a rose by any other name

connor walsh/oliver hampton

summary: Oliver's job was to give people a new life; that "life" being a completely new identity, fake passports and new names, the works. He just wasn't expecting the absolutely gorgeous nervous guy in room 3B, who was freaking out after apparently helping cover up the murder of a psychopathic murderer.

(you know the summary indicates that this fic would be in Oliver's POV but… it's not. oops. Sorry Connor.)

(additional notes: Oliver and Connor never met, Oliver probably works for like, the C.I.A., idk, but most of canon in terms of Connor and the murder quartet and the craziness that is HTGAWM has happened!)

Connor quietly watched the door open for the first time in what had to be… two hours? Four? Who knew how long he was here to rot while Prom Queen in the other room was probably already ratting him out—did she mention his car yet? Did a camera pick it up? Or maybe the cop remembered the four shady as fuck students hanging outside of their professors' house—

His eyebrows rose when a man decidedly not in a black suit and dress shoes entered the room instead of the actual agent he was expecting to come and grill him on how he helped get rid of his professor's husband's dead body.

"Hi there", said a (kinda cute, in that awkward nerd way that he didn't realize he even liked until now) Asian man with big dorky glasses and a soft dark blue cardigan and wow Connor was not expecting this when Annalise pulled some strings to get them off the eyes of the cops.

Connor almost smiled but he was also on the verge of throwing up, so. "Hi."

The man put a sleek laptop on the steel table that was in between them and opened it. Connor watched him type and knew he should probably be panicking but he couldn't stop himself from leaning to the side to try and stare at the guy's stupid fingers.

The man didn't say anything for a while and Connor placed his hands under his legs to try and stop the shaking. He gave up on it and starting biting at his nail for all of two minutes until he forced himself to stick his hands back under his legs.

"Sorry, I just have to pull some stuff open", the man started to say and Connor was only 20% ashamed to say that he really liked the sound of the guy's voice and wow he was really shameless with his priorities wasn't he. "I would have done it before but my car broke down last night and I missed the bus this morning because I have the absolute worst luck and—" The man paused, shyly looking up to look at Connor before nervously chuckling. "Sorry, you probably don't care."

Oh, he cared. So much. It was gross, if he wanted to think about that but he didn't right now.

"What's your name?" Connor asked, leaning forward, the corners of his lips turning up.

The man paused in his typing again, looking at Connor warily. "Um, I'm not supposed to tell you that."

"Why not?"

The man rolled his eyes upwards and Connor could feel his heart jump but he squashed that one down fast; what was with him today? "Well I would say it's probably because we're in a secret government facility, but hey what do I know?" the man said, sarcasm dripping with every word and Connor was intrigued.

"C'mon, what am I supposed to do with your first name? Can't I just know that?" he asked, feeling his mouth curl up in a smirk (something he wasn't expecting to be able to do comfortably, with the burying a dead body and trying to not panic when the cops searched Annalise's house).

"Fine, my name is Connor."

Um.

"No that's my name", he said, before pausing to realize how stupid that sounded because he obviously wasn't the only guy in the world whose name was Connor.

The man chuckled, and Connor almost forgot what they were talking about. "I know. It's our policy here, bring in people who look like the complete opposite of them and say that their name is ours. It helps with the transition."

Connor could feel a cold swooping feeling in his gut as he remembered why he was here. "You're here to help me with that?"

The man sighed, almost regretfully, before nodding at his laptop. "Normally I do this from a dark office corner somewhere but… I couldn't help but look at the cameras, and you looked like you were panicking, so I figured the least I could do is make this easier."

Connor… didn't know what to say to that, actually. "… Oh."

The man shrugged, before pushing his glasses up his nose and it distracted Connor enough that he didn't even realize the man had started talking again. "—I mean the least I could do is give you a life that you could actually see yourself living."

Connor thought about the law class that started this stupid shit. "I thought… A lawyer."

The man nodded sympathetically, "I know, it's hard. But it's better to pick something that won't bring a lot of attention to you for a while… at least till the investigation dies down. And you don't want something that anyone who knows you will recognize you for."

It made sense but it felt so fucking unfair. "Yeah", Connor said quietly, staring at his reflection in the table.

The man sighed, "Let's just get this over with, and then maybe you can go get some ice cream. That always helps."

Connor tried to stop himself from smiling and gave up on that because he was failing spectacularly. "Can I get it with you?"

The man froze and Connor laughed a little, feeling the burning feeling in his chest settle down a bit. "Uh, with um, what?"

"Ice cream. With me." He said, feeling almost comfortable again because this is something he was used to, not this changing identity/covering up murders nonsense situation that he found himself in now. "Though I would have to know your name first."

The man opened his mouth to … protest? But then closed it and blinked. "You're serious."

Connor blinked in response until he realized that yes, he was serious. Huh. That was new.

"Yeah, I am", he said, shifting his eyes to the floor because what the actual fuck was wrong with him.

The man stared at him for a few seconds, his lips upturning in a smile. "Well… I guess it wouldn't be totally unprofessional of me to let your new address be somewhere near mine— Unless you're not cool with that!" the guy said, almost panicking, as if he had no idea that Connor's heart was beating twice as fast. "In which case I could put you somewhere in New York City where I'm sure you could find someone who's actually in your league—"

"I'd like that. The, being near you thing, not the New York thing, which is, nice I guess but yeah. Um." Connor felt his mouth dry and inwardly cursed. He was supposed to be good at this and now his brain decided to fuck him over?

The man smiled, bright and full of teeth and it was fucking blinding and Connor wanted to see it again.

"Then I guess it would probably be good to know your neighbor's name, huh?" he said, pushing his adorable fucking nerd glasses up his nose and Connor was gone. "And if I just happen to invite you over for ice cream, well… no one here has to know, right?"

Connor nodded, feeling his own smile grow wider. "Yeah, exactly. So let me formally introduce myself", he said, raising his hand to shake the other man's hand. "I'm Connor. Well I am until you change my name, so."

The man smiled and shook his hand. "I'm Oliver."

Oliver huh? Connor smiled, leaning back against his seat to watch Oliver work. It fit him pretty well.