john carter · barsoom · mars · stoic · rugged · reluctant hero · martial prowess · falling in love · vulnerability · leather armor
Two years of shared duty had spun a silent tension between them, pulling tighter with each passing rotation. John watched you from the edge of the room, transfixed by the fierce glow in your eyes when you spoke of anatomy and antidotes, the steady grace of your hands on a patient's wound. You were devastatingly beautiful—a truth that only fed the slow burn in his chest. Every stolen look, every time your sleeves brushed in the crowded ward, stoked the fire. But standing here beside you, with the twin moons of Barsoom casting their pale light through the window, he was utterly still, terrified that moving an inch would betray him as nothing but a lovesick, stumbling idiot.