AN: Trying to get back to my Wednesday/Saturday posting schedule, we'll see how that goes… though I do have two weeks vacation coming up, so I'm hoping to at least keep it up through that!
I don't own anything relating to The 100
Chapter title from "Rhythm of the Night" by Debarge
41
Underneath Electric Stars
Bellamy's unusually quiet as they enjoy a final breakfast at their Beijing hotel, check out and grab a cab to the airport.
Clarke gives him until they've settled into their seats and the plane has reached cruising altitude before she calls him out on it.
"OK, what's wrong?" He looks up at her question, eyebrows furrowing, and she just knows that he's going to try to brush it off. "And before you answer, keep in mind that we're stuck on this flight for the next three hours. There's no getting away from me."
He lets out a short laugh and shakes his head. "You say that like I'd want to get away from you."
She doesn't respond to that, just raises her eyebrows expectantly.
He sighs and turns to look out the window, but she's pretty sure he's just trying to collect his thoughts, figure out how to phrase whatever's on his mind, not actually ignoring her, so she gives him a moment.
"I guess I just…" he starts after a few minutes, turning back to face her with a sigh. "Ever since you said we were halfway through the trip, it's felt a little like a count down."
The words 'count down' of course pulls her attention to his forehead – 90 today. Bellamy notices, obviously, and reaches out to take her hand. "I know I'm late to the party, that you've been counting down basically since we met. And I'm not saying it just got real or anything, just… I don't know."
"No, I get it," she assures him, releasing his hand so she can push the armrest between them up and move closer instead. His arm goes around her and she tucks herself against his side, warmth seeping through her thin t-shirt, a comforting presence. "Do you want to talk about it or do you want me to cheer you up?"
He huffs another laugh and kisses her temple. "I don't think a three hour flight is the best place for that conversation, so cheer up?"
Clarke wonders if it might be the first step to the breakdown he's convinced is coming. Maybe she should push, get him to let it all out, but like he said – a plane's not really the place for that.
"OK, well, in that case – do you know how many awesome things we still have left on this trip?"
His thumb starts tracing patterns on her bare arm and he leans his head against the top of hers. "Your itinerary was huge and freakishly detailed, so not really. Tell me."
So she talks about all the things she's looking forward to – showing him Manila, relaxing on Bora Bora, all the Lord of the Rings stuff they have planned in New Zealand, exploring her second favorite US city, San Francisco, with him, their road trip – and the things she knows he's excited about – Angkor Wat, seeing his dad's home town, Machu Picchu, the Panama canal, Chichén Itzá. She tells him about all the off-the-beaten-track places she wants to take him to in the cities she's visited before, and all the cool stuff she's found in the places she's never been and wants to experience for the first time with him. She talks and talks, until the flight attendant serves them their snack, and when she reluctantly sits up straight in her seat to be able to eat, Bellamy's hand wraps around her wrist and he leans closer. "Thank you," he whispers in her ear, and she offers him a smile.
"That's what I'm here for."
"Well, I can think of a few other things…" he teases, breaking the slightly heavy moment.
Clarke laughs. "Yeah, OK, when you put it like that. But this is not the flight for that kind of fun."
He makes a show of looking around the cabin, where the other passengers are all digging into their snack, conversation in various languages here and there, flight attendants moving up and down the aisle. "I guess not," he finally agrees.
She can't help the way her eyes narrow when he turns his attention back to her. "Why are you suddenly all… casual about it? Last time we talked about it you were a weak maybe."
Bellamy shrugs. "I've had time to think about it, and what's the worst that can happen? Even if someone were to actually catch us, it's not like we'll ever see them again, so who cares, right?"
It's pretty much the argument she was planning to use if he was still hesitating on the flight from Manila, but it's still odd to hear it from him.
"Who are you and what did you do to my boyfriend?" she asks suspiciously, and he laughs.
"Maybe I just realized that life's short."
