Home Training Z

Early morning.

As usual, he always felt the need to work so hard at what he was doing, restarting is exercise regimen and even improving on it, once he actually had the equipment and time to do it. Truthfully, he felt...he had lost much of the edge he used to have, way back when, but he was definitely still young enough, that he could get back to top physical form; and, thanks to his rich and incredibly self conscious housemate, it'd be a whole lot easier for him to really start getting some gains.

The smell of eggs, bacon, and sausage filled the house, despite its large size, signaling that he definitely had the idea of getting a meal in before training in mind. High protein, as usual, for him; not only did it apparently help with getting gains, he heard and was continually reminded, but he was also the type to kind of...prefer meat over just about any other food.

He was a big fan of salads, despite himself.

Today, he was running the treadmill, opting to working on his legs today. Normally, he focused more on his upper body, as he had much less muscle and size there, and admittedly that put him quite a bit behind where he could and should have been. "Hmph...I wonder when that lazy guy will get off his ass... Oh well, he's still adapting to the time, so I guess I can let that go..."

Antony considered himself to be an early riser and compared to most he certainly was. He used to wake up at 6AM sharp almost every day without fail yet since his friend moved in he found himself waking up earlier than that. His friend's idea of a morning was around 4:30AM. He had been going to sleep earlier to balance things out, yet there was something that didn't feel quite right about waking up so early in the morning every day. 

He wasn't a morning person in the first place, so getting up earlier just made it worse. His hair was a mess, he was groggy and somehow one of his pyjama legs was folded up his leg from how he'd been moving in his sleep. He was just walking past the gym where he heard Michael in the gym, geez that guy was a morning person. Antony was still getting a piece of sleep out his eye when he heard the dude say something.

He popped his head around the door, looking like death warmed up as he felt the need to sort of correct his friend "You know half four is considered stupidly early to most of humanity, right?" it was a good job this guy didn't drink, because he felt like he had a hangover just waking up normally.  It was too early in the morning for some mental jousting so yawned loudly just after he spoke and carried on "I'll join you in a minute, I need some caffeine in me. Want one?" Regardless of the answer, he'd go ahead to make a quick one, he had one of those fully automated, fancy machines that popped them out in seconds so it wouldn't be long.

"Huh..." Michael mused in response to the call from his friend, stopping the treadmill after what felt like hours of exercise, hopping off it and wiping the sweat away from his brow with a towel. Admittedly, he hadn't exactly expected his friend to be up this early, considering how things usually was, but it definitely helped to at least have some dialogue to break up the intensity. "So! Look who's up, the Brit with almost no intent to show the world his smiling face!" he exclaimed, speaking about how long it was taking this guy to get up early in the states, and how the guy seemed too nervous to get out and do something spontaneous. "...I'll take the espresso, though."

Moving out of the training area, he moved into the kitchen, shrugging off the aches of exercise as he tried to locate his friend; hint, it wasn't hard. "Hey, y'know, back when you were still in the UK, I got up at this time here anyway. You, though...why exactly are you up?" he mused, cutting a nice smirk as he watched his friend prepare the coffee. "...You wouldn't, by any chance...actually be trying to train with me properly, would you? Maybe you're actually trying not to fall behind? Pretty sneaky of ya, man..."

Antony was always grumpy in the mornings, it was his least favourite time of the day that much was beyond doubt. It was something Mike had probably worked out yet he didn't seem bothered by it. Antony was grateful for it, but that still didn't mean he was in any better a mood than he was any other time. The espressos were coming along nicely, in fact they were done after Mike finished playing with him a bit. Though Antony couldn't be bothered with it before he had his espresso so gave Mike the finger as he downed it. Wow he needed that and it was helping to kick start his brain.

He quickly thought of a reply as he handed Mike's espresso over to him "I'm pretty sure the main reason you started working out again is because you didn't want to fall behind me. So I guess  you're admitting I'm getting ahead" A smile came across his face as he headed to the fridge, he took out a goji berry bar along with the no fat greek yogurt.

