Comments :Aaaaah… so here it finally is…

I hope all of you will be relieved with this new chapter!

Don't worry this will eventually be a Seifer/Squall fic… if anything ever happens between Zack and Seifer, well it won't last and it'll only be a mistaken for comfort kinda thing that will happen… I dunno if you understand what that means… but it doesn't really matter, because I'm not even sure if that will happen…

I plan on making SeeD exams happening soon… and Raine appearances (however she may appear… no I don't plan on resurrecting her or anything!)…Laguna appearances… because… come on, Squall can't ignore his father forever, can he?

Anyways… hope you like it!!

Enjoy!!

Chapter 7

Fuckin' Ice Cube…

The sleeping lithe form lying peacefully in the eternally white sheeted infirmary bed grunted softly as it attempted to shift position. The covers dropped to the boy's waist, uncovering his naked, bandaged chest.

"Woooooah, there, bud…" the blond haired man soothed, straightening up from his slumped position on the floor, sitting against the wall and kneeled up to the bed, pushing the younger boy gently on his back. "Easy… you don't want to be openin' up those wounds, kid…" Seifer held down on the bed the younger man by the shoulders delicately, yet firmly enough to restrain any further movement from the black haired youth.

Another pained grunt escaped the cadet's pale lips, his ashen features suddenly grimacing as consciousness seemed to crawl its way back to the boy's mind and those wide, innocent dark eyes fluttered open. Seifer loosened his grip on the boy's slender, yet muscular, shoulders, staring down intently at his friend for a few minutes before finally pulling his hands completely away.

Zack moaned, laying his arm above his face to shield his pupils from the invading light, which Seifer's body had protected him from until now. A low croak gurgled inside his throat as he seemingly attempted to talk, which brought another moan and a miserable sigh as the boy seemed to go completely limp on the mattress, defeated.

A soft screeching sound made him squirm as a chair was pulled to the left side of his bed, the metal legs scratching against the marble floor, followed by soft low chuckles.

"Well, you seem alive enough to me, so that's a good thing, right?" came Seifer's amused comment as he sat down on the chair. It was the blond man's turn to moan loudly as he stretched his arms widely. "Shit… I'm never sleeping on the floor again; you better remember that, next time you let yourself get beat the shit outta you," he grumbled.

Zack visibly cringed, moving slightly his arm away from his eyes, to glance hesitatingly at the older man, his large chocolate eyes still squinting from the light. To his surprise, a scowl was not was he received for his staring, but a warm, genuine smile, which simply caused him to squirm once more, blush, and lay back his arm to cover his face and groan, which that brought yet another set of chuckles from Seifer.

"C'mon man, no need to be like that…" the broad shouldered man protested at the youth's attitude, ruffling the cheek-length, silky dark hair, which brought yet another cringe from Zack.

"Why-" came the throaty croak from the boy's mouth and he erupted into a soft coughing fit.

"Where the hell did she put it - I'm sure she brought one a few hours ago…" the tall man muttered to himself, standing up as he glanced around the room, before walking over to the white curtains at the foot of the bed which were closed to give patients privacy, and tearing them open loudly, walking past them, and closing them back behind him.

"There it is…" Seifer grumbled behind the curtains, emerging from them a few seconds later to produce a large glass of water in his hand, smirking victoriously and walking back closer to the bed, handing it to Zack.

The dark haired youth eyed it from beneath his arm for a few moments. He finally laid it on his side on the mattress, and attempting to push himself up off the mattress, he gave another pained grunt.

"Wait, wait, wait…" Seifer grumbled walking over to the bed, putting the glass of water down on the bedside table. He wrapped his arm around the youth's waist and Zack's arm around his own shoulders to pull the boy slightly off the mattress. He grabbed the pillows on the bed with his free hand, bending his upper body carefully, to prevent the body against his from falling to the side by shifting its weight on him instead, patted the cushions a few times against the wall and cautiously directed the boy in a comfortable sitting position, his back against the pillows on the wall.

"There…" Seifer said in a satisfied manner, straightening himself up and holding out the glass of water to the younger cadet, who was staring at him, eyes wide.

The boy reached a shaky hand towards the glass, but before he could put his fingers around it fully, Seifer pulled it away abruptly, which caused Zack to look up at him abruptly, almost fearfully.

"Don't look at me like that, idiot… there's no way I'm letting you hold it… you look like a fuckin' Parkinson (1) case." He scowled at Zack, smirking, before pushing the glass of water to the boy's lips, tilting his head back by pressing his fingers under the dark haired youth's chin. The stubborn boy kept his lips firmly closed against the glass, glaring at Seifer to make it perfectly clear that he would not allow such treatment directed at him.

"Deal with it, bud, 'cause you'll be gettin' lots of it for a few days…" Seifer ordered, glaring back evenly at the cadet and pressing the glass of water more firmly against his lips as he understood the silent anger in Zack's eyes. The teenager held his fierce look for a few more minutes and finally gave up, opening his mouth and gulping down the water half-heartedly.

After Zack indulged himself of half the of water, Seifer pulled the glass away from the boy's lips, putting it back down on the night table, Zack never dropping his glare until Seifer turned back to him and grinned, causing him to look away abruptly.

Silence then drowned both of them into awkwardness until Zack shifted slightly on the bed, coughing as he looked down at his bandaged hands which laid in his lap.

"How much did you see…?" the dark haired youth then asked softly, still staring down at his hands stubbornly, frowning.

