Disclaimer: Anything not immediately recognizable as a registered trademark of Marvel and/or Paramount Pictures is probably mine. Anything you do recognize I'm simply borrowing. I seek no monetary gain from this. I wrote it simply for fun (and because I really like these characters).

Author's Note: In my infinite wisdom, I decided one night in May 2010 I was going to write an Iron Man-related, one-shot fic for every song that Tiësto included in his Elements of Life set list. This amounts to forty-one fics for forty-one songs. The stories don't really have anything to do with the songs, though (ie - these are definitely not songfics). This song was 31st on the setlist

As the stories are not interconnected by anything other than their titles' origins, I have decided not to post them all in a single entry, but to treat them as the separate stories they all are.

Additionally, these aren't beta'd before I post them. This means that there might be a few missing words, typos, and/or grammatical errors somewhere in the text, to say nothing of the occasional slip in characterization. If you notice anything, please point it out to me and I would be glad to fix it!

Summary: It's just a charity ball. Nothing Tony and Pepper haven't done a hundred times before. But Tony is nervous, and that's making Pepper nervous.

Other: Iron Man Movie!verse; Tony/Pepper, assumes the two have been established for a while. One-Shot. Set some time after IM2.

THIS IS A SEQUEL TO A PREVIOUS FIC. Please read Platinum before reading this one!

Adagio for Strings

Tony's jumpy and twitchy and Pepper can't figure out why. It's just a charity ball. Nothing they haven't done a hundred times before. Tony Stark and his personal assistant are here to smile and wave and drink and socialize and enjoy themselves, nothing more and nothing less. Iron Man isn't even supposed to make an appearance tonight, and barring any sudden, major world crises, he won't.

But Pepper can tell something's on Tony's mind. He's moving just a touch too fast, smiling just a bit too quickly, laughing just a little too hard at one too many bad jokes.

And he keeps looking at her. They're all quick glances, mostly when he thinks she isn't paying attention, but she knows. She can feel them. It's making her nervous. He's making her nervous, and in a way he hasn't been able to since she first started working for him, when all of his habits and idiosyncrasies were brand new and very strange to her. If he weren't knocking back enough drinks for the both of them, Pepper might feel a little more inclined to drown her nerves with a drink of her own. But one of them has to stay sensible, and that job has been hers for as long as she has known Tony Stark.

Still, that doesn't stop her from going ahead and having the bartender splash a bit of rum in her Coke. As Pepper knocks the drink back as quick as she can, the music fades out and the DJ announces a change in genre and a new song. Pepper recognizes the title, Adagio for Strings, but what starts playing isn't Samuel Barber's string version, but a synth-y, remixed, dance version.

Pepper's first thought is that she doesn't like it. It's wrong. Classical music isn't meant to be run through synthesizers or have lots of reverb. But it's oddly catchy, and as the lights go out and the DJ starts hurling glow sticks into the crowd, Pepper's foot begins to tap in time with the beat.

Then someone puts a hand on her arm.

"Dance with me," Tony says, his voice low and husky in her ear.

"To this?" Pepper asks, a note of incredulity in her voice. She hopes Tony doesn't notice that she's still tapping her foot in time to the music.

Tony shrugs. "I just thought it'd be nice. We don't dance anymore."

When did we ever dance? Pepper almost throws back, but stops herself. Something…instinctive, maybe, tells her that now is not the time to throw anything negative at Tony, joke or no. He seems fragile tonight, though Pepper isn't sure why she thinks that or why it feels so true. So, instead, she reaches for his hand, intending to let him pull her out onto the floor.

They don't make it. Pepper's fingers barely brush Tony's when a reporter, dressed smartly in a tux but still obviously a journalist, interrupts them.

"Mr. Stark," he says, his voice and smile all too eager. "I'm Lucas Benes, with Time magazine. Can I ask you a few questions about the upcoming Lincoln Summit?"

"The Lincoln Summit?" Tony's lips purse and his brows knit. "Right, the Lincoln Summit. Well, uh…."

Tony glances at her helplessly, and Pepper takes a step forward. Smiling politely at the reporter, she sill in the words for Tony, as she has a hundred thousand times in the past, and in the end the reporter is happy and Tony and Pepper are allowed to make their escape. "Adagio For Strings" is over by the time they do, and so, too, is Pepper's desire to dance.

