It starts when Blaine’s visiting the Hummel-Hudson house. He’s in the basement, Kurt curled in his arms with the tv going but neither boy really paying attention, when they hear the thunder. It had been raining on and off for a week, but this sounds worse than it has. Kurt jumps in his arms but Blaine just holds him closer. He holds back the shiver threatening to run through him. He’s never been too fond of storms.

“It’s just thunder,” he says and he’s not sure whether he’s comforting himself or Kurt. Still, it gets louder and to the point that he can hear the wind blowing through a cracked window.

Then the sirens start outside and the emergency system on the tv starts beeping. He wants to cover his ears from the noise but he knows it’s important to hear whatever they have to say.

The rain had progressed into a thunderstorm, and the first sirens only indicate a severe thunderstorm warning and the possibility of a tornado watch. Nothing to worry about, it storms all the time. But Blaine just has a feeling…and it makes him hold Kurt closer, protectively.

Burt comes down after the first siren to check the windows and peek outside. “It’s getting bad,” he warns and it does nothing to calm Blaine’s raising nerves. It’s just a storm, he tells himself. They’ll be fine.

Then the sirens start again, about fifteen minutes later. “Message from the national weather service…A tornado warning has been issued for Lima…” The message lists other cities as well, but Blaine focuses in on his and Kurt’s hometown. It could be nothing. It was probably nothing. Tornado warnings seemed to happen nearly every time there was a thunderstorm, but he had yet to see a funnel cloud. They should be fine.

But that didn’t explain the feeling of dread creeping over him.

After the second siren dies down, Finn, Burt, and Carole pile into the basement with them, as the warning advised everyone to get to the lowest level and take shelter. They all seem relatively calm, just a hint of worry crossing Carole’s face. But they’ve all been through this countless times, just like he has, and it’s most likely nothing to worry about.

The warning is set to last at least half an hour, if they don’t extend it, so Burt suggests they play cards to pass the time. The tv gets changed to a news channel and Blaine tries to keep his eyes off the screen while they show damage the storm has already done to the counties surrounding Lima. He doesn’t want to know what he could face when the warning is lifted and his curiosity causes him to venture outside.

They’re in the middle of a hand of rummy, Blaine winning, when the sirens start again. The warning has been extended to more cities outside Lima, and another half hour is added to Lima’s warning. Blaine feels worry clawing at the back of his mind but he pushes it away while looking at Kurt, assuring himself that nothing can happen to his boyfriend while he’s there because he won’t let it.

He’s getting more and more anxious when the warning gets extended a second time and he can hear the wind outside, sometime interspersed with thunder but mostly just wind. He knows that if a tornado does hit, it’ll be all wind, no rain or thunder or lightning to accompany it. It’ll look clear and calm and then boom, they’re in the midst of a tornado and it’s destroying the Hummel-Hudson home and pulling Kurt away from him and...

“Blaine?” He doesn’t realize he’s shaking until Kurt gets his attention, pulls his shaking form close. “It’ll be alright. it’s just a storm, remember? And we’re all here.”

He stays by Kurt’s side through the rest of the warning. And thankfully, it doesn’t get extended anymore. It seems like the worst has passed and now, when he looks out the window, he sees darkness and rain, but the wind had calmed down, the trees aren’t blowing as bad.

The worry is still clawing at the back of his mind, but he tries to push it away. Everything is okay, he can see outside enough to see no permanent damage. Everything should be fine now.

He turns to follow Kurt’s family upstairs when his eyes catch a glimpse of the news. Destruction has run rampant through the entire state, but at the moment he looks over, they’re focused on Lima. A tornado did touch down; it just hadn’t made it as far as Kurt’s house.

But it did hit his neighborhood. He recognizes his neighbor’s car, but it’s scraped up and blown away from the house. And the houses seem destroyed. He doesn’t see his, but he can recognize remnants of the houses near his. All those people’s homes destroyed.

It doesn’t register at first. Not really. He feels bad for his neighbors, and as the statistic flashes on screen with the number of injured, he wonders if he knew them.

