Notes: The prompts were "Prison AU" + "Time Travel" + Kacchako. This was a really weird one to write, but considering that I've never done anything like it, I'm okay with that. Besides the whole quirk thing, I've never really written a sci-fi type story or AU, so it was interesting. It was fun combining the two and coming up with this world without doing much thinking on it. Time travel is complicated.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"I can't believe we're stuck in here," Uraraka said furiously, sitting in the corner cross-legged with her arms folded across her chest. Bakugou was in front of her, trying to fiddle with the control panel on the outside of their prison cell, but every time his arms moved too close to the laser bars, he'd pull back with a hiss of pain. "You just had to take that glowing statue, didn't you?"

"I thought it would look nice in our office," Bakugou replied through gritted teeth. He had to angle his body close enough to the bars to give himself reach, but not too close that it burned him. Technology certainly made things more difficult, but it made the people around it lazier. There was no one watching them to make sure that they didn't try to break out, as if they couldn't possibly conceive it. "You like gaudy, cheesy things. I didn't know they believe it holds some sort of mystical power. We're in the future, for fuck's sake."

This was definitely one of the trickier prison cells that they'd been stuck in. It was nothing like the 18th Century French one or even the 19th Century American cell. The former had only been hard because they'd been put in separate cells, but that was only because Madame de Pompadour had taken too much of a liking to Bakugou and the king hadn't been pleased. Neither had Uraraka, but that hadn't stopped her from getting tossed into a cell too. The American one had been awkward, but then being trapped in the middle of a Civil War was never pleasant.

Time travel was never a simple thing though.

According to their job description, they were Time Continuum Police. Long story short, whenever a time anomaly popped up, agents were sent to that specific time to figure out what went wrong. With the invention of time travel came a lot of people doing either dumb or dangerous things. No one wanted to go through the World War II fiasco again. They were still cleaning bits of that mess twenty years later.

When Continuum was created to put a stop to time travel crimes shortly after, it had become a dream job. Getting a position was extremely difficult and it was even more dangerous, but it paid super well, considering that the potential to get stuck in another time was high. It was better now, once they'd figured out that partners or groups did much better than an individual, but it involved a lot of training that began at a young age. After all, if you were going to travel in time, you had to be very on the up and up about history.

Uraraka had worked extremely hard to get to where she was. Her parents hadn't been thrilled about her decision eight years ago to apply for the Continuum Academy, the school that taught its agents alongside regular school classes, but once she'd been accepted, she had pushed herself. Alongside her had been Bakugou, who had blown practically everyone out of the water throughout the years. They had not gotten along particularly well, but they hadn't not gotten along, so there was that. One thing to be noted was that whenever they had been paired up they had done extraordinarily well once they got past their bickering stage.

Still, when Uraraka had been assigned a new partner a year ago after her first one retired, she had not been expecting to get slapped with Bakugou. More startling had been the fact that Bakugou was technically ranked higher than her, which made him the superior and lead. He hadn't exactly been displeased to find out that they were partners again after attending the Academy together, but he hadn't been ecstatic either.

A year later and an impressive amount of missions under their belt, Bakugou and Uraraka were known as one of the best teams in Continuum.

Also the most tumultuous.

There was a reason that they very rarely went on joint missions with other teams. Bakugou didn't like to work with others. It was the reason why his rise to the top had halted before being partnered with her and also why they had ended up partners. He'd gone through five of them since graduating. The last one before Uraraka had only been temporary until they could find him a new one. He was an excellent agent, just a very difficult one. She had been surprised when he'd finally admitted it to her, seeing as how she'd only ever had the one partner.

So far, she had been his longest partner and they were still going strong. There had been a few hiccups and more than enough bumps in the road, but she'd never gone so far as to type up a new partner request. Sometimes, she thought, when things got too comfortable between them, Bakugou would act out, almost like he was attempting to push her away (the whole Madame de Pompadour thing was a good example), but then she'd dig her heels in the ground and stand firm. It seemed to piss him off as much as it pleased him.

Right now, however, Uraraka was the pissed off one. Going into the future was easier, as the timeline was less likely to be messed up by their or another's presence, but it came at a cost. Not nearly as much knowledge was known about the future. They could study it all they wanted, but it changed a lot. Maybe the timelines split off into another one. Maybe there were decisions to be made that were still undecided or not set in stone. No one could truly be for sure. Time was a fickle thing. Sometimes it seemed concrete and other times it was fluid. They learned more every day, but they were still learning.

Bakugou huffed, pulling his arms back fully inside the cell and sitting down. "This one is more difficult than I anticipated. If they hadn't taken my scrambler or my gun…"

"Why don't you just smash it like you usually do?" Uraraka asked dryly.

"You don't think I tried that already?" Bakugou shot her a glare. "The metal is too strong. I need the keycard or the code."

"So we just wait." Uraraka unfolded her arms and all but threw herself down to lie on her back. The metal was hard, but it was cool at least. Bakugou was sweating from being by the bars for too long. "We'll have to hope that we can pay off the fine or apologize."

Scooting away from the bars without getting up, Bakugou slumped against the wall next to her. He was aggravated, but mostly at himself. It wasn't often that he messed up like this, but he'd been a little more distracted as of late. Not his usual focused self. She'd noticed it a few weeks ago when she had caught him staring at her unseeingly in their office, as if he hadn't even known that he was looking at her. He'd been...not kinder, but maybe warmer - and then he'd be cold and distant to the point of snapping at her a minute later, followed by a period of embarrassed silence.

"There is one way," Bakugou piped up, although he didn't sound pleased at all.

Uraraka tilted her head back to look up at him, not moving from her spot lying on the floor. "Yeah?"

Bakugou chewed on the inside of his cheek and then said, "The Warden was very interested in you."

At that, Uraraka shot up. "You're not suggesting what I think you are."

"I don't like it either!" Bakugou exclaimed. "We're pretty low on options here. If we get slapped with more than a fine, chances are we'll be here for a while and he'll use that time to sniff around you anyways." He grunted in irritation, a dark look on his face. "I'm surprised he isn't here now. Did you know that the custom here is for higher ups to take on multiple female consorts? Only they and a few specific others are allowed to populate."

All Uraraka do was gawk at him. "That's revolting and I didn't want to know that."

Bakugou nudged her side. "Those hips of yours must've enticed him."

"That's not funny!"

"Yeah, but they might also help us get out of here," Bakugou pointed out. She glared at him and he looked away from her. "I don't want you to do it though. That's the last thing I want." His quiet tone took her off guard. Bakugou wasn't known for being quiet. He was explosive. It was admittedly one of her favorite things about him. "I knew you'd think of it eventually and you'd guilt yourself into doing something. We'll find another way. I'll find another way, even if it means me staying in here alone."

"Hey." Uraraka put her hand on his knee and he turned back to face her, a hard glint in his eyes. "You're not staying in here alone, got it? We're partners. We finish the mission together." She smiled at him and then stood up, brushing her hands off on her pants. "Besides, who says I have to do anything with that slimy bastard? I just need the keycard or a code, right? He doesn't have to be conscious for that."

A small grin quirked its way onto Bakugou's face. Once a team, always a team. At any rate, they'd gotten through much worse together. This time, she'd be the one busting them out. He could count on her.