Boris x Kotku

"I love her, Potter. I mean it. This is the truest thing that has ever happened to me in my life. [...] Little skinny witch!" He sighed, happily. "In my arms, she's so bony and light! Like air." Boris, mysteriously, seemed to adore Kotku [...] "And so brave and wise, such a big heart! All I want is to look out for her and keep her safe from that Mike guy."

Boris x Kotku is the het ship between Boris Pavlikovsky and Kotku from the The Goldfinch fandom.

Canon
Boris and Kotku first met in Remedial Civics class, he had his eye on her for a while after he bought weed from her and they started dating after unknown time. Kotku was a petname that means kitty cat in Polish given by Boris. She was older than him by three years, something that was admired by Boris, since she could already buy alcohol and knew what places don't ask for age. Kotku already had a boyfriend named Mike before Boris and her started dating, but Boris thought she was only afraid of breaking up with him. Thankfully for Boris, Mike joined the Coast Guard, but Kotku kept talking with him on the phone for hours which didn't bother Boris. Still, Theo notes how possessive and even disturbing on how Boris was with Kotku, memorizing her schedule and when his classes were over he'd ran to her as fast as possible so she couldn't cheat in this time. It was so bad that Boris got a cellphone to keep tabs on her. When Theo is burdened with problems with Mr. Silver, Boris babbles to him about how he thinks Kotku is cheating on him with Tyler Olowska, and how he just got a "funny feeling", that was confirmed true later on. He mentions that she's always busy now and doesn't wear the necklace he gave her anymore.

When Boris is sure she's with Tyler, he completely switches on Kotku, calling her a cunt and badmouthing her. He still is jealous of her, as he remarks how Tyler also calls her Kotku, despite everyone and even teachers doing that. Boris starts talking about "wiping her smile out of her face" and that he could strangle her while Theo is sure that it was a trick from him, Boris storms off to go meet with her. On the next day, Theo notices Kotku has a fat lip and asks later if Boris did that, confirming and saying "he didn't want to" and that Kotku forced him. Still, Boris seems guilty about it according to Theo after he brings it up on the school bus, he tells him that he apologized about it and things seemed to be normal, as seen by him and Kotku doing acid last night.

It's unknown when Kotku helped Boris steal Theo's painting, but she helped him replace the painting with Boris' workbook even without knowing why. Boris says she couldn't really tell her things like that.

In the night of Theo's dad death, Boris mentions Kotku a lot, almost leaving because they hadn't seen each other for 48 hours, and that he couldn't leave with Theo that night because he needed to see her. When they're talking about drugs, he also mentions that he can buy Kotku the keyboard she wants and that she was probably pissed she didn't come after they robbed Xandra.

Since Boris only mentions her to talk about the painting, it's assumed they broke up and both of them moved on and didn't contact each other anymore.

Quotes
"…But what did bother me -a lot- was how Kotku (I’ll continue to call her by the name Boris gave her, since I can’t now remember her real name) had stepped in overnight and virtually assumed ownership of Boris. First he was busy on Friday night. Then it was the whole weekend–not just the night, but the day too. Pretty soon, it was Kotku this and Kotku that, and the next thing I knew, Popper and I were eating dinner and watching movies by ourselves."

"Kotku claimed to be a “borderline anorexic” and could always get Boris worked up by saying she hadn’t eaten anything all day."

"But it was disturbing how jealous he was of her at school. He knew her schedule by heart and the second our classes were over he raced to find her, as if he suspected her of two-timing him during Spanish for the Workplace or whatever."

"Boris kicked my ankle. His feet were black with dirt and he also had black polish on his toenails, courtesy of Kotku."

"Boris had drawn daggers with his name on them, roses and hearts surrounding Kotku’s initials, and a set of spying eyes, peeping slyly to one side, above a partially filled out sample test."

- Theo finding the school book where the painting was supposed to be, with Boris and Kotku's marks.

Fanon
Boris x Kotku is an infamous ship in The Goldfinch fandom because of the detail most people point out in the relationship: Boris was only 15 when he started dating Kotku, who is 18. Most people, if not everyone, sees this age gap as predatory and that they shouldn't be dating because of that. Kotku, as a character, is heavily disliked because of this relationship bringing their overall popularity down. They are also a rival to Boreo, which is the most famous ship of the Goldfinch fandom, basically making this ship almost unshippable. Even so, the few people that like this pairing like to explore and analyze their relationship and their backgrounds that lead them to that, or just justifying the age gap arguing that everyone in the Vegas arc did worse and that the book itself doesn't have the moral ground to dictate relationships, after all even Boreo with all its fame isn't a healthy example of a good couple. Others like this pairing in a polyship with Theo, joking that Boris was definitely planning that in the long run.

Fandom
FAN FICTION