When Blaine wakes up, there's a loud ringing in his ears and voices that seem to swirl around him. He feels like he's in one of those cartoons where a character slips on a banana peel and the next thing they know, there are birds running circles around their head – actually, yeah, that's exactly what it feels like, though he isn't sure if Sylvester ever felt this fuzzy. It's sort of like he's floating just above himself, not quite in tune with reality just yet – suspended in that strange place between awake and asleep. He feels awake, but his eyes are still shut… and quite frankly, he has no idea what the fuck happened. Where is he, again? His eyes burn like there's a flashlight pointed at him, the edges of the blackness kind of blotchy, like Blaine is staring into the sun.

There's beeping, too – so much damn beeping and Blaine just wants to open his mouth and beg for it to stop, but he's forgotten how to move his lips. Shit. Everything is so loud and he feels so heavy – especially his eyes. It's almost like they're taped together. He feels like he's done this before, like he's been slipping in an out for a while… He tries to shift himself and he feels so weighted down, like his veins are filled with cement. Just make a fist; that shouldn't be too hard. He hardly feels his own fingers against his palm, thinks maybe he's not getting anywhere at all, but then he hears:

"Blaine? Are you awake?"

The voice is so familiar, so calming… sort of like music in the way it falls against his ringing ears, gentle and soft. He clings to the sound, to the voice he cannot place, trying to use it as an anchor to reality. He wants to answer but he can't; he's still floating, still in that strange limbo between what is and what can never be. Blaine's head is so foggy, he can't remember anything, certainly not how to form words.

"Blaine, can you hear me?"

It's not the same music this time. This other voice isn't light and musical, but deep, ragged (albeit unusually), and everything Blaine needs to pull himself to the surface. Jesse. He tries again to open his mouth, move something, anything…

"…Mmph," is what he manages. It was going to be a word, but Blaine forgets already what it was. He hears a sigh of relief and then, "Blaine, open your eyes, please." It's a tone he's never heard Jesse use, so gentle and relieved. He wants to oblige but he can't seem to because: one, his eyes are too weighted down and two, it's far too bright out there. It seems so much easier to sink back into the darkness, away from the harshness of the light.

"Too.. bri'ht," he rasps, the word coming out broken and stuttered. It takes a second, but then Jesse laughs and, shit, it's beautiful. It's the best sound in the word and Blaine grabs a hold of it, letting the familiarity wash over him like a wave, shoving him back into consciousness. He needs to see Jesse's face, needs to see that smile again… but it's so hard. Why is it so hard to open his eyes?

"Come on, Blaine," the softer voice says, and he feels pressure in his hand. Suddenly, it hits him: Kurt. That's who that was. But, wait… Kurt is here? He feels a strange swell of confusion and relief; what the hell is going on that got Kurt to come see him? "We're here," Kurt adds, like he's reading Blaine's mind. "Come back to us." It's a puzzling statement. Come back from where?

"Where have I been?" Blaine wonders aloud, his voice horse and confused.

Jesse replies, "Open your eyes and I'll tell you."

And Blaine feels so safe and content, he wants nothing more than to do just that, so he forces his eyes open, blinking a few times as his vision adjusts. Just as expected, he sees Jesse and Kurt… though, he never really thought he'd see the two in a room together. Seriously, what happened? He goes to rub his eyes and he finds that both of his hands are being held – one is wrapped in one of Jesse's, the other in both of Kurt's. Blaine is coming back, bit by bit, his senses filing back one by one. It's a slow process, coming back to awareness, but Blaine's never found it so difficult to wake up before. He entwines his fingers with Jesse's and takes a deep, steadying breath – one that only results in a harsh cough.

Jesse jumps a little, his grip tightening on Blaine's hand, and it's sort of weird how helpless he looks. Blaine tries to give him his most convincing, reassuring smile and tells him, "It's okay. I'm okay." This, Blaine notices, allows Jesse's posture to relax.

His head lulls over to face Kurt, a tiny smile playing on his lips. And though his first instinct is to ask what the hell he's doing here, Blaine doesn't quite want to tread such complicated waters just yet, so he says simply, "Hi."

Kurt grins and there are tears in his eyes. This only confuses Blaine further. "Hey," he replies, just as casually. "How are you feeling?"

Blaine considers this for a moment and says, "I guess I'm okay."

A chuckle comes from his left and he turns to look at Jesse, who is looking at him like… Blaine's actually not sure what that look means, but he kind of likes it. Everything is still very fuzzy, so he guesses that maybe he'll realize later, once he feels more normal. He squeezes Jesse's hand.

Kurt pats the top of Blaine's hand and says, "I'll go tell the nurse that you're fully conscious" before excusing himself (and Blaine completely misses the glance that he sends Jesse on the way). Once he's gone, though, Blaine turns his head to Jesse, his lips curving upward again.

