Title: therapy
Fandom: How to Get Away with Murder (TV)
Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Length: 1,690 words
Content notes: implied shower sharing
Author notes: set somewhere during season 2.
Summary: The Keating Five have never been good at normal, but for one night, crammed into Oliver and Connor’s apartment, they come close.


Oliver’s apartment had sunk into a comfortable silence around the Keating five, surrounded by papers spread around, laptops in a few corners, and the lunch takeout boxes forgotten somewhere under the couch.

They had gathered up there after another of their crises, not really planning it but sequentially showing there, determined to shield themselves from the chaos of their lives outside of the apartment and try to focus on preparing for their exams.

The last one to show up was Oliver, and with a kiss Connor greeted him. With a silent look as he helped Oliver take off his work blazer, Connor explained to his boyfriends that they would probably stay up late to study again —something that Oliver had never been against; he sometimes complained that the place was too silent when it was just him alone.

Oliver pressed a kiss on Connor’s cheek, earning a smile that he hid from his colleagues (Connor still refused to call them ‘friends’), and quietly said he was going to prepare dinner.

The exchange hadn’t been noticeable for Michaela, whose eyes followed Connor as he opened the fridge and started picking up and taking things out, then moved to the shelves and did the same. Dinner was on the way. Which, of course, Asher noticed too.

“Alright, everyone, let’s get one thing straight. I’m taking the first shower. Non-negotiable,” she said as she stood up, throwing her notes to the couch seat she had been on and claiming her spot.

“Come on, Michaela,” Asher complined, “ladies first doesn’t apply when everyone’s dying of anxiety sweat.” He only earned an eye-roll from Michaela.

“Last time I checked, this was Oliver’s place. So, Oli,” she called him, “can I go first?”

“Go ahead,” he gestured to the bedroom, holding a packet of something. They had been there enough times to have spent the night, and of course, to use the bathroom as well.

And so Michaela left the living room, taking the first turn and being the first one to have a break. Soon, they heard the shower run. They had little time to claim the next turn if they didn’t want Asher to run straight into the bathroom the moment its door opened.

“Typical Michaela,” Connor said. “She could be on the run from the FBI and still prioritize looking like an eleven out of ten.”


“Hey, cleanliness is important,” Oliver argued. “She’s got a point. Speaking of —when’s the last time you showered?” He joked.

Connor and Laurel exchange glances: neither of them seemed to be in a rush to shower. While he took a peek at Michaela’s notes, soon leaving them when he realised he liked his own notes more than hers, Laurel picked up her laptop from the coffee table.

Wes, who had joined them for the first time just the previous day, stood up to stretch his legs and walked to the kitchen, probably looking for more coffee. He just found Oliver methodically cleaning and tidying up his working space, getting ready to start cooking.

“So… first time outside Annalise’s house with these guys, huh?” Oliver started the small (but not for that less carefree) talk. “How’s the experience so far?”

“It’s, well… quieter than I expected.” Wes smiled awkwardly. “Honestly? I was bracing for more yelling.”

Oliver smiled, gesturing toward the bathroom. “Give it five minutes. Once Michaela’s out, it’ll be chaos again. She’s like a one-woman Broadway show.”

“She does keep things… lively.” Wes chuckled.

“Need a refill?” Oliver asked, pointing to the empty mug.

“Actually, I think I’m done with coffee for the day,” Wes realised.

“Alright” Oliver took his mug, and leaned closer like he was about to tell him a secret. “If you need a breather, the balcony’s nice. It’s where I go when Connor’s being… well, Connor.”

Wes thought of it for a moment. “Thanks. You’ve got a nice place. Feels… safe.”

Oliver smiled softly. “That’s the goal. Even if it’s just for a night.”

“Hey, and do you need any help with dinner?” West asked, looking at all the ingredients on display.

“Actually, if you think you can get started by cutting the vegetables, I would really use a shower,” Oliver confessed.

“I got it!” Wes took Oliver’s place, who went to join his boyfriend on the couch.

Michaella finally exited the bathroom, which Connor and Oliver noticed because they were sitting closer to the bedroom and they were familiar with the door crack too.

“Wanna share?” Connor prosoposed, gently crashing his shoulder with Oliver’s. “I heard you want a turn at the shower.”

Oliver laughed. “Still trying to pass showering together off as an act of environmental heroism?”

“Of course!” Connor frowned. “What can I say? I’m an environmentalist.”

Oliver raised an eyebrow, pointing out “you’re also the reason we keep running out of body wash.”

