-Devin-

Over the next couple weeks, he tried hard to do everything right. He showed up on time, didn't complain about any of the work, and did nice things for Avery whenever he could. He worked quickly so he could take on some of Avery's tasks and anything extra that needed to be done. He really was trying to make Avery's job easier. 

Avery didn't speak to him except to give him tasks for the day or to instruct him on how to do something. When he tried to make conversation, Avery was civil with him, but it never went back to how it used to be, no matter how hard he worked. He slowly began to realize that Avery would never trust him again. He couldn't just expect to do what he was supposed to, like he should have done all along, and have it be enough. It was too little too late.

He felt more lonely here than ever. He'd treated the one person who tried to get along with him the worst, and now Avery wanted nothing to do with him. He had no one to talk to and nothing to do but work. It was almost like being in solitary confinement, and he'd brought it all upon himself. Being here without a single friend and everyone hating him was worse than any punishment his dad could have come up with.

To top it all off, he was in love with Avery. There was no denying it anymore. Over the months he'd spent with Avery, he'd fallen for him - fallen for Avery's cheerful smile and bright personality, his optimism, his big blue eyes, his enthusiasm for the outdoors, the way he cared for everyone, and the heart that he put into everything he did.

He missed Avery so much. He missed holding him tightly at night. He missed putting his hands on Avery's waist and making him moan as Avery rode him slowly. He missed the way Avery had looked at him. 

He lay in his bed and he did something he'd never allowed himself to do. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes, and he let them fall down his face onto the pillow.

-Avery-

He knew he should be glad that Devin was leaving him alone and being a model employee, but he couldn't help but miss his friendship with Devin. He felt awful shutting him out and pretending like they'd never spent all those nights together. It wasn't like him to ignore someone and he felt like he was being cruel.

"Hey, Earth to Avery," Sam said, tapping the side of his head.

He looked up at his coworkers, noticing that everyone else was done eating. His plate still had at least half his food on it.

"Sorry."

"You were zoned out. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. I just feel bad about Devin."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Why? He's getting exactly what he deserves."

"And maybe he's the better for it," Peter said. "He's been the hardest working person here these past couple weeks."

"I still don't trust anything he does," Marc said. "He stares at Avery all the time."

"I noticed that too," Sam said. "It's weird. He's probably plotting his revenge."

Avery pushed his food around his plate. He hadn't noticed Devin staring at him, but then again, he purposely tried to avoid looking at Devin.

"Avery, are you sure you should still be working with him?" Amanda asked. "I know you told Mitch you would do it, but I'm not sure it's a good idea. And I'm starting to feel guilty as hell that you're doing it because the rest of us refused."

"It's okay," he replied. "If I really didn't want to work with him, I would have told Mitch to go ahead and send him home."

"Why are you still giving him a chance?" Sam asked, frustration evident in her voice.

"Everyone deserves a chance," he said softly, giving her a sad smile. "You know that's how I feel."

"I think exceptions can be made," Marc cut in. "Some people don't deserve it. I don't know how you can be charitable to someone who ruined a project you care about and put time into."

"I'm not being friendly with Devin," he answered. "I'm being civil to him, but that's it. I'm still upset about what he did and even though I'll eventually forgive him, I don't have to like him."

"Just be careful," Sam warned.

"I will."

-Devin-

Standing outside of Mitch's office, he hesitated. He needed this conversation to go well, but he knew Mitch would have no reason to trust him. Still, he had to try. He raised his fist and knocked gently on the door.

"Come in!" was the muffled reply.

He saw Mitch's brow furrow slightly in confusion when he looked up and saw who had entered his office. 

"Devin. What can I do for you?"

He sat down across from Mitch, trying his best to look serious and sincere. "I'm here to apologize. I'm sorry for how I've behaved so far. You know, slacking off and being a jerk to everyone. I'm even more sorry for what I did to Avery. I want to make it up to him by rebuilding his prototypes."

Mitch leaned back in his chair, studying Devin's face closely. "I appreciate the apology. I'm also aware that you've been working harder lately, which is a good thing since I was close to sending you home early."

"Why didn't you?"

"I wanted to, but Avery convinced me not to. I'll never understand why."

Devin's shoulders sagged. He didn't know either why Avery would still stand up for him, but it made him feel even worse about what he had done.

"What I do want to know is why you did it," Mitch continued. "Why would you do that to Avery? You two seemed to be friends, and you knew how important that project was to him."

