Phillip Hughes, M.D, S.J. (fidesetratio) wrote in whatprice, @ 2009-10-16 15:03:00 |
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Current location: | Ipswich |
Current mood: | contemplative |
Entry tags: | !completed, augustus pye, phillip hughes |
Two boys, a beer, and the best game on earth
Who: Gus & Phil
When: Sat, Sept 26 (BACKDATED like whoa.)
Where: Various and sundry intermediary locations, mostly at the Ipswich v Newcastle game (in Ipswich)
What: Spiritual Counseling takes many forms
Status: Complete
Rating: PG?
It had taken a bit of finagling and calling in a few favors, of which he was surprised his brother actually succumbed to although he wasn't about to question his baby induced decisions, but they were finally sitting in the blue seats of the stadium, waiting for the Ipswitch Town/Newcastle match to begin. Gus stretched his legs out as much as he could, trying to get his legs feeling normal again after the long motorbike ride from Impington to East Anglia. Renting the two motorbikes once they had gotten into Cambridge hadn't been a problem, especially with Jules' help to get the one for Phil so he wouldn't have to worry about if they asked for ID. He knew this was still a risk, but hopefully with the changes to their appearances and the fact that they were up in East Anglia it wouldn't be so bad.
Handing a beer over to Phil, he grinned warmly at the other man as he raised his glass. "To footy and freedom," he joked.
Phillip would have a hard time recognizing himself in a mirror right now. His hair was a different color and longer and there was the full beard as well as the illusion of a few extra pounds. He did, however, fit into the hasbeen footy player category quite well.
"To footy and freedom," he joked as he raised the glass before drinking. It's amazing what fresh air did. The motorcycle ride, the footy game, allowing Gus to buy him a Newcastle jersey since he didn't have access to his old one, it made life seem normal. Or rather, like a very strange, and yet very enjoyable, holiday.
Phillip gave Gus a look.
"I'm not complaining about this, and I'm enjoying myself, but I can't help thinking that either you're going to ask me a really big favour or this is my last wish fulfillment."
Gus rolled his eyes slightly as he chuckled in amusement and ran a hand through his darker hair. Not that the minimal disguise really mattered considering his name was linked to all the transactions, but it at least made him feel a bit safer. "I think that you've already fulfilled the big favour part," he teased. "And I certainly hope this isn't last wish fulfillment. I'd prefer if there were many more footy matches in your future. And hopefully other fun time happenings as well."
Phillip chuckled.
"To more footy matches," he said as he raised his glass of beer again.
"I ought to pay you back for this somehow though."
"It's no problem, really," Gus said sincerely as he breathed out a sigh. "Trust me, this is as much of a treat for me as it is for you. I don't get to go to footy matches often."
Phillip chuckled.
"It's worth it though," he said as he tried to stretch out his legs.
"You work too hard," he teased. "How's the new job going for you, anyways?"
Gus chuckled softly as he shrugged and then took a sip of his beer. "It's great. Really, really great. It's been a life saver a few days."
Phillip raised an eyebrow.
"Problems with work at the clinic?" he asked curiously.
Gus shrugged as he looked down at his beer. "No problems with work really..." he mumbled, not sure how much Phil had heard considering he was living in Adrian's house.
"Problems with people?" Phillip asked softly.
"If you don't want to talk about it, I understand."
"I'm not sure if you want to put yourself into an awkward position by me talking considering who you're living with currently," Gus said softly. "The simple answer is that we have differing opinions on certain matters which caused harsh words to be said."
Phillip sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"I'm sorry. I know more than I can talk about, of course, but harsh words are never to be desired."
Gus raised an eyebrow as he glanced over at Phil warily, wondering just how much more he knew about. Sighing, he shoke his head. "Harsh words happen..." he said softly with a shrug. "I made a misjudgment. Those happen too..."
Phillip sighed.
"We all make those once in awhile. But you can't dwell on the past too much. You can't change another person's way of thinking, all you can do is live your life authentically to the best of your ability. Sorry, I don't mean to be preachy.. happens sometimes though. "
"It's alright. I'm used to it." Gus swirled his drink around before taking another sip. He mulled over Phil's words a long moment before blowing out a long breath. "What if you can't live your life authentically? Or at least authentically all the time..."
"Well, you shouldn't have to be used to it," Phillip said softly.
