Tom and Ulli: VL's first gay supercouple

[lolaruns]

Anybody who remembers them is invited to share, memories, opinions, newspaper clippings, vids...

Somebody uploaded the infamous Tom and Ulli New Year's Eve boink on youtube with subtitles.

I'm opening this topic to read up a bit on their history, sadly the VL archive from those days has only tiny pictures.



January 11th, 12th, 13th: Tom and Ulli sleep together. They are caught by Ulli's brother Nick who reacts badly to the situation. He thinks Ulli is just going though "a phase". Ulli wants to stand by to anyway. Nick and Ulli get news that Heino died.

January 18th, 19th: After the funeral Nick is still mad. Tom used to be a close friend of Nick and tries to talk to him, but is rebuffed. Later Nick is friendlier to Ulli who thinks that Nick is coming around. He is shocked when he finds out about the accusations Nick made against Tom. Ulli tells Nick that if he doesn't accept Tom then he (Nick) can take a hike.

January 20th: Ulli is sad that Nick still hasn't come around, but their flatmate is missing and Tom and Ulli go out looking for him.

January 26th: Their friend Milli lashes out at Tom and Ulli because she thinks that they haven't been good friends to their flatmate who got in trouble. (this showcases how longely Milli is)

January 28th: Ulli still suffers because the relationship with his brother Nick is so frosty. Nick encourages him to deal with the question whether he really is gay now. Ulli insists that that isn't the issue, that he is just happy with Tom. But when Tom and Ulli are accosted by gay-haters on the street Tom has to realize that he can't really oppose being categorized as gay whether he wants to or not.
January 31st: Nick saves his brohter from the gay haters. Ulli uses this as a reason to put some distance between him and Tom. Nick again urges him to deal with his feelings for Tom. Ulli says that he really does love Tom, but that he might never be able to "live it" (German expression, along the lines of "express it/express is openly").
February 1st: Tom slowly comes around seeing Ulli's side of the story and this desire to see his love for Tom and being gay or not gay as a separate issue. After Ulli makes up with Nick he dvelves into his work at the bistro. There Tom has to witness how Ulli denies their association in public.
February 2nd: Deeply hurt Tom leaves the bistro. While Ulli blames himself Nick goes after Tom to comfort him and the two friends make up. Ulli apologizes sincerely to Tom and Tom says that he forgives him but will need time to deal with it.

Next episode Febuary 11th... (will continue reading there later)

[lolaruns]

Feb 11th, 14th: Tom is still crabby about Ulli denying him in public. Ulli surprises him with breakfast in bed. Tom says not to try to divert the attention from the real problem at hand, whether Ulli is ready stand by their relationship in public. Ulli then suprises him with the most romantic declaration of love. The sign Ulli made to showcase their love it met with a confused reaction. Ulli then kisses Tom in pulic in front of everybody and Tom is happy.

Feb 25th, 28th: Their friend Milli (from Jan 26th spoiler) has a drug related breakdown (Milli is Ulli's Coco). Tom and Ulli want to help her but aren't sure how. Finally Tom is the one who approaches her to fix their friendship. Later Ulli does the same. [probable some presence of either of them in subsequent episodes about Milli trying to turn her dealer in to the authorities, but it's not mentioned in the summaries]

March 13th: Tom supports Nick in his romantic entanglements with Milli. Tom suggests that Nick has fallen in love with Milli.

March 24th, 27th, 28th, 29th: Tom's little sister Alexa shows up in the flatshare. Tom has to deal with the situation when Alexa steals somebody's credit card.

April 5th, 6th, 7th, 10th, 11th: More little sister troubles. Something about blackmail and a faked abduction and whatever. It seems to be designed to hook up Alexa and Christian and for Tom to do a lot stern talking. [holy shit that sounds like some boring ass storylines; I think I'm gonna declare to be Tom and Ulli's Judith]

April 12th. 13th: Apparently Alexa and her bf try to keep Tom and Ulli from finding out some truth, Ulli is held for questioning or something. Tom is worried about him. The police stands in front of their door. Tom can't bring himself to turn his sister in but does want to send her to boarding school.