He felt his face heat up. He didn't know how to explain any of this to Mitch.

"Do you even know why you did it? Or was it just another act of destruction to keep yourself entertained?"

He looked up, staring right at Mitch. "I care about Avery. But I got upset about...something and then I took it out on him."

Mitch stared back at him. "I know you and Avery were involved. I don't know the details and I don't want to."

Warily, Devin eyed him. "Who told you that?"

"Avery did."

"And he's not being fired?"

"No. He said you two were sleeping together and that if he had been professional, this probably wouldn't have happened. But I disagree, and he's my best employee so I'm not going to let him go over the only thing he's ever shown poor judgment on."

"It was all me anyway," he insisted, eager to take any blame off Avery. "He turned me down in the beginning. I basically forced him into it. It's my fault." He sighed. "Since you know about it, I can tell you that I did what I did because he tried to cut things off. And not because I was mad about not...you know, but because I care about him. It wasn't necessarily about the sex. It was about more than that."

Mitch was still studying his face, and he fidgeted. This was the closest he'd ever come to telling anyone about his feelings for Avery.

"Like I said," he continued. "I want to make it up to him by rebuilding everything. My dad owns an engineering firm, as you probably know, so I'm going to ask if he can help me. Can I have a day off to meet with him? And I'll put in extra days if this interferes with my work here, but I'm planning on working on it during the weekend anyway."

"I'm happy to see you taking initiative on something," Mitch replied. "You can have a day off to meet with your dad, provided he comes here to pick you up. No more stealing trucks," he said sternly, but Devin could see a hint of amusement in his eyes.

Satisfied that Mitch had given his blessing, he thanked him and went outside to call his dad.

The phone rang a few times, and then his dad answered.

"Dad, I need your help," he said immediately.

He heard his dad sigh. "What did you do now? I sent you to this camp so you could learn some damn responsibility and stop causing problems. Instead, I got a call from Mitch a couple weeks ago letting me know that he was considering sending you home early."

"I know. I did something stupid," he replied, dejected. "And I need to fix it." 

He explained about Avery and his project, the words coming out in a rush - everything from his treatment of Avery to how much he cared about the guy. The most painful part was confessing what he'd done to Avery's project.

His dad didn't say anything.

"Dad, please," he begged, a note of desperation to his voice. "You have to help me. I know I've messed up a lot of things and you've had to clean up after me my whole life, but I just need your help this one last time. This is really important to me. Even if Avery still doesn't speak to me again I need to make it right. He didn't deserve that. He's a really nice guy and he cares about the salmon so much and I don't want to ruin that for him."

"Okay," his dad replied. "I'll help, but only because this is the first time I've ever heard you sound remorseful about anything. What do you need?"

"Uh, well I need money for the materials. And I don't know much about culverts and baffles. I have Avery's blueprints but I might need some help."

"I'll help, but you should start studying the blueprints now. I'm not going to do this for you," his dad warned. "And just so you know, this was the project I was going to put you on. We've contracted with the state to replace existing culverts and install new ones."

"Really?" he asked, feeling a swell of excitement. "That's exactly what Avery wants to work on. Maybe he could work with you and you could use his designs."

"I'll take a look at his blueprints, but I can't make any promises."

"Thank you," he said, relieved. "Could we meet and go over this? Mitch said it was okay for me to have a day off."

"I can come down on Monday. I'll bring materials with me as long as you text me what you need. So like I said, you better study those blueprints and put your education to good use."

"I will. I'll text you a list."

He hung up, his heart beating rapidly in his chest. When he had come up with the idea a couple days ago to literally fix what he had destroyed, he hoped he'd be able to pull it off. Finding out that his dad's firm was going to be in charge of the culvert replacement project was a bonus.

-

It was after dark when he texted his dad the list of materials and finally stepped out of the shed. He had snuck in that morning when no one was watching, and luckily none of his coworkers came to the shed. Looking at everything Avery had drafted had been a challenge for him. He hadn't taken school seriously and had earned Cs and Bs in most of his engineering courses. He hadn't taken his role at his dad's firm seriously either. He found himself wishing that he had paid more attention.

Whenever he needed a break from reviewing the plans and looking up terms and concepts on his phone, he spent that time cleaning up the shed. That was difficult in a different way. As he swept up the pieces of Avery's prototypes, he couldn't stop remembering the expression on Avery's face when he had come upon Devin destroying his project. He'd never felt this guilty about anything in his life. He hoped that Avery would forgive him someday.