By Mintsea

It was perfect.

from Strings of Fate which I’m posting tonight!

(From the Elseworlds rewrite I’ll never finish because Arrow crushed my soul...haha)

The time has come to talk of many scenes.

Of bows and arrows and superheroes.

Olicity’s reunion and the baby we knew was a Queen.

But wait just one minute,

Before we go and do all of that…

We thank you all for the time you have shared.

The elevators you have climbed,

The episodes you have faced and scared.

We will keep your stories in our hearts for always,

And we hope that you can too.

Because they would not be bigger than the friggin’ universe

If not for all of you.

-xoxo Ellie, Caitlin, Sascha, Mary, Beccie, Meegan, and Alli (and of course Emily Bett Rickards since she wrote this poem first;) )

@memcjo’s recs:

as darkness falls (a spark resides) - @alexiablackbriar13

It’s been two weeks since Felicity found out she’s pregnant, and she hasn’t told Oliver yet.

Plagued by nightmares about being attacked and the baby being hurt, Felicity struggles to sleep.

After Oliver witnesses one of her post-nightmare panic attacks, she finally tells him about the baby.

**Award: Best Use of Angsty Angst Followed by Sweet, Sweet Olicity Moments**

two pints of mint chip it’s a girl - @alexiablackbriar13

missing scene in 7x22, before olicity move to the cabin. dr schwartz gives felicity an ultrasound, and our bigger than the freaking universe couple discover their baby’s gender

**Award: Best Use of Touching, Loving, Sweet Olicity**

Run Away With Me - @dmichellewrites 

This is basically everything I hoped season 7 would be after the prison arc, but unfortunately we didn’t get to see it.

Join Oliver, Felicity, their friends, and family as they navigate their lives together post-Slabside. They really can have it all. Watch them balance being heroes, parents, and still manage to hold down day to day jobs. Enjoy their slice of maximum domesticity, and take a peek into their home life together with their four children.

**Award: Most Kickass, Joyous, Amazing Olicity Finding a New Life!**

We Don’t Have To Talk About It (We’ll Find Another Way) - @smoaking-greenarrow

Felicity is at Slabside to pick up Oliver, to finally take him home…when all hell breaks loose

**Award: Most Awesome, Badass Oliver and Felicity Going Through Hell and Back to Find Each Other!**

Come & Talk To Me - @hope-for-olicity

I wrote this story as a fix it for the things I felt the writers forgot or screwed up since Oliver got out of prison. It mainly focuses on Olicity but it also deals with their relationship with Diggle.

**Award: Best Use of Oliver and Felicity Facing Their Fears and Finding Each Other All Over again~ SWOON!**

Dear Felicity - @smoakmonster

A series of letters Oliver journals to Felicity from prison.

**Award: Best Use of Oliver Finding His Voice (and making me cry)**

Nothing Breaks Like a Heart - @by-mintsea

A mid season 7 and Elseworlds Crossover fix it fic. Silences, missing scenes and rewrites from 7x07 through end of crossover.

**Award: Best Us of Oliver and Felicity Fighting for Each Other and Their Family**

@blondeeoneexox’s recs:

The Other Side (of a world without you) - fanfics4you

She stares at the sky, the moon staring back at her. She holds her daughter in her arms as she starts to talk about him. She hopes wherever he is, he is safe. She hopes that he knows. That she still loves him, that he has a daughter who loves him so much, a son who lives far away from this world, leading the normal life he always wanted. She hopes that he knows he isn’t alone.

He stares at the sky, his fingers caressing his wedding ring gently. The night is full of darkness and he feels so lonely. He has everything here, yet he has nothing. He sees a shooting star fall from the sky, and he finally smiles. His hold on his wedding ring tightens as he reminds himself why is he doing this again. He knows.

In which Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak spend twenty years apart and then a lifetime together.

**Award: Best Cry Your Eyes Out Til They Hurt Fic**

The Microchip Chronicles - CSM

Post 713. Follows the next nine months of Felicity’s pregnancy.

**Award: Most Domesticated, Blissfully Happy Pregnant Olicity That Definitely Should Have Actually Happened**

The Other Side of a World Without You - MachaSWicket

SUMMARY: Arrow S7 finale SPOILERS ahead. Beware!

