𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄:
Rafael Hudson is her favorite person
(1984)

GENESIS ACKERMAN FELT FUCKING LONELY. There's no point in lying to herself. Yes, she is very much an independent woman that can carry her own shit, but she wants to carry her shit with someone.

Centuries of no-attachments intimacy for the sake of wanting to let the steam off. Sex without feelings is fine with her, and she has needs, after all. But intimacy wasn't all about sex—no, it's her and someone watching the sunrise and sunset, talking and doing mundane things—domestic things, simply waking up with someone with their hands draped tightly around her waist and drinking in their warmth, sneaking in kisses, making them coffee or tea in the morning, cooking them breakfast, gardening in the afternoon and talking nonsense, or taking a lazy stroll at night with comforting silence and gazing at the starry night sky.

She wanted it all—not just the power, the fuck-ton of money because of her investments around the globe, or the silent justice she did during the night with Elliot.

And she wants someone to give her all of that this time.

Hasn't she given enough anyway?

Being independent is good, but it's all so exhausting.

Maybe that's one of the reasons she turned off her humanity during the late 18th century and turned it back on in 1919. She turned off her humanity for one-hundred twenty-nine years. She doesn't know if she did turn it off because she doesn't remember anything at all.

It was all black until she found herself in Mississippi and a few years later in Elliot Cresswell's office, who was also seeking redemption because from the painful ache from her chest that keeps haunting her indicates that she did awful—horrible things. The ache she was feeling from. Eventually, she concluded that it was her consciousness and that guilt was slowly creeping its way to the back of her mind.

Goodness, she thought she was a logical person but turning off her humanity for five decades isn't logical nor rational. What made her turn the switch off? She doesn't know. What triggered it? She also doesn't know. She asked, of course, that what happened to her was normal. In a way, it's the mind's reaction to blocking out the things she did for her own sanity.

One-hundred and nine-nine years' worth of memory was gone—memories she didn't know if she wanted to remember it. Maybe it's better that way before she truly loses herself after discovering the things she had done in those one-hundred years.

Genesis Ackerman doesn't even recognize herself. After gaining her humanity, something changed, and she doesn't know it yet, but it was a change she knows that will affect her forever.

But as Rafael Hudson looked at her as if she strung up the stars, she didn't feel as lonely.

Rafael Hudson was a 178-year-old man stuck inside a 28-year-old's body, and he was a vampire turned in the year 1806 in Sheffield, United Kingdom. He has a passion for music as he plays the drums wonderfully, while Genesis sang on stage because of a bet she made with Elliot.

He's handsome with his reddish-brown skin, five feet and eight inches height that's slightly taller than Genesis, his charming smile, playful yet calming and assuring personality that Genesis seemed to adore day by day, his broad yet lean frame, and just the right amount of muscle in his body, and his ceasar cut hair.

Out of all the men that Genesis Ackerman met in her lifetime. Rafael Hudson is her favorite.

He made her feel warmth with how he listened and hung up on her every word, how he remembered every little detail of her favorite plants in her garden, how he asked about her day and her plans for next week because he wanted to cook her the five-course french meal recipe he learned when he visited France last year, how subtle yet loud words of assurance he tells her every day.

Rafael Hudson made her smile and made her day better whenever he was near.

"Rafe," Genesis calls out in their living room as Rafael peaks his head out, "Yes, darling?"

"Let's do something you want for this week," and every other week if he wants to. Genesis thought.

"We don't have to, dear. All I want is you by my side." Rafael strolls towards her, placing his hands on her waist, and Genesis smiles.

"But we always do what I want,"

"And are you happy?"

Genesis furrows her eyebrows, "Of course I am, the happiest I have been for centuries," and it's true. With Rafael, she felt assured, felt safe, felt the comfort she always sought, and felt at home.

"Then fine by me. Your happiness is my happiness, and making you smile is an achievement, darling." Rafael places a peck on the crown of her head, and Genesis' eyes flutter shut as she melts in his embrace.

"Do you not get bored when we spend our day in the garden?" Genesis asks in a whisper, feeling vulnerable, which only shows when she's around him.

Rafael turned her around with his hands cupping her face, and it was a gentle gesture that she welcomed, "Darling, I could watch you, watch paint dry, and I wouldn't get bored at all."

"Why?"

"Because I love you." The words slipped away from his mouth so easily and so confidently without a hint of hesitancy and doubt, and Genesis' eyes softened, her hand covering his own as she leaned in his hold.

Genesis opens her mouth, but no words seem to come out, and she gives her an apologetic look. Rafael shakes his head, taking her lips in his, and she feels warm all over.

Then he whispers across her lips, "It's alright. You don't need to say it if you're not ready. Your actions are enough for me to know." Rafael grabs her right hand and brings it up to his lips, placing a soft peck as he squeezes her other hand reassuringly.

"Let's go somewhere you want to go, a vacation," Genesis proposes, and Rafael chuckles, giving her a soft smile. "You're not going to let this go are you?"

Genesis grins at him, tilting her head, "Nope," as the p pops out.

"New Orleans, I always wanted to go there. The city of Jazz." Rafael tells her as he begins to twirl her and starts to sing a Niel Armstrong song. The mention of New Orleans made her skin shiver. Her head was screaming 'NO,' and she didn't know why.

Genesis covers it with a laugh, and Rafael's features brighten. "And you know it's also the powerhouse of magic. One foot stepped in there, and the witches will sense us and curse us to get the hell out." Genesis points out, making up reasons because her gut told her to not go to New Orleans.

Rafael sighs, "I know. It's one of the reasons I wanted to go. I'm merely a curious man." He was always interested in magic, maybe because he read fairytales as a child, and the whole magic thing was magical for him.

"Curiosity killed the cat, you know?" Genesis retorts with an eyebrow raised, and Rafael retorts, "Ah, well, satisfaction brought it back."

"Touché. Anywhere else you want to go?" Genesis asks as Rafael ponders, and his eyes light up in excitement, "Queen is performing in Vancouver next month,"

"Done,"

Author's Note:
— I will not accept nor tolerate Rafael Hudson slander! He is such a sweetheart, honestly. He took care of Genesis when Elijah couldn't.
— Also, yes, Genesis thought she turned off her humanity because she didn't want to feel what she felt after Kol got daggered, and she felt alone in the world again, and she doesn't like feeling that way, so she didn't bother questioning it when she thinks she turned on her humanity. But now, she doesn't even know that she lost Kol. Only that she feels super lonely that she turned it off.