Chapter Text
It seemed like such a trope to say that one day could change everything, but in some cases it was certainly true.
To find out that all of your fears and suspicions were true, even when everybody around you barely believed your demented ramblings, was without a doubt, a life-changing event. To come so close to death added an extra layer to that package, even if it was seemingly becoming an unwelcomely regular occurrence.
Mae's experience with the Black Goat had taught her that death would be the only way to end her torment, and heck, from the way things had been going, that seemed to be a pretty likely thing to happen. But she wasn't going to give in that easily.
She would hope beyond hope. She would fight tooth and claw. She would live, when everything seemed to be against her.
But unfortunately, that didn't mean she'd be happy.
She was, for a while, at any rate, but as more and more time passed, she could feel those tendrils of darkness worming their way back into her lightly-bandaged psyche.
After what had transpired in the mines, the group of four each did their best to return to whatever could be considered a 'normal' life, but after finding out that there were literally people being sacrificed in an attempt to sustain Possum Springs, that was unsurprisingly not the easiest thing in the world for any of them.
Gregg and Angus rapidly accelerated their plans to move out to Bright Harbour, wanting to start their own life, and leave the Eldritch horror behind them, whether they actually believed in it or not. From the various video calls that she had shared with them since, they did seem truly happy out there together, and Mae was glad for them, somewhere deep down… It hurt that they had left her behind, and whilst she mostly succeeded in not doubting that she was part of what they had been trying to escape, the truth remained that two of her closest friends were no longer in Possum Springs.
She couldn't go and hang out with them each day, there was no more smashing lightbulbs behind the Snack Falcon with Gregg, no more impromptu scouting lessons from Angus, no more campfires where they could all just lay back and watch the stars… No more band practice.
They had moved on with their lives in the best way that they possibly could, but it just meant that the number of close, trusted friends whom Mae Borowski had remaining in Possum Springs was increasingly limited. She couldn't deny that she was still friends with some of the others around town, but everybody had their own life commitments going on, and those showed no signs of slowing down.
After the constant praise from Mae, and the other townsfolk, Selmers had actually started compiling her poems into a book, which she was going to look to get published once it was finished. She had always been damn good at it, so the chance of her actually being able to make some money from it was an incredible opportunity.
Lori was busy working on the script for her first feature-length horror movie, with the aim of getting it submitted to the entry boards for a number of film schools, and hopefully, earning a scholarship. Whilst she was keeping tight-lipped about the plot details, Mae had managed to find out that it was about a deranged cat who goes on a murderous rampage around a small town. When she had revealed that the title was simply going to be 'Killer', Mae didn't know whether to be honoured, or horrified. She settled for somewhere in between.
Germ's dad had started teaching him about fixing computers, and was trying to get him to start working at his repair store, even just part time. He had resisted admirably at first, but whether he had gotten older, or whether he'd been won over by money, he was now there part-time, leaving him less time to hang out.
But on top of all of that, and really, more than any of that, none of them had been there in the mines. They hadn't witnessed the unspeakable evil that the original four of them had. None of them had seen the cultists down there, or felt the darkness of the Black Goat, and whilst it was clear that something had undoubtedly happened in the town, there was always an element of disbelief whenever it came up in conversation with anyone else.
Which really just left her with Bea.
That statement shouldn't have carried any negative connotation with it in the slightest, but whenever the teal crocodile crossed her mind, it seemed that every possible atom of doubt wormed it's way into Mae's fractured brain.
She didn't deserve Beatrice Santello as a friend. Full stop. Certainly not her best friend. Let alone anything more than that…
Bea was her rock, she was the only person that was always there for her, through ups and downs, thick and thin, no matter how much she pushed her away, intentionally or not.
In the first six months since Mae had learned to hope again, she had spent nearly every day with her reptilian friend, who had even pushed to get the nightmare-eyed cat a part-time job at The Ol' Pickaxe, just to try and keep her occupied throughout each day.
If any other mammal had attempted to offer Mae Borowski some form of employment, it would have been swiftly answered with a sarcastic comment, followed up with a confusing remark, the end result of which would quite firmly be a resounding 'no'.
Bea was different though, Mae couldn't say no to her, no matter how hard she tried. Well, that was a lie… She had said no to her a number of times, but these occasions always resulted in either being talked round to the idea, or somehow being dragged along with it anyway.
Her stint at the Pickaxe honestly wasn't the worst job in the world, it was boring as eff, but it put some money in her pocket, gave her some much-needed responsibility, and meant that when the shop was quiet (which was ninety-nine percent of the time) she could do very little work, and instead chat with Bea about everything under the Sun.
