Against Midorima's wishes, the next day, he and Takao were on their way to Kise and Kasamatsu's mansion. For once, Takao willingly chose to not drive, due to his lack of recent experience. He wasn't too confident of his driving skill, not that any of his friends had any trust in his "skill" at driving either, he just took too long to realize it himself.

With the human behind the wheel, the pair safely arrived in a timely manner. They actually got there before anyone else did, which was most likely due to Takao's eagerness to see all his friends again. The demon had even practically run to the door once the car was parked. The human couldn't be annoyed at the other male, he understood how happy he was to be back. So for now, Midorima would let Takao be overly excited and annoying. He'd honestly rather see him like that than depressed and hurt.

"Come on Shin! You're so slow!" Takao cheerily called out as he rang the doorbell more times than necessary.

"I'm coming. Calm down you fool." Midorima muttered as he quickened his walking pace. As he approached the door, Kise's voice could be heard through the door.

"Come in! It's open!"

"What would he do if we were robbers or murderers?" Takao chuckled questioningly.

"He's an angel. He'd be fine." The human sighed as he opened the door. He walked in first, with the demon following close behind after closing the door.

"Hey, you two!" Kise was setting up orange streamers on a ladder as Kasamatsu looked concerned. He was trying to hold the ladder steady as Kise reached further than he should be causing the ladder the wobble. Talking and turning to look at the pair didn't help anything.

"Ryouta, focus!" The angel's lover sighed as he was forced to remind him of his task. The blond nodded and finished hanging the colorful streamers. He carefully climbed down as his lover began to speak to their friends. "You guys are here early."

"We were eager to see everyone!" Takao smiled a huge smile, while the green-haired human just looked annoyed to be alive. "Can I help with anything?"

"What? No, it's a party for you. Why would you help set it up?" Kise spoke up faster than Kasamatsu, but those were going to be his exact words as well.

"I'm here early. Come on, no one needs to know." Takao's voice was slightly suggestive, which caused Midorima's mind to go in a completely different direction.

"Just what exactly are you wanting to help them with?" Midorima's questioning tone has a hint of suspicion in it. He knew what Takao meant, but he just couldn't help but ask that.

"However you just thought is definitely not what I meant." Takao chuckled, causing his human to be slightly embarrassed due to his oddly dirty thought.

"Speaking of such things, did you two resume your activities after we left?"

"Of course not. There wasn't anything to resume in the first place." The green-haired male scoffed at the thought, even though deep down he knew it had been a "moment" that he'd like to resume. However, he wasn't about to admit that, not even to himself.

"Ryouta, leave them be. We have to finish up before the others arrive." The black-haired human pulled his lover along with him as he exited the room. That left the demon/human pair all alone.

"So, should we just go and sit down?" To Takao's question, the human walked over to the large sectional he remembered sitting on right after he'd first met the demon. Of course, Takao instantly followed after him and chose to sit right next to him. Once the two were seated, they remained in silence it was slightly awkward, but the human paid no mind. His mind was busy with the many things were flying through his head at that moment.

"Takao, I have a question."

"What is it, Shin?"

"Are we... I mean..."

"Huh? Shin, you're not making any sense right now." Takao was growing worried, so he leaned over to better see his human's face. The human had hints of a blush on his pale skin. "Shin?"

"Are we supposed to be a couple now that we've confessed?" It took a lot for the human to be able to ask that and Takao heard it clearly despite how fast the question was asked. The demon was about to respond when voices could suddenly be heard. It was the voices of Aomine and Kagami.

"Where's Kazu? I won't believe he's alive until I see him." The blue-haired demon's voice was loud and coming closer as if he already knew where the other demon was. Takao turned to look at the entrance to the main room, and then back to his human. He wanted to ask if it was okay if he went to his friends, but he also didn't want to leave the conversation they were about to have.

"Go on." Midorima calmly stated as he turned away from Takao. That showed that his calm tone was actually him being cold.

