-Avery-

Saturday morning, Avery was walking out of the main building to head to the large shed he kept his project in when he caught sight of Devin walking towards him.

"Hi Devin!" he called out. "I made waffles. There are still a few left in the kitchen."

"Where are you going?" Devin asked.

"To work on my prototypes for the salmon project. If you want to see them, I can show you."

Devin shrugged. "Sure. It's not like I have anything better to do."

He waited while Devin grabbed a waffle, stuffing it in his mouth without bothering to put it on a plate and add syrup or fruit. "So where's this project?" Devin asked, his voice muffled.

"We have a spare shed around here, and Mitch lets me use it for my project. He's been really great about encouraging me to work on it."

Devin didn't say anything in response, so they walked in silence to the large shed. He pulled open the doors and led Devin inside. He had a few blueprints laying around, as well as half built prototypes of different culvert designs and a new design for baffles. Devin looked around, his face giving away nothing.

"So what is all this?"

"The state has to replace a lot of the existing culverts because they're not effective for the fish to pass through. It's going to be a big project over the next couple years. I'm trying to come up with something that's more effective and is easier to install."

He walked over to the baffles he was working on. "I know you know what a culvert is, but most people don't know anything about baffles. What they do is change the flow of water inside a culvert to help salmon, by either giving them an area to rest, increasing the depth of the water, or slowing down the velocity of the water."

Devin stared at him, a blank expression on his face. "Is this what you're working on the rest of the day?"

"Not the whole day. I'm going for a hike this afternoon. You're welcome to come along."

"No thanks," Devin said. "I've spent enough time in the woods this week." He began to wander around the shed, half looking at what Avery had built. Avery began to work, and he was so engrossed in it that he didn't notice that Devin had left until an hour later.

When he got some lunch and grabbed his backpack to go hike, he stopped by Devin's cabin and knocked on the door. He figured it wouldn't hurt to ask again if Devin wanted to join.

"What?" Devin called through the door.

"I'm heading out for a hike. You're still welcome to join."

"Not interested," Devin called back.

Oh well, at least he had tried. He turned and headed down the stairs, not sure if he should feel relieved or disappointed that Devin hadn't wanted to join.

-Devin-

Two hours after Avery had knocked on his door, he regretted not going with. He was bored out of his mind.

He called his cousin Carter, hoping he'd pick up. Other than his dad, Carter was the only member of his family that he was close with. Carter's parents were even wealthier than his dad, and they hadn't been happy when Devin had come out. His aunt had threatened to cut him and his dad off. She had eventually backed down, and he had been grateful that both his dad and Carter had stood by him.

"Hey Dev," Carter answered. "How's the whole camp thing going?"

"It's like prison," he replied. "I fucking hate it here."

"That sucks. I'm sorry your dad overdid it with the punishment this time."

"That's an understatement," he muttered.

"So what's it like? Any better than the first day you texted me?"

"Nope. Almost everyone is gone for the weekend so I'm about to lose my mind from boredom. The people are okay, just not my type of people. They're all really serious about the forest."

"Well, it is the forest service."

He rolled his eyes, even though Carter couldn't see him.

"Hey, you mentioned there's actually a gay guy there," Carter said. "How's that going? That's got to be a perk, right?"

"It helps some, I guess."

"Is he hot?"

"No."

"Wow," Carter chuckled. "You really are getting punished in more ways than one."

"I mean, he's attractive enough, don't get me wrong, but he's not my type. He's tiny and kind of nerdy, but cute. Really sweet, kinda like a puppy in human form. Earnest and always follows the rules. And he's obsessed with salmon."

"What?" Carter laughed.

"It's like his thing out here. His project. He's just really...pathetic. Embarrassingly pathetic. He's also the type that doesn't hook up, apparently."

"Wait, so you're not getting any action?"

"Nah, I'm getting some. He thinks I'm hot, so it's easy to convince him to do things. I got him to blow me a few times. I'll keep working on him and eventually I'll get him to let me fuck him."

"Do you even want to? Since he's not your type?"

"Not really, but he's the only option I've got."

"I'm sorry, Dev. That's rough."

"I can't believe this is going to be my entire fucking summer. Can you come rescue me one of the weekends?"

"Sure. I'll look and see when I've got a weekend free."

"Awesome. Anything will be better than staying in this dump."

