#joey is a pretty complex character believe it or not and I'd like to do multiple deep dives about him

[archer-kacey]

Joey Drew is Gay and there's no way around it (Pt 6)

Finally, to finish my Joeysplaining.

Firstly, Donaldson and Eckhart.

Joey seemed to get along well with them, and Nathan gives us the not-so-needed confirmation that these two men were in fact real people. Nathan also notes that Joey relayed their personalities with a great deal of accuracy.

Joey mentions later that they went overseas and died in the war.

It's open to interpretation whether or not he was interested in them, but I feel that's irrelevant. Their presence in his life and later deaths seems to have left a lasting impact.

(I could go on a whooole tangent about how losing his friends to war could have played into his fear of death AND how it was maybe another reason why he tried so hard to keep an iron grip on Henry, buuut that's frankly bordering on theory territory sooo I'll reel it back in.)

Since that's about it for Donaldson and Eckhart, we'll hop skip and jump over to Bertrum now.

There's this interaction, which happens towards the end of the autobiography:

Here we see Joey missing the point entirely. Bertrum was making a joke, the joke being "funny" because they aren't actually on a date. Them dating would be a silly concept from his perspective.

This flies over Joey's head. Joey is literally tipsy and still trying to figure out if Bertrum is playing hard to get or not. WHICH WOULD BE IRRELEVANT TO A STRAIGHT MAN. I'M JUST SAYING.

He also calls him "Bert/Bertie" a few times which just leaves me with more questions than answers. Sir, how many of your original staff do you have a crush on? Be honest, now.

Bonus: Joey serving his country by wishing that his fellow soldiers would change uniform a little slower.

Bonus 2: Joey what is this

TL;DR

At this point, it makes more sense narratively speaking if Joey is gay, or at the very least, queer. This mainly shows in the way he went about trying to create a family, his attitudes towards the various men in his life in both Illusion of Living and the Bendy game series, and finally, the fact that he shoved a bunch of art and band kids in the same brick rectangle with no air conditioning and expected things to work out.