Deja Vu - Chapter Three
Pairing: Joaquin Torres x Mutant!Reader
Summary: When your Uncle and guardian dies you get pulled into a world of superheroes and conspiracy theories, while dealing with the darkness inside of you. What you don’t expect is for someone from your past to come walking into your life.
Warnings: fluff, mentions of death, Bucky being the mom friend
Disclaimer: Takes place after the events of tfatws
Words: 2517
A/N: Hope you guys enjoy this part, please let me know what you think and let me know if you would like to be tagged! I love you all! xxx
masterlist moodboards previous chapter next chapter
Chapter Three - Promises
A couple of weeks later, Joaquin was up making breakfast by 10am – they took it in turns to make breakfast each day at The Avengers Compound. He’d been up at 6am to go running with Sam and then it was back to the Compound for a vigorous training session, sometimes he had a mission so he’d have to forgo the training. Joaquin was used to it by now and he liked the routine but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to laze around in bed for a little while, especially on such a grey and dreary day.
A strong smell of mint assaulted his senses and he wrinkled his nose as he glanced over towards the doorway. Bucky was standing there in his comfy clothes, towel drying his damp hair. He gave Torres an incline of his head as he crept up behind Joaquin to snag a piece of bacon. Before Joaquin realised that Bucky reached out with his metal hand, Joaquin’s hand made contact with the metal at a bruising impact.
The young man winced and he hissed through his teeth as pain shot through his hand, “breakfast isn’t ready yet,” he mumbled though it was futile now because Bucky was now wolfing down the rasher of bacon.
Bucky laughed, “nice try, buddy,” he muttered through a mouthful of bacon, “good bacon though, I’ll give you that.”
Joaquin was too busy scowling at the older man so he didn’t see Sam sneak up behind him and nab some more bacon. He whirled around when he watched Bucky’s face transform into a smirk as he glanced over Joaquin’s shoulder.
“Hey!” he shouted but he couldn’t keep the laughter out of his voice as he watched Sam eat the bacon, “the both of you fucking suck,” he rolled his eyes.
About ten minutes later Y/N shuffled into the kitchen with bleary eyes and tousled hair, Joaquin thought she looked adorable.
“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Bucky laughed, ruffling her hair.
“Morning,” she murmured with a wave as she shot Joaquin a sweet sleepy smile.
In response he felt his cheeks heat up as he hastily passed her a plate of food, “help yourself.”
“Thank you, Joaquin,” she grinned, perking up a little as she took the plate and poured herself some coffee.
All four of them sat down at the kitchen table together to have their breakfast which Joaquin really loved, they were like a family, even if they didn’t get on all the time. Sam scoffed as he took a sip of his coffee and Joaquin raised an eyebrow questioningly at him.
“It’s so nice of him,” Sam nodded his head at Joaquin, “to offer you breakfast, Y/N, after he shouted at me and Bucky for stealing some.”
Y/N snorted into her food as her pretty eyes flickered over to Joaquin with a small smirk on her face. Joaquin rolled his eyes as he pointed his fork at Sam.
“For your information, breakfast wasn’t even ready and for another thing, Y/N and I go way back to when we were in high school. So, if anyone gets to steal breakfast, it’s her,” he willed his cheeks not to flush as he glanced over at her.
“Aw,” Y/N giggled as she clapped a warm hand on his arm, “you are so sweet, and yeah,” she smirked at Sam and Bucky, “I think I’m allowed to steal breakfast thank you very much,” she lifted her coffee cup to her lips and slurped it teasingly, she must have known that Bucky hated it because she laughed when he grimaced a couple of seconds later.
Sam smirked as he loaded more sauce onto his plate, “and there is a third reason,” he frowned at Joaquin questioningly, “remind me again, what was that other reason?”
Before Joaquin could do more than glare at him, Y/N looked between the two men and spoke up, “why, what’s the third reason?”
Joaquin felt panic coil in his stomach as he looked at the pretty young woman, maybe he wasn’t as incognito as he thought if Sam had figured it out, “there’s no third reason, Sam’s just being weird,” he narrowed his eyes at Sam who looked delighted and merely winked back at him. Joaquin was desperately searching for a change of subject and he was extremely surprised when Sam himself offered up one.
