Musical One-Shots and Headcanons! (REQUESTS OPEN!)

Pegbury - Not Forgotten (Modern High School AU)

A/N: Ellie here, reposting our first collab from Non-Lams OTPs. Also, in case you're interested in how their unlikely friendship turns out, we're working on an entire fanfic about that: Broken Like Me, so stay tuned for it!

CW: Brief allusion to cutting.

The crowded and not-so-quiet bus pulled up to the second to the last stop before reaching school. Even with all these people surrounding him, the young red-headed boy still felt lonely. Would anybody ever be genuine? He was a person with feelings, but nobody ever cared. He paired his black wireless headphones with his phone and listened to the music floating in.

Have you ever felt like you could disappear, like you could fall, and no one would hear?

Well, let that lonely feeling wash away.

All we see is light.

'Cause maybe there's a reason to believe you'll be okay.

For forever.

'Cause when you don't feel strong enough to stand, you can reach, reach out your hand.

And oh, raise a glass to freedom

Something they can never take away

Oh, no matter what they tell you, someone will come running to take you home.

He switched off the song. Every empty word seemed to mock him. Before, he'd listen to it and have hope that he'd still be remembered and loved. But there's a point where you'll reach the brink and fade away, and he had reached it, no turning back. Or so it seemed in his eyes. He tapped his phone to change the song.

I'm a goner, somebody catch my breath.

I'm a goner, somebody catch my breath.

I wanna be known by you.

I wanna be known by you.

Good job, Tyler, he thought. At least you get it.

The song went on for a while and reached the bridge as the bus pulled up to school.

Don't let me be gone.

Don't let me be gone.

Don't let me be gone.

Don't let me be gone.

DON'T LET ME BE!

The screaming filled his head with something other than his thoughts. It was a welcome distraction from the suffering of his life, which, to him, was a fate worse than death. Oh, how he tried, tried to escape it, but he didn't have it in him. Too painful. He had tried, a few times at least, to escape with pain he could tolerate. Not paying attention, he stepped off the bus and felt a sudden shove.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the boy said, looking up at the curly-haired girl dressed in yellow.

He never noticed her before, but of course, he never paid much attention to people, or rather they didn't pay much attention to him. Her eyes were weary, but they sparked with hope. Samuel Seabury felt something he had never felt before. She seemed to notice the same thing and loosened up. "I'm Peggy."

"I'm Samuel." And just like that, the two unlikely friends walked into the building. This was just the start.