Mark was intrigued by Danny's changes, yet also a little bit scared. Danny was obviously aging much too quickly. More interestingly, Danny seemed he was aware of it. He was wide-eyed and constantly looking at his reflection in the gym's wall-sized mirrors.
"Something wrong, Dan?" Mark asked.
Danny shook his head quickly. "No, Mark," he lied. "Everything's fine!"
Mark puzzled as to why Danny was aware of his rapid aging, but was completely oblivious to the change in the starting age of his baldness. Maybe it had something to do with the awareness sliders. Mark had adjusted Danny's awareness so he was just as aware of the changes as Mark was. Maybe it was possible that the particular awareness slider he had messed with only affected the temporal flow changes. Maybe. That answered that question but brought up a few more.
Also, why was Danny being so bull headed about this? He had almost had a panic attack when he aged when they were jogging. Now he seemed to be doing his best to ignore it. Badly.
Mark smirked in spite of the situation. At least this would make for a bit of entertainment for himself.
Mark watched as Danny performed some bench presses, spotted by some other gym goers. At first the other men didn't seem to know Danny that well, but warmed up to him almost instantly, as if they'd known him for a while.
As he benched, Danny's arms and pectorals rapidly toned themselves and increased in size, as if he'd been doing this regularly for months. Mark was impressed, if a little concerned. He felt he should go home and check back in on the Chronivac. But, he was so intrigued by Danny's changes that he couldn't help but wait a while and see how it turned out.
Mark would spend the next hour alternating from exercising to watching Danny's progress with intense interest.
The last of the hair atop Danny's head finally faded away, leaving him with a horseshoe of brown hair around his head. The hair didn't shave away like Mark's, however. It stayed at a short length.
Danny's gut wouldn't go away, though, no matter how much he exercised. In fact, it only grew bigger. It grew from a small beer belly, to a full on gut. Danny's love handles also became apparent as well as a second chin.
Danny's beard became a little shaggy, losing it's sculpted form, grey hairs appearing left and right. It wasn't long before the whole area at his chin had turned grey.
As the hour wore on, Danny exercised less and less, the weights he lifted dwindling into smaller numbers. Danny was becoming more tired faster. The muscles he'd built up began to shrink in size, becoming flabby. His gut followed suit.
Soon, much of Danny's beard had become grey as well as what remained of his head hair.
Mark shook his head, checking his memories. Danny was now 42. He was the age Mark had intended to stop him at. Perhaps it was time to get him home and stop the aging.
"Dan!" Mark called to his now older brother. "Let's call it a day early, alright?"
Dan nodded. He was absolutely winded and doused in sweat. His stomach had begun to hang over the waistband of his workout pants, straining at the fabric of his vest. Brown and grey hair poked out from his sleeves and the front and back of his collar.
As the pair left, Mark could see Dan stop in front of a mirror and jiggle his stomach for a moment. He momentarily confused and distraught before following Mark out.
Now Mark just hoped he could get back home in time before Dan aged too much more.