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Joseph's prediction seemed to be true as he took a moment to glance at his phone to see that Erik had texted him just as he stepped into the shower. Well that wasn't good, at least all the reading materials were already set up so he'd only need to dry off. It seemed though that Joseph had taken longer in the shower than he had thought because he heard Erik's voice call out from downstairs and he couldn't help but smirk a little bit. Joseph would wrap a towel around his waist and stepped out for a moment to look over the banister at his employee "Just give me one moment and I'll be right down" he would explain to the other man before stepping back into his bedroom to begin drying off rather quickly to speed it along. Once he was sufficiently dried Joseph began to dig around for something to wear but only came up with either his dingy sleepwear or his usual semi formal outfits. Joseph really needed to go out and buy a couple new shirts and some jeans for just such occasions because this was becoming completely ridiculous in his opinion. However a thought struck him which seemed to work just fine for him, he had two sets of workout clothing and he did have a clean set on standby for when he washed the other pair. So he'd quickly open up one drawer to pull out a pair of basketball shorts and a black tank top. Thankfully they were still as fresh and clean as possible so it would work out just fine for this occasion. He'd pause just before stepping out to look at the mirror mounted on his wall and messed with his hair a little bit. The normally impeccable cooperate style he kept was now just a wild mess at this point and was still damp which caused Joseph to sight a little bit. At least this was a casual meeting so he hoped that it wouldn't be too big of a deal. With that he'd walk down the stairs and looked Erik up and down once and nodded his head "I hope you're ready" he stated with a small amused look before motioning to the couch where all the books were spread out on the coffee table. Once they were seated Joseph would begin the lessons by opening up the beginners guide to Spanish, it was a simplistic learning book with visuals to accompany each of the words. It was by all means a childish looking book but it helped the CEO greatly in the beginning and so he figured it would help Erik as well. He'd be sure to talk the other man through as much as he could, explaining whatever there was that needed to be explained. Joseph was ready to be as patient as ever to help the other man.

Once Joseph was back downstairs and sitting next to Erik, the CEO would open up one of the books and pointed to chapter one before glancing at the other man "We're going to be starting on basic introductions and greetings, from there we'll move onto basic sentence structure" he explained to the other man before he flipped the page to the beginners guide to Spanish. Each of the words would have a picture next to then along with the English definition and as such it was a slow process but one that was needed "Hola is Hello, Adios is Goodbye" he began before then proceeding to explain to Erik the meaning of each word and would remain patient with the other man by answering any questions the other man had. He made sure to take his time for this segment, he just needed to show Erik that it wasn't as hard as he had made it out to be and it was just some easy to learn memorization. Finally after a little while Joseph would look over at Erik and nodded his head "Alright now repeat back to me in Spanish..." he paused for a moment for Erik to mentally prepare what he'd learnt so far "Hello, my name is Erik. How are you?" it was the most generic greeting when meeting someone new so it would be an important one. Usually native Spanish speakers could always tell when you were using very proper Spanish learned in a class or book but usually most appreciated the fact that you at least took the time to learn it and would be patient with you if you messed up.

Joseph would make sure to listen to the other man speak and nodded his head at the other man's words. Obviously with the French accent it sounded a bit off but otherwise it sounded rather decent. Of course Joseph let out a small sigh when the other man berated himself over how he sounded when speaking it "You sounded fine" he stated rather plainly as he turned the page in the book "Speaking another language is difficult enough, it only gets harder with an accent like yours" he then shook his head "The fact that you sounded as fine as you did is a good thing" Joseph tried to encourage the other man to not let frustrations get a hold of him. Sticking to more basic conversation Joseph would cover each word, pointing to each picture in the book so that Erik could memorize and associate each word together. From there he would look up and see the time and nodded his head a small bit before handing to book to Erik "Start memorizing the words in chapter two, those will cover basic sentence structure and proper responses" the CEO would then stand up and make his way to the kitchen, putting on the pastel pink apron that was gifted to him by the Vice President of his company as a gag gift. Little did she know that he actually used it on a daily basis so the joke was really on her "I'm going to start on making dinner, you just focus on that for now. Don't be afraid to ask questions" he stated before pulling out some tomatoes, basil, and other ingredients for a tomato sauce. Joseph almost exclusively cooked fresh and didn't generally use canned ingredients, he saw little point as making from scratch only took a bit more time and tasted much better. However before beginning he would place his phone on a nearby stand as classical music began to play with "Moonlight Sonata" being the first to play.

Joseph would begin the preparation for dinner as he left Erik to his own devices for the time being. He would chop and dice up everything that needed be before then boiling the whole tomatoes until cooked enough. He'd periodically glance towards Erik from time to time to see him fidgeting with something or another, did he really have such issue with learning the language? No, that couldn't be it. He'd picked it up the beginning phrases rather quickly in his opinion.The CEO simply chose to not comment on it and instead began to cut open and pull the guts and seeds out of the cooked tomatoes before putting them into the blender along with the basic, garlic, and other ingredients and pulsing them until it was all well blended. Joseph would then pull out a couple large eggplants and cut them into large rounds and searing them in a pan with garlic, oil, and salt. Joseph would look up once more as he was finishing up the last two slices "Cómo estás?" he'd call out to Erik with a thoughtful look as he pulled out a baking tray and layered the eggplant with layers of the sauce, cheese, and more eggplant to make an eggplant lasagna. Once he was done with all the layers and used what was left of the sauce and eggplant Joseph would grate on an extra layer of mozzarella and parmesan cheese. on the very top before sticking it into the heated oven. With that finally out of the way Joseph would walk back over to Erik and sat himself next to the other man and leaned in close to see the page that he was on "Is everything OK?" he asked, barely prodding to see if the other was having any issues.