April 14th, 17th: Alexa is supposed to leave with her parents. Fabian ChristianII is heartbroken.

April 25th, 26th, 27th: First Fabian ChristianII interrupts Tom and Ulli while they are trying to "exchange tendernesses" then, when they have successfully gotten him out of the flatshare and want to start their evening Alexa stands in front of the door. Alexa begs to be allowed to live with them. Tom says he'll think about it. Alexa ruins her chances big time when she stumles into Tom and Ulli's bedroom with food she prepared for them Judiths, cockblocking gay love since 2000 Tom wants to kick Alexa out of the WG. Not even Ulli can change his mind. Just as Alexa is ready to accept his decision Tom "suprirsingly" changes his mind.

April 28th: Little sister curfew drama.

May 2nd, 3th: Alexa is trying to be a good flatmate. When Tom and Ulli finally want to spend some alone time together, she doesn't tell Ulli that he is needed at Schneiders. As a result Charlie considers firing Ulli. "Whacky" Alexa hijinks as she tries to fix the situation.

May 10th, 11th: Alexa tries to make things up to Ulli by organizing a romantic evening for Tom and Ulli. When Ulli thanks her by kissing her on the cheek she falls in love with him. Fabian ChristianII tries to win Alexa's heart.

May 18th, 19th: Alexa tries to get Ulli to tutor her in math and interprets that as a romantic thing. Instead Tom suggests he and Ulli go to a literature evening, which causes Ulli to turn the tutoring lesson over to Fabian ChristianII, much to Alexa's chagrin. When Ulli raves about poetry to Alexa she changes her opinion on the subject. Fabian ChristianII sends her another anonymous letter with a poem and is shocked when she just hands them on to Ulli as a declaration of love from her.

May 22nd: Tom and Ulli wonder who sent Ulli the love letter. Alexa gets her hopes up when Ulli says he feels flattered, but then is down again when she sees Tom and Ulli flirting.

May 26th: Fabian ChristianII is jealous because Alexa has only eyes for Ulli...

[lolaruns]

May 26th: Fabian ChristianII is jealous because Alexa has only eyes for Ulli. Alexa tries to slander Tom to Ulli (whoa, nice little sister). Ulli won't have it. Alexa approaches Fabian ChristianII because she wants to get him to help her get closer to Ulli.

May 27th, 28th: Fabian ChristianII refuses to help Alexa. Alexa lies and promises that she'll give up on Ulli. When Tom gives Ulli a shirtless massages Alexa jumps and takes over. Tom is amused, Fabian ChristianII is incensed. Alexa pretends the whole thing was just a practical joke. Tom and Ulli don't get suspicious, but surmise that Fabian ChristianII is in love with Alexa. Alexa convinces Fabian ChristianII not stay quiet.

June 8th, 9th, 13th: Alexa pretend to no longer be into Ulli and agress to go out with him. Secretly she still wants to get close to Ulli. She dresses up for him while Ulli assumes that she is dressing up for Fabian ChristianII. But when Fabian ChristianII arrives early he overhears Alexa saying that she could never fall in love with a loser like him. Fabian ChristianII is angry and tells Alexa he isn't going to help her anymore. Alexa pretends in front of Ulli that Fabian ChristianII broke up with her and that she is heartbroken. She gets Ulli to offer her comfort in the form of a video night. Alexa is excited, gets really drunk and plants a kiss on the suprised Ulli. She blames it all on the alcohol. When Tom returns she does everything to keep him from finding out. When she can finally talk to Ulli he agrees that he is not gonna tell everybody and to her disappointment says that he didn't take it seriously anyway.

