Currently thinking of modern roommates!AU where Nicky lives in an atrocious spartan setup before Yusuf moved in like:
The living room has no couch, just one beanbag, one PlayStation, one Xbox and one stupidly oversized 85” QLED 8K TV or something, and it’s all ON THE FLOOR bc what are media consoles, what’s drilling holes to hang a TV up on the wall
The dining setup: these IKEA patio table and chairs dragged in from the balcony (because they came with the rental)
Surprisingly the kitchen is more well stocked, with a nicely sized pasta pot and strainer + nonstick pan, plus a very extra set of Damascus steel santoku knives bc Nicky decided to treat himself
OKAY but Nicky is NOT MESSY he just has basically NOTHING in his house like...every fresh out of college dude out there
And Yusuf moves in to the spare bedroom and is like *rolls sleeves* boy let me take you to IKEA
And this is now Nicky’s apartment got the charming but inexpensive makeover it deserved!!!!
However, Yusuf is the messy roommate, and it turns out that the reason why he needs chairs around the house is so he can constantly leave his things on them. It drives Nicky crazy.
Please please talk to me/share ideas bc I desperately need an outlet for these feels. Spartan!dudebro Nicky meets...hipster!dudebro Yusuf.....and bro...is it gay if we kiss bro?? Is it gay if we start sharing the bed????
Sooooooo in my football AU I headcanon Nichi (Nicky) as having tattoos all over...like Sergio Ramos...
But Yusuf doesn’t have any bc he was like, okay I have to pick and choose my haram traits I don’t want my parents to disown me and being gay is more than enough
Except like, since his parents are okay with Nichi now.......
What if Yusuf goes to get one (1) single tattoo in a very obscure location his parents would never see
And it’s one line of poetry on the inside of his thigh, extending from mid-thigh (which would be covered by his football shorts) to his groin in fineline cursive style
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul.
And like...IT’S BASICALLY FOR NICHI’S EYES ONLY, YA??? I mean you could be a nosy teammate but it’s kinda rude to be looking too hard at that specific area of his body so like snoop around all you want but it’s really meant to be a super private tattoo
Nicolò Di Genova: “Football is my faith, San Siro is my church”
The Guardian, 22 May 2028
“I have no regrets, not even the World Cup.” Inter Milan captain Nicolò Di Genova has announced his retirement from club football. He will play on with the national squad for the 2028 Euros this summer, where his country plays host, his swan song before the final bow.
The man and the mystery started out as a 7 year old with the youth side of Genoa Cricket and Football Club, the oldest football team in Italy. He played with his hometown club for 10 years, making nearly 30 appearances for the under-17s before moving on to the Primavera side, where he established himself as a regular starter at the center of defence. Before the age of 18, he was named to the first team bench, and after only 3 starting appearances, he was snapped up by Inter Milan for €30 million.
A crowded roster meant that he was loaned out to get playing time, and he made his way to England, for the Wolverhampton Wolves under the prophetic Nuno Espírito Santo. The Wolves were a well-regarded team of underdogs, and during his spell, the team reached the semifinals of the FA Cup and achieved a 7th place finish, sneaking into the Europa League under special circumstances.
He was recalled to Inter Milan from the 2019-2020 season onwards, a season of unusual circumstances when the COVID-19 pandemic spiraled in Italy, leading to the declaration of a total lockdown in early March 2020 that delayed the season end until August of the same year. The pandemic also meant that the 2020 Euros were postponed to the following year. Where the early buzz was that this player might be Chiellini’s heir in the lineage of great Italian defenders, it was the summer of 2021 that he sealed his place as the heir apparent.
Against a host of superstars old and new, in a tournament star-studded with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé, and Erling Haaland, one man rose to brutalize them all. Fearless, reckless, and with a single-minded focus on preventing a goal at all costs, Di Genova was the insatiable black hole to these superstars, swallowing all their light and shine, with no regard to the entertainment value of TV audiences worldwide. Quickly building a reputation as a fearsome menace and a bully, his playing style did not make for attractive viewing, at times defying the stereotype of the measured Italian defender with his English-style grit as if in homage to the origins of his boyhood club.
