Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men, so there!

Author's Note: This takes place within a month of Jean being at the Institute, so she's relatively new at the whole "mutant thing".


The sun beamed down on the Xavier Institute and its two students who were currently set to planting the garden. "Pass that over here, would you, Scott," Jean requested. "It's right there by your knee."

"Pass you the shovel? Why don't you just levitate it over?"

Jean looked exasperated, making Scott's heart flutter. To him she looked beautiful with dirt smudged on her face, sweat on her brow and damp tendrils of hair plastered to her face. If asked she would have replied she felt disgusting.

"Don't be dense, Scott, it's a spade. And why should I when you can just pass it over?"

"Don't you listen?" Scott pulled a weed out of the earth, "Professor X said you should practice, otherwise you'll never get any better with your telekinesis. I figure this shovel is just about right."

"That spade is too big." She sighed, agitated. "The sooner you hand it to me the sooner we'll get done with this flower bed and can go inside where it's cool."

Scott glanced up at the sky. A bright, sunny day without a cloud in sight and here they were tending the flowerbeds by the front gate. "Well, maybe we'll never get done. I can take the heat."

Already the sun had begun to take its toll on his fair skin, turning it a subtle shade of pink around his cheekbones, nose and neck. Jean could imagine what he'd look like in a few hours. "Honestly, you'll be lobster red," she replied, " I don't know why you didn't put on sunscreen."

"Because if you would just use your powers we would be done by now instead of arguing about whose job it is to pass a shovel."

"Spade," she corrected.

"Spade, shovel, it's a tool used for digging up dirt."

Jean stared at him. "Well?"

"Well what?"

" Fine, I'll get it myself," she snapped. Jean leaned over Scott to grab the spade on the other side of him but he quickly snatched it out of reach. She looked up at him, a grin plastered on his face. She pushed herself back onto her knees and made a grab for the spade but it was once more pulled out of her reach. "Give it to me, Scott."

Scott examined the spade for a moment before standing up. "No," he replied. You'll have to come and get it.

"Ooh," Jean blew air out of her mouth, looking like an irritated puffer fish, and stood up as well. She took a step forward and Scott took a step back. "This isn't funny, Scott."

"No?"

"No." She dashed forward but he skittered to the side. She leapt at the spade only to find it had moved to his other hand. Then Scott ran. "You...child!" She ran after him, picking up speed as she went. God it was hot! Her legs ached from kneeling in the dirt and protested as she stretched them out, reaching her stride. Scott had already headed for the far side of the grounds and was well ahead of her before he suddenly stopped and turned.

"Are you going to try or not?"

"I can't get it from that far away," Jean hollered back.

Scott came towards her still grinning from ear to ear. Jean was surprised to find that she too was smiling from the exertion. "Closer," she told him when he stopped a few meters away. He came forward a few feet and stopped again.

"This should be close enough."

"Please, Scott, just a little closer."

He sighed. "Alright."

And she pounced, tackling him to the ground. "Gotcha," she smiled. "Now, if you'd be so kind," she plucked the garden tool from his hand.

"That was cheating," he told her, his glasses askew.

Jean straightened Scott's shades, making sure they were once again Scott-like. "Mind over matter," she replied, getting up and brushing the grass from her knees. "I used my mind and that's all that matters...except that we still have those flowers to plant. This is all your fault. You and your stupid shovel."

"Spade," Scott smiled.

"Shovel, spade, it's a tool used for digging up dirt," she tossed back.

Fin.