Pretty Gay Soap Opera Boys

[butterfly]

Because they make everything in the world better. No lie.

First, I am going to talk about the couple that Possibly Hasn't Had Sex Yet (Luke and Noah). So, Luke (Not That Luke) and Noah have only recently been announced to be treated like every other soap opera couple when it comes to kissing and physical affection, but they have always been treated equally when it comes to how crazy-ass their plot lines are. I have only had a passing familiarity with soaps -- in fact, all I really knew was that a character named Luke (Not This Luke) had raped a character named Laura, they had later married, and this was apparently a hugely popular romance among fans of the soap. As I found this the most squicky storyline I'd ever heard of, this made me not even think about watching soaps. But the news that there was gay kissing going on in a continuing storyline in possibly a different soap intrigued me and I watched Luke (Not That Luke) and Noah's storyline on YouTube and am now hopeless addicted.

So, this is how Luke and Noah went down (sadly, not like that): Luke's actor was introduced in 2005 as an older version of a character that had been on the show since his birth. He came out roughly a year later and his family learned to cope in time (and an attempt to send him to a re-education camp). A year after that, Noah was introduced. Noah had an Ex-Marine Father and a lot in common with Luke's best friend, a girl named Maddie. They are all interns together at a TV station called WOAK. I have no idea what this stands for. Maddie is dating a boy named Casey, who is in prison. He is probably Innocent in some way, but I don't think I saw enough of his plot to be certain. Maddie is Likable and Sweet.

Will and Gwen are married. Who are Will and Gwen, you may ask? I have no idea, but they are being stalked by a girl named Chloe who wants to Take Over Gwen's Life and Be With Will. Because Luke's cousin Jade has a thing for Will, they end up following Will and Gwen to warn them about Chloe and her crazy. At some point, Maddie and Noah end up in bed together (this is after he has run into his Ex-Marine Father who feels that he isn't a man and I suspect that Ex-Marine Father has always known that his son was kinda gay and has spent most of his life trying to military it out of him). They are confused. "What did we just do?" Noah asks her. "I... don't know," she replies. Neither of them seem satisfied with the sexual experience. Luke, looking for Will and Gwen, accidentally walks into the room and sees them naked. He's upset. It's really obvious that he's upset. This leads to Noah thinking that Luke has an interest in Maddie which leads to Luke confessing to Noah (in a parking lot) that he's really sure that he doesn't have a thing for Maddie because he is gay like a really gay thing.

This throws Noah but Noah is very firm on wanting to still be friends and not wanting things to be weird. This is a hopeless wish because Luke is totally interested in Noah (that way) and is very awkward about it at work. Eventually, Luke confesses to Noah that he like-likes him and Noah continues to say that it doesn't need to make things weird. Maddie confesses to a friend that her relationship with Noah feels like they're forcing things. Then, Luke and Noah share a moment after swimming and Noah freaks out, asking Maddie to find an apartment with him. Noah's Ex-Marine Father comes to town to freak everyone out.

Noah's Ex-Marine Father is a complete jerk to him until he meets Maddie and realizes that his son is dating a girl. Noah's Ex-Marine Father is creepily squeeful over this and gloms onto Maddie post-haste. He invites Noah and Maddie out to dinner with him, telling his son to go home to put a tie on.

Instead, Noah gets involved in work and forgets the time, only realizing that he is about to be late when Luke comes in and talks to him. Noah doesn't have enough time to go home and grab a tie, so Luke grabs one from wardrobe and helps him put it on. There is a moment of tension and then Noah kisses Luke. They pull away from each other and then start kissing again until Noah's phone rings and it is his Ex-Marine Father on the phone, pissed off that his son is making him (and Maddie) wait on dinner. I feel sorry for Maddie (note: throughout this entire storyline, Maddie is a sympathetic and understandable character).