"Shin, I-" He couldn't say anymore as the demon/angel pair appeared.

"Holy shit! He really is alive!" Aomine chuckled happily, but still in his regular condescending tone.

"Of course he is, why wouldn't you just trust what Ryouta said?" Kagami questioned his lover as he shook his head.

"He's an angel, I don't trust them."

"...What the fuck Dai? I'm an angel too!" Kagami was already mere seconds from bitch-slapping his demon, but when the demon spoke up again, he wanted to murder him.

"With how you are in bed, I have my doubts." Takao sighed at the now fighting couple as he was reminded once again how incredibly idiotic they were.

"Hey... guys? Stop fighting and hug me already. I almost died you know."

"Oh right, I nearly forgot about you." It was both of the idiots who muttered that.

"...Thanks guys..." Even though they'd said that they still took turns hugging their almost long-lost friend. As they had their happy reunion, Midorima left the room to go and help Kise and Kasamatsu finish setting up. Takao noticed, but the other group members kept arriving one after another which stopped him from going after his human.

Takao was pushed and pulled around as the rest of the friends hugged him. First was Momoi, then Murasakibara, Himuro, Kuroko, and even Akashi decided to hug Takao once everyone else had. It was a bit disorienting being tossed around but it was happy. Takao was glad to be back with all the people he loved dearly. They, even Akashi, were also glad to have him back in one piece, more or less.

"Oh good, you're all here. Let's get the party started! Food and drinks are in the kitchen." Kise spoke up, interrupting the happy moments going on. He was smiling at all the people in his living room as he talked. He couldn't describe how thrilled he was to have them all there. He loved throwing parties for his friends, though it was a mix of wanting to do nice things for them and wanting to show off.

"Alcohol?" Aomine asked hopefully with a smirk on his face.

"No! We don't need anyone driving home drunk... or turning up missing this time."

"Speaking of someone going missing..." Takao turned to look at Aomine with anger in his eyes. It was like a switch had been flipped and startled the other demon. "Care to explain how Shin ended up on the street a few miles from the bar?" His voice was dark and threatening, causing shivers to fly down the blue-haired male's spine.

"We were all at fault. We all got too drunk." That explanation from Aomine wasn't good enough.

"I don't think so. You can't get drunk." Takao was glaring at the other demon now, causing the angels in the room to become worried. It was dangerous for two demons to go at it and they didn't want to have to step in and hurt anyone.

"That's...true. My bad, alright?"

"Are you fuc-"

"Kazu, calm down!" It was Momoi who stepped in front of Aomine. She was radiating a protective aura, which instantly caused Takao to back off from fear of holy powers. "He didn't mean to allow him to go off on his own. He just is an idiot and he feels really bad about it."

"About being an idiot, or about Shin?" Takao couldn't help but smile as he asked that even though he was still annoyed with the demon.

"Both." Everyone, with the exception of Aomine and Akashi, either laughed or chuckled at Momoi's agreement.

"Hey!" Aomine was less than happy over his guardian's comment.

"She's right Dai." It was now his redheaded boyfriend who spoke up. Kagami was laughing at his side, finding this hilarious.

"Tai, you're just as much of an idiot as he is." Momoi's statement caused another burst of laughter and chuckling. This time it was Kagami's turn to be annoyed with his friends.

"The hell are you all doing just standing around?" Kasamatsu's demanding question halted the laughter as they all looked at him. "Get food before it gets cold, you idiots."

"Food?" The two idiot lovers finally realized there was food, even though Kise had mentioned it already. So with that, the group broke apart with some going to get drinks or food and some going to sit down on the unnecessarily large sectional in the main room. Even Midorima had returned to his place next to Takao, much to the demon's delight.

"So now that we're all here, I'm sure we'd all like some explanation. Why did it take you so long to come back?" Kuroko was the first one to ask the question they'd all been wondering. Of course, Midorima, Kasamatsu, and Kise already knew the reasons, along with Akashi.

