It all started when Mona did something unthinkable.
She sneezed.
Just once. Soft, polite, barely a sound. But enough for Kayla to drop her protein shake in horror.
"You're sick?!"
Mona blinked. "It's just a chill. Probably nothing."
By noon, she had wrapped herself in two scarves and was speaking through a congested nose.
By evening, NOISEKISS had declared a state of emergency.
Minnie burst into the apartment with a printed scroll of some dubious "idol healing ritual" she found online."It's ancient and sacred," she said."It's a Tumblr post with gifs," Jasmine replied.
Minnie cleared space on the table and began chanting nonsense over a bowl of mint tea and three glow sticks."Step one: cleanse the air with sparkle energy."
She waved a glitter wand. It shed everywhere.
Robin appeared from the kitchen, holding a teacup with suspicious steam."I made her wine tea."
"That's just wine," Luna said from the couch.
"Exactly. Tea... for the soul."
Mona, curled on the chaise in a thick blanket and fuzzy socks, sniffled."I appreciate the... enthusiasm."
Luna, true to form, said nothing. She just dragged out three duvets, six throw pillows, and a heated blanket from the closet. She began building something.
"...Is she... making a nest?" Kayla whispered.
"No," Jasmine murmured. "It's worse. She's making a fort."
Within minutes, a towering structure of warmth and fabric loomed next to the couch. Luna stepped back once, nodded once, then picked up Mona bridal-style and carried her into it.
Mona did not protest.
Kayla took charge of "nutritional needs," which meant grilling chicken with so much garlic that it made the whole apartment smell like an MMO raid zone."This will kill any illness within five meters."
Mona coughed and said nothing.
Jasmine tried to be normal and responsible.She brought water, tissues, cough drops. The essentials.
"Thank you," Mona whispered. "Finally, someone sane."
Then Jasmine handed her a tiny sketchbook."I drew this for you. It's a visual journal of the day."
Mona flipped to the first page. It was a very detailed drawing of her lying in bed with a thermometer, surrounded by gremlin caricatures of the others.
"…Touché," Mona croaked.
That night, the girls all fell asleep on the living room floor, wrapped in spare blankets, watching reruns of their own concert footage.
Minnie snored in her makeup.
Kayla mumbled, mid-dream, something about "spinach protein."
Robin had a wine glass in one hand and a fuzzy pink sleep mask crooked on her forehead.
Luna had propped herself upright beside the fort entrance. Guarding.
Mona, for once, didn't feel the pressure to organize, to lead, to be composed. She sipped from the water Jasmine brought her, curled deeper into the Luna Fort™, and closed her eyes.
She still felt awful. But somehow, she also felt... loved.