**Award: Best 20 Year Reunion I Could Ever Ask For**

The Legacy of a Queen -  inlovewithimpossibility

Series of one-shots from a future AU where Oliver and Felicity are able to raise their children after they defeat the Ninth Circle and Oliver hangs up the hood

**Award: Best ‘What Could (SHOULD) Have Been Fic**

The Hardest Part - @smoaking-greenarrow

Prompt: What if Felicity found out she was pregnant with Lucas after Oliver left and she’d have to raise both of their kids without him. Then Oliver would come back five years later to check on his girls only to find Mia playing with a slightly younger boy who looks exactly like him.

**Award: Most Heartbreakingly Beautiful, Sob-Worthy, Amazing Post-S7 (That Was Absolutely My Fault) Fic**

strange behaviors - @alexiablackbriar13

the 5 times john diggle noticed oliver queen and felicity smoak’s latest weird behaviors and the 1 time he figured out what was causing it (spoiler alert: it’s fetus mia smoak-queen)

**Award: Cutest Uncle Diggle Reaction to FINALLY Figuring Out Olicity’s Weird Behaviors**

@it-was-a-red-heeler’s recs:

bliss within madness - @alexiablackbriar13

“Hey, Mia. It’s your dad,” he whispered. Pausing, he added, “Mia or Lucas. We don’t know exactly who you are yet. But I promise you, your mom and I are gonna love you to the stars and back no matter who you turn out to be. I’m gonna call you Mia for now, though.” He kissed Felicity’s stomach softly, humming under his breath at the heat coming from her skin.

**Award: Best Beautiful, Blissful Domestic Olicity Moments**

Clean Slate - @smoakmonster

What happens when Oliver loses his memories of Felicity and William? How will this hurting family heal when he finally returns home from prison and doesn’t know who his wife and son are?

This series is based on speculation from the Arrow 7x05 trailer that was released on Nov 5. As such, this short series will start in speculation and will likely shift to canon divergence or even au depending on what happens in the next few episodes. Future tags will be added accordingly.

**Award: Oliver Fighting His Way Back to His Family (Amnesia Tropes Are My Jam!) Award**

@msbeccieboo’s recs:

no heart for me like yours - inlovewithimpossibility

After weeks of chaos following Oliver’s release from Slabside, Oliver and Felicity finally have a moment to sit down and discuss how they move forward from here

**Award: Best Gorgeous, Sleepy and Oh-So-Wise Oliver Moment**

Deep Water - @it-was-a-red-heeler

A Season 7 Speculation fic.

**Award: THE BEST S7a Do-Over (also the Delicity We All Deserved)**

At Last - @jesileighs

He hadn’t really even noticed there was a change in Felicity until the chaos died down, and even then it took him a couple of weeks to look past the excuses and the way she brushed off his attempts to talk. When he kissed her she pulled away almost immediately. When he reached for her hands she found a way to keep them busy. When he’d make his way to their bed at night, she would make an excuse to stay up and every morning when he woke up she was already gone from beside him. He told himself they were both readjusting. Things needed time to settle. They’d both been through so much.

**Award: Most Beautiful Reunion That We All Wanted But Never Really Got In Canon**

@smoaking-greenarrow’s recs:

Two - @nodecaff4me

Post Episode 7x07 ficlet about the first hours after Oliver stepped out of the gates of Slabside.

**Award: The Focus on Felicity’s Emotions That Should Have Been in Season Seven**

Renewal - @juliesioux

This first bit leads into the story we might never get and I wanted to explore the loneliness Felicity must have felt and the urgency she would feel to go and find him once she could.

**Award: Epitome of ‘Bigger than the friggin’ universe’**

Learning How to Win - @juvinadelgreko

At the end of Arrow S7, Oliver and Felicity retire from the vigilante life only to be interrupted by the Monitor and Crisis on Infinite Earths.

They deserved better. Here’s my take on what better looks like. Begins shortly after Oliver and Felicity moved into their new home.

**Award: Sweetest Life Win That Olicity Deserves**

No Sex Until There Is Hair - @hope-for-olicity

Oliver shaves his head again and Felicity is NOT a fan.

