Flowers Drenched In Vodka
is a 12-chapter Love Live! fanfic.
The story is a Dark Fic where Eli and Hanayo are in an abusive relationship. Eli has been struggling with alcoholism for a while. Her previously peaceful relationship with Hanayo has taken a dark turn due to her alcohol abuse. When Eli gets drunk she gets mad and Hanayo is more-often-than-not the victim of her anger. The plot begins when Nico starts to notice something is amiss.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed. Eli is only violent when drunken.
- The Alcoholic: Eli drinks too much. Eli and Hanayo both know it's an issue, but they sweep it under the rug and hope it'll fix itself one day. The narrative treats Eli's alcoholism as an illness, however it also doesn't excuse her abuse towards Hanayo.
- Alone Among the Couples: Kotori is the only single μ's member at the start of the fic. By the end, Eli has that status after Hanayo breaks up with her and gets together with Kotori.
- Beta Couple: The fic pairs up virtually all of the main characters, with Nozomi/Nico, Umi/Honoka and Maki/Rin as the secondary couples. The only person who isn't in a relationship at the start of the fic is Kotori, who ultimately gets together wth Hanayo.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Umi is not at all happy about hearing about Hanayo suffering from Domestic Abuse at Eli's hands.There was a pause on the other end of the line, and Kotori could only imagine what filled it. If Umi was willing to slap her best friend turned girlfriend over quitting being a school idol that many years ago, God knows what she would be willing to do to Eli.
- Bittersweet Ending: Both Hanayo and Eli are on their way to recovery but they've broken up and decided to take a break from seeing each other.
- Cigarette of Anxiety: Maki, despite trying to quit smoking, ends up smoking an actual cigarette while stressed.
- Flash Forward Fic: The story is set a few years after the series.
- Cut Himself Shaving: Hanayo uses the old "walked into a door" excuse when she's asked about a bruise Eli gave her to her face.
- Dark Fic: Eli and Hanayo are in a relationship, but Eli has an alcohol problem and becomes abusive when drunk.
- Domestic Abuse: Eli and Hanayo are stuck in a cycle of abuse: Eli gets violent towards her girlfriend when drunk, apologizes when sober and says it won't happen again, repeat.
- Failed a Spot Check: Umi doesn't notice that Eli saw her leaving her and Hanayo's apartment, leading to severe consequences.
- Foil: Maki and Eli, as pointed out by the former. Both struggle with substance abuse problems- Maki with tobacco, Eli with alcohol- but while Maki is trying to quit, Eli's alcoholism is ruining her life and her relationship.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy:
- Kotori isn't completely happy about Hanayo choosing Eli over her, but tries to get over it and be happy for the couple. While a part of her hoped they would break up, she never imagined that the relationship would become abusive.
- While Eli isn't quite over her love for Hanayo, she acknowledges that Hanayo will be happier with Kotori.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Eli sees Umi exit her apartment complex and, in her drunken state, comes to the conclusion that Hanayo is cheating on her. This ends badly when Eli ends up sending Hanayo to the hospital.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Maki asks Nico, “Do. You. Have. A. Plan.”
- Second Love: Kotori for Hanayo.
- Shipping Torpedo: Downplayed. While Kotori didn't actively disapprove of Eli and Hanayo's relationship, Nico is fully aware that Kotori has always been "skeptical" of it, and so she's the first person she tells about her suspicions that Eli is physically abusing Hanayo.
- Switching P.O.V.: The fic has a third-person POV focusing on different characters in each scene.
- Sympathetic P.O.V.: While Eli comes off as an abusive terror in some of Hanayo's POV scenes, when the story switches to Eli's own POV, it's shown that she regrets her actions and struggles with her drinking problem, even if she ultimately makes many bad decisions.
- Thicker Than Water: Alisa stands by her sister as Eli admits to being The Alcoholic and a Domestic Abuser.“I know it must be difficult to admit, right? And you're trying to get help so… You know, you're my sister and I still love you, no matter what. So you have my full support on this.”
- True Companions: When Hanayo's friends suspect that Eli is abusing her, they immediately look into it in order to help their friend. While several members of the group are very angry with Eli for what she's done, all of them still have at least a certain amount of compassion for her as their friend.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Umi stops by Hanayo's apartment to check on her, but doesn't notice that Eli saw her leaving, leading to Eli thinking that Hanayo's cheating on her and sending Hanayo to the hospital.
- Wham Episode: Chapter 7. Eli ends up hurting Hanayo badly enough to send her to the hospital, resulting in her own arrest.
