During the last week of February, the day of Samuel's birthday arrived unexpectedly. He just joined his twin friends into the 13 years old club.

Speaking of which, during the normal school day, those two have been waiting for him, taking him by surprise with a cheer when he approaches the school gate, promising a day of fun like always.

Then, when it's the afternoon and time for them to go home...

"Here, buddy, this is for you!" Dipper takes out a wrapped gift.

Mabel does too. "Happy birthday, Sammy!" She hands it to him. Thankfully, his backpack is just light enough today to be able to store both.

"You'll open them tonight, alright? Just like we did with yours. You promise?" Dipper gives a slight smile.

"I sure will. Thank you, guys..." Samuel is definitely touched and is very curious about the gift, but he's gonna wait for now.

At nighttime, after a very good meal and cake, Samuel goes to his bedroom, where Bill awaits him while laying on the bed.

"Ooh, I'm stuffed..." The kid says, touching his stomach.

"Was it a nice little party, Fuzzball?" The demon asks, looking at how much he looks tired and full of food. "Yeah, seems like it..." He then comments... "You wouldn't have been able to handle the party I wanted to make... No human could..."

Samuel gets curious about details, but he's too tired to question for now. "With that, maybe I should just lie down and sleep..."

Bill shows up in front of his face. "Nope! You forgot something..."

"Uh...?" It then hits him with a bit of shame when he realizes. "Oh right, the gifts from my friends!" He goes to his backpack and takes the gifts. "How silly of me..." He starts opening Dipper's gift.

He opens and smiles. "Ooooh... He got me a drawing kit!"

Bill is a little dumbfounded. "What...? Why?"

"Oh, you know... Because I use notebooks, I do different things in these. And he wants to encourage that by giving me new materials for that."

Bill lays on the bed with a bored look on his eye. "Yeah, so in that sense, that's definitely Pinetree..." He changes the subject quickly. "What's the other one?"

Samuel puts Dipper's gift safely on the desk before starting to open the other one. Bill can't see what it is yet. "So...?"

The kid starts leaving the room with a little smile as he started realizing what it is. "I'll be back shortly."

After a small period of time, he comes back and asks Bill to look at him. Samuel now wears a grey sweater with a yellow outline of Bill on it. It's the gift Mabel did for him.

Seeing this only makes Bill laughs uncontrollably. "Hahaha... And that's Shooting star alright..." He keeps laughing. "This looks so ridiculous!"

Samuel is stunned by the reaction, but then he suddenly smirks once an idea hits him. "Try it, Bill..."

This causes the demon to stop laughing and actually look confused. "... What...?"

He approaches with a teasing smile. "Possess me... Try it on... It'll be fun!"

Bill actually gets intimidated by the prospect. "Hey, no way I'd possess you while wearing... that thing..." He frowns.

But that doesn't discourage the kid. "Ugh, fine..." And so, he obliges and takes control. He looks at himself in the mirror, touching the sweater. "Wow, this looks and feels awfully silly... So, definitely something to come out of Shooting star's doing..." He sighs. "Okay, maybe it doesn't feel too bad... But still..." He leaves the body after that, letting Samuel in control again.

The kid looks at Bill with a smile. "So, it feels great, right? It looks great too! Did you like wearing it?"

Bill crosses his arm and avoids looking at him. "Yeah yeah, it looks good on you... Whatever!"

He disappears feeling a bit ashamed about what just happened, which makes Samuel smile. He removes the sweater for the night and promises to himself "I'll give them very warm thanks tomorrow!".

But right as he's about to go to bed...

"Hey Fuzzball!"

Samuel gets startled. "Um, yes...?"

Bill surprisingly shows the pages he has drawn in again. "I thought maybe it was time... you could keep them?"

Sammy is surprised: "Oh wow, really...?"

The demon admits. "Yeah, I mean, you apparently really liked them despite how creepy they might seem to most humans. It's your special day so..." He makes up an excuse to conclude. "And I really love the feeling of seeing my talents being admired, so, why not?"

The kid grabs the pages. "Oh, thanks a lot. I'm honored that you trust me. And I do think your imagination is... something... that is still worth representing."

Bill warns. "Just make sure to keep them away from Pinetree and Shooting star, okay? ... They wouldn't understand..."

Samuel nods. "I don't think you should worry about them finding out, but if it makes it easier for you... I accept your request."

Then a sense of sadistic playfulness shows in Bill's voice. "There's actually something else... I got to give you to celebrate today... Please close your eyes. Don't worry, it won't hurt..."

The boy is a little confused, but trustful. "Um, okay..." He obliges, and he hears a snap of fingers before his demon roommate jokingly telling him that he can open them.
Samuel looks at his body, and he feels really freaked out. "Wow, what the heck?"

Bill's snap caused Samuel's entire attire to change into something fancy. He now wears a black top hat similar to Bill's, and a monocle hiding his right eye. Then, his top attire consists of a white long-sleeved shirt under a waistcoat that is yellow on the front and black on the back. The waistcoat has a brick pattern matching Bill's body, the attire includes a black bowtie attaching the shirt, and he wears black pants and fancy black shoes to complete the look. And as he's done observing, he suddenly gets a black cane on his right hand.

"Looking good, Fuzzball!" says Bill with a thumbs up, jokingly.

Samuel feels like yelling at him due to how much that surprise shocked him, and yet... He can't get to it, and he ends up laughing at the situation. So his complaint is actually full of giggles. "BILL, what is this...?"

"I just thought you needed a little makeover. This is my birthday gift to you!" He says that proudly and smugly, before adding. "And this is payback for what you just made me do! Now, you're worth looking at, wouldn't you say?"

In spite of how surreal the whole thing is, Sammy can't help but laugh as he adjusts the top hat. "I mean, I don't see myself wearing that outside, but... Wow, it feels good, I like it!" He somehow gives a confident smirk. "I could actually get used to this..." He stares in amazement, feeling genuinely comfortable in that attire.

"I like that stare on you, kid!" Bill taunts.

With that comment, he catches himself to give a non smug smile. "I probably won't wear this much, but... Thanks, Bill, I really appreciate this gift! So... how do I show appreciation? You don't really seem like the hugging type, unless I'm wrong..."

Bill feels conflicted and comments. "... I'll allow it! For a couple seconds... It's your final gift for today..."

"Yay! I'm thankful for your gift, Bill!" The kid tries the difficult task of hugging a floating triangle who isn't that wide in his normal form, so he does a gentle embrace with his arms.

"Okay, that'll do!" The demon wasn't really kidding about the time limit, but he doesn't want to be too rude. "Hope you enjoyed your birthday..." He says, a little shyly.

"I did, and thank you!"

Bill nods and vanishes as Samuel stores the pages and his fancy clothing away for now. Then he goes to bed and starts falling asleep rather quickly.

Author notes: Just a light chapter here to balance the story-heavy ones from before, and the ones that are most likely to happen afterwards.

I guess maybe it's thematically fitting to have his birthday almost exactly 6 months after the Pines twins, not that it has any narrative significance.

Thanks for reading!