vending machine | ethan torchio

i

it wasn't every day that you saw a young woman doing a light jogging session around her neighbourhood at two in the morning. at least that's not what her mother, and most of society, would want her to be doing so late at night.

flavia bacci wouldn't be her parents' daughter if she wasn't the exact opposite of their expectations. if they wanted her to take the sunset as a sign to not leave her house, they shouldn't have signed her up for a summer self-defense program when she was 15. the course turned out to be a healthy and helpful experience for the girl, who then picked up taekwondo at a local martial arts club and kept being an active member for four or so years.

fairly enough for her to not be afraid of the dark and its dangers for someone her age.

she just had to cool down after being mentally attacked from all sides for a week straight. the café she worked at needed a menu upgrade, and for some reason her manager thought flavia would be able to set it up all by herself in a ridiculously short deadline that was about to come up tomorrow.

sure, she might've gotten only some coffees down, but she made a promise to get into full-on work mode as soon as she grabs a hold of a proper soda.

just one can won't hurt...

her one and only guilty pleasure, and it didn't help that she was now living alone - responsible for all expenses and without surveillance - and that just down the street from her building complex stood a simple yet charming vending machine.

no cars ever passed by that street corner, as it was a walking-only zone, but there were also very few people heading that way, since walking a little further would take them to a dead-end. someone, however, was diligently refilling that single machine on the corner, as if they knew of a single girl's strange habit.

it was her secret spot, a place where she's been seeking comfort for months now. everything about the vending machine was perfect: the illuminating lights inside the box, the buzzing sound of constantly circling electricity, and the creaking, a music to her ears as a candy bar or a soda was being processed and let out of its little cage after she would insert coins.

surely nothing could break that idyllic atmosphere.

just as she was beginning to get lost in thought, flavia turned the corner and stopped in her track, her breath stopping in her throat. her heart beat fastened because by the vending machine, on the improvised bench she set up out of some stray bricks, sat an unknown person.

an unknown man.

the young woman still had time to turn on her heel and go away without disrupting whatever he was busy with, but the idea of heading back to a lonely apartment without doing what she set her mind to was depressing enough to instead make her step forward.

not letting the fact that she was definitely noticed now get to her, flavia focused her sight on the vending machine and picking something out as quickly as possible. she frowned as she came to conclusion that her favorite was out of stock and settled for a cherry cola. metal coins banged against the inside of the machine as she inserted them one by one just as fast as she made the decision.

as the familiar creaking began - was it always this slow? - the woman was painfully aware that her back was facing a stranger and that her clothes made her look like stupider than she actually was. in this day and age, black leggings and white crop-top were basically a mating call to all kinds of creeps on the streets, and she wasn't given a reason to believe she wasn't in presence of one right now.

flavia tried to figure out what was happening behind her without having to turn her head. she remembered that he was wearing headphones, which would explain obnoxiously loud music playing somewhere in the background. the dude probably wasn't aware of his surroundings. or he could be using it as a front for sheepish women like herself.

"come on, you stupid thing...", she muttered in half-whisper as she noticed that the machine wasn't working properly and the creaking sounded louder and somehow less promising than ever. and just as she was about to try with a new set of coins, it made a final big sound and...

... robbed her of her three euros.

of course this had to happen at the most inconvenient timing. flavia's shoulders stiffened as she realised that she's been here more than long enough and that someone was still behind her, perhaps eyeing her movements and trajectory. this made her give up completely and mentally settle for a cup of coffee back home, when an unfamiliar voice made its way to her ears.

"have you tried kicking it?"

(A/N): hello! this is the first fanfiction i've written in a while, so please bear with me through these updates and half-slow pacing as we figure things about this story out together! i've been an avid fan of måneskin for months now and have a real-time crush on ethan, the drummer ( iykyk :D) so i figured - why not indulge in some of my past passions that is writing up fictional realities for famous people?

please feel free to comment and add vending machine to your reading lists but also drop some fanfic reccs ! <3