A/N: Prompt from foi-a-lisa on Tumblr: "Felicity inviting Oliver to dance. :)"


Oliver preferred working out in silence, nothing hanging in the air but the clang of the metal bar on the salmon ladder or the pounding of his fists on the practice dummy. But he never seemed to mind Felicity's music, probably because it seemed to be a gateway into her head. Oliver thought he'd gotten pretty good at reading her facial expressions and body language over the past two years, but the music she played was always a dead giveaway for the mood she was in.

Today, like most days, it was something upbeat and catchy. It was a song Oliver had never heard before but one he thought would probably end up stuck in his head for days. He grabbed his shirt from the floor next to the practice dummy and walked toward Felicity's workstation where she was fully engrossed in writing code, bopping her head to the song as her fingers moved over the keyboard. He stopped a few feet behind her chair and leaned back on the medical table, crossing his arms over his chest and grinning as he watched her. Felicity hated when he did this. She would call him a lurker and throw pens and balls of paper in his direction until he would chuckle and go back to whatever he'd been doing. If Oliver was being honest with himself, he probably spent more time than he should just looking at her, taking her in, but he couldn't help it. When she wasn't being utterly adorable, she was amazing him with her wit and strength and smarts, and he could go on all day about all the amazing things Felicity Smoak represented.

The beat of the song picked up as the hook approached, and Felicity began to sing aloud, moving her shoulders up and down. She wiggled the upper half of her body and spun her chair halfway around, freezing in place when she saw Oliver watching her.

"Good song?" Oliver teased, quirking his eyebrow at her.

Felicity narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm seriously going to start making you wear a bell around your neck."

He rolled his eyes at the threat but wondered if he would eventually come down to the lair to one day find just that waiting for him. The thought made him laugh.

"You're laughing at me now?" She asked, attempting and failing to look offended. "Not very nice, Mr. Queen."

Felicity tilted her head slightly and considered him. She knew he watched her. All. The. Time. Half the time he was so engrossed that he didn't realize she'd caught him staring, and the look he wore was exactly the same each time. It was a look Felicity had come to appreciate, though she had a hard time deciphering exactly what it was – A cross between amusement and wonder, perhaps?

Luckily Oliver picked a good day to push Felicity's buttons, because she was in a good mood and ready to push his buttons right back. She reached behind her and cranked the speakers loud before standing from her chair and extending her hand to Oliver. "All right, buddy. Show me what you got."

For a moment Oliver wasn't sure what she meant, but then she started to move her neck back and forth and shaker her shoulders up and down. She was dancing – like a goofball – and she wanted him to dance, too. "I don't dance, Felicity."

"Come on, Oliver," she said, spinning around with her arms above her head. "You owned a nightclub. You were the playboy of Starling City. Don't try to tell me you can't dance."

"I said I don't, not I can't," Oliver shifted his weight and tried not to smile as Felicity continued to move to the song.

"You fight villainous maniacs for a living, and you're afraid to let loose and shake your ass a little?" she challenged. "Oliver Queen, you are wound too tightly, and you need to have some fun."

With that Felicity grabbed his hand and spun him in a circle, and Oliver laughed in spite of himself. Maybe she was right. He was always tense, and he did take himself really seriously. Before the island he was carefree, albeit really irresponsible, and he knew how to have a good time. Everything was different now, but letting go a little couldn't hurt, could it? Before Oliver realized it was happening, his feet began to move, and he was bopping in sync with Felicity. He looked over to see a wide smile playing on her face as she moved.

By the time the song ended they were both breathless and holding their sides from laughing so much. Oliver recovered before Felicity, and placing his index finger under her chin, tilted it up so he could look at her. "Thank you."

"For what?" she asked, her shoulders still shaking a bit from laughter.

"For this — For forcing me out of my comfort zone and making me have a little fun," he said, and Felicity noticed that look was back on his face. "You always know exactly what I need."

Felicity fussed with her glasses, pushing them back up on her nose. The corners of her mouth turned up, and she made an appreciative humming noise. "And what I need right now is something to eat," she said, evasively, grabbing her purse and phone. "How about Big Belly Burger? My treat."

Oliver nodded, and placed his hand on her lower back, leading her up the foundry stairs. "Like I said, Felicity, you always know what I need."

Later, while Felicity was busy talking to Diggle, Oliver copied the song they danced to, along with her entire "Good Mood Playlist" onto his phone. He thinks she doesn't notice, but she does. And even though he's been warned about messing around on her computers without asking first, if her music makes Oliver even a little bit happier, then she can't bring herself to care.


A/N: This one was a lot of fun to write. My headcannon is that Oliver is a little bit of a dork on the inside, so even though it might take some prodding, he would definitely not have any qualms about dancing around like a fool with Felicity.

Also, the songs I was thinking of while writing this were "Don't Let it Get You Down" by Johnnyswim and "The Walker" by Fitz and the Tantrums.