Xuan heard his doorbell ring. Running to the door, he found Li, standing and smiling. He was accompanied by Mona, Q, and Lewis, three of his other friends. Li held a bag of popcorn, while Lewis held two large bottles of soda, and Mona held bags of candy.

"Hey, welcome!" Xuan said as he ushered them in.

"Let's get this party started!" Q yelled, flopping onto the couch. Q wasn't Xian's favorite person, but he always knew the best movies and he was always fun to pull pranks with.

"Wait, I'm still waiting for someone else." Xuan checked the time, "She said she'd be here soon."

"Who? Your girlfriend?" Mona asked.

"J-just a friend." Xuan affirmed.

"Then why are your cheeks red?"

"Aw, don't make him embarrassed," Li gave Xuan's back a pat.

There was a soft knock at the door. Xuan practically jumped out of his seat and opened the door.

Yuuhime stood there, holding three buckets of matcha ice cream.

"Sorry I'm a little late." Yuuhime held out one bucket, "I had to bring these for everyone."

"You could have called me, these are massive!" Xuan said, and took the bucket.

"I'm fine, I have plenty of hands." She said.

Xuan let her in awkwardly, not really knowing how to respond to that; she had 14 arms after all—They were usually just hidden.

Yuuhime placed the ice cream on his counter, along with the popcorn and soda.

"I have a bunch of movies we can chose from," Xuan started to click through the menus of his tv, to his movies.

"Sweet! Let's start with Teeth!" Mona cheered.

"We watch that movie every time," Lewis groaned, "Let's watch The Luigi Movie instead."

"Let's vote!" Xuan held his hand high, "I'm down for The Luigi Movie!"

"I wanna watch something enjoyable, not some kids movie." Li retorted.

"I agree, let's watch Teeth." Q said.

Yuuhime sat still, wondering what either of those movies were. By looking at the posters, one was about a shark, perhaps, and the other one looked like a generic fantasy children's film.

"I'd like to watch the shark film." She said.

"Then it's final!" Q said happily. Xuan nodded and turned on the movie.

It was never his favorite, but as long as everyone was happy, he was happy.

***

The night went by fast. It was 11'o'clock and they'd only watched 2 movies. Xuan knew that everyone would leave soon, so he wanted to end the night on a high note.

Q checked the time and smirked, saying, "Hey, it's almost Midnight. I know just the movie to end this night!"

"Sick, what's it called?" Xuan asked.

"Midnight, it's a super good one."

"Never heard of it," Li said with a yawn, "What's it about?"

"It's hard to explain. You just have to watch it," Q replied.

Xuan was already pulling it up. The poster thumbnail for it didn't look too bad; it was what you'd expect, a giant full moon and some stars around it, and two silhouettes in the giant moon. It looked quite romantic, to say the least.

"Romance?" Mona asked with an annoyed tone.

"It's REALLY good, I promise." Q said again, holding up his hands, "Just give it a chance."

Mona sighed as the rest of them got comfortable.

"If it's another stupid romcom like last time, I swear I'll beat your head in." Lewis said to Q.

"It's not, you'll be surprised at what it's about." Q said.

No one noticed his mischievous grin.

***

Midnight was not what Xuan had first thought. The start was about two lovers, finding each other and marrying shortly after. They moved into a pretty normal house, which was neighboring a house that was said to be haunted.

It was about this point that he figured it was a horror movie. He didn't enjoy them, but most of them weren't horribly scary.

This particular movie was different though. He was sure he heard one of his friends scream multiple times, and he thought that maybe some of them could have possibly been him.

Not only was it terrifying, it was almost real. It felt like everything was happening right there in front of him...

...happening to him...

"Are you ok, Mr. Tang? You've been clinging to me for the whole movie."

Xuan flinched and finally went back to reality. He realized that he was clutching onto Yuuhime's arm.

"Sorry," He quickly let go, trying to hide his red face.

Yuuhime furrowed her brow, "You seem...frightened. Do you wish to step out for a moment?"

"Y-yeah, but-"

Yuuhime took his arm lightly and pulled him outside. The cool night breeze tickled his cheeks. It had just rained, he could tell by the wetness of the railings and tiles of the surrounding apartments. It smelt nice.

Xuan and she stood out there. He stared at the sky, so dark and vast.

"You didn't need to come with me, I'd be fine," Xuan finally said.

"But I wanted to." Yuuhime replied simply.

Xuan smiled a little, "Thanks anyways."

"Of course." Yuuhime tugged at her sleeve, "I wouldn't mind staying out here with you for the rest of the night..."

"What's that?"

"N-nothing..."

The wind blew Xuan's baby hairs all around his face. He felt peaceful here, which was really unexpected, as he'd been on the verge of crying a few minutes ago.

"...Mr. Tang?"

"You can call me Xuan. We're friends now, right?"

Yuuhime's eyes grew wide, but she nodded, "Xuan, I have a question."

"Ask away. I'm all ears!"

"I..." as she was about to ask, someone jumped from behind them.

"RAH!" Q screamed.

"EEK!" Xuan almost fell, if not thanks to Yuuhime for catching him.

Upon seeing Q, he got very irritated. "What was that about?!"

"You two were just asking to get scared just standing there!" Q laughed. He looked at Yuuhime and saw her face was stone set.

"Eh? Why aren't you scared!" He pouted.

"...I guess pathetic screams just don't scare me."

"What'd you call me?!"

"Nothing." Yuuhime said as she helped Xuan balance on his feet again. He snickered at the angry Q.

The three of them returned to Xuan's apartment to see that the movie was almost done, only about ten minutes left.

Xuan didn't like the ending at all. It was too sad. Movies, at least for him, were meant to be a distraction from reality; not a reminder for him of how cruel life could be in the end.

Lewis yawned, "I aught to get going."

"Us too," Mona said, "It was nice hanging out!"

"Also, don't invite Q next time." Li said, snarking.

"Hmph." Q grunted.

"See you guys later!" Xuan said, waving to everyone as they left.

Yuuhime still sat in his apartment, eating what was left of her matcha ice cream. Xuan sat next to her, grabbing a pudding cup from his fridge.

"May I stay just a little longer?" Yuuhime asked quietly.

"Of course, stay as long as you need," He replied with a smile, "But I'll be going to sleep in about an hour."

It was already almost two in the morning, and he was beat.

"...alright." She looked down at her ice cream.

"By the way, what were you going to ask me earlier? Like, before Q interrupted us."

Her face grew a little dark, and she stood up, "It wasn't anything important. Don't worry about it."

"Are you sure?" Xuan stood up along with her, and she nodded.

"I should leave you be..." She took her ice cream and started to the door.

Xuan felt like his whole body shattered. He shouldn't have asked that. He made her upset.

'I'm horrible.' He bit his lip and slightly waved to her as she left.

After all, everything goes wrong at some point.

He should have known that he'd end up offending her at some point. He just didn't think it would be this soon.

Suddenly, his communicator sounded off. He peered at it.

'Thanks for inviting me. Sorry I had to leave so suddenly.'

He smiled a little. He shouldn't give up so easily yet.

'I had fun'

'I'm so glad to hear that! :)'