MaeBea

MaeBea is the femslash ship between Mae Borowski and Bea Santello from the Night In The Woods fandom.

Canon
Mae and Bea have been friends since childhood, but they’ve estranged since then.

Part One: Home Again
Mae sees Bea again after 2 years as she shows up at band practice. Bea is notably not to thrilled about Mae being back, though Mae doesn’t find out why. Bea had replaced Mae’s spot in their band, replacing her bass and Casey’s drums with electronic music, which Mae in turn dismisses. After a jam session, Mae and Bea go out to eat pizza at the Clik Clak Diner, but finding a severed arm on their way out has Mae’s aunt Molly force them into a buddy system, with Bea offering to take Mae home with her car. On the way home, Mae and Bea struggle to have a conversation, Bea reveals that she now works at the Ol’ Pickaxe, the store of her parents. Mae makes a joke about Bea’s parents forcing her to work, but Bea immediately stops the car and tells Mae to get out, forcing her to walk her way back home.

The next day, Mae openly tells Gregg in the chattrBox that she thinks that Bea doesn’t like her and thus is not too thrilled about going to a party with her. On the day of the party, she still asks Bea if she’ll drive them. Bea accepts after a bout of sarcasm and tells Mae that if she doesn’t get ready by 8:30, they’ll go without her and tells her not to get lost on her way home. She clarifies that she’s only half-joking about the second part.

At the party, Bea spends most of her time talking to her friend, Jackie, while mostly ignoring Mae. It’s only after Mae gets a little drunk that she gets to have a full conversation with Bea. After Mae goes drunk some more, Bea advises her to simply sit by the fire and watch over herself. But once she does so, she goes into a drunken rant about “effing” everything, embarrassing herself in front of her ex after almost barfing on him, leading Bea to offer to take her home. On their way home, Mae, still drunk, asks Bea why they stopped being friends. Mae makes a comment about trying not to barf in the car of Bea’s parents, not wanting to upset Bea’s mother. Bea tells Mae that her mother has been dead for years and that Mae somehow forgot about that. She chides Mae for having changed for the worse and wonders why she even came back from college, telling her that she would’ve killed for a chance to go to college. This causes Mae to cry and Bea to bring her to bed, as Mae apologizes for being a mess, Bea tells her that she stayed in Possum Springs and grew up while Mae never did. But she also wishes her goodnight, calling her “Mayday”, her childhood nickname.

Part Two: Weird Autumn
The next day, Mae gets a message from Bea telling her that she’s sorry about last night and hopes Mae is doing okay. She also says that Mae can stop by the Ol’ Pickaxe if she wants to. If she does so, Mae and Bea formally apologize to one another and Mae tells her that she barely remembers what Bea said to her.

After band practice, though Bea is hesitant at first, she eventually agrees to go to the mall with Mae, should Mae herself say yes. If she does, Mae puts on an elaborate water show for Bea, by hijacking the fountain and spraying water into random people’s faces, which actually makes Bea laugh. But she also witnesses Mae shoplifting and convinces her to give it back. If she doesn’t, Bea tells her through the chat that she’s watching Mae’s favorite show and Mae promises not to spoil her.

The day after that, Mae and Bea are notably a lot happier to see each other, joking around when Mae visits her at the Ol’ Pickaxe. However, Bea declines Mae’s offer to hang out and instead offers her to come along on a work trip to fix something in the basement of an old lady. Should Mae choose to come along, she can do something nice for Bea by showing her a light show by leading a group of fireflies to her. Should Mae decline, they’ll talk about how they both love terribly acted true crime shows when they chat before Mae goes to bed.

On the following day, Bea reveals that they are doing the Harfest play this year, which she isn’t at all thrilled about. She casually talks about wanting to die with the amount of work she has to put up with, with Mae asking if she doesn’t own the place. Bea declines, saying that she has nothing to do, Mae suggests doing nothing together. Should she choose to hang out with Bea that day, she will take Mae grocery shopping. She’ll actually invite Mae to dinner with her dad after she pleads her to do so, even allowing her to pick out what they’ll eat. They’ll run into Mae’s dad working at the Deli and he’ll make a comment that Bea can always come over for dinner. Mae then helps Bea and her dad with dinner, then watch TV with them. She then goes to Bea’s bedroom to have a serious conversation about why she doesn’t quit working for her father, Bea snaps at her for that, telling her that there are things adults have to go through because they can’t do anything else. Mae will realize how childish she was and apologize, but Bea says that it’s best that she’d just leave after that. Should Mae check her messages that evening, Bea will hesitate to respond, but reassures Mae after the latter apologizes for her rudeness.

At Harfest, Bea has to rope Mae into playing the role of the witch for the annual play. The play starts in 10 minutes and Mae only has 5 of those to remember her lines. Mae tells her that she can wing it, but Bea tells her that she shouldn’t. The play ends up being a game of Mae having to pick random phrases to satisfy the audience, it doesn’t make much of a difference.

