, "Yes I have! Jealous?"
"Of course not!" Of course he was. "Who?"
"Jerilin."
"Jerilin al'Caar?"
"There aren't any other Jerilin's are there?"
"I bet she hated it!" He laughed teasingly. "I bet she cried afterwards!"
"You're so horrible! I'm not a bad kisser! You're probably a bad kisser!" He retorted, laughing along. Rand paused.
"What was it like?" Another quiet, regretful question. "Why do you want to know, huh? She didn't cry afterwards, for your information, you trolloc!" He grabbed an apple from a nearby branch.
"I think she did! You probably are just telling me that to try to make me jealous! And don't eat the apples, he'll kill you if he sees you." They continued to bicker.
Cenn Buie wondered through the orchard chuckling to himself as he heard the faint chirpy voices of young Matrim Cauthon and Rand Al'Thor. A couple more minutes before he would shoo them out of his trees. They were still boys, after all. A couple more minutes.
"Oh really? Prove it!" Rand smirked, before realizing his mistake, "I mean- I didn't mean it like that!"
"What makes you think I'm going to kiss you, Rand Al'Thor? I wouldn't kiss you if my life depended on it!" Mat laughed, and Rand was relieved to see Mat wasn't grossed out by his slip up. Mat leaned back and reached up, intending to catch a branch above, but slipped, and nearly fell, until his friend grabbed his ankle and pulled him back up.
"You're so heavy, Mat! I would have thought that someone as small as you would be as light as a feather!" Rand laughed again and stepped back cautiously, his previous mistake seemingly forgotten, to let Mat regain his footing. Rand sat again, before seeing how close he and Mat's faces had become. "I just saved your life! You could have fallen and broken your neck if it wasn't for me!" They often bragged and boasted to each other, something Rand would not normally do, but he so often wanted to try to outdo his friend.
"I bet I'm still the better kisser, though!" Mat was back on his game.
"I haven't kissed anyone! We can't judge whos better!" He laughed again.
"Do you want to kiss someone?"
"I already said yes." Unexpectedly, Mat leaned forward. Rand wanted to pull away but found himself leaning, lips touching.
After a pause, Mat grinned, "I'm definitely the better kisser."
"Y-!" Rand was cut off by the roaring laughter of Cenn Buie. They peered down to see him leaning against the trunk, shaking, as the two boys scrambled down from the apple tree.
Thank you for reading!