Question

Hello Rabbi,
Reuven and Shimon wanted to organize a friends’ Sabbath and were looking for an apartment to rent for the Sabbath.
Shimon called a broker, and the broker sent him the number of Yehuda (an apartment owner renting out his place).
Shimon remembered that Yehuda is a very good friend of Reuven’s, and Yehuda and Shimon were disappointed that the connection between them had been made through a broker. They thought that maybe Reuven could call Yehuda directly and they could finalize things between themselves without having to pay a brokerage fee.
Is this permitted from the standpoint of Jewish law? After all, if Reuven had remembered that Yehuda rents out his apartment, he obviously would have called him without the broker.