Part Three: The Long Fall
If Mae checks her messages that day, Bea sincerely thanks her for her help last night and apologizes for imposing on her. When Mae visits Bea again, she formally thanks her, but Mae tells her about the traumatizing experience she had last night, saying she’ll give her the details later.

After band practice, Mae tells Bea and the rest of her friends about what she saw after Harfest. Bea makes a comment about that not being what she expected to hear tonight. But she also quickly agrees with Gregg and Angus to help Mae track her “ghost” down.

Mae and Bea then go to the library together to find anecdotes of paranormal activity. Bea comments on the mural depicting workers, but Mae calls it graffiti, which Bea scoffs at. Higher up in the library, Mae and Bea find an anecdote of some 50-year-old man, to which Mae comments that 50-year-olds shouldn’t be forced to work anymore. Bea then offers her a seat in her chattrbox socialist group. They also see the old library mascot and crack jokes about how much Mae hated it. When they finally find the computer with the information they need, Mae has no idea how to use it and questions why they came here in the first place. Bea silences her by saying that she came here because Mae is her friend. Mae coos over it and starts to baby talk, which annoys Bea so much that she’ll willingly set things up for Mae. After finding three clues, Bea reminds Mae that she has a job and can’t drive Mae around for her ghost hunting, but she offers taking her to the graveyard. When they run into the Possum Springs Poetry Society, Bea offers to sit it out with Mae, even though she isn’t at all interested at first.

When it comes to presenting what they found, Bea offers splitting the work so that her, Gregg’s and Angus’ work doesn’t suffer. Just like she did before, she called “dibs” on the graveyard because it’s not too far away and not illegal. When Mae checks her text message that night, Bea reminds her that taking her to the cemetery is a huge favor on her part. Mae thanks her once again.

The next day, Mae gets a message from Bea telling her that she plans to get a library card for Mae. Should Mae go to visit Bea, Bea tells her that she wants to burn the shop down and just grab the insurance money, Mae tells her that she could get caught, but offers to burn it down for her after Bea tells her that she wouldn’t be suspected. Bea tells her to stop. She then offers to take her to the graveyard, like they planned the day before. Should they go there, Mae and Bea will comment on how spooky the graveyard is and Bea makes a comment about how screwed-up everything is, freaking Mae out a little. Mae then decides to have a “spook-off”, by telling Bea the beginning of a ghost story and she has to make it spookier, Bea then makes her story as mundane as possible. When Mae calls her out for being a killjoy, Bea tells her that the scariest thing she could think of is real life. When Mae and Bea walk a little further, Bea tells her that she wants to visit the grave of her mom. Mae gives her condolences, but Bea tells her “It happens”. Bea walks ahead then she stands by the grave without saying anything, Mae decides to check out some graves to give her space. When Mae comes back, Bea tells her that she was worried that a sinkhole might open where her mother’s grave is, so she wanted to make sure. Bea also heard music from a nearby hill, so they went to check. Some kids Mae should have met before decided to play gatekeeper up the hill and Mae and Bea have to answer questions to pass. When asked if they ever “did it”, Mae finds out that Bea lost her virginity at math camp. When asked to describe their dream date, Bea says “he” but Mae says “they”, which the kids find more interesting. When Mae says that she and her partner would eat corn dogs, Bea replies that she could go for a corn dog now. Once they pass, Bea asks if Mae ever saw her mom in her “ghost dreams”, Mae responds that she would have no way to tell, but her mom was rad and would never hang out in the places Mae saw in her dreams. When another gate blocks their way, Bea tells Mae to “do her thing”, by which she means jumping and climbing things, which breaks the gate. Once that is over, Bea tells Mae that she knew she was good at this. When Mae and Bea find the grave of the guy mentioned in the article, Mae doesn’t appreciate Bea’s tone when she suggests waiting for the ghosts, Bea replies that she’s doing this for her, then “stows” her tone, which Mae thanks her for. Mae loses her patience after looking around for something to happen and then decides to “fuck shit up” by jumping on the guy’s grave, which opens a (not very deep) sinkhole, swallowing the grave, Bea and Mae along with it and bringing the coffin to the surface. Mae suggests opening the coffin, but Bea refuses, only to admit that she’s a little curious after Mae prompts her. When they open the coffin, they do see the guy’s corpse, but nothing comes of it. Bea then notices someone watching them with Mae suspecting that it’s her “ghost”, regardless, both agree to run.

The day after that, Mae notices that Bea is feeling kind of down, but Bea doesn’t tell her why. She then asks what Mae is up to, hearing that she has nothing to do, Bea offers to take Mae to a party hosted by her friend Jackie. Though Jackie is not thrilled at Bea bringing Mae with her, Mae still joins Bea and Jackie at the dance floor. After Bea and Jackie walk off, Mae dances a little by herself only to have an encounter with a “bombshell”, almost forgetting about Bea. Mae then realizes that she has no idea where Bea is and decides to look for her, running outside, terrified that something might’ve happened to her. After being given a hint of where Bea might be, Mae runs through an unfamiliar town to get to her and finds her by the shore. Bea further opens up about her problems and she and Mae have a heart-to-heart, mending their bond.

