Ashley handed Finch a very small pair of briefs, also black, and looked at him expectantly.
With a sigh, Finch took off the boxers and replaced them with the briefs. To his embarrassment,
they sat just below where his pubic hair started. He tried to tug them up but to no avail. His
cheeks blazing, he looked at Ashley and said, “They’re too small. I need the next size up.”
“No, you don’t,” Ashley pronounced after running a jaundiced eye over Finch. “They fit like a
dream. Do you see how you were chafing before? I can see the irritation on your thighs.” Ashley
gestured, much to Finch’s horror, at the insides of his thighs, which were slightly irritated.
“Those sad boxers you were wearing before were too loose and were riding up. When you get
chafing like this, it’s a sign it’s time to go down a size. Underwear that fits shouldn’t ride. The
ones I’ve got on you now won’t bunch or pinch or chafe. Sure, you’ll probably want to go in
and manscape a little, but it’s nothing that can’t be taken care of. And can I just say, you
look ravishing? If I were having Mr. Drake for dinner, I’d want to gobble you up for dessert.”
Finch had never considered himself extremely attractive—his hair was too dark, his face too
severe, and his limbs too long. But seeing himself in the mirror with his hair cut just right and
in underwear that hugged his hips, he saw a glimmer of the man he could have been had his
life turned out differently. Surprised by what he saw, he brushed his fingers over the waistline
of the briefs and smiled at his reflection.
“I’d like to see, Finch,” Hugh called out. “Can you please turn around for me? Ah. Very nice.
And Ashley’s quite correct. The size is perfect. They are a bit lower than you’re used to, but
that’s no hardship.”
“Do you think so, sir?” Finch asked. His heart had started to pound in ways he both liked and
didn’t like all at once. It was a thrill to be standing in front of Hugh next to naked and hear the
dragon say that he was handsome. The compliment raced through him like adrenaline, and he
found himself craving more. “If you like them, I’ll wear them. For you, I always strive to be at
my best.”
“I love them,” Hugh said, meeting Finch’s eyes, and Finch’s heart sang. “I’ll take them. A dozen
of them. Six in black, and six in assorted colors. And while we’re at it, I’ll take an equal amount
of those boxers, divided the same way.”
Buford returned, summoned by the magic of fashion, in time to receive the order. He hurried
out of the room to fill it while Ashley busied himself with something. Finch was too busy smiling