-Avery-

Once they were back at camp, he went straight to his cabin to take a shower and change into dry clothes. He was flustered and he didn't want anyone else noticing that his clothes were wet. The last thing he needed was someone asking questions. 

As he stood under the hot water, he thought back to what had happened with Devin in the truck. Right as Devin had started rubbing his arms, he had felt that familiar warmth pooling in his lower body. He hadn't wanted Devin to notice that he was turned on, but given Devin's advances from the other day, he shouldn't have been surprised when Devin's hand wandered lower.

He hadn't been lying when he told Devin he'd never hooked up. It's not that he didn't like sex, because he loved it, but he'd rather do it with someone he cared about. Just as important, he'd rather it be with someone he trusted, and he definitely didn't trust Devin. Despite that, he couldn't get the encounter out of his head. He hadn't had someone's hands on him in a long time, and it had felt amazing.

He shook his head and turned off the water. He shouldn't be thinking of their new volunteer like this - the volunteer he'd be training for the next few weeks. He got out of the shower and quickly got dressed, pushing thoughts of Devin out of his head.

He met everyone else in the main building for dinner. They all sat at one long table, talking while Peter finished making fajitas for all of them. They had just started piling food on their plates when Devin walked in.

"Come and get some," Peter called out. "We missed you last night."

Devin sat down at the table, a bored expression on his face.

"How was your first day?" Amanda asked.

Devin shrugged. "Okay, I guess."

"Where are you from?" Sam asked. "I don't think Mitch mentioned that."

"Bellevue."

The conversation continued in that manner, with Devin giving mostly one word responses to his coworkers' questions while shoveling food into his mouth.

"How are your prototypes coming along, Avery?" Peter asked, switching the conversation to someone else.

"Slowly, but I'm over halfway done."

"What prototypes?" Devin asked, finally making an attempt to participate in the conversation.

"They're for the salmon project I was telling you about today. I can show them to you later," he offered.

Devin nodded and went back to his food. Avery was surprised he'd asked at all after Devin had brushed him off earlier. But he should have known better, because not five minutes passed before Devin spoke again during a brief lull in the conversation.

"So, Avery, do you eat salmon?" Devin asked casually.

"I do. Why?"

"If you love them so much and you're so obsessed with them, then why do you eat them? Shouldn't you be against that since it's animal cruelty or whatever? What's the point of helping them out if you're just going to eat them?"

Caught off guard, he opened his mouth to respond, but all he could manage to say was, "I can still want to help them even if I eat them once in a while."

Devin rolled his eyes. "Makes zero sense."

"Maybe Avery does his best to make sure salmon get where they need to go and reproduce so that he can eat more of them," Marc joked.

He found himself chuckling now that the mood was lightened. They moved onto another topic, but he noticed Devin put his plate in the sink and slip outside.

Sam walked back with him to the cabins once they were finished with dinner. The stars were out and there was a chorus of insects and frogs filling the air, so neither of them said anything as they slowly walked through the trees. Sam broke the silence first.

"He's kind of a jerk, isn't he?" Sam said, referring to Devin.

Avery hesitated, never liking to speak badly about anyone. "I think he doesn't want to be here, and he's still getting used to it. I'm going to wait a few days and give him a chance to settle in before I make any judgments."

"Of course you are," Sam said, smiling. "You always want to see the best in everyone. Good luck working with him, though. Hopefully he's nicer to you than he was to the rest of us."

He smiled back, wishing that were true.

-

The next few days were just as frustrating. Devin was late every morning, usually strolling up to the truck about twenty minutes after they were supposed to have left. He seemed to have no shame in showing up whenever he felt like it, and he barely paid attention to what Avery was teaching him. 

Avery had never had such a difficult coworker or volunteer and he couldn't quite figure out what to do about it. While Devin did what he was told most of the time, Avery still had to pick up a lot of slack, and he wished Devin would care more about what they were doing. He had hoped to instill a love of the outdoors in Devin, but nothing he did or said seemed to be reaching him.

On their fourth day working together, they were removing diseased trees and cutting sections off for analysis, and as the hours went by, it seemed to get hotter. Washington didn't have many hot days, but every once in a while temperatures could reach the 90s. Avery took a break from the tree he was working on and wiped his face on his shirt. He glanced over at Devin and froze. 

Devin had taken his shirt off, and it was tucked in his waistband and hanging from his pants. Sweat glistened on his skin as he worked, and Avery could see his muscles flexing with every move. He didn't even realize he was staring, or that his mouth had dropped open slightly, until Devin looked in his direction and smirked.

"You might want to stop drooling and get to work."

He felt his face heat up, and he tore his eyes away from Devin. Of course, the guy seemed to take practically anything as an invitation, so he sauntered up to Avery before he could even think about the task he was supposed to be doing.

