I absolutely love seeing how everyone interprets Jason and Tim’s relationship across the comics, animations, and shows. The headcanons, fanon interactions, and AU twists are always so creative, fuck even when they stray far from the source material.

That said, when people portray Jason as hating Tim or holding a grudge against him, or Tim being wary or resentful over the whole Titans Tower incident… I get it, I’m not against those takes, I’m even kind of into it. But we all know that’s not exactly canon, right? It’s hella funny to explore the tension, but let’s not forget pretend that that’s canon. Cuz their relationship in the comics is more like:

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2011) in the issue #8.

This is from a crossover but specifically from We Are Robin in the issue #7.

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2016) in the issue #3.

Spoiler alert:

Tim is not actually dead

Okay, but that's just in New 52, in pre-52 comics Tim was shown being wary, resentful and outright angry at Jason after the Tower. He did not like the guy at all. And Jason seemed to swing between hating Tim or having a grudging respect for him depending on how the writers were feeling that day.

Plus the New 52 has diluted Tim so much as a character, to the point where he barely has anything in common with his original self. Tim Drake is more likely to hit Jason with a crowbar (see Battle for the Cowl) than be his best buddy.

So, technically, both portrayals are canon because canon is a complete mess.

I came up with this AU a while back - probably a few months after I stumbled into this fandom - and it's been bouncing around in my head for a while. (Excuse the scatterbrained nature of this post, I'm just writing my thoughts as they come)

Tim Drake meets Peter Pan (OUAT edition)

I mean, he's the perfect candidate for a lost boy. Neglected, lonely and will probably become scarily loyal to the first person who offers him a way out of that. Not to mention, he's smart, has loose morals (I mean, he did stalk and blackmail Batman) and can be a little ruthless at times, he'd be Peter's right hand man in no time.

So, he lives as a lost boy for a while, but finds Peter's ways of doing things too dark or cruel and, being the baby genius he is, escaped from Neverland, back to Gotham.

But also, we could combine this concept with the Tim joins the family early trope. Like, he goes to Neverland a couple of times, but also starts connecting with the Waynes, so that could be part of the reason he's able to let go of that loyalty to Peter, because he's got something better waiting for him. He never tells the Wayne's about his time in Neverland, worrying that they'll see him differently due to the morally grey things he did there as Peter's right hand man. Tim deals with quite a bit of imposter syndrome and insecurity, but ultimately, he's more happy than not.

Then, a few years later, Damian comes in and is all, well, Damian about things which makes things take a bad turn for Tim. The family is bad at balance/communication and Tim "Abandonment Issues" Drake is a very unreliable narrator at times, so it's angst galore. Then Peter turns up again.

Tim goes with him to Neverland, this time with the intention of staying forever.

Or, we could go another route and look into Damian, a kid whose whole life had been uprooted as he's sent to live with a father he's never met and with a family with vastly different dynamics to what he's used to. He's not neglected, but he's certainly lonely. Especially when being held up to expectations and moral standards that he finds impossible to comprehend after being raised by Talia and Ra's.

So Peter comes back, but he takes Damian instead, as a way to lure Tim back to Neverland. And, even if he doesn't like Damian much right now, of course Tim will go after him because that's his little brother and no way in hell is he letting Peter take him.

We could even sprinkle in a little backstory about Peter knowing Bruce from when Bruce was a kid, after his parents died. Now, two of Bruce's sons are missing and he has to find a way to Neverland.

That's where Jason comes in. Jason Todd, the ultimate lost boy who never was. Not for lack of trying. Peter's shadow swooped down to get him when he was living on the streets, but Jay isn't some naive kid, he's a Gothamite, a Crime Alley kid and he knows that if someone - even that someone is a creepy shadow person - grabs you and tries to get you to a secondary location, you fucking fight it with all you have. So, Jason never makes it to Neverland. Instead, he fights so hard that the shadow drops him, right onto Captain Hook - Killian Jones' - ship. They bond, Killian teaches Jason the ropes, but Jason ultimately decides to go back to Gotham for whatever reason (maybe Killian messes up or Jason's trust issues get the better of him) and he leaves.

We could also play around with parallels between Bruce and Peter. Both taking in lost, lonely kids that no one else wants, having them fight battles, Peter could even hit Bruce with that 'at least my boys will never die' as if forcing them to live forever in eternal stagnation is so much better.

While in Neverland together, Tim and Damian start to bond over their feelings of never truly belonging anywhere. That they'll be forever defined by what they did over who they are. As they grow closer, Tim reassures Damian that he will always belong with him, to give him the chance to prove it.

Meanwhile, Bruce, Dick and Jason are on their way to Neverland. And Peter is ready to start playing the game.

... And that's all I've got so far.

I got a little more to add now.

So Tim and Damian bond, they begin to lean on and trust one another. But that doesn't mean they trust their family. No, Batman has his rules, ones that can't be broken. They've seen how cold he is to Jason ever since he became Red Hood (in this AU, Jason still dies, but only clinically, because Tim, our lovely little stalker, changed things. Still, Jason is angry, feels helpless and becomes Red Hood to manage that) so Tim and Damian don't really believe in their family anymore, as far as they're concerned, they can only count on eachother.

Meanwhile, just before Bruce, Dick and Jason arrive to Neverland, Jason and Killian are on the ship, talking for the first time since Jason left. It's awkward and tense at first, especially since Jason now has even more issues with father figures (thank you, Bruce) than he did before. But Killian is just so happy to see him, and like a grumpy, reluctant cat, Jason warms up to him.

Cut to Bruce in the background, practically green with envy.

Dick finds a girl hiding on the ship. She doesn't talk much, but she does sign and, as far as he can tell, she somehow followed them here from Gotham. Her name is Cass and she's here to help the boy who's been sneaking out to give her supplies for the past month or so.

Yes, that boy is Tim.

Tim never told any of them about what he was doing due to how distant and tense everything was with Damian's arrival and all the angst that came with it.

Dick starts to realise just how bad things are.

Cass tells Dick she knows that that he's hiding something. She can read it on him. Turns out, Dick also had a run in with Peter, back when he was eight.

He had snuck out of juvie (where they put him before Bruce fostered him) to go and kill Zucco like the bloodthirsty baby he was. That's when a figure comes flying down towards him. Peter offers to take him to Neverland, Dick says no, because he has a murder to commit. Peter, the weirdo, likes that and offers to help him kill Zucco. Before Dick can say hell yes, there's a clink of a grapple in the distance and Peter flies away. Less than a minute later, Batman shows up.

He never sees Peter again after that.

He never told Bruce about it, because at the time metas weren't common yet and saying that he saw a flying dude wouldn't be a good look. After, he just doesn't want to as he and Bruce aren't as close as they once were.

So, they all arrive to Neverland after Cass collectively scares the shit out of everyone with her sudden appearance. Killian decides to join them, much to Bruce's displeasure, as he knows the island best (and because he just got his boy back, he's not leaving anytime soon)

Cass, seeing the walking clusterfuck that is that group and knowing that shit it going to hit the fan, soon decides to go off on her own. Dick quickly follows after her and catches up. While he doesn't want to split off from his family, he can't find it in him to let Cass, someone his little brother clearly cares for and vice versa, wander off with no backup.

Safe to say Bruce is stressed and we all know how our man here handles big emotions like that.

Meanwhile, Tim and Damian are planning their escape from camp when one of the lost boys - who neither of them noticed eavesdropping - tells them that won't work. He has a similar accent to Jason. His name is Duke, and he is done with Peter's nonsense.

And that's all, for now.