The Smoker on the Balcony
Harry has a crush on the Smoker on the Balcony, but is too clueless to realise what it is, despite Kim's amusement. If the player then talks to the Smoker on the Balcony, he'll joke to him that as a homo-sexual he is trying to destroy the boundaries of man and woman, to create a future where 'no one knows what they are'. Harry can then respond that all he knows about himself is that he likes disco - does this mean he is a homo-sexual? After spending eight hours mulling over thoughts about your sexuality (which both the Smoker on the Balcony and Kim will advise you not to do because it is stupid), he will come to the conclusion that obsessing over sexuality is a stupid waste of time, before immediately quizzing Kim on whether or not he is a homo-sexual. (He is.)
Harry and Kim
Harry and Kim appear to share a relationship that is a little too close for typical buddy cops:
- Kim's tolerance of Harry's terrible behaviour is difficult to explain unless Kim has genuine affection for Harry. He looks after him for the whole game, and also is highly protective of him, trying to shield him from learning about things that might cause him to Go Mad from the Revelation and stepping in to prevent him acting on his truly worst and stupidest impulses. In the ending, if the player keeps Kim from getting shot, he'll nurse him back to health, and will defend him from the rest of the Precinct if the player tried to cultivate a good relationship with him. On first encountering Kim, if Harry has a high enough PSY stat, he will intuit that Kim would die for him. Kim will also show his Not So Above It All moments for Harry's sake, such as raving in the church, or participating in a silly nodding contest. Kim is also willing to pawn off a set of hubcaps that he was going to use on his beloved car for Harry's sake, something that obviously distresses him.
- Harry also seems admiring of Kim, constantly fussing over what Kim feels about him, and often having the opportunity to seek his approval. His Electrochemistry stat (which determines his obsessions with drugs and sex) will gush over how cool Kim looks while watching him smoke, and after first taking the psychedelic pyrholidon, Harry gets loved-up and experiences an intense feeling of kinship with Kim. Harry frequently experiences urges to show off to Kim about things that will impress him, such as showing off his level of knowledge of car trivia.
- During the Heroic Sacrifice of the Horrific Necktie, it is proud of him for having found Kim, in a I Want My Beloved to Be Happy kind of way, urging him to treat Kim well as he will never find another one like him, in many ways.
- Likewise, if you choose to read the Dick Mullen book, it will be happy that you've found Kim.Dick Mullen: Just make sure you don't lose him. You'll not find another like him...
Esprit de Corps: It's true in more ways than you know. - During the ending, having a high Electrochemistry skill colludes with Authority to produce an... interesting observation about Kim.Authority: As if he recalled that he's, in fact, a decorated police lieutenant, and not a naughty boy.
Electrochemistry: The two aren't mutually exclusive. - Kim is invested in Harry's appearance. He seems interested in Harry's "bicep girth" (an animatic was made pointing out how out-of-place his comment was for the situation
), points out that he'd be very handsome if he cleaned himself up a little, and judges him on his fashion (with high Composure you can even give him style tips he will sincerely consider). If the player chooses to shave, Harry may excitedly show Kim his new look in the hope of getting approval for it, and is disappointed when Kim admits he doesn't really like it.- If you insult Kim's wardrobe, he'll retort that Harry should take style notes from him if he wants to "wake up next to anyone other than Commodore Red."
- During the karaoke scene, the player has the option to dedicate the song to Kim, which he seems genuinely moved by. The narration notes Kim is incapable of blushing, but would blush if he could. Kim will gush over your performance if you nail the song, but if you fail the check, causing everyone to jeer at you, Kim still praises the performance in a way that seems backhanded but that Empathy will assure you is genuine. As you only want to do karaoke anyway to show off the depths of your soul, it is encouraging that Kim is the one who really cares about what you have in those depths.
- While being bullied by Cuno and Cunoesse, Cuno may suggest that the pigs got into a house by dressing Kim up as a prostitute. If the player character agrees that this is what they did, your Espirit de Corps stat may read that Kim is thinking that if they were going to dress as prostitutes, Harry would make the better one, not him. If you are wearing the Party Dragon Silk Robe at the time (found in a place being used by two homo-sexual underground members as a hookup spot), Kim's thought changes to the idea that if Harry was going to say Kim was the prostitute, he should at least say that while wearing something less slutty than his current outfit.