"I think it depends why you're not living it authentically. If it's for safety reasons, then it's something entirely different, but you need to be yourself. Otherwise things just build up and then they'll come out at the worst time."
"It's almost all safety reasons," Gus said softly. "Although some more personal than others..."
Phillip nodded and turned his attention to the game for a moment while he thought about the situation.
"Your physical safety is paramount, but if you have to go around pretending to be someone you're not, that can't be healthy. But I also know a bit about secrets. The truth is important certainly, but there's a time to everything. If you rush certain things, you risk them exploding in an unhealthy manner," Phillip explained absently. "You can cause more harm than good. "
Gus sighed as he kept his eyes trained on the field. "I don't know..." he murmured quietly. "It seems no matter what I do, things will explode eventually..."
Phillip put a hand on Gus' shoulder and squeezed.
"It should be your decision when and what you tell people. If we lived in a perfectly loving and accepting society, that'd be a different story, but it's not. We have to do what we can."
Gus rolled his eyes before he took a sip of his beer. "If we lived in a perfectly loving and accepting society, we wouldn't be in this mess," he muttered before huffing out a sigh. "And it's not my decision what to tell people. Not fully. At least not the stuff I want to tell half of the time. The other stuff... Half the time I think other people think it's a bigger deal than I do."
Phillip nodded.
"I think that might be true. Or rather people don't share views on everything."
Gus snorted in amusement as he nodded. "I think that goes along with the lack of perfectly loving and accepting society," he said with a shrug. "Or at least the combination of not sharing views and an unwillingness to see the varying viewpoints."
"I'm trying to open minds, but one man can only do so much," Phillip said with a twist of his face before the game caught his attention and he was on his feet cheering for Newcastle to score.
Giving a whoop at the goal, Gus chuckled as he clapped his hands. Watching the game in silence for a bit, he sighed. "I wish I could find a lab for us to work at..."
"I'd ask if we could use the clinic after hours, but I suppose most equipment wouldn't work there," Phil said as he thought aloud. "I wonder if we could use one of the AIDS clinics after hours, or St. Luke's labs during the off hours.."
Gus shook his head. "We'd need to bring that sort of equipment into the clinic and it's already pretty tight in there for space... Not to mention anything electronic wouldn't work. We could likely get an old school microscope, but anything else..." He shrugged before making a face. "You being in St. Luke's after hours might be problematic..."
"Sometimes you have to take a few risks," Phillip said. "I'm not sure if this is one of them, but I know I can't stay in Adrian's house indefinitely. I know Penelope's trying to work something out, but right now I'm just leaning towards finding a way to be safe somewhere I can function normally."
"Which isn't anywhere in England right now," Gus said quietly as he shook his head. "Unless we keep your appearance like this all the time and get you some new paperwork..." Tapping his fingers against his beer cup, he puffed out a breath. "I'll keep an eye out at St. Luke's. See when the slow times are and all, maybe... maybe ask around about doing a possible side project."
Phillip raised an eyebrow.
"I don't even know if I could grow a beard like this naturally," he teased in a whisper. "I've been clean shaven since I started shaving. I keep thinking, when this is resolved - or at least when my testimony is secure and validated, that if I could just get abroad, I could start over. Doctors without borders or something."
Gus' eyes widened a bit in surprise as he looked over at Phil at his admission. Biting his lower lip, he focused his eyes first down on his beer and then on the game before breathing out a tired sigh. "I've been looking at their website recently..." he murmured very softly. "They need surgeons who can operate with minimal equipment..." He smirked wryly as he glanced back at Phil and leaned in a bit closer. "And we both know I just need a good stick to do that..."
Phillip chuckled.
"I'm afraid I need a bit more than that. But I've done surgery with nothing more than a swiss army knife and a bottle of the local liquor. Not something I'd recommend, though. It's also possible, I could finish out my Jesuit formation abroad. I'm just tired of politics getting in the way of the care of people - their bodies and souls. When you're out there, wherever in the third world, people's needs are simpler and you feel like you're doing more."
"They're likely more willing to accept alternative methods as well..." Gus said softly before huffing out a breath and shaking his head. "It feels like running away though... I've been here since this mess began, stayed through stuff I should have probably run away from... Leaving now..."
"If you let me go into priest caretaker mode for a bit, then the important thing is self-care. It's obvious that you're not fully happy here right now, you're not thriving. It can't be good for you to go on in that way. You need to do what's most important for yourself, Gus - I seriously doubt that God is calling you to be a martyr here. I'm not talking about the literal sense, but in the sense of your character and your soul dying for 'some greater good'."
