Boris humming ‘if you close the door the night could last forever’ as he and Theo are standing outside at the curb, waiting for the cab that’ll take Theo away (possibly for forever, he’d have to finally open the package to check, realize he stole the painting, and he’d never speak to Boris again) before the sun even rises.
Boris and Theo laying on Theo’s bed, orange peels and beer cans strewn across the carpeted floor, hum from the vents, popper curled up near their feet, moonlight coming in through the window, and each of them having one earbud in with after hours by the velvet underground playing. Neither of them able to think of a future without both of them in it
I can’t separate those in my head
i'm so sorry! school just started for me and i got so caught up but now but NOW i'm here!! i'm ready:
God, that part kills me. And! not only is it the same song but Theo says Boris is humming "a line from one of my mother's Velvet Underground songs". A song that already reminds him of loss is now getting one more layer added on!
Also what's so heartbreaking to me is Theo trying to outrun loss and grief again, and he's so frantically trying to move move move as if in the next second everything around him will get torn away... but Boris isn't leaving, he's following him room to room as he packs and then waiting outside with him. Boris is trying to get Theo to stay a few days. Now, we know that's for painting-related reasons, but he's the only one trying to get Theo to stay put and not go back to New York. Because, like, if Theo was (rightfully) scared of Child Services coming, why not hide from them/hide out in Boris's house with him? No, Theo is going all the way back to New York. He's going home, he's revealing where is home to him. He wants his old life back and that frames Vegas as a bubble he can just get in a cab and leave behind.
It makes Boris's humming feel like a very bittersweet, almost resigned, reminder of what they used to promise to each other: they weren't planning futures that didn't have the other in it!! That was the plan--Boris thought he'd have ALL the time in the world to return the painting to Theo (and if needed, apologize and repent for taking it). But suddenly, not only is that plan unraveling before his eyes, but the safety of companionship is hurrying off to catch a Lucky Cab and leave him too! Because, from Boris's perspective, it's almost like, well why aren't they running together? Why aren't they sticking it out together? Shutting the door on the world and consequences to have their future, to be able to figure it out as two people (not one person just following the other...). Or even if it's just to hide out for the few hours left of night, at least they'd have those hours together. The memories could last them forever. But instead... Theo is sprinting away as if whatever he's afraid of could possibly be stronger than their friendship with (and co-dependence on) each other.
Theo hears Boris humming and is reminded of his first devastating loss, while Boris is humming as his own quiet acknowledgment that he's about to lose Theo.
