GerMae

GerMae is the het ship between Mae Borowski and Jeremy Warton from the Night In The Woods fandom.

Part Two: Weird Autumn
Mae sees Germ for the first time in years about three days after coming home. They’ve been acquaintances for long enough for Mae to remember his real name “Jeremy, Jeremy Warton”, only for Germ to correct her, saying that nobody calls him that anymore. She then calls him “Germ Warfare”, which he agrees to, Mae expresses surprise that that nickname stuck. She calls it an “OK” name, to which Germ replies that her name is also “OK”. Mae remembers that he was two years behind her in school. Germ tells Mae a story about a rabid possum he saw.

Germ joins Mae and her friends for band practice and tells her a story about how he got a pretty gruesome injury. Though Mae is disturbed at first, she agrees when Germ tells her that it was kind of cool. Germ calls the band practice “good,” regardless of how well Mae actually did, but backspaces when Mae questions him on it.

The next day, Mae can spot Germ standing by the abandoned Food Donkey. He tells her that he was just hanging out with crust punks and off-handedly mentions that one of them was missing a foot. When Mae asks him about it, he responds that they lose body parts in accidents hopping in and off of trains. Mae asks him if the arm she and her friends found by the diner could’ve been a crust punk’s, but he denies it. He then leaves.

The day after that, Germ asks Mae to hang out, with her hesitating, but him saying that he didn’t ask her to run away and get married. Should she say yes, he will take her to the parking lot 15 seconds away to look at the size of it and the sky. She admits that the sky looks nice. They then have a discussion about why the parking lot exists and what will happen to it, which Germ abruptly cuts off. He then interrupts Mae trying to talk about her dreams, leaving her with enough time to hang out with Gregg or Bea.

At Harfest, Mae can find Germ hanging out with some hobos, one of whom is a local legend. She ask them if they’ll come by for the Harfest, Germ gives her a “maybe”. He wound up not coming, at least not on-screen.

Part Three: The Long Fall
That day, Mae sees Germ by the abandoned Food Donkey standing in front of a police car. She asks about her aunt’s car, to which Germ makes a joke about Mae being “Half-Cop”. They talk about Harfest, to which Germ confirms that he didn’t go. Mae then asks if Germ actually likes watching her band play and he does, but he also admits that they’re not that good. They then talk about their favorite bands for a bit before Germ drops that he was followed by some dude by the tracks. Mae clearly relates his experience to her encounter with the “ghost” she saw at Harfest and freaks out a little the more Germ describes what he had to do to escape him.

Mae meets Germ again at band practice that day, Mae tells him that he’s their only fan. Germ responds by calling himself a “Gentleman of Leisure”, which Mae thinks is nice. Though he witnesses Mae’s confession of seeing a “ghost” kidnap someone after Harfest, he doesn’t comment on it at all. He simply stands there and listens.

The next day, Germ is standing by the Food Donkey again. When Mae approaches him, he asks her to hang out. She says that she has plans later, but Germ tells her that she isn’t going to get kidnapped or something. Should she say yes, Germ will take her on a ride on his bike, only for Mae to fall off off-screen, so they need to walk the rest of the way. She tells him that she hurt herself, but both play it off. He takes her to the bridge a short distance from her house, then asks her if she trusts him. Regardless of what she says, Germ promptly jumps of the bridge, shocking Mae. But then he calls out to her from below, telling her it’s fine. When she actually tries to jump off the bridge, she fell forward and both stayed silent. Germ is surprised at Mae being so shocked at him jumping, and while Mae admits that she jumps off large heights a lot herself, she only does it in town, where it’s “safer”. Germ then implies that he didn’t grow up in a town. Germ planned on taking Mae to the sewer, which weirds Mae out at first, until Germ mentions that he saw ten rats at once in the sewer that one time. He then leads Mae to his secret hideout in the sewer, but is interrupted by the arrival of his pet possum “Rabies”. Though it takes Mae a bit to process that, she does admit that Rabies is kind of cool. They talk about the writing on the sewer wall for a bit until they’re interrupted by Rabies unwrapping a candy bar by himself. Mae is amazed, she suggest Germ should take Rabies home, but Germ says that he’s a wild animal and should stay wild. Germ then takes Mae back to the Food Donkey.

