I really think that is some of what's behind the farewell salute, that recognition: G'Kar can't quite read it and Londo can't explain it, but they both know it's there.
Honestly I think one of the things that surprised me about where the show went in season five was that, while I was fully expecting a turnaround to affection and loyalty that would set up what we already saw in season three, I absolutely did not expect the show to go as deep as it went with the two of them openly and obviously loving each other. I was expecting something a little more ambiguous and uneasy, but at least as of the last few episodes pre-Drakh, it really isn't. They might still bicker, jab verbal barbs at each other, and sometimes very genuinely fight and hurt each other. But they also would very visibly and demonstrably die for each other, sacrifice for each other, and choose each other over everything else that has been important to them throughout the series.
I did poke at the fic on AO3 a little bit after season 3 (once we knew their eventual outcome, basically - this was around the time I was writing the fics I sent you, and for the same reason, because after the mid-season-3 flash-forward I was desperately craving something other than the enmity they had in canon at that point). And one thing I discovered was that a particular category of fixit AU exists which is basically G'Kar staying on as Londo's bodyguard in a Drakh-free world in which Londo is a much less dysfunctional flavor of emperor, presiding over a less dystopic Centauri Prime.
I remember at the time thinking this was unfair fanon for G'Kar - basically fans shoehorning him into Londo's life in a way that was a departure from what the character would have chosen, apart from what I had assumed was a MUCH shorter duration as his bodyguard in canon (and also assumed there was some ulterior motive for it).
... but no!! He goes voluntarily! He would have stayed! Londo has to literally tell him no in order to make him leave. He would have stayed, happily, surrounded by the ancestral enemies that he's spent his whole life hating, protecting one of those enemies. He ended up physically on the other side of another war with the Narn - not precisely participating on the other side, but protecting the Emperor-elect of their enemies. He did it because he wanted to and because Londo needed him, and he would have kept doing it straight through peacetime if he had been able to. And we've already talked about Londo's side of this.
Their relationship never could fail to have a slightly uneasy side because of the history between their people, and them personally; as in the Na'Toth episode, they would always be in danger of stumbling into hidden traps and pitfalls, and having to work through the emotional fallout from it. But I figured canon was going to give me hints and I would have to read full-blown love into it. I didn't expect this. The only thing they don't do is use the actual word. But it's all very visibly there on the screen.
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Honestly I think one of the things that surprised me about where the show went in season five was that, while I was fully expecting a turnaround to affection and loyalty that would set up what we already saw in season three, I absolutely did not expect the show to go as deep as it went with the two of them openly and obviously loving each other. I was expecting something a little more ambiguous and uneasy, but at least as of the last few episodes pre-Drakh, it really isn't. They might still bicker, jab verbal barbs at each other, and sometimes very genuinely fight and hurt each other. But they also would very visibly and demonstrably die for each other, sacrifice for each other, and choose each other over everything else that has been important to them throughout the series.
I did poke at the fic on AO3 a little bit after season 3 (once we knew their eventual outcome, basically - this was around the time I was writing the fics I sent you, and for the same reason, because after the mid-season-3 flash-forward I was desperately craving something other than the enmity they had in canon at that point). And one thing I discovered was that a particular category of fixit AU exists which is basically G'Kar staying on as Londo's bodyguard in a Drakh-free world in which Londo is a much less dysfunctional flavor of emperor, presiding over a less dystopic Centauri Prime.
I remember at the time thinking this was unfair fanon for G'Kar - basically fans shoehorning him into Londo's life in a way that was a departure from what the character would have chosen, apart from what I had assumed was a MUCH shorter duration as his bodyguard in canon (and also assumed there was some ulterior motive for it).
... but no!! He goes voluntarily! He would have stayed! Londo has to literally tell him no in order to make him leave. He would have stayed, happily, surrounded by the ancestral enemies that he's spent his whole life hating, protecting one of those enemies. He ended up physically on the other side of another war with the Narn - not precisely participating on the other side, but protecting the Emperor-elect of their enemies. He did it because he wanted to and because Londo needed him, and he would have kept doing it straight through peacetime if he had been able to. And we've already talked about Londo's side of this.
Their relationship never could fail to have a slightly uneasy side because of the history between their people, and them personally; as in the Na'Toth episode, they would always be in danger of stumbling into hidden traps and pitfalls, and having to work through the emotional fallout from it. But I figured canon was going to give me hints and I would have to read full-blown love into it. I didn't expect this. The only thing they don't do is use the actual word. But it's all very visibly there on the screen.