Split timelines. He ended up in New Amsterdam in one, and didn't in another.

( which. fine. he could have ignored his existence. pretended it didn't happen, pretended it wasn't a thing he thinks about most days. jason's fine. a little worse off than he had been before he'd gotten here, but he's gained a lot even if he's lost a lot, so it could be worse. right? )

Wanna hear the real kicker? He's with Tim here.

( which isn't on tim, he's not taking it out on tim, he doesn't even want tim to know any of this.

thus, the need to go out and potentially start gang wars. )