Which of course brings them – or at least her, he just turns his attention to his food, not seeming affected the way he was earlier – back to the whole count down thing. She bites her lip, determined to not bring him down with her, and follows his example, but she can't bring herself to eat, just pokes at the food until the flight attendant comes around to collect the trash.
-100-
By now, the whole hotel check in process has become more or less routine, and their Tokyo hotel is more of the same. The receptionist is overly perky, doesn't hide her flirting with Bellamy at all, and Clarke has to clear her throat before she understands that she's the one with the credit card they need to register in case they decide to raid the mini fridge. Which she wasn't planning on doing anyway, but definitely won't do now.
"She was just being friendly," he says as they shoot up in the elevator taking them to the twenty-ninth floor. Clarke doesn't even dignify that with an answer, just gives him an incredulous look. "OK, fine, she was flirting. But it's not like I care, you know that."
It makes her deflate, because she does know that, of course. "I do. Sorry," she apologizes.
"Don't worry about it." He gives her a scrutinizing look. "Are you OK? You've been a little off since we landed… did cheering me up actually bring you down? That really wasn't how I wanted that to go."
She doesn't want to get into that conversation again, it won't do either of them any good, so she forces a smile onto her face. "No, I'm fine, just one of those days when stuff bugs you, you know?"
He doesn't look like he completely buys it. "I do know. You sure?"
To Clarke's relief, the elevator comes to a stop at that moment and the doors ding open. "I'm sure. Come on, I can't wait to see the look on your face when you see the toilet in this place!"
And he doesn't disappoint, oohing and aahing over the buttons on the toilet, maybe a bit more than he would have, and she knows he's trying to get her out of her funk. Which actually helps, strangely enough, and by the time they leave the hotel an hour later, she's really looking forward to exploring Shinjuku.
They stroll around among the skyscrapers for a while, grabbing sushi for lunch and just generally enjoying the atmosphere. They eventually end up in Shinjuku Gyoen park, following the winding paths and bridges. Some of the distinctive cherry trees are still blooming, the ground beneath them covered in a soft layer of pink and white flowers, and it's a nice place, a quiet oasis in the middle of the bustling city.
"This reminds me of Central Park, in a way," Bellamy notes when they've stopped on one of the narrow bridges to admire the view. "I mean, the trees and stuff are different, but it has a similar feel – the green space in the middle of the city, buildings towering over it…"
"Yeah, I see your point," she agrees, glancing up at him. "Getting homesick?"
"Not really. You?"
She shrugs. "Not homesick per se, though I do miss Bas. Which is part of the reason we're going to a cat café tomorrow."
He lets out a surprised laugh. "We are?"
"Come on, you can't go to Tokyo and not go to a cat café. It's, like, their thing."
"You do know there are cat cafés in New York now, right?" he asks amusedly.
"Of course, there's one a fifteen minute walk from my place. But this is where it started, so it's different. And I need a cat fix, I haven't seen my baby for three months." They've Skyped Harper and Monty a couple of times, hoping to be able to say hi to Bastet, but so far she's been hiding somewhere all times but one, and the only time they did get to see her, she seemed to be spooked by Clarke's voice coming from Harper's iPad and took off like a flash.
That makes Bellamy turn serious and he squeezes her hand. "I know."
"Come on," she says decisively. "I'm in the mood for ice cream."
They make their way back towards their hotel slowly, stopping for ice cream at a cute little shop along the way.
"You know…" Bellamy starts when they're in bed later that night. "Cat cafés are not the only animal cafés in Tokyo."
"No?" She leans over, peering at the screen of his phone. "What else is there?"
"Owls… snakes, no thanks… there's a penguin bar, that seems kind of cool."
"No, no, this one!" Clarke exclaims, pointing at the screen. "Hedgehogs."
His eyes widen. "Hedgehogs, seriously?"
"Only in Tokyo."
"OK, so we have the cat place tomorrow. How about hedgehogs on Tuesday and penguins on Wednesday?"
