#175 plus notes

...progressed with him painstakingly learning how to accept love, and his own worth...

...and ended with him waiting - believing with his whole heart - that Felicity would find him like she said she would.

And then she DID. 

Oliver Queen is a hero and savior, a larger than life figure who saved the universe. 

The ending of 8x10 basically confirms that Oliver fell in love with Felicity at first sight.

Not like we often think of “love at first sight” like you immediately know you’re in love with the person, but “love at first sight” in that...in retrospect, you realize that you started loving them the moment you first saw them.

Oliver has 20 years to craft a perfect moment for him to finally see Felicity again - and we see the evidence of his fine attention to detail. But when does he choose? 

2x06, when he first realized he was probably in love with her?

No. What about 3x01, when he finally decides to go for it?

Noooo. How about 3x20, the first time she told him she loved him?

Nope. Also not 3x23, when he chose her:

And not beautifully idyllic Ivy Town either:

Not even his first proposal:

Or hers:

HE CHOOSES AN AMALGAMATION OF THE FIRST TIME HE EVER SAW HER (3x14 flashback) AND THE FIRST TIME HE EVER TALKS TO HER (1x03).

Today it’s making me mad about all the WASTED TIME. 

Season 4: episodes 17-23...the ridiculous break-up, Felicity’s time away from the team, the distance between Oliver and Felicity. Even though there were some good moments, it was painful when it didn’t have to be.

Season 5: The fact that their dynamic in this season was so good just makes it worse. They could have been together, they should have been together...what a waste of time, forcing them to stay apart all season. (And we won’t even mention he-and-she-who-must-not-be-named.)

Season 6: The opposite of season 5, here they were “together” but their relationship didn’t get the screen time it deserved, and the out-of-character storytelling (along with weird production issues) meant the whole season felt off. We deserved much more, and much better Olicity content in a supposedly “happy” Olicity season. 

Season 7a: kind of mirrors the issues of season 5. The Olicity parallels were truly moving, but that can’t make up for the fact that they were physically apart for almost the entire time. 

Season 7b: kind of mirrors the issues of season 6.  They’re physically together again but (for whatever the reason) their scenes have been sparse and weird (with some exceptions).

Now we have 5 episodes left and that’s it. Will they be full of amazing Olicity moments like we used to have? Doubtful. And even if they are, it could never be enough to make up for all the wasted time.

Friends. Fam. I AM BURNING TO TALK ABOUT OLIVER’S REACTION TO SEEING FELICITY. Because look:

Oliver walks through the gate. AND HE STOPS. He doesn’t walk toward Felicity, though you can see how much he aches to touch her. But he waits, because HE IS UNSURE. He knows she’s upset with him. So he waits. HE LETS HER COME TO HIM. and of course she does.

and then when she gets close, he reaches his hand to her. She has come to him, but he’s not sure if this is going to be one of those awkward “we’ve taken 3 giant steps backward” moments, so he doesn’t pull her in for a kiss or even a hug. (It reminds me A LOT of how he reaches for her awkwardly in 3x01 on their first date, where like - it’s Felicity, but also it’s Felicity, and he wants to hug her but he doesn’t quite know where she stands).

and Felicity takes the hand but she just completely skips over the awkward. She doesn’t have time to waste on being hesitant. She takes that hand but it’s just a step on her way to HIS FACE. 

AND YOU CAN SEE HOW MUCH HE DID NOT EXPECT THAT. In the way he was watching his hand, waiting to see her take it, and the fact that she’s suddenly going for his face surprises him. He kinda gasps and looks up suddenly because it’s more than he dared hope for.

and he’s breathing hard at the contact and he just leans into it because he can’t fucking believe it. and he starts to forget his hesitation as the gravity of their connection just pulls him down to kiss her, and at first it’s just pure connection and relief at being close to her, touching her

and then his brow furrows a little and he starts to kiss her a little more deliberately because it suddenly hits him that HE IS KISSING FELICITY