Used, Rare and Custom Jobs I: Bid

By Chris Owen

Desmond Chase stood in the middle of the huge garage and carefully turned around in a precise circle. "Well," he said finally, knowing that there were three sets of eyes on him, waiting for him to say something -- anything -- about the notion of people choosing to live in a former fire station. "Well, you'll have interesting acoustics, for certain."

Dave laughed, but Archer was nodding, his smile more knowing and appreciative than Dave's amusement. "I came in here one morning and yelled, just to test that."

"You so did not." Dave's laugh turned incredulous. "You've been with me almost every morning!"

"You were here," Archer explained with a grin. He pointed to the door that led the way to what had been the offices and classrooms when the fire station had been operational. "Remember? I sent you to measure the last room down the hall, so we could figure out if the weight bench would fit in there. And then I yelled for you."

Desmond approved. "Very sneaky."

Archer grinned at him, his All-American-Boy charm looking distinctly out of place given the conversation. "I liked it. Better than just screaming and having the neighbors call the police about the crazy guy living next door. Best to get that taken care of before there's actually a person chained to the wall or something." He sent a wink toward Wyatt, who promptly dropped his eyes and smiled.

Desmond watched Dave roll his eyes and look away, his p class="stdp"ow furrowed as he thought about something. Des was doing that a lot, he knew; watching Dave think. Watching Dave, really. It was a pleasant thing to do, and Des firmly believed that a man owed it to himself to allow a little watching. After all, there were limited things of beauty in the world, and if he was lucky enough to have some around him, he should look. Between Wyatt and Dave, Des' eyes were happy.

"You know, it really won't be that big a deal to put a loft in since we need to redo the floor." Dave was looking up at the high ceiling. "The support posts can go in with the new concrete slab."

Wyatt looked at the floor under their feet and frowned. "Why do you need to redo the floor?"

"Mostly because of the oil stains." Archer pointed. "And we need to have all the drains inspected before we cap them off. This was a garage for a long time, and if we're going to use this as living space instead of a workshop, I want the floor to be new and clean. Years of small spills and stuff leeching in just make me a bit wary." He turned and looked in the same direction as Dave. "What are you thinking, babe? Halfway down the length of the garage or two thirds?"

Wyatt came to stand next to Desmond as Dave and Archer paced off a large section of the floor, discussing how they would build iron stairs up to the loft and what they'd put up there, if it would be the TV viewing area or more for conversation, with the TV and couches set up under the loft. To Desmond it sounded like they were more intrigued with the idea of having a loft than what they'd actually do with it. He couldn't really blame them; the architecture of the garage was a feature they should exploit to its fullest.

"You like the polished p class="stdp"ick, don't you, sir?" Wyatt murmured. "It's just rustic enough to be interesting and not as cold as a full out gothic basement would be."

Smiling, Desmond nodded. "I do. It's also sturdy, in great shape, and smooth enough that it won't cause ap class="stdp"asions."

Wyatt's hand slipped into his. "Always considering my safety."

"Always, love." Desmond gave his fingers a squeeze and went back to watching Dave. "They seem very excited about this."

"Do you blame them?" Wyatt laughed softly. "This is like a dream project for Archie, and Dave's going to learn so much as they work on this. It's too bad they'll have to do most of this in the evenings and on weekends, though."

Archer had apparently heard that, as he turned and nodded at them. "It's going to take a while, for sure. The rest of the building only needs decorating and few walls knocked down, for now. We'll get around to moving bathrooms and updating the kitchen later." He shook his head and made a few notes, then looked around the garage. "The permits and renovation paperwork are taking a while, though; likely we won't be able to live in this part of the building for months."

"That's okay," Dave put in, looking around with obvious pleasure. "It's going to be awesome when it's done. Big and open and different from everyone else's homes. Suited to us."

Des nodded and let go of Wyatt, who was drifting toward Archer. "It's a step up from apartments, that's for sure. I wonder, though, why you chose not to integrate the business into the building as well. The garage would have made a practical choice for your work."

Archer and Dave both nodded. "We thought about it," Archer told him. "It comes down to working together and living together and then having home and work in the same place. Too much of a good thing and all that."

Dave nodded once more. "Moving in with him is a big enough step," he said with a grin. "I didn't want to move in with a million board feet of pine, too."