#if Thorsten not gay WHAT THEN?!?!?!

[bibastibootz]

Tatort Stuttgart Szenen, bei denen ich jedes Mal den Verstand verliere (1/∞)

[tillthereweretangents]

Paul and Icke (part 4 of N)

On New Year's Eve 1962 (going into 1963) the Beatles played the last gig of their final Hamburg residency.

On the first of January 1963 Icke drove Paul to the airport. Icke gives no explanation as to why Paul wasn't with the other Beatles, or how he came to be driving Paul to the airport, but based on the other things we've already talked about we have theories. (Could this night have inspired songs such as an early draft of Goodbye or The Night Before? The point being, we wonder if Paul stayed with Icke and they had relations.)

The Beatles last performances at the Star was Dec 18 -31st, 1962 . On New Years day, they were due to go back to England. I took Paul in my little beetle car to the airport, where he met with the others. Then the announcement came that the flight to London was delayed by four hours. Wonderful I thought, I have more time to hang out with them. It was in these last hours that I could talk to them all on the same level; because what happened in the next few months in England, at the crazy speed it developed, none of us, the Beatles or the fans could have imagined. The next time I saw them, they were absolute world stars and they lived in a different world. That time in the airport bar we were still thinking that in a few months, they would be appearing at the Star Club again .

Icke driving Paul to the airport also gets mentioned in The Beatles Mach Schau in Hamburg by Thorsten Knublauch

This book has so far proven impossible to get our hands on. Thanks to @muzaktomyears for the photo!

On January 1st, 1963 Astrid Kirchherr and Icke Braun brought the Beatles to Fuhlsbüttel airport. Betty and Ruth were also there to say goodbye. The plane was delayed for several hours due to harsh winter weather and they stayed at the bar. Icke, who brought Paul to the airport in his VW Beetle, remembers a conversation with John who said: "Did you know, for a year and a half I thought you were gay and a fan of us because of that ..." It was a strange situation, recalls Icke.

The citation (Mach Shau) is a book we're hoping to have access to soon. So there may be more insights on this coming!

Why did John bring up Icke's sexuality after he brought Paul to the airport? Why does it sound like something convinced John that Icke _wasn't_ gay? Answers on a postcard to the usual address.

Original German

Ihre letzten Auftritte im Star-Club hatten die Beatles vom 18. bis zum 31. Dezember 1962 gehabt. Am Neujahrsmorgen sollte es zurück nach England gehen. Ich brachte Paul in meinem Käfer nach Fuhlsbüttel, wo er mit den anderen zusam-mentraf. Dann kam die Durchsage, dass der Flug nach London vier Stunden Verspätung hätte. Wunderbar, dachte ich, dann habe ich ja noch jede Menge Zeit, mit ihnen zu klönen. Es waren die allerletzten Stunden, in denen ich noch auf Augenhöhe mit ihnen reden konnte. Was dann in den nächsten Monaten in England passierte, und mit welcher wahnwitzigen Geschwindigkeit, das hatte keiner von uns vorhergesehen, weder wir Fans noch die Beatles selber. Es war wie ein Wunder. Als ich sie das nächste Mal wieder sah, waren sie die absoluten Weltstars und lebten in einer anderen Welt. Damals in der Flughafenbar gingen sie und wir alle noch davon aus, dass sie in einigen Monaten wieder im Star-Club auftreten würden.

[weidli]

SORRY FOR BARGING ONTO YOUR POST LIKE THIS but i started rambling in tags and then realized that 1. i wanted to add photo evidence 2. it was gonna be way too fucking long for tumblr tags. i shall put it under a cut at least

long story short i have thought about this lots and i have strong opinions but i cannot remember if i ever talked about it on here before. my thesis statement is they started falling in love about the same time, basti was quicker about it, but thorsten was aware it was happening first.

let me elaborate. (dangerous words from a law student)

ERSTER TITEL: initial meeting. i am sure we are all more than familiar with their first scene in hart an der grenze:

single beat of silence.

(and then basti backs off and asks why thorsten's come to stuttgart and thorsten, being thorsten, gives an entirely truthful and incredibly unhelpful answer, and sebastian gives the champagne thorsten didn't take to alvarez. great start, boys, you're doing splendid)

(there are only two kinds of stories a man goes on a journey and a stranger comes to town and thorsten has committed fully to being the stranger)

Okay. those of you who have seen the terror. i'm not saying it's the same thing. but there certainly are Similarities. young pretty dark haired fellow. has everything you'd think a man like him could want. gets along well with nearly everyone. achieved a relatively high position at a relatively young age and not particularly shy about it. and then there's this OTHER fucking guy blond and short and solid and definitely a chunk older who walks in and takes one measuring look and suddenly.

Look, I don't think there's much inside of Thorsten left alive at this point. He died on that sidewalk in Hamburg. He died when the doctor gave him the news. He died on impact. It's just that his heart's beating after all, and he still has his mind and all his limbs and so he takes the transfer south and doesn't change his name and resolves to do his job. he's not prepared to be emotionally invested in anything, let alone in love.

and Sebastian thinks he's won life! He's thirty-one! His colleagues like him! He's great at his job! He's handsome! He has a lovely wife and two lovely kids and a lovely little house and he doesn't even have nightmares! and then this WEIRDO from fucking hamburg walks in and stares at him and talks in that quiet mild reasonable way thorsten has and makes basti feel like he has to justify himself, like he has to prove something, that he's good enough for this job, that he's earned this place and this life.

okay, he thinks. i'm a fucking professional. i'm going to do this, and i'm going to do it GREAT, i am going to be a model coworker.

oops.

