DP x DC: Repeatable Results
Danny closes the portal accidentally - he learns how to control it and that his own life is what bridges the gap. It connects to his Core. No matter what his parents try they can't get it to re-open so they begin theorizing that they used up all the energy in the hotspot (instead of the opposite, that the longer the portal was open the more spilled out of the Realms.)
They decide to move after Jazz leaves for college. Danny pleads not to, but he can't undo the portal being part of him to 'spontaneously re-open' the portal.
The Fentons pick another Liminal city of hotspots - Gotham.
Danny meets Tim on his first day of school at Gotham Academy. He's on the front steps struggling to figure out how to tie his tie, people miffed and unhelpful giving him looks for not having the same brisk power walk that all Gothamites seem to have. He gets shoved a few times before nearly running into Tim.
"Here, I got it." Tim says out of nowhere. He reaches out and ties it for him so fast Danny barely has time to process the words and intent before it's done.
Danny thanks him - they get to talking about Danny being new, Tim can tell his old school must not have had ties, they both complain about self expression and dress codes.
By the end of it they have plans to rebel after school and get Danny's ears pierced. (Tim doesn't want any - identifying marks like that are a no, otherwise he would.)
And then Danny is hit like a punch to the gut as Tim drops him off at class. Tim steps right into his space and takes his tie to give it one last straighten, and all Danny could think - his first thought - was Tim was gonna yank him closer by it... Which is very much not a straight thought.
Danny spends all of his first class frantically texting Sam and Tucker asking wtf that meant and most of the rest of the school day having an existential crisis and questioning himself, until after school, at which point he sees Tim waiting and all he can think is 'OH NO'.
But that's all B plot.
Danny realizes he's met the ONE person in all of Gotham, or at least at this school, who has the kindness to want to help out total strangers. Zero hesitation or questions asked. Nor was he using it to get anything in return, despite the environment he was raised in. And Danny is NOT letting that go. Danny has found the One decent person in what feels like a lowkey post apocalyptic hellscape to his Midwestern sensibilities, and sinks his claws in like a feral cat.
Bi or not and totally aside from managing to figure out what the heck is going on with that, Danny is gonna friend Tim so hard.
Tim is honestly the same. He, to his own shame, had the thought 'oh thank God I finally have a Kon Type Friend who is tolerable to be around at school' within three minutes of meeting him.
Tim during the first week of school finds out that conclusion was inaccurate. During that week he realizes the new 'Kon type' friend is also:
An incredible engineer who Tim doesn't have to explain things to in order to be kept up with in conversation.
Doesn't like football or want the attention, is tiny and quiet unless trying to make friend laugh, (unlike Kon who was outgoing.)
Smart about keeping his head down at school and in Gotham at large. (Tim suspects bullying in the past and is fully prepared to bite anyone who tries.)
He keeps calling Tim Midwestern nicknames that Kon doesn't because Kon wasn't raised in the Midwest until later in life. The fact Danny also calls the male barista at the cafe 'darlin' as easily as he does to Tim does not lessen the impact of this whatsoever.
Tim gets all these hints that when actually challenged Danny is gonna be completely feral-
At the end of that week Tim is moderately panicking because 'Oh no he's even better than Kon. I can't tell Kon, he would be devastated.'
Don't get him wrong Tim loves his best friend, but Tim can't help but follow Danny around campus like a lost duckling. Every time he talks to Kon in the following weeks he's desperately keeping his mouth SHUT about the new kid at school, which results in him going overboard spilling about it to Cassie instead. Cassie of course is just like WOW this crush sure came on fast and teases him mercilessly - but she does keep it zipped, so Tim doesn't have to deal with Kon's injured puppy eyes.
Tim isn’t having a gay awakening per se but he’s finally figured out his type. Danny makes him believe in soulmates. It’s not love at first sight - it’s getting to know someone who clicks with you so well that putting the work in is a no-brainer. Someone who makes choosing them easy.
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Several months later when Danny's friend with already spotty attendance suddenly vanishes after his adoptive dad 'left on vacation' - Danny is told he dropped out despite all their conversations about how Tim wanted to get a diploma in honor of his birth parents - well Danny isn't gonna take that lying down.
He goes to find him and won't take no for an answer.
Danny knows better than to mess with time travel, but Tim asks, and it's worth it. Any cost is worth it to keep the people he loves in his life and close to him, safe and with a shot at happiness.
This situation was always going to end the same, but at the least Danny knew the smallest of changes could make that end a hundred times better.
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Meanwhile, in a laboratory in Gotham, two researchers with a body count hit a large bright green ON switch.
And- Nothing happens.
But science is about repeatable results - and last time the portal opened a couple of hours after ignition. They wait.
Yet, still nothing.
In Gotham advancement in clean energy is in high demand, thus they have real funding and a real team... So an intern is sent in to do a double check that nothing displaced due to the power surge. Meanwhile the researchers take to messing with the settings, making sure the array is rooted at exactly the same strength and wavelength that did the trick before.
There's a flash-
Something in Danny's chest yanks like it wants to consume him, the portal nearly spiralling free.
