Downright clowning, not by profession.

She holds a little garish bag out to him, the print on it a rainbow of balloons, and gives it a careful wiggle of a shake. "Don't get too excited, it's not my first pick of a gift for you," she warns.

He switches his cigarette to his other hand so he can take the bag from her, and he eyes her with a crooked smile. She knows that look, it's the 'do I want to ask' look, and it's followed by him looking down at the bag as his smile tilts into what she thinks is the 'she'll tell me even if I don't' look of amused defeat. "I'll temper my enthusiasm," he promises dryly.

"My first pick was one of those huge cakes, but Adam absolutely refused to jump out of it no matter how much I promised to do all my paperwork on time forever."

His face goes pink all the way to his ears and she grins toothily, incredibly proud of the reaction as he shoots her the same sort of glare she gives him when he comments on her and Nate. That's what friends do, you see, they bully one another about their vampire-not-love-interests.

"You're as likely to do your paperwork on time as Nate is likely to become addicted to his phone," he says, partially sidestepping the main event smoothly. Ethan looks down at the bag with a sigh, clearly aware she won't leave him in peace until he actually looks at whatever her second choice of a gift was. She knows that he knows her well enough to know it's going to be something he absolutely never asked for.

"So you're saying there's a chance." She bumps into him again and wiggles, playfully trying to knock him off balance. "Go on, open it! You know you're dying to see what I got you."

His long-suffering sigh is clearly for show as he plucks at the string holding the handles together, pulling it loose to peer warily inside. She gives her own long-suffering sigh because honestly it's not like it's going to be a hornet's nest why must he doubt her generosity so. Then he furrows his brow and reaches the not-cigarette-and-handle-holding hand in to grab the hat so he can read it, and that long-suffering sigh feels Authentic™.

She laughs brightly. "So we can match on missions! Two federal agents, that's us!" she explains, elbowing his hip repeatedly as though that might jostle a laugh out.

He tucks the Federal Boobie Inspector hat back into the bag and she sees his smile he tries to smother unsuccessfully. "I am not wearing that on missions, Noelle."

"So you'll wear it off missions?"

That manages to get him to laugh, the quiet little ones he does when she's trying to egg him on and manages to break through his Attempted Nonchalance. "No," he says at the end of his chuckle, though it's a lot firmer than most chuckled-words are.

She's pretty sure she can get him to put it on eventually anyway.

"Fine fine. Look what else is in there though," she encourages, wiggling her foot back and forth to bap it against the side of his. "Promise the other thing you'll probably actually like, because it's not technically really from me."

"I like things from you just fine," he assures softly, but he looks under the hat anyway to find the little ziploc baggy of some of Nate's special Vampire Cookies-- sugar cookies made into little bat shapes and covered with edible glitter. The crooked happy smile emerges again, and he looks over at her. "Thanks, Noelle. Very generous of you to share."

"I know. I'm amazing like that," she agrees, beaming at his soft laughter. She considers offering to harass Adam if he doesn't properly wish Ethan a happy birthday himself, but it seems like that would ruin the mood. Adam is good at doing that, after all. Even just in Thoughts. So instead, she just gives him her best pathetic puppy eyes (she's trying to learn from Nate) and pleads, "And because I'm so amazing and generous, you'll let me bum a cig, yeah?"