(what's wrong with thorsten is that he's realizing that he's not going to be able to stay cool and distant and professional, that he fucking cares about this now whether he likes it or not. what's wrong with thorsten is that the last time he saw a blond little girl lying still like that he was watching his daughter die, when he didn't even get to watch her grow up. not that he's going to do himself the favor of explaining this to anyone.)

so we've got this vaguely antagonistic relationship, which the weisungsbefugnis drama certainly doesn't improve. and i don't think it's improved by the pretending to be gay, either; i think sebastian suggests it 1. out of a sort of LOOK AT ME I HAVE GOOD INNOVATIVE IDEAS TOO OKAY!!! sort of situation 2. he got really nicely laid last night okay he's in a good mood and 3. because he wants to see if thorsten will a. take the suggestion b. back him up on it in front of alvarez c. go through with it. which thorsten does! and it certainly improves sebastian's opinion of him somewhat, and sebastian's in a good mood from the aforementioned getting wonderfully laid anyway, and we get this:

sebastian's having a WONDERFUL day. weather's great. fortschritte in the ermittlung. now knows that he can actually work together with thorsten properly and also got to annoy him a little bit. possibly the getting to grope a pretty man's thigh also helped but if that contributes to his good mood i don't think he's noticed this about himself or at least noticed that it means anything. everything's nice and dandy.

and thorsten just looks at him with that very particular thorsten look and i don't think it's love, or even affection, but there is a sort of - god, he Is pretty when he smiles to it. not even in an ever going to take action on that sort of way. just a distant quiet sort of fact.

from then on it softens, slowly. this moment is important:

sebastian's realizing that thorsten is willing to listen to him, that he actually enjoys having a partner, that he enjoys having thorsten around. and it's not scary to him to admit that, not at all - liking his partner is fine, playing gay with him is fine, all of it is fine and safe, because he's got a wife and kids and a home to go back to every evening. it's not a risk.

and thorsten just came off four years of undercover that ended up killing his family and ended with the guy he was probably closest with in those four years (even though he was lying to him the whole time) trying to kill him and thorsten nearly letting him succeed. he hasn't got ANYTHING. completely unmoored. and at that point, letting himself get attached to anything or anyone again is the biggest fucking risk in the world.

sebastian opens up a little, because he's getting to like this now: a partner, someone he can listen to, someone who listens to him. says: here's something i don't want to do, here's a weight i'm carrying. i'll do it for the case, but it terrifies me.

thorsten gives up on living outside his body, living outside his life. says, let me carry it for you. that's why i'm here. hand it over and i will.

and sebastian does.

ZWEITER TITEL: wende.

in this scene (dubious ethics of it all set aside for now, we're looking at this from sebastian and thorsten's perspectives) thorsten puts himself between sebastian and the monster, and sebastian lets him do it. (i also think thorsten pulls chris gabriel back on like an old comfortable coat to do it, but that's a different essay)

they go through the house on rotweg shoulder to shoulder with guns out, and find nothing, and:

that's not QUITE what ends up being thorsten's classic big soft eyes look that he uses only on sebastian but it's getting DAMN CLOSE. he likes him now!! he's gotten attached! and thorsten being thorsten and as such very self aware (i don't think you can do the kind of undercover work he did and NOT be, at least if you want to survive it) but not very inclined to talk about Knows this is happening. he knows himself. he knows what love feels like. he knows what affection feels like. and this isn't it, not yet, but he can feel it coming the way you feel a train coming down the track long before you can see it. and probably there's an element of. well. a voice in his head saying. go ahead. love him, or try to. nothing will come of it, but it's not like you've got anything else.

and what cements it is this moment:

sebastian says look, the guy's right. this is where our duty stops. this is where the law stops. where the rules tell us to stop. and thorsten says Do i look like i fucking care? I followed the rules, such as they were, and it killed my daughter. I'm saving this girl, or i'll die trying. is that all you're made of? rules? and he goes over the border without looking back.

and sebastian (who won his perfect life by going by the rulebook, every time, by doing it right!) goes after him. with a quiet whispered arschloch, but he goes after him, and he's there in time for what i think is one of the single most fascinating shots in the early episodes:

(woof. i could write yet another essay just about this. god. the girl face down on the floor like lilli was and thorsten takes in a breath and picks her up and holds her close and sebastian's gun swings up like clockwork and blocks out thorsten's face. GOD. anyway)

the smuggler guy tries to appeal to sebastian's sense of law and order again. sebastian says

no. i´m in this now, head and heart. says to thorsten, go. i've got you. i've got you both.

and thorsten, for the first time, doesn't just like him (something he did with victor, too), but lets himself trust him.

beyond duty and beyond the law. lets sebastian put himself between thorsten and danger, this time, which is harder than being the one to do it, because it's not what he's used to doing.

and then there's this look from sebastian, which i think is - sebastian realizing what he just did, what he's going to do. he went over that border for the child and for his partner and he wants to understand him now. wants to KNOW him.

that's not love, either, but it's something.

DRITTER TITEL: pre-divorce

the developments between in eigener sache - spiel auf zeit are less easy to track individually, and if i went into detail we'd be here forever, but i think more or less they spend the whole time circling each other quietly and coming ever closer. thorsten saves sebastian's life, sebastian trusts him to do it. they end up per du. thorsten tells sebastian about suzanne and lilli. sebastian watches thorsten kill. thorsten drags sebastian into the elevator and holds the blood into him with his bare hands. buckles his seatbelt. they gay flirt again. lie to alvarez together. thorsten takes sebastian and sebastian's daughter to a concert for her birthday, is there at sebastian's son's. save each other's lives. laugh. touch.

for thorsten - Well . just fucking look at him.

LISTEN i'm not a big fan of the "there's no platonic explanation for this' sort of rhetoric i think it's annoying and also bullshit. i hung around in 911 fandom for a while and they say this a lot about buddie and i just sat here like guys. i DO ship them. don't get me wrong. but of course you can flirt platonically. of course you can raise a child together platonically. of course you can be at home in another person's house platonically. of course you can feel like another person is a part of you and it would break you if they died and have it still be platonic stop having such a narrow fucking conception of what love can be it's ALL POSSIBLE. it's just also not what's happening here. look at his face. to me, that face says i love you. god help me, i love you, i'll keep loving you as long as i'm alive (even if you're not, i've got practice with that, too). i won't ever do or say anything about it unless you ask me to. but i love you, and i'm here.

and i think he's okay with that! he's not in that place he was in 2008 anymore. he knows he has sebastian as a partner and as a friend. he knows he has a place in stuttgart. he gets along with his coworkers. he got his unfinished business taken care of. he could live like this for a long time, and it would be okay.

for sebastian - well it's not that thorsten isn't IMPORTANT to him. of course he is, we can all see that. but it's still not any sort of risk, to look at him a little too long, put that hand on his shoulder, on his knee, make that flirty remark. everyone knows sebastian's married. and if you asked him, he'd say he loves her, too, of course he would. that's why people get married, isn't it? And probably he does. and what there is between thorsten and sebastian - well, he doesn't really think about it. he doesn't have to. he goes home to his wife. that's what people mean when they talk about love. and thorsten - that's thorsten. that's different. it's not comparable. why are you asking, anyway?

and then the thing sebastian didn't expect happens, and julia leaves him.