She grabs her phone to check the itinerary. "Yeah, that should work." None of their days in Tokyo are exactly packed, there's room for some cute animals.
In the end, the penguin bar is fully booked, but they do get a half-hour slot at the hedgehog café.
-100-
Clarke wakes up early the next morning and is too excited to go back to sleep, so she checks her social media, liking a photo that Raven's uploaded of her and Zeke in a pretty much empty movie theatre – which reminds her that the Tribeca Film Festival has started – and posting a nice picture she snapped of herself and Bellamy with a cherry tree in bloom as a background yesterday.
She's moved on to checking the news by the time Bellamy wakes up and squints at her. "Why are you already awake?" he asks, voice heavy with sleep.
It's true that she usually sleeps later than him, but still, he doesn't have to sound so surprised.
"Woke up and couldn't go back to sleep," she says with a shrug, putting her phone away. It's just a little after seven thirty, so they're not in a hurry or anything. She's checked the metro and the trip shouldn't take more than half an hour if they're really unlucky with their timing, so with the short walk to and from the subway, they don't have to leave the hotel for another hour and a half or so. She still sort of wants to get going, though.
"You're that excited about the cat café, huh?" he says, rolling away from her to check his own phone on the bedside table.
"No." She pauses. "OK, yeah, but we're doing something else first that I'm more excited about."
"Really? What?"
"Nope. It's a surprise." She can tell from the look on his face that he's about to try to convince her to tell him so she continues. "And don't even try – you'll know in two hours."
He heaves an exaggerated sigh. "Fine. Breakfast?"
Since he's the one to suggest it, Clarke doesn't even bother suggesting that they can stay in bed for a while. They can have a slow breakfast.
And she tries to linger, she really does, but in the end, they still reach their destination a few minutes early.
"We're going go-karting?" Bellamy asks, sounding kind of excited but also a little amused.
"Sort of," she replies, pulling the door open.
"What do you mean 'sort of'? It says right on the door, GO KART."
There's a young man behind a desk that plasters on a smile when he spots them and she hands over all the papers before turning back to Bellamy. "You'll see in a bit. Give me your driver's license."
He hands it over with a small frown and she gives it to the guy behind the desk as well. He checks everything for a few minutes before handing them back and asking them to follow him in English with a heavy Japanese accent.
Their actual guide, an American woman in her early twenties, is waiting for them in a room full of costumes.
"Hey guys, I'm Fox, your guide. Welcome! Just go ahead and pick out your outfits and we can get going."
"We're going go-karting in costume?" Bellamy asks when Clarke starts looking around them at the costumes on offer.
Shay gives Clarke an amused look. "Surprise, huh?"
"That obvious?"
They get their outfits picked out – Yoshi for Bellamy, Princess Peach, of course, for Clarke – and get a quick run-through of the karts they'll be driving before they continue to the garage with all the karts and Fox hits a button to open the door.
Bellamy freezes before getting into the kart he's been allotted, looking out through the door that's slowly opening, at the regular street outside. "We're not driving on a course?"
"Nope," Fox tells him from her kart. "This is go-karting in the real world."
"Come one," Clarke says, getting into her own kart. "It'll be fun."
As it turns out, 'fun' doesn't even begin to cover it. Fox takes them around the city, offering insights through the headsets they're wearing on the places they pass – the Rainbow Bridge, the Statue of Liberty replica, Tokyo Tower – and it feels more like twenty minutes than two hours when they're back at the garage.
"So?" Clarke asks as they head towards the subway again. "Did you have fun?"
She's nervous for a moment, but then Bellamy looks down at her, a huge smile on his face. "That was awesome!"
"See? I told you!"
They get off the train at Shibuya and stand slack-jawed for a long moment watching the crowds at the huge intersection a couple of blocks away. It's almost one, so tourists mingle with locals on their way to or from lunch, and it's just… overwhelming, really.
They cross the street on the third green light and explore the area a little, grabbing some lunch, before continuing to the cat café for the half-hour visit Clarke booked for four o'clock.
