vaffanculo

full name : nicolas “nico” russo nickname(s) : nico, nic, nicky — family only and usually against his will date of birth : september 12 parentage: marco and caterina russo siblings: gianna “gia” russo, 37; massimo “max” russo, 34 significant other: none children: none gender identity : trans man romantic orientation : biromantic sexual orientation : bisexual

WANTED CONNECTIONS:

friends!

enemies!

lovers!!

anything else!!

BIOGRAPHY: (full)

nico russo grew up close enough to the russo family fortune to know exactly what it could buy, and exactly what it couldn’t fix. the youngest of three children born to marco and caterina russo, nico learned early how easy it was to be both watched and overlooked. his older sister, gia, was polished and responsible in the way eldest daughters often had to be, while his older brother, max, carried himself with the easy charm of someone who knew how to talk his way out of trouble. nico, meanwhile, became the practical one: the fixer, the mover, the person people called when something needed handling.

being a russo meant being surrounded by beautiful things, loud opinions, family expectations, and old money disguised as tradition. nico loved his family, but he never fit neatly into the version of him they tried to preserve. coming out as trans only complicated a place he had never fully felt comfortable in to begin with. some relatives loved him fiercely, some loved him clumsily, some treated his identity like something to whisper around, and some chose silence sharp enough to leave marks. nico learned to build himself anyway. he became a man on his own terms — not polished for family portraits, not softened for anyone’s comfort, and not interested in being treated like a lesson in acceptance.

his cousins, elio and elby russo, were part of that same golden family orbit, though each of them carried it differently. elio had always been the artist, nanu gio’s favorite, the brilliant one whose talent seemed to excuse everything from obsession to self-destruction. elby, the youngest russo sibling and only daughter, was adored for her beauty, charm, and wildness, even when she was busy proving she was more than something pretty to look at. nico loved them both, but love did not erase the old ache of watching other people be treasured while he was useful.

now thirty, nico arrives in carroll as a newcomer and takes on the role of elio’s gallery assistant, helping manage the less glamorous side of the art world: installations, shipments, clients, contractors, and all the little disasters elio would rather ignore. but nico’s real passion has always been architectural salvage. he has a gift for seeing worth in what other people abandon — old doors, stained glass, antique fixtures, broken mantels, forgotten pieces of houses with better stories than their owners.