VIERTER TITEL: not so fun and games anymore

spiel auf zeit the episode you are. i've rambled about this episode before and i've rambled about how i interpret what happens in this episode as pertains to sebastian and his relationship with his masculinity (see this post for further information) and i shan't repeat myself here because this is already far too long but suffice it to say: i think the divorce forces sebastian to RADICALLY rearrange his perception of himself, and i think it's a masterful move storytelling wise because what it does is it puts sebastian nearly in the position that thorsten was in in hart an der grenze. how the turns have fuckin tabled, mr. bootz. up until now he did everything in life secure in the knowledge that he has a wife he loves who loves him so it doesn't MATTER if he jokes about how the alternate universe version of him totally cheated on her with thorsten. maybe he means it maybe he doesn't it doesn't MATTER. he's a husband and a father and a kriminalhauptkommissar and then suddenly he's only two of the three and he doesn't feel like he's doing right by his children and he's the one floating lost and untethered and -

well. thorsten's still there. thorsten's the one solid thing left. sebastian isn't sure of himself and isn't sure of what he's doing but he IS sure of thorsten. which is why this marks the phase where sebastian gets noticably 1. more obviously jealous (sure he was a little bit jealous about that one guy in grabenkämpfe but mostly he thought it was funny, i think) 2. more protective (see: spiel auf zeit at the end, how quick he is to put himself between thorsten and victor even though victor just killed a man FOR thorsten and is unlikely to do anything to him, the bit in happy birthday sarah where thorsten puts himself in front of a gun and sebastian quietly panics in the background, sebastian running in to rescue thorsten at the end of freigang, and then. Frage des Gewissens. which is yet another whole different essay.) and 3. much less CASUAL about all this. because none of it is fun and casual anymore. it all means something, or could, and it's just OUT THERE, and thorsten could take it to be serious and want it or reject it and either way is fucking scary.

i'm not actually sure if sebastian knows he's in love with thorsten at this point. i'm sure he IS. i think maybe thorsten knows it, but also knows that acting on it before sebastian's ready could not only make a mess of their relationship/partnership but could also ruin sebastian because yeah!! it's the last solid fucking thing sebastian's got!! so sebastian's in love but can't think about it or look it in the face and certainly can't do anything about it or at least not yet except potentially sink his whole career and choke out a guy who put a gun to thorsten's head and try to live with it. and thorsten's in love and is there. doing what he can. the end of frage des gewissens is almost a happy ending.

FÜNFTER TITEL: what's this? IT'S PREIS DES LEBENS WITH A STEEL CHAIR.

👆 Me whenever i think about preis des lebens too much

if i start talking about preis des lebens/im gelobten land now i'll never stop so let's just say. god those are two really good really painful episodes and we could've had it all if not for niki stein and FUCKING hal.

This has been my ted talk thank you for attending :) follow up questions are welcomed but be warned they may be answered by More Essays even though i should really be working on a paper for school

Not sorry for spamming the Tatort Stuttgart tag, and maybe this has been discussed extensively by the fandom, but:

Do you think that Basti fell first, but Thorsten fell harder?

Or is it the other way around????

[nalle]

#who wore it better?  for @isalabells​ and @moonstark​​

bonus:

[momdailykos]

Re: Send me a character: Die Tatort Stuttgart Jungs

Omg my app did not notify me about this at all. Instead, it notified me about a p*rnbot spam message. Which, luckily, came in right above your ask sksksks Ich entschuldige mich intensiv.

Let's go:

character: hate them | don’t really care | like them | LOVE them | THEY ARE MY PRECIOUS

Wenn der Richy nicht sonen Kappes gemacht hätte, wären sie sogar ne Stufe höher gekommen. Der Felix hat niemals im Leben was falschgemacht, tho.

Ship with: each other. That's what the writers wanted, right? I mean.... also, living for the age gap here. To be fair, Big Dom Dad Energy Thorsten + Sebastian "kann man zwei Leute gleichzeitig/gleich viel lieben" Bootz didn't leave me much choice. To the point where having them be indifferent to each other in the current timeline doesn't make a lick of sense. Don't even start about the narrative.

Close second: Thorsten/de Man 😤😤😤😤😤 this one fits so much juice. Bonus points for old men kissing.

Brotp:

Thorsten + Lona, hallo, der Moment wo sie ihn in dieser Gay Bar sieht und direkt so ist, alles klar, find ich gut. Glad, they didn't make them a couple, they worked better as father/daughter dream team and her making fun of his crusty ass.

Basti + Nika flexing in front of the team bc they have seen a facebook before, love it. (Mind you, Sebastian has never used a youtube or made an instagram but at least he has kids). These two hang out after work while Sebastian pretends he's not intimidated by her an Alvarez' sexual experienced :)

General opinions: I've written a big long piece of fanfic about these two and I miss them dearly. Sadly, as the SWR continues the trend of drab and dreary with this one AND all the German Acteur Lads acting up, keeping up with them has been hard to painful. Never mind the lack of content, rip. Could have been one of rhe Great Payoffs, one of the good stories and then they went the easy way. :-)

[eolewyn1010]

Random thoughts of the morning

Don’t you just hate it when the English and the German Wikipedia articles agree on a source and you know they’re both wrong because you actually have said primary source to read and what they say is written there is definitely not written in the place they say it is?

The damage I have taken through tumblr: Weather: *is rainbow* - Me: *looks at sky* Das gay.

Since @indensternen had a beautiful take on removing the taboo of men having erectile dysfunctions when they’re getting older, are we gonna work on the menstruation taboo, too? Need to ask @fanpersoningfox if they’re gonna write me a oneshot of trans!Sebastian having his and Thorsten taking care of him.

Chapter 23 of Primum non nocere exists. It’s sort-of complete in that everything it needs is written, but it also needs a shitton of polishing and I need to get back to university discipline rn because weekends are for people who are already graduated.