"Hey, you."

Jesse chuckles again, and this time it sounds sort of like hysterical relief. "Hey yourself," he says. "We need to have a discussion about your compulsive quest for attention, because this—"

"How long have I been out?"

Jesse hesitates. "A little over a week."

Over a week. Blaine was unconscious for over a week?

"What the hell happened?"

"You don't remember?" Jesse sounds and looks concerned, his brow all furrowed and his lips sort of pursed. "You haven't the slightest clue how you got here?"

Blaine closes his eyes and Jesse's grip tightens around his hand. Blaine thinks that maybe Jesse expects him to slip away again, so he lets his thumb trace against his palm, in some sort of reassurance. "I'm thinking," he tells him, trying his best to organize his foggy thoughts.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Jesse's voice is gentle and patient. Blaine bites down on his lower lip, worried about the wall he's running into. Jesse assures him, "It's okay. The doctor warned us that you might not remember much about the accident."

Blaine echoes the word, "accident."

As Blaine's trying to remember, Jesse's lips are suddenly on his and Blaine's eyes snap back open. Oh, okay. It's not making the whole thought process any easier, but then again, Blaine doesn't exactly mind. His hand, still entwined with Jesse's, pulls up to fall on his chest and he swears that Jesse starts smiling against his lips. It's the first time, Blaine realizes, that they're kissing in a public setting and he smiles too – so it doesn't matter that maybe it's sort of sloppy and not winning any best kiss awards – because they're here together and, hey, Blaine's alive which is pretty damn cool, to be honest.

Jesse pulls away and says, "If you ever walk into traffic like that again, I'll kill you myself," but it's pretty much the emptiest threat Blaine's ever heard.

"So that's what happened…"

Jesse admits, "Not your finest moment." He's still leaning over the bed, one of his hands wrapped around Blaine's in between them, the other leaning against the railing on the side.

"I'll look both ways from now on."

"You better."

Blaine is all smiles when he says, "I'm sorry I scared you."

"You should be," Jesse replies, and he falls back into his seat, bringing Blaine's hand with him into his lap. There's a shift in tone, though Jesse sounds more stern and irritated than sad. "Seriously, Blaine, what were you thinking?"

Blaine shrugs. "I guess I was upset…"

"Because I introduced you as my roommate."

And, suddenly, Blaine recalls. "Yeah, that was it…" but his voice is passive and sort of lazy, because he's still trying to think back and running into a wall. It's thinning out, but it's still there.

"I'm sorry."

And though the words come as a surprise – has Blaine ever heard Jesse say that before? – there's an odd sense of familiarly that he can't place, sort of like the vague déjà vu you get when something in your waking life reflects a dream. Blaine just says, "Jesse…"

"You are so much more to me than that, Blaine," Jesse spits out. The words aren't rushed, but there's a certain about of pressure behind them, like he's pushing them out with great effort – or it may be just that he's wanted to say them for a while and is finally letting go.

Blaine can't be sure which, because as usual, he has no idea what Jesse is thinking. He wants to interject, but Jesse continues:

"I should have told you that sooner," he says, more confidently. "I've always been just fine with not putting labels on anything, but that's not you. I was selfish to expect that you would just learn to live with it, or whatever excuse I was using to avoid talking about feelings. I've never been good at that. You know that."

Blaine sighs and before he realizes it, he's saying, "better than anyone."

There's a brief silence, during which Blaine lifts his eyes to meet with Jesse's, trying to read his expression. Though, the only thing he can really gauge is that Jesse is probably doing the very same to him. It's going to be some sort of impasse, Blaine thinks, but then Jesse surprises him (as usual).

He says, "I love you."

And even though Blaine doesn't see it coming, his face breaks out into what he can feel must be the goofiest grin he's ever given anyone – and then Jesse is standing and kissing it away, Blaine sitting up in the uncomfortable bed so he can properly wrap his arms around Jesse's neck, fingers tangling in the curls at the base of his neck. When they pull apart for a moment, Blaine can't help the little giggle that falls from his lips, making Jesse laugh and lean in to kiss his cheek, his forehead, his lips again… The warmth in Blaine's chest is unmistakable; that, at least, Blaine sees coming. And so, pulling back just enough to press their foreheads together, he says, "I love you, too."

Someone in the doorway clears their throat, and Jesse pulls back to his seat as the doctor makes his way across the room. There's much to be settled – vitals to be checked, tests to be run, and there's also the matter of Kurt, waiting somewhere outside – but the last thing Blaine has to do is worry. He's got a second chance, and as cliché as it is, he's knows it'll count for something.

After all, he got Jesse St. James to admit that he loves him. The hardest part was over.

…Until, of course, they had to talk about it some more.