Legal Disclaimer: My work is my own creative intelligence and property, but I do not own the original source material it stems from (I wouldn't be writing fanfiction if it was). The opinions and interpretations of characters reflected in my stories may not follow what is portrayed from the source material. Please don't sue me, I'm a stay at home mom.

Summary: Steve didn't know what to call Tony and James' relationship, but what he did know was that cheating was 100% unacceptable, and this certainly looked the part.

Rated: K+

Genre: Humor

Warning Tag: Perceived Cheating

Competition/Challenge Block:
Written for/Stacked with: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Term 14); Monthly Challenges for All (Year 4)
Hogwarts: Ravenclaw; A10 - Demonology Task 9: Alt: Write about giving something and expecting something in return.

MC4A: Sh Bingo (5A-Mistaken for Dating); Tr Bingo (5B-Arson, Murder, & Jaywalking); Short Jog (Y); Bucket Listing; Eating Cake (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Green Ribbon; Greatest Gift; Military MC x2; Neurodivergent (Y); Rian-Russo Inversion (Y); Ethnic & Present x2 (Yx2); Disabled (Y); Booger Breath; Ship Sails (Y); Zed Era (Y); SHIELD MC x3; Metahuman; Old Shoes; Iron Fam Checklist (1); Gwen's MCU Bribrary (War Zucchinis) Marvelous Cinema; Fix-It Felix

Word Count: 2,366

Author's Note: Thank you for this amusing plot bunny, wintergreen825! I hope I did it justice despite the PoV required to make it hilarious. :)

Dedication: Happy birthday, Ragina Silverdragon! I hope you enjoy it.

Whistleblower

It was no secret to anyone that Tony Stark and James Rhodes had an unusual relationship. No one could quite pin it as best friends or a brother-like one, however, yet everyone tended to tiptoe around it as being one or the other for rationality's sake anyway. Steve thought that it fell into a more intimate category, and he was pretty sure everyone else did too and just didn't want to acknowledge it as such for whatever the reason. He never felt comfortable enough to ask, nor did he feel like it was any of his business anyway. It didn't affect anyone or the team, so it was left alone.

He would be the last to discriminate against anything, especially if whatever it was those two called their relationship was. The world had changed a lot when he was under the ice, and it wasn't going to wait for him to catch up on its ever changing process, either. One thing he did know—though it seems to have lost a bit of its sacredness with time—was that getting married was one of the ultimate gestures one could make with their partner to show and express their love. With a recent bill that passed into law that allowed any couple to marry regardless of their sexuality, Steve honestly wouldn't be surprised if either James or Tony would pop the question soon because of it.

They were already practically married anyway with the way they behaved, why not make it official at that point now that they could?

It wasn't until Steve needed a breather from the busy-ness that was Avengers Tower did his little bubble he created in his head about Tony and James get popped with a massive needle. He went out for a run in the cool evening air, the Stark Tech headphones drowned out the noise of New York as he listened to the playlist Phil compiled for him as a birthday present on his phone, and was only a handful of blocks away from the tower when he spotted James holding a restaurant door open for a woman.

He almost stopped dead in his tracks at the sight while crossing the street, something he had already quickly learned before was a big mistake. Quickly recovering before he got hit, Steve steered himself away from crossing James' path and decided to sprint around a three-block radius and circle back around to try and catch them again before they got their vehicle. Surely he was seeing things. James didn't look the type to cheat, Tony on the other hand...

Reapproaching the street with the restaurant, sure enough James was still there, now having an arm draped over the woman's shoulders, seeming to hold her close, and laughing about something. He slowed to a jog, skirting the sidewalk on the other side of the street as he watched the couple talk while waiting for the valet to retrieve their car.

Steve came to a complete stop at the corner, waiting for the signal to allow the crowd that kept him hidden to cross while he stared across the street. A silver car pulled up beside them and the valet handed the keys to the woman. James walked her around the car to the driver's seat and held the door for her as they exchanged goodbyes and then…

His jaw almost dropped when he watched him kiss her. The light turned and he was starting to get shoved by the crowd, but he was firmly anchored to the ground as he continued to stare, uncaring of the people weaving by him. The angle he had of them put James' back toward the street, but the way he leaned in and the hug they exchanged after before he closed the car door… there was no doubt in his mind he witnessed something he never thought would've come from James.