[weidli]

all of you in the tags are making great points so i am going to go off and ramble for a bit here. under a cut because this post is long enough already

so the first impression of thorsten julia gets (besides whatever sebastian has told her, which i tend to think isn't much) is in eigener sache, where i think really only one main thing gets across (seeing as it's a rather stressful situation) i.e. Guy Capable of Getting Basti Out Of Danger and beyond that, Guy Willing to Put Himself In Danger to Do So. pretty good first impression! she likes people who can and will do that. and if later at home when they're having a beer together she has a little realization of Huh, He Sure Is Looking At Sebastian in a Way - i don't think it's a problem for her at that point. to her, basti's not interested in men, and if he were, she married him first and he's loyal, he wouldn't do that to her and the kids. so i think on some level thorsten kind of gets saved in her brain as 'probably gay bachelor with eyes for basti but he looks after him so that's all right'.

only interaction they have in tödliche tarnung is thorsten dropping sebastian off home and julia waving to him from the door. the boundary lines, from julia's perspective, are clear: thorsten gets sebastian at work, and it's his job to make sure sebastian gets home FROM work, home to julia and maja and henry. but they don't actually Know each other very well. i tend to think sebastian really didn't tell Anyone about what thorsten told him, not even a little bit, not emilia and not nika and not julia (which of course makes him yelling That in front of emilia and nika and anyone else within hearing range just hit harder). so that picture of thorsten as Confirmed Bachelor, Has Never Had A Family (possibly wants to fuck my husband but seems too polite to actually try) just kind of. stays.

i think that's part of why she's okay with those neat boundaries melting a little, at first. sebastian hangs out at thorsten's for a beer after work. they go to football practice together. thorsten gets close enough to the family that him giving maja a birthday present is normal, he comes to the birthday party. from julia's perspective i think it ends up kind of. well the guy seems nice enough and sebastian is fond of him and he likes kids and is good with them, and he's never had kids and probably never will, so what's the harm in letting him hang out with her family? (and she's right, a little bit - thorsten coming to maja's birthday party Is thorsten microdosing on something he never got to have. it's just that that something's not Having Kids but rather getting to spend time casually with said kids without having to be constantly looking over his shoulder) everyone seems to enjoy it, and at the end of the day thorsten goes home and sebastian gets into julia's bed; those lines are still clear.

she NOTICES the way they look at each other sometimes, the way they get closer and closer, she's not stupid. but like - and i don't mean this in a julia-critical way - from her perspective, in a purely pragmatic way, it's better if thorsten is a little bit in love with her husband, if they've got that kind of loyalty to each other. thorsten's the guy out with sebastian in the field, if it comes down to a dangerous situation, who does she want beside him? some guy who doesn't particularly care either way or some guy who knows exactly that there's a wife and children waiting for basti at home and has his own personal incentive to keep him safe besides that? one of those guys is more likely to throw himself between a gun and sebastian, is all i'm saying. and there doesn't seem to be any danger of it getting between her and sebastian; thorsten respects her and respects their marriage, and sebastian's loyal, anyway.

but then there's a shift. and on one hand it's the Thing between sebastian and thorsten growing, from sebastian's side as well - see blutgeld, sebastian's little quote about do you think it's possible to love two people at the same time, and the way julia looks at him - but i think more important is actually the shift from thorsten being Guy Who Drags Sebastian Out of Danger to being Guy Who Gets Him Into More Danger. like, regardless of what's actually going on behind the scenes, so to say - think mädchen galina, scherbenhaufen - from julia's perspective, sebastian goes out with thorsten, when he should have been safe with her, and gets hurt. is it thorsten's fault? eh. sending basti undercover in scherbenhaufen was something thorsten was strongly against, sebastian wanted to go answer the notruf from mädchen galina as much as thorsten did. but julia doesn't see all that, and i don't think sebastian tells her. and since their relationship's already splintering - she feels less sure of Them as a couple, and thus more inclined to see threats everywhere.

and this is where the resentment towards thorsten starts to come in, i think - less on the romantic/emotional closeness level (though there is definitely that as well! something about the way she says don't tell anyone about this Not Even Thorsten in that one ep reads very i know you tell him everything maybe even personal stuff about Us but some things are just for Us as Partners and your Other Kind of Partner is not fucking included in that) but either way her view of thorsten shifts from him being the Guy Who Brings Sebastian Home to Her to the Guy Who's Threatening to Take Sebastian Away, possibly in the most final way possible. and not just away from her, but also away from the kids - if sebastian dies on some reckless einsatz, they've lost their father. and here's where her interpretation of thorsten as a confirmed bachelor plays into it again, i think. it turns into a 'he hasn't got kids himself, so he doesn't understand what the stakes are here'. to her eyes, he'll look out for sebastian in dangerous situations, but only because It's Sebastian, not because sebastian has a family waiting for him, who needs him.

and then the scheidung happens and inevitably everything gets messy and ugly and sebastian's still getting into danger and she still cares about him but primarily he's still the father of her kids and they love him and need him uncomplicatedly, if you know what i mean. and i wouldn't be surprised if to julia's eyes the way thorsten and sebastian get closer in this time (see: frage des gewissens) reads a little like. opportunism, maybe? on the border line of taking advantage? because she's on the outside of it catching glimpses and she doesn't have a the facts, she doesn't know about the layer of 'i know what losing family feels like and i know how it can feel like you're the most alone person in the entire world and it wouldn't matter if a bullet hit you because everything inside's dead anyway, and yeah your family isn't dead but it's still shattered and if you need me to help you clean up your apartment and open the door for the kids and take out the trash quietly while you say hello to them then i will be right here taking out the trash' that's coming to it from thorsten's side. (have i mentioned that i fucking love frage des gewissens. what an episode)

and then preis des lebens happens. and like. see those first few images? julia's first impulse is to snap es geht nicht um ihn, thorsten!! (note: how many people actually call thorsten that? he and emilia and nika siez until the end as far as i can remember, only he and sebastian are per du - so there's already this odd imbalance of intimacy, where they're close by proxy because they both are or were extremely close to the same guy, and thorsten probably knows a lot about julia that sebastian's told him over a beer or two, and julia still doesn't know JACK about thorsten - not many people do. that man is a champion level hider of backstory. thorsten voice No one gets to perceive me as being anyone else but a guy who just spontaneously spawned as a full fledged kriminalhauptkommissar (with bonus cool car) in stuttgart one day. if everyone else believes it i can too). like she says it because she still thinks thorsten's priority first and always is sebastian and he doesn't understand what it means to have kids to be a father. and there's that resentment of You Took Him Away.

and then. the graveyard and suddenly she Fucking Gets It you know. seven years of interactions with this guy suddenly getting forcibly recontextualised in an already extremely stressful situation. and then i think that third-to-last image is Also pretty important, actually. thorsten runs into the trainyard ahead of her and sees sebastian facing off a man with a gun and then taking the gun up himself. and she sees him stop. which sure on some level it's not wanting to rush into a dangerous situation, that could get basti killed, but on the other hand. sebastian's got the gun. the only person in danger of shooting him is Him. and thorsten could run in there and try to convince him not to but he stops out of range of the situation and trusts sebastian to be making the choice he needs to make to get maja home. (and also he probably knows that if he runs in there and it means losing maja, sebastian will never forgive himself AND thorsten will never forgive himself. but then again if sebastian shoots his brains out he won't be forgiving anyone anything either, and also thorsten doesn't forgive himself anything ever anyway) and then sebastian tells thorsten where maja is and thorsten runs off to make sure she's safe instead of comforting sebastian (which is of course also because of how sebastian's been behaving to him but Julia Doesn't Know That). and at any rate i think post this ep julia sees thorsten very differently it's just a pity that it's kind of too late for it to make any real difference

wait wait okay i pinky promise i'm going to sleep soon but do you know what OTHER thing about preis des lebens makes me want to throw things. thorsten and julia. like this whole scene

and

and

and

[patricksilverrose]

Current Music Obsessions: February 2021

February was a bit of a slow month in terms of obsessions. I did crack down on my watch later list though, so hopefully I'll be more up to speed with new releases lol. But let's see those honorable mentions.

