Kili loved Tauriel. Every last, little thing about her.
He loved the bright mirror of her eyes. How they would grow wide with wonder at the world around her. How in battle they would turn hard and sharp like daggers, but be soft and warm with affection whenever she would turn to him.
He loved her hair - soft like the finest elven silk to his touch and the colour of the forest in autumn. He loved the way it fell over her shoulders and back and how it felt sliding through his fingers. It smell like moss and leaves and summersun and there were times when Kili felt like he could lose himself in that scent.
He loved her alabaster skin that was so wonderfully tender to the stroke of his fingers and miraculously unblemished by all those days the beautiful she-elf had spent under the unrelenting touch of the sun.
He loved the way her smile could make his knees go weak and how one of her rare laughs would fill the room like the sound of fine music.
He loved her soft curves. Those skinny, foolish Sindar might have looked down on her, but Kili couldn't remember a moment since he had met her when his hands had not been restless with the desire to touch her.
He loved her grace and innate strength, he loved her innocence and sense of wonder and he loved the way that she loved him in return - unreserved, with all her heart and against all odds.
But most of all he loved her hands.
He did tell her once, but was startled by the way she looked at him with raised eyebrows and her mouth set into a tight, grim line. They were sitting in front of a cozy fireplace together in some tavern by the forest. Kili didn't remember the name. "The something Horseman", "Ye ol' something" - they all started to look the same with time. The others had gone to bed long ago, but Kili and Tauriel often used those rare moments alone to try and get to know each other. They would just sit and talk for hours or tell each other stories by the fire that now cast warm shadows on her suddenly so very solemn face.
"I hate them", she answered and tightly folded her hands in her lap when Kili reached out to touch them. "They are unsightly - rough and marred by years of battle. They are not a maiden's hands, what could you possibly find to love about them?"
"You silly elf", the dwarf sighed and grabbed her hand before she had a chance to resist. He ran his fingers over the spot where the bow-string had hardened the skin, then slowly, gently over her palm that indeed was rough and calloused by years of yielding weapons as captain of Thranduil's Elven Guard.
"Do you really not understand? Can't you see?" He pressed his lips to her wrist and chuckled when he felt her pulse quicken. "There are days when I still cannot believe that you are real. Your beauty, your strength, the way you look at this world - it's hard not to believe that this is just a dream after all. You had won a Prince's affection, but chose me instead. A dwarf of all things."
He raised his free hand to tuck a strand of long, auburn hair behind her ear. His heart skipped a beat when she leaned into his touch.
"Tauriel, I see the way people look at us. They stare at us and they are never subtle about it. Nor do they try and hide what they are thinking. They wonder what it is you see in me. Sometimes I find myself wondering the same. The stars among which you you walk at night go pale compared to your beauty, but I... I am just me.
"But everytime I find myself in doubt, I touch my hand to yours and I remember that we are so much more than what mets the eye. We both were forged in battle, we fought and bled for what we believe is right. Dwarves, elves... Does ist really matter when in the end we all bleed red?
"Every little flaw you despise about your hands - be they left by bow or sword or dagger - you will find the same on me. I take your hands in mine and I know that we are not so different after all.
"How could I not love your hands when this is what they do for me?"
He stood up and closed the distance between them. He liked how this way he could look into her eyes without standing on his tiptoes.
"Also", he continued and touched his forehead to hers. "I don't remember much from when the Morghul blade's poison had clouded my senses, but I remember how in my fever I was longing for you and wondering if you could have ever felt the same way about me. And even though I believed you nothing more than a dream, I will never forget the feeling of your fingers linked with mine.
"So never tell me again that you hate your hands. They are truly wonderful..."
They stayed like this for a long time - foreheads touching, one of his hands cradling her cheek and the other one entwined with hers while their breaths mingled in the warm air between them. The only sound was the crackling of burning wood from the fireplace, but then Tauriel filled the room with one of her bell-like laughes.
"Why are you laughing?" Kili asked puzzled and a little irritated. "I meant every word."
"I know you did" Tauriel replied with a very un-elvish giggle and leaned in slghtly. Her eyes briefly darted to his lips and it was enough to leave the young dwarf's blood boiling.
"And they are such sweet words from the man who once thought it was witty and charming to suggest I search his trousers."
"Well", Kili let his one hand slip from her cheek to her neck and slightly brushed his lips against hers. "It worked, did it not...?"
From this day on, whenever people would stare at them, whenever they heard them whisper behind their backs, Tauriel would take Kili's hand and link her fingers with his. She would see the small smile tug at the corner of his lips and all was well with the world...