Boreo

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

Canon
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, at first Theo's father is concerned about Boris being in his home all the time but quickly shakes it off. 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 leave's 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 he love's Boris.

"I say that now, though it was something I regretted bitterly for a while. More than anything I was relieved that in my unfamiliar babbling-and-wanting-to-talk state I'd stopped myself from blurting the thing on the edge of my tongue, the thing I'd never said, even though it was something we both knew well enough without me saying it out loud to him on the street- which was of course, I love you."

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.

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' 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

Theo/Boris tag on A03