“You expect me to get a date for the wedding?” Suzu asked incredulously.

“Yup. And if you don’t bring anyone, I’m absolutely setting you up with someone.” Arata replied cheerfully, a smug smile on his face.

Suzu rubbed his temples, clearly not pleased with this at all.

“Arata, why? Have I not been doing a good enough job as your best man? Are you punishing me for something?”

The brunette laughed and shook his head, “Nah dude, you’ve been great. But I’m worried about you. It’s been months since Jiro. And I know he hurt you, I do, but you deserve to be happy. Hinata is worried about you too.”

It was all out of kindness, very on-brand for Arata, but that didn’t mean Suzu had to like it. Still, he knew Arata would follow through with his threat, and as much as he loved his best friend, he was marrying a hyper ball of sunshine and that meant Suzu feared what kind of option he’d pick for him.

“So, you tell me this a month before your wedding, purposely setting me up for failure, hm?”

Arata chuckled, rubbing the back of his head, “That is my bad but, Hinata pointed out that your RSVP didn’t have a plus 1 and well, it got me thinking…”

“That never works out for me,” he sighed, “I guess that’s one more thing I have on my to-do list.”

“Hey, you could just wait to see who I set you up with!”

“No thanks. I can manage on my own.”

Except, when it was two weeks before the wedding, he was not managing at all. Between work and best man duties, he had completely forgotten to find himself a date. Which now left him with only two options: see who Arata had picked or… buy a date. 

Honestly, it had been his co-worker Mei’s idea and not his. He’d had a small freak out at lunch that day when Arata texted him, checking on his plus one status. After a little coercion, she got the story out of him. Mei did a bit of research and found an escort service that could do exactly what Suzu needed. When she handed him the information, his face had gone bright red, the idea not quite sitting well with him. After all, it reeked of desperation.

But then again, he was desperate, wasn’t he?