June 16th, 19th, 20th: Alexa doesn't have much time for Ulli anymore because of his job, but Ulli is sympathetic even when Tom doesn't have time to go the movies with him. The scheming Alexa places two movie tickets in Tom's jacket to make it look like Tom is going to the movies with somebody else and lying about it. Ulli finds the tickets and confronts Tom. Alexa is happy when Tom and Ulli fight and tries to feed Ulli's supicions. When she sees Ulli's suffering she experiences pangs of guilt, but can't help her feelings for Ulli. She is disappointed when Tom and Ulli make up. All the more a shock when Ulli hears somebody male on the call recorder thanking Tom for the nice evening. Alexa's plan to make Ulli believe that Tom is having an affair seems to be working. Tom gets annoyed by Ulli's suspicions. When Alexa sees how much both Ulli and Tom are suffering she feels bad and hopes that things between them will work out.

June 26th, 27th, 28th: The mood in the flatshare is still down. Alexa tries to make up for what she did by trying to convince Ulli that Tom is faithful. When Fabian ChristianII confronts her she confesses. Meanwhile, Tom moves out of the flatshare. When Alexa finds a completely distraught Ulli she tells him everything about her scheming ways. Ulli is horrified when he hears the truth. Alexa won't say why she did it. Alexa wants to move out. When Tom comes back he confronts Alexa and demands a reason for her behavior. When Alexa confesses that she's in love with Ulli, Tom and Ulli don't know how to deal with it. Alexa wants to move back in with her parents.

July 11th: Alexa is on trial for something and has to do social hours. Tom is there for support.

July 17th: A friend wants to do something with Tom, Ulli and Kati, but none of them have time for him.

July 24th, 25th: Ulli supports Tom when Tom has to prepare a big exam. He hopes that after this Tom will have more time for him. He prepares a big surprise for Tom. When Tom comes home he announces that he's got a job offer, but in another city. Ulli is hurt. Alexa is angry because she is afraid she'll be sent back to her parents. In private Tom suggest that Ulli come with him to that other city. Fabian ChristianII isn't happy about the prospect of the flatshare being split up and tells Ulli he will end up as "Arztgattin/doctor's wife" if he goes with Tom. Another friend suggest Tom and Ulli could have a long distance relationship. Tom realizes that the whole flatshare is against him moving out.

July 27th: Tom and Ulli offer that two friends of them move into the flatshare because their normal place under water. This causes fights in the flatshare.

August 4th, 7th: Ulli had assumed that Tom's job offer no longer was issue. Tom's boss informs him that he has to make his decision. Tom wants to talk to Ulli about it, but the boss assumes that Tom has already agreed and breaks the news. Ulli is hurt and feels like he's been lied to. He tells Tom that if Tom leaves he can forget about the relationship. Tom can't get Ulli to calm down and withdraws. Then he turns down the job offer to Ulli. Meanwhile Ulli talks to Charlie about his disappointment in Tom. Charlie offers him to build up a Schneider franchise in another city. Ulli realizes that many things are problematic in his relationship with Tom. He tells Tom that maybe it could be good if they didn't see each other for a while.

August 8th, 9th: Tom is hurt that Ulli considers leaving town for Charlie when Tom just turned down his job offer for Ulli. Ulli feels guilty and turns Charlie down, but Tom and Ulli's reconciliation is shortlived. After a fight they go their separate ways. Alexa tries to act as a go between the two. She makes a date with each of them at the cafe. A hesitant reconciliation takes place. But not all is well.

August 14th, 16th, 17th: After their hesitant reconciliation Tom and Ulli get into another fight. Ulli accuses Tom of being an egoist and isn't willing to reconciliate even when they run into each other at a friend's party. Ulli tries to distract himself at a gay club and engages in a flirt with Lukas who is hitting on him (wait, is that the same Lukas as Olli's Lukas?). When Ulli wakes up in Lukas bed the next day with a huge hangover he is shocked about his own actions. The fact that they didn't sleep together isn't a comfort to Ulli, because he was still ready to cheat on Tom. His bad conscience is amplified when Tom immediately apologizes for their fight. Ulli realizes he can't close his eyes to what is happening and confesses that he spent the night with Lukas. Tom is angry about his almost cheating and won't listen to his attempts at reconiliation. With Nina he shows the depth of his despair. When Ulli tries to approach him again he realizes how much Ulli regrets his behavior and that this cheating attempt is just the result of deeper, underlying relationship problems that they can only hope to solve together.