Bea's job satisfaction had subsequently improved, and they both started to actually enjoy their time there. However, nothing in Mae Borowski's life could stay that simple for that long.
After the aforementioned six month period, things started to deteriorate… Very rapidly.
Mae replayed the day in her head frequently, she could clearly designate the moment where once again, she'd succeeded in turning her life to shit.
She didn't want to do so, but any time those regrets crept up on her (which was every second she was on her own, at the very least), her brain delivered her a healthy reminder of why she deserved to be alone. Not just now, but forever more.
The fact that she'd somehow convinced Bea, Gregg, or Angus into sticking around for as long as they had was nothing short of master trickery and manipulation, and she knew that it wasn't something that she'd be able to repeat in the future.
Gregg and Angus had tired of her constant problems and neediness, jumping ship as soon as they had a convenient excuse to, whilst Bea was stuck, because of her dad, because of the store, and she therefore had no escape from Mae's constant presence.
The job offer had been one made out of pity, and all she had done was throw it back in her good friend's face, as expected. It had been two weeks since she'd effed up again, two weeks since she'd even seen Bea, and two weeks since she had bombarded her with a number of instant messages that she wished she could unsend.
As Mae sat on her unmade futon, her knees pressed up to her chest, she dwelled on recent events for only the third time that day, hoping that the Sun would set soon, and she could sneak out of the house without inviting even more worry for her parents. She'd put them through enough already, just by being herself.
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Mae's alarm blared from her laptop, shaking her from a dreamless sleep, and almost causing her to roll out onto the floor. She had been sleeping deeper and longer the last few weeks, but still never managed to feel well-rested, her dreams had abandoned her, and the daily grind was beginning to wear her down a little more than it had done before.
Maybe that was just it, maybe she was just getting used to working life, and the exhaustion was beginning to set in. Either way, it was frustrating for Possum Springs' very own Trash Queen, she had previously been sleeping better than ever since vanquishing the dad cult, and it was something that she was kind of getting used to.
She sat up groggily, propelled her laptop up onto the bed, and dismissed the alarm program that she'd begrudgingly set up, before clicking on Bea's ever-constant avatar and wishing her a good morning.
Gone were the days of waking up to a message from Gregg, telling her to come and save him from the boredom of the Snack Falcon, he had his own shit going on now, and Mae was determined to leave him to it.
After a quick sigh, she began typing out her morning message to Bea, which was weirdly, without a doubt, one of the highlights of Mae's day. They had established a certain routine over the last few months of working together, where the crocodile would start opening up shop, and her feline co-worker would stop off to get them coffee and breakfast on the way in, usually in the form of tacos. Because what meal weren't they perfect for!?
M: "Yo BeeBee, what deeeelish offerings can I scavenge for you on this wondrous day?"
There was a long pause, and Mae took this opportunity to struggle with her boots, wedging them onto her feet, and then swinging her legs idly off the side of her bed whilst she waited for a response.
B: "Morning Maeday, black coffee will suffice."
B: "Bring a handful of the sugar sachets as well. Whenever you do it, you always put way too much in."
Mae grinned, she couldn't help having a sweet tooth, plain coffee was just too bitter for her flamboyant personality.
M: "You got it boss!"
M: "Wait, you actually are my boss, aren't you? That's weird Boss/Bea."
Mae hit the Enter key, made sure that her wallet was stuffed into her back pocket, and checked back for a reply.
B: "You better hurry. You'll miss the horde of customers that are about to walk through the door."
She smirked at Bea's patented sarcasm, slammed the lid of the laptop shut, and strolled out of her bedroom door, wishing her dad's bird a good morning on the way down, before circling into the kitchen to greet her mother, who was endlessly surprised by her daughter being awake so early each day.
"Morning hun!" She called out as Mae approached. "Still not used to the fact that you're almost up earlier than me these days!"
"You know me mommers, I've always been your responsible little girl."
"No, you haven't actually." Candy chuckled. "But I'm happy to see you with some drive behind you, you know how worried we were a while back."
"Yes mom. Things are going well though, working is a lot less terrible than I thought it'd be, and I get to spend most days with Bea!"
"Yeah?" Mrs Borowski looked up from her book, this time one about the mysteries of ancient owl culture, with a warm smile.
"Yes actually, is that alright?"
"Oh, of course sweetie! We're very happy for you both!"
"You're very happy that we're working together?"
"Well, you know, I was young once too, and it's important that you spend your time together wherever you can."
Mae stared down Inspector Mom intently, receiving nothing but an irritatingly warm smile in return.
"Right, good chat. I better get going then, bye mom."
She hopped down from the counter and started making her way over to the front door as swiftly as possible, wanting nothing more than to avoid the next words that were tumbling out of her mother's mouth.
