Mark smiled and shook his head. "I wasn't talking about you as a Party, Thomas. I was talking about you as a kid. It hurts when your kid says something like that, but I get it and you have the right to be angry or upset about things. It's part of growing up. A kid who doesn't pout, get angry at his parents, and say shitty things isn't a real kid. It's a robot. You're not just a Party, and I don't think less of you for not having anyone on the ballot."
None of them were just Parties or just Issues and Mark suddenly wondered if Thomas understood that. He wondered if the kid knew that he was allowed to have hobbies and interests outside the arena of politics and marijuana. His philosophy of getting into school immediately probably hadn't helped at first, but Thomas still had to have free time. Or did he spend it all with his nose in his books and pamphlets?
Mark knew that he would go crazy if he spent the entirety of his life focused on his party. There had to be time for baseball games, playing cards for cheetos with Mia and the Writer's Room, wandering the galleries of DC, having drinks and cigars with Keith, John, and Rachel, and everything else he enjoyed doing in life that didn't necessarily correlate directly to who was in the White House at that exact moment in time.
When Thomas spoke again Mark was pulled quickly from his thoughts. He nodded his answer, rifling through his mental calendar to make sure that after that weekends' "Beckoning" in DC and Emmys cermony, he would have the time to have Thomas over. "I'm off for Labor Day for ten days. You're welcome to stay starting Monday, if you want. I know Glibt and I would both enjoy it," he offered. "And maybe you could... I don't know, beforehand, maybe you could tell us what you like to do for fun. Nothing that has to do politics or issues. You have hobbies, right? Just stuff that relaxes you? We could make sure we do some of that. Especially before classes start up again."