A day further, Bea immediately sees that Mae isn’t doing well and tells her to go home and get some rest, Mae declines. Bea then asks her how she feels about the “ghost” thing and Mae tells her that it’s like someone is in her head and preventing her from sleeping properly. When Mae experiences a bout that she pins on the “ghost”, her friends take her to Gregg and Angus’s place where Mae suggests that she’ll have to go into the woods alone. Bea talks her out of it, saying if Mae goes into the woods, she will come with her. Gregg and Angus agree.

All four of them decide to walk into the forest where they discover a cult of cowled figures who are all dressed like Mae’s “ghost”, witnessing one of their members getting punished for leaving the arm in front of the diner, the punishment leaving his bone sticking out. This causes Mae to gasp, which reveals them to the cult, forcing them to run. A gunshot is heard and Mae drops unconscious.

Part Four: The End of Everything
If Mae hung out with Bea more, she will take over as the playable character for a brief time, hoping that she recovers at the hospital. When Mae manages to show up, Bea’s normally half-lidded eyes are wide open and she suggests that Mae should get some rest. Off-screen, Bea has a call with Mae’s mom and tells Angus that it’s okay if she stays there for a while, then offers to take Mae home later. As Mae is sleeping on the couch, Bea calls Gregg and Germ out for talking when Mae’s trying to sleep. She also objects to Gregg ordering pizza, since they don’t know if they could trust the delivery guy, but they do so anyway. Bea is the first one to notice Mae waking up. When Mae asks what happened, Bea tells her that they called the cops and that her aunt and another policeman fished her out of the woods. When Mae is trying to tell them about a dream/vision she had, Bea is more concerned about Mae barely eating the slice of pizza she was holding. Mae then has a call with her mom, urging her to come home, but Mae wants to stay. Her mom asks if Bea is still there, which Mae confirms, easing her mom’s worries a bit. Mae then goes to talk to Bea, asking about the signal and Bea explains her why Possum Springs has none. Bea then tells her that they should hang out more if they all escape this alive. Mae tells Bea that she thought that she found her really annoying, which Bea brushes off. Finishing the Bea Route has Mae tell Bea of an incident in college where she was at a party and backed herself into a corner, she stopped seeing the other guests as people, they were just “shapes”. Bea tries to calm her down by snapping her out of it. Mae still decides to go back to the cultists on her own while all of her friends are asleep.

When Mae confronts the “ghost” that’s been stalking her, she’s suddenly interrupted by a crossbow, Bea and her other friends came to rescue her and she compliments Gregg on the nice shot. Bea snaps at Mae for making them worried yet again and tells her not to die on her. All of them suggest going after her “ghost”, but Mae tells them that she has to go alone, they all ignore her. When they infiltrate their hideout, Bea asks Mae if she really wants to do this, Mae tells her that she can’t function if that guy continues to mess with her head. So they go deeper. Once they pass a tunnel, Mae tells her friends that whatever has been messing with her is down there. When they finally catch up with the cult, Bea tells them to show themselves. Once they reveal why they’ve been kidnapping people, Bea snaps at them, repulsed by their ideology. When they are allowed to leave, Bea is suspicious and tries to warn everyone about one of the cultists coming back for them. She’s proven correct when he tries to abduct Mae, but they manage to grab onto her and mortally wound him with the elevator. During her speech in messenger, Mae thinks she loves Bea the most of her friends.

Should Mae open her messages the next day, Bea asks her if she’s doing OK this morning and tells her that she won’t open the Pickaxe today. She also reminds her that there’s band practice this evening.

Epilogue: Stars
At the end of the Bea Route, Mae and Bea work out everything that happened the past two weeks and Mae tells Bea about everything else she’s done.

Fanon
MaeBea is one of the most popular ships within the Night In The Woods fandom. On AO3, it is the most popular ship for both characters and the second most popular ship overall (after Grangus).

Generally, what makes the ship work is the heavy contrast between them: Bea is a sardonic workaholic, Mae is a manic layabout. Bea became very jaded by her experiences, Mae never matured and is generally optimistic, even when the situation really doesn't need her to be. Many were fueled by the "test" from the kids at the graveyard, where Mae describes her type in a way that suggests that she might be into Bea. Bea implying that she's straight as an arrow (none of the witnesses comment on Bea's use of "he" as opposed to Mae's "they" when describing their respective dream date) is completely ignored, largely because the relationship is seen as too compelling for something as minor as this to sink it.

Fandom
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Trivia

 * The ship name is actually referenced, after a chat with Bea, Mae will write "MAEBEA?" in her journal. While it might have just been a play on "maybe", the developers have been supportive of the ship, the similarities only became more appropriate in hindsight.