It was unlikely that Higgs was going to actually let her pay for his lunch, but he did appreciate the thought. The walk from the DMLE down to the cafeteria wasn't very long, but going for lunch exactly at the prime time for lunch meant that Higgs and Lydia stopped just outside the door into the cafetiere with people trailing out in an orderly queue. "Yes," he replied with a nod, leaning his back against the wall as they waited, turning his head to look at Lydia. "Hence all the paperwork," Higgs explained since she had witnessed the piles and piles of paper on his desk. "All great fun, of course," he added with a small smirk, lest it be said Higgs spoke ill of the job he had. Despite all the paperwork.
After a moment of watching Lydia, Higgs gave a small, almost hilariously dramatic sigh. "You can ask, Lydia," he told her. "I know you know. And I know you want to ask," he informed her, reaching out to tap his finger against her forehead lightly. "I can almost see fumes from how hard you're trying not to ask," Higgs teased her, oddly glad that he could. The past few weeks hadn't been easy on him and Higgs had no doubt they were unlikely to magically get better. As evident from Weasley's letter to Higgs, Alicia had told him (Higgs had almost been surprised at how unsurprising he was at that turn of events) but Higgs also trusted that Weasley would have told Lydia. Which in turn meant that Lydia knew, or at least, she knew the situation in broad strokes. Higgs didn't feel like he couldn't be asked questions, he was just somewhat unsure whether he knew the answers. A risk he was willing to take with Lydia, at least.