“How many reps are you on?”

Dan continues to lift the double weights as he admires himself in the mirror. The shark is carrying two dumbbells, one in either hand. On his head he’s wearing his old, trusty headphones. They’ve seen better days, but they still function flawlessly and that’s what matters. Without his music, the shark can’t focus on his workouts as well. And without focus, there are lesser gains to be had.

“Hey bro, I asked how many reps you were on?”

The shark repeats another few curls, carefully studying his own form in the mirror, making sure that his posture is correct and his movements are right. Dan smiles sharply, only then noticing his roommate waving at him in the reflection.

“Hello?? Anyone at home?”

Finally, Dan turns around to face the yellow lab that was calling out at him. It’s Blake, Dan’s roommate, and he has a confused look on his face. Dan takes off his headphones, keeping his innocent smile for another second, before responding.

“Yes, hi. It’s me. The one and only Dan. What’s up?”

Blake rolls his eyes in annoyance, but his smile gives him away.

“I asked you how many reps you were on, bro”

It’s always funny when someone with Blake’s build calls someone like Dan ‘[i]bro’. [/i]Dan, as a gym enthusiast, is muscular and strong; whereas the lab – who’s only coming along for the moral support at this point; he’s long given up actually working out - looks like he could be snapped in half by a gentle breeze. Dan puts his dumbbells away before wiping off the sweat of his forehead using the little white towel he brought with him.

“Eh, lemme think… fifty-five, I believe?” the shark responds proudly. As he stands back upright to face Blake again, he fails to notice that the chord of his headphones had gotten smushed underneath the dumbbell, and with one swift movement, they are pulled right off of his head, falling on the floor and shattering upon impact. Immediately, Dan’s smile vanishes. How is he supposed to work out if he can’t listen to his tunes?

“Shit!” Dan proclaims.

“Shit,” Blake says in agreement.

“I suppose that’s that for today. Do you know if the electronics store is still open today?” Dan says disappointedly. He stares at the broken pieces of plastic and electronica on the floor, kneeling to gather them in a single pile to toss them away.

Blake shakes his head. “I doubt it, I’m afraid…” the labrador responds, his face buried in his paw as he helps Dan think. Suddenly, he looks back up at the shark, as if an idea just popped up into his head. Immediately, an eager smile appears on the lab’s face.

“Now… No promises, Dan, but I [i]might[/i] just have a replacement for you at the ready…” the dog continues.

Dan’s smile returns. “Ah, really? You don’t have to, Blake. I can get a new one easily – I was due for a replacement anyw-” the shark begins, but he’s interrupted mid-sentence by his roommate

“Don’t mention it! Let’s go home, yeah? I’ll have a look through my stuff there, I’m pretty sure I have precisely what you need.”

[center]~ ~ ~[/center]

Dan is standing behind the kitchen island making himself a protein smoothie when Blake barges into the kitchen carrying a box of doodads and various trinkets. He practically throws the box onto the counter, and the shark looks up in surprise.

“I think I found it,” Blake says with a near mischievous smile.

The labrador walks up next to Dan and starts rummaging through the box. “[i]Why didn’t you do this before carrying the whole box over?” [/i]Dan thinks to himself, but his thoughts are quickly interrupted by Blake revealing a fancy headset out of the box. It’s wireless, sleek, and above all it suits Dan’s aesthetic.

“Here you go! Try this on.” Blake says, handing Dan the headphones. “Just push the button on the right earpiece to pair it to your phone.”

Dan nods as he puts the headphones on, following Blake’s step-by-step plan and pairing the device with his phone. A little mechanical beep suggests that he’s connected, and as he presses play on his music app, the song indeed starts to play. The sound quality is surprisingly clear, especially for something that Blake would just… toss into a box of ‘[i]Things that will eventually be forgotten about.’[/i]

“Damn! This is really nice, Blake! Thank you for the kind gift.” Dan says – almost a bit too loudly as a result of the inherent noise reduction of the headphones. Blake just responds with a thumbs-up, followed by a gesture to take them off again; which the shark does.

“So, if you tap the left earpiece instead of the right, it doesn’t actually pair or connect, but it goes into focus mode. Apparently, it’ll filter out outside noise and play white noise, static, something like that – that pushes your brainwaves into a certain direction to help you focus. I think that’s precisely what you want out of your music, so this would only help you reach that goal, right?” Blake says with a big grin.

The shark stares at his roommate, surprised by his sudden kindness. He taps the left earpiece, and as explained by Blake, he can – very quietly – hear white noise start to play. It’s barely noticeable, almost as if someone’s blowing in his ear but from very far away. A tiny tingle runs down the shark’s spine, and he taps the earpiece again.

“Thank you, Blake! Very kind of you. I’ll give it a shot tomorrow when I go work out again.” Dan says with a grateful, sharp smile.

“Ah, don’t mention it! After all, it was kind of my fault that they broke, right? So it’s the least I could do,” Blake responds as he picks up the box of doodads again and carries it out of the kitchen.

Dan shrugs in disagreement, but Blake has already left the room.

[center]~ ~ ~[/center]

The shark walks through the mostly empty gym, making his way towards the running equipment. He picks a treadmill out of the bunch – one with a decently steep incline – and gets on to start off his training with some cardio. As he gets on the treadmill, he puts on his headphones and connects them, hearing the familiar tunes of his favorite band.

As he gets in the rhythm, he’s suddenly reminded of what his roommate had told him about the secondary function of the earphones. Keeping up the regular running speed, the shark taps the left earpiece softly, hearing a single [i]beep[/i] before the white noise begins to play softly in the background. It’s very unintrusive, hardly noticeable over the music he’s listening to.

“[i]Let’s see if this works the way Blake said it would”,[/i] the shark thinks to himself as he gets back to running on the treadmill.

It doesn’t take long for the shark to get into a flow state, utterly hyperfocused on the workout. So much so, that he hardly notices the beeping of the treadmill once his program is finished. Disappointedly, the shark slows his running to a jogging pace, before turning it into a slow walk and coming to a halt completely.

“[i]Already done?”[/i] the shark thinks to himself. “[i]I should really thank Blake for this device when I get back…”[/i]

Next, the shark moves to the leg press, getting in position, still listening to the headphones with the music – and the static. He clicks the pin into the usual weight that he trains in and starts the next part of his workout. Again, hardly a minute into the training, he notices just how easily he can stay focused. It’s exactly like Blake described it, focus mode helps him focus more… more at the task at hand… more at his primary directive…

The shark clicks the weight pin into the next slot, one higher than usual, and gets back to it. He hardly has to put in any extra effort to lift the weights, his legs slightly wobbly under the effort, but he knows not to strain himself too much.

“[i]Blake is the best for giving me these headphones… he’s really due a proper thank-you once I’m back home.” [/i]Dan thinks, moving to the dumbbells. He’s surprisingly motivated to speed through his workout – almost forgetting to take breaks to drink in between, despite usually being very strict on himself in terms of nutrition and hydration.

The weightlifting and bench are next, both devices positioned in front of the same mirror as where he lost his old headphones just a day ago. As he’s working out, he admires himself in the reflection again. His form, his posture, his strength and his devotion… His craving to thank his roommate is dominating his every thought, but it's not distracting. It’s only helping him train more and more, because the sooner he is done, the sooner he can get back to properly thank his roommate. With that thought in the back of his head, and the tunes and the white noise still playing, Dan grins as he starts another rep. 

[i]To be continued on day 30 - Unaware[/i]

