first time
The first time Regulus saw James he was 10 years old at the train station, the day he watched his brother leave. The first time they spoke he was 13, having joined hogwarts late, refusing to attend the school of witches and wizards before he felt right in his own skin.
By 13 Regulus had learnt his life was best lived in the shadows. He had come to this conclusion for a number of reasons, the most prevalent of these was he was less likely to be noticed. In the physical shadows nobody would see how his jaw was just a tad more feminine than it should be, or how he held himself in the way a lady of a higher status would, the aristocratic stance his mother had trained into him that he could not quite get rid of. Now the shadows of the mind were a little more difficult to construct but by 13 Regulus had managed it. Behind those shadows hid a kind and sensitive boy who only wanted to love and be loved. Sirius was the only person he allowed behind these shadows, too everyone else Regulus appeared cold and calculated, hell even Barty had been petrified of him for the better part of Regulus' first year.
On Regulus' second day at hogwarts Sirius had all but dragged him by his hair to meet his friends, ranting and raving about some kid called moony and how they would get on tremendously. Sirius had been quite right of course and Regulus did find himself rather intrigued by the scarred boy, the Peter boy was alright to but Regulus didn't have quite as much as common with him as he did with Remus. Despite the boys evident attatchment to his brother, Regulus did not meet James until his third week as the boy always seemed to be at some quidditch event or stuck in detention with the slug. It was in a state pf pure distress that Regulus first encountered the spectacled boy. He had rushed into Sirius' dorm in a fit over his divination grade when he came head to chest with Potter. James, ever the gentleman took a step back, stretching out his hand in greeting. Regulus was never one to turn and run so took the outreached palm, trying not to focus on how pretty James was upclose.
That was until the words 'You must be Regulus, I've been dying to meet you', fell from James lips and something inside Regulus burned. He was perfectly familiar with hearing his name for the first time but something about this was different. The way his name left James' lips was unholy, something in Regulus had died, that ball of resentment he clutched to with every person he met seemed to unfurl a little, leaving space for something to grow. It was that first day Regulus felt something in him come alive as his love for James Potter grow. The shadows he dwelled in no longer seemed quite as appealing, for in that moment Regulus thought he would suffer infinitely if it meant he could hear James speak his name again, he would let every imperfection shine in the sharpest of sunlights if it meant James could see him in his entirety.