A/N: This one shot was a request I got anonymously on tumblr (my blog name is the same as my pen name if you'd like to follow me). It's something I've never done before: college Olitz. Y'all know I love high school Olitz, but I've never really explored that period between teen Olitz and growup Olitz. I don't know why. Now that I've done it, I'll probably be doing it again, but possibly as a period piece because I seemingly can't stop writing them. Anyway, on to the story!

3:41 AM

Olivia was sure she was dreaming of the wailing fire alarm. It took three attempts to rouse herself when she realized that she was dreaming of the beach and that there could be no fire alarm. Once her eyes opened, she was immediately alert, falling out of bed and shouting at her roommate as she pulled on her UGGs. "Abby get up! Fire alarm!"

Abby, light sleeper she was, rolled over and out of bed instantly. She stuck her feet in her flip flops and grabbed her purse. Olivia grabbed her backpack, holding everything she couldn't afford to lose like her $500 chemistry book and MacBook Pro, and her phone. They dashed from the dorm and out onto the damp lawn. Finally outside, clustered among the hundred students who lived in their co-ed dorm at Xavier University, Abby let out a yawn and looked at her phone. "Shit! It's 3 in the morning. This must not be a drill."

Sure enough the wailing of a fire engine filled the air. The murmur of students rose as they looked at the building. There was no billowing smoke or flames dancing in windows, so Olivia wasn't sure what was happening. She looked over at Abby. "I wish I'd had the time to put on pants. It doesn't even look like anything is on fire."

Abby glanced over at her roommate, clad in only a white hoodie bearing the Xavier crest of arms, and her tan UGGs. "That's a nice look for you. Is it winter? Is it summer? Who can say?"

Olivia laughed. "Shut up Abby."

She tugged at her hoodie to cover her polka dotted panties and looked around, wondering if anyone else was in such a state of undress as she. She smiled when her eyes landed on a bare chest next to her, and her grin widened when she looked up and saw that its owner was quite handsome. She wondered how she had lived in the same dorm with someone so hot and not noticed them before.

She must have stared too long because he looked at her with a smile and said, "You know, I always thought when I finally got to talk to you that I'd be in clothes."

Olivia looked him over and noticed he was in dark blue boxers decorated with red Polo horses. "At least they're nice underwear. Polo: very fancy."

He laughed and extended his large hand. "I'm Fitz."

"I'm Olivia. Nice to meet you." Olivia shook his hand, wishing she was wearing pants. "Although it would be nicer if I was wearing pants."

"This'll make a nice story someday," he replied, reaching up to run his hand through his thick curls, held back from his face with a thin blue Nike headband. "Well maybe not nice, but ironic. I've been trying to talk to you for months but you're always surrounded by people. You're like a Kardashian."

"A Kardashian? As in rich and useless? I wish." Olivia laughed. "I'm the head of the feminist book club so you probably always see me with members."

"Feminist book club? I'd ask if I could join but it doesn't sound like the most man-friendly environment."

Olivia smirked. "Kind of like being a woman anywhere."

"Well now that's not fair."

"It's unfair that feminism has to exist at all."

"I would argue with that but I don't know much about feminism."

Olivia smiled. "Come to one of the meetings. We meet every Wednesday on the fourth floor of the library. This week we're discussing Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's We Should All Be Feminists."

Fitz raised his eyebrows. "That's a little on the nose."

"Sometimes subtlety isn't enough."

Before Fitz could reply, a fireman exited the building with a megaphone. "Alright. Y'all can go back in. Someone left a flat iron on."

HPeople began milling into the dorm and Fitz knew his chance was slipping away. "Wanna get some breakfast?"

"Now?" Olivia looked at her phone screen. It was almost 4 AM.

"No. Well, today, but not now. I'd very much like to get dressed right now." He gave a sweetly sheepish smile, his ears a little red with embarrassment. "Maybe 8 or 9, unless you have class."

"Lucky for you, I don't have class until noon. And I was hoping to sleep until then, but since you're asking so nicely—and in your underwear—I would love to have breakfast with you."

Fitz laughed, clearly pleased. "I promise I'll be dressed for breakfast…unless you'd like me to stay this way."

"I think that's more third date attire."

