"I requite love"(jikook)/suga

Present

"I need to ask you a favor."

It was rare for Hoseok to ask for something, but Jimin was more than willing to help with whatever he could.

"Sure, Hyung. What is it?"

Now Hoseok looked a bit hesitant, as if he was having second thoughts, wondering whether he could utter his next words or not.

"I, uh..."

Hoseok had already made up his mind, really. He had even thought about calling Jimin or texting him, so he could finally ask for this little favor that actually meant a lot to him, but he kept postponing, because he hoped there would be another way, but sadly... there wasn't.

"Can you... set me up a meeting with Taehyung?"

Jimin didn't see that coming. He had no idea what kind of favor the older would ask for, but he didn't think his best friend's name would be brought up in the conversation.

"Set you up a meeting?" Jimin repeated, as he leaned on the wall behind him. He studied Hoseok's face, trying to find some answers, but the lawyer was truly good at having an unreadable expression when he wanted to. "Can't you just call him?"

"I have tried..." Hoseok replied and Jimin could practically hear the frustration in his voice. "He always takes too much time to pick up and he always finds an excuse that he can't talk for long, he hangs up before I can even start a proper conversation and when he texts me back, his messages contain only one or two words... He thinks he's being subtle, but I know he's ignoring me."

"Maybe he has a reason to?" Jimin didn't want his words to come out in the form of accusation, but Hoseok's expression changed immediately and for a second the vet regretted saying the first thing, which came to his mind.

"Did he tell you? About... what happened on my birthday."

"He did and honestly..." Jimin crossed his arms over his chest and tried his best to look intimidating, he hated seeing Taehyung in pain and it was Hoseok who was causing his best friend's suffering, so he wanted to make the older spill the beans, to tell him what had made him react in such way that night. "I think you're the one at fault, Hyung. Tae told me that you pushed him away. You shouldn't have done that."

"I know, I know! It's all my fault!" Hoseok tried to control his voice, but he couldn't. He was angry, angry at himself, because the hurt look on Taehyung's face from that night, haunted him to this day and he knew he was the one to blame for making the always smiling boy, be close to tears. "I had my reasons for doing that. I- I wanted to apologize to him right away, but he just ran out of the car and he has been avoiding the topic and me ever since. I want to explain to him... why I did that and... to tell him just how much he means to me, but he won't meet me and... you don't tell someone that you like them over the phone, Jimin-ah."

"Oh..." That's the only sound, which Jimin managed to make upon the revelation.

"Yeah, 'Oh'."

"Do you really mean that, Hyung?"

Jimin received rather vigorous nodding as a response and he smiled slightly. He didn't want to meddle in Taehyung's affairs, but he wanted what's best for him and he knew how stubborn his best friend could be. It was obvious that Taehyung did not want to avoid Hoseok, but he was scared of rejection, he had never been good at dealing with that and if Jimin had to do something behind Taehyung's back... he was ready to do so, for his friend's sake.

"Okay. I'll help you, Hyung." And at that Hoseok's tensed up shoulders relaxed and the smile found its way onto his face again. "But you might have to wait a bit, because Tae is currently working on his new collection and he needs to be concentrated. A confession from-" Jimin stopped himself in time, he was about to say 'from his crush', thank god he didn't. "From you... he'll get excited for sure and he won't be able to focus on his work."