The correct wording should be Joseph isn't as naive, boring, or uninteresting as most people projects him. He has a perfect balance of Ying and Yang. Him and TJ are similar in some ways since the beginning. However, despite their similarities, when faced with similar situations, they react differently. This is the similarities that Ian saw in both Joseph and TJ. He fell in love with Ian at first sight so his feelings is not unwarranted. He is not getting darker or ''bad'' in fact TJ isn't bad either. He willingly let himself to get in this mess. He has more reason to be in this mess since he loves Ian and his family being involved in the mess. Joseph never impose his feelings onto Ian.
what are those similarities that you espouse of between jo and tj? they are completely opposite because jo has been raised in an environment where it is conducive for raising a child ie. not being exposed to many traumatic experiences, and living life carefree (jo original plan prior accidentally taking ian picture, was to go to autralia and take many pictures to expand his portfolio and continue schooling). while tj has been an orphan since he was 10 and then been exposed to many shady things in the world in order to survive. hence, it is really no brainer for jo and tj to react on situations differently.
the thing that i find similar of the two is their possessiveness of ian which stems from many things - jealousy (citing jo words in ch. 39, fear of abandonment (observation of tj pov from season 1), etc.
and, yeah, i agree on the part that jo let himself into the mess because he loves ian but primarily because he basically did not know ian past and have a hots for ian just like that. bruh, if you have a hots for someone learn to accept rejection, learn to accept of being just a one night stand and move on
....you don't have to analyse the possessiveness so much. Jo is possesive because no bl author worth their salt will ever write a seme who doesn't get possessive over the dumbest of shit. No bl author will ever write a seme who understands the concept of rejection because then, the story won't move forward.
On other hand, Jo was never 'just an 'one night stand's to Ian. Jo meant a lot more than that to Ian and that's why Ian does so many things for Jo that he'd never done with anyone in his life. They go stargazing, they meet up for dinner everyday. I mean, if you do all this with the guy you like, and you find out another guy he's also with, won't you feel jealous? That's realistic enough. So far, Jo hasn't done anything toxic. I don't think he will in the future...his character is to show Ian the normal things in life.probably.
after binge reading, jo isn't really the "good" you picture him to be. because by the end of season 1, jo was beginning to show unwarranted possessiveness to ian. and the relationship between the two of them was/is never clear to begin with. and the reason he is in the mess was because he be chasing ass and putting meaning to things even though there's nothing in the first place. yes, ian show an initial interest in jo, but it was jo delulu that misunderstood the atmosphere and the proceeding actions later. just because you fucked once it does not mean there's feeling involved already.
no hate, this is just an analysis because i don't think jo is right for ian. same with tj. it just, jo rubbed me in a wrong way because he is slowly using the same tactic tj used to ian in the beginning - pity.