First of all, itās been 3 years since I started writing that fic, and I am still absolutely incredulous that there is an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to elevator music, but that page does not specify when elevator music came into popular use. Not to mention that the Rooseveltās wiki page mentions when it was a big deal to have radios in all the rooms, but not when their elevators got music (if they ever did). The song Sal and Elliot use as a metaphor to communicate about whether or not Sal wants to fuck was initially supposed to be playing as elevator music initially, but Iād spent so much time trying to figure out whether or not that was plausible I decided Iād rather there be a lounge pianist etc playing it in the dining room than risk the minuscule chance someone would comment with aĀ āwell actually,ā especially since Iād already nailed the victory of āTil There Was Youā fitting my timeline by only like....2 weeks. I think maybeĀ āGetting To Be A Habit With Meā was originally supposed to be the elevator music, with maybe Sal singing along with it to convey that he was dtf? But I figured out Til There Was You fit the timeline and rewatched the scene Sal describes around the same time I was trying to research the elevator music still, and it worked so well I just saidĀ āfuck it,ā especially since I liked whatĀ āgetting to be a habitā as a phrase conveyed thematically more than I cared about the lyrics of the song itself-- hence the title of the fic staying.Ā Speaking of songs,Ā āand wouldnāt Cole Porter make a naughty rhyme out of thatā is a reference not only to Cole Porter being a gay who delighted in sneaking blatantly gay shit into his songs, but also to the time (and Sal wouldnāt know this) after the horse-riding accident that left both his legs with severe mobility issues, where he enjoyed himself havinā sex that involved crawling across the floor of the famous Waldorf Hotel. Not in the elevator, butĀ āWaldorf saladā is mentioned in his songĀ āyouāre the topā (I told you his lyrics were blatantly gay) and every time I hear it my brain crosses it withĀ ātossed saladā and that story.Ā The paragraph where Sal is reaching for the button is an homage to the scene in The Great Gatsby which I know you donāt wanna know about in and of itself. Plot aside, I did really like the idea of thinking of Sal in college and how his experience would align and diverge from the Rich WASPĀ Period Gays ala Maurice & Brideshead in terms of Finding Sameness.Iām gonna be real, Your Favorite Paragraph of the elevator scene is mostly my verbatim thought process while either trying to flirt on Tindr or getting ready for a Tindr date, I forget which it was. Also, wow, you can absolutely tell I wrote this before I was prescribed Adderall:Ā āHe tried to make himself feel more present.ā I donāt remember where I was (I feel like it was elevator doors, but might have been storefront glass), but the anxiety over the reflection is also pretty much verbatim from an individual instance irl, but with some adjustments for how they would adapt to Bryan Battās features. Iām so glad/tickled you like theĀ ālike a washing machine!ā exclamation so much, in part because I think the REASON itās so in Salās voice is because after I admitted to the āoh no iām such a gay baby that my body starts to Shake when it has a Prospect,ā my brain wentĀ āOKAY THATāS ENOUGH PERSONAL SHIT SAY A THING ONLY A CHARACTER LIVING THAT CLOSE TO THEĀ ā50S WOULD SAYāĀ Fic discussed above can be found here:Ā https://archiveofourown.org/works/5995717/chapters/13775956#workskin