"I think it's time for a break anyway," Devin said, moving to stand right in front of him. He took his shirt from his waistband and made a show of slowly wiping the sweat from his chest.

Avery knew he should walk away, but he couldn't keep his eyes off Devin's body.

"I've hooked up a lot of places, but I've never hooked up in the woods before," Devin told him, lowering his voice. "I think it's time to change that."

"I - um, we can't," he replied, stumbling over his words. "It's not -"

"Yeah, you said that before. But who cares about doing the right thing at work when you can have fun?"

Before he could try to argue any more, Devin stepped closer. "You keep saying we can't, but I'm not hearing you say you don't want to."

Avery stared at Devin's chest, letting his eyes fall to Devin's abs. He did want to, but this was so wrong. They were supposed to be working. Besides, he didn't hook up, ever, and he was intimidated that someone could be so brazen.

"What are you waiting for?" Devin asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

He finally managed to form words. "How do I know you're safe?" he asked. "You hook up all the time."

"I'm not a dumbass," Devin replied. "I use protection. I've only had something once, and that was years ago."

Avery hesitated, fighting with himself about what to do. He wanted this, but the responsible side of him was thinking that it was a bad idea for more reasons than one.

"What, do you need test results?" Devin asked, rolling his eyes.

For once in his life, he decided he wasn't going to play it safe. Maybe it was shallow, but he'd always wanted to be with a guy as attractive as Devin. It wasn't that he didn't get cute guys. He just didn't get hot guys. He knelt down in front of Devin, and before he could change his mind, he began to unzip Devin's pants.

He had barely started when Devin began pushing his head. Devin seemed intent on getting off as fast as possible and being as rough with him as he could. It got worse when Devin put both hands in his hair, pulling it. It hurt, but he tried to think about how hot Devin was instead.

When it was over, Devin looked down at him, one eyebrow raised. "Up."

Avery stood, still in a daze. Devin pushed him backwards until his back hit a pine tree and then knelt down in front of him. "I hope you didn't think I wasn't going to return the favor."

Devin didn't waste any time. Avery held onto the trunk of the tree, trying his best not to be completely overwhelmed. It had been a while since anyone had done this to him, and it felt amazing. He tried holding back, but it was no use. "Devin," he choked out, trying to warn him. Devin didn't stop until he was done, and then he stood up and smirked before walking off. 

Avery leaned against the tree for a minute, trying to compose himself. He couldn't believe he had just done this. He'd only ever been with his boyfriends, and they'd always fooled around in one of their bedrooms. Doing this with someone he barely knew, and doing it outside where anyone could have seen, was not like him at all. As his head cleared, he felt guilty and quickly got back to work.

-Devin-

When they got in the truck a couple hours later, Avery didn't seem to want to look at him. He didn't know if it was embarrassment or if Avery was mad at him, but he didn't really care. He had held back for a few days because he didn't want to push Avery too far and lose his only chance at hooking up at this stupid camp, and those few days had been like torture. Jerking off in his cabin, alone, hadn't been satisfying. He didn't know how these people survived out here.

Back at camp, Mitch had all of them meet outside to go over their objectives for the next few days. Devin yawned, hoping this wouldn't take too long and that they could leave to eat dinner soon.

"We're going to be doing a lot of tree removal," Mitch droned on. "Devin, since you and Avery removed a few trees today, can you demonstrate the proper technique for gathering samples and making sure that no parts of the tree that can spread disease are left behind?"

Reluctantly, he walked over to the tools and tree stumps Mitch had spread out in the grass. He hadn't really been paying attention to Avery's instructions, and he had no idea where to start. Avery had done the majority of the work, and whenever Avery had given him a task, he had done it in a half-assed manner and made no effort to commit any of it to memory. He was definitely going to get called out in front of the group for not knowing what to do.

He moved towards one tool he thought looked familiar and noticed Avery subtly nod his head. He picked it up and did his best to bullshit his way through the explanation. Fortunately, Avery continued to direct him with subtle nods, even chiming in once or twice to mention something that they had encountered today, often saying something to give him a hint about what step was next.

He didn't care about this job or these people, but he still didn't want to look like an idiot, and he didn't want any reason for Mitch to think he needed to stay here longer. Fortunately, Avery had saved his ass, and he was grateful for the help, especially since Avery could have let him struggle in front of everyone.

That night as he was trying to fall asleep, he actually felt bad about the way he'd treated Avery so far. The guy had been nothing but kind to him and had helped him when he needed it, so he felt guilty for repaying Avery by intimidating him and pressuring him into hooking up. Even if Avery seemed to want it, he could probably go a little easier on him.