Is it worth it?

...

Probably not.

Like, he knows it's impossible for him to die permanently, so why even bother?
Is it for the short moment of nothingness that he longs?
The brief flash of seeing his old family?
The short bliss of...

Whatever, just a short moment of peace, that's what he wants. If the damage is bad enough, it might take a few hours until he wakes up again.

He breathed in. Exhaled. Felt the wind against his face.

And leaned forward.

The thudding of footsteps behind him completely went by his hearing, but someone suddenly grabbing his wrist would have startled and caused him to jump off completely, if this person didn't immediately pull him back, turned him around and pulled him into a tight hug.
He didn't immediately recognize this person, the only thing in his view was the launch deck.

"Don't."

Surge turned his head and felt the person's grip loosen. He stared up into a pair of gold eyes, the person's expression looked stern but also worried.
He blinked, and thought his mind was playing tricks on him.

"William?..."

The hero in front of him let out a weak laugh and hugged him again.

"I wish... Maybe it would be easier to comfort you then."

His mind went blank. For a moment, he lost the ability to think completely. Until he realized who was actually holding him.

Surge hugged him back and buried his face in Yariel's shoulder.
In response to his sudden shaking, the other hero hugged him tighter.

"It's okay... I got you... You're safe..."

Those words.
That's all it took for Surge's facade to come crumbling down.
He gripped onto the other hero and closed his eyes, letting the pearly white tears roll down his cheeks and drip down, leaving a clear, sparkly trail behind.
The two of them stood there for a whole while, the wind ruffling Surge's once golden, now ash black, wings. Some loose feathers got picked up by the draft and taken away into the air.

Yariel caught one feather before it got blown far away, inspecting it.

"You're losing a lot of feathers."

No reply from Surge.

"Damn bro, is it the stress or because you're old?"

"Shut up.."

Surge muttered, but if he was being honest, it did lighten the mood a bit. He let out a small chuckle.
Yariel smiled in response.

"Don't do that again, alright?"

"It's not like I'm gonna be dead forever or anything."

"You're missing the point."

"What point?"

"Markus Surge."

He sighed in defeat.

"You're damn lucky that I like you the most out of the team, o-"

"Otherwise you would've jumped off now out of spite? Yeah I know."

The immortal pouted at that. Yariel rolled his eyes and wiped away the leftover tears.

"You up for a sparring match? I could use some practice against celestial beings."

Surge playfully swatted his hand away.

"Ha! You think you stand a chance? I'm gonna kick your ass!"

"Oh don't get cocky now, you little-"

Yariel pulled the blue hero into a side neck lock and rubbed his head with his knuckles. Surge laughed and teleported himself out of the grip, standing next to Yariel and cracking his neck.

"Oh, I'll show you cocky!"

He charged at Yariel and the two of them wrestled against each other, far enough from the edge of the deck, but still didn't dare to do it seriously.
Their mission chief suddenly spoke over their headsets.

"Surge! Yariel! Quit fooling around and get off the launch deck! You're blocking the path for takeoffs! Report to HQ, I have a mission for you two."

The two looked at each other and shrugged.

"So much for a sparring match, huh?"

Yariel waved it off.

"Ah, we have plenty of time for that. Let's head down before our chief decides to scold us for slacking off."

The two of them went downstairs and got onto an elevator, taking them down to Mission Control.
The elevator ride was done in silence.

At some point, they looked at each other, and just burst into laughter, and didn't stop even when they arrived to Mission Control.