He talked with Carter for another ten minutes, and then took a nap. He woke up hungry and went to the kitchen to make food for himself. While he was there, he even straightened up the kitchen. Cleaning was something he would normally never do, but he didn't have anything else to do. He was so bored that he fell asleep early.

-

The next morning, he woke up to find the sun peeking over the horizon and starting to light up his cabin. It was way too early to be awake, but after the nap he'd taken yesterday and falling asleep early, he couldn't sleep anymore. He knew he was going to be bored out of his mind again and he was going stir crazy from not talking to another person, so he got dressed and walked over to Avery's cabin.

When Avery opened the door, he was dressed in hiking clothes. Devin could see a backpack open on the floor and it looked like Avery was in the middle of getting it ready. "You're hiking again?" he asked. "Can I come with you?"

"Sure. We have a couple extra backpacks, and I can get you one when I go get breakfast. You'll want to pack a lunch, because I'm planning on hiking about ten miles today."

That didn't sound appealing at all, but he didn't have any other options. "Okay," he said. "I'll meet you in the kitchen."

-

A few hours later, they were cresting yet another ridge in the trees.

"Are we there yet?"

Avery stopped and turned around. "Devin, that's the fifth time you've asked that question, and that's just in the last hour," he said, exasperated. "Why did you want to come?"

"I didn't have anything better to do."

Avery looked like he wanted to say something, but as usual, he was too nice to say what was really on his mind. He sighed and glanced at his GPS watch. "We have another mile left."

"Seriously?"

"Focus on your surroundings. It's so beautiful here. Look at all the moss, and how green it is, and all these trees."

"All I see are trees," he grumbled. It was true that the surroundings were nice, but it wasn't really his thing.

"Trees are wonderful," Avery responded, beginning to walk again.

He reluctantly followed. He had wanted something to do, and this was something, but they had been hiking for what seemed like hours. Avery had talked to him occasionally, usually to point out some nature thing, but otherwise he was in his own world. He clearly loved this, and Devin felt a twinge of guilt for sort of ruining it for him.

He was debating whether he wanted to try to start a conversation with Avery when the trees opened up to a large alpine meadow. The meadow was filled with all kinds of colorful wildflowers, and in the distance he could see mountains stretching for miles.

"What the fuck..." he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Avery murmured.

He looked around, dumbfounded at the scene before him.

"Do you think it's at least a little worth it now?" Avery asked.

"You didn't tell me it was gonna be this."

"A lot of hikes in Washington are like this. If you like what you see here, you'll like hiking."

"I feel like we're in Switzerland or something. Or like we got dumped into The Sound of Music. This is just like that scene with her in that meadow in the mountains." He stepped forward on the trail. "There must be a billion flowers here."

"The last mile goes through this meadow, which covers the rest of this ridge, so it'll be more scenic than what we've done so far."

He watched as Avery took a few photos, and he pulled out his phone to do the same. They started walking again, and he almost tripped because he was too busy staring at their surroundings to watch where he was going. As they walked through the meadow, Avery pointed out the different flowers. He knew the names of them all, and Devin listened to everything he said.

When they reached the viewpoint, he stood and looked at the mountain peaks all around them for a few minutes. He felt seriously small right now. He turned and saw Avery sitting on a rock, pulling things out of his pack. He realized he was hungry, so he joined Avery and got his lunch out.

They didn't talk much while they ate. He was too enthralled with the scenery, and Avery seemed to be as well.

"Do you hike every weekend?" he asked.

"I try to. I need to make sure I'm working on my salmon project whenever I have time, so I have to choose between that and hiking. Why do you ask? Do you want to hike again?"

"Maybe, if it's like this."

Avery smiled, his blue eyes big and earnest. "I'm glad you like it."

He did like it, but not as much on the way down. They had already seen everything on the way up, and besides, it was just trees. He found himself getting bored again. When they stopped for a quick break, he got an idea.

"Hey Avery," he said, smirking.

"What?"

"There's no one around, right? I mean, we haven't seen anyone else."

"Devin, no," Avery said, shaking his head. He knew just what Devin was implying.

"But this part is so boring. Look, if you blow me, I won't complain for the rest of the hike."

Avery looked like he definitely wanted to take him up on the offer of peace and quiet, and when he sighed, Devin knew he had gotten his way.

Maybe this camp thing wouldn't be too bad after all.