COWT; Avengers; Of Warlocks and Patrons

[ephitomis]

Title: Of Warlocks and Patrons
Fandom: Avengers (MCU)
Notes: Written for the prompt "Mitologia Norrena" for COWT10.
Wordcount: 2032
Summary: The team decides to use D&D as a teambuilding exercises. Everyone is use Steve will play a paladin or a warrior. So Steve decides to do what he does best: be a dick.

When the other asked him to play Dungeon and Dragons, Steve was confused. Incredibly confused. But he didn’t mind the idea.

When he was younger and he was sick all the time, playing pretends games with Bucky had been the norm. They had always imagined themselves having great adventures, those that Steve could only read in his books since his lungs didn’t allow him to really go outside that much.

The way Tony describes it, it’s a game that borrows a lot from Lord of the Rings, and Steve really loves that series. The books had been his companion for many and many days, and he used to reread them when he was bedridden for longer times.

They had been his comfort books, and it feels kind of right to have them as a way to bond with his new team. Maybe this new way to experience something Lord of the Ring-esque can be the tie-in between his previous life and this one.

It would feel poetic.

It’s Tony in fact that brings up the idea. Steve had lamented the fact that, after the battle of New York, they weren’t working as a team as well as he had hoped, and Tony had said that they needed another major crisis to bond.

Since another crisis was, hopefully, out of the question, Steve had asked if someone had a better idea, but Tony had looked more intrigued than alarmed.

“I think I have an idea,” Tony said, with a glint in his eyes. “I know that we can’t actually hope for another crisis, that would be bad of course, and we don’t want to put people in peril bla bla bla, but! But. What if we create a crisis?”

Steve looked dubious. “Like a simulation? I mean that could work but…”

“No offense, Stark,” Clint said, doodling on his memo pad, “but I don’t think simulations work as well as real crisis.”

Tony, however, just smiled more. “Normally I would agree, but you see, when I was in college I was working on something and I abandoned it when I got older. But this seems like the perfect time to bring it back for a test ride. Jarvis, is the D&D simulation even close to functional?”

“Not even close, sir,” Jarvis replied, with his usual snark.

“Perfect! Give me a day!” Tony announced, looking ecstatic.

Steve was… lost, to be honest. “Can someone ex-”

“Are you talking about Dungeons and Dragons, Stark?” Clint asked, interrupting Steve rather rudely.

“Yeah I am, birdbrain. And not a normal game. Jarvis will be our DM, and we’ll be able to use my tech to actually live our campaign. It’s perfect,” Tony exclaimed looking… excited. Well… Steve was still mostly lost, but seeing Stark being this excited about anything…

Natasha smirked and shrugged. “You’re a nerd, but I think this could be fun. I’m in.”

“In? I’m first in line, this is the best idea you’ve ever had, Stark,” Clint exclaims, pumping a fist in the air.

“You do know I own a multimillion dollar corporation, right?” Stark asked.

“Best. Idea.” Clint repeated, looking absolutely not sorry.

Steve did the only thing he could, then, and looked at Thor for support. Thankfully Thor seemed to be as clueless as him, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“I don’t know what this game you’re talking about is, but I’ve met many dragons in my life, and they’re usually pretty fun to fight win, so I’m fine with this idea,” Thor explained. Which left Steve as the only one who really had no idea what was happening.

He had never fought a dragon. He didn’t even know they existed.

“Are we… fighting dragons? In a game? How is this different than a simulation?” Steve wondered, and Tony shrugged.

“I can’t explain the magic of D&D to you, Cap, you just have to live it. Believe me, you’ll have fun with the paladin you’ll inevitably play as,” Tony explained, “Jarvis will help you make your character sheet.”

“Paladin?” Steve wondered out loud, more confused than anything else, but it seemed to spur everyone else into commenting.

“That or a warrior, I think,” Clint commented, “you’re… dependable like that.”

Steve furrowed his brows. “Why did that sound more like boring?” he asked out loud, and Clint had the decency to look sorry.

“I mean…” the other started, but didn’t have the courage to finish.

“Don’t let them bother you, Steve,” Natasha said, with a smile. “I’m playing an assassin and I don’t feel bad about it.”

Steve knew Natasha meant well, but her comment rubbed him the wrong way as well. He just couldn’t explain why.

“Well, okay everyone, I have to go and finish the simulation!” Stark said, clapping his hands. “I expect you all to be ready to play tomorrow night. It’s enough time to whip out a campaign, right Jarvis?”

“I will endeavour not to disappoint you, Sir. Everyone else, I’ll help you make your character while Sir finishes building the headsets. I can multitask quite easily unlike some people.”

“I really think that was a jab at me, but I don’t care,” Tony said, walking away.

Steve watched as the others talked between themselves excitedly, and then a ping alerted everyone that they had just received a message.

“I’ve taken the liberty to send you all the player’s handbook for the game,” Jarvis alerted them. “I will help you go over the choice if you need me to.”

Everyone else started talking between each other excitedly. He heard Bruce say that he wanted to play an alchemist, and Thor saying he say his name in the book.