It doesn’t register until he’s walking up the stairs of Kurt’s basement, halfway to the top. Then it hits him, the realization coming into his mind and a pain hitting his chest.

“Cooper.”

He loses his balance, falling down a couple stairs and collapsing. Kurt’s at his side in a second but panic has set in and he doesn’t even look at his boyfriend. He’s having a hard time breathing. His mind keeps flashing horror scenarios in his head, mentally creating what it must of looked like when the tornado hit, when it inevitably destroyed his house, in his mind sucking his brother into the whirlwind where he spins for an indefinite amount of time and then is through into the debris. He pictures Cooper lying unconscious and bleeding on the rubble of a neighbor’s home, no help to be found as everyone in Lima avoids the disaster.

The initial panic passes and he can breathe, only slightly but he can breathe a little bit. Kurt comes into focus and he’s worried, Blaine can tell. Kurt’s freaking out but trying to be calm, rubbing Blaine’s back and he just keeps repeating “What’s wrong?” and Blaine’s name.

“Cooper,” he says again, trying to make his brain form a coherent sentence to explain the panic. “The storm. A tornado hit near my house. People are injured. Where’s Cooper?” Kurt wouldn’t know where his brother was, of course he wouldn’t, but Blaine wishes he did. He needs to know, needs to know that Cooper is okay and that maybe their house is okay and maybe it wasn’t really that bad, maybe the news exaggerates disaster.

“We’ll find him.” Kurt helps him upstairs, gets him to sit and drink water while Burt surveys the outside to make sure it’s safe and Carole tries to call Cooper’s cell. There’s no answer, and Blaine starts to worry again.

“It’s passed.” Burt comes back inside, and though he says it’s all clear he still looks worried. “We can go look around your neighborhood but...” Blaine doesn’t let him finish the sentence; he’s already bolting out the door and heading for Kurt’s car.

“You guys stay here,” he hears Kurt says, voice trailing behind him. “I’ll call when we know something.”

The rain’s still pouring down, making it difficult to see out the window and Kurt’s driving slow, squinting to see through the drops on his windshield. Blaine wants to urge him to go faster, just get them there already but he keeps quiet, just shaking in his seat as he tries in vain to look out the window and assess the damage as they drive.

When Kurt pulls off into his suburb, Blaine’s already unbuckling his seatbelt and ready to bolt out of the car. Kurt puts on hand on his arm while keeping the other on the wheel.

Blaine looks out the windshield now, and it’s blurry and rain-streaked but the lights of the car illuminate the outside and the horror hits him that nothing in the news was exaggeration, the destruction is almost worse than they said.

When Kurt pulls up to the familiar driveway, his heart sinks. There’s debris all around and, when his eyes land on the house, it’s half gone. The foundation still stands, barely, by the looks of it, but the entire top level had been destroyed. A selfish part of Blaine wants to dig through the rubble for his important things but there’s a more pressing issue: where the hell is Cooper?

“He probably evacuated before it hit.” Kurt’s rubbing his back again, but it does little to calm him. He wants to believe that Cooper is safe, but, if he were, why isn’t he answering his phone.

Without really thinking about it, he pulls out his phone to call again, but before he can press call it starts ringing. COOPER flashes on the screen.

He answers it with shaky hands, praying to a god he didn’t really believe in for good news. “Cooper?”

“Thank God you’re okay.” He lets out a sigh of relief at Cooper’s voice. “Did it hit Kurt’s?”

“No, we’re okay. But I see the house. Everything’s gone...where are you?”

“Hospital.” And Blaine’s heart sinks again. “I’m alright Blaine, just a little scratched up. I’ll be fine.”

As long as he was alive and okay. Blaine lets another sigh of relief fall from his lips. “I was so worried.” He’s not sure if he’s telling Cooper or just saying it. “I thought I’d lost you.”

“Can’t get rid of me that easily.” He has a hint of a laugh in his voice. “You’re still inside, right? It’s looking bad again.”

“No...” he says it slowly, eyes searching the sky. Looked clear to him. “We drove to the house to find you. We’re in Kurt’s car.”

That’s when the sirens go off.