August 21st: Ulli and Tom try to get along, but Ulli feels insecure.

[lolaruns]

August 21st, 22nd: Tom and Ull try to be friendly with each other. Ulli turns down Charlie's offer again, but when Tom takes him along to a party with his doctor friends he feels like the fifth wheel. Ull realizes that he desires recognition and to create something of his own. He confides in Charlie who tells him that it would destroy his relationship on the long run if Ulli ignores his wishes and is unhappy. Finally, with lots of guilt, Ulli decides to go to Munich for Charlie. Tom if taken aback. Tom is wounded by Ulli's decision to leave and fears that this will be the creeping end of their relationship, but decides that he can't stand in Ulli's way. Ulli is happy about Tom's mature reaction. While he looks forward to his new job Tom tries to suppress his fears and manages to put on a brave face during Ulli's goodbye. But as soon as Ulli is gone Tom breaks down crying.

August 23rd: Tom's flatmates have to comfort him.

September 5th: Tom looks forward to seeing Ulli who is coming to town because of the weekend, but Ulli's flight is delayed and he only arrives after Tom already had to leave for the night shift. Both look forward to seeing each other when Tom comes home but when he does he only finds a note from Ulli that he had to leave for job reasons. Tom is deeply disappointed.

September 6th: Ulli is excited about his new job and keeps going on about it to Charlie and suggests that he will accept the job on a permanent basis while the frustrated Tom goes to bed. When they finally meet up and plan a romantic day together a call comes in calling Ulli back to Munich. Tom thinks that Ulli will get sick of this stressfull job soon. When he meets up with Charlie she congratulates him on being so understanding of Ulli taking the job on a permanent basis. Tom is shocked by this news.

September 7th: Tom is deeply hurt. Not even his friends can comfort him. His ownly hope is that it is all a misunderstanding that that Ulli hasn't decided in favor of Munich yet. But when Ulli keeps going on and on about the bistro and barely spends any time with Tom, Tom accuses Ulli of having already decided in favor of Munich.

September 8th: Ulli finally admit that he wants to move to Munich. Tom is very disappointed but tries to get used to the idea of a long distance relationship. To show his willingness to reconciliate he gives Ulli a picture telephone. When they try it out together it beings to sink in to Tom what Ulli's decision really means. He breaks down crying and begs Ulli to stay.

Septerber 11th: A helpless Ulli tries to comfort Tom, but doesn't want to take his decision back. At the train station Tom makes it clears that he loves Ulli too much for a long distance relationship and wants them to go on a break. Ulli feels like he has been kicked in the gut and tries to change Tom's mind in the last minute.