**Award: Best Felicity Completely Understanding Oliver Moment**

@tangled23works’ recs:

Holding On and Letting Go - @smoaking-greenarrow

Oliver is finally home. But he’s not as close to his wife as he’d like to be. To move past the choices he made, both of them need to get a few things off their chests.

This fic can be enjoyed on its own, but if you’ve read The Longbow Hunters, it can also be read as an epilogue for that story.

**Award: Best And Most Sincere Apology By Oliver Queen**

The Longbow Hunters - @smoaking-greenarrow

Based on the set photos from 7x02 and my imagination :)

**Award: Most Badass Felicity With A Plan**

whenever you’re ready - @alexiablackbriar13

Mia and William from 2040 travel back in time to 2019 to access an uncorrupted version of Archer. Oliver and Felicity investigate a break-in at the bunker only to find their children from the future bickering. Emotional confrontations and conversations ensue.

Drum roll please…the next chapter of Nothing Breaks Like a Heart (Elseworlds Crossover fic rewrite) will be ready on Ao3 on July 8! Finally, right? I know, sorry!

Summary: If they are going to get it the bottom of waking up in each other’s lives, Oliver and Barry are going to need Felicity’s help. But things rarely go as planned and Felicity isn’t just going to let Oliver off the hook for missing their counseling session that damn easy…

Sneakpeak…

“I don’t want to talk to you right now Oliver…” she says with annoyance, pulling off one glove and stretching out her sweaty fingers.

She turns her back on Barry as she keeps her feet moving, bouncing a little on the balls of her feet, keeping her heart rate up as she takes a small break.

Oliver’s breath catches in his chest, the hurt crossing his face and Barry sighs and steps forward. ’I’ve got this’ is implied…and Oliver has to try very hard to keep his wits about him.

“Fe-lic-ity-” Barry says in a voice much lower than normal and Oliver tries not to roll his eyes at Barry. Because I mean…c’ mon…he doesn’t sound like that…, right?

It is going to taken me a million billion years to finish the story at this rate. God help me!

I keep thinking I have to have all my thoughts in order and arranged before I can say anything valuable, but the problem is my thoughts won’t comply. They refuse to be orderly and arrangeable. (Also I’ve tried just typing whatever is in my brain, too, but all I have to show for it is about 10,000 words of semi-coherent babbling hanging out in my Drafts. Probably never to see the light of day.)

So anyway 7x19 (🤞 that I stay on track here - update: I fucking failed! 😱😱😱): it was okay I guess.

As we draw to the end of the season - of the show, really - a few things keep bothering me, and unfortunately they’re coloring any and all enjoyment I may be able to squeeze out of the episodes so I have to just get them off my chest:

1. I keep getting stuck on the terrible production value. I can’t help it! It’s gotten to the point where I cannot help but see the production as much as I see the story, and it’s so jarring. I see the sets, the stage, where I only used to see the setting. It’s the (lack of) camera angles, the lighting, and the very obvious reliance on sets, rather than location shoots. 

And I can’t help but think: it didn’t used to be like this. Seasons 1-3 were so immersive, so atmospheric. Stylized? Yes, but in a way that was purposeful and enhanced the story. 

The most recent seasons make production feel only like a means to an end.

I think the production budget got cut a little after season 3, but seasons 4 and 5 still felt epic and captivating enough. But season 6′s production values were abysmal. And I thought it would finally improve in season 7 with the new showrunner, but instead it has only gotten worse and I realize now that it must have everything to do with budget. (And maybe this is my bitterness talking, but I can’t help but suspect that part of it is that increasingly, more and more of each year’s budget is being used to fund the crossovers. 😠)

The EPs seem to have forgotten something critical about filmmaking - production is always going to be a crucial aspect of story-telling, whether it’s intentional or not. There’s no such thing as an “objective” camera angle or edit. Every non-decision has as much an impact on the story as a decision would have, and by forgetting that, they have vastly reduced the overall quality of the show.

Happy Friday and Happy Easter to all who celebrate this Sunday! So this is my attempt to both thank awesome fanfic writers for their amazing work and offer my recommendations to anyone who is interested. Here are the fantastic fanfic stories I read this week! They are posted in the order I read them. This and all previous Fabulous Olicity Fanfic posts can be found on my blog.

