Work Text:
Gjon did indeed get the ball rolling for the collaboration early.
Brainstorming for ideas and other tidbits started in late August. The two met in person multiple times to discuss it, Gabriel gained valuable songwriter experience that he knew little about prior. It was a joy to work together and Gjon was so nice and patient towards Gabriel, which made him feel at ease.
Hell, even Gjon travelled up, or down, considering that Valais is tucked at the bottom of Switzerland, to Gabriel's residence for an overnight stay to help him with composing said song. Gabriel learned so much in only a few months. He was surprised that his Eurovision (and Gjon) fanatic mother Alice, was so normal about this, especially with Gjon visiting them. Although there wasn't a chance to show him the Gjon Shrine though, but maybe next time.
Initially, Gabriel was nervous about collaborating with him, but eventually warmed up to him like he did with Julian, and now can comfortably banter with him on WhatsApp. Gjon also learned more about Gabriel then he anticipated, especially with how, ever so slightly out of touch he was compared to people from a normal middle class household, as Gabriel grew up in a sheltered, wealthy family and kept to himself at school, with his only friends being children of other racing drivers who were from all around the world so he didn't get to spend much time with them.
To be best described, Gabriel was lonely and to the very few friends he had, or anyone who was slightly nice to him, he was rather clingy towards them, a massive people pleaser and overshared a bit too much. Gabriel tried to set boundaries with every person he met, but it proved to be difficult after a few days, because he couldn't stop thinking about them.
Gabriel also truly loved his dog, a golden retriever named Turkey, yes that's the name of the dog and was the successor of the deceased Floppy, another golden retriever that Gabriel loved to pieces. It was one of the few things that kept Gabriel from being a total recluse, he loved his dog, family and very little friends. At the same time he was very different from his family, they all loved him dearly, but he had almost no interest in cars or sports unlike the rest of his family and social circle, Eurovision was the only talking point for them and only his mother Alice was as interested in the contest as Gabriel.
Now getting on with the song, "Commencer à aligner" after months at work, especially with starting the song from scratch, it was fully complete by December, with Gabriel planning to put it on his maiden EP and release the song as a single in January. He and Gjon agreed to split the profits 50/50 and then 75/25 for his maiden EP as one song on there was a cover of "Silhouette" which was Gjon's own song.
Today was the 2nd December 2053, it wasn't a important day for Gabriel, just a normal day for him. His father, Ralph on the other hand had been busy on the phone all day, he was no music professional at all, but as a racing driver for the majority of his life, he has learnt negotiation skills which can be quite useful...and considering Gabriel didn't have a manager or anything at the moment, someone needed to fill the gap. So with a combination of money and his sons musical talent, stuff sort of fell into place, which could get Gabriel in contact with people more equipped to deal with Gabriel's talent.
Now what was he trying to negotiate? It sounded extremely crazy...like extremely unrealistic, but he was attempting two things, A) For the Swiss delegation to give Gabriel a second chance in Eurovision (despite already having last years entry) with the possibility that he can win, getting Switzerland's first win in 30 years, it sounded very stupid and egoistical and unfair to other artists, but he believed if Gabriel had a song that'll fully show his potential, he can become a famous star, the question is will Gabriel want fame or not?
B) Is getting someone to mentor Gabriel, he set his sights on Gjon as despite the short time they've known each other, both Gjon and Gabriel have good chemistry and have already worked on a song together that was set to be released, which put the foot in the door. Any rich guy can ask a notable person in the industry to work with their child for a obscene amount of money, but the difference was that Gabriel competed in the Eurovision Song Contest 2053 and got a solid position with a song not suited to his style, and if you looked at his other covers and songs, it was extremely apparent that Gabriel has crazy potential and if he played his cards right then who knows what he could achieve? Money was definitely something the Boschung's (and Alice) had, which was a massive helping hand compared to a normal family.
Getting Gjon on board seemed more likely and he seemed to have a interest in Gabriel's talent since his La Suisse Chante appearance which helped things, and the collaboration fueled it further. Oh and giving him a big (and deserved) payday for his mentorship to Gabriel if he agreed on this.
But getting the Swiss delegation on board would raise some eyebrows, he didn't want to go full bribery, knowing that some Eurovision fans will destroy his DM's despite him not saying a single word. At the same time, internal selections have been long closed since August and Gabriel had already written a song with a rough audio as well and sent it to the Swiss national broadcaster, he didn't have much hopes of being selected and only did it for fun, considering that the song was the polar opposite to "J'aime ça" these chances were much lower.
All he had to do was wait until January, where the broadcast would message all the applicants if they were selected or not.
But what was the harm in getting Gjon to be Gabriel's mentor earlier then anticipated? The two have each other on WhatsApp and as previously mentioned, just finished up on a song. Ralph has already planned the route of the discussion for it.
He just wanted January to be over and done with so quickly dammit, ugh. It was a good thing Gabriel had a busy schedule for December, so that kept him occupied.
Gabriel on the other hand was eavesdropping on his father's conversation to...himself. Ralph just couldn't help talking to himself which made it much easier to piece stuff together. Gabriel himself was excited for January but at the same time had to feign excitement for the possibility of being mentored by his idol. He knew his father wanted to make Gabriel happy, but the possibility of trying Eurovision again was nerve racking, could he win or fail miserably? Another panic attack was on the line if he kept being anxious about everything.