- The motion designer for the game, Timo Albert, recreated a very homoerotic viral dance video in the game, casting Harry as the sexy woodcutter, Jean (Harry's former police partner) as the hateful ex, and Kim (Harry's partner during the game) as the sexy admirer.
- The official Twitter account for the game posted shippy Harry/Kim fanart for Valentine's Day 2021. The next year, ZA/UM artist/designer Kaspar Tamsalu posted this edit of an implicitly romantic J.C. Leyendecker painting two days before Valentine's.
- If you (with high Empathy) suggest to Kim you drive his car under the hanged man and stand on top of it to get the corpse down, you'll sense his horrified reaction, and can revise your suggestion to you taking him piggyback. Kim immediately shoots back that he could take you piggyback, in a flirtatious manner. As if that wasn't enough, Cunoesse then outright remarks that she "wish[es] they'd fuck already."
- If Harry becomes interested in the book "Dick Mullen and the Secret Identity", and rejects the narration's initial suggestions as to why he is into it, the narration will eventually point out that the reason he is into it is because the lady in the red dress on the cover is giving Harry a massive hard-on. Kim will notice this from the other side of the room, and (if Harry tries to downplay the embarrassment by rearranging his trousers) grin.
- The book on the Medicinal Purposes of the Pale recommends stripping naked and walking in the Pale while meditating. If Harry admits he doesn't want to take off his pants because Kim is there, the book will recommend that Kim is even more repressed than he is, and that they should both take their pants off and get to know their bodies together.
- If Harry isn't able to maintain Composure when hearing Klaasje's name, Kim will demand to know how Harry knows the woman. All of the dialogue options (from refusing to talk about it to telling Kim the truth) lead to Kim having an uncharacteristically irritated reaction, calling Harry "unprofessional" over and over, in a way which implies he thinks something might have gone on between Harry and Klaasje and is jealous.
- In The Final Cut, when reading the Communist magazine La Fumée, you can ask Kim if you're going to Samara on the case, because you think it would be fun to participate in the Samaran national sport of bear wrestling. Kim apparently likes the mental image of you wrestling a bear.
- In The Final Cut's Communist Vision Quest:
- If Harry tries to sniff Kim to find out if he is a Communist, the smell of his aftershave will delight Electrochemistry, which says it "sends your GABA-receptors aflutter". note
- In Harry's interview to join the infra-materialist reading group, you can discuss the politics of the board game Suzerainty (if you played it). If Harry then says that games, for him, are about getting to spend time with Kim, Kim will respond either that Harry is only saying this because he "likes getting thrashed like a schoolboy" (if he won), "he got the better of me somehow" (if he lost), or that "[ties are] like kissing your sister... or, I suppose, your partner" (if you tied). Whatever he says, Steban will calmly acknowledge that 'this is a forward-thinking group'.
- In The Final Cut's Fascism Vision Quest:
- Your Endurance gives you a fantasy of an aerostatic representing 'a second chance at love' which you are on, with your ex. You can ask your Endurance to let Kim be on the ship too.
- After becoming The Icebreaker, Kim is clearly disturbed by your new look as well as the horrible politics you have been exploring, but, so long as you don't express anything completely delusional and insane (which will lead to him screaming in your face), he acts with obvious compassion towards you, with your Skills pointing out that, despite you transforming yourself into a Horrifying Hero who is "even a terror to yourself", he has no fear of you. He is empathetic towards the pain that led you to do it, making kind jokes about it as if he sees what you are inside, and reaching out and touching you affectionately on the arm in a way that makes you feel better about what just happened.
- In The Final Cut's Ultraliberal quest, when Idiot Doom Spiral says "I'm your man", you can tell him you're already taken and nod at Kim.
- In The Final Cut's Moralist quest, the only way to continue on the correct timeline is to abandon your ideology for Kim's sake. Afterwards, Kim will thank you, and you will have an emotional reunion where he assures you that you did the right thing, even if you may not feel like you did right now.
- If you cheer Kim on when he lays it into the Racist Lorry Driver, the Driver will mockingly say that "you make a cute couple".