"There's a reason I usually shy away from you being in priest caretaker mode," Gus breathed out in a tired sigh. Tapping his fingers against his cup for a moment, he watched the game before his eyes moved down to focus on the movement as his fingertips played out a rhythm against the plastic. "I'm not sure what God is trying to call me to do. All I know is that things keep happening that make the things that are most important to me pretty impossible..."
"Allow me to preach for a moment. Nothing is impossible for God. Things are improbable, but not impossible. But enough of that. What's most important to you that you feel you can't do right now?" Phillip asked, taking note of Gus' body language as well as the words he was saying.
Gus rolled his eyes, knowing that he had made the improbably versus impossible argument before and disliking it being thrown back at him now. "Fine, it seems impossible as most of the issues seem to be mostly out of my hands." Taking a deep breath, he ran a hand through his hair. "Professionally... healing people to the best of my ability..." He chuckled softly as he shook his head. "Actually go back to what I had been working on when all the shit hit the fan... Just... Being able to be both my professions at once truly and not one or the other depending on the place..." Pausing, his shoulders curled in slightly as he wondered if he should bring up the personal parts. It was easier to talk about just the professional aspect of things, but he knew that the personal parts had been weighing on him heavily after the fight with Adrian and the birth of his nephew. His eyes unfocusing a bit, he started playing a slower tune against his beer cup. "Personally..." he started again, his voice more hesitant and quieter. "I want a family... spouse and children. But... it's complicated..."
Phillip sat in silence for a moment, processing Gus' words.
"Is it possible to maintain that life in England? I think that's the question you need to try to answer. Can you manage an existence which combines both the mundane and the extraordinary, or will you constantly be trying to split yourself. You are both those things - because of your family, your work, your gifts - I believe that to completely give up one or the other would be detrimental to you. Doctors without borders would get you out of this polarized societies and may have less restrictions - of course, it's still an NGO with policies. If you just went abroad somewhere poor to work, you'd have less rules. But many of those societies may have worse social stigmas surrounding sexuality."
Phillip took a moment before moving on to the second part of Gus' speech.
"What does family look like to you? What do you see when you think of that?"
"It's always been split," Gus said softly. "The old clinic... It got close a few times of being a good combination, but..." He shook his head. "As long as the government is the way it is on both sides, fully combining both sides... it doesn't work. It's one or the other." He snorted as he smirked slightly. "I've done it before. Giving up one or the other. It works for a little bit, but... it either gets frustrating or... or lonely..." Running a hand over his face, he sighed. "I don't even know what other countries opinions and rules in regards to secrecy... Although if you're out in the wilds, it can't be too bad..." Taking a deep breath, he smiled wistfully as he looked over at Phil. "Jules' family... just warm and happy with kids running about everywhere..."
"All I know, and what Sam and I talked about, was how native magic was viewed in Brazil and India. There, if it can help, it is not seen as bad, though it is seen as backwards," Phillip said. "Who do you imagine as a spouse? And biological children or adopted?"
"But was that native magic like what you've seen in your old job?" Gus asked with a frown. "There's a difference between shamanism and what we do. After all, the pagans who live in England don't have to follow our rules." Looking back down at the game at Phil's questions, he bit the inside of his lip. "I don't know... I... I haven't met anyone yet..." He let out a soft chuckle. "It's hard to even find anyone... Sometimes I think it would be easier if I lived in Adrian's world. All that matters there is that you're married to someone of appropriate standing and pop out more children to continue the line. What you do behind closed doors if your own business... Penny and I... we could do that, but... It doesn't quite work as well in this world, especially with her being in politics... but... we've... we've talk about it. Continguency plans in case neither of us find that someone, especially since she wants kids as much as I do..." Swallowing hard, he turned the cup around in his hands. "It's complicated," he said very quietly. "Either way... Biological, they'll never be like their cousins... it would be a struggle to keep the balance. To not have them sucked up entirely into that other world... It wouldn't matter who I would have the kids with, they would be different no matter what... But adopted... they would be different than me. There would be a part of my life they could never touch, never fully understand... Never be a part of. After school, they couldn't just come and visit me at work in its current location, I would have to let them in." He shook his head slightly as he closed his eyes. "And that isn't even including the danger around... Of what would happen if- well... you know my situation."
