i honestly, honestly believe that this is the beginning of the end for taru sanity-wise. like, bennett's bad luck has to cause something to go catastrophically awry during it: maybe he gets a nosebleed, maybe he accidentally busts taru's lip, i justttt think there's going to be blood drawn during it somehow. and bennett rears back with pinkish saliva stringing between their mouths fully expecting taru to be horrified and disgusted but instead his face is flushed bright red all the way to his ears, and his weird dark eyes have gotten even darker and weirder, kind of like when you catch the glint of an unseen animal's eyes in the shadowed spaces between the trees deep in the woods, unsettling. but taru just smiles at him and takes bennett's face in his hands, kisses him again, gentler this time. and the strange moment passes, but neither of them forget it.