[ they both love privacy, frankly. even with erwin being the more easily sociable of them, he still prefers the quiet of being alone together when he's not actively deciding to do the whole interpersonal contact thing.

so yeah. the less visible, the better. levi following erwin is a comforting normal, their baseline, and it's comforting enough for erwin that he has to wonder how much it is for levi, who didn't have it for all the time they were apart.

for all the time erwin was dead. he forces himself not to think about it.

instead he forces himself to focus on the present and the task he's given himself. the stream he mentioned is close enough, and revisiting the spot proves his assessment of its comfort to be at least initially correct. satisfied, he starts to set things down in the most likely place. ]

I've started to wonder something about how being in this place and how the desires of others to go home would manifest.