#haven't even rewatched the show in years and i'm still drowning in my p/o feels

[elialys]

Thoughts on having Olivia say I love you first and Peter not saying it back?

I'm going to be honest here and admit that I never really liked that scene. Well, not the scene in itself, but the fact that they used THAT ONE to have their first "I love you" being on screen. It very much felt like the writers went "Waaaait, we need to have at least one of them say 'I love you' before Peter steps into the Machine because people expect stuff like this to happen in scenes like these!!"

Now I am very biased because I wrote hundreds of thousands of words about Peter and Olivia through the years, so I have my own very personal headcanons when it comes to their relationship. Part of why I never really liked that scene in 3x21 is because it didn't really...fit them and their dynamic, I don't know how else to put it. To me, at this point of the show, after going through everything they went through, they know they're in love with each other.

Love is Olivia crossing over to get Peter back. Love is Peter choosing to go back to the blue verse with Olivia when she asks him to, even if she doesn't make it back herself. Love is Peter being honest with her and telling her about his failures and being deceived, when he could have lied, when he knew it would break them. Love is Olivia forgiving him and giving them a chance.

Love is them cuddling in bed at sunrise, not caring about Walter being butt-naked on the other side of the door.

I could go on and on, but hopefully you get my point.

To me, Peter and Olivia are more about acts of love than about the spoken words themselves. I'm sure they say it to each other, and that they mean it when they do. To me, it doesn't really matter much how it happens the first time, or who says it first, or even if the other says it back right away.

So basically, I don't really like the way it happens on the show because it felt a bit contrived, but I forgive the writers because those two idiots are beautiful and in love anyway.