Had it been five years? Five whole years. 43,800 hours. 2,628,000 minutes. Blaine had missed them all.

His eyes fluttered up to the top of the building feeling a strange sense of déjà vu. Taking a deep breath, he concentrated. Blaine could hear the birds chirping, the commotion of the city streets around him, and the similar hum of a voice he had missed so dearly.

Blaine adjusted his bowtie and slid his glasses back up his nose. Squaring his shoulders, he marched into the building determined.

If Blaine didn’t know better, he would have assumed he was in the wrong building. Everything was brand new. But he concentrated, and spotted the familiar faces and the details that had stayed the same. They were small, but they were there. Just that fact put him at ease.

Blaine entered the elevator, and grinned at the sight. In the midst of strangers was a familiar face. “Is that … Blaine Anderson?” The man chuckled and pulled him into a hug. “Holy crap it is. What … how … why …” He chuckled looking at Blaine. “What brings you back? God, it’s been forever.”

Blaine chuckled, fixed his button up shirt and slid his glasses back up. “Five whole years.” He glanced back up at him and smiled. “How have you been Jimmy?”

Jimmy Olsen ran a hand through his hair, looking as if he saw a ghost. “Um … wow.” A momentary look of awkwardness flooded through him, but he tried to recompose himself. Although Blaine let it slide, he made a mental note to figure out what he was thinking. “I’ve been great. I got promoted. Um … Lead photographer.” He grinned, showing his camera. As soon as he lifted his camera, he accidentally smacked the person behind him with it. “Oh shit, I’m so sorry.” He said breathlessly, and cringing.

“Nice to see nothing has changed.” Blaine chuckled, referencing the man’s clumsiness. His response was returned with a laugh.

Within a minute the door let out a ring and opened up. Blaine took a deep breath and looked into the bullpen of the leading newspaper of the town. He stepped out with Jimmy and gave a smile. Jimmy put his arm around his shoulders. “Welcome home. The Daily Planet missed you.”

After a moment he gestured to his camera and pointed to the other end of the room. “My office is over there but everything is relatively the same. I have to go but … are you going to be here later?”

Blaine nodded, scanning the room for a familiar face. “Yeah I’m about to ask Perry for my job back.”

Jimmy raised an eyebrow. “Tell me how that goes. Let’s grab a beer later okay?”

Blaine nodded, thinking about the possibilities of his conversation with Perry. “Will do.” He gave him a small wave before walking straight toward his old desk. Blaine smiled to see that it was empty, that no one had replaced him. However, when he looked for the familiar desk next to him, it was gone.

“Well I’ll be damned.” A booming voice said, causing Blaine to look up into the eyes of his old boss. “Blaine Anderson. Holy shit.”

Blaine chuckled and walked over to his boss’s office where his boss was leaning on the door frame. “Yes sir. It’s me.” He sighed at the fact that, after all these years, he still shrunk into himself at the Daily Planet. He was the boy with glasses. He was the nerdy innocent one. He was timid.

But he let these thoughts occur. After all, that way, no one would have guessed who he really was.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Perry White asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

Blaine ran a hand through his hair awkwardly and shrugged his shoulders. “Home.” He hoped that answer was enough, and for Perry it was.

“Understandable. So … what can I do you for?” Perry asked, walking back into his office and leaning on his desk. “Let me guess. You need a job?” He asked raising an eyebrow. Before Blaine could speak, Perry continued to ramble and Blaine knew it was best to let him continue. “You’re lucky I miss your writing. Although, I hope those five years of experience made you a bit worldlier. The whole innocent puppy act only gets you so far in the publishing world Anderson.”

Blaine wanted to thank him. He wanted to, frankly, jump up and down and yell at the top of his lungs. He was back home. He was back where he needed to be.

And that’s when it happened.

“Perry did you see what the New York Times just published?” A voice interrupted, bursting into the office, past Blaine and up to Perry. “This is fucking ridiculous.” The man slammed the newspaper on Perry’s desk and sent him a glare. “We’re in the worst economic, political … and if I say so myself fashion … state that the earth has seen and all the NY Times has to say is that Superman is back?”

Perry gestured to him. “I figured you’d be happy. Superman is how you got your break at hardcore journalism Hummel.” He sighed. “Think of it like coming home, because I’m making you write our Superman article.”

Kurt’s face flushed and he was about to argue when Perry cut him off. “Speaking of coming home … why don’t you welcome your newest employee?” He raised an eyebrow with a smirk.

As Kurt turned around, he had to do a double take. All of his anger washed out of his system and a small chuckle slipped out of his lips. “… Blaine Anderson?” He continued to stare, his smile growing bigger. “Well shit. Come here.” He said bringing the man into a hug and then pulling away to look at him. Kurt couldn’t help but feel something, when he hugged Blaine. But he passed it off as love for a dear friend that came back home. “Where the hell have you been the past few years?”

Blaine awkwardly shuffled his feet and smiled. “Um, you know, home stuff.” Blaine tried to repress the thousands of feelings he felt in that one minute. He wanted to apologize for leaving, and about never saying goodbye. He wanted to tell him how much he loved him. And frankly, Blaine wanted to just kiss him right there. But Blaine Anderson knew that Kurt didn’t love him, he loved Superman. So his declaration of his feelings would have to wait.

Kurt eyed him but nodded, accepting the story. Blaine knew he was way too good of a journalist to believe it, so he must have done it out of courtesy. “Well it’s great to have you back.” He said clapping a hand onto Blaine’s back.

Turning back to Perry, Kurt raised an eyebrow. “Now, what’s this about him being my employee?”

“You got promoted to Head two years ago Kurt. Blaine has his old job back. You’re a smart cookie, do the math.” He chuckled, going into his seat and leaning back.

Kurt slowly nodded and gestured to the door. “Well then, you have a lot to catch up on Anderson. Ready for the update?” He asked. When Blaine responded with a timid nod, he grinned. “Follow me back to my office, I’ll explain it there.”

Kurt turned and walked out of the door, with Blaine following shortly after.

“Anderson wait!” Perry yelled after him, causing Blaine to turn around. “Welcome back to Metropolis.”

Blaine gave him a small smile in response before turning around and heading toward Kurt’s office. Things had changed. The paint was different, half of the people working there were strangers, the desks were rearranged … and yet as he saw Kurt smiling in his office and discussing something on the phone, with a pencil behind his ear, he realized something.

Maybe things weren’t that different after all.