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He's never seen an elf sleep before.
Given their unnatural stillness and strange habits while wakeful, Kili had vaguely imagined them sleeping with their eyes open, or standing up, or not at all. But Tauriel has proven him wrong on each of these counts, and he finds it endlessly fascinating.
They'd been reclining on their backs in a vacant bed, heads together, keeping Fili company while he recovers in the healing chamber. Tauriel is quiet around him and his brother, probably because they talk too much for her to get a word in edgewise. So it had taken a while for Kili to realize she had actually drifted off beside him, her head pillowed on his arm. Kili had only planned to stay a few minutes—he’s had enough of the healing chamber for a lifetime. But now that Tauriel's eyes are closed, her breathing is slow and deep, and his arm has gone completely numb, he accepts that he is not leaving any time soon.
It isn't as if he minds, though. Tauriel has run herself ragged for days on end, and the sleep must be good for her. Even though she is counted as a Dwarf-Friend for her valor in the battle, and her stay in Erebor comes with no conditions, she is still driven to make herself useful at every waking moment. Kili isn’t surprised that she’s reached the end of her energy. Also, it provides him with the opportunity to stare at her to his heart's content. Her hands are folded neatly atop her stomach; Kili watches them rise and fall as she breathes. The pink of her mouth, her cheeks, the dusting of freckles across her nose—Kili never gets the chance to look for as long as he’d like, before Tauriel ducks her head or changes the subject.
They have been courting for several weeks, but sometimes Kili is still in disbelief that he is actually permitted to be close to her. He is afraid to move, even breathe, lest the illusion shatter.
"Stop smiling like that," says Fili from the next bed.
"You can't even see my face." Kili turns around to look at his brother. "And be quiet, you're going to wake her."
"I can tell you're grinning like an idiot," he retorts. "You always do when—“
"They can see us."
Tauriel moves her head side to side as her voice pierces through their conversation. Kili looks at her, confused, only to realize that her eyes are still closed. Fili snickers.
"Don't laugh," Kili admonishes, though he is hard pressed to hide a smile. "She's tired."
Beside him, Tauriel continues to fidget.
"At your back!" Her voice is a soft, slurred version of her no-nonsense captain's tone. "The spiders..." She trails off into a deep sigh, her brow still furrowed.
"Ssh," Kili whispers against her hair. "It's all right. You're dreaming."
At the sound of his voice she rolls over to nest against his side. Her breath falls from parted lips onto his neck, and she grasps a handful of his shirt. Kili swallows hard; her warmth along his body is enough to overwhelm his senses for a moment. As the pins and needles recede from his newly freed arm, he reaches it up to stroke her silken hair. Because really, who can expect him to resist?
This is how Oin finds them when he comes to check on Fili. Bofur, inexplicably, comes trailing after him. He wiggles cheeky eyebrows and tips his hat to Kili, despite the fact that he and Tauriel are clearly on top of the blankets and scandal-free. Kili just presses a finger to his lips, although he doubts that Tauriel will stir.
"Guess what? Elves talk in their sleep," Fili announces as Oin prods at his healing wounds.
"Interesting," Bofur drawls, a broad grin spreading across his face. "Any sordid woodland secrets come out?"
"No one tease her when she wakes up," Kili urges. He imagines she will be embarrassed enough to find that she's fallen asleep somewhere other than her own room, and it feels wrong to poke fun at her when she can’t defend herself. For now, though, her usual tension seems finally to have melted away. She hums and burrows closer, clutching the front of his shirt a little tighter.
"Khebabmudtu, amralime," she sighs, and Kili suddenly feels warm down to his toes.
He has been teaching Tauriel Khuzdul in private moments for weeks now. She is determined to learn at least the basics of the language, but the pronunciations have proven difficult for her to master. She gets frustrated quickly, especially since Sindarin has not been terribly challenging for Kili. While sleeping, however, her Khuzdul is tender and effortless—and not to mention, perfectly accented.
He presses a kiss to her hair, and looks up to find three pairs of eyes on him. Oin and Bofur have frozen into place, jaws hanging slack, while Fili is about to bust his stitches trying to hold his laughter in.
"Laddie..." Oin warns.
"I only taught her a little, I swear. We’re going to be wed eventually, what else do you expect?"
“You’d just better hope your mum doesn’t ever hear it,” says Oin, shaking his head. “Or Gloin, Mahal forbid. He’d drop dead.”
“At least you taught her the flowery stuff,” Bofur remarks. “If you’re going to give away our sacred secrets, might as well be a gentleman about it.”
“Khahum menu rkhas shirumundu.”
Once again the room is silenced; Kili blinks down at her in utter shock. There is a faint smile on Tauriel’s lips, as if another sweet endearment has just passed them. But this is most decidedly not the case.
“…I definitely didn’t teach her that.”
“Good thing Amad isn’t here to scrub her mouth with soap,” Fili remarks with raised eyebrows.
"She speaks better Khuzdul than I do, I’ll say that."
"She's even got the tongue roll right."
"I'll wager that's the first thing Kili taught her.” This is from Fili again, grinning for all he’s worth.
"Well." Kili’s face is properly burning now. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you that tongue technique is very important. When speaking Khuzdul. Obviously."
He smiles grudgingly as the other three laugh. They drown out Tauriel’s next whisper, but Kili suspects it had probably been incoherent anyway.
"You're getting me into trouble," he says to her softly, tracing a finger along the edge of her ear. She shivers a bit, and uncurls her hand from his shirt to lie flat over his heart.
"Oh, laddie," says Bofur, chuckling at Kili’s addlepated expression. "You're in trouble, all right."