It's not as good as it would be to see Bastet, of course – she's Clarke's baby – but it's still like balm for her soul to have the different cats weaving between their legs, butting up against their hands, meowing and purring up a storm.
"OK, this was a really good idea," Bellamy says, scratching a little white, fluffy cat that's climbed into his lap and curled into a ball. "I can totally see why these places are getting more popular."
She hums in agreement, dangling the cord of her sweatshirt in front of another cat, this one white and grey with ears that sort of turn up at the ends. It pounces on the cord, almost falling off her lap, but she grabs it at the last moment and laughs when it bats its paw at her.
They end up paying for another half hour, since the cat in Bellamy's lap falls asleep. It's not like they can just wake it up, that would be cruel.
"So did this help with missing Bastet?" Bellamy asks when they're on their way back to their hotel.
Clarke sighs. "Not really. I mean, they were cute and all, but I kind of miss her even more now."
"Want to give Skyping another go?"
So they do, managing to get Bas to actually stay still for a few minutes – she even meows at the iPad, head darting back and forth as if trying to figure out where the rest of Clarke is.
The cat takes off when Monty drops something off screen, but it still makes Clarke feel a lot better.
They get their cultural fill on Tuesday, wandering around the Asakusa area in the rain all day, checking out the Senso-ji temple and other religious buildings, perusing the goods on offer along the shopping street Nakamise Dori, before crossing the river to get a closer look at the Tokyo Skytree.
They wrap up the afternoon at the hedgehog café, which is cool – the little prickly animals aren't as cuddly as the cats from yesterday, for obvious reasons, and they have to wear gloves to touch them, but they're still adorable.
Their final day in Tokyo starts with an almost hour long train ride to the western parts of the city and the Ghibli Museum. The last time Clarke was in Tokyo was during the summer of 2001, when the museum was being built, and she's wanted to visit it ever since.
The museum's like nothing either of them has ever experience before. It's more a maze than anything else, spiral staircases, hallways, bridged passageways leading every which way, and rooms branching off here and there, and there doesn't seem to be any set way to explore the place at all, so they just pick a direction and start walking.
It's a kind of sensory overload, exploring the museum. There are painted ceilings, stain glass windows, little details all over the place and it turns into almost a competition, finding all the movie references. Neither of them have seen all the movies, but between them, they pick out a lot of them.
They get photos with a large Totoro holding an umbrella – Bellamy sounds almost gleeful when he tells her that My Neighbor Totoro was Octavia's favorite movie when she was eight and she's going to be so jealous of the picture – and watch an original short film in the theatre. On the second floor, there's a room with an actual replica of the catbus from Totoro, which is totally awesome even if only kids are allowed to play on it. They still get photos, of course, before going out onto the terrace and climbing to the roof, where there's a garden with a fifteen foot tall Robot Soldier from Laputa Castle in the Sky.
They stop at the shop – where Bellamy buys Octavia a plushy Totoro – before leaving the museum to explore the surrounding park for a while.
"Do we have any plans tonight?" Bellamy asks on the train back into the city.
"Nope," Clarke replies. "Is there something you want to do?"
He shrugs. "Want might be too strong a word. But we're in Japan, right, where karaoke is, like, the national pastime or something."
She just stares at him for a moment. "You want to do karaoke?"
"Again, I don't want to, but it feels like something you're supposed to do here. When in Rome, you know…"
"We don't have to do something just because you're supposed to," she tells him, fond.
He rolls his eyes. "I know, don't worry. But I thought it might be fun, watching a bunch of Japanese people trying to sing… I don't know, Taylor Swift or something."
"That would be fun," she agrees. "The thing is, though, karaoke doesn't really work the same way here as it does in the US."
Bellamy frowns down at her. "What do you mean? I've seen YouTube clips of Japanese karaoke, they still sing."
"They do, yeah, but most karaoke places aren't open venues, like we have, with a stage and an audience, they're usually divided into smaller rooms where you can sing more privately."
