Chapter Text
Harvard grit his teeth, hands tightly gripping his jacket as he shivered. The forest was so fucking cold. He would rather have waited till the sun came out but… this was an assignment yale was also doing. And Harvard could not stop thinking about Yale getting their project done before they did. Actually, they couldn’t stop focusing on Yale as a whole. Just the thought of Yale doing better- they couldn’t focus. They weren’t getting any work done, so they decided to just fucking get this over with. Unfortunately, it required some details from the forest. So here Harvard was, shivering in the goddamn forest. Harvard tried to focus, but it was getting too cold. And he had to get out before the sun set. It was just about to set. Sighing and deciding to call it a waste of time, he turned back… before realizing he was utterly lost. Oh shit. Oh fuck oh no. Harvard started to walk faster, turning, he thought he was getting out but- that was the same tree. He was walking in circles. He had to get home, oh god, this can't be happening, he was not lost in the goddamn forest. But minutes passed, first 5 minutes and then 30 minutes. He was lost. He sat down on the forest floor, trying not to panic or cry. No, he was a damn ivy league and the best college in the fucking world (other than MIT but no one cares about that nerd). He was not going to fucking cry.
“HELLO?” He called out, hoping someone would hear his call, the sun was almost gone now. There was no response.
“IS ANYONE OUT THERE?” He called again. He heard a noise in the distance and started to run, blindly- if he ran in some direction, he’d be bound to get out eventually. But now it was dark, and he couldn’t see the floor very well as he tripped and fell into a lake. He lost consciousness for a moment, before he gained consciousness and quickly pushed himself to the shore. It wasn’t a particularly deep lake, but now he was wet, and dripping water. He tried to brush himself off with his wings- wait. Wings? He looked down at himself at his reflection. Only he didn’t see his face. He was… a turkey? He waddled around slowly. This was… new.
“Hello?!” Harvard heard a voice call. He paused- he’d recognize that voice anywhere. That Connecticut voice, that blue sweater… black hair fell around his face. Harvard couldn’t breathe for a moment. He had never seen yale with his hair down. he looked different… harvard blinked. He tried to call to him, but only made some sort of noise that did not sound human what so ever. Yale looked down at him.
“Hi there, little turkey.” he said, looking at harvard “Did you see an annoyingly loud, red, dude with an ego thats larger than the moon? I thought I heard his irritating voice…”
Harvard walked to him (more like waddled) best he could. Yale smiled, crouching down. “I thought turkeys were afraid of humans. Huh. anyway, I best go home.” He got up, turning around. Yale had made it halfway back to his dorm when he realized the turkey was following him. Right behind him.
“...no, go off into the wild, buddy! You’re a wild animal- ah, who am i kidding, you cant even understand me.” Yale tried to gesture around, but the turkey… seemed to almost shake its head?
“No, turkey! Its not healthy for animals from the forest to be domesticated!” Yale said. Harvard cooed.
Much to yale’s annoyance, this damn turkey wouldn’t leave. He decided to just get home and close the door before he could enter. But as he was walking on the sidewalk back, he ran into Dartmouth who was staring at some mushrooms longingly, pictures of Columbia on his notebook. “If only i knew how to talk to her…” he was mumbling to himself.
“Dartmouth! Oh good! You’re kind of a forest recluse, can you deal with this turkey? It’s been following me!” Yale said.
“O-oh. yale. A turkey…?” Dartmouth looked down at Harvard, who was indeed, trying to follow yale. Dartmouth slowly reached out, allowing Harvard to hesitantly walk into his hands. Harvard wasn’t a fan of Dartmouth, he had spread rumors about the boy and teased him (What yale called bullying but it was just a joke, really). But Harvard hoped Dartmouth could maybe tell it was him, and not just a turkey.
“Turkey… huh…” dartmouth said. “That’s odd. I can dump him in the forest when I got here next.”
“Great! I’m leaving-” Yale turned away, but just then Harvard screamed and jumped, trying his best to fly, but he had no clue how to move his wings, and ended up hitting a pole, and falling down, his wing ripping slightly at a sharp nail that had come unscrewed at the bottom of the pole. Harvard let out a cry, Yale and Darmouth exclaiming in shock.
“Oh no, you - you stupid thing, why would you do that?” Yale examined harvard’s wing, which now had streaks of red blood falling. The turkey lets out a sound of pain, and yale panicked slightly.
“I don’t think it likes me, yale. Animals sometimes prefer some people to others, it would be best you stay with him till his wing heals.” Dartmouth said.
“...” Yale sighed, eyes softening seeing the turkey in pain. “Okay, i get it…” Yale sighed, slowly picking up the turkey. It seemed to stop stuggling and squirming in his hands, relaxing, though his wing still did shake a bit.
“I’ll see you later, darmouth. Thanks for trying.” yale said.
“Of course, yale.” Darmouth smiled, turning back to his mushroom “...maybe columbia will like me if i get her my poisonous mushroom collection….”
Yale walked off, carrying the turkey in his hands. Yale ignored them, taking the turkey home and gently washing off it’s wings. It cooed in pain.
“I know, i know little one. Its okay,” yale whispered, feeling oddly attached to the turkey, he spread ointment on it.
“Cooo…” Harvard sighed, he never thought he’d find comfort in his enemies’ hands. But this whole day had been very weird. He clucked mournfully, not knowing how to become a human again.
“Hm. I need to name you. I’m going to call you… Crimson. Crim.” Yale said, with a smile “...you remind me so much of harvard. He’s so arrogant and boastful, though.”
Harvard clucked, wishing yale would know he was there.