"So there's going to be a third date?"

"Provided you don't terribly offend me on the first or the second, yes."

They exchanged phone numbers then headed into the dorms. Abby nudged Olivia with her elbow as Fitz went down the hallway opposite theirs. "Only you could get a date during a fire."

Olivia laughed. "Only I would end up talking to someone so cute while wearing my big panties."

XXXXX

8:36 AM

Olivia arrived at the campus diner, a down-sized Denny's located above the cafeteria, and looked around for Fitz. She felt much better about seeing him now that she was wearing date-appropriate underwear underneath a blue polka-dotted sheath dress with a handkerchief hem that had been the impetus for purchasing the way-out-of-her-budget dress. She looked down at her red Keds sneakers, hoping she looked date-y enough as she walked into the restaurant. She headed straight for the front register, assuming he would be late.

She was surprised when he stood and waved. She was even more surprised that he seemed more handsome than she remembered, wearing a navy button down and coral shorts with brown boat shoes. She walked over and smiled at him as she removed her large round sunglasses and sticking them atop her head. Fitz smiled at her. "Wow. You're even prettier than I remember."

Olivia laughed as she set her bag down on the shining tabletop. "Thank you. I was thinking the same thing."

She moved to pull out her chair but Fitz reached for it. "Please. Let me."

"Alright." She gave a crooked smile, trying to remember the last time someone had pulled out her chair, as she sat down.

Fitz smiled at her as he sat down opposite her. "Sorry. I'm just a little old-fashioned."

"Oh don't apologize. Not even the most hardcore feminist is offended by manners." She reached into her bag and pulled out We Should All Be Feminists. "It's my extra copy."

Fitz took the book and looked at it dubiously. "Am I supposed to have this read by Wednesday?"

"It's a pretty quick read once you start." Fitz nodded and put the book in his backpack.

He looked at her and smiled shyly. "Your hair is beautiful."

Olivia's hand unconsciously went to her almost waist-length locs and she smiled shyly. "Thank you."

"I always wanted locs but I figured I can't be the only white person on campus and have dreadlocks. I already stand out like a sore thumb."

Olivia laughed. "You're not the only white person on campus. My roommate, Abby, is white. But I completely understand."

"What's weird is that when I tried assimilating, I stood out even more."

Olivia laughed. "How exactly did you try to assimilate?"

"I bought some of the music the guys play at parties, and some of the clothes I see lot of guys in. I thought I was doing really well until some girl at a party called me Eminem."

Olivia didn't mean to laugh but she couldn't help herself. "I'm sorry. That's not funny. I do have to ask how you ended up here though. Most white people who come here are already pretty immersed in black culture."

"To be completely honest—and this is so stupid—I followed my ex-girlfriend Toni here. We dated all through high school and she had her heart set on coming here. I wanted to go to LSU but it's the same education, and it's cheaper, and I got the distinct feeling Toni and I couldn't do the long-distance thing. So here I am."

Olivia frowned. "Toni? Toni Garrett? That's your ex?"

Fitz looked at her unsurely. "I'm very interested in the meaning behind that frown."

Olivia sighed. "Bad feminist moment: I wanna pop that inflatable bitch and watch her fly around the room."

Fitz laughed. "And to what does she owe the pleasure of your seething hatred?"

He wondered how it was possible that she was so stunning when she frowned. "I followed my high school boyfriend here. I wanted to go to Howard but, for reasons very much like yours, I ended up here. And everything was fine until I caught Harrison and Toni in his dorm room. I dumped him immediately, you know, because I figured he was the most at fault. And he was. But apparently, she was quite determined to sleep with him too after she found out he was my boyfriend just because got some scholarship we were both up for. Petty bitch. Sorry, another bad feminist moment."

Fitz shook his head, smiling derisively. "No, no. That's the perfect characterization for her. I'm sorry she did that to you though."

Olivia shrugged. "It happens. I'm over it. I still hate her guts, but not really for that. She's just genuinely unlikable. Look who I'm telling though."

Fitz laughed. "So, on a lighter note, what's your major?"

"American Lit. I'm planning to educate the next generation on the roots of feminism and the patriarchy in the classics." She wore the sweetest smile, clearly very excited. "What about you?"