"Oh. So it would just be you and me?"
"Pretty much, yeah." She pauses. "Unless we can find other people to sing with, but I'm honestly not sure either of us are social enough to just go up to complete strangers and ask to sing with them. Plus, they'd probably expect us to sing too, and I'm thinking you're not really too keen on that."
He actually shudders. "Not really, no. OK, I guess we can skip the karaoke thing."
She laughs. "Good decision."
Instead, they agree to try out one of the restaurants at the hotel, and end up eating the most delicious teppanyaki Clarke's ever had.
-100-
Another day, another plane ride.
"You know," Bellamy starts when they're in the cab to their hotel in downtown Hong Kong. "It's a good thing most of these flights aren't too long, and the time difference isn't too bad. Can you imagine trying to actually enjoy two days in an amazing city like this while jetlagged?"
"It's almost like I actually planned it like that," Clarke replies with a smirk. "At first, I figured we could just jet back and forth – start in Europe, maybe Paris and Rome, take a brief detour to Australia, then Brazil and Peru, back to Europe for London, India, American road trip, another Asian stop for Beijing…"
"OK, fine, I get your point," he cuts her off, pinching her thigh. "Good planning, then."
"Thank you, I tried."
Their room isn't very big, but the hotel is right by the harbor on Hong Kong Island, so they have a beautiful view of the water and Kowloon beyond it.
It's only early afternoon, so they leave the hotel again and, after a couple of wrong turns, find their way to the promenade along the water. It's pretty hot, probably high seventies or low eighties, and the humidity is bordering on uncomfortable, but there's a pleasant breeze here, and it's not like they're in any hurry, so they just stroll along at a leisurely pace.
There are a few boats out in the harbor, a couple of the sleek looking ferries that transport people from Hong Kong Island to the mainland and, in the distance, a more traditional junk boat.
"There's an observation wheel here too?" Bellamy asks when the wheel in question appears in front of them.
"Really?" Clarke teases, earning an elbow in the side that she dances away from. "Want to check it out?"
"Sure." He shrugs. "Maybe food first, though?"
She pulls her phone out and finds a Subway nearby – maybe they should go for something local, but sometimes you just want a quick lunch that you know you'll like – and they're back at the wheel in half an hour.
The ascent is slow, and once they're at the top, they both turn in a circle, taking in the 360 degree view. On the side of the water they're on, there are mostly tall buildings, the mountain High West peeking out here and there between the glass and steel structures. Across the water are more buildings, green hills in the background, the few clouds that are scuttling across the sky casting shadows below.
"I knew, on a logical level, that Hong Kong would be this… modern metropolis or whatever," Bellamy says when they're on the way back down. "But it still feels wrong, somehow, too western with all the skyscrapers."
"I know what you mean," Clarke agrees. "But we're doing a Buddhist monastery tomorrow, that should give you a more local feel."
"Awesome."
And the temple is really cool. She's not sure there are actually 10,000 Buddhas but there are a lot. They're everywhere, in all different shapes and sizes, lining the stairs leading up to the actual temple.
"So this is going to be a walking day," Bellamy notes when they've finally reached the top, leaning against the wall and pushing his hair away from his forehead.
Clarke stops to catch her breath for a moment as well and takes a drink of her water. "Yup. But I figured we'd relax at the hotel for a while, grab lunch, and then head up to the viewing point on High West. And we're taking a cab most of the way there, it'll just be, like, half a mile to hike or something."
He holds his hand out for the bottle and she takes another gulp before passing it over. He drains the rest of the water and tosses the bottle in a trashcan nearby. "But still a pretty steep hike, right?"
"I don't know," she replies with a shrug. "I haven't actually been there before. Most of it didn't look too bad on Google Maps, it's pretty well hidden, vegetation on all sides, so I don't think you can go very fast. Part of it is stairs, which did look pretty steep, so we'll definitely bring plenty of water and make sure to head back down before it gets dark."
