It was two days before Christmas and everyone in the castle was getting everything ready for the big day. There was magic in the air as the cook prepared lunch for the afternoon, and the servants were getting the castle decorated. However, they could only do so much considering they were all household objects. Cyan was kind enough to lend a helping hand if they needed help. She grew bored just sitting in her room, playing with the peacock chick, and coming up with arguments with the Beast. They were at least nice enough to each other to sit at the same table as long as they were far away from each other. Cyan would bring a book with her to the table so she could read while Beast would promptly ignore her presence.

Things may have been a little nicer for the two since that night, two months ago, when they shared a bed. Beast was a little nicer toward her since he did start to pity her when she was without warm blankets that night. He made sure if her blankets were being washed and dried over night, she would get the spare ones in the closet. This didn't stop either one's short temper if something sets them off. The last argument they had was over what the cook should serve for lunch. Beast wanted something rich like a nice, juicy meat dish and Cyan wanted something simple like tomato soup with fresh basil in the middle. It was December and Cyan was still used to life in a circus. Around this time of year, she wouldn't see a juicy slab of meat unless it was cheap. Winter was a time for soup and bread for the circus and everyone would try and get odd jobs to help pay for the big Christmas feast they would have on Christmas Day. To have something that was expensive to eat was like mocking the hard working members of her circus family, something that Beast didn't understand because Cyan never bothered to tell him about what her family did for a living. He still assumed they were thieves and that would set Cyan's temper high when he called them that. So to compromise the situation: Cogsworth had the chief cook a rack of meat for the master and soup for their guest.

This time lunch took a while to make due to how large the meat for Beast was. So there was him and Cyan waiting in the dining room for the meal. Cyan already had her meal set in front of her. The soup was quick to make and Cyan was lucky to have gotten fresh basil in her meal. She did offer some portion to her captor, but he said "I will not eat a peasant's dish." so that was the end of the conversation. Cyan slurped her meal loudly just to make Beast twitch his left eye. His patience was wearing thin in waiting for his food. The soup reminded Cyan of Satin Sally's cooking because she was better at making soup than Grandpa Apple. It didn't mean Grandpa Apple was left out in the winter cooking. He made delicious Christmas pudding with special wine he saved all year to use in the dessert and would make sugar plums to sell and eat. Cyan wanted to make some for herself and everyone else in the castle even though she knew they would not be able to taste the mouth watering treat. Instead, it would befall on her, Beast, the peacock chick, and Ludwig the horse. She couldn't remember if horses could eat plums so she was going to make Ludwig sugar coated lemons instead.

Right now, Cyan had a empty book, a pen, and some ink by her right arm. Her right hand moved the pen across the empty canvas of the page while her left hand lifted spoonfuls of soup to her mouth. She didn't bother to look up at her company because she didn't want to. She figured Beast was glaring down at his empty plate. She was correct, but Beast was starting to wonder curiously about what she was writing. Cyan had started to write three days ago and whenever he saw her, that was all she would work on. Beast would check on Cyan in her room and see her still writing in her bed while the peacock chick slept on her pillow. Now it seemed like more pages were written since he saw her last night at dinner. Beast thought it was really rude of her to ignore and formalities were in order if they should start a decent conversation. If they would actually hold one without starting an argument again.

"What are you doing?" Beast finally spoke up.

"So you do know how to talk. Praise the Good Lord." Cyan didn't look up from her work.

"I did not come down to hear your sarcasm. You will ruin my lunch."

"There is such a thing as ignoring. Your lunch is taking a while to get ready."

"I know that!" Beast shouted.

"You should have ordered the soup. The chief made a very delicious one."

"I will not eat that. How can you eat something like just soup?! You didn't want anything else!"

"This is the first Christmas I'll spend without my family. I'd like to show respect for the meals we manage to make." Cyan explained.

"So what."

"Excuse me." Cyan finally looked up from her book.

"So what? You don't have to eat this...this slop. You're in a castle with decent food in store."

"There is such a thing as modesty and respect. I do know your home has fancy eatery to tickle my mouth, but I will not ask for such things until Christmas day. That is when my family had plenty things to eat."

"You mean what they manage to steal and hide from everyone."

"We were not thieves! We paid with the money we earned through sweat and blood!" Cyan shouted.

"Oh, now they pickpocket too!?" Beast stood up from his chair quickly. His chair fell back from the force.

"We do NOT pickpocket! We work hard for what we can afford!"

Cyan was quick to stand up, but she didn't make her chair fall down like Beast did. This was common for the two to argue over something insensitive Beast would say about her family. Everyone did not know much about her family due to the fact she didn't want to talk about it a whole lot. It made her sad to think about where they were and if they did leave her behind. This didn't sound true and Cyan knew it because they wouldn't do that to her or anyone else in the circus. She hated it when Beast continued to call her family thieves and miscreants. The two were struggling in not trying to get into each others throats, but only Cyan can remember how coarse he was when he was human. So her memory clouded her better judgment as well as Beast's resolve.