Anyway, as a result of kissing Luke, Noah freaks out. He blames Luke for being too sexy to ignore (okay, he doesn't actually say that, but his actions are telling!) and tries very hard to convince Maddie that they should step their relationship up. He is desperate not to be gay because his father finally thinks of him as a Real Man(tm) for the first time in his life. He goes so far as to tell Luke that it's okay for Luke to be gay but not Noah. Luke rightly points out that that's a really silly thing to say.

Anyway, Stuff Happens. Maddie finds out and is Upset but Still Very Likable. Noah kisses Luke again and Noah's Ex-Marine Father sees. He pretends not to freak out, invites both the boys on a fishing trip and then tries repeatedly to kill Luke, finally managing to paralyse him with a fall. Noah's Ex-Marine Father goes to prison and Luke and Noah spend 211 days not kissing.

During this time, Maddie goes off to Wesleyan and Noah becomes Luke's official boyfriend. Then, an Iraqi girl named Ameera who knew Noah's Ex-Marine Father comes to him for help when she's about to be deported. She and Noah get married so that she can stay in the country. She tries to seduce Noah and we finally see Luke and Noah kiss again. And then some more. They even attempt to take the kissing to the bedroom so that they can change their official title, but before they do, the cops show up because...

*drumroll*

Noah's Ex-Marine Father escapes from jail and Ameera has gone off with him. He drugs her and Noah is certain that there is foul play afoot. He and Luke end up in New York chasing Ameera's trail. And that is the current status of Luke and Noah.

See? Crazy. But Luke and Noah's actors are actually really adorable together and I find their romantic chemistry believable and I'm really glad that they'll get to be kissing more often now.

Now, I will talk about the couple that Probably Having Sex As We Speak (Christian and Oliver). In some ways, the story of Christian and Oliver is similar to that of Luke and Noah -- you have an out guy and a guy who believes that he is straight, and then there's a coming out story that ends up with the two guys together. Apart from that, though, there's quite a few differences. For starters, Christian was firmly established on the show as having relationships with women -- he was with Coco when Oliver met him but before that, he'd been in a relationship with a girl named Nico (who was Coco's friend, actually). Oliver is the new person, but he actually also has a history on the show. He was on the show five years ago where he had one girlfriend and a couple of relationships with guys before the actor left to go do another show. So, he had relationships in place with characters already on the show -- his cousin Olivia and his aunt Charlie most importantly (the gay character he'd had a relationship with previously has left the show by this point).

Anyway, Oliver returns from a five-year stint working on a cruise ship and is immediately taken back into the fold. He's a very adorable, very flirty and open character. Quite likable. At this point, Christian is very focused on his relationship with his girlfriend Coco, which appears to be fairly high-stress, especially after Oliver's cousin Olivia burns down her place of business which also happened to be the place Coco worked.

Christian believes that Oliver is straight and when he comes home to the apartment one day, he is very surprised to see Oliver half-naked on the couch with Timo (a trainer at the local gym). He freaks out (Christian freaks out a lot). He freaks out so much that his brother, Gregor, and Coco both give him "dude, being gay is not that big a deal" lectures. Eventually, he calms down enough to stop acting like an idiot, especially after a large group of them go to a cabin and he and Oliver bond a bit and this is the point where Oliver starts to fall in love with Christian.

Christian and Coco are still having relationship problems throughout this time and, once, when Oliver was comforting Coco about a fight she and Christian had had, they end up kissing. This causes much grief. Eventually Christian finds out the truth and Oliver confronts him about it, trying to apologise and explain that he doesn't like Coco that way. Christian is not convinced, and Oliver ends up kissing him to show him why he's not after Coco. Christian freaks out a bit and Oliver eventually has to go, "Dude, I know that you're straight, I just wanted to show you why I'm not interested in Coco." Christian remains freaked out and can't get the kiss out of his head (in reality, it was very short and Christian didn't respond, but in Christian's dream about it later, he kisses Oliver back).