Mechina - Siege feat. Anna Hel (Conflict)

Vola - Head Mounted Sideways

Vangloria Arcannus - The Prayer

Tahne - Like Me Like You

The Advent Equation - Patterns of Spiraling Reality

Cryptosis - Prospect of Immortality

The Nocturnal Affair - Beyond the Wall of Sleep

Blame - War

D - Sleeping Beautiful Beast

Sabbath Assembly - Ascend and Descend

Spectrum X - Dead Burger King

Ad Inferna - Vers d'Autre Cieux

Phantom Elite - Glass Crown

Ruins of Elysium - Atlas

Witchcraft - В твоём море

In the Burial - DoSAvastR

Vintersea - Crack of Light

Alexandra Martin - Astray

Ani Lo Projekt - Fly with Me feat. Michael Thionville

Within the Ruins - Black Heart

Dear Mother - 12 Years in Exile

Enemy Inside - Crystalize

And now for the songs I was truly obsessed with.

Monica Naranjo - Doble Corazon

I got recommended this song on one of my reaction videos to her and holy tits is this song epic. It's slightly chaotic, but that's why I love it. It's dramatic, beautiful, powerful, fun, chaotic. And don't get me started on that video. She looks divine.

Neopera - An Eternal Night

This comeback has been one that I've waited on for YEARS. I remember discovering them through earMusic when the lyric video for Destined Ways came out and was blown away then, and now I'm blown away again with this new single. They have a new soprano, but their baritone Thorsten is still in the band. This song is so gorgeous and shows just what the singers are capable of and the power of their voices.

Rebecca Black - Friday (remix) feat. Dorian Electra, 3OH!3, and Big Freedia

This is some chaotic gay shit that I didn't know that I needed and I absolutely love it.

Epica - Rivers

This is the ballad off of Omega (which I haven't listened to just yet, but I will later today) and it's really pretty. It doesn't top Tides of Time or especially Once Upon a Nightmare as their best ballad, but it's definitely a gorgeous one. It gives me a lot of Eurovision vibes for some reason when the chorus hits, which isn't a read.

Torn Between Two Worlds - The Beauty of Deception

Sarah Jezebel Deva is back to fronting a metal band! This is the spiritual successor to Angtoria and I am absolutely in love with this. God Has a Plan for Us All was a quintessential album for me as a teen and I'm so excited to see Sarah and Chris working together again. This is such a great first single and I cannot wait to hear more.

And that's it for February. I'm excited to see what I'll be obsessed with in March since I'm starting to check out new releases of the year now.

[totallyawesomebabynames]

I'm renaming myself because my original name is boring and doesn't fit me. I'm basically the stereotype of an artsy, sassy, sarcastic gay boy (entp, horned serpent, aries sun, leo moon, sag rising). Do you think you can help? I don't care what culture it's from (though I do love German, Russian, Czech, Dutch, and Scandinavian names). Pick any of your favorites that you think works. Thank you!

That’s a tall order! But congrats. I’ll try to find some spunky, interesting names for ya:

GaelCyanZaffreIndigoAugustinCalixGuthrieMatteoOziasWilderFergusNicoIvoZebulonAramisCorinMariusBromQuillJasperCatoTristanSilasLemuelAudenDanteFletcherHugoLarkinWhittierNashMerrillSuttonFelixAndreFlynnBenedictRoccoValentinJusticeRevereValorNobleZenCaspianDashiellHawthornOrionStellanKitTatumAgnarCasperAlbinHavelMilanDiederickCosimoFritzBastianConradOttoLucaRolfIsidorEliasKasimirAlvarTomasDominicMaximBennoRasmusFabianJohanGregorKnuteNilesArminEdwinHenningLeifBramCyrilEmmerichGunnarKaiLeopoldMarcoPavelSorenTheoRafaelThorsten

And yes... this many be way too many options but I hope it helps!

[weidli]

Stuttgart hasn't been haunted at all lately except maybe by the ghost of what we could have had if 1. Richy Müller hadn't turned down the gay ermittlerteam proposition in 20whateverthefuck 2. the episode after Im gelobten Land had been literally anything else but HAL. but honestly those things aren't haunting the team as much as they're haunting me personally (i've also been seeing an awful lot of brown 70s porsche 911s on the road recently maybe i should start looking into exorcisms). ANYWAY point is early Stuttgart especially the first 3 episodes was also really fucking haunted. you know that quote about how there's only two stories in the world: a man goes on a journey and a stranger comes to town? Hart an der Grenze - Tödliche Tarnung is CLASSIC stranger comes to town and the thing about strangers coming to town is that they're always haunted by something. Thorsten is haunted by two graves in Hamburg and his own name and what he didn't do but he's also DOING some haunting. Dead man walking. Carrying around the bullet that killed him. Sees a dead girl his dead daughter's age locks himself in the bathroom and doesn't say anything to anyone. Sees a man hold a gun to Sebastian's head, hands him another gun, says You'll have to kill me first. Tödliche Tarnung doubles down on this because then Thorsten is suddenly haunting Victor de Man specifically and with intent to do so. I mean think about it what's the first thing they say to each other. Chris. Ich dachte du bist tot. Ja. Und dabei bin ich nur in Stuttgart

Gonna start rating tatort teams by how haunted they are

[eolewyn1010]

Germany, you’re fucking ridiculous. Do we really only have thirty actors? Or how do I explain that the very same guy who played an asshole politician who’s consorting with whores in “Das Mädchen Galina” (Tatort Stuttgart) is an asshole economy mogul in “Der Welten Lohn” (also Tatort Stuttgart, not that the inspectors seem to remember him) who’s whoring out his morals? What did he do in between, lobbyism or something? And the dude that went to prison for some serious vigilante murder in “In eigener Sache” runs around as your friendly neighborhood Schupo in “Stau”. And instead of going “hey, wait a minute, didn’t you point a gun at my boyfriend partner okay that sounds just as gay that one time?”, Thorsten doesn’t even bat an eye.