"Oh, goodbye Mae!" Candy called after her. "Why don't you invite Beatrice round for dinner tonight? You're with her all the time lately, and we haven't seen her in quite a while."
"Um, she's probably busy, mom!"
"Nonsense! I'm sure she'll make time for you, now that the two of you are-"
"Working together?"
Mae stopped in the open door, glaring down the hallway at her overbearing mother, whose smile had waned slightly.
The elder Borowski sighed. "Whatever you say sweetie, you have a good day, alright?"
"You too mom, I'll see you tonight."
"I love you!"
"Love you too, mom."
And with that, she slammed the front door behind her, only being partially blinded by the early morning sunlight, but anything was better than that conversation.
She shook her head as she started up the road into town, readying herself to greet Selmers, and hear a wondrously upbeat poem to start off her day. But alas, it was once again too early for most people, something that Mae was thoroughly not used to yet.
This disappointment deactivated the part of her brain which was trying to ignore her mom's 'subtle' comments. It was lovely how idyllic her outlook could be on everything, but yes, whilst she was closer to Bea than she probably ever had been before, and yes, there was a long-buried part of Mae's mind that desperately hoped for the day where Bea would sweep her off of her feet, that didn't change the two very concrete facts that A) Bea deserved someone monumentally better than Mae could ever be, and B) Bea was quite rigidly straight.
Mae kicked a stone across the pavement in frustration. Life was good at the moment, it had ups and downs, but it was… nice. She was still in the comfort of her hometown, she had a reason to get out of bed each morning, and she had a friend who she was finally starting to accept wouldn't abandon her. She wouldn't ruin that by giving in to thoughts that shouldn't even have existed, and she didn't need her mom to add fuel to that non-existent fire.
Up the hill she went, passing a few assorted townsfolk who all seemed to double-take at her presence before midday. It made her smile somewhat, made her feel like she was going in the right direction, being an… adult. She shuddered, that didn't feel good to admit, but again, maybe that was a sign of getting older.
Strolling past The Ol' Pickaxe, she threw open the door in dramatic fashion, shooting finger guns at the unamused crocodile behind the counter, before following up with a blinding smile, and continuing on her way.
She had all day to annoy BeeBee, but Mae knew from experience that the younger woman would put up with a lot less of her shit if there wasn't strong coffee to help her through the morning hours.
It didn't take much longer to get over to the Taco Buck, which, in the absence of a proper coffee shop in Possum Springs, was where Mae had been treating her colleague to breakfast from for the past few weeks.
Oddly enough, the coffee wasn't as bad as you'd have expected, and as an added bonus, you got to indulge in Taco Buck's (possibly) world famous Deluxe Breakfast Taco, which Mae had found herself coming back to more often than she probably should have done.
But, that being said, it was almost impossible to resist the early morning appeal of crispy bacon, smoked sausage, and scrambled eggs in an open soft tortilla. Either that, or Mae was far too influenced by the company's flagrant advertising, but it was hard to work out which.
Twelve minutes later, the chaotic cat once again swung the door of the local hardware store open, this time brandishing a slightly-damp paper bag, which noticeably lessened the displeasure on Bea's face.
Mae jumped over the counter with effortless grace, plopping the bag down in front of her friend and co-worker with yet another wide grin.
"Madame, one coffee, sans sugar, as ordered."
"Much obliged. You've bought yourself one additional day of friendship."
"That isn't a great reward BeeBee, you're already stuck with me forever."
"Well, consider it one extra day of mutual friendship then, Mayday."
Mae frowned, before reaching into the paper bag, pulling out her rolled up breakfast taco (which was pretty much just some kind of protein-heavy wrap), and aggressively taking a bite out of it, keeping eye contact with Bea the entire time.
"Point taken." The crocodile cracked a small smile. "Thanks for coming in early, it really helps with getting things ready. Last few weeks have been, ugh…"
"I gotchu boo. You need help, you hit me up, you know my track record for fixing things."
"Yeah, no, that's not the word I'd use…"
"Hey! I fixed that furnace, didn't I?"
"You fixed the situation, but you did not fix the furnace. I fixed the furnace. You thoroughly re-broke the furnace."
"See, I hear what you're saying, but you just repeated what I said."
Bea sighed, shook her head, but the smile was evident on her face. She warmed her hands on her cardboard cup of coffee for a few more seconds, before taking a sip, wincing at the bitterness.
Expecting the reaction, Mae was standing with her paws outstretched, an unnecessarily large number of sugar sachets contained atop them.
"You know, I could actually get used to you working here."
Mae thought about hiding it, even just a little bit, but she beamed back at Bea without hesitation.