He started nomming down on the bar as he pulled out a bowl and some high protein chocolate granola as he turned mildly serious for a second "Though if you're up for some joint training I'm game once I've had breakfast and a shower" without even looking he started to measure out his yogurt and granola, it was tasty and healthy so he preferred it over the insane amounts of meat Mike liked. That said, he did use quite a bit of meat later in the day, especially venison.

"Wrong," he stated simply, in reply to his friend's assumption, shrugging to himself. "Though that may be the case, nah. I'm not at all worried about you overtaking me. Maybe if I hadn't exercised for another ten years, and you kept it up...but otherwise, man? Hahahahaha...ahahahahaha...aha..ha..." he stated casually, be taking the cup and taking a nice sip of the hot beverage. "Still, I think you'd have been pretty good in that office work...making coffee seems to be a real gift of yours," he said with little to no mercy, alluding to the career had first thought of. Of course, making it clear he'd just be making coffee for the superiors had to be a big butt of the joke.

He stroked his chin, thinking about training with his friend, before shrugging. "...Think I'll take a break now, actually, Though I'd be pretty ok with training soon enough..." he stated, raising a brow as he looked at his friend's selection in food. "Oi...nothin' beats eating real meat, my man. It'd put some hair on your chest if you tried it more, right?" he said casually, this time saving his insults. "But yea. I was...considering going for a run around the neighborhood, actually. Y'know, get some fresh air. Feel the bumps and dips in the earth. That sort of thing, real symbolic..." he said casually, stroking his chin with his right hand as his expression seemed to become more thoughtful. "Ya' know, it's not the same, running on that treadmill, as having an actual run is. Heh, with this place right here, you can do that regularly now, right?"

Yeh, Antony knew full well Mike was just teasing him, he was used to it really. Though despite that he still found his mouth pulling to the side in annoyance. If the guy hadn't just got off a treadmill he might have kicked or head slapped the guy for it. But Antony was merciful and as such he wouldn't do it, yet. Even when more teasing came his way about making coffee he just rolled his eyes. Honestly, if it was anybody else he probably would have told them to fuck off and do one, but Mike was a good friend and as such he had a free pass with most things. It was probably true, if he had pursued a career in either law or human resources he would have had to do a lot of tea and coffee making ahead of him.

Yep, the teasing really didn't stop did it? Only this time he did respond casually as he was eating his breakfast "I think we both know I eat more meat than most, you just live on the stuff" the guy probably got through a kilogram of the stuff a day which was no mean feat, to say the least. 

So the guy was thinking about going for a run, yeh, Mike probably knew already but Antony didn't fancy a run. Antony was indeed a very clever young man, but Mike had an uncanny knack for reading people "Well, running is nice but after your baiting I think we are both aware that a run isn't what I have in mind, I have something.... more contact based in mind if you catch my drift" he was implying sparring. It would either be the exercise room or the roof directly above them, Antony didn't have exclusive use of it but who else would be using it at stupid o'clock?

Sighing, he tapped his fingers on his upper arm after crossing them, before shaking his head slowly. "Man...all that sparring. Man...you're straight out of a comic book. And not even in a good way," he taunted, smirking ash he shrugged his shoulders. "...Pass. I really would rather take that walk, honestly. Well, maybe a run...it's a pretty nice view, I think," he stated coolly, before offering his friend a sideways glance. "Ya' think too much, I always say; there wasn't any ulterior motive behind my want to run, honestly. And while sparring is all well and good, I always think it isn't really...practical, y'know? Much rather work on my body, rather than just focusing on all that kung fu shenanigans..." he took a sip of his drink, nice and deep despite the heat, before locking eyes with his friend.

"...Do me a favor and try to focus on the exercise, man. Just...acting, not so much how many, or how hard, or any of that stuff. You always have a harder time when ya' think too much, man..." he offered, before heading to the fridge and fishing through the trays, before finding and orange. He sat the cup on the counter, peeling the fruit slowly as he leaned against the very same counter that his drink was sitting on, collecting the peels in his other hand. "Heh...if you're lookin' for some kind of rival, generic or otherwise, I aint one; I don't really care if you get stronger than me, and I'm not really doing all this to...uhhh...stand out or get noticed. It's just a hobby. For fun," he stated casually back, before throwing away the peels and then plucking and eating a few slices.