Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. The only thing I can lay claim to is the ideas that led to this.
"What's with the cane?"
"I figured I should be able to defend myself this year."
"With a large plastic candy cane? Really, Charlie Brown?"
"Someone's not getting a Christmas present this year."
"Hey! That's not fair!"
"Oh? How is me not giving you a present because you haven't been nice unfair, Lucy? Please, enlighten me."
"Because it's not your place to judge whether I'm nice!"
She sticks her tongue out at him.
"Really not helping your case here."
"If I apologize, can I have my present?"
"I don't know. Maybe."
"Why can't you give me a definitive answer?"
"Why can't you be nice?"
"While you two argue over that, can someone direct me to a place where I can hide?"
"Oh, no you don't, Linus!" Lucy calls to him.
Charlie Brown catches his friend's shoulder with his oversized candy cane, dragging him back. "Yeah, no. You're staying."
"Well, um… Who's going to watch the house?"
"Rerun's doing that," Lucy reminds him, fiddling with her mistletoe hairclip. "That kid wouldn't know 'fun' if it whacked him over the head with a shovel."
"Ahem. Lucy."
"Yes, Charlie Brown? I am trying to help you get my little brother to stay here, if you don't mind."
"I'd rather my apology."
"Well, if you're going to keep my present I can return the favor, you know."
"Somehow I think I'd be afraid to take anything you give me, regardless."
"Well, now who's not being nice?"
"You two might want to look up, before all the guests get here," Linus informs them.
"Huh?" Lucy looks to the ceiling. "AUGH!"
Charlie Brown, following her gaze, rolls his eyes. "Of course it'd be you, with my luck."
He took a few steps away. "That never happened."
"Agreed."
"What never happened?" Sally asks, coming downstairs.
"Nothing," Lucy informs her.
"Absolutely nothing," Charlie Brown agrees. "Except Lucy's not getting a Christmas present."
"He's not getting one, either."
"Why do you two argue so much?"
"Oh, hey, Schroeder," Linus greets.
Lucy doesn't acknowledge the piano player, Charlie Brown offers a wave and then returns to their argument.
"If you'd just apologize, Lucy-"
"Well, if you weren't so ridiculous-"
"Hey, Chuck, we're here!"
"Hello, Charles."
"Charlie Brown's a little bit preoccupied at the moment," Linus greets them. "We have food. And music."
As if on cue, someone presses play and Christmas music starts blaring from the speakers.
A couple feet away, a certain piano player makes a startled noise.
"Well, you see- is that my CD, Linus?"
"Um… No?" the boy with the blanket scarf offers.
"AUGH!"
"Lucy, please don't kill Linus," Charlie Brown grips her shoulders from behind, holding her back.
"Let me hit him and I'll apologize."
"Tempting, but no."
"Pleaaaase?" Lucy turns to face him, pouting.
"Ah… Promise me you won't kill him."
"Okay!"
"Who's side are you on?!"
"Don't make me answer that," the blonde boy grumbles to himself.
"Did you say something?" Sally asks, turning to face her brother.
"Nothing you need to worry about, Sally."
"Okay. Also, I got some alcohol for the party! It's in the kitchen, hidden in the cupboard!"
"Do I want to know how you-"
"Probably not."
Curiosity piqued, Charlie Brown slips into the kitchen.
"What're you leaving the party for?" Lucy inquires.
"I'm not. I was told we have alcohol now and was considering indulging in less-than-legal activities. Care to join me?"
"I never thought you'd ask me to get drunk with you. Sure, why not?"
"Pick out one of the bottles, then. They're in the cupboard, apparently."
"Alright. Hold on, let me pour it."
"I don't think so. I don't trust you."
"Ouch, I'm offended. I was even going to apologize for insulting your oversized stick."
As he pours their drinks, he glares at her, sticking his tongue out. "It's not an oversized stick."
"You go first," says Lucy, eyeing her drink suspiciously. "This was your idea, after all."
"Fair enough," he agrees, taking a sip of the wine.
"Well?"
"Not that bad," he shrugs.
She takes a sip of hers. "...I'm not sure how to describe this."
Meanwhile, in the living room, Sally has taken to running around with mistletoe in hand.
"Linus!"
"Gah!"
"Caught you! You have to kiss me now~!"
"I thought you were over that?"
