he's so obviously and utterly in love that it makes me squee so much.

*squees along with you* Yay for boylove!

The maddening thing about writing Martin in this is that, as you say, he's so bound by his personality and past that it's hard to get him to work past it. And when he gets to the point that he'll have to... It's not going to be a pretty chapter to write. *glares at Martin*