Swallow Me Down, Drink Me Whole...
AU. It’s the 1990’s and Maria Stark decides that it’s time for her son to have a break from New York society (before Howard and Obi lock the poor boy away in labs and board-rooms forever) and so she drags him (all but kicking and screaming) back to her home land of Italy.
Frustrated that his summer vacation plans have been thoroughly ruined, the twenty one year old resigns himself to his mother’s whims but this tiny village (with only one phone-line between them) just isn’t his scene. Therefore, giving himself a quest to collect and take photos of the weirdest creatures he can find (to impress his Brucie-bear), the young inventor sets off with his camera down the dusty old paths on a glorious Sunday morning.
When he comes across a winding path twisting down from the cliff based town to an untouched, deserted beach then of course he was going to ignore the ancient, wood-carved sign forbidding people from entering; with the nosey locals safely tucked away in church and his mom sipping cocktails by their villa’s pool there isn’t anyone to stop him...
But there is someone watching from the waves...