"Mechanical engineering. Math is the only thing I'm good at."

"How would you like to take my Cal 1 midterm then?"

Fitz laughed. "How much do you wanna pay me?"

She gave a silly smile. "I'll dread your hair."

XXXXX

10:24 AM

"So then my mother comes out of the house and shouts, 'Olivia Pope—"

"Wait. Your last name is Pope? You're the O. Pope in Dr. Grayson's 301 Lit class?"

Olivia looked at him unsurely. "Yes…"

Fitz scoffed. "I hate you! You're the one always throwing off the exam curve."

Olivia laughed, blushing. "Sorry."

"I have been trying to figure out for months who the 'brilliant Ms. Pope' was when he puts up the curve chart and almost wets himself in excitement over your short answer essays."

Olivia laughed again, blushing more. "I always do better than I think I did if that makes you feel better."

"What would make me feel better is if you'd stop being so gorgeous in class. I can barely focus cause I'm looking at you."

"Looking at me? I've never even seen you in class."

"I sit on the row behind yours. I'm right to your left."

Olivia shrugged cutely. "I've never seen you."

"Because you and Dr. G are too busy fangirling over Edgar Allan Poe."

"Maybe you'd be some competition for my curve if you did a little fangirling,"

Fitz laughed, his head falling back. "I doubt it. That class is just too hard for me."

"I could help you study."

He shook his head, still smiling. "You're kinda part of the problem, Liv. Actually you're the whole problem. I spend the whole hour staring at the side of your face. And I hear Dr. G talking but it's like… you know the teacher from Peanuts? That's what he sounds like. That whole class is like an hour of me waiting for him to shut up so you'll start talking."

"I can't believe I've never noticed you."

"Oh I'm not surprised. I stay quiet, mostly because I have no idea what to say to you."

"Why?" He wondered if he'd ever seen a girl so pretty. Her skin was celestial, her forehead high like a prima ballerina, her eyes a deep dark brown with sparkling gold flecks in them, her eyelashes thick and curled back nearly to her eyelid, her nose speckled with tiny freckles, her cheekbones lovingly sculpted by God himself, and her lips… Fitz wasn't sure he'd ever seen lips so perfect. Her Cupid's bow was exquisite, her lips the most beautiful shade of pink, pouting just enough that they begged to be kissed. He was snapped out of staring at her by her waving her small hand in his face. She gave a cheeky smile. "You were staring."

He smiled shyly, his ears red with embarrassment. "You see my problem."

XXXXX

11:40 AM

Olivia's smile was immovable, Fitz's large hand pressed against hers as they walked to the Chemistry building where her noon class was held. She couldn't stop picturing him with his head thrown back laughing like a little kid. It was strange how he thought she was funny when Harrison never did. "Thank you for breakfast. And for such a nice time. I don't think I've laughed that much all semester."

"It was nothing." He shrugged boyishly then quickly shook his head. "That's not true. This was the best date I've been on since I've been here. I have no shame in admitting that I'm going to think about you all day and tell at least three of my friends how amazing you are."

Olivia laughed, blushing. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't going to do the same thing."

"Well we're clearly smitten, so what do we do?" He reached out and fixed a loc that had fallen out of her twist.

"Well we could start with a goodbye kiss, and maybe a 'How's your day going?' text later on, and leave the rest to fate."

Fitz smiled, wrinkling his nose. "I've never liked fate. Let's call it a date Wednesday, after the meeting."

"I'll only agree if you actually read the book instead of just showing up to hit on girls like some guys."

"If I read the book, can I hit on you at the meeting?"

"Only if you let me buy you greasy pizza after."

Fitz tilted his head. "Well now it's not a date if you pay."

Olivia laughed, shaking her head. "Read the book and reevaluate your statement."

"Can you stop being so cute for a minute?"

"Why?" She smiled so hard her cheeks hurt. "Are you gonna kiss me?"

"I was thinking about it."

"Well here you go." She closed her eyes tight and poked out her lips as much as she could. Fitz laughed, thinking he'd never been so thankful for a fire alarm, ad leaned over to press his lips to hers.

A/N: Don't forget to review! XOXOXO