2 + 2 Equals a Family multi-chapter Complete by @mogirl97 - When Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak both reach for the last Lego Batman set on the shelf at the same time one December night while holiday present shopping for their kids, they have no idea that their chance encounter is going to change their lives. https://archiveofourown.org/works/11853030/chapters/26760468

With the Speed of an Arrow multi-chapter WIP by @academyofshipping - Oliver Queen’s elite and silver-spoon life has taken some blows in the past few years, but he is still the carefree billionaire everyone knows of and loves. When his role in the family business is in jeopardy and he is introduced to a motley of new people, his status quo is threatened. With a changed perspective, Oliver realizes his feeling for his best friend and anchor-in-life, Felicity Smoak, may be more than just platonic. OR A modern adaption of Jane Austen’s Emma with a gender swap* and no island. *Knowing that gender is not binary https://archiveofourown.org/works/16559846/chapters/38799857

I’m Very Happy, Mister by @laxit21 - Felicity gets drunk and hilarity ensues. https://laxit21.tumblr.com/post/184137406932/im-very-happy-mister

Drunk Cuddly Oliver by @stephswims - Oliver comes home drunk and so adorable! https://archiveofourown.org/works/18451088

You Can’t Afford Him multi-chapter WIP by @quiveringbunny - Oliver and Felicity, still strained after returning from Lian Yu following the takedown of Slade Wilson, take on roles that challenge their buried feelings when they go undercover to investigate a dangerous arms dealer. A Macau casino. A luxury suite. Suspenders. Lucky red panties. What could go wrong? https://archiveofourown.org/works/18338246/chapters/43413185

The Morning After by @stephswims - Part two of the drunk Oliver series https://archiveofourown.org/works/18472399

To Sacrifice the Sun multi-chapter WIP by @emmilynestill - Oliver and Felicity are ARGUS agents working on a mission in Mexico, the two share some very important history. http://archiveofourown.org/works/7510744/chapters/22505918

The Voyage to You multi-chapter WIP by @obibaldwin - Felicity Smoak didn’t want a complicated life. She enjoyed helping people as a nurse at Starling City General Hospital and spending time with her best friend Sara. When a John Doe arrives on the fifth floor of the hospital, she finds herself being dragged into a world of mysterious oaths and visions. The only thing she can hope is to stay strong enough to resist the man who has traveled to find her. https://archiveofourown.org/works/16596788/chapters/38895977

Providence multi-chapter WIP by @so-caffeinated - Will Queen has struggled in silence in the year since he was shot. But when a shadowy crime lord known as Domino targets the only woman Will’s ever truly loved, fate forces him to confront his demons in ways he never could have imagined… Whether he wants to or not. Amelia Prescott has fought to take control of her life since learning two years ago that her personal and professional worlds were manipulated by others. But nothing can prepare her for just how hard she’ll have to fight to set her own course, especially when her heart belongs to a damaged man and a crime lord threatens her every professional move… And her life. Destiny brings them together, but as chaos reigns and personal demons haunt Will and Amelia both, it may also threaten to tear them apart. https://archiveofourown.org/works/17919056/chapters/42308753

From Somewhere Within multi-chapter WIP by @smoaking-greenarrow - Their connection has always felt natural to them, safe and secure. But others tend to fear what they don’t understand, and as far as their enemies are concerned, the world isn’t ready to accept two people who can know each other the way that Oliver and Felicity do. https://archiveofourown.org/works/16009244/chapters/37356257

Nothing Breaks Like a Heart multi-chapter WIP by @by-mintsea - Oliver and Felicity struggle to reconnect after they leave Slabside. There is a lifetime of hurt festering inside both of them, but with the events of 7x08 and Elseworlds turning their lives upside down, can they figure everything out between them in time for William’s return? (All the in between things we should have seen on screen in 7x08 and Elseworlds instead of what the writers gave us). https://archiveofourown.org/works/17221298/chapters/40496489

If I Tremble multi-chapter WIP by @smoaking-greenarrow - A collection of prompts and ficlets, with all the smut! Olicity sexy times are the best times. https://archiveofourown.org/works/15409122/chapters/35762643

I Need You to be Safe by @alexiablackbriar13 - Post-7x18. Oliver does not react very well when finding out about the danger Felicity and their unborn baby were placed in. Felicity always knows exactly how to reassure him. https://archiveofourown.org/works/18503269