Fili had noticed something a little... Well a little odd about Erebor's resident elf recently. The re-building of the kingdom was going well, and Tauriel had opted to stay here to "assist with any building work that may be required" (which,for her, mostly consisted of reaching for high up objects and sending messages quickly by running along the rafters) and she seemed to have settled in well. Her and his brother had become closer, as was expected, and Fili fully anticipated that they would eventually pluck up the courage to acknowledge their real feelings for each other.
He hoped this would happen sooner rather than later, because as much as he admired the she-elf, he was rather sick of hearing about her "silken hair and eyes like stars and her grace and oh Fí even when she fights she's so beautiful..."
He shuddered, remembering the lovesick look that had taken over Kili's face during that particular speech. The sooner he had an outlet for all these feelings the better. And it seemed that Kili wasn't the only one. Fili had noticed that recently, Tauriel took extra effort to sit down in his brothers presence, or slouch a little in her movements, so she was closer to his level. When Fili had asked if she was okay, having noticed her leaning against a wall next to Kili and slowly sliding further down it, she simply nodded, stood bolt upright and announced that she had to go and kill something, before vanishing, the tips of her ears the most alarming shade of pink.
And here she was, Fili noted, doing it again! She was having dinner with the two brothers tonight, and was standing in their kitchen. However, every time Kili walked near her, she seemed to have an uncontrollable urge to sit down. Anywhere. The chairs, the table, on the edge of a plantpot...
Kili obviously hadn't noticed, he was too starstruck to pay attention to anything except the fact that she was THERE and BREATHING THE SAME AIR AS HIM, but Fili noticed. It was only when he started following her eyes did he begin to understand. Every time she lowered herself to as near their level as she could, her eyes would dart to Kili's lips, only for a fraction of a second, but without fail, every time. He had a sudden realisation.
The love struck idiots hadn't even kissed yet.
Kili could literally worship the ground this woman walked,Tauriel could give up her home, her people and her reputation for him, and they could both fight in, and survive the greatest battle Erebor had ever seen, but they could not pluck up the courage to kiss. Never had Fili wanted to bash two peoples heads together more than he did now.
Dinner went as smoothly as it could, if you ignored the tangible romantic tension in the air. The food was mildly overcooked, the wine flowed freely and at the end of the evening Tauriel said goodnight to them both and hurried off. Kili was left sat at the table, staring at where she had sat, with a massive dopey grin on his face, sighing occasionally. Fili sat down opposite him, interrupting his reverie.
"Kili... Have you and Tauriel actually done... ANYTHING yet?" He asked.
Kili blushed and smiled goofily. "We held hands once... Her hands are so smooth, like marble only warm and it was... Wow. I mean, it's never gone further than that but it was so worth it!"
Fili let his head fall onto the table with an audible thud. Mahal these two were frustrating.
Lifting his head, he sighed. "Kili," he said, looking his brother square in the eye, "You should probably consider maybe, I don't know, moving things just a little further sometime soon before she breaks her back trying to get level with you."
Kili's eyes widened. "I don't know what you mean! And I can't possibly hug her or kiss her or anything! She's... She's too pure and precious and wonderful and... No she wouldn't want me to do that... Look at me!" Kili became a little downcast, and dropped his head, suddenly becoming fascinated with a loose thread at the bottom of his tunic. "She's so beautiful and brilliant and I'm so small and dumpy and… I can't even grow a beard Fi! She'd never want me…"
Fili's heart grew heavy hearing this. He knew that dwarf women had never found Kili particularly attractive, due to his lack of facial hair and surprising height. But he also knew that Tauriel wasn't a dwarf, and he had no doubt that she found Kili endearing in a way he just wasn't familiar with yet. "She does. She never takes her eyes off you and has been trying to make things easier for you, and possibly hurting her back in the process, so I say do the girl a favour and help her along a bit eh? Because I don't know how elves look when they are in love, but I'm pretty sure if I did, they'd look a little like Tauriel every time you walk into the room."
Kili blushed and wrung his fingers together. "D'ya really think that's true?"
Fili nodded. "Trust me Kí. She wants you. Go get her."
Fili didn't think that a dwarf could move as fast as Kili did to get out the door and find Tauriel, not did he think that a dwarf could go into SO MUCH detail about the subsequent make-out session, but boy was he proved wrong.
Two weeks later he was almost beginning to regret pushing the two together, but then he sees the light in Kili's eyes and the smile that illuminated his face, and realises that it wasn't so bad really. Seeing Kili as happy as he was with his fiery haired elven love was enough to make even the sappiest of romantic musings at 3 AM worth it. After all, what are big brothers for?