The way I am Regulus and Regulus is me.
Childhood trauma, the way we deal with it, how we react. I have never connected with a fictional character as much as I have with him.
Always closed off, silent, only speaking when necessary, never letting people get to close and pushing them away when they do. Sucking it up no matter what, never fighting back, simply taking it and hoping the punishment won't be too bad. Snarky comments to push people away, not feeling good enough, like a waste, a failure.
I see myself in Regulus like I have never seen myself in no one and nothing else before. Not in my parents, not in my siblings, not in my friends. I understand him on a such level that it sometimes feels like I am the one experiencing it.
I feel his pain like it is my own and his happiness like I am the one feeling it. He is my comfort character because he is me.
I finally feel at least a bit understood because someone had to have written the character, meaning there must be someone else in this world who feels what I feel. Who understands why we are the way we are.