He tries to make plans to go away with Coco but when he overhears Oliver whining to Olivia about not wanting him to go, he tells Coco that she should go by herself, despite the trip being his idea in the first place. Eventually, the kiss between Christian and Oliver comes out and Coco flat-out asks Christian if he's gay. Christian doesn't answer, which she takes as answer enough.

She decides that she should go on that trip by herself and leaves Christian a letter about how the thing she loves most about him is his honesty. This viewer suspects she means this as A Hint. Christian thrashes about in denial for a while before joining a gay male chatroom. Because this is a soap, the person he ends up talking to is Oliver and they spend a while trying to give each other advice. Eventually, the truth about this comes out and Christian kisses Oliver and they have sex (we see Christian unzip Oliver's jacket and then it cuts to them naked in bed together afterwards).

Christian (say it with me) freaks out and throws himself firmly back into denial. He tells Oliver that their experience together was a one-time only thing and it just proved that he's straight. It is obvious to everyone watching the show that Christian is a Lying Liar Who Lies, especially since he has dreams about kissing Oliver in public.

So, Christian goes out with this girl from work in an attempt to look straight. Oliver happens to be at the same club, dancing with a guy. Christian hears the guy talking about wanting Oliver's ass and goes all protective!jealousy on us. He leaves the club and then goes up to his room with 'a headache', much to the girl's disappointment. Oliver follows him and tells Christian and he's in love with him. After a while, Christian unlocks the door to his room and tells Oliver that he's been trying to fight it, but he's in love with Oliver, too. They have sex again, but this time, instead of an angsty denial afterwards, there is playful "let's do this some more" banter between them.

However, Christian is very nervous about the notion of his brother knowing that he's gay (yes, the same brother from above -- but he's changed a lot since he discovered that his wife cheated on him with her brother, so Christian has a tiny amount of cause to be worried), so it's currently the Worst Kept Secret Ever. They give each other lots of adoring looks in public and both of them are extremely giddy and happy and do things like have sex at the boxing club after hours. If everyone else on this show (read: Gregor) weren't embroiled in problems far more traditionally soap operatic and stressful, it would be easy to think that they were all morons.

Currently, Christian has signed a boxing contract, so he's staying in the closet because his signer was very homophobic (but he's not happy about it -- he wanted to come out until Oliver convinced him not to). Also, now that they are together, they are the Most Sensible Soap Opera Couple Ever, as they actually talk out their problems instead of letting things fester.

Comments

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

That looks brilliant and terribly dumb at the same time. Also hot.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Yes! All of those things, all at once!

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

How much do you have to watch to get to the boys kissing? AND IS IT AWKWARD FIST TIME KISSING?

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

It is very adorable! Here are Luke and Noah, kissing for the first time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVsX9RnoHGk

This is Christian discovering that Oliver was his gay chat partner, freaking out, and then kissing him. Experience the Drama Queen that is Christian:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axjVhZ9ylVM

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

OMG A TIE. THAT'S SO CUTE.

ahahaahah he said 'HE NO LONGER EXISTS!11' adlfkas *dies*

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Luke and Noah are totally cute! *hearts them*

Christian cracks me up all the time. He once said, "I never freak out." Oh, Christian. He's lucky that he has Olli (which, to his credit, he knows -- he told Judith, their roommate who is in the know, that Olli gave him all the time he needed and that helped him realize how much Olli cared. *hearts*) who can handle his extreme Drama Queen tendencies. Coco, his old girlfriend, would get teary when Christian pulled one of his freak outs.

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

I kind of find it endearing, his drama

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Me, too. He just has so much internal flailing going on that it's adorable. Also, he's a huge romantic who has dreams about him and Olli together. Oh, Christian. *pets him*

[electrcspacegrl.livejournal.com]

You're last Luke & Noah post got me watching their story on YouTube, and now I'm addicted too! I was just looking for some gay kissing and now I'm watching a soap opera again!