"But Penny is in a similar situation, yes? Could she be persuaded to leave politics? Apart from the obviously compatibility and similar family desires, does she share your desire in straddling worlds?" Phillip asked curiously before his mind went elsewhere.
"Would it be better for your kids and Penny's to be cousins to each other or siblings?"
Gus looked up at Phil at his questions, blinking a bit in confusion that his line of questioning seemed to be in a positive light. Thinking over the questions, he shook his head very slightly. "Yes and no. She's straddling worlds a bit, but... she doesn't have an extended family like mine that keeps her as tightly connected. I mean... her biological family at least. She's as good as family in my parents' and siblings' eyes." Frowning, he ran a hand through his hair. "I wouldn't persuade her... Asking her to leave politics would be like asking me to quit healing. She'd be in it either on this side or the other side depending if there is a department for her. Before this all happened, she worked in the department that worked at bridging worlds. With dealing with children like us." Finishing off his beer, his brow furrowed as he thought over the last question for awhile. "I'm not sure... I think that regardless of whether their cousins or siblings, they'll be just as close..."
"It sounds like she's just as eager as you to bridge worlds, Gus," Phillip said quietly. "It's certainly not conventional or traditional, and if you were to ask me, I'd probably recommend extensive premarital counseling if you both wanted to go down this road, but I can imagine a future where it might work."
"I know..." Gus said with a heavy sigh before shaking his head. "I... I know we work. We understand each other and as friends we work, but... I feel bad about it all. I mean, she's Penny. She deserves to have a husband that can be with her on her wedding night." He blushed slightly as he cleared his throat. "And right now I've.. um... well... got a boyfriend..." he mumbled slightly in embarrassment.
"Well, you could always form a non-traditional family - you, your boyfriend, her, her partner, and the children.. it takes a village to raise a child after all," Phillip suggested.
Gus chuckled softly. "This isn't really the sort of village I want to raise a child in..." he said before shaking his head. "I'm not even sure how my- you know- feels about kids. There's so many other things going on, it's not really a subject to come up." His cheeks heated up more. Well, he was doing this counseling thing anyways, might as well not hold back... "Still just trying to get used to the whole dating thing and not messing that up. Not even going to try and think as far down the line as something that might be a forever sort of thing..."
"But you can imagine forever with Penny," Phillip said absently, with a bit of a mischievous smile on his lips.
"Oi, wipe that grin off your face," Gus joked back. "I can still see it despite that grimy beard of yours." Shrugging, he shook his head. "Penny's different. I've known her since I was eleven. We've been friends ever since."
Phillip laughed.
"There can be benefits to marrying your best friend, but I don't think you should give up on other relationships just yet. Specifically your first one."
Gus blushed more as he looked down at his empty glass.
"Not planning on giving up on this any time soon," he said with a chuckle. "It's working well so far. We... we have fun. Lots of fun actually..."
"Well, then, maybe eventually, you and he should talk about the future.. or kids or something," Phillip suggested, bumping his shoulder against Gus'.
Gus' cheeks heated up more as he ducked his head. "Here's hoping that we're together long enough to get to that conversation..."
"You and me?" Phillip asked playfully. "I didn't think I was your type."
Gus was pretty sure that his face was a bright red by now. "No, no. Me and my boyfriend. Not you and me... I mean. Well, you're not in a profession for that sort of thing." He paused a moment before looking curiously up at Phil. "Unless you and Sam... Well..."
"No.. he was my best friend. And there was certainly an emotional bond, but nothing physical ever. But, in a way, he was my soul mate, I think. If that makes any sense. The one person I would always move heaven and earth for. "
Gus nodded slowly as he breathed out a sigh. "Yes. It makes sense. A lot of sense," he said softly as his eyes stayed on the game, mulling over all the stuff they had talked about. "What would you do?" he asked softly. "If you were in my situation. Working two jobs that don't fully fulfill what you want to do on their own and where your colleagues don't know you at all. Wanting a family, but not even being sure if you'll be alive and well tomorrow let alone far enough down the road to build a family and not have it tumble to the ground at some point during the process..."
"Me? Go get pissed with my best mate, play some footy and then go on retreat for a month to try and suss it all out," Phil answered with a bit of a smirk.