"If you worked hard to afford anything, your fool of a father and hermit grandfather shouldn't have tried to steal one of my roses or eaten my food!" Beast scolded.

"Do you think they weren't starving?!"

"If they're thieves, it should not have been a problem!"

"They had food on them, but they dropped their rations when they were chased by wolves!" Cyan screeched.

"How do you know this?!"

"I found their bags in the woods before I came here!"

The kitchen staff was watching this behind the safety of the kitchen door. The cook was used to hearing them bicker at almost every meal. Beast always had a temper, but Cyan seemed to match his in retaliation. It was like listening to an old married couple complain about what was wrong with one another. Although the staff were hoping Cyan would be the one to break the spell, some of the servants were wondering how long it would take for her to fall in love with their master and vice versa for him. Lumiere once said they probably liked to hear each other bicker as a way to mask their feelings. Cogsworth said if that were true, why would Cyan throw things at the master. Unfortunately, Cyan would throw whatever she had on hand at Beast sometimes. They were hoping she won't throw her bowl of soup at Beast. There wasn't a chance it would even hit him considering how long the dining table was. It would still be a mess if she attempted it.

"If you don't like it, then why don't you just leave?!"

"I think I will! I rather be myself this holiday!" Cyan yelled as she grabbed her book, pen, and a bread roll from the basket on the able.

"You would've ruined my Christmas!"

"Then have yourself a Merry Christmas! EBENEEZER BEAST!" Cyan slammed the door behind her.

"AND A BAH HUMBUG TO YOU TOO!"

Beast attempted to sit down and completely forgot his chair wasn't there so he fell on the floor. He let out a small shout as his tail hit the hard floor. If Cyan were there, she would have laughed in her seat at his expense. It would have probably made him even more irritated since he was hard to simmer down.

"Ugh, why do I put up with her anyway?!"

"She is just defending her family, sire." Chapeau explained as he took Cyan's bowl and silverware.

"They are common thieves and street rats. What is there to defend?"

"Family is different for everyone and you should know better than anyone." Mrs. Potts chided as she came in from the kitchen to pour him another cup of tea. "If you listen to her about her family, you may see they aren't so bad."

"Why would I want to do that?"

"To be a nice gentleman, of course. It is almost Christmas and this is the first time she will spend that wonderful day without her family."

Beast muttered under his breath before he sipped his tea. The warm liquid felt good on his throat and he sighed in relief. Although he considered his lunch ruined by Cyan, at least he could enjoy his meal in peace. Beast wasn't one for family since his mother died from sickness and his father was no better after the death of his beloved wife. He assumed Cyan was suffering what he once went through with her own. After all, her adopted father and grandfather abandoned her when she took their place as his prisoner and it has been months since either of them have seen the men. Cyan would say that it did take a long time for them to find the castle considering how many twists and turns there were in the forest.

Traveling in the winter was ghastly if one isn't fully prepared, but Beast highly doubted they wanted to see him again after their treatment in the castle. Chapeau brought the master's dinner when Beast was pondering about why Cyan was so quick to defend her family's actions. He glanced down at his food to see his juicy rack of meat on his plate. The meat was cooked until it was tender enough to be cut with a fork. It was truly a masterpiece on his palate when he took the first bite. The juices were still hot on the tongue so he had to hurry up and swallow or risk burning his tongue. Nevertheless it was a grand lunch to eat. He was about to get another piece with his fork when he saw on his right was a small bowl of tomato soup with fresh basil. This was what Cyan ordered.

"I did not ask for this."

"We made too much." Chapeau stated. "You may like it."

"I won't eat a peasant's dish!" Beast shouted.

"How would you know if you don't try it. Not everything is what they seem. Good things can come in small portions." Mrs. Potts told him.

There has to be a limit on that. He was used to getting extravagant things that were the envy of his guests. Jewelry, expensive wines, the best cuts of meat, it was anything that would provoke anyone's jealousy. All except for the gypsy girl. She didn't seem surprised over anything. Cyan was the same way; she could have ordered what Beast had for lunch instead of this measly soup. He picked up the bowl and slurped the soup just a little. The soup was rustic from the tomatoes used in the dish, but it gave his throat a much warmer feeling than the rack of meat. The basil gave the soup a fresh competent and cut the rich flavor. It was truly a simple dish. It was much more delicious. Beast stripped small portions of the meat off and dipped it into the soup before letting out a sigh of bliss at the delicious meal. Perhaps Mrs. Potts had a point: sometimes small things can leave a big impact on someone.

"Ah ha! I knew you'd like it!" Cyan squealed from the door. She had her head poked from behind the open door.

"WILL YOU LEAVE ME ALONE!?"

Is Beast and Cyan getting along? It looks like a friendly banter until someone wins. It was fun writing this chapter because it made me laugh more than enough.

If anyone can guess some of the references I have used for this chapter, I thank you!

Once again, special thanks to my beta reader Seth Gardner from East Georgia State College!

I only own Cyan and the Circus.

Beauty and the Beast belongs to Disney!

Please no mean comments or flames!

If you see a spelling or grammar error, please PM me and I will fix it!

Special thanks