And that’s two examples on a LONG list. I mean. You trying to tell me that our Kriminalhauptkommissare just have a really sucky memory for faces and don’t see any similarity? I’m reasonably sure there are more actors. Start promoting your extras, dammit, we need a wider range of faces.

[bibastibootz]

amazing thoughts, 10/10!!!!!

I love what you wrote about Basti and his internalised homophobia!! it's so devastating, yet so fitting to his character. How he maybe recognises that he's attracted to men (after all, he does have a conventionally attractive "Jugendfreund", which is basically like saying, "btw they were each other's first love" (other interpretations would be boring and therefore invalid 😌)), but how he also likes women and thus thinks, "hmm I can't be gay because I like women, so I won't acknowledge how some men make my heart flutter because I am definitely 100% straight", like.... Basti, please let your kids explain the concept of bisexuality to you, I am begging!!!! your tag "its like my friend always choosing to play the male character in a game before realising they're trans" is so true for "Scherbenhaufen" (and I do feel called out). And like you said, he would be totally fine with kissing Thorsten when they're all alone, but holding hands in public with another man? He'd rather die, honestly. That is why I was so struck by him comforting Mathias Döbele's lover Yusuf Arslan in "Vergebung", because I cannot recall Basti comforting any other relatives of victims before, at least not this intimately. Why does he all of a sudden run his hand across the back of a man crying about losing his lover who he could only be with in secret? Does he mourn the loss of a life that could have been his?

This is also where the finale of "Die Nacht der Kommissare" comes in. Thorsten and Sebastian have extensively talked about their general feelings before (sometimes by screaming), but not their feelings for each other. That topic is taboo. But suddenly Thorsten confesses, "Sebastian? Ich liebe dich." and they BOTH avert their eyes and are silent for a moment - because it's not a joke, so they can't just laugh it off like, "haha, I love you too, man!", no! That confession was real, the first proper show of affection by using their words (on that note, where 👏 is 👏 the 👏 Thorsten/Basti 👏 hug?? 👏👏👏). And they are both uncomfortable and don't know what to say in that moment. What do they end up doing? They never talk about it, they avoid it completely. That is until the end of the episode when they're sitting on that bench and Sebastian says, "Ich liebe dich. Hab ich dir das heute schon gesagt?" By saying that, Sebastian desperately tries to make the love confession between Thorsten and him sound like all the other confessions Thorsten said to other men that night, which he clearly didn't mean seriously. Hence, this "Ich liebe dich." is played off as a joke because they are both not ready to accept that they love each other for real, unconditionally, mostly silently, and have done so for a long long time.

And concerning Thorsten, I think he has accepted that there might never be romance in his life again. Which is why he proposed the Alters WG with Sebastian, which, frankly, is a way of saying "I want to spend the rest of my life with you.", without requiring a ring on their finger. They can live together if they want to, on their own terms, however they want to define their relationship. History might then say they were roommates (oh my god they were roommates), and we all know what that means. 😌

Hello! First of all, I love your blog so much, you give off such warm, positive vibes :)

I wanted to ask if you would explain your head canons regarding Basti and Thorsten's sexualities a bit more? I've seen you refer to them as gay/bi respectively quite often and I would love to hear your reasonings and explanations behind that. (Not at all because I disagree, I'm just obsessed with the two of them and I think you'll have some very interesting takes on the topc!)

If you don't want to just ignore me :)

Hi! and thank you for this lovely ask, it put a really big smile on my face!! you're so kind! 😌 and OOHHHH do I have headcanons about Thorsten’s and Sebastian’s sexuality, I hope you’re ready!! 🔥 (I prefer making lists rather than writing articles, so I hope this still reads well enough)

schwuler Thorsten <3 It would be so easy to say that Thorsten is straight because he had a wife and a daughter back in Hamburg, but people who claim that aren't watching the show right. Here's why I think that a reading of him as a gay man is so so so so valid:

Susanne and Lilli: There are many ways to fit his late wife and daughter into this headcanon, so take your pick: He genuinely didn't know he was gay and started a family. He was in denial and started a family anyway. He was well aware of his homosexuality and maybe this was a mutual arrangement between him and Susanne. It was purely superficial.

(lack of) interest in women: Once Thorsten is in Stuttgart, he literally never shows any interest in any woman whatsoever (much to the dismay of his neighbour) and I do not remember him flirting with any woman ever. Also when asked about women, he literally answers, "Keine Ahnung, ich bin da kein Spezialist." A fortuneteller read his hand once and said: "Sie sind ein lebenslang Suchender. Besonders Frauen sind Ihnen ein ewiges Rätsel." and Thorsten replies, "Jetzt wird es vielleicht doch etwas zu persönlich." Hm. . . So Thorsten is sb who still hasn't found himself? And women are a mystery to him? Hm, gay. Also: Another relationship with a woman, much less so marriage, is so far off his radar that he proposed to Sebastian to start a "Alters WG".

often presumed gay: It is almost a running gag that people assume Thorsten is gay (except that the possibility of a gay Thorsten should not be the punchline). Julian Siebert in "Grabenkämpfe" assumes that Thorsten is gay. His boss while undercover in "Freigang" assumes that he's gay: "Bist du schwul oder warum sind hier keine Weiber?" Thorsten replies, "Schwul.", which the boss plays off as a joke.

casual, yet serious about queerness and other queer people: This is particularly striking in comparison to Sebastian because Thorsten seems so #woke about everything. He understands subtle and not so subtle nods and hints from other queer people but does not make a fuss about them and immediately recognizes queerness (as opposed to Sebastian): Once again "Grabenkämpfe," where Thorsten never jokes about Julian Siebert's obvious interest in him. Also in "Hart an der Grenze" Basti treats them playing a gay couple as a fun joke while Thorsten is very much not amused - and there is just sth in the way he treats the topic so seriously that makes it seem as if it real to him. In "Anne und der Tod" they interrogate clients and stand in front of an old man who has pictures of him and another man on his shelf and wall, and while Sebastian very innocently asks whether that's his brother or son, Thorsten's behavior suggests that he caught on instantly that the old man is in fact gay and that those are photos of him and his late partner.

actively against homophobia: When an old man makes a homophobic remark at him and Sebastian, he immediately grabs Sebastians hand to make that man uncomfortable and as a big fuck you and a way of saying, "Yeah people are queer, get over it, old man!!"

never denying, never clarifying: As much as men flirt with him or people assume he's gay, Thorsten never denies it and never clarifies that he is, in fact, heterosexual. Never! Best example is (once again) "Grabenkämpfe" when his neighbour spots Thorsten at a gay bar with another man and says that at least now she knows why he didn't have time for her - and Thorsten does not get defensive and screams sth like, "I'm not gay, I'm here for a case!", he just lets it slide. And remember when the Freigang boss derogatorily asked Thorsten whether he's gay but then later it seems that Thorsten had sex with a woman, to which the boss replies "Na egal, bin ja froh, dass du nicht schwul bist."? Thorsten once again does not outright say, "Genau, bin ich nicht." but instead replies, "Ich weiß." and looks sad and angry at this blatant portrayal of homophobia.

love confession: In "Die Nacht der Kommissare" Thorsten confesses his love to Sebastian while on drugs with a loud and clear "Sebastian? Ich liebe dich." He continues to confess his love to other men in that episode, but this "Ich liebe dich" feels very different, very sincere and from the heart. I like to read this scene as both a platonic and a romantic love confession.

