ADRIAN (IVASHKOV) + GABI (JILL DRAGOMIR) ZAYTSEV
LOW | COMPLETE
For a guy who wasn’t a huge fan of actually attending classes for the entirety of the semester, Adrian usually ended up on campus a little early. He’d collected his class schedule and had even picked up a couple books. One of two of his classes he just scowled at on the piece of paper in front of him. Classes that he generally took to appease his parents (see: his father) in order to show that he was actually “going somewhere” in his college career. Truth be told, Adrian was perfectly content taking more art classes or even the occasional lit class to fill the void of math and sciences preferred by the elder Zaytsev. It didn’t help matters that his sisters were model students with one already in medical school and the other coming off of a government internship. Someone had to set the low bar for the rest of the family, right?
His art books sat untouched on the table still in the bag straight from the university bookstore, and there was a frozen chocolatey coffee drink in his hand while he pursued a few social media feeds on his phone. People were getting back into town after their exciting summer breaks, catching up, and talking about getting ready to go back to school. Exciting stuff.
Sipping at his drink, Adrian probably looked a little bored with his eyes glued to the phone, scrolling and scrolling away. Finally, he set it down and pulled one of the books out of the bag and started flipping slowly through the pages. This one was for a class more along the lines of art history instead of hands-on art, but he still didn’t mind those classes - too much.
“Adrian Zaytsev with a book,” Gabi teased with an amused smile when she spotted her half-brother. She’d been busily getting reacquainted with friends and meeting new freshman today, but was glad to see Adrian, too. They’d gotten off to a rocky start as siblings, which she didn’t at all blame him for, but she was always glad for a chance to hang out with him.
“How’s your first day going so far?” She helped herself to a seat at the table and picked up her own drink. She had a collection of books, too. Some were design-related, but she still had some of her gen ed requirements to satisfy, too, which meant some of the classes weren’t as fun or exciting to her.
The familiar voice pulled Adrian out of his art haze, and he looked up to see his sister standing there for a moment before she sat down across from him. Well, his half sister. He wasn't nearly as close to Gabi as he was with his other sisters, but that was mostly his own doing. He'd been a moody kid and teenager, and it had only dissipated slightly after he officially had become an adult.
"Oh, you know," he said with a shrug. "So far so good. I bought my books today, so that's progress, right?" It wasn't his first day of classes, but it was his first day on campus. Might as well get back in the swing of things.
"This one has pictures," he said and held the book up briefly before laying it down and closing it. "What about you?"
Gabi grinned at that. “It looks pretty interesting, too,” she offered as she looked at the book briefly.
“It’s going pretty good. Got all my books, my classes seem cool for the most part and I think we’ll have a really good group of pledges this year.”
Adrian shrugged a bit. “It looks alright for a class that studies a bunch of pictures and statues some dead, old dudes painted hundreds of years ago.” He smiled a little. Some were more interesting than others. He could already tell that the impressionists would be more his speed.
He sipped at her drink when she gave the brief rundown of her day. He’d never feel as comfortable around Gabi as he did his other sisters, but there had been a lot of progress between them over the last handful of years or so.
“That’s cool,” he said. “The sorority thing, I mean. It was never my speed, but I have been to a few badass parties here and there courtesy of the Greeks.”
“We do have some good parties,” she agreed with a smile. They weren’t the reason Gabi had joined a sorority in her freshman year, but she had to admit they were a lot of fun. She and Adrian might not share a lot of the same priorities, but she could still appreciate a good party.
“Do you have mostly art classes this year?” She knew gen eds were a necessary evil of college, but she’d thankfully gotten most of her own out of the way and she hoped it was the same for him. Gabi knew the art classes were really why he was here.
“Mostly, yeah,” he said. Unfortunately, there were a couple others he took for the sake of getting in his general education courses but also general parental approval courses. His mother had accepted his choice… mostly, but he was pretty sure his father never would be happy about his career aspirations. Or lack thereof, according to him. “I’ll be stuck in Philosophy two days a week and Economics for three days a week. One I can tolerate more than the other.”
Adrian wasn’t looking towards either one, but at least with philosophy he could try to spout off some wordy bullshit and pretend it was his own worldview or something. “How are the fashion courses looking on your end?”
Jill could just about guess which of those classes he’d like better. “It’s Econ, right?” she teased. “That one sounds right up your alley.” She didn’t think it sounded like much fun, either. Some of the gen ed classes she had she didn’t mind, but math had never been one of her favorites and economics didn’t sound any more exciting.
“My classes are looking good,” she said with a smile. “I get to put together my own fashion show as a midterm. I’m a little nervous about it, but I think it’s going to be a lot of fun, too.”
"Hit the nail on the head," Adrian said and tapped his fingers on the cover of one of his books for emphasis. He didn't bring up why he was having to take the class since parental things were always a weird topic of conversation between the two of them.
"Hey, that's pretty cool. I know next to nothing about fashion except what those check-out aisle magazines try to tell me, but I'm sure you'll do great.
“Thanks, Adrian,” Jill said, offering him a small smile. She was both nervous and excited about the project, probably more excited than anything, but it was good to hear some words of support.