[lolaruns]

~~~~~~~ And here the part about how they got together. ~~~~~

Ulli was still dating Coco Milli when he met Tom.



The key moments:

- Ulli meets Tom and distrusts Tom's story of being an old friend of Nick's. Coco Milli encourages him to be nicer to Tom, but they come to blows and Tom moves out. Nick confirms Tom's story and Ulli has to apologize to Tom.

- Ulli still dislikes Tom and insists that he is annoying and obnoxious. He has an injury on his leg and is getting blood poisoning. Milli, Tom and everybody else tells him to have to checked by a doctor but he refuses. Then he faints on the job. Tom saves him.

- Ulli promises Charlie that he'll be back to work soon, but then is told he has to stay at the hospital. He is afraid that he will lose his job because a restaurant critic is coming to Charlie's place. Tom lies to his boss to get out of clinic duty and takes over both the job of the cook and the waiter at Charlie's. The restaurant cricit is happy, but Tom runs into his boss who fires him.

- Ulli pleads with the boss to take Tom back. Boss doesn't want to take Tom back. Tom trouble finding a new internship and contemplates moving to another city. In the last minute the boss gives him another chance.

- Ulli and Coco Milli have trouble finding time for each other. Tom gives helpful relationship advice. Ulli and Milli plan an out of town weekend together.

- Tom raves about climbing in the mountains near where they are staying. He takes them to learn climbing. Coco Milli injures her leg while Ulli has a lot of fun. When Milli sees how disappointed Ulli is that he has to stay in she encourages Tom and Ulli to go alone.

- During the rock climbing trip Tom and Ulli come into a storm, are soaking wet and have to take their clothes off to warm themselves on the fire. In this situation Tom confesses to Ulli that he is gay. [ I so want to see those scenes ]

- Ulli freaks and breaks off the trip. Then he lies to Milli and says he came back earlier because of her. Tom swears up and down that he wasn't trying to hit on Ulli. Ulli has trouble acting not weirded out around Tom. Ulli and Tom talk about that. Tom confesses to ChristianII that he is falling in love with Ulli.

- Tom suffers because he has to watch Ulli and Milli be happy with each other and wants to move out. Ulli thinks that Tom is moving out because of Ulli being awkward around him. Ulli tells Tom that he wants to see the "gay scene" so he can learn not to be so awkward around Tom. Tom is weirded out but then eventually takes him to a party where Ulli has a lot of fun. At the end Ulli gets accosted by a male gogo dancer and Tom saves him.

- After their trip to the gay scene Ulli wonders why a good looking guy like Tom doesn't have a boyfriend. He becomes convinced that Tom must have a secret lover. He becomes convinced that Christian II is that secert lover. When they deny it he becomes convinced that Tom is unhappily in love with a straight ChristianII and begins to comfort Tom over his woes with ChristianII.

- He is so annoying that Tom blurts out that Ulli is the guy he is in love with. Ulli is freaked out. Tom wants to move out. Ulli doesn't want Tom to move out. Both promise that they will deal with it.

- Tom and Ulli argue about Tom being in love with Ulli and Ulli now always being awkward around Tom when Gregor Nick walks in. They lie and pretend they were talking about something else. Ulli doesn't want Gregor Nick to know that Tom is in love with him but Nick guesses as much on his own. Ulli is very displeased with that.

- Ulli is distraught when Heino dies. He can't accept Milli's comfort, but can accept Tom's and they kiss. Ulli claims the kiss was only an accident. Tom wants Ulli to be truthful about his feelings. Tom warns Ulli to try to suppress hif feelings. Ulli tries to prove his heterosexuality with Milli, but then she wants to have sex with him he flees. Ulli talks to a friend and she tells him to stand by his feelings for Tom. Coco Milli grills Ulli about why he has been acting to strange laterly. Rather than give her an explanation he breaks up with her.

- Milli is unhappy and distraught that Ulli doesn't want to tell her why he broke up with her. Nick tries to grill Ulli about the reason. Ulli keeps lying and says they just grew apart. Milli walks in on Ulli and Tom kissing. She doesn't tell Nick, but tells him that Ulli apparently fell for somebody else.

- Nick grills Ulli about that other person. Ulli keeps lying about it. Tom wants him to be truthful. Ulli tells Nick he has another girlfriend. He hires a girl from his office to be his girlfriend. However Nick sees the fake girlfriend with her real boyfriend and thinks that she is cheating on Ulli. Ulli confesses that he lied about that girl, but still doesn't tell his brother that he is in love with a guy. Tom is disappointed that Ulli still won't tell the truth.

- Tom is so hurt that Ulli won't stand by his feelings that he wants to move out. Instead, Ulli comes for him and New Year's Eve boink happens ;D