Steve decided that he could look by himself and went back to his room. The first thing he did was look up what Paladin and Warrior meant and he read the description of the classes.

He was… disappointed by the end. Is that how his team saw him? There was nothing inheretly bad about the two classes, of course, but they were…

Well, they were exactly what Captain America was supposed to be, he figured, but Steve Rogers was more than just Captain America.

“Jarvis,” he asked, “what’s the class most different from Paladins and Warriors?”

Jarvis immediately responded. “While in terms of gameplay there are a lot of classes that are quite different from both paladin and warriors, I think what you have in mind is most alligned with a Warlock.”

Steve nodded and then read the entire description of the Warlock.

That, he thought, was more like it. He didn’t want to play a Fiend Warlock, that was too much even if he wanted to make his teammates realize that he was more than just Captain America.

But an Archfey Warlock… that seemed to be more his style.

“Hm,” he said, thinking about it. “Can I decide my own patron?” he wonders, reading the description of the class and the patron.

“It’s your choice, you can chose one, or I can chose one for you. It can be a secret from the rest of the team, if you want.”

Steve thought about it for a second and then he smiled. “I think I have an idea, Jarvis, but I would like to drag it for as long as possible, if it’s okay with you.”

Jarvis thought about it for a second, and Steve almost had the impression that the AI was amused when he answered. “I believe that not knowing your patron will slowly drive Sir insane. I shall endeavour to keep it a secret for as long as I can.”

Steve smiled and then nodded. This, he thought, was going to be fun.

The other arrived the day after with their sheet and presented themselves with their classes. They opted to keep their own names, since this was supposed to be a simulation to strengthen their own bond as a team.

Clint had decided to do a multiclassed rogue and ranger, Natasha had gone full rogue assassin; Bruce was an alchemist, Thor had decided, ironically, for a Cleric of Thor (Tony hadn’t sopped laughing for ten minutes) while Tony had decided for a transmutation wizard.

When it was time for Steve to say his class, he could see everyone else smirk at each other. Oh, Steve was going to enjoy this.

“I’m a warlock,” he said, and waited a second for everyone to digest the information. The moment they do, he sees the shock in their eyes, and almost smirks.

“What? Cap, a warlock, really?” Clint asked, and Steve shrugged.

“Seemed like the class for me,” he explained, watching the mirth in Natasha’s eyes.

Tony looks absolutely gobsmacked. “What? And who’s your patron?” he asked, and Steve simply shrugged.

“We should play, and then maybe you’ll find out,” he simply replied, and enjoyed the way Tony seemed to almost combust.

“If I can, then, I’ll start the campaign,” Jarvis interrupted them and they started playing.

If Steve had been worried about the game before, he’s completely sold after a couple of sessions. Not only he’s having fun, especially because Tony seemed to be losing his mind over the mystery of Steve’s patron, but also because it was actually a fun game.

Jarvis usually created scenarios for them to fight that mirrored some of their real missions, but there was none of the stress of people being in danger. Still, it felt important to actually accomplish their missions, and save the fictional people Jarvis created.

And the more missions they cleared, the better they worked together. It was actually kind of incredible.

They played once a week religiously, and everyone knew not to disturb them on that night.

After months of regular sessions… Steve didn’t feel like the team was doomed to crash and burn. And he actually noticed that they tended to gravitate towards each other even more now.

Sometimes they talked about the games, and strategies for the next session, but most of the time they just… enjoyed being in each other company.

Even him and Tony had evolved to a friendly banter, now, instead of the sarcastic attacks from before.

And sure, Tony asked him about his patrons, almost every day, but that was fun as well.

Steve hadn’t told Jarvis how he wanted to reveal his patron, and he honestly had no idea how to create the most shocking revelation, but the more time they kept the secret, the harder it became to think something incredible enough.

Until it came one night where Steve had no other choice but to pray to his patron. They couldn’t proceed without the help of an entity from another plane, and they didn’t have any on their side to call.

Beside Steve’s patron.

So Steve had closed his eyes and pretended to talk to his own patron. He expected Jarvis to describe the appearance of his patron, but when he hears the gasps around him, he opened his eyes and saw Loki in the flesh.

When he had decided to use Loki as his patron, it had seemed like a fun idea. Loki was a god of trickery, and that seemed like a fun idea for Steve’s character, but now that he got to see the completely shocked expressions of his teammates? Totally the best idea.

Then he fought about it and looked at Loki. He looked… too real to be part of the simulation. Not that Tony’s invention wasn’t incredibly realistic, but there was something…

“Are you actually really here?” Steve asked, surprised, and Loki simply shrugged.

“You called upon me, it seemed rude not to reply to my most devoted follower,” the other answered with a smirk and a flourish of his hand.

“Did you,” Tony started, stopped, and then continued, “Did you really fucking took Loki as your patron?”

Steve and Loki both turned towards him and shrugged. “And?”

Clint was too busy laughing his ass off to reply, and even Natasha was smirking.

Thor on the other hand simply shrugged. “I mean, that does seem like something that Steve would do.”

“Can’t believe we ever believed you would play a paladin…” Bruce commented, smiling and Steve shrugged.

Yeah, this had been a great idea.