Freakshow - Team Hot Wheels OCs Insert

PROLOGUE

When Val wakes up at 12 am, she wishes she could've slept another hour.

Sure, it's a bit late, but waking up and having lunch for breakfast is one of the best things in the world.

Her dad thoroughly disagrees.

But hey, she always sits through his trauma-dumping sessions, so he's got nothing on her.

Hilly Woodlands is a nice, quiet town, and Val loves it with all her heart.

There's few to none criminals, stable jobs, kind people, and a beautiful sight of the desert that Val could stare at for hours on end.

Sure, many people call her lazy for it, for taking things slow, but she enjoys it: Breathing so deep she feels the cold air reaching her lungs, watching the sun slowly make its course through the sky, listening to music until she's lost in dreamland. Just feeling every moment to her core.

The kids in her class find her explanations boring, though. So they hereby named her the slowest girl in town and collectively decided to never hang out with her.

A cruel fate. But they can all bite her dust.

She's got other people to call friends.

Or, well.

Friend.

Val met Rook when she first moved to town.

Her dad decided one day that the crowded city wasn't really a place to raise kids, so he took Val and her sister and rode all the way across the country to the safest city on earth.

Those first few weeks she'll never forget. Sleeping with her sister, eating fast food on a stand-in box table, pretending to not hear her dad crying at night. It was fun, it was draining, and the thought of school made her sick.

So, one day, she tried escaping.

And at that age, escaping meant going round the block.

Val opened her room's window, got out with a bag full of food and ran all the way to the corner of the street, where she turned right and promptly got lost.

She was on the same fricking block, but all of a sudden she forgot which way she came from, which house was hers. So she panicked, and stood still in the middle of the sidewalk, looking constipated, until Rook found her.

Despite how freaked she was at that time, Val remembers the moment perfectly.

He placed both hands on her shoulders, sat her down, and kneeled at her side. His tanned skin seemed to glow under the sun, a mess of black hair covering his head, and then, his impossibly blue eyes met hers. Val's panicking went down.

"Hey," he said. "Are you okay?"

"...no."

"Oh. Okay." Frowning ever so slightly down at her, he asked, "Do you need help?"

"..."

He nodded. "Great. We're going to the park."

Val couldn't do anything but follow.

In the park, he led them to a bench. They sat in silence for a while, him swinging his legs idly as he watched other kids run around. The familiar sound of rustling leaves and childish laughter calmed her down completely, and she turned to face the boy. He faced her too.

"I'm Val."

"I'm Rook."

Val got her bag out from behind her, opening it and taking out a tupperware.

"Do you want a brownie?"

Rook smiled.

They ate in silence, too, letting the sweet, chewy chocolate fill their senses. And then, Rook smiled a small, sincere smile, eyes honest and with not a hint of malicious intent.

"Hey," he said. "Wanna see a cool trick?"

Val tilted her head, a confused frown on her face as she nodded the slightest bit.

Rook grabbed a brownie, held a hand out in front of him, closed one eye, and poked his tongue out in concentration.

He threw the brownie.

What happened next, Val does not remember clearly.

But one moment the brownie was flying away from them in slow motion and the next, three kids were crying, the swing fell down, and the sandpit was on fire.

After staring at the unfolding chaos in bafflement for a few seconds, Val turned to Rook. He sent her a wide smile, his eyes shiny and hopeful.

Val smiled back at him.

They were banned from the park quick.

Her dad never questioned where she met him, and Val will be forever thankful for that. If she told him the story of how they met, he'd probably say something that' make her feel dead on her feet. He just accepted the fact that her daughter was attached to the hip with some kid and continued with his life.

And that became the norm.

Wherever Rook went, Val was there with him. They were a two-in-one package, never to be separated. And that meant that the town's opinions on them usually came together, too.

With his looks, everyone in town agreed he would grow up to be a heartbreaker, and that when he grew up, he would lead her on 'til he got bored of her, and then he'd toss her away. Which is a really specific and weird scenario, she thinks. But Val's seen him lose his brain at three am because of a bunch of minecraft skeletons, and knows he's no lover.

Not that it matters, anyways. He's been crushing on the blue nerd even before she came along.

They have a routine, now, after all their years together.

Val spends her mornings in school or sleeping, and after lunch she'll go pick him up. They'll walk around town for a while, then either decide to laze around or do mischief. At the end of the day, they'll crash in one of their houses and beg to have a sleepover, failing to convince both her dad and Rook's caretakers every time. Still, they try.

And slowly, beautifully, the days pass.

Val keeps hanging out with Rook, having fun. Cooking with him, crafting stories.

Her sister slowly grows up, and Val watches after her while she does.

Her dad gets better, is better, after years of moving into town.

And life is good.

Life is good.

"This is the slowest town ever."

"Yeah, wish something changed."

A few disclaimers.

I'm writing this story for myself, and I'm not really taking it that seriously because it's a hot wheels fanfic, but I promise to make it good.

Also I tried my best with the cover but I fucking couldn't find anything that fit.

With that out of the way, hope you enjoyed!