June is blue, mostly.
Haven had weathered the storm that was Alexandra Chen (Steph's words, not hers). She'd come in and torn everything up from the usual. People should hate her.
They didn't. In fact, their blueness was a comfort. All of Haven's people, coming together to mourn both the pillar of their community that was Gabe and what they had been before Jed. Gatherings were an ocean Alex found herself swimming in, blue so deep you'd drown in.
Alex keeps working at the Black Lantern. It's tiring, being around reminders of her dad. She hadn't noticed it before, but now the mining memorabilia meant something else entirely.
Steph offers her a job. She accepted, and her month ended with a bit of yellow.
July is red.
Reporters had flocked in the month before, vultures to a carcass. When they'd found only living, breathing people, most had left. A few harpies (again, Steph's words) lingered into the next month, as if thinking biding their time would reward them.
They're relentless, walking into the record store to hunt down Alex. She rebuffs them, barely, as red bleeds from their fringes like a frayed flannel. They don't like that.
Finally, one starts yelling. Something about her duty to tell a story, some bullshit to cover the man making a quick buck off her trauma. Steph hears.
She'd never seen a red like hers, in that moment. Anger is usually directed at Alex, she the perfect punching bag with how she clams up. But this anger, this red, it was protective. Steph screams at the man and he left, cowed.
Steph apologizes to Alex about getting so riled up. But Alex can't deny that it feels kind of nice to have someone stand up for her for the first time in years.
August is yellow.
It's a good month. Steph lets it slip in conversation, calling Alex 'girlfriend.' She flushes red, embarrassed, but Alex just hugs her. It's not a word that usually has meant something to her, but to hear Steph say it feels special.
They take things slow, each having plenty of experience with going fast. Maybe it's the sleepy town rubbing off on them, but it's a comfort. It's a stolen kiss before Steph steps into the booth. It's a touch of hands as they sort shelves.
It feels like home, this little record store. A slice of time apart from the world—their own playground. People from the town chitter and talk about them, usually in the way people exchange those knowing looks that say, 'Yeah, they're cute, about time they started getting serious.'
Whenever Steph smiles, Alex can't help but reciprocate.
September is also yellow.
It's the month they start their band, as much as it could be called that. Mostly, it's the two of them playing in the back after closing. Sometimes they actually get through a few songs before having a kissing break.
Steph suggests they just name their band 'gay' and make it a bit. Alex rolls her eyes and Steph insists it could work.
"G for Gingrich, yeah? Then A for Alex and Y for—"
Alex shuts her up with a kiss. Steph doesn't mind. They bask in a yellow glow.
October is purple and blue.
It's something someone says about a Halloween celebration, and the town is back to all thinking about Gabe and how he usually led the charge on planning. Not that the town had forgotten him, but time was a nice buffer in memory.
She wasn't ready for the amount of blue, and Alex misses a shift. Steph checks on her while Ryan watches the store. The key Alex had given her pops the lock and Steph calls out to announce her arrival.
Alex is in bed, trembling, memories of the last time it had gotten this bad plaguing her. She didn't know why this was different—hell, it felt wrong to be this affected when she hadn't gotten this way after his death.
Steph is shades of violet, sitting down next to her and holding her hand. She asks what's wrong, and eventually Alex opens up about memories of what happens when she feels this intensity of blue. Memories of being better off dead.
The purple doesn't fade from Steph as she holds Alex tight. But the blue feels a bit easier to deal with her there.
November is purple.
They book their first gig. Book is maybe an exaggeration, Steph knows a guy who knows a guy the town over. He invites them to play at his bar during the evening.
When Alex had played at the Spring Festival, there hadn't been time for the purple to set in. Those two assholes had surprised her, and though she'd never admit it, it had been better that way.
Though maybe Steph could tell. Her girlfriend didn't need freaky empathy powers to see that Alex was nervous about going on stage.
Steph tells her a story about her first gig, and it calms her. Then, icing on the cake, tells her, "Just play for me, like you do all the time. I'll do all the talking."
The purple subsides some, and they take the stage at the end of the month. It feels great.
December is yellow.
Foster care doesn't really nurture a love for the holidays. Her family didn't celebrate Christmas, and the few memories she had were more of all the kids at school talking about it.
It takes Steph realizing that Alex didn't care about the holidays to change that. Apparently, Steph loved it all (though she didn't dare let anyone know—it'd hurt her image). Very quickly, decorations filled the record store as snow filled the town.
Alex can't help but feel yellow at how much Steph liked the stuff. Oh, sure, Steph hated the commercialism of it all, but the joy on her face as she dragged Alex to light exhibitions?
Well, Alex wouldn't have it any other way.
January is blue.
Alex isn't the only one who feels fiercely. Steph has her moments, her bad memories, too. She's got a handle on it much better than Alex, but even a watched pot can boil over.
They spend a lot of time together while Steph works through it. It's not the first time, Steph tells her, and it won't be the last.
Most nights, when Steph is up for it, are spent on Alex's couch with cups of hot chocolate. They watch shitty romcoms, laughing at how bad they are. And sometimes they even find one that they like.
Steph thanks her, but Alex just tells her it comes with the territory of girlfriend. Steph laughs at that.
February is yellow.
They don't celebrate Valentine's Day. Steph calls it a corporate cash grab on love and Alex has never done anything for it before, so why start now?
Instead, they spend the day in the record store after hours on a mission to listen to every single record. They don't get through even half, especially after Valkyrie decides that she's taking a nap on Alex's lap.
"Wow, stealing my cat, Chen? That's pretty gay."
"You're pretty gay," she retorts.
Steph can't come back from that, the gravest of insults. She kisses Alex instead and they both add a memory to their collection together.
March is red.
Riley's back on spring break for a week and Mac doesn't leave her alone. Alex tries to stay out of his way when she can help it, but goddamn does he make it hard sometimes.
When she sees him hassling Riley in the street, Alex lets loose. The line is blurred between her own red and what she's feeling from Riley's. There was no way the rest of the town couldn't see all that red, right?
Mac retreats away, a purple blip walking away with what would be for good from Riley. People praise her for finally telling Mac what he needed to hear, but she hates it. She hates feeling that red, and it brings back memories of beating the shit out of Mac on her first day.
Steph tells her that he had it coming. When that doesn't work, she takes Alex out on a hike (one of Ryan's many recommended trails). It calms her, and she feels like a human again.
Steph teases her, saying that Riley's probably disappointed Alex is a taken woman after coming to her defense. Alex rolls her eyes.
She does that a lot around Steph. Alex doesn't mind.
April is yellow.
The snow is nearly all gone and Steph's got cabin fever. Alex tries to understand how she can have it when they do plenty outside as it is. But the mysteries of Steph are a tangled web, one Alex just smiles and accepts.
They take a trip to Denver since Alex has never been. Steph shows her all the sights, the popular and the not so popular. Only Steph would call a hole-in-the-wall dive bar a 'necessary site to see' when going to Denver.
They did have good music, though. Alex can't help but smile as Steph bobs her head to the beat.
May is blue, purple, red, and most importantly, yellow.
It's the anniversary of his death. It hurts just as much as she expected it to. Emotions are all over the place in town, a canvas of spilled paint.
She feels strongly during those days, spending time with everyone to comfort them. One night, Steph marvels at how Alex keeps helping people despite how she's feeling. Steph hardly needs a superpower to tell what her girlfriend is feeling at this point.
Alex doesn't really know why she does it. But Haven is home, so maybe that makes it all worth it.
Scratch that, Steph is home. She tells her such, and Steph's left with the most yellow glow Alex has seen on her in a long time.
They revel in it.