The Milkman (Francis Mosses [That's not my neighbour] x Reader) - Chapter 1 - SquigglyCamp355 (2024)

Chapter Text

Since the increase of dopples across the country, your job has become more stressful. Everyday you're forced to kill creatures that look like your closest friends, your neighbours, a certain someone you have your eyes on...

Every person that comes through the door you have to be wary of, ask them question after question, push them to the point of frustration just to save the lives of everyone in the building. Sure the D.D.D 'cleaned up' quickly but those few moments of purgatory between then, thinking of the grim possibility of killing one of your neighbours terrified you to your core. There was news a few weeks ago of another person with your job being killed after they let in a doppelgänger of their sweet elderly neighbour. You lived on the third floor, your friend Mia Stone helped you to get the fifth room they had to offer, you didn't even know there was five rooms on the third floor but you were glad to find a place.

It was soon after moving in did you get the job you loathe. And the third floor is where you met Francis; his tired eyes lured you in along with his milkman uniform. The first time you saw each other you offered him a smile and a 'hello'. It was in the corridor of the third floor right before your shift where your heart was set aflame for the hot, tired looking milkman.

Since then, Francis has been more open speaking to you, telling you about houses he's been to, he even gave you one of his spare caps and muttered something about the 'cowboy rule'; you didn't know what it was but it helped you to differentiate the real Francis from a dopple. The dopples always got confused seeing you in the milkman hat, but Francis always smiled seeing you. It was now another difficult shift, four dopples had been through and four dopples you had killed. Now stood infront of you stood Francis? Well it looked like Francis, it sounded like Francis but the ID number didn't match and he wasn't on the list. Yet every detail was perfect, you knew you had to call the D.D.D and as you held the phone to your ear, alarm piercing through your ear, you felt wet droplets drip down your face. Just the thought of killing Francis pained you. But you knew it wasn't him. There were two more neighbours that came through before your shift ended- the Sverchtz twins. They were both humans and talked about the photoshoots they did that day.

Once your paperwork was filed, you made one last call to the D.D.D and let them know your shift had ended and when they acknowledged everything was in order you made your way back to the third floor rather hastily. You were unsure if he'd even still be awake but there was a nagging in the front of your mind demanding you see him. Taking the stairs two at a time you felt pretty warm by the end of the trip.

As you ran down the hallway your mind raced with what you were planning on saying, this was such a foolish idea but you just knew you had to do it. You knocked on the second apartment door, taking care not to knock too hard in case he was asleep. Francis' annoyed face was revealed by the door opening, the wind of the sudden door opening blowing in your face. As soon as he saw it was you, Francis' face softened and his eyes sparkled. At this point you realised you didn't have a plan or knew what you were going to say so you just blurted out whatever came to mind in that moment. It ended up being a tangle of words unravelling out of your mouth, things about how you was worried about Francis' safety, the dopple of him you saw, how you didn't know what the 'cowboy rule' was, your feeling that you harboured to Francis. Your words spiralled until you ran out of breath, until the man stood in front of you wrapped his arms around your body and pulled you in his embrace, warmth radiating off of him, you could feel the beat of his heart.

When you felt fully calm, you pulled away from the hug and looked into Francis' eyes just like you loved to do each time. A large hand rested on your cheek, thumb caressing your bottom lip. Your face grew red. Francis' lips replaced his thumb, a soft, warm, tender kiss. One hand on the back of your head, the other on your waist to keep you close to him. It was only one kiss but it left you yearning to feel his lips again after he stopped.

"The cowboy rule is, you wear the hat, you ride the cowboy. You're wearing my milkman hat, and well I'm the milkman."

He pulled you inside his apartment after he spoke, your head spinning from what he just said. You had waited long enough for him to explain the rule to you, and you certainly wasn't a rule breaker.