I used to watch ATWT when I was in middle school in the mid 80's. This was when the big teen love triangle was Dusty/Lily/Holden. And I see that's still going on (in a way).

In the Luke/Noah saga, I'm at the part where Luke is in the hospital and Noah tells him yes, he wants to be Luke's boyfriend. God, I want them to kiss so bad but it's taking forever!

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

It's so addicting! I can only imagine how hard it was to wait between kisses for the people watching the soap every day.

[electrcspacegrl.livejournal.com]

Luke, looking for Will and Gwen, accidentally walks into the room and sees them naked.

I especially liked the bit where Luke walked in and Noah comes out of the shower and dropped his towel. Luke's eyes were as big as saucers. I was like, if only this were a cable show.

[pluckyyounggirl.livejournal.com]

Heh! I meant to comment on this when you mentioned it before, but I think I forgot. I am so amused by the fact that you watch my German soap opera. *pets soap lovingly*

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

It's so great. One of the things that really tickles me is how much English they use. Forever they are saying 'cool' and 'okay' and 'sorry'.

Outside the boys, I really adore Olivia but I only really catch the very edges of her storyline, where it intersects with Christian and Oliver. And Gregor is very attractive and I feel torn between wanting to hug him because of what happened with Sarah and wanting to smack him for his self-and-other-destructive ways.

How long have you been watching the show? Because I've been wondering about Christian with Oliver as compared to Christian with Coco and Nico. Because I only saw the very end of his relationship with Coco, so I don't know if he was ever as giddy-cute happy with her as he appears to be with Oliver.

[pluckyyounggirl.livejournal.com]

It is great! It's pretty much the only actual television I watch (since everything else comes from the computer or DVDs), and I love how ott some of their stories are - if I'm going to watch a soap, then at least I want it to have a proper castle and earls and ladies and intrigue, you know? And pretty gay boys and even prettier lesbian girls women, of course! I love just turning my brain off for 20 minutes, having dinner, looking at the pretty, and then gushing about Emo!Ansgar, Intrigue!Ansgar, and Snarky!Ansgar in rotation.

I've been watching it for about four years now, so I don't actually remember Christian from when he was first on the show, but other than that, feel free to throw any questions at me - chances are I can actually answer them. :-) Christian and Coco did actually have a pretty happy and cute relationship, once they had actually gotten together. She really understood him, and she helped him a lot to get through his time in prison (writing him letters in Nico's name). I'm not sure I ever saw him as utterly giddy as he is with Christian, though. That relationship has made me like him much more as a character in general, too - I love their relationship with their flatmate Judith, and that Christian makes her talk about her problems, and actually listens to her and all that. It's sweet.

And Gregor is very attractive and I feel torn between wanting to hug him because of what happened with Sarah and wanting to smack him for his self-and-other-destructive ways.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I kind of feel the same about Sarah (including the very attractive bit).

One of the things that really tickles me is how much English they use. Forever they are saying 'cool' and 'okay' and 'sorry'.

Heh. That would be just like in real life, then. So, do you speak some German? I'm getting a feeling there may be a largeish English-speaking fandom going on that I had no idea existed...

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I ever saw him as utterly giddy as he is with Christian, though. That relationship has made me like him much more as a character in general, too - I love their relationship with their flatmate Judith, and that Christian makes her talk about her problems, and actually listens to her and all that. It's sweet.

*nods*

Christian's friendship with Judith is really adorable.

Heh. That would be just like in real life, then. So, do you speak some German? I'm getting a feeling there may be a largeish English-speaking fandom going on that I had no idea existed...

There are subtitled clips of the Oliver and Christian story up on YouTube, though I am finding myself recognizing more of the German than I would have guessed that I would (I lived in Germany when I was very young -- my dad was in the Army and he was stationed in Berlin for a couple of years). This is why my knowledge of the other storylines is so spotty -- the person is only doing the clips for those two characters and their story, so unless another character is spending time with Oliver and/or Christian, I don't really get to see them.

[pluckyyounggirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see. I didn't know that! Someone has been putting up entire episodes for a few months now (yay them!), but I didn't know there was a Christian/Oliver Exclusive Edition. Makes me giggle for some reason. It's kind of adorable.

Anyway, if your care for the rest of the episodes, as well, I'm pretty sure you can find them on YouTube. :-)

(And now you made me miss Berlin. Bugger!)

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see. I didn't know that! Someone has been putting up entire episodes for a few months now (yay them!), but I didn't know there was a Christian/Oliver Exclusive Edition. Makes me giggle for some reason. It's kind of adorable.

From what I've read, it was started in response to the complete lack of Luke/Noah kissing on As the World Turns. People wanted to see gay soap couples actually being allowed to express their feelings, someone mentioned Olli/Christian and there's a message board (http://gaydaytime.proboards52.com/index.cgi?board=vl) set up for talking about it.

Anyway, if your care for the rest of the episodes, as well, I'm pretty sure you can find them on YouTube. :-)

I've been thinking about it. Because I really want to know what's happening in Olivia's life -- I know that she lied about being pregnant and that she burnt down the place she owned and failed to get insurance and I'm curious about the details.

(And now you made me miss Berlin. Bugger!)

Hee! I was but a child back then, so my memories are very spotty. Like, I remember being carried down a road but have no notion of where it was. My mom has tons of pictures though, which is nice. Also, on a semi-related note, my dad's wife is German -- her mom still has a bit of an accent and I made her Christmas when I got her a new German movie that she hadn't seen. I should ask her if she's ever heard of Verbotene Liebe!

[pluckyyounggirl.livejournal.com]

People wanted to see gay soap couples actually being allowed to express their feelings, someone mentioned Olli/Christian and there's a message board set up for talking about it.

AWESOME. That totally made my day (and my best friend's, too - she loves it). As OTT as fandom sometimes is, the internet can be a wonderful place, really. (I keep saying that, don't I? I am fond of the internets, is what it is.)

Because I really want to know what's happening in Olivia's life -- I know that she lied about being pregnant and that she burnt down the place she owned and failed to get insurance and I'm curious about the details.

The thing about Olivia is, she could be a very interesting character, but she's very much used as a plot device pretty much exclusively. Sound familiar? ;-) She's very ambitious, but at the same time full of self-doubt, always feeling like she's not good enough (or that others don't thinks she is), always feeling like she deserves more from life. But instead of doing it the hard way and working her way up - which she does try, from time to time - she just keeps sliding down nasty paths and lies, slanders, blackmails, and gets talked into stuff like dealing with cocaine to keep her job. Re the details above: IIRC, she lied to Ansgar about being pregnant because he was desperate for a child, and an heir. So she talked him into signing over the house & club to her, planning on pretending to miscarry afterwards. But she was honestly in love with Andy, who didn't trust her anymore and wanted to go to South America, so she told him that she was pregnant, too (from him, obviously). He found out and left, and then the fire was an accident, I think, and she hadn't signed the insurance forms yet or something, which is why she got no money at all.

I should ask her if she's ever heard of Verbotene Liebe!

Heh, you should! It's been around a while. As for Berlin, I only went about two years ago for the first time (but I've been a few times since), and it really made me wish I'd gone earlier - I would have loved to study there. I think it would have suited me, and become me, so well. OTOH, I probably wouldn't have been really ready for it back then, so maybe it's good that things happened as they did.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

The thing about Olivia is, she could be a very interesting character, but she's very much used as a plot device pretty much exclusively. Sound familiar?

That is so sad! And she's a good singer, too, which only reaffirms my affection for her.

*wishes for more Olivia*

Though I wonder if part of the reason that I like her so much is because I mostly see her with Olli, who loves her and who she's actually quite sweet to a lot of the time (plot contrivance though some of that may be) by encouraging him and listening to his problems.

