A/N: A one-shot for Zer0P0int, who happened to be the 250th person to add me to their favorite authors list. She wanted to see an AU Squinoa piece of when they were still teens, but I decided to add some Kingdom Hearts characters to this story as well. I hope you don't mind. :) And I'm so sorry it took that long! Enjoy! :D

~ "Everyone wants me!" ~

"Ugh..."

Why couldn't labcoats be more...fashionable, Rinoa thought to herself, as she rolled up her borrowed labcoat's sleeves. She felt like she was wearing a large bag. They didn't even have to have big flowerprints on them, making them more formfitting would make a huge difference too.

Thank heavens Squall couldn't see her right now. That would be so embarrassing, even if he would never laugh at her. But perhaps he would say something semi-mean to her. That was more his style anyway.

She shook her head. Sometimes I wonder why I even like him that much.

"Be careful to not get that over you," Even warned her, as he pointed at one of the larger tubes on the white, spotless table. It had a colorless substance in it. If she didn't know any better, she'd think it was just water.

Rinoa frowned. "What happens if I do?"

Even gave her a sharp look in response. "Just don't."

"Oookay…"

Geez, aren't we all a little ray of sunshine today, she thought sarcastically. This was definitely not how she had imagined her apprenticeship here.

Were they all a bunch of rambunctious scientists around here? How could Ansem the Wise possibly be around these meanies? More importantly, how was it possible for that man to be around them without turning into a grumpy meanie himself?

"It's Love Potion," Little Ienzo suddenly said, appearing out of thin air and startling her.

She frowned, looking at the young, silver-haired boy. "How do you know that?"

"Ansem the Wise told me. This is love potion in its purest form. Normally they weed it out with water to make the effects less...dangerous, but it's too early to do that now."

"I see... So do you happen to know what will happen if you accidentally touch it?" the raven-haired teen asked curiously.

"If you touch it, someone might fall in love with you, and if you drink it, you'll be the victim of the Love Spell. But nobody knows for sure what will happen if it's in this state. It might take two days to a month for the effects to wear off, depending on how much of it you touched," Little Ienzo replied, his big aquamarine eyes never leaving her dark ones.

Rinoa gulped. "Oh wow..." That sounded dangerous indeed.

Note to self: stay far away from that tube!

Still, what she wouldn't give to steal a bit of that and let Squall drink from it without him knowing. But then that wouldn't be true love, would it? If the effects wore off after a month or so, she'd be left with an even bigger hole in her heart.

Soon enough, though, she had forgotten all about the love potion, thanks to all the work that Even gave her to keep her too busy to bother him with her questions. Rinoa honestly didn't get why everyone in Radiant Garden seemed to be so excited to work in these labs. Sure, it was an honor to work on the great Ansem the Wise's side, but all she had to do was a couple simple tasks.

Or was it that they didn't trust her that much?

Suddenly - she wasn't even sure how it happened - the tube with the love potion started to fall over all by itself. Fortunately for Rinoa, she was able to catch it in mid-air right in time, before all the contents would spill over. However, she couldn't help it when a couple drops landed on her sleeve, and came into contact with her wrist. That couldn't be good...

"Oh drat."

Why did these kind of things always have to happen to her of all people? Well either way, she'd better get out of here, before someone saw it.

"Rinoa, waaait!" one of the guys who were behind her yelled, desperately trying to get her attention.

I never even knew there were this many guys in Radiant Garden and this little hiding places, she thought, while quickly climbing over another fence.

She had thought that she could get rid of them if she went to the treehouse and locked herself up in there. However, after she had barricaded the door (just in case), she swivelled around and nocided that she wasn't alone at all.

All blood drained from her face, as she stammered, "S-Squall! You're here?"

And why was he only watching her, instead of acting crazy like every other boy she had encountered? What if he reacted differently to the potion and instead of being head over heels for her, he hated her guts?

"Yes, this treehouse is in my backyard, remember?" he replied slowly, his eyebrows raised.

She shook her head, frowning. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I didn't even mean to ask that..."

"Is something the matter?"

Sometimes she wondered if he could read her mind; he always knew if something was up. It was both endearing and scary, really. Either way, it made her heart skip a beat.

"Yeah... Everyone wants me!"

He raised a brow at that. "I never thought you were that full of yourself."

Her mouth dropped open. Was that what he really thought? "Squall, now is not the time for jokes! I accidentally spilled some pure love potion over me and now I can't go outside without being chased by the male population of Radiant Garden!"

"Sorry." He leaned back against one of his arms and stared at her. "What do you want me to do?"

"Well, since you're the only one who didn't jump me, could you maybe hide me somewhere until the effects have worn off?"

He sighed, thinking about it. Then he said, "My dad's away the whole weekend because of a meeting. You could stay over if you'd like. You can sleep in the spare room."

"Really? Thank you, you're a lifesaver!" she chirped, while giving him a bearhug.

It was always nice to have a calm and collected friend like Squall.

"Yeah...no problem."

"So ehm... You sure you don't want to... I dunno, kiss me or something?"

Squall could feel his cheeks getting warmer and warmer. "Don't be silly," she said bluntly.

"Just checking," she said with a nervous laugh.

A couple days later, when she saw Little Ienzo again, she found out why Squall, unlike everyone else, hadn't tried to kiss her the moment he saw her; a love potion, no matter how pure, didn't work on those who were already madly in love with the person who was touched by it.