Tony was going to be heartbroken.

Lost in the wave of shock of what he saw, Steve resumed his run, slowly making his way back to the Tower to give him enough time to clear his head and pretend that the information he now harbored wasn't going to completely destroy one of the core members of the Avengers.

He needed to figure out the right way to break the news because there was no moral way to ignore it. Maybe he'd confront James about it, first, to give him the chance to tell Tony before he did.

The next few days were fairly busy, with the rebuilding of SHIELD headquarters and the Avengers planning their next mission on another uncovered Hydra base to try and recover the scepter, Steve had a lot to occupy his mind from the events that unfolded that one evening. That is until he walked into the kitchen where Tony was sitting on the island counter and James was beside the coffee maker waiting for it to finish brewing.

Steve watched their exchange quietly by the fridge, only partially paying attention to the screen on it that showed what was inside it without even opening it. James grabbed one of the ridiculously large mugs from a cupboard to pour the fresh brew into, handing it off to Tony without a second thought.

"Thank you, care bear," Tony said, hopping off the counter to accept the beverage. "I got an all-nighter ahead of me. JARVIS has recovered the blueprints to the Hydra base and it needs a thorough dissection before a game plan can be prepped. Would you like in on it?"

"I would, but I have a prior obligation to attend to," James said, grabbing a more reasonably-sized mug for his own coffee. "Would you like one, too?"

Steve was confused for a moment as to who James was speaking to, scanning the space to check to see if someone else showed up before realizing. The two looked his way and he cleared his throat.

"Decafe?"

This sent both of them into a fit of giggles, and Steve almost had the sense to leave at that point before deciding this could be his only chance to confront James about what he saw. He waited for them to settle before speaking again.

"I think I will stick to water, thank you."

Tony took a drink of his own beverage, allowing the silence to settle. "Well, the work won't get done by itself. Don't stay up too late, Rhodey dear." Tony said, unashamedly giving James a light peck on the cheek, raising his mug in the air as he rounded the island. "And thanks for the coffee. See ya, Cap."

Steve watched as Tony retreated down the hall toward the elevator, leaving James and him alone. He finally settled on grabbing some pre-cooked ground beef, some cilantro, and a few other salad makings and placed them on the island counter alongside some dried red pepper flakes and ground pepper.

"Prior obligation?" Steve inquired, putting on his leader hat. "Is it mission related?"

James shook his head, taking a sip of his coffee. "Nah. I'm meeting my mom to help go over the final arrangements for the wedding."

Steve raised a brow at this, pausing in his lettuce chopping to meet James' gaze. He didn't recall anyone proposing, and he knew it wasn't something that would be kept a secret around here if so.

"A wedding? Really?"

James looked perplexed by this, but gave a light shrug at the odd question. "There's more to life than the next mission, Rogers. Thought you'd learn that by now."

He really didn't. For him, his life was always about the next mission because it was all he had anymore. But this, this information was making his head spin.

"It just seems so fast," Steve said, resuming his salad prep. "Does Tony know?"

James looked confused now, quirking a brow. "Yes. Are you feeling alright? You're acting strange."

"What about the woman?" he pressed, ignoring the question. "Does he know about her?"

James snorted then, giving him a pat on the shoulder as he walked by. "I don't know what you've been up to, but I think you need to sleep it off."

"I'll tell him if you don't," Steve continued. "He deserves to know."

"Still don't know what you are talking about, Rogers." James finished his coffee and abandoned the mug into the dishwasher. "I do know that I am running late, and I'll make doubly sure my mother knows it's your fault."

Steve was soon left alone in the kitchen, dumbfounded and confused.

"Tony, there's something you need to know," Steve said, not wasting any time when he found Tony the following morning. "About James."

Tony snorted, bee-lining it straight to the kitchen for coffee. "That's doubtful, but coffee first, please."

"I saw him with a woman the other day, leaving a restaurant," he kept talking, unable to help himself at this point. "They seemed pretty… comfortable with each other."

Tony rummaged through the cupboards that stored the coffee cups, cursing under his breath when the large mugs were on the very top shelf of the cupboard and out of his reach. He didn't seem to be fully paying attention to what Steve was saying.

