Ryan tried not to squirm with discomfort as the needle broke skin. Moving would only hurt, and worsen his dislike of needles.

Calm, even breaths. He exhaled slowly, injecting the needle’s contents into his thigh as he did so. There. Almost done. Now just to get the stupid needle out of his leg.

“Ry!” His bedroom door flew open and Luna barged in, grinning.

His hand spasmed as he whipped the needle out. The angle was off, and he hissed in pain. Blood started to bead on the skin and he grabbed the adhesive bandage he always prepared when he had to do this.

“Sorry.” Luna set down the box she had brought in and capped the needle for him. “I didn’t know you were doing this.”

He held a hand firmly over the bandage and looked up at her. “It’s Tuesday.”

“Right. Sorry.” She busied herself by gathering up all the trash produced by his weekly injections.

Ryan sighed. He could tell that she was uncomfortable, and it wasn’t because he was in his underwear. Luna always made a point of knowing when he would be doing the injections, so that she wouldn’t have to see them. She thought he hadn’t noticed, but he had. Before today, she had never barged in on a Tuesday.

He watched her. Despite her discomfort, she had learned about the injections. She wasn’t naïve. She knew that the actual needles couldn’t go in the trash and had to be separated from the syringe for special disposal.

“I brought you dinner.” She said quietly as she crossed the room to his trashcan.

The box she had set down drew his attention. She had gone to The Works. Judging by the smell that was slowly filling the room, she had remembered exactly what he always ordered.

He smiled. Not for the first time in his life, he felt comforted by the knowledge that his sister knew and understood him. They might be all kinds of different, and maybe they didn’t hang out exactly, but their relationship wasn’t strained in the slightest.

“Thanks.” He said.

He noticed how she glanced at his bed, so before he dug in, he deposited the spent needles in the container in his desk drawer. Out of sight, out of mind, and Luna could relax.

“How was your day?” She asked, hugging one of his pillows to her chest.

Ryan took a bite of the burger and shrugged. He had the same classes he had been taking since the start of the semester. He learned something new, nothing ground-breaking that had changed his world, but new enough for him to feel like university wasn’t a waste of money.

“Take part in any insightful class discussions?”

He leveled a blank stare at her.

She sighed heavily and turned to look at his cork board. She took a moment to take in its current layout. “Do you ever think about saying something?”

“No.” He lied.

Truthfully, he thought about it thousands of times a day. He thought about how every time he opened his mouth, people looked at him funny, or they laughed. Sometimes, he thought he could handle the strange looks, brush them off as surprise. But that laughter? It haunted him.

So, yeah, he thought about talking. Thought about all the reasons why he didn’t.

“How was your showing?” He mumbled.

“Great.” She grinned at him. “People liked it.” She smirked and leaned over to give his shoulder a shove. “Jake particularly liked your song.”

Ryan’s throat closed around the bite of food he was trying to swallow. Coughing shook his body, but he turned to Luna. “You didn’t tell him it was me, did you?”

“Relax.” She patted his back. “I told you I wouldn’t, didn’t I?”

He nodded, reminding himself that he knew her. He knew he could trust her. She always kept her word, even if she thought things would be better if she didn’t.

“Thank you.” He whispered.