Well, dammit. I read through this post and wanted to keep reading. I wouldn't say you've given your main character a quirk, I'd say you've made him very very human. A man who is unused to women will often be very awkward around them, either treating them as the 'other' or treating them the way he's been told to treat them. This kind of man will struggle to see them as individual people on a par with himself. They're either angels or sluts or slaves or mommies. I like that your character rises above this ingrained behaviour. In fact I like this guy a lot. I'm not a fan of 'quirks' in characters, to tell the truth. More often or not they can become annoying. Think Hercule Poirot's little waxy moustache. That schtick was played out far too often, but it worked because of the kind of story Agatha Christie was writing. She didn't really create many 'human' characters, but wrote about overall human characteristics, if that makes any sense. The idea that every character must have a quirk is a bit simplistic for my taste. Of course characters MAY have a quirk, but that quirk should seem natural and maybe not be overplayed in any story.
Yeah, he is my favorite character, along with Marcia, who has her own trajectory from silent abused concubine of a mid-level Chinese official, to become Antonius' wife and a very powerful woman. She is in her early twenties. Their wedding is a marvel... takes place in Liqian in Gansu province, Marcia's home town and a rapidly fading pocket of Romanitas in Han China. she and her people are the fifth and sixth generation descendants of Roman soldiers who survived the battle of Carrhae 150 years earlier, who kept as much of their language and culture as they could while intermarrying, serving as mercenary border guards. Hence Marcia is Chinese in appearance, but with blue eyes. She and some others were picked by the Han government to serve as translators on the Gan Ying westward expedition to Rome, and she came back also as translator with the Roman return expedition, of which Antonius is a part. The group is on the run from the Han after major troubles in court, trying to get back to Rome overland, traveling with the Xiongnu. But also in this party are two Arabs, a Jewish rebel from post-war Judaea, a Bactrian (Afghan) Buddhist of Greek tradition, and Galosga, a mysterious man from far to the west (American Indian, but only readers who speak Cherokee will know for sure from his name and the two words of his native tongue that he uses). So everyone contributes something of their own wedding tradition to the mix, before it culminates in the traditional Roman wedding vows, 'ubi gaius es, gaia sum,' literally 'as your are my guy, I am your gal.' The omens were uncharacteristically favorable for that wedding. Oh by the way, 'domina' becomes his pet name for her.
I have a character Alex who is agender (genderqueer variant) but prefers masculine clothing because they hate the impracticality of dresses for mobility, and the character is a fighter of sorts. They also wear plain stell rigns on their finger as surprise knuckle-dusters in an unexpected attack. There's also West, an American major general, who never looks people in the eye while talking about his past. It represents his dark past and the fact he is a cynic so sort of expects them to judge him. And there's Dale who is easily attached to any kind of positive relationship because of his experience with numerous bad foster parents. That's some of the most interesting.
My favorite character types have always been the characters that are outwardly functional, and kind, but have some underlying issue with their brains that causes them either negative or positive effects. Basically, they know something about themselves others do not that they have to manage. Such as someone who is a Manager, and very charismatic to everyone but has hidden schizophrenia and voices he has to manage that people don't really notice aside from the occasional odd behavior. Odd Thomas another example, if you've ever read that series. The British Scientist from the new Battle Star Galactica comes to mind as well. I find broken characters to be the most interesting, because they are the most real and relatable as well.
Not sure if it really counts as a quirk, but my favorite is my guy who was born in space and has a general distrust/dislike of all things to do with planets. Weather freaks him out, oceans kind of terrify him, he doesn't even like sunrises. Then he's also a vaguely-technophobic cyborg, bless his heart.
Intelligent characters that seem hyper-aware and analytical in all areas, excepting social interaction. Cumberbatch's Sherlock is a nice example.
Like a really really significant psychological problem that in the right light passes for normality for many years until it explodes out the side of their head and thus creates massive emotional pain and character growth. Or to put it another way - Anything that might make a character say 'looking back it really wasn't ever healthy'.