There is probably so much more, but this is just from the top of my head. Moving on!

bi Basti <3 Sebastian is bi because it Just. Makes. Sense.!!!!!

the rise and fall of the Bootz family: I need to start with Julia and the kids because Sebastian is introduced as a happy, young family man who has basically achieved everything, both in his private life and career. His life as a husband and father is basically too perfect when we meet him, and of course it does crumble more and more into pieces with every new episode. We soon see tension in his and Julia's marriage, ultimately leading to their divorce and Sebastian's never-talked-about problem with alcohol and his separation anxiety. I encourage everyone to watch all the eps until "Spiel auf Zeit" as if Sebastian is falling out of love with Julia and in love with Thorsten (. . .is it possible to love two people at once? Good question, Sebastian).

Felix Klare supremacy: Even Felix Klare himself thought that Tatort was lacking diversity in terms of presentation of women and gay people back in 2013 and he advocated for becoming the first gay Tatort duo. Aber Richy wollte nicht. Tja.

bi in another universe: In "Tödliche Tarnung" we learn that Sebastian and Julia were once close to breaking up and Basti wonders how different his life could have been: "Julia, hast du dir schon mal überlegt, wie unser Leben verlaufen wäre, wenn, naja, wenn wir uns damals getrennt hätten?" Cue "Scherbenhaufen": When he is about to go undercover, he has to come up with a backstory for his character. And what does he do? Completely remove a wife and kids out of the picture and then says, "Ehrlich gesagt, ich hab sie dann mit meinem besten Freund betrogen." Kinda bi to make up a scenario in which he gets to be with Thorsten instead of Julia, if you ask me. And he looks so happy about it, too.

weird about queerness: Sebastian has always been weird about political correctness, and to me this reads as a defense mechanism, as a way to distance himself from queerness and treat it as sth "not concerning me". And yes, I do headcanon Basti as having serious internalized homophobia, why do you ask? I have yet to form proper thoughts about Basti's uncharacteristic compassion towards the gay man who has just lost his lover in "Vergebung", it feels so personally affected. What we can nevertheless witness, though, is some personal growth in that Sebastian is more comfortable with and knowledgable about queerness.

heteronormative worldview / hetcomp: Sebastian literally doesn't know that bisexuality exists. When he hears of married men (yes, there have been three such storylines. . . THREE!!!!) who had a secret lover on the side, he always assumes they were gay and never once considers bisexuality. Looping back to the Bootz marriage&divorce as well as the countless "secretly gay married men" trope, Basti is literally describing his life in "Vergebung" without acknowledging the parallels.

flirting with Thorsten: Of course, any straight man can flirt with his friends, but the way Sebastian does it is so "haha just joking!!! . . . unless 👀"-coded. First the pretend gay couple at the adoption agency, then another pretend gay couple in the waiting room, then the queer undercover persona plot twist. And look how flustered he gets when he gets flirted with.

honorable mentions: bi lighting, bi sitting, bi bi bi music.

Again, there is most definitely more and everyone is free to add on to my thoughts! 😌✌️

bonus: Are Thorsten and Sebastian in love? 👀 Yes, and as of February 2024 there are 32 episodes to prove it. Thank you for reading! 🫶

[bibastibootz]

@wallpaper-inside-my-heart how dare you leave this in the tags???? 👀🔥

"#sometimes it drives me lil bit insane just how easily certain scenes can be read this way! #especially when it comes to thorsten being gay #like to a casual viewer (so like 98.5% of germany besides us weirdos over here) the stuff with his neigbhbor may simply come across as a man #who is hesitant about actually engaging in another relationship after losing his wife & child #and that is ofc a completely valid and prob even the intended reading #but him being gay and maybe having even more guilt attached to losing his family bc of that is such an interesting lense to look through! #(like maybe he felt as tho he had failed them bc he couldn't love his wife in the way he was supposed to) #(and maybe he also took his undercover job back then bc of those feelings! Like he was already pretending to be somebody different in his #own life... why not take this job that actively allows and requires him to build a new persona while rewarding him for it this time around #like ofc now he is feeling guilty for leaving his family to go undercover but that guilt is far less complicated than the one he harbored but #also easier to talk about..like everyone would understand the guilt of neglecting your family bc of work but how many would understand #the fear of not loving them the right way; without blaming him for it?!) #(side note: it's also certainly a choice to go on such a big undercover mission almost right after his daughter was born like I doubt anyone #would have forced him into that position (or maybe I'm missing some bg detail rn) so what are you running from; my guy?)" 🤯😭🫡🥺

Hello! First of all, I love your blog so much, you give off such warm, positive vibes :)

I wanted to ask if you would explain your head canons regarding Basti and Thorsten's sexualities a bit more? I've seen you refer to them as gay/bi respectively quite often and I would love to hear your reasonings and explanations behind that. (Not at all because I disagree, I'm just obsessed with the two of them and I think you'll have some very interesting takes on the topc!)

If you don't want to just ignore me :)

Hi! and thank you for this lovely ask, it put a really big smile on my face!! you're so kind! 😌 and OOHHHH do I have headcanons about Thorsten’s and Sebastian’s sexuality, I hope you’re ready!! 🔥 (I prefer making lists rather than writing articles, so I hope this still reads well enough)

schwuler Thorsten <3 It would be so easy to say that Thorsten is straight because he had a wife and a daughter back in Hamburg, but people who claim that aren't watching the show right. Here's why I think that a reading of him as a gay man is so so so so valid:

Susanne and Lilli: There are many ways to fit his late wife and daughter into this headcanon, so take your pick: He genuinely didn't know he was gay and started a family. He was in denial and started a family anyway. He was well aware of his homosexuality and maybe this was a mutual arrangement between him and Susanne. It was purely superficial.

