Title: Make Me Feel Alive
Author: AoiTsukikage
Rating: T for now, may increase
Characters/Pairing: Enjolras/Marius primarily, other secondary pairings
Chapters: Prologue/?
Word Count: 1589
Summary: All Marius wanted was a place for himself and a chance to live life on his own terms. Ending up in the middle of a greed-fueled kidnapping plot was never part of the plan. Enjolras/Marius, modern!AU, Amis-centric.

Prologue

It only dawned on him after he'd come up from the subway station, duffel bag slung over his shoulder and a set of half-rusted keys in his hand, that perhaps moving in to his new place at sunset wasn't the greatest idea in the world. He knew going in that the neighborhood was, well, not ideal (okay, he didn't know why he was bothering to sugar-coat it, the neighborhood was a dive and his new place was a shithole but he didn't have a whole lot of options).

He walked up the cracked front steps of the apartment building, glancing up at the imposing façade (if only imposing because it looked like it might come down at any moment) before reaching for the door. A slight murmur to his side made him pause, looking over to the neighboring stoop where four men were lounging, and he bit his lip and tried to avert his eyes, peeking up just enough to take them all in.

One was fairly nondescript, one looked like he could probably break a man's arm just by grabbing hold of it, one was half-hidden in the shadows, making it impossible to see his face, and the fourth looked far too young and, well, pretty to be hanging out with the rest of them, a frown on his lips as he listened to his comrades, obviously displeased with something.

It was that man that looked over, meeting his eye, and he gasped and quickly tried the key in the door, getting it open after a few jiggles and slipping inside what he guessed was the lobby. It was really just an empty space, a few opened and rusted mailboxes lining the one wall, and there was a chugging sound from around the corner that he was going to assume was the washing machine.

He looked at the elevator, pressing the button and getting no response but a horrible, building-shaking creak that made him back away with a start.

"It doesn't work."

"Huh?" he turned around quickly, seeing a young girl…well, maybe not that young, she might have been only a couple of years younger than him, but she was thin and wearing ragged clothing, a hat perched atop of her matted hair and her skin streaked with dirt.

"The elevator. It's never worked. Not since my family moved in, anyway. We've talked to the landlord about it but I don't think he cares. You're on the third floor?" her questions came rapidly and without much regard to carrying on one thread of thought, but he felt like he should answer regardless.

"Yes, I'm just moving in," he replied, hefting his bag to emphasize his point, and she smiled thinly at him, head cocked to the side as if she were trying to discern something about him.

"Well. I suppose we'll be seeing a lot of each other, then. My family lives on the first floor," she jerked her head toward the stairs and the man groaned because just from that, he realized that apparently the lobby didn't count as a floor and he was looking at a trek of at least three flights of stairs every time he wanted to leave or enter the building. "Is that all you have?" she pointed to the bag.

"For now. I'm storing some things with my old roommate until I'm more settled, but the person I talked to said that there was furniture and appliances…" he paused, because now looking around he wasn't sure if that was necessarily a good thing.

"We had one bed, an old couch, and a fridge and stove that barely worked, but maybe you'll have better luck," she shrugged her thin shoulders and moved closer, staring up at him and blinking rapidly. "There's a guy who lives below you, he won't give you any trouble," she blurted out of nowhere and Marius thought he should be thankful for that information. "He's nice. I hope you're nice. My father's not very nice. Neither is my mother. I have to look after my sister and brother," she was pouting now and he felt a pang of sympathy for the girl because it was obvious she had nothing to do with how her family had ended up, and for as poor as he was right now, it was completely his choice to cut himself off from his family's money.

Going to law school for a couple of years had been interesting, sure, but it was hardly his passion and after realizing that his grandfather expected him to pay back all of his schooling money he knew that he couldn't live off of that anymore. So he'd moved out of his dorm and into a place with a classmate of his; it was fine enough although his…he supposed they were friends, for what it was worth…but his friend was always running off to meet with other people and he never seemed to be invited.