“Is it today you’re meeting with the Director of the FBI?” Sam asked Y/N and her face dropped at his question and she lowered her eyes to her plate and fiddled with her food. Joaquin knew that she hadn’t been out in the field for a while after losing Tony Stark but by the look on her face there was something going on. Would that explain why their friendship had come to an abrupt end in high school?
“Yeah, he wanted me to take some more time out of the field when I got back to the City. I thought it seemed unrealistic but he was friends with Tony, so…” she shrugged at a loss for words, “but apparently there’s urgent business and I’m ready to get back into the field,” a look of determination washed over her face and she smiled over at Sam, “thank you for asking.”
While Sam smiled back at her, Bucky was fidgety and when he looked up at Y/N, he almost looked guilty, “just take it easy, you hear me? We’ll take it easy with the training too.”
“Thanks, Buck,” she beamed at him and she didn’t seem to notice that he looked guilty. Joaquin wondered what training that Bucky was talking about but he didn’t want to be nosey, maybe he’d ask her a bit later on when it was just him and her.
When they had all finished breakfast, they all praised Joaquin’s cooking and Y/N got up to wash the dishes, “I’ll do that by the way,” Joaquin went after her as she was taking the dishes to the sink and filled it up with hot soapy water.
She scoffed playfully as she turned to look at him with her back to the sink, “you made us an amazing breakfast so the least I can do is wash a couple of dishes.”
Joaquin smiled, she was so sweet. He’d seemed to have forgotten that Bucky and Sam were standing behind him because he nearly jumped out of his skin when Bucky spoke up in a teasing voice, he was going to kill that old man.
“Sounds good,” Joaquin didn’t have to look at him to know that he was smirking, “how about you dry?”
“Yeah, Torres, how about it?” Sam chuckled, leaning in the doorway and Joaquin glared at him, he knew what they were doing but it annoyed him all the same, he didn’t need any help, “if I don’t see you before you leave for your meeting, good luck with the FBI, Y/N.”
“Thanks, Sam! See you guys later,” she grinned as she turned back to Joaquin, plunging her hands into the warm soapy water.
The kitchen was filled with mostly silence for the next few minutes, there was no noise except for the splashing of the warm water. Joaquin swallowed as he glanced at Y/N out of the corner of his eye, he so wanted to ask her but he wasn’t sure whether he had the guts. Thankfully, he didn’t need to ponder it for long because Y/N smirked at him.
“What is it? I know you want to ask something; I can practically hear the cogs turning in that head of yours.”
Joaquin let out a breath of laughter as he ran his damp hand through his hair, leaving it to curl at the ends, “I’m afraid that you’ll think I’m being nosy.”
Y/N raised an eyebrow as she looked at him in amusement and passed him the last plate, “you’re sweet, Torres,” she smiled, “just ask, I won’t think that you’re nosy, I promise.”
Joaquin nodded as he gulped, feeling his Adam’s apple bob in his throat, “what did Bucky mean about the whole training thing, are you joining the team?” he smiled, nudging his arm against hers.
She bit her lip as she pulled herself up to sit on the kitchen counter, “yeah, I guess that at the very least I owe you an explanation,” she hesitated, “Bucky and Sam want me to join the team yeah, I have these… abilities. When I was younger I was affected by a chemical explosion, it gave me powers, magic. I can control it better now but when I was a kid, I really couldn’t. I felt like a freak, I isolated myself so much from my friends that eventually they stopped hanging out with me. It wasn’t their fault but I pretended it was because I had no one to blame but myself, and I’m sorry.”
Joaquin’s eyes widened as he dried the plate and he took his time with his answer, he definitely wasn’t expecting that but he didn’t think that Y/N was a freak, “honestly? I wish that you knew that you could have opened up to me and I’m sorry that you felt like you couldn’t. I don’t think you’re a freak, not now and I definitely wouldn’t have thought that you were a freak then. I think it’s pretty cool actually.”
The immense look of relief that washed over her face was actually quite sad, he just wanted to give her a hug, “thank you,” she sighed with a smile as she pulled him into a tight hug. He could feel her gratitude through the hug and he held her tight, for as long as she needed him to.
-----------------------------------
The tension was so heavy and awkward in that huge conference room as she looked around at the other FBI agents. The Director was sitting across from you with his fingers folded on top of his folders as he patiently waited for your answer. When your boss, Michael had asked you to come in for a chat about you coming back to work in the field you had no idea that this was what you were setting yourself up for.
