Acantha is a terrible liar… but only to Jason.
she realised that when she was organizing a surprise party to Jason's birthday.
now, here's the thing: she is an amazing liar. she lies to Bruce all the time and he has to think twice before noticing it's a lie. she gaslights Tim everytime he asks her where the coffe is (she puts it in a different place everytime Tim is three to four days without sleeping). she lied to Dick when he put on that one suit he wore ages ago, when his fashion sense wasn't higher than his self-esteem. to Damian? good gods, she lies all the time, but in the name of keeping him a child (he's a very smart kid, but still falls for the little things).
now, with Jason she can't. maybe it's because she's in love with him, or maybe it's because he can see right through her walls and half-baked grins, but he knows. he always does.
he knows when she's lying that she's okay, that the mission went just fine, that she doesn't miss her home country, that she doesn't hear the echoes of her past any longer. so, after so many times being caught in her lies, Acantha stopped trying to.
Acantha is a terribly good liar, but man, it did pain her to lie to Jason. everytime she had to hide her phone because he could see was like s dagger digging between her ribs. she hated lying to him. and, scared of him thinking she was having an affair, Acantha finally said one little thing when he caught her in a suspicious call.
"it's a surprise!"
when his birthday arrived, Acantha tried everything in her power to keep him busy and away from his phone while there was a full-on task-force getting things ready for his birthday. they went to an aquarium, then to a museum, they read together, she took him to have lunch at a new itallian place close to the Gotham Museum of Art and refused to let him pay the check.
on the way to the manor, Acantha made up every excuse to stall. "I have a headache", "can we stop for ice cream… again?", "can we wathc the sunset a little bit longer?".
when they arrived in the manor and everything was decorated and every single friend of Jason's were there, he smiled unsurprised, but delighted as Acantha raised her arms and looked at him, with sparkly eyes that outshined every single star in the sky.
"surprise!"
he hugged her, kissed her temples and whispered, close to her ear: "you're a terrible liar."
yes, she knew. she'd never lie to Jason.