"But that's not what you want to hear. I can't tell you what to do. I think you need to figure out what's most important to you right now and how your life can be fulfilling. Whether it's starting a family with Penny and trying to work here in England, or going to work with Doctors without Borders for awhile first, or something else, you should figure that out. You've still got some time to start a family, but maybe that would be something good to focus on right now. I think there's a lot of directions you're being pulled in and only you can figure out which is best for you right now."
Gus laughed. "Well, I did get pissed with my best mate. And I'm watching footy," he teased before breathing out a sigh. "Work wouldn't be so bad if the whole environment wasn't so toxic... Again, another thing I don't know how to fix, not that it is definitely mine to fix."
"I think you need to take a break from the toxicity," Phil said quietly. "Maybe for a week, or a month, or a year, but I don't think it's healthy for you to be there right now."
"A week might be doable, but..." Gus sighed as he shook his head. "People depend on the clinic. There are so few of us in the profession still here and my medical training better suits the usual sorts of injuries we get... The only other place people can go is pretty far and they're usually swamped anyways as they're short staffed and actually have facilities to keep people over night."
"And what good is a stressed healer in a toxic environment?" Phil challenged.
"In an emergency, better a stressed healer than no healer at all," Gus countered.
"Medicine of any sort should only be practised by someone who's competent and capable. With as much stress as you currently seem to be under, I'd say a month at least. At least a change of scene or a short stint overseas."
"There aren't any changes of scene," Gus pointed out. "Unless..." He shuddered before shaking his head. "There's St. Luke's, but I couldn't do only that for a month... I'd go mad."
"Are there places abroad where you could go on exchange for a bit? Do a rotation there? Although that would be all one or the other, wouldn't it?" Phil said, talking in part, to himself.
"Perhaps you and Penny ought to start a new world order of sorts.." he offered half seriously.
"There are places to go abroad, but no place that would send a replacement, I'm certain. People flee from England, not come here for a rotation for experience or what not." Gus ran a hand over his face, rubbing at his eyes. "It takes more than two people to start a new world order... Especially when you have the government trying to set up their own world order right now... I'm not sure how they would feel about competition."
"Well, maybe just a little utopia for all those who straddle both worlds," Phil offered.
"Not everyone has the problems that Penny and I do..." Gus admitted softly. "Most assimilate quite well. Marry people more connected to that world. Pop out more babies to be a part of that world who marry others like themselves and within a few generations you wouldn't know that one of their parents actually was from this world..."
"But that can't be right for everyone? What about those left behind? The families and friends?" Phillip asked curiously.
Gus laughed. "You're taken to a private boarding school in the middle of nowhere when you're eleven. Whatever friends you had before you slowly grow apart from. True, you have holidays, but holidays get a bit boring and tense when you have nothing to share after awhile. Because you can't tell them. Family is one thing, they have to know in order for you to get whisked away, to buy the supplies you need for school. The friends you leave behind though..." He shrugged. "And family it always come to a certain point. Do they know too much? Are they a danger? Does someone need to come in and take the bits of information that are too important out of their heads?" He sighed. "And back when I was in school... If the wrong people found out that your family was normal... well, there was no guarantee that you wouldn't see them dead in the paper within a week."
Phil nodded.
"I can't imagine what that was like, although I suppose I've gotten hints of how that feels now, wondering if my family is alright and not being able to contact them."
"I've been there," Gus said quietly, his eyes going distant as he looked down at his empty cup. "They were experimenting on people like me and Penny... Tracking us down, capturing us, treating us like animals... I couldn't leave the hospital, it would have put me under suspicion, but they wanted paperwork to prove you were pure enough. They know all the old names, most of them are taught to memorize them all by heart when they're little." He paused a long moment, his look turning sad. "They would have got me, but Adrian saved me... Said I was a relative through the Irish side of his family..."
"So you feel indebted.." Phillip said quietly.
"I don't know," Gus answered truthfully. "I thought... Over the years, I thought he was my friend... I didn't do anything because I felt I needed to. At least not because of him saving my life. I did some things because he was my friend. Covering for him... But I hopped onto his idea of the clinic because it was a good idea. Because people would need healing. I didn't step in when it looked like he was shagging my sister not because I owed him anything, but because it's my sister's business and not mine. We don't talk about who she's shagging just like we don't talk about who I'm shagging..." He sighed heavily. "Maybe I should have just raised a fuss way back then and then we wouldn't be in this mess as I would have already gotten a better judge of his character."
Phillip nodded as he listened, making note of the two perspectives in his head.
"What do you mean by that last bit?"
