Gina giggled at Margaret's continuous frustration as Dennis had once again foiled her attempt at mocking him. Gina loved how Dennis was always was able to somehow manage to come up with a witty comeback against the redheaded girl and this time Dennis had referenced his favorite partner in the conversation. "Because it's no FUN thrown' snowballs at Gina...she just LAUGHS!"

While Margaret walked away in defeat and disappeared, Gina continued with Dennis to keep building their 'NO GIRLS ALLOWED 'CEPT Gina' snow fort as Dennis called it. Suddenly, Gina got a wild idea based off of Dennis' comeback; as it had been replaying in her head over and over again.

Secretly she picked up a small pile of snow and carefully packed it in her gloves. Once it was rounded to her satisfaction, she glanced at Dennis deceptively. "Oh paisano, look over for a sec!"

Dennis quickly stopped what he was doing and looked over at his best gal friend. He loved it when Gina called him her paisano. Not only was it her native Italian showing, but it also sounded cool; both in Italian and in English- which she'd taught him meant compatriot or pal.

Gina grinned inwardly. He didn't suspect a thing as she put on an innocent look, even going as far as to flutter her eyes and smile sweetly to grab his attention. It worked like a charm, his oblivious nature taking form. She moved on to phase two of her plan.

"Somethin wrong Gina?"

"Oh, nothin at all. Just wondering somethin is all." She was careful not to smile more than she already was as Dennis raised an eyebrow. "So what if I were to...well...throw this at you!" She wasted no time in her release of the snowball she'd packed up.

Dennis had no time to react and was caught dead in the path of a snowball hurtling right towards him. It smacked him dead square in the middle of his forehead causing him to momentarily get dizzy, and he immediately went to one knee as if to collect himself. Gina placed a glove to her mouth gasping nervously. Trepidation running down her nervous system wondering if she'd hurt her companion.

Little did she know though, as she quickly sped towards him, that he was ready to retaliate. She touched his back to make sure he was okay. "Dennis, are you 'kay?"

But instead of a verbal response, she received a cold pack of packed snowflakes in which Dennis smashed into her face.

Gina's initial response was anger as she wiped the freezing, frosted liquid from her face. Her face contorted to show her displeasure, but realized her error when she saw his face reply with a smug, payback smile. Then he started to laugh. It started out small, then the giggles grew bigger and before long he was laughing so hard that she remembered her plan; it had backfired, she being on the receiving end of yet another comeback. The joke was on the both of them.

"You s'prised me." He finally said.

"I surprised you? You surprised me Dennis Mitchell!" She paused then asked, "So is really no fun when I laugh when you throw snowballs at me?"

"It's fun, but it's funner when I do it to Margaret 'cause she can't take it. 'sides, I like hearing you laugh 'cause you always do!"

Gina was speechless, a blush forming on her cheeks. Dennis was so sweet in his own way and she was the only one that noticed it. "You so sweet Dennis." She blurted out.

"So're you Gina!" He replied without missing a beat.

Then Gina did something that surprised both five year olds- she hugged him!

Taken aback, Dennis struggled to find words as she pulled away, "Gina! Whaddya do that fer?"

"I dunno!" Gina twiddled her thumbs. "I just wanted to I guess? I'm sorry!"

"Nah! Dun be sorry, you're my pal!"

Gina was surprised. "So you liked it?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Golly! I dunno. I guess I did." He paused and then added, "We tell no one, got it?"

"You got it il mio amico."

Dennis then pulled her into a hug to which she gave back.

And so, even though they wouldn't admit the fact, it was on that day the friendship between Dennis Mitchell and Gina Gilloti became just a little more special.

A/N: I've been wanting to do something Dennis the Menace related for a while now; so I recently saw the strip (which btw, I can't seem to find now even in my internet history archives) where Dennis is telling Margaret why he throws snowballs at her and not at Gina. Because of that, I wanted to expand a little on with what might have happened afterward. Obviously upon hearing Dennis's usual tell off response, Margaret storms off leaving the two, Dennis and Gina, alone. So I hope you enjoyed the story. So to top it off since I really enjoy the pairing of Dennis and Gina there just might be more.