This is a head cannon about what happened

The nature between Henry and Joey have been inspired both by other works and theories.

The description of personality and looks are not cannon, neither are the places mentioned.

I do not own Bendy and the Ink Machine, it belongs to theMeatly Games.

The major inspiration for this oneshot comes from a youtuber called Theory Pop.

Hope you'll enjoy.

The right Place

Henry stood outside the building, he had agreed to meet Joey here to hear him out about a new business idea. Henry had already considered himself crazy for agreeing to meet Joey here of all places. But then again his own curiosity and Joey's silver tongue had quite a sway over him.

That is how he ended up in front of Chapman's funeral home.

It was not the most striking building in town, the entire building looked like it needed a decent washing and quite a bit of repair. The simple gothic style on the building was quite suited for the work that happened in there. Henry debated with himself if he should go through with this or if he should just turn tail and go back. Because knowing Joey Drew and his love for the dramatic he would probably rise out of a coffin or of an operating table as a way to greet Henry. One thing was guaranteed Joey always kept things… interesting.

He felt the autumn air enter his lung as it blow through his red hair and his greyish brown eyes stung from the cold wind. It wasn't all that pleasant to be outside and having lived in Brick City for quite a while now he knew that it would only get colder.

So swallowing his fears and any potential sanity he still considered having he entered the building. The first thing that greeted him was a long narrow hallway that lead into quite a spacious main area, it looked almost abandoned, if Joey's new idea was a haunted house or a horror movie then he definitely had a set for that.

"Joey, I'm here. You wanted to speak to me." Henry said trying to get Joey to come out from wherever he was hiding. The hallways where almost pitch black since Henry didn't know if the lights worked or not he decided against testing that. Instead he saw a thick candle it would be sturdy enough the hold it in his hand while he travelled further into this place. Henry fished out his Banjo lighter, quickly a spark and a flame sprung to life and the lit candle would provide Henry with a warm flame as he explored these unfamiliar hallways. With every step the floorboards groaned in protest under Henry's weight.

The wallpapers had seen better days, some of it had peeled and other patches had been clearly ripped or stained. Henry didn't want to imagine what those stains could really be. The narrow hallways and the darkness just seemed to swallow the man up. Just the knowledge that probably hundreds of dead people have been in these walls hours before they were put in the ground just sent shivers down his spine. No matter what it was, he just felt like there was something or someone there watching his every move. He could feel how some of the wax hit his fingers, the warmth was kind of soothing.

Then he stumbled across a room that had an upright table that he knew something was going on. There was something on that table. It was covered by a sheet.

"Very funny Joey I know you are there." Henry said trying to sound more confident than what he actually was. Even if he knew that there was nothing that would harm him. It was still eerie being in this building. He waited for a beat, when no one responded Henry went to the side of the table and looked at the sheet covered figure. Not seeing any movement he pulled it back. Revealing a pair of dead eyes.

Henry backed away as fast as he could hitting the wall behind him. His heart was beating out of control but he once he regained some of his composure he could clearly see that it wasn't a human corpse but rather a wax figure of some kind. Henry let out a shaky laugh he should really have expected that. It really was a very striking looking figure, Henry being an artist himself could recognise and understand art and this wax figure was so lifelike it wasn't a wonder he first thought it was real, it even had wrinkles and small stands of greyish hair.

"BOOO!" A familiar voice shouted as a pair of hands grabbed hold of his shoulders. Henry screamed so loudly that he was sure the rest of the neighbourhood heard him. After almost having the second heart attack of the day Henry turned around and was face to face with Joey Drew. The black haired man was currently occupied with clutching his gut with one hand laughing himself breathless. His dark suit really complimented the purple waistcoat, light blue eyes and pale skin. Joey always looked like he was ready to go to a gala or a night on the town.

"JOEY!" Henry shouted at his friend clearly not happy about his friends greeting. He had been lucky that he hadn't dropped the candle when his friend surprised him. He could have set the building on fire, just because Joey wanted a quick laugh.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist." He said trying to stop his laughing.

"It is much too early for this Joey." Henry said irritated.

"Oh don't be like that." Joey said teasingly.

"You will be the death of me some day Joey." Henry grumbled.

"Why thank you, I take that as a compliment."

"So you wanted to talk to me about a new business idea." Henry said getting back to the reason he was here to begin with.

"I am going to open up an animation studio and I want you to be my lead animator." The black haired man said with no hesitation and a big cheery grim on his face.

"Joey! Do you have any idea how much that would cost?!" Henry said trying to comprehend just what Joey said. They were in an old funeral home for Christ sake. That alone would scare of many potential employees. After all who knows what lingers in these halls.

"I have my inheritance, it is more than enough to get us started. Think of it Henry, in times like these if we can bring smiles back to people's faces in this dire need. We could be those people Henry, we could be great! " That was Joey in a nutshell, he was never all that superstitious, that made him very brave or in some cases foolish.

"Joey, that's insane, neither of us knows the first thing about working in an animation studio. I little to no skill in that. Drawing small changes in notebooks and repeating patterns is one thing, but this Joey. What are you planning to get yourself into?"

"So? We are young, we are spring chickens not tied down to the old ways and ideas. They said that humans couldn't fly, what do you know? The Wright brothers proved them wrong. They said the world was flat. No it wasn't. There is a lot more to prove Henry." Joey said listing up some of the major discoveries known to man.

"I don't know Joey, there is a lot at stake, if we fail, what then?" Henry though realistically recalling horror stories he head from back when he was still in school. How a bad idea led to some people even going so far as to kill in order to escape the debts.

"Henry, buddy, wouldn't you like to be remembered after death? You know have you great grandkids tell stories about their famous old man and how he revolutionised the industry." Joey said bringing up the potential of fame, it was the 20th century after all. The possibilities seemed endless.

"Joey, you know that I don't really care about titles and that stuff." Henry said once again trying to make Joey drop the entire endeavour.

"But you care about kids, comm'on Henry old pal, it would bring a smile to people's faces. Wouldn't you like to see Hope get happy knowing that her big brother's work brings joy?" Joey knew that if he brought Hope into the entire discussion it made it much more difficult for Henry to turn it down.

Joey often teased Henry about how far he was willing to go to make someone, especially his family happy. Henry was very devoted and he lived to make people happy. Joey had a similar idea but it was much more grandiose in gestures. When he entered the room his charisma filled every nook and cranny, it brought people together he could start conversations with anyone about everything, Joey was a host most people adored.

Henry thought about it again. Perhaps, maybe and only maybe it could work. That and he knew that even if Henry didn't include himself in Joey's idea the man would still go through with his idea. At least Henry might be of help in keeping Joey in line.

"Alright I will help you."

"Great! I knew I could count on you Henry."

"Alright now we just need to find potential animators, musicians, staff for the building and a place big enough for the entire operation." Henry said listing of people they needed at the top of his head.

"We already have a building."

"Joey…" Henry had a feeling he knew what was going to come out of his friend's mouth.

"I brought it this morning."