Then again, the best central defenders make the most natural candidates for captaincy, and this is where Di Genova’s reputation acquired some polish. After a league-winning 2020-2021 season beset with financial problems, in which the majority of Inter players went unpaid for months, the older players and bigger names were sold to keep the club liquid. Di Genova found himself in the fortuitous position of going from substitute captain to a permanent one, at the tender age of 24. Blessed with a chiseled face like a Roman statue, emanating a raw, unbridled masculinity and sporting a fresh haircut that signaled the beginning of the post-vaccine era, his popularity began to surge on account of being the subject of viral memes.
Adversity sometimes breeds success, and in the midst of Inter Milan’s financial turmoil, together with Yusuf Al Kaysani and Dominik Brunczvik, he formed the steadfast backbone of Antonio Conte’s old-school catenaccio-flavored 3-5-2. Discipline, organization and solidity were key values, leading to a consecutive scudetto win even as the club had to undergo financial restructuring. His partnership with Yusuf Al Kaysani in particular withstood the onslaught of uncertainty that plagued the club for years, and a revolving door of managers who flip flopped between a back three and back four lineup. At Inter, they were the new “silk and steel” in the tradition of Claudio Gentile and Gaetano Scirea, with Di Genova providing the mettle and Al Kaysani the flair.
Though he is not a one club man, his near decade of service at Inter Milan have made him the bastion of loyalty, earning the undying adulation of all Interisti. Other clubs have tried to come knocking, and yet those efforts to lure him away never amounted to much. His devotion to the club is such that even rival fans cite him as a player with old-school values they truly respect, in a world where money speaks loudest.
For all his loyalty to his club, there is one other that takes precedence—the national team. Sometimes seeming like he stepped off from a different era into the modern game, Di Genova radiates the energy of a classic man-of-the-people footballer for whom a call-up to the national team is the highest honor. Putting in solid performances in the 2022 World Cup, Italy made it to the finals with the fewest goals conceded, only to lose the trophy to Germany in a penalty shootout. By Euro 2024, he was named captain of the Azzurri, and he took his team to an inspired victory over Belgium. As for the 2026 World Cup, despite the controversy of the final, it was his ability to stop important goals that brought the Azzurri there, and he has a winner’s medal to prove his worth despite being unable to lift the trophy.
A fiercely private individual, he keeps his personal life strictly out of the public eye. This hard boundary only serves to further the enigma and mystique, such that he is spoken of with the kind of mythos usually reserved for the ancient gods. He started out as a brute and a bully, the burden of captaincy taming his wilder impulses, with years of dependability to burnish his credibility. He now has the unassailable reputation of a great military general, a charismatic leader able to command authority over a field of jostling, overinflated egos.
Never one to shy from an ugly victory when the circumstances call for it, he provided the grit and backbone to Andy Skifska’s glitzy, fast-attacking team. Trusted by Skifska to lock the deadbolt across goal, he finally achieved the coveted Champions League in the 2026-2027 season, with a garnish of the Club World Cup in 2028.
He retires as someone who has taken his team to victory in every major tournament, the faithful servant of club and country. Within Italy, he is an undisputed national hero with a permanent spot in the pantheon of calcio greats. To his legions of adoring fans, he remains a former heartthrob, or absolute beast, depending on who you ask, and a role model and cautionary tale at the same time.
It is difficult to get any quotes from the man himself, but when asked about his retirement plans at the final league match of the season, he coyly replies, “I am going to take a long holiday, and then, we will see.”
Calendar reminder: Ding ding! Zoom Training Time!!
[One hour later...]
Yusuf: Whew, that was a tough workout, wasn’t it? *lifts edge of shirt to wipe face, thus revealing perfectly chiseled, glistening abs*
Nichi: [thinking] ...how do these abs catch the sunlight in the most perfect manner...perfect abs...thirst...thirsty...need water... *uncontrollably squeezes a massive squirt of water from athletic water bottle on face*
