you're my ride, linden.

it bothers me so mUCH when people start saying “yea brienne/jaime is just respect“ dude, friend, bro, amigo, did we read the same books/watch the same tv show? did you just skip things or something? sorry to bust your bubble yall but it IS love. for me, it’s so explicit like they don’t even need to say the words. jaime saves brienne so many times, just as much as brienne saves him. their goodbye scenes are filled with raw emotion and FEELINGS omg, he gives her his sword - and as a knight, especifically a knight of the king’s guard, it’s a big fucking deal. and when she says “for lady catelyn… and for you.“ DID YOU JUST SKIP THAT SCENE OMG. it’s amazing because brienne inspires jaime to keep his promises, to be a true knight. she represents everything he wants to be. when he’s dying she motivates him, tries to help him while everyone else laughs at him. he worries when bolton keeps brienne, has no hesitation to help her. their relationship is longing and stares and honor and respect and s u b t e x t
(more books related) brienne speaks of him all the time, all the characters take notes of that, she thinks of him, and everytime something happens she needs to remind herself of him (among other people - true that) but the important thing is that she stops thinking of renly and instead slowly replaces his name for jaime - and speaking of renly, we know for a fact that even though he was nice to her, behind her back he would go and mock her along with everyone else. doesn’t that remind you of someone? as in for jaime, we see him not wanting people speaking ill of her, thinking of and worrying about brienne, missing her, and most of all he remembers the good in her the most. his opinion changes of her, and instead of looking for the ugly, bad stuff, he looks for the beauty. he thinks of her honor and her eyes. he ignores the ““love of his life““ to go to brienne. he dreams of his family abandoning him, and brienne is the only one at his side. 
and it’s amazing because they aren’t each others SOURCE of happiness, you know? they aren’t everything in each other’s lives (like cersei was to jaime). but they still are important to each other, they make each other happy and they WANT each other. they don’t need each other to exist, they just want each other, they like each toher, they listen to each other, they worry about each other and they miss each other.
most importantly they change each other, for the better - how can you not fall in love with someone who has been with you the whole time, who you have told your deepest darkest secret and who sees the good of you and forgives your wrong, like brienne did to jaime, when all he knows is abuse and hatred and manipulation? it’s called subtext, and as nikolaj (jaime) has confirmed: they have feelings for eachother, they just haven’t realised it.