James/Regulus
James was always the odd man out.
When Sirius and Remus made those faces at each other, when Lily and Marlene were curled up so sweetly, when even Peter and Amy were snogging on a sofa…
James was the only one without someone to love.
It should have been daft, who cared if James was single? But James felt like he had endless love to give and nobody to share it with… not in the way he wanted.
The others joked that they’d find James someone to love, but every date he went on was a wretched failure.
James was too loud, too ‘moves his hands a lot’, and too ready to fall hard and fast.
So James accepted his singleness. His inability to love someone the way he wanted…
And then someone literally crashed from a tree when James was on the grounds alone.
“Hiya,” James said, tilting his head curiously at Sirius’ brother, Regulus, who laid on the ground with the wind knocked from his lungs.
Regulus rolled his eyes as if he wasn’t the injured and embarrassed party there.
“Help me up,” he rasped. “I think I broke my ankle.”
James saw the swelling ankle and quickly scooped Regulus up bridal style in his arms.
Regulus snorted, “You’re brazen.”
“Gryffindor,” James grinned.
James didn’t know it then, but he’d finally found somebody to love, to cherish, to hold.
Best of all? It was a love reciprocated so fiercely that James realized being loved was just as good as being the lover.