Biting your lip, you fiddled with the polystyrene of your coffee cup as you formulated your answer, you wanted to get out in the field again but this was almost going too far.
“Why me?” you asked, finally finding your voice as you tucked a strand of hair behind your ear.
Michael laughed, “why you? Because you’re one of my best damn agents, Y/N, we’ve really been struggling without you. And I know you will bring things to the table that other agents can’t,” he shot you a meaningful look over the thick rim of his spectacles.
You knew that he was referring to your powers, he’d been friends with your Uncle for years so you felt comfortable in confiding in him about it. You needed a job where you could grow, not a job where you were scared to be yourself, “I’ll have a partner won’t I?” there was no way that you were going into this thing without a partner, that wasn’t bravery, that was stupidity.
Michael nodded, rubbing a hand across his stubbled jaw, “of course you will.”
You took a deep breath, you couldn’t believe you were doing this but you were honoured that they wanted you on their team, “yes, I’ll do it.”
“Fantastic!” Michael looked far too happy about that fact as he scrawled on his notepad, “you have no next of kin?”
You shook your head, feeling nerves flutter around in your stomach, “not since my Uncle died, he was my emergency contact, I haven’t had the heart to find a new one,” you laughed nervously when Michael shook his head.
“Your emergency contact has been changed and they’ve been notified of the situation, he didn’t want you to worry about him.”
You frowned, thankfully you hadn’t been in need of an emergency contact for the past year so you had no idea that someone had taken it upon themselves to appoint them self as yours, “who is it? Why did he find out about this before I agreed?” you asked with interest.
“Bucky Barnes, he’s been your emergency contact since your Uncle died, he’s just looking out for you, Y/N. He knew that we were going to ask you.”
As you walked into the Avengers Compound, Joaquin was in the foyer looking gorgeous with damp tousled hair, he smiled, the edges of his chocolate brown eyes crinkling when he saw you.
“Hey, have you seen Bucky?” you asked, skipping the pleasantries.
“Living quarters, is everything okay?”
“Its fine, thanks, I’ll see you later,” you felt kind of bad but you had to hurry to speak to Bucky about how the hell he was your emergency contact.
You leaned against the doorframe in the living quarters, watching Bucky read a book, after a few seconds his lip twitched up into a smile, “Y/N, what can I do for you?” he asked without taking a second to look up.
“I was at my meeting today and they told me the most interesting thing, they told me that you’re my emergency contact,” you weren’t annoyed, you were just confused and you didn’t want Bucky to get hurt. Okay, so maybe you were a little annoyed.
“So?” he shrugged as he turned a page nonchalantly but you could see the muscle that was ticking in his jaw.
“You’ve been my emergency contact since Tony died,” at your words, he looked up at you guiltily, like a puppy who’d been scolded, “it’s only in the past couple of months that we’ve really been getting to know each other and I love you to pieces but why have you been my emergency contact for so long?”
He sighed as he ran a hand through his thick hair, “I’m the reason that you never got to meet your grandparents. Fuck, I nearly killed your Uncle, and you.”
“Bucky,” you sighed, you couldn’t believe that this was still eating him up, you walked over to join him on the couch, “I don’t blame you for any of that, it wasn’t you.”
“I promised myself that I would always protect you.”
You smiled gently as you pulled him into a hug, “I’m lucky to have someone like you, thank you,” when you pulled away, you bit your lip, “so, you know what they want me to do?” you couldn’t even bring yourself to talk about it, you were so scared. When Bucky nodded, you rested a hand on his arm, “you can’t tell Sam or Joaquin, I don’t want any of you to get hurt.”
“I won’t say a thing,” Bucky promised.
“If I die,” you started but Bucky interrupted you.
“Y/N, please, you’re not going to die. I’m not going to let you die.”
“If I die,” you carried on as if he hadn’t interrupted, “you make sure that you all look after each other, Bucky you have to promise me,” right now, this was the only thing that mattered.
“I promise,” Bucky nodded.
-----------------------------------
@smiithys @moonheartsposts @mischiefmanaged71 @1940sbuckybarnes @slytherinambitious @bubblegum28universe