(lack of) interest in women: Once Thorsten is in Stuttgart, he literally never shows any interest in any woman whatsoever (much to the dismay of his neighbour) and I do not remember him flirting with any woman ever. Also when asked about women, he literally answers, "Keine Ahnung, ich bin da kein Spezialist." A fortuneteller read his hand once and said: "Sie sind ein lebenslang Suchender. Besonders Frauen sind Ihnen ein ewiges Rätsel." and Thorsten replies, "Jetzt wird es vielleicht doch etwas zu persönlich." Hm. . . So Thorsten is sb who still hasn't found himself? And women are a mystery to him? Hm, gay. Also: Another relationship with a woman, much less so marriage, is so far off his radar that he proposed to Sebastian to start a "Alters WG".

often presumed gay: It is almost a running gag that people assume Thorsten is gay (except that the possibility of a gay Thorsten should not be the punchline). Julian Siebert in "Grabenkämpfe" assumes that Thorsten is gay. His boss while undercover in "Freigang" assumes that he's gay: "Bist du schwul oder warum sind hier keine Weiber?" Thorsten replies, "Schwul.", which the boss plays off as a joke.

casual, yet serious about queerness and other queer people: This is particularly striking in comparison to Sebastian because Thorsten seems so #woke about everything. He understands subtle and not so subtle nods and hints from other queer people but does not make a fuss about them and immediately recognizes queerness (as opposed to Sebastian): Once again "Grabenkämpfe," where Thorsten never jokes about Julian Siebert's obvious interest in him. Also in "Hart an der Grenze" Basti treats them playing a gay couple as a fun joke while Thorsten is very much not amused - and there is just sth in the way he treats the topic so seriously that makes it seem as if it real to him. In "Anne und der Tod" they interrogate clients and stand in front of an old man who has pictures of him and another man on his shelf and wall, and while Sebastian very innocently asks whether that's his brother or son, Thorsten's behavior suggests that he caught on instantly that the old man is in fact gay and that those are photos of him and his late partner.

actively against homophobia: When an old man makes a homophobic remark at him and Sebastian, he immediately grabs Sebastians hand to make that man uncomfortable and as a big fuck you and a way of saying, "Yeah people are queer, get over it, old man!!"

never denying, never clarifying: As much as men flirt with him or people assume he's gay, Thorsten never denies it and never clarifies that he is, in fact, heterosexual. Never! Best example is (once again) "Grabenkämpfe" when his neighbour spots Thorsten at a gay bar with another man and says that at least now she knows why he didn't have time for her - and Thorsten does not get defensive and screams sth like, "I'm not gay, I'm here for a case!", he just lets it slide. And remember when the Freigang boss derogatorily asked Thorsten whether he's gay but then later it seems that Thorsten had sex with a woman, to which the boss replies "Na egal, bin ja froh, dass du nicht schwul bist."? Thorsten once again does not outright say, "Genau, bin ich nicht." but instead replies, "Ich weiß." and looks sad and angry at this blatant portrayal of homophobia.

love confession: In "Die Nacht der Kommissare" Thorsten confesses his love to Sebastian while on drugs with a loud and clear "Sebastian? Ich liebe dich." He continues to confess his love to other men in that episode, but this "Ich liebe dich" feels very different, very sincere and from the heart. I like to read this scene as both a platonic and a romantic love confession.

There is probably so much more, but this is just from the top of my head. Moving on!

bi Basti <3 Sebastian is bi because it Just. Makes. Sense.!!!!!

the rise and fall of the Bootz family: I need to start with Julia and the kids because Sebastian is introduced as a happy, young family man who has basically achieved everything, both in his private life and career. His life as a husband and father is basically too perfect when we meet him, and of course it does crumble more and more into pieces with every new episode. We soon see tension in his and Julia's marriage, ultimately leading to their divorce and Sebastian's never-talked-about problem with alcohol and his separation anxiety. I encourage everyone to watch all the eps until "Spiel auf Zeit" as if Sebastian is falling out of love with Julia and in love with Thorsten (. . .is it possible to love two people at once? Good question, Sebastian).

Felix Klare supremacy: Even Felix Klare himself thought that Tatort was lacking diversity in terms of presentation of women and gay people back in 2013 and he advocated for becoming the first gay Tatort duo. Aber Richy wollte nicht. Tja.

bi in another universe: In "Tödliche Tarnung" we learn that Sebastian and Julia were once close to breaking up and Basti wonders how different his life could have been: "Julia, hast du dir schon mal überlegt, wie unser Leben verlaufen wäre, wenn, naja, wenn wir uns damals getrennt hätten?" Cue "Scherbenhaufen": When he is about to go undercover, he has to come up with a backstory for his character. And what does he do? Completely remove a wife and kids out of the picture and then says, "Ehrlich gesagt, ich hab sie dann mit meinem besten Freund betrogen." Kinda bi to make up a scenario in which he gets to be with Thorsten instead of Julia, if you ask me. And he looks so happy about it, too.

weird about queerness: Sebastian has always been weird about political correctness, and to me this reads as a defense mechanism, as a way to distance himself from queerness and treat it as sth "not concerning me". And yes, I do headcanon Basti as having serious internalized homophobia, why do you ask? I have yet to form proper thoughts about Basti's uncharacteristic compassion towards the gay man who has just lost his lover in "Vergebung", it feels so personally affected. What we can nevertheless witness, though, is some personal growth in that Sebastian is more comfortable with and knowledgable about queerness.

heteronormative worldview / hetcomp: Sebastian literally doesn't know that bisexuality exists. When he hears of married men (yes, there have been three such storylines. . . THREE!!!!) who had a secret lover on the side, he always assumes they were gay and never once considers bisexuality. Looping back to the Bootz marriage&divorce as well as the countless "secretly gay married men" trope, Basti is literally describing his life in "Vergebung" without acknowledging the parallels.

flirting with Thorsten: Of course, any straight man can flirt with his friends, but the way Sebastian does it is so "haha just joking!!! . . . unless 👀"-coded. First the pretend gay couple at the adoption agency, then another pretend gay couple in the waiting room, then the queer undercover persona plot twist. And look how flustered he gets when he gets flirted with.

honorable mentions: bi lighting, bi sitting, bi bi bi music.

Again, there is most definitely more and everyone is free to add on to my thoughts! 😌✌️

bonus: Are Thorsten and Sebastian in love? 👀 Yes, and as of February 2024 there are 32 episodes to prove it. Thank you for reading! 🫶