Fans are still holding out hope that Christopher Meloni‘s Elliot Stabler and Mariska Hargitay‘s Olivia Benson will one day end up together. And Meloni is only adding fuel to the fire by telling fans on social media he’s certainly “trying” to get the ball rolling.

Meloni was corresponding with fans on X when one user wrote to him, “@Chris_Meloni for fuck sake, kiss her already!”

The Law & Order: Organized Crime star wrote back, “I’m fucking trying.” Could this mean Benson and Stabler will finally end up together?

Fans have been waiting for the star-crossed-lovers to end up together since Law & Order: Special Victims Unit debuted in 1999. Hargitay has stayed on the show throughout its 26-season run, but Meloni is now leading and writing for his new spinoff series Law & Order: Organized Crime after leaving SVU in Season 12.

Hargitay has confessed that she’s also open to pursuing their characters’ stewing romance one day on their shows. But, unlike Meloni, she’s in no rush.

“Maybe on the last episode. I think that’s when they should be together.” she said during a recent appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast. “If it’s right. We’ll see when we get there.”

“We are soulmates in a way,” she said of her relationship with Meloni. “We are. And I think that. I mean, Chris has had a profound impact on my life, my artistry. I think we’ve had a big impact on each other. And so Olivia and Elliot are. But let’s see where the story takes us.”

With Law & Order: Special Victims Unit set to return this fall with its 27th season, there is still hope that the lovebirds will finally get their happily ever after – or a kiss, at least.

Hargitay once revealed that the kiss almost happened in Season 24. But series creator Dick Wolf changed his mind.

“To be honest with you, Chris and I thought it should go one way and the powers that be didn’t, so it got changed at the last minute, that near kiss,” Hargitay told Variety in 2024 about the kiss their characters almost shared in Season 24. “Obviously Radhamely De Leon Dick [Wolf] gets final say. It’s his show and he didn’t want that.”

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit returns to NBC on Sept. 25.