"I never really liked the idea of them shagging. Or more, I would rather not have my sister become another notch on his bedpost as he is prone to doing," Gus said, his jaw tensing a bit. "If I had raised a fuss when they had first met and Adrian acted as he did just recently with this stupid tift, I likely wouldn't have deluded myself into thinking that there was a stronger friendship than there really was." He snorted. "Or at least that Adrian actual saw me as an equal, which I suppose is asking a lot of him."
Phillip sighed, knowing he couldn't bring up anything Adrian had said to him.
"Adrian has a particular world view. He seems, when it comes down to it, to be unwilling to change that view. I think he may see you as an equal in terms of medicine, but he is a leader and expects others to follow. "
Gus rolled his eyes. "He's a hypocrite, that's what he is. And worse, a holier than thou hypocrite. I'm also not sure if you can considering a person an idiot and have respect for them and yet think them an equal medically," he muttered before making a face. "But I probably shouldn't be bitching about him to you considering you have to live with him..."
Phillip chuckled.
"I've lived with various people before. I know how to separate everything from day to day interactions. And it's gotten better for me, at least. I've found my balance and my peace, but it's hard to know how Adrian is doing. He shows one face to his sister, another to me, and who knows what others. It's the sort of thing that wears a person down. I don't think it's easy for him to live with me and have me underfoot constantly. "
Gus let out a short chuckle of amusement as he nodded. "I know what you mean. I like my flat better to stay at than his place." He shook his head as he sighed. "I don't know what goes through his head and I don't think I want to. I'd rather not know what sort of thought process he goes through to get to the conclusions he comes to. God knows some of the thought processes must be pretty curly-qued considering the words that come out of his mouth."
Phillip nodded.
"Give it time? I know that's lame advice, but it's all I have right now. I'd normally say have an honest open conversation with him, with a mediator if necessary. But I don't think he'd want me as mediator and I don't think either of you want to involve anyone else and I'm not even sure such a conversation would be useful. "
Truth be told, Phillip was beginning to wonder if anything he did with Adrian was useful to the younger man.
"I think the only option is to give it time," Gus said as he closed his eyes tiredly. "Considering that I don't think an open conversation is possible, with or without a mediator. I feel like whatever words come out of my mouth are different than whatever words he's actually hearing. I'd rather be insulted for words I actually say that I can defend than wasting time trying to figure out what he thought I said so I can better explain myself because there obviously is some sort of communication barrier."
"So we return again to a break. We could also go on a motorcycle tour of the coast or something. Although it's a bit chilly already," Phillip offered.
"That'd be dangerous..." Gus muttered like a disgruntled child. "It does sound like fun though... Even with the chill."
"Just need a warm leather jacket," he teased.
"Although if you can wait till after all my testimonies are sorted, I think I'll have a bit more liberty then. "
"There are other ways to stay warm too," Gus joked before realizing how that sounded. Clearing his throat, he ducked his head as his cheeks went red. "I mean, like..." He waved his hand as if he were holding a wand. "You know. I suppose I'll have to stick around at least until then. Sounds like a good victory celebration sort of thing."
Phillip chuckled.
"Do you stick your foot in your mouth this often around your boyfriend?" Phillip teased. "Because I can see it being adorable. Alright, I'll agree to postpone our motorcycle tour if you promise to take care of yourself somehow in the meantime. Self-care is the most important thing."
Gus' cheeks went redder as he shot a slight glare at Phil. "No. Well... At first, yes, but not anymore. I mean, teasing is different with him," he mumbled in embarrassment before he nodded. "I'll take care of myself. Somehow... But I'll work on it."
"Well, if you want, we can keep on with weekly self-care. Either drinks or dinner or lunch or something. Might help both of us," he teased. "Though you ought to spend time with this boy of yours and Penny as well."
"I wouldn't mind weekly get togethers. Not necessarily self-care sorts of things though," Gus said with a smile. "I like just hanging and talking with you. It's nice... And it won't cut into boy time or Penny time. He works nearby, so getting together for lunches is easy enough."
"Socializing counts as self care. As does watching footie," Phil said with a grin.
"Watching footie is definitely self care," Gus said with a laugh. "Although it always goes better with beer. You up for a refill?"
"Course I am," Phillip said. "Sometime we'll have to go up and have my brother give us a tour of the brewery."
Gus chuckled as he stood up. "Sounds like another good celebration plan," he said with a smile. "I'll be right back with the beer."