Title: In The Secret Summer Shade
Author: HalfshellVenus
Pairing: Michael/Lincoln (Slash, PWP)
Rating: M
Summary: A sexy interlude in the "Paradise" post-escape AU for pamalax's birthday.
Author's Notes: Written during a 60_minute_fics session ("Smut") and also for my fanfic100 table ("Purple").

x-x-x-x-x

As summer goes on, Lincoln finds he's sleeping in later. The light comes so early now that he burrows under his pillow and winds up staying there much too long. There's no sense anymore of when morning should start, not with hours of useless daylight preceding it.

Getting up on his own schedule still seems new. All those years in and out of prison and the jobs he held between, he got up when he had to or he knew it would cost him. So much of the life he has now feels like he's borrowing it from someone else. He can't shake the idea that someday he might have to give it back.

Michael probably got up hours ago, and is halfway through some book or project already. Lincoln never knows what he'll find when he steps outside.

The kitchen's empty, so he ducks into the bathroom and takes a shower. By the time he's done and dressed, he can tell that Michael's been through the kitchen and left again already. Lincoln spots the movement of blue-inked patterns outside, and opens the door to the back porch to see what Michael's doing.

"Hey," he says.

Michael turns and smiles, a pair of clippers in his hand. "Hey," Michael answers. "I wondered if I was going to see you today."

"Come on, it's not that bad," Lincoln protests.

"You're the only person I've ever known who hibernates in the summer."

"Yeah, well. I'm not exactly in a hurry these days. In the meantime, it looks like you're up to no good out here. Why are you killing that plant? I like that plant. It used to look good."

"It's bougainvillea," Michael says. "It was getting out of control."

"What, that nice cave with purple flowers we had going? With all the shade?" Lincoln looks at the twigs and branches on the stairs. "You know how hot it gets here. Plus, I like the privacy."

Michael puts the clippers down and peers out toward the ocean farther down the beach. "What privacy?"

Lincoln steps toward him and pulls him close for a kiss. "The kind that lets me get away with what I'm about to do to you in broad daylight." He runs his hands down Michael's sides and under his tank shirt, pushing it up and stroking the skin underneath as he laves the inside of Michael's mouth with his tongue.

"Mmmm…" Michael moans, grabbing the waistband of Lincoln's shorts and yanking his brother right up against him.

Yeah. Lincoln backs Michael up against the leaf-covered pillar, breaking off the kiss to nip Michael's lips and bite and lick along the line of his jaw down to his neck. He sucks the spot under Michael's ear while trying to unsnap and unzip his brother's shorts, and the way Michael grinds into him just makes it harder to move his hands where he wants to.

"Lincoln," Michael says, his voice hoarse and needy as he grips and caresses the firmness of Lincoln's ass.

"I've got you," Lincoln murmurs against Michael's throat. He turns Michael around and pushes his shorts down, opening the front of his own. Using his own saliva and some of Michael's, he eases Michael open and then slides in slow and smooth.

Michael leans his head into the pillar, his eyes closed as his face rests against the leaves. He moves with Lincoln, everything an echo of what Lincoln does to him, and the slight lag in changing directions seems to intensify the sensations.

The tight heat surrounding Lincoln is perfect, and he quickens the pace to chase that feeling right through Michael and out the other side, through where his hand grips and pulls Michael into a gasping, shuddering climax.

As soon as the slickness hits Lincoln's palm, it triggers his own release, and he spills out inside of his brother in sweet relief. Michael leans into the pillar, hanging onto the leaves there in front of him with Lincoln draped over his back, the two of them breathless. A warm blossom-scented breeze stirs the air around them as the sun filters into their leafy shelter.

After a moment Michael speaks, his words slightly muffled by the foliage. "I see what you mean about the advantages of privacy."

Lincoln kisses Michael's neck clumsily and strokes along the side of Michael's hip.

"This is just the beginning," he says, his lips brushing Michael's skin. "And if I have to, I'll destroy those clippers myself."

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