[bell]

...My head hurts now. .____. I will make up for it by watching pretty boys kiss. /goes watch the youtube links/

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Hee. Yeah, the storylines are kinda on crack. But the boys are cute, which makes up for a lot.

[chicklet-girl.livejournal.com]

I've been watching this show for 25 years, but now I just YouTube the Luke/Noah stuff because (literally) every other plot is beyond lame. Trust me, in the mid-to-late 1980s, this show had amazing writing. (And the first gay male character in daytime soaps. (http://www.column-of-life.com/atwtgaytv01.html)) Sadly, the head writer died and everyone they've had since has been nowhere near as good.

They are all interns together at a TV station called WOAK.

It doesn't stand for anything; it's just at ATWT is set in Oakdale, Illinois. I think Luke's mother Lily owned part of the station for awhile, but I can't be sure. It just becomes a hub of activity every once in awhile, like when the teenage characters need to be all together in one place, so hey! They can be interns at WOAK! *g*

Maddie is dating a boy named Casey, who is in prison. He is probably Innocent in some way, but I don't think I saw enough of his plot to be certain.

He had a gambling problem and stole money to pay off his debts. Oh, his mom is a cop and his dad is the District Attorney. Awkward!

I feel sorry for Maddie (note: throughout this entire storyline, Maddie is a sympathetic and understandable character).

I really appreciated that they didn't turn Maddie into a harpy during this storyline. I wish she was still on the show, though, because her brother, Henry, is hilarious and poorly utilized on the show.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

I've been watching this show for 25 years, but now I just YouTube the Luke/Noah stuff because (literally) every other plot is beyond lame. Trust me, in the mid-to-late 1980s, this show had amazing writing. (And the first gay male character in daytime soaps.) Sadly, the head writer died and everyone they've had since has been nowhere near as good.

Aw, that's a shame. It sucks when the writing on a show goes off.

He had a gambling problem and stole money to pay off his debts. Oh, his mom is a cop and his dad is the District Attorney. Awkward!

Very awkward! And not so innocent, I see. Clearly, I am not schooled in the ways of the soap.

I really appreciated that they didn't turn Maddie into a harpy during this storyline. I wish she was still on the show, though, because her brother, Henry, is hilarious and poorly utilized on the show.

I wish they'd bring her back. Her friendship with Luke worked really well and she was a sweetheart. Henry is really great in all the tiny scenes that I've seen him in. I wonder if they have his scenes somewhere on YouTube...

[sundaydriver.livejournal.com]

I've been hooked on Luke/Noah since last fall and now you've gotten me hooked on Oliver/Christian. I ended up watching almost all of their clips on YT last night, instead of going to bed early like I had planned. ;)

And they are adorable and angsty, (and, yes, Christian can be a bit of a drama queen), and it's just fun to watch them. I've been a soap fan since I was 8 years old and lately most of my soaps have started to go downhill and that's become a bit depressing. So, to watch this German soap, with its flashbacks, slow motion, and song montages, along with actual family and friend connections, is great. I don't just care about Oliver and Christian, but also Gregor and Judith and Charlie, etc.

Thank you so much for the link. Definitely helped to cheer me up these past few days. :)

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Olli and Christian are so adorable. Olli with his cute flailing to Olivia that Christian always manages to overhear and Christian with his freaking out and the flashbacks and Judith's love triangle of DOOM and Charlie (who reminds me of my stepmother's mother, who is blonde and from Germany and has similar mannerisms).

I'm so glad I could make you feel better!

[sundaydriver.livejournal.com]

Judith's love triangle of DOOM was pretty funny, especially with the looks on Christian's and Olli's faces when they would listen to her troubles. *snort*

And I love how Olli gets Christian and knows how to handle his freak-outs. And I think that might one of the reasons Christian loves Olli so much as well. *hugs them both*

I can't wait to see more. :)