They eat pizza. Pepperoni, it's David's favorite. It's also Jack's favorite, but that doesn't matter. He'd have gotten anchovies and barbecue if it was what David had wanted. He looks over at his son, and he can't help grinning. David looks so happy.
Jack wishes he'd been that happy at David's age, but somehow, in the moment, he feels like he was, as if his own teenaged self is sharing in the joy of the moment. He's father and son at the same time, it seems. But he doesn't let himself think about the feeling too much because he can't understand it. He just enjoys.
After David inhales two pieces of pizza in seconds flat, he looks over at his father and smiles, the angelic smile that makes Jack want to mess up his hair the way he did when David was a baby.
"I can't believe you came to hear me play," he says, happy this time instead of apprehensive.
"You're incredible," says Jack, with his mouth full. Who cares? No one is here to tell him to swallow before he speaks.
"You're ok, too," David answers, with mock seriousness.
David means it one way, but Jack realizes it's true. He is ok. In fact, he's at peace, more than he's ever been before.
Within minutes, the pizza is gone, and David looks over at his father with his head cocked to one side. "Dad, could I ask you something?"
"Yeah?" Jack hopes David is about to ask for something, something big and outlandish and hard to get. An impossible wish. He wants to be the one to grant it.
"Can I give you a hug?"
Jack is floored. He can't remember the last time they hugged. "S—sure," he says quickly, standing up awkwardly. David smiles again and comes toward him, and Jack wraps his arms around him as tightly as he can. Again, he has the oddly comforting and disconcerting feeling that both sides of the hug belong to him.
After a long time, David pulls away and disappears upstairs with an angelic smile. Jack lingers in the living room as images of his own father crowd into his mind unbidden, memories he hasn't let himself think about in ages. He knows something has changed, but he's not quite sure what it is.
Finally, he shakes his head and turns off the light, wondering how it's possible to feel as if you've hugged yourself. He has no idea that his own father, the flawed hero he thought he'd never pleased, has been waiting time out of time for a hug of his own. Now Jack is ready, though he doesn't know it yet.