“Excuse me for having standards. Besides, you love it.” Connor winked at him.

When Michaela returned to the living room, a towel wrapped around her hair, Connor got up, pulling Oliver with thim.

Asher, very serious, warned them. “No funny business in there. Some of us still need to decontaminate!”

Connor smirked at him. “We’ll be quick.” And then pulled Oliver towards the bathroom.

“They always get the best excuses,” Asher sighed. “ If I suggested that, Michaela would have me thrown in jail for harassment in a blink.”

“You’re just mad no one wants to share with you,” Laurel, focused on scribbling notes but throwing Asher a sly look, added.

Finally alone in their bedroom, Connor’s shoulders fall, relaxed at last. Everything slowed down then: Connor stopped worrying about the world outside those four walls, and Oliver stopped worrying about everyone else. At least for a little while, all they needed to focus on was each other.

They quickly catch up on their familiar routine, hands brushing as they undress each other. While one picked up the clothes and pushed them inside the laundry bin, the other went and took their sleeping clothes out on the bed.

Connor kissed Oliver when he walked in front of him, going into the bathroom to take out fresh towels for everybody. In the bedroom, Connor found Oliver’s home laptop charging in a corner and squatted down to disconnect it from the wall because Oliver often forgot about when he didn’t have to use it.

Since they were already packed up and it was Wes’ second night with them, they agreed that they could find some room for him at the end of the bed, and so Oliver pulled out an extra blanket while Connor left a small pillow over it right before joining his boyfriend in the shower.

Back in the living room, Laurel headed over to the kitchen with a soft smile.

“Hey, you okay?” She checked on Wes. “I guess this is your first time witnessing group chaos in a safe house.”

“Something like that. You’d think I’d be used to it by now.” Wes smiled faintly, taking a look at the room. “But you’ve seen my place; it’s no better than this.”

Asher was playing with a pen, using it as a drum stick against his leg and probably getting Michaela on her nerves. Muted laughter and running water from the bathroom shutted her complaint down, because Asher was quicker.

“You think they’re actually showering, or… showering?” He asked

Michael didn’t look up from her notes. “Do you ever not think about other people’s love lives?”

“Hey, I’m just saying, it’s like a rom-com in there,” Asher shrugged. “If my life were half as exciting—”

“It’s not.” Michaela cut him off with a smirk.

Wes leaned closer to Laurel, quietly, asking “do they always talk to each other like that?”

“They’ve spent so much time together; you get used to it. Also, Connor pretends to be annoyed at everyone all the time, but honestly, it’s just how he shows affection.” Her eyes met Wes’. “He can’t be annoyed when he’s around Oliver.”

“And here I thought I was the heart of this group,” Asher said loud enough for the two in the kitchen to hear him. “Guess I’ve been replaced by the lovebirds.”

“You were never the heart.” Michaela finally looked up from her notes. “Maybe the appendix —no one knows why you’re here, but we tolerate you anyway.”

Wes grinned, but tried to hide it. “That’s kind of harsh.”

Laurel shrugged beside him. “You’ll get used to that, too. So, who wants to beat Asher and claim the next shower turn the most?”

Hours later, stomachs full and all ready to go to bed, everybody was settling in their assigned sleeping spots. Laurel had rushed into the shower when Connor and Oliver emerged back from the bedroom, and Asher took the next turn before dinner was ready and they took all their notes and books out of the picture to enjoy a warm and safe meal.

Wes had gone to take a shower after that, and decided to try and fall asleep in the bedroom when he was out of the bathroom. Oliver and Connor just checked that everyone was tired enough to stop teasing each other, that the fire was out and the door locked, before reuniting in the bedroom.

“We should start charging them rent,” Connor groaned when he made sure that Wes was already sleeping.

“We barely pay rent.” Oliver laughed.

“For emotional damage, then,” Connor muttered as he flopped onto the bed.

While Oliver brushed his teeth, Connor searched for his phone and set up the alarms for the following morning. When he came back, Oliver laid next to him.

“You know we basically have four children now, right?” He jocked

“Correction: you have four children,” Connor argued, pulling him into his arms. “I’m the emotionally distant stepfather.”

“That’s a lie, you literally tucked Wes in with a blanket five minutes ago.”

“Because he looked cold!” Connor tried not to yell, but soon his face turned softer. “You’re too good to them.”

“So are you.”

Connor snorted. “That is a lie.”

“You are with me,” Oliver said quietly.

It was the last thing Connor heard before they fell asleep together.