"Maybe we should go outside," Tony says in her ear. "Get some air. I, uh, I think I could use it…"

Pepper looks at him and can't help but agree. Tony's forehead is beaded with sweat and he looks slightly flushed. On anyone else she'd assume the alcohol had something to do with this, but not with Tony. He hasn't had nearly enough yet.

"Okay," she agrees. "Let's go outside."

Tony leads her through the crowd, smiling and greeting people left and right as they weave in and out of couples and clusters and groups of people. Tony's fingers often brush her hand, but since they're in public he cannot go further than that. Again, they are simply Tony Stark and his loyal personal assistant, showing their faces at a charity ball.

After ascending a beautiful spiral staircase made of polished marble, Tony guides Pepper out onto a small, secluded balcony off one of the rooms. She's sure they're not really supposed to be up here and a small knot forms in her stomach as she wonders just how she'll have to explain the situation away if she and Tony are caught up here. Alone.

The thoughts, if not the worry, are short-lived, however, and vanish almost as soon as Pepper gets a look at the view. The mansion hosting the ball is nestled up on a hill overlooking the city, giving her a clear view of the city lights spread out far below her.

For a second, Pepper feels disoriented – the horizon is blurred by haze, even this late at night, and the haze makes it nearly impossible to tell where the city ends and the bight stars above begin. Both seems to mirror each other – the stars like city lights, and the city lights bright like stars – and the disorientation sends a thrill coursing through Pepper's veins. She's flying. Even the wind – a stronger breeze that carries the faintest salty smell from the ocean – helps enhance the illusion, making her hair flutter around her face.

She is so swept up in this feeling that she barely notices that Tony is talking to her. Slowly she registers that he is still there, not beside her but slightly behind her, and that he is talking. His voice is rushed, but he stumbles over his words and sentences.

Pepper turns just as Tony says, "I just…I can't see you not being in my life."

"What?" she asks.

"Well, I'm…I'm asking you to, uh…what I mean, Pepper, is…" Tony looks at her with that same helpless expression from earlier, but this time Pepper cannot step in and fill words in for him. She has no idea what he's even trying to say.

He's on his own.

Tony squirms some more, passing something he must have pulled out of his pocket from one hand to the other. Pepper follows it with her eyes, trying to make out the dark form, but can't. It's the same dark color as Tony's suit, and in the dark shadows cast by the lights inside the mansion it's virtually impossible to see even dimly.

Suddenly, Tony stops fidgeting. The object stops moving between his hands, but Pepper still can't make out what it is.

Then Tony opens it. The ring inside catches the light drifting out from the room behind them, glittering like the city below.

Pepper draws a hand up to her mouth.

He doesn't kneel, but in a way Pepper is glad for that. Tony remains one of the few men in her life that, even if it never seems that way to anyone else, treats her as an equal. That's the way she'd like it to stay, even now, even as he says, "I want to marry you, Pepper."

"What?" Pepper says, realizing what Tony has said – what Tony has really said – mere seconds after getting her words out. She flinches. Of all the possible responses she could have given straight away, that had to be it. She curses herself. This is why he's been so jumpy all night. This is why he'd been fidgeting and nervous and drinking and this was why he kept trying to get her alone. This, this, this. "Tony…"

"You don't have to say yes. Of course, I'll, uh, I'll be heartbroken if you say no, but if it's too much I'll understand…I mean, it is a lot and I—"

Pepper raises her free hand and rests it on one of his, cutting Tony off. "Yes."

Tony blinks at her. "Yes, you'll marry me, or yes it's too much…?"

Pepper smiles. The world has gotten a bit blurry, but she doesn't make a move to wipe the tears from her cheeks. "Yes, I'll marry you." She laughs, that euphoric feeling of flying welling up in her again. "Of course I'll marry you."

Author's Note: My humblest apologies for my long hiatus! A lot has happened to me since I last had the time and energy to write and post fic, including my final year of college, graduation, my parents' divorce, and so many other things! But life is finally starting to level out a little and my muses are finally coming back, so I'm writing again. Expect to see more updates from me soon, and thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read this. I hope you enjoyed it!