'Twas brillig, and her slithy toves were winning.
Oliver left the bedclothes as stealthily as he could, careful not to make a sound. He had perfected this routine a long time ago, the art of making sure that not a soul was alerted to his movements as he navigated his way through the mazelike assortment of furniture towards the most secure location in the apartment.
As he expected, the door was locked. Oliver removed the key he had secreted onto his person earlier than evening from his pocket, and inserted it into the lock.
A click, a twist, and he was one key-code away from his mission. The whirring sound of machines was music to his years as he crept into the room and turned the tablet on.
Light flooded into the room, and he should have been blinded by the florescence if not for the shocking figures before his eyes.
"I knew you would try to cheat by playing outside our agreed official hours," mumbled Felicity from the doorframe, rubbing at her eyes blearily. She turned and headed for the kitchen, treading on the discarded shirt Oliver had left on the ground the previous evening and nearly stubbing her toe on the base of the couch as she staggered blindly towards it.
Oliver followed her, the tablet in his hand and confusion spreading across his features.
"I don't understand. I checked this before we went to bed last night – how could your scores have acquired such a lead in the span of a few hours?"
Sure enough, the number attributed to the player named Slithy Toves – Felicity was a big fan of Lewis Carroll – was outstripping every other player on the accolades table. Oliver's own scores were well below hers, even though his innate prowess at tactical games had allowed him to beat almost everyone else addicted to the game.
Felicity's mussed hair brushed his bare shoulder as she leaned over to ascertain his observation, and a satisfied smile appeared on her lips.
"I wrote an algorithm that copies my playing patterns and simulates my gameplay when I'm away once I caught on to your cheating tendencies. Could you pass me a teaspoon?"
Oliver dutifully handed her a spoon for her coffee, still staring at the screen. He had been hitting the controls as quickly as he could ever since he picked up the game, but even his competitive streak had to admit that his girlfriend had thoroughly trounced him, based on the pure figures alone.
"That's cheating."
"That's using my evolutionary advantages for the right purpose. Just as you were using your freakish ability to function normally on a few hours of sleep to circumvent the official playing hours we had agreed on." She pulled the teaspoon out and tilted her head up to look at him. "Besides, what have I said about me and video games?"
He scowled slightly. "You see them differently from the average person – it's the underlying system that you are instinctually attuned to."
She smiled and popped a kiss on his mouth. "Good boy."
As he placed the tablet down, he finally noticed that she was making breakfast (defined officially by Felicity as coffee, counter-defined by Oliver as homemade blueberry pancakes with whipped cream, ideally served to Felicity in bed) at four in the morning.
"Why are you up at this time?"
"There's a meeting held over video conference that I need to prep for – we're operating on European time, unfortunately, on account of the clients' preferences. I'd tell you to go back to bed but I know you don't need the sleep."
He opened the fridge and retrieved eggs and mixed herbs to cook her something more substantial, while she stood dazedly with her eyes half-closed, sipping at her coffee and waiting for her senses to become fully alert once the requisite amount of coffee had been duly downed.
Oliver was quick with her omelet and Felicity was soon tucking into it with a fork by his side, as he cracked two eggs into the pan to make one for himself. As the egg white began to coagulate, he leaned down to nuzzle her neck.
"Teach me how to use the algorithm."
She chuckled as his stubble brushed against her skin. "No way, I only wrote it because my boyfriend insisted he could beat me at a video game and then proceeded to cheat on our agreed rules."
He turned off the stove so he could relinquish his hold on the frying pan, and put a hand next to her hip on the counter so he bracketed her body with his own.
"If you teach it to me, we could dominate the game together and beat the rest of the world."
"Oh yeah? And what do you know about dominating?"
He was planting feather-like kisses on her jaw, and at her words he took hold of her earlobe with his teeth and bit lightly.
She made a low sound at the back of her mouth before she said, "You are truly incorrigible."
"I know," he murmured, pressing a hand to her stomach so he could pull her towards him such that their bodies were pressed together before the counter. "Tell me I'm also persuading you on this matter."
"…insufferable," Felicity managed to say before she succumbed to his kiss by opening her mouth and tangling her tongue with his.
Oliver did not reply because he had picked her up and was headed straight for their bedroom, any sounds he was making entirely incoherent to anyone else but the woman who knew him and held him tight now.
As it turned out, Felicity Smoak. CEO was very late for her meeting that day, and Oliver's half-cooked omelet was never eaten. But they did dominate the game together with their high scores.
I wrote this because I was a little tired from writing all the angst on The Dark Prodigal and because everyone kept asking me for more Olicity (which I really wanted to give you readers but I can't do it unless it services the plot). For those who've found their way here from reading TDP, I hope that this is a welcome change from Oliver's 'I can't be with anyone' spiel and that you have an idea of where I want to bring Olicity in that story. To readers who have never read my work before this, I hope you loved it and thank you very much for reading this.