Once Joseph sat down on the couch he tilted his head only slightly when the other admitted that he was having a hard time focusing on the task at hand "So you're not fine then" he stated with a serious look on his face as he nodded his head "Is it the music that's distracting you?" he questioned the other man, turning to look him in the eye. Joseph would then blink a little bit as he stared at the younger man with a curious look on his face. Then as he watched the other man carefully he seemed tense which was rather odd to the CEO, what could the reason be? Was because of of him? "Are you nervous or stressed?" he'd proceed to ask before placing a hand on his shoulder as if to comfort him to some degree "Is it because of me? Is this...too personal for you?" Joseph wasn't stupid, he knew about Erik's history with his previous boss so it seemed to make sense considering he knew nothing about Erik's medical history "If so I'm sorry, I never had any intention of making you uncomfortable" he explained with a small smile beginning to form on his face to try and help ease the other man. Joseph knew that he could be a looming presence at times and the memory of his PR team telling him to smile a bit more once again came into his mind. He hoped though that the smile he wore was comforting than anything else.

It seemed like Erik was having an internal struggle which seemed to solidify his thoughts that he was the problem for the other man. However finally the personal secretary spoke up and affirmed that the CEO wasn't the problem which only served to confuse Joseph. If he wasn't the problem then what was? The fact that the other man refused to meet his eyes was a motion that was not lost on him. As he listened to the other man speak about his anxiety and depression it all became clear to Joseph why he was acting the way he was "I see" he stated simply before letting out a soft sigh when the other man called himself crazy for his condition"Don't say that" Joseph stated as he began to feel a bit irritated by the others lack of eye contact "Look at me Erik" he stated firmly, giving the other a moment to process the request "Erik I don't judge people for their medical conditions, nor do I believe you're crazy" finally Joseph's normally icy stare and hard face softened into a small smile with his eyes taking on a more comforting look "Look, we can put this off for another day if you like. Maybe when you're feeling more up to it, medication or not" he offered to the other man in case Erik felt just too in over his head.

Joseph was decidedly patient with Erik when the other man refused to look at him at first. Part of him had wanted to simply force the other to look and stop wasting time but with the others admittance to having such anxiety he knew such an action would only make things worse rather than help anything. And he was glad that he had gone with that decision rather than the former once the other man finally looked up at him. Joseph would then blink a bit in surprise at Erik's confession. Had he been expecting Joseph to berate him or something along those lines? He once again chose to keep these thoughts to himself for a change instead of his usual tactic of speaking his mind. Once the other man finally cleared things up that he just needed instruction Joseph would nod his head a little bit as a his smile didn't leave his features "I see, no problem. Let's pick up where he left off then" with that Joseph gave Erik's shoulder a comforting squeeze before dropping his hand and leaned over the other man just a bit to have a good view of the book from there Joseph would begin to slowly help the other man form basic sentences and how they should be structured. The CEO would move a hand up to slick back his messy hair for a moment, only for it to fall back into it's original position due to a lack of gel to keep it in place. It was a bit annoying but not nearly enough for him to put a hold on the lessons "You're picking this up rather nicely. Now that we've covered the basics let's hear you form a simple sentence of your choosing"

Joseph was more than pleased at Erik's progress, he seemed very naturally gifted at picking up and learning things. Most people struggled to learn new languages but it was surprising just how well he was doing at learning everything he needed. Joseph blinked for a moment when the other man actually commented on his hair which caused him to stare dumbly for a moment before an amused smile grew on his face and a surprising fit of chuckles began to erupt from his throat. Not many people have heard Joseph Myers snicker, let alone a fit of laughter like this. Once he was done a smile was on his face as he watched Erik "Is it really so noticeable?" he questioned with an amused tone before he took a quick breath to calm himself. It was rather funny to him since of all things he chose to comment on his hair "You're doing an excellent job on this Erik, you called yourself a poor student earlier but I would say otherwise" he stated rather bluntly as he looked at the other man with a pleased look on his face "There's still a lot to cover but you're making good steps" he concluded before reaching down his shirt for a moment to scratch an itch that was beginning to bother him. Once he was done with that Joseph would nod his head "It seems that we might be able to move onto chapter three where you'll begin to learn more complex words" he stated for a moment as the classical music had changed over to a new station that was playing some rather scratchy jazz that caused Joseph to grunt a bit in annoyance "It always does that after awhile and I don't understand why" Joseph just assumed it was the apps why of trying to get you to listen to different genre's but Joseph wasn't the type to enjoy most of what was recommended. He'd sigh before glancing over at Erik "One moment" the CEO would rather gracelessly begin searching for his speaker stands remote to change it back. It was then he eyed it under the coffee table which caused him to sigh once more "Of course" it must have fallen off when Joseph was getting all the books on the table earlier and so with that Joseph would get down on his hands and knees and reached to get the remote. Once it was in his grasp he'd shake his head a little bit and sit up to change the music back to the classical that was playing previously. Once that was done Joseph would sit back down next to Erik and flipped the page to the next chapter and would try to get back into the grove of teaching the slightly more difficult words and phrases "Any questions so far?"