The day after that, Germ introduces Mae to Angel, a hermit who travels by train. Mae can ask Angel questions about the “ghost” she saw or about Casey’s whereabouts, but Angel has no straight answers to either. Germ then tells Mae that he can’t hangout that day, but also warns her that something bad is coming. Mae assumes it’s about the “ghost”, but Germ tells her that there are no ghosts. Mae then asks him how he would know and Germ simply says “My brother would’ve visited”, Mae replies with a sympathetic “Geez”, only for Germ to walk off because it’s dinner time.

A day further, Germ notices that Mae has “something”, which causes Mae to ask him if she looks any different. He replies that he does to her, but still invites her to jump on his trampoline. Should she say yes, he will take Mae to his house and Mae admits that she’s surprised that he has one, believing that he “just kind of appeared in a parking lot one day”. She immediately apologizes, but Germ tells her that it’s fine. He then tells her to meet his mom, when Mae jokingly questions why, he tells her that she’s eating dinner here. Mae tells him that he seems nervous, but Germ quickly takes her inside his house. When Germ has his mom and Mae meet, he also tells her that he’s going to introduce Mae to his gramma, Mae continuously asks questions, but Germ walks off, giving her no time to say no. Germ’s gramma calls her a “sturdy girl”, which Mae notes is the same thing her grandfather said about her. Germ then walks off again, leaving Mae with his gramma, which has Mae end up in an uncomfortable conversation which boils down to Mae warning her about what’s coming to her, which freaks Mae out. Germ then tells her that she shouldn’t tell him what his gramma said, since “it’s yours and if you tell someone, it’s gone”. When Mae asks for an explanation, Germ is already running off to jump on the trampoline. She quickly joins him and then Germ’s father and one of his uncles show up, telling Mae that they know her father. The conversation is pleasant as Mae is having the time of her life bouncing around, but after Mae takes a break and tries to ask Germ something, his mother is calling everyone in for dinner. After dinner, Germ asks her what she was trying to say before, she asks him why he took her up here. Germ says that he wanted to cheer her up, since he saw that she was having a hard time with all of her friends “going somewhere”. Mae agrees to that and sincerely thanks him for everything.

Part Four: The End of Everything
During Mae’s recovery, Germ is hanging out at Gregg and Angus’ place, distracting himself with video games while everyone else is worried sick. When Mae does show up again and passes out on their couch, Gregg says that he hopes that she’s alright, which Germ agrees to, calling Mae a good person. After Mae has a phone call with her mom, she goes to talk to Germ, asking him about the game. She tells him that she played it ages ago at Casey’s place, he tells her he played it yesterday at his place, Mae thinks this is cool. When Mae wants to sleep at Gregg and Angus’ place, Germ tells her that he has to go home. Mae asks him if it’s really safe for him out there, and he tells her that he wasn’t there when the rest of them investigated, he also reminds her that he carries a mace since the first time he was stalked. He then asks Mae what her name is short for, he then tells “Margaret” to take care of herself, she in turn says the same thing to “Jeremy”.

After the group’s “stakeout”, Germ comes by the old well, surprising Mae. When Mae asks him if he has some rope, he confirms that he does. She then asks him to go get it, which he does. Once he saves everyone else trapped in the well, he also reveals that he got some sodas, Mae tells him that he’s the best. When Mae and friends try to think of a way to seal up the well, Germ tells them that he has dynamite. Then he walks off, to which Bea calls him a “weird, weird guy”, but Mae replies that Germ is good, he’s a good man. During her speech in her chat messenger, Mae gives Germ extra attention, saying he’s the most stuck in Possum Springs out of all the people she’s met, but he’s somehow the least trapped. She considers that “beautiful”.

Epilogue: Stars
At the end of the Gregg Route, Mae tells Gregg that she’s been at his house the other day and tells him that it’s nicer than one would expect it to be. Gregg tells her that Germ read his fortune like his gramma did for Mae, suggesting that it’s a family thing.

Fanon
GerMae is not too popular within the Night In The Woods fanbase, but it does have its fans. Many people love Germ and think that his interactions with Mae are very endearing. The added bonus is that the player has to choose to actively seek out Germ and hang out with him, which gives his bond with Mae a more "special" feel than the scripted events with Bea and Gregg (and the one with Angus). It does feel like the player gets to know Germ alongside Mae and learns that he’s so much more than just “that weird guy who occasionally shows up for a gag”.

On AO3, GerMae has 6+ works, two of which being gen. That still qualifies it as the most popular het ship in the fandom, all the other ships between Mae and men are generally platonic first, romantic second. It's the other way around with GerMae.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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