Harry and Jean
- Jean's feelings towards Harry have a definite vibe of a jilted ex. Jean takes it extremely personally that Harry has forgotten who he is, and a high Physical Instrument Harry has the option to 'silently start flexing' at him, at which point a) Jean immediately recognizes "the fucking muscle thing" and b) your Inland Empire chimes in to tell you he's "secretly admiring your sea of muscles".
- Harry's narration appreciates Jean's physique, noting that he's ripped.
- Jean will fly into a rage if you approach him while wearing the "PISSF***T" jacket, complaining that if 'the liberals' see it, they will force the RCM to do sensitivity training. If you point out that nobody else in Revachol reacted to the jacket other than him, Jean doesn't have a good answer to it.
Harry and Measurehead
Of all people, Harry and Measurehead have a strange homoerotic relationship in The Final Cut's Fascism vision quest:
- Harry's Electrochemistry suggests you might be able to distract Measurehead by offering him "light bondage".
- Your chat with Measurehead gets pretty quickly into Harry admiringly asking him about his sexual techniques, though Measurehead refuses to pass them on as he believes it is a journey every man must take on his own.
- Electrochemistry also points out how much better looking than Harry Measurehead is - connecting to one of the potential scenes at the end of the quest, in which Endurance chides Harry for wanting the gorgeous Semenese males taking the Revacholian women to also take him from behind, too.
- After your hangout with Measurehead, Kim asks you what the two of you were getting up to in there, and the majority of your answers end up giving Kim the impression the two of you had sex, which Kim will make a point of not interrogating you on any further."We became one."
"I was like a blind horse when he *led* me to water and made me drink." - For one option when you're telling Kim what you and Measurehead were discussing, Kim will comment that Harry is starting to remind him of René, who elsewhere on the Fascism quest is revealed to be repressing his love for Gaston.
Klaasje and Ruby
- After finding out that Klaasje has smeared her as a Stalker with a Crush, Ruby claims she and Klaasje had a consensual relationship and even 'fooled around'.
René and Gaston
- A difficult Empathy check with René (as part of the Fascist questline in The Final Cut) reveals that René has a dark, hidden love inside him that he spent his whole life repressing, and that "no-one will ever know him". It's never explicitly stated, but the implication is that the Love Triangle the two old men spent their entire lives in was, for René, a displacement for him actually being in love with Gaston.
- After René's death, Gaston will admit he loved René. The way he phrases it it could just be platonic, but maybe...
Other
- After seeing Acele using a contact mic, you may get the prompt, 'your mangled brain would like you to know that there is a boxer named Contact Mike'. Harry then becomes fixated on his total greatness, gushing about Mike to random strangers, including having the option of dedicating his karaoke to him ("Everyone else sucks!").
- Harry's fandom for former disco star Guillaume le Million also seems to have an edge of the homoerotic, as the Mirror's narration describes Harry as always having the option to 'swoon over Guillaume le Million's champagne-cork smile' and the Problem half of the Guillaume le Million thought suggests you are stuck contemplating his 'perfect ass'. Harry is strangely, disproportionately uncomfortable about the Andro-Orlando hair salon, but comments that the hair model advertising the salon 'looks like Guillaume le Million'.
- Harry has a strangely homoerotic reaction to the rotting corpse. He may become obsessed with the idea of the corpse experiencing sexual pleasure, gets a Does This Remind You of Anything? sequence of digging the bullet out of him, and can stroke his hair, fondle his penis (repeatedly), flirt with him (using Inland Empire) and even taste a soup made from his boiled flesh. This appears to be a symbol of how Harry relates himself to the corpse, seeing it in his place during a Dream Sequence.
- If the player chooses to interrogate Gary the Cryptofascist on if he is wearing anal beads, Kim will indicate that you wouldn't be able to hear if he was. Harry, apparently, has no idea what anal beads are, and thinks they are a fashion accessory worn by crossdressers to 'destroy the gender binary'. He then has the option to be supportive of Gary, and encourage him to be more open about his views.
- The "Medicinal Properties of the Pale" book also recommends being whipped with a sprig of birch bark grown in the near-pale, and suggests you get a huge, burly man to do it to you.
