Boreo

Boreo is the slash ship between Theodore "Theo" Decker and Boris Pavlikovsky from The Goldfinch fandom.

The Goldfinch (2013)
Theo and Boris were best friends throughout the Vegas chapters in the novel. The first met in English class when Boris made an ill-mannered comment towards another student and Theo over hears him. They quickly become inseparable. Theo and Boris spend a lot of time doing drugs and drinking alcohol(commonly provided by Boris), And at some point Boris starts spending most of his time at Theo's residence. Boris also give's Theo the nickname "Potter" and rarely ever calls Theo by his real name.

Mid Vegas chapters Boris begins dating a girl he calls Kotku, Theo is very disapproving of Boris and Kotku's relationship and is jealous that Boris stopped spending time with him. Theo starts to question if him and Boris' relationship is romantic at all, He takes to consideration how affectionate Boris is, like how when they would commonly share a bed Boris would wrap his arms around Theo and cuddle with him. He even thinks about the more sexual side of Boris' affection towards him which Boris' forbids to talk about. Theo is confused by all the this but knows he misses Boris more that anything. This could be a sign of Theo questioning his sexuality.

"It was weird. Was it weird? It was; and it wasn't."

In the finale of the Vegas chapters when Theo is preparing to return to New York due to his fathers death and not wanting to go through whatever Xandra plans to do with him. Boris is stunned by Theo's sudden decision to leave and tries to urge Theo to stay, and Theo tries to ease Boris into going with him. Boris tells Theo that he did something bad and neither of them can leave until Boris makes it right. But Theo makes the decision to leave anyway. Before Theo leaves to the train station to head back to New York Boris kisses him and tells him he'll never forget him and then runs away. As the Vegas chapters come to a end, Theo finally admits that "of course" he loves Boris and was about to blurt it out in his babbling state before Boris kissed him.

Later in the novel when Theo and Boris reunite as adults Boris tells Theo that he took something from Theo when they were young; that being the paining Theo had took from the museum that his mother died in, Boris is genuinely sorry about what he did and vows to gets the painting back, Boris says that a man in Amsterdam has the painting and they set off to get it back. The task of obtaining the painting isn't easy; Theo has to take a mans life in exchange for him and Boris', this puts a scar in their friendship but doesn't completely ruin it. Later when the painting and lots of other stolen artwork is returned Theo and Boris begin to properly rekindle their friendship.

The Goldfinch (2019 film)
In the film, the Vegas era focuses mainly on Theo and Boris' friendship, whilst in the novel they focus both on Theo's relationship with Boris and Theo's development as the protagonist of the novel. This is mostly because there is no Kotku in the film and the Vegas timeline is presumably shorter in the film.

The Goldfinch (2013)
"Believe? Ha! I don’t believe in anything [...] I don’t believe everything that anybody tells me [...] not even you."

- Boris still not confiding in Theo around the start of their relationship

"Boris stole steaks for us, butter, boxes of tea, cucumbers (a great delicacy for him), packages of bacon—even cough syrup once, when I had a cold—slipping them in the cutaway lining of his ugly gray raincoat... As he wandered around I stood lookout at the head of the aisle, so shaky with nerves I sometimes worried I would black out— but soon I was filling my own pockets with apples and chocolate (other favored food items of Boris’s) before walking up brazenly to the counter to buy bread and milk and other items too big to steal."

- Theo talking about their habits of shoplifting together, and how he'd even steal Boris' favorite foods.

"…But who cared what crappy girl Boris liked? Weren’t we still friends? Best friends? Brothers practically? Then again: there was not exactly a word for Boris and me. Until Kotku came along, I had never thought too much about it."

"The first time he'd turned in bed and draped an arm over my waist, I lay there half- asleep for a moment, not knowing what to do: staring at my old socks on the floor, empty beer bottles, my paperbacked copy of The Red Badge of Courage. At last - embarrassed - faked a yawn and tried to roll away, but instead he sighed and pulled me closer, with a sleepy, snuggling motion. Ssh, Potter, he whispered, into the back of my neck. Is only me. It was weird. Was it weird? It was; and it wasn't. I'd fallen back to sleep shortly after, lulled by his bitter, beery unwashed smell and his breath easy in my ear. I was aware I couldn't explain it without making it sound like more than it was."

- Theo informally gay panicking over Boris.

"But we were so attuned to each other that we didn’t need to talk at all if we didn’t want to; we knew how to tip each other over in hysterics with an arch of the eyebrow or quirk of the mouth."

- Their intimacy shown by expressions.

"On nights when I woke strangled with fear there he was, catching me when I started up terrified from the bed, pulling me back down in the covers beside him, muttering in nonsense Polish, his voice throaty and strange with sleep."

- Boris always soothing Theo after he wakes up scared from nightmares.

"We'd drowse off in each other's arms, listening to music from my iPod (Thelonious Monk, the Velvet Underground, music my mother had liked) and sometimes wake clutching each other like castaways or much younger children."

- Theo commenting on how they'd cuddle listening to music.

"Again Boris moaned, as the guy yanked his hair once more, and from across the car threw me an unmistakeable look-which I understood just as plainly as if he'd spoken the words aloud, an urgent and very specific cut of the eyes straight from our shoplifting days: run for it, Potter, go. "Boris," I said, after a disbelieving pause, "please, just give it to them,"

- Boris being able to sacrifice himself if that meant Theo could run away and escape. But Theo refuses to leave Boris by himself.

"Why should I doubt you? Ever? [...] Why should I ever doubt you?"

- Boris to Theo, a complete upgrade and an immense contrast to how Boris was still distrusting of Theo at Vegas, as seen by the other quote.

The Goldfinch (2019 film)
"You know what I did in college? Conversational russian. Because of you. It... used to make me think of you."

- Theo to Boris in the restaurant after their reunion.

Fanon
Theo and Boris' relationship is supported by a majority of readers and watchers of The Goldfinch; mainly because they have a more healthy bond then some of the other romances Theo has in the story. But there are still people who don't agree with their relationship and view Theo's love for Boris as up for interpretation and others who believe what Theo feels for Boris is brotherly love taken to far.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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 * @Kiwinyl posts on Tumblr
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Trivia

 * Theo is seen wearing Boris' t-shirt in a certain part of the movie.

Variations

 * Boris x Pippa x Theo refers to the ship between the two and Pippa