He'd gotten a job doing basic data entry at a tiny publishing house in the neighborhood, mostly because he could translate things from French and German (and he was thankful he'd taken language classes in high school because that might have saved his hide) and because nobody who valued their personal safety would work in this area of town, but it paid enough for the rent on this place.

And it felt good, to be free, to be his own man, even though his life had all but fallen apart and his post-high-school dreams of marrying the girl he'd fallen in love with and supporting their family with a job at a respected law firm had blown up with surprising speed (as far as he knew, at least, they were still friends ,but he might have had to learn the hard way that fairytale romance and love at first sight are impossible concepts and especially with where he is now, he could hardly have a girlfriend).

"Mister?" the girl waved in front of his face and he came to his senses, blinking and smiling at her. "Do you want me to take you upstairs? It's no trouble," she paused as a frightful crash came from the landing above them. "My parents are probably fighting again. It's an excuse not to go home," she reached to grab his hand and he stumbled after her, letting her lead him up the winding stairs. They passed the second floor suite and the door looked intact and clean, at least, although there were some stains in front of it that he decided he didn't want to know about, and one flight of stairs later reached the top floor. "Here," she gestured grandly and he nodded in thanks, unlocking the door and taking a deep breath before pushing it open.

The inside…was clean. Cleaner than he'd expected, anyway, and while the kitchen, living area and bedroom were only separated by what looked like hanging shower curtains (he was going to assume for now that the only other door led to the bathroom), there was a lot of floorspace.

"It looks way nicer than mine. But then, my parents kind of break everything. That's probably why. It was nice to meet you!"

He was starting to get used to her seemingly random thought-processes and nodded in reply, trying not to show just how sorry he was because he had the feeling she might not appreciate pity.

"Likewise. I hope we see more of each other, Mss…"

She giggled, sticking her hand out and grinning when he took it. "Eponine. Eponine Thenardier," she replied, and he inclined his head politely. "And you? I can't very well keep on calling you 'Mister' all the time."

"Oh," he blushed and laughed, scratching the back of his neck. "My name is Marius Pontmercy."

"Marius. That's a pretty name," she shook his hand firmly before slipping away, waving over her shoulder and disappearing like a wraith into the darkness of the hallway.

Marius watched her slink into the shadows, hearing the stairs creak as she made her way back down to the first floor, and quickly closed and locked his door before scouting around the open space. He dropped his bag off beside the bed, crossing to the grimy window and rubbing a patch of it with his sleeve so he could peer out.

The men that had been on the neighboring stoop were still there, still in discussion, until at some unknown signal they all headed off in different directions and were lost to the night. One flickering streetlight out in front of the building buzzed a few times and then went dark, the street empty now with the impending nightfall.

All in all it was a bleak and unfriendly scene that he would wake up to every morning and go to bed to every night, but it was a scene he could afford, at the very least. He walked back to the bed and sat down, the ancient frame creaking even under his slight weight, but the sheets were crisp and clean and the blanket looked warm. The refrigerator hummed along happily from the kitchen, the living room had a television that looked old but maybe still worked, the bathroom after a cursory check had an intact shower and toilet, and he thought he could get used to living here.

At least he wasn't out on the street or crawling back to his grandfather in shame, he thought as he lay back against the pillow and sighed.

He had to be thankful for that.

Notes:

1. So, this is the new fic I was talking about. It's definitely going to be darker in tone although personally I find it impossible to write anything without a happy ending, so you can take some comfort in that, I hope? I've got four chapters of this written at the moment so posting should be fairly regular provided my muse for this story doesn't go away, but I've got most of it planned out already.

2. I love feedback, and I try to reply on every review I get so don't be afraid to comment :)

3. If you haven't read my fics from this fandom before, I have a lot of love for all of the Amis so expect most of them to play a fairly major role in this fic. And I think that's about it, so let me know what you thought of the beginning and the main plot will be explained in the next chapter.