"Well, I was hurt a lot worse than we thought. It was harder to heal/cleanse me, so it took longer. Apparently, I was almost dead when Akashi had taken me to the demon realm. The best I can explain it was that my body was falling apart internally." Takao paused to remember all that had happened while he was gone before continuing. "Also, I had to handle my bosses. They needed me to explain the whole situation."

"So, what ended up happening to Hiretsuna?" Kise's inquiry was one the others also wanted to have answered.

"She was found and punished."

"What do you mean?" It was Midorima this time asking a question.

"Her wings were torn off and she was thrown in the cage she locked me in. So, she'll never bother us again."

"That's horrible..." The angels in the room all couldn't help but mutter that as they cringed. They could have guessed that would have happened though. It was the usual punishment for angels who messed with humans in a negative way.

"Getting your wings destroyed hurts. I can only imagine how she felt. I feel a little bad for her... but only a little bit." Takao's wing comment caused a dark cloud to appear over the room. He realized it and smiled. "But, I'm fine without my wings. Shin will drive me anywhere I want to go."

"...So, um... do you know why Hiretsuna did all that? She must have had a good reason to do such terrible things." Momoi decided to ask another thing in hopes of removing the dark cloud.

"I did find out finally. In all her crazed ramblings, I was able to piece it together, with a little help from her superiors."

"Well? What was so damn important she had to almost kill you?" Kise demanded, allowing his anger to show.

"Love. The original human she guarded was also her first love. Back then loving a human was a vile thing and being with the human you guarded romantically was even worse. So, the human was punished. He was forced into a life he didn't want and was eventually brutally killed after many years of torture and sadness. In the end, he blamed Hiretsuna, breaking not only her heart but her mind and soul as well. Apparently, Shin reminded her of her dead lover and hated that he was my true love and not hers. So all the years of pain and hate built up exploded and caused her to go insane."

"...That's..." The female didn't know what to say. She was speechless for the first time in a long time.

"That's horrible." Himuro finished for her. He could only imagine how painful it'd be for him and his own human lover to go through that.

"I'm not forgiving her, or saying I'm okay with what she did, but I understand it," Takao admitted to the group and honestly, the other guardians also agreed with him. If any of their lovers had gone through such a life and death, they'd break too.

The group couldn't help but sit completely still and in silence for a few minutes. Even Murasakibara stopped munching on food in favor of being motionless. No one knew what to say anymore. Momoi realized her question caused more darkness than anything else and felt bad about it, but she didn't know how to fix it.

"...So... Are you Midorima's permanent guardian now?" It was Kasamatsu who finally broke the deafening silence in the room after a few minutes.

"Oh, well of course!" The black-haired demon smiled happily. "Shin is now stuck with me forever."

"I somehow don't think he minds." Aomine chuckled looking at the green-haired human.

"What do you mean?"

"Aren't you two a thing now?" Momoi muttered questioningly.

"What?! No, no...No!" Takao's face burst into red as he waved his hands around frantically. Midorima also couldn't help but slightly blush at the female's guess.

"We most definitely are not "a thing"." Midorima's voice was firm, but no one in the room seemed to believe him.

"...Are you sure?" Even Akashi had to question it.

"I'm sure!"

"You know, I wouldn't mind being "a thing" with Shin though..." Takao's voice was quiet but loud enough to be heard by everyone.

"...Well, I'm not... I'm not against it..." Midorima's face now matched with his demon's extremely red face. The two looked at each other and realized they were going to have a lot to talk about when they got home.

However, now that all the seriousness was over, it was time to get the actual party started. They planned on fully celebrating their friend's return in the best ways the group could. Which usually ended up with various people throwing halfhearted insults at each other and the couples being...couples. Even so, Takao wouldn't change his group in any way. He loved his friends as much as he loves his precious human.

Deep down though, Takao couldn't help but be antsy to get home and talk things over with Midorima. He had a good feeling about it, but for now, he'd enjoy his party and wait patiently for his alone time with Midorima.