"James is cheating on you!" Steve snapped, finally gaining Tony's attention.

"Come again?"

"I saw him leaving the restaurant with his date a few nights ago while I was on a run," Steve explained. "I… I thought it was best you should know before the wedding."

Tony took in a deep breath, putting a hand on his chin. "Wait… you said a date?"

"Yeah…" Steve said slowly, wondering why his reaction to something as devastating as this was wasn't more anger-fueled.

The elevator pinged then, and they both turned to look down the hallway to see James and the woman Steve saw him with the other night step out. He was utterly dumbfounded by how bold this guy was.

"Oh my God…" he uttered under his breath.

Tony headed straight for them, meeting them just at the mouth of the hallway. "How dare you not tell me, Rhodey."

James put his hands up in surrender. "Look, it was supposed to be a—"

"You went out on a date without me? I'm offended," Tony interrupted, exaggerating a frown.

Steve stood by the sofa now, completely and utterly lost. The woman who is destroying their relationship was standing right there.

"And no invite to the wedding, either? Double hurt."

James dropped his hands to his sides, and the woman laughed at the dramatics Tony was expressing now. Something is not right here.

"Wait… I saw you with her the other night, James," Steve intervened, making himself known. "You know that cheating is very frowned upon—"

"Cheating? With who and on whom?" James questioned, and Steve looked between him and Tony, who looked his way expectedly.

Steve was feeling a bit uncomfortable now, shifting his weight slightly, he gestured between Tony and James and the woman who seemed to be rendered speechless or was simply amused by this intervention, he wasn't sure.

"But I saw you with her and…"

The sudden laughs that erupted almost startled him, at least enough to have him take a step back in retreat. James and Tony were having a moment, and even the woman joined in on it.

"Steve, I'd like you to meet Jenny, my sister," James said after finally recovering.

Steve felt all the color drain from his face then, absentmindedly accepting her hand. "It's uh, nice to meet you."

"It is a pleasure to finally meet Captain America," Jenny said with an amusing smile. "Though, I wish it was under less humorous circumstances."

"Yeah." Steve stood there only partially paying attention to the conversation while trying to puzzle out exactly where he judged wrong on this entire ordeal.

"I don't," Tony said between chuckles. "At least you were right about one thing, Capsicle. I did never peg Rhodey as the type to date a relative."

"Let's not make it weird," James interjected.

"That ship sailed long ago, honey bear." Tony went in to hug Jenny then. "I didn't know you were in town, Jen Jen."

"You know I hate that nickname, Tony," Jenny said, returning his hug. "And like James was trying to explain, It was supposed to be a surprise. So, surprise!"

"But… you said you two were getting married, James!" Steve jumped back in with, head reeling, and still not quite recovered from the slap from earlier.

"Married? Am I finally going to be a bridesmaid?" Tony asked, batting his eyes at James and Jenny.

"As much as I would've loved to have you as one, Tones, I've already filled my quota. But I do need a flower girl, if you're interested," Jenny said, giving him a teasing smile and a wink. "And don't worry, the invites haven't been finalized yet. But I do expect you to RSVP."

"Jenny is getting married," James clarified. "Who did you think was, Rogers?"

Great, he walked right into another bear trap. "I just…" he said, straightening up some. This was getting ridiculous. "I mean, you two don't hide the fact you're an item. Not like there is nothing wrong with it!" Steve added hastily, "And with the new law that passed I just… assumed."

"Yeah, he does have a point," Jenny said, agreeing with Steve. "It is an easy mistake to make, after all, so don't fret too much over it, Steve."

James gave a shrug and Tony decided to toss his cards back in. "Since we are on the subject, are you ever going to ask me out, sourpatch?"

A strange beat passed. "I mean, you flirt with me. You act like you like me. I'm feeling a little left out."

James draped an arm around Tony then, heading back toward the kitchen. "You are cute. I might consider it."

"Since I got your attention, someone put my favourite mug out of reach…"

Ignoring whatever little exchange the two were now discussing, Steve looked at Jenny's way, sweeping a hand their way as if to ask, "What do you call this?"

Jenny only smiled, placing a gentle hand on his arm. "If you have time, I can explain later."