DC Genesis

"Pretty much," she said, with a small shrug. "Wasn't a whole lot else to do, really. Didn't feel like going out or anything. I figured there'd be plenty of time to do something fun later tonight." As she said this, though, she looked back at him again and gave a curious look. "Wait... can you even go out on a school night?"

"Oh yeah I can," Neal said with a smile. "My dad says that I can until I do something really stupid and get in trouble. Until than he decides to trust me," Neal admitted before wondering something about what Rose said. "What exactly did you plan on doing tonight?"

"Oh, huh, guess he doesn't care if you're dead tired for school so long as you don't crash the car," Rose said with a slightly amused chuckle. She had to hand it to Clint... he was a cool dad. Much better than hers, at least. Walking back across the living room, she sat down on the couch and took a gulp of lemonade. "Wasn't sure, exactly. Maybe hit a club or something, or see if any concerts are playing in the area. Hell, if you're not one to get bored by repetition there's always a strip club again. Preferably... a different one."

"My grades are plenty good, it's like I hear something once and I never forget it," Neal said with a grin. He had always been good at every subject for as long as he could remember. Course, he didn't remember why this was the case. As Rose threw out the suggestions, Neal just put on a smile. "Well I'm game for strip clubs anytime. It doesn't matter if its the same club, it's about how good the strippers are," he pointed out.

"Well yeah... but considering we *ahem* killed the owner last night for being a rapist douchebag," Rose muttered, whispering quietly to him. "Or... I did, anyway. I'd think we would want to avoid it. Besides, once the cops investigate the scene, the place will probably be closed down anyway. So... please tell me that's not the only strip club in Gotham. Because if it was... I'd be very disappointed. The only good thing about that situation is maybe those strippers will find some different work. Preferably at a better strip club."

Neal shook his head. He could understand Rose's concern, and obviously Neal would agree that they should never go to that club again. For all they knew it was shut down already, it varied depending on how the body had been found or disposed of. Maybe if they were lucky the police wouldn't be involved at all. With the illegal activities that went on there, maybe they didn't want anyone investigating.

"I know of one or two others, pretty good quality too. We could go there tonight if you like."

"Sounds good to me," she said with a grin. She had to hand it to Neal, he really knew his way around the seedy part of town, and she very much liked that about him. She'd probably go insane if she had to walk around the city searching for a strip club like an idiot. It was nice to have someone who could just take her straight there. "And now that I have a new wardrobe, I can actually dress like I'm going to a club, properly. I'm thinking... low cut top, tight black pants, an a thong that just doesn't want to stay below the waistline."

Neal raised an eyebrow as Roes described the planned wardrobe that she was aiming to have tonight. It sounded like quite the outfit, apparently Rose had even bought clothes in preparation for a night on the town. "sounds like it's going to be quite the outfit, you might get too many of the guys to think that you work there though with an outfit like that....not to say that I don't approve, I'm sure it'll look great on you."

"Hey, it's still plenty more than the dancers wear," Rose said, giving him a stern glare. "If I felt like stripping for money I'd have done it already, but I don't fucking think so. Much more inclined to hustle guys for cash. At least that way involves keeping my clothes on." Finishing the last of her drink, she hopped back up on the exercise pike and started pedaling again. "Anyway, so that's tonight, what do you do in the meantime when you get home from school?"

"Hey now I didn't mean to imply that you should be one. I'm just saying that you have a nice body and that people notice," Neal said in defense of himself. It was sort of a compliment, but one used to hopefully get him out of trouble with Rose. That one-eyed glare was amazingly powerful!

"And actually I need to do some homework, but after that I might be able to do something. I don't have a lot today....maybe like an hour's worth of work."

"Pfft, homework," Rose muttered, shaking her head. The fact that the schools actually made them take work home with them to do outside of school, after they had just spent the whole day there to begin with, was incredibly amusing to her. "Alright, well I got a little bit more time on the bike, but I'll be in your room to change for tonight eventually. I sort of moved my clothes into your closet, you seemed to have a bit of extra room there."

"Sounds fair," Neal said as he watched Rose head towards the bike and say that she needed to get some more practice on it. It sounded fair, at least he could hopefully finish his homework by the time that she was done. "Alright, I'll see you a little bit later tonight than," Neal said before heading off to his room. He'd be doing homework there for the next while as Rose worked out.

Rose spent about another half hour on the bike before getting off and heading back into the shower to freshen up. She wasn't going to a strip club smelling like a monkey's armpit, after all. When she was done in the shower, she wrapped a towel around herself, this one thankfully large enough to cover herself, and made her way back into Neal's room.

"And I'm back," she said, closing the door behind her and then promptly dropping the towel. She immediately walked over to Neal's closet and began digging around inside for her own outfit to wear. She had bought about twelve different complete outfits, but they could all be mixed and matched, leaving her with a lot of options. So, for the first several minutes she just stood there going over different shirts and pants. "Let's see... I'm feeling red tonight."

Neal glanced up from his spot on the desk. He only had a conclusion paragraph to write on his paper when Rose decided to come in to the room and promptly drop her towel and get naked once again. He was liking this living arrangement the longer he went. He just glanced over and watched as Rose began to go through his closet in order to find the clothes that she had packed away.

"Red for your whole outfit? Or for just a part of it?"

