Before & After & Inbetween

Sometimes when writing a fic you have a scene for a late chapter, written almost at the beginning. You grew fond of that scene, played with it, endorse, giggled, whatever about it. And when you finally come to the chapter it is intended for, you realize that the minuscule changes from the original plan accumulated over the last 16+5 chapters and the mood no longer fits. Sometimes, you can salvage the scene, sometimes not. Sadly, "Hotaru's caterpillars" are a case of the latter. It was deleted this morning. At least the rest reads better now.

( beware 410 unedited, unpolished words )