"I knew it. Ladies can't resist the pearly whites."
"Or the free coffee. One of those. Definitely."
Mae shot her a wink, which earned a chuckle from Beatrice.
"So, how much shop is left for us to set up?"
"Honestly? None. We've still got to finish doing the stock take, but we can do that during downtime."
"Soooo… We've got nothing to do but sit here and talk nonsense?"
"Pretty much. Unless you fancy getting started in the stock room already?"
Mae intentionally ignored the question, returning her attention to her breakfast tortilla, and chowing down on it noisily.
"Always the pinnacle of class, Mayday."
Between obnoxiously loud bites, Mae replied. "Only the finest for you, BeeBee."
The morning went by without incident, with the number of customers being easily trackable using nothing but their fingers, but that was to be expected for a specialist retail store in a sleepy town.
This meant that by the time lunchtime came around, both women were rather bored of the monotony, and were excited to be able to stretch their legs. The Pickaxe didn't have much in the way of relaxation, but there was an old kitchen table with a few folding chairs that had been pushed together in one of the back rooms, and that, combined with a mini fridge, made up the entirety of the breakroom.
In exchange for on-demand breakfast each morning, Bea had started bringing in lunch for them to share every day, whether it was pasta, salad, or even just sandwiches, it was yet another thing that Mae looked forward to each day. And surprisingly enough, it wasn't just the food that she enjoyed.
Today was a sandwich day, chicken salad to be precise, which was one of Mae's favourite filling choices. She was certain that Bea knew what she liked, and the subtle, knowing smile that the goth girl wore when Mae asked what she'd made for them seemed to confirm that theory.
They ate primarily in silence, only shattered by the loud crunching and chewing from the cat's side of the table, and the subsequent sighing from the crocodile's. They were content, they were happy, and then Mae did her usual thing, and ruined it.
"Oh! Momma Borowski wanted me to invite you over to dinner tonight, if you're free?"
Bea raised an eyebrow, premeditated dinner invites had never really been common for Mae's household, not with how much her parents worked, and how late they were usually due home. "Any particular reason?"
Mae winced as she bit the inside of her cheek, almost definitely drawing blood. "Um, yeah, I think it's a thank you for all your help, and also… ithinkshethinkswemightbedating."
Bea choked on the mouthful of water she was using to wash down her most recent bite of sandwich, coughing slightly and bringing one hand to her mouth to cover it. "Sorry, I think I must have misheard that last part."
Mae sighed. "She was grilling me this morning, and it really seemed like she thought we were a thing. I tried to shut her down, but you know what she's like with all her conspiracy theory books, she's always looking too much into things."
Bea was characteristically silent for a little bit longer than was comfortable, and when Mae glanced over, she could see her gripping the table tightly. "You know that I'm straight, Mae, don't you? Doesn't she know that as well?"
"Of course I do, and hell if I know what she's thinking, but hey, easily fixed, BeeBee, don't fret! Come over for dinner, talk to-"
"Mae, I'm not your… girlfriend." She hesitated before finishing the sentence with an unnecessary amount of vitriol. "Surely you don't need me there to explain that?"
Mae was confused, it's not like she was trying to convince Bea of anything. "Come on, it's not like she thinks you're a no-good criminal like her daughter. There are worse things in the world, aren't there?"
Bea was silent. She stared down at the worn wood of the table, avoiding the question with every inch of her mind, body, and soul.
"Bea…?"
"I don't know how to answer that, Mae."
"I'm sorry, what!? You can't think of anything worse than my mom thinking that we're a couple!?"
"That's not-"
"What? So the death cult? Casey? Every-damn-thing that we've been through together!?" Mae was standing now, staring down at Bea with bile rising in her throat. "None of that is as bad as people thinking you might be gay with the best friend who actually treats you like you're worth something!?"
"Mae, that isn't-"
"Do you know what, Bea? You know what? Eff this job, eff your way of thinking, and eff me for even saying anything."
"Mayday, please… I-"
But she was gone.
She was home before the adrenaline wore off, and then she was crying into her pillow before she regained any form of sentience.
When Mae came to, everything burned… Her eyes, her throat, her chest. Her battered laptop sat open on the corner of her bed, as it usually did, and her heart sank, seeing the torrent of messages that she'd flooded their shared chat window with.
"M: If it wasn't clear, I quit"
"M: Knew that things were going too well"
"M: I almost thought we were"
"M: Actually, I dunno how to even finish that sentence"
"M: I'm sorry for even trying"
By the time her parents returned, they were confused to find Mae fast asleep, who later told them that she had come home early because she wasn't feeling well, and that Bea was too busy to come to dinner.
Neither were exactly lies.