"Sounds good."
It does end up being a pretty tiring hike, the stairs steeper than they looked in places, the path narrow, which isn't a problem when they're surrounded by trees and bushes, but in some places, the mountain starts slanting downwards just a few feet off the path, which means they have to be careful where they step.
But the view is definitely worth it, once they finally get to the top.
"Whoa," Bellamy breathes, turning in a slow circle.
Hong Kong Island is spread out beneath them, the skyscrapers trailing the water on both sides, looking small from this high up. The mountains beyond Kowloon are shrouded in mist, but Lantau Island, on the other side, is bathed in sunlight.
"That's where we're going tomorrow?" he asks, nodding in that direction.
"Yeah, that's it," Clarke confirms. "You can't actually see the bridge right now, but those high pillars must be the pylons."
He frowns. "I thought we were taking a cable car to get there?"
"That's not until we're actually on the island, we'll still need to get there from the mainland."
"Right."
They hang around for a while, snapping photos of the amazing view, before climbing back down to avoid getting stuck on the mountain after dark.
They do stop on Victoria's Peak for a while, though, exploring the area a little before grabbing a coffee and settling down on the café's patio overlooking the city below to watch the sunset. They linger for a bit after, too, watching the lights in the skyscrapers twinkle on.
-100-
"Oh, I don't like this," Clarke announces on Saturday morning. They're standing in line for the cable car to take them up to the Tian Tan Buddha statue, and she just got a look at the cars, which have glass floors.
"Eiffel Tower all over again?" Bellamy notes, squeezing her around the waist.
"I know it's safe," she says, glancing around – they're surrounded by people, a lot of them local but definitely plenty of other tourists, so she picks her next words carefully. "I know I'll be fine. But it's still… you know, there's nothing under us."
"I'm pretty sure there's a couple of inches of tempered glass under us," he replies, sounding slightly amused. "And didn't you see that they had glass floors when you made the reservation? There are cars without, you had to actually choose to pay extra to get these."
She shrugs. "I figured it would be cool," she says. "I hadn't been to the Eiffel Tower with the glass floor then, so I thought I'd be fine with it."
"I'm sure we can switch, if you really don't want to go in these," he says, voice turning thoughtful, already looking around for an employee to ask.
"No," she quickly assures him. "There's seating, it's not like I have to stand on it. I'll be fine."
"If you're sure."
And it's definitely an experience. She's a little apprehensive at first, but as soon as their car leaves the station, she's distracted by the view around them – the whole island opens up below and around them, the lush woods stretching in all directions, the turquoise water glittering in the distance. It's still early and the mist hasn't risen completely yet, so the peaks in the distance are wrapped in white, swirling clouds.
"Oh yeah, this is really cool," Bellamy notes after a few minutes, looking down at the water below them.
Clarke ventures a glance and has to admit it's amazing. She still prefers looking around them to straight down, though.
The huge Buddha statue at the end of the journey isn't a letdown in any way – it's awesome. The view's amazing as the day has cleared up, the only cloud still lingering a fluffy thing on one of the peaks nearby, and they can see for what feels like miles. Still, on the way back down in the cable car, they both agree that in this particular case, the journey was definitely the highpoint.
They finish off the day – and their Hong Kong visit – with a junk boat ride watching 'A Symphony of Lights', an amazing light and sound show over the harbor where the lights of the buildings interact with special screens, laser beams and music in a way that has them both spellbound.
It ends up being a pretty late night, though, since a British couple on the same boat convince them to eat with them, and they don't stumble into bed until well after midnight.
"Cambodia tomorrow, right?" Bellamy mumbles, one hand reaching for her blindly.
Clarke rolls into him, pulling the sheets up over both of them. "Yeah."
"Early flight?"
"Not until the afternoon, we can sleep in, don't worry."
His breath is warm against her forehead when he replies, half-asleep already. "Good. Night, Princess, love you."
"Night, love you too."