"Just the shirt," she replied, holding up a couple to look at them closer. Eventually, she picked out a low cut top that only went down about halfway, above her belly button. Then, she picked out a pair of black pants and walked over to the dresser, bending down to get to the bottom drawer again. "By the way, I sort of moved my undergarments into your drawer here. Shouldn't be a problem, right?" She pulled out a tiny red thong, and a matching bra, then stood straight again and started to get dressed.

Neal just watched quietly as Rose went about picking her outfit for the night. Seemed like she wanted to get an earlier start at the strip club tonight, which was perfectly fine by Neal. Course, he also remembered how she said it didn't bother her when he took pictures of her. So, when she began to put on her bra and thong, Neal promptly took advantage and snapped some pictures. Sure her bare ass was nice, but there was something about seeing a thong that just highlighted everything just right.

Rose paid no attention to Neal as he took his pictures. As already agreed upon, she didn't have a problem with it so long as he kept them to himself. A few minutes later, she pulled on her pants and shirt, flipped her hair back and tied it off into a long ponytail, then made sure to put her locket back around her neck, with the heart end of it dangling just above her cleavage. Lastly, she slipped her white colored eye patch into place and placed her hands firmly on her hips. "I'd say that just about does it. You almost done with that homework of yours? I could use something to eat before we go to the club. Any good burger joints around here?"

"Yeah I'm finished actually," Neal said as he put his work down. What was a few paragraphs after all? He could just take care of it later right? He was sure that he could do it once he got home or right after school. He put his phone away and eventually stood up before cracking his back. "And yeah, I know a few places that are on the way. Do you want to head out now or in a little bit?" he asked curiously.

Several days later, Friday to be exact, Rose and Neal were once again planning on going out to have fun. Maybe at a night club this time, maybe a concert, or maybe their usual strip joint again, who knew? In any case, they had been spending a lot of time together lately. As friends, of course. They weren't dating, or even sleeping with each other. They just happened to get along when it came to stuff like this.

"Ten minutes, Neal," Rose said, calling from the partially opened bathroom door. She was in the middle of showering, having spent another afternoon on the exercise bike (as well as lifting her brand new set of weights that she'd bought, too). "Be right there."

"Sounds good Rose," Neal called as he heard her in the shower saying that she would only be ten minutes. He moved and got dressed himself, quickly throwing on one of his nicer shirts and his leather jacket. He always felt like it made him look cooler, he didn't care what anyone else thought. He walked out to the living room, whistling to himself before suddenly stopping dead in his pace.

Clint was standing in the middle of the room, his eyes intent on Neal as he entered in. He looked annoyed at something, but Neal could honestly say that he had no idea what it was about. "Sit," Clint said before motioning to the couch.

"Dad what is this-"

"SIT" Clint repeated and Neal immediately moved over and took a seat. Clint continued to stand in silence, waiting for Rose to finish her shower so that she could join them. He wanted her to be here for this.

Rose had no idea what awaited for her in the living room when she got out of the shower and changed. She had beat up thugs twice her size countless times, most of them wielding knives and guns, but there was something about an angry parent that sent a chill down even her spine. Granted, he wasn't her actual parent, but he'd been more of a dad to her in a week than her actual dad had ever been. That was probably why she obeyed his command to sit down when she entered the room without question, remaining still and completely silent. Had he discovered their little strip club excursions lately? She could have sworn that Neal said he was okay with that...

Clint just stayed silent for a while as he looked at Rose and Neal who were sitting next to each other. The father seemed to be having trouble saying what was on his mind, and he was taking a great deal of time trying to either calm himself or figure out what to say about it. Finally he rubbed his eyes. "You know I got an interesting call today," he said as he looked at both Rose and Neal. "From the Galla Hotel, asking if Neal wanted to have any more deals since they so greatly appreciated his stay about a week ago," Clint said plainly.

Neal froze up as the words left Clint's mouth, and his heart began to beat much faster.

"And you know, when I asked about details of his stay I got quite a bit of information," Clint said as he looked between Rose and Neal. "So...you two have anything to say for yourselves?"

Ohhhhh... barring the confusion over why the hotel would be calling Neal to offer him special deals when he had only stayed there one night, it now made perfect sense why Clint was so pissed. And considering he had asked for details, there was no point in trying to save the situation... she was quite sure the hotel had plenty of details to give, what with Neal's illusions. The only thing she could think to do was try to offer a silver lining, so when he asked if they had anything to say for themselves, she shifted a little in her seat, cleared her throat, and said, "We, uh... used condoms?"

Neal turned and his eyes widened as Rose spoke, as if to say, "THAT was the best you could say!?". He didn't actually say it, but it was clear with the look on his face that he wasn't very pleased with the answer, at least not in this circumstance. He was about to say something when Clint spoke up.

"Condoms, I see. So my guess was right than, of course it would hard to be anything else. While the hotel appreciated your money, they didn't appreciate all the noise you two were making," Clint said before moving over and sitting in a reclining chair. He was the only one that ever sat there it seemed. It was like it was his personal property that he reserved for himself.

"So, tell me then. Is this just a random hookup and only about sex?" Clint asked bluntly.

Rose merely shrugged at Neal, as if to reply "what the hell else did you want me to say?" and then looked back to Clint again. She wasn't sure if the calm, reserved contempt was better than open, angry shouting, but it wasn't exactly very settling either way. When he asked his next question, though, she sat a little straighter and started tapping her hands against her thighs. "Oh, uh... well, I mean it wasn't supposed to be like... like that... I was just in a bad place, and... and we were talking and, it kind of just... happened? Uh... Neal, you want to take this?"