"So? Mistletoe is mistletoe!"
Oh, and Schroeder is eyeing the speakers with contempt from the other end of the room.
Back in the kitchen, they're on their second glasses of wine.
"How many bottles were in that cupboard?"
"I'm not sure. At least four. Why?"
"Because in a few days, I'm sitting down with Sally and telling her to stop whatever illegal activities she's been doing to get ahold of all this alcohol."
"Whilst simultaneously indulging in this exact same alcohol," Lucy points out, pouring her third glass.
"It's the holidays. Besides, I've been kind of curious about this for a while."
"Hm. I've been curious about something for a little while, too."
"What's that?"
Lucy unclips her hairclip, unnoticed, and raises it over their heads. "Look up."
"...Mistletoe?"
"And? Normally?"
"Normally you kiss the person you're under the mistletoe wi- oh, wait, seriously?"
"Don't you dare make me say it," she mumbles.
"Are you drunk right now?"
"...What?"
"Are you drunk right now?" he repeats.
"Why?"
"'Cause I'm not gonna kiss you if you only want me to kiss you 'cause you're drunk, that's why," he tells her, putting their empty glasses in the sink and hiding the bottle away.
"Can we go back to the party now?" she asks, yawning.
He takes her hand, leading her to the living room couch.
Miraculously, nobody else is sitting there.
"I wouldn't know if I was drunk," Lucy points out, shifting beside him on the couch.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I've never been drunk. I wouldn't know how it feels."
He takes the hairclip from her hand, then, and grins. "Look up."
"I don't need to," she says quietly, leaning forward to kiss his cheek. "Now give that back."
"I don't think so."
"Come o- hey!"
He is standing, and calmly walking away from the couch.
She follows, irritated, into the hallway. "Stoooop!"
"Fine," he grins, turning to face her again, dangling the hairclip over his head. "Come here, then."
Suspicious, she approaches.
When she gets near enough, he hugs her, pulling her close.
He places the clip in her hair once more, and laughs.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing."
"Tell me!"
She glares up at him, and he laughs again.
"You look adorable!"
"I do not!"
"Hm. Would you accept 'stunning'?"
"That can be arranged. ...Stop that."
"Stop what?"
"Playing with my hair!"
"Fine. Come on, your Christmas present is upstairs."
"Not under the tree?"
"No."
"Hm."
"Here we are. Sit down somewhere, I need to dig for it."
Lucy sits on his bed, wondering what the object is.
She digs in her pocket to make sure his is still there.
"Aha! There it is!"
He turns and hands her a small box.
She reaches into her pocket and hands him an equally small box.
Silently, they remove the lids.
Lucy smiles, and doesn't say a word.
Charlie Brown laughs at the contents of his box.
"Do you like it?" he asks her, curious.
She nods. "They're beautiful and sparkly."
"They also glow in the dark."
"Seriously? Now I feel cheap."
"Thought you were used to that?"
"Oh, very funny."
"You got me a kite, though, so I wouldn't call it cheap."
"I wanted to get you the actual bird, but that fell through, so I had to get something simple."
"You tried to get me a bird for Christmas?"
"Shut up."
They fall asleep maybe half an hour later.
Downstairs, however, the party carries on.
Sally is trying to get a drinking game going, while Linus is talking to Schroeder in the corner.
Marcie is hovering by the food, not sure what to do in such a crowded social setting.
Peppermint Patty is monologuing to Snoopy, who isn't really listening.
Only half an hour later does it occur to Schroeder to ask Linus if he's seen Charlie Brown, or, for that matter, Lucy.
"...Oh, wow."
"What is it?"
"I lost my sister! ...Wow, this is conflicting."
"I'll take that as a no."
"...I'd better go look, Charlie Brown was with her last I checked..."
Linus starts searching in the kitchen.
Here he finds nothing of note, besides some glasses in the sink.
"Alright… Nothing here. I may as well check upstairs, then."
From the top of the stairs he can't see anything, so he starts down the hall, eventually finding a door slightly ajar.
He stops for a moment to make sure it's quiet inside.
He pushes it open, and is greeted with the strangest thing he has ever seen.
His sister and his best friend, cuddling together on top of the sheets, fast asleep.
He looks around for a blanket, and drapes the largest one he could find over them both.
He decides that he will ask them about this tomorrow.
For now, though...
"Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown."