He bites back a smile over the rim of his glass as he catches her chewing her lip. It's a trait he rarely gets to see, a habit stuffed beneath years of training and experience. She's nervous, he realises with a start. It fills him with both dread and excitement, but more than anything, he's curious. There are few people who have the capacity to surprise him, to blind-sight him; she is one of them.
So he takes a deep sigh, "Liv, what's up?" She looks embarrassed for a moment, her eyes darting between the tie hanging loose around his neck and his eyes for a split second before jutting away.
"I don't mean to pry."
"…But…"
"You might want to be more careful with the tie selection." His eyebrow quirks, hand instinctively going to the silk. To be entirely honest, he's quite offended by the criticism. The tie is nice, not a favourite, but a Christmas present from last years office Secret Santa – it's a deep purple with pinpricks of white across it, and he thought it suited him rather well. "You keep showing up in the same outfits and the rumour-mill will go into a frenzy." He's officially confused as his mind tries to spin some explanation for this absurd conversation he's found his way in to. She looks at his furrowed brow and picks her fingers up to trace the pattern of the tie, "Councillor, Carisi wore this tie yesterday." His confusion increases tenfold and he's about to mutter a "how the hell did Casiri get my tie?" before he notices the awkward hesitance on her face and OH.
How on earth did this happen? He's not even sure how to explain exactly how wrong she is. Did that mean everyone in the office thought…? She reads the panic that flits across his face and immediately tries back-peddling. "Don't get me wrong, I think it's great. I just assumed that you wouldn't be the kind to disclose so soon in the piece, and you don't want the DA hearing from some water-cooler-gossipers pre-emptively." He doesn't intend the rough snort that makes it way through him; a strange sound that could not quite be classified as a laugh. It stops her monologue all the same.
"Liv, it's not, we're not…" He runs a hand haggardly across his face and shakes his head, "I am not sleeping with Casiri, or anyone for that matter." He mutters that last part more to himself but still sees her eyebrow quirk at the disclosure. "How the heck did that rumour start anyway? If I was going to risk my reputation and jeopardise my objectivity for anyone in the Squad it sure as hell would not be for that kid." There's a heavy silence as he realises he's said too much and she flushes red with embarrassment. "Great. Now I have to go re-evaluate my tie collection." She lets out a short laugh and they grin from over the rims of their glasses as they cheers.
"So long as Carisi doesn't start sporting suspenders I think you'll be okay."