"Enough…" Seifer answered angrily.

"Sorry…" Zack mumbled, head snapping up at the sudden violent screeching of metal against marble, Seifer having stood up abruptly from his chair.

"Sorry?! What the fuck should you be sorry about, huh?!" Seifer growled, glaring down furiously at the boy, who was now practically cowering under his emerald stare. The tall man instantly calmed down, noticing the fear he was drawing from Zack.

"I'm not mad at you, man… but at those bastards who did this to you!" Seifer explained, palms tightening into fists.

Zack looked back down to his tightening fists, smiling bitterly. "Why are you, really? I mean, they did what they had to do right…? Beat it out of the dishonorable faggot…" he spat the last word venomously, before looking back up at Seifer, with the same sour smile tracing his lips. "It's true, you know… I am… I'm a faggot…"

Seifer bent down, grabbing Zack's shoulders violently. "Idiot!" he hissed at him. "You better take that back, if you know what's good for you!"

Zack chuckled cynically, looking away from Seifer. "What… are you going to beat it out of me too, or something?"

A loud smacking sound tore through the room as Seifer's gloved hand slapped Zack's pale cheek, his head snapping to the side by the force of the blow.

"Don't you dare give me that self-pity shit, Zack… you're better than that…" Seifer snarled, sitting down on the edge of the bed, as the boy stared at him, eyes wide, and hand caressing his sore cheek.

"So you like gettin' banged in the ass; so what?" Seifer smirked, looking up at the wall in front of him. He didn't have to look towards his younger friend to know he was blushing.

"Gee, Almasy, you put it so nicely…" Zack mumbled.

"Well, it's not more complicated than that, is it? Honor has nothin' to do with who you wanna bang. Those fuckwads were the dishonorable ones; they're the ones who should be ashamed, not you…"

Seifer glanced back at his friend, laying his hands down on the mattress behind him, supporting his upper body as he bent backwards slightly. Zack simply looked down, his shoulders slumping miserably.

"You go ahead and try convincing the rest of Garden just that then, if it's so simple…" the dark haired youth sighed, laying his head back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling.

"The Commander of this Garden passes his days clad in a suit made entirely of leather for fuck's sake; you think a lot of people mind you being Gay?" Seifer barked. Zack looked up, eyes widening, erupting in soft fits of chuckles after a few minutes before he choked on them, encircling his arms around his stomach in pain.

"Damn… don't make me laugh…" Zack whined, glaring up at his older friend. Seifer grinned devilishly, standing up and ruffling the youth's dark silky hair.

"We'll talk about this later; I've got an appointment…" Seifer moved towards the curtains, his grey trench coat flapping behind him in his hasty steps.

"What? What kind of appointment?" Zack stuttered, startled, straightening up on the bed.

Seifer looked over his shoulder, smirking. "Kickin' ass, kind of appointment…" he said darkly, his emerald eyes flaring in rage, reaching for his Hyperion, carefully slumped against the wall and settling it over his left shoulder as he rushed out of the infirmary.

The blond, broad shouldered young man strolled through the corridors furiously, ignoring all the glances other students shot at him, stopping their previous occupations to watch his enraged display. He knocked into anyone who stood in his way or made the error of not paying attention to their surroundings. Finally, he reached the elevator and fisted the controllers with a bit too much force than he should have for the electric panel gave a little jolt, but the elevator swished open just as nicely.

He walked inside, punching the buttons to the commander's floor (which had been built below the Headmaster's office a few months ago) and waited impatiently for the doors to open once more. He wasted no time to rush outside the elevator, pushing the doors of the restroom open violently as soon as he arrived.

A woman behind a desk, who was on the phone gasped audibly at the sight of one furious former Soceress's Knight, dropping her phone and straightening on her chair. Seifer glared viciously at her, defying the woman to speak.

"S-Sir, you need an appointment to-" her squeaky protest was cut off at the sound of doors banging open loudly as Seifer rammed through the Commander's office.

On the other side, the dark bushy haired young man whom sat behind his large desk looked up from the pile of paper calmly, eyebrow rising just as steadily. The stormy eyed youth cocked his head to the side, glancing behind Seifer at the doors of his office, which were still flapping back and forth noisily, caused by the force of the impact which the tall blond haired man had brought upon them while entering.

Squall straightened his head back, eyebrow vanishing under his longish locks as he cocked it further up at his former rival.

"Is there a reason why you suddenly decided to ruin my doors?" came Squall's question, tone as low and emotionless as ever as he eyed the flailing doors behind Seifer again, eyes resting on the small gash in the oak wood which had probably been unintentionally damaged by Seifer's Gunblade when he barged in, sword still in hand.

"Simple… it was in my fuckin' way, Commander," Seifer seethed, laying his weapon against the nearest chair. Squall then raised both his eyebrows calmly at him.

"My doors haven't done anything to you, Almasy… find something else to pick on…" Squall mocked in a bored tone, glancing back down at the pile of papers on his desk, reaching out for his abandoned pen.

Seifer growled loudly, ramming the palms of his hands fiercely on the top of Squall's desk and thus, sending many sheets of paper flying down on the floor, and rippling the rest awfully. This brought a slight twitch in the dark haired young man's jaw, but he simply glanced up at Seifer with the same coolness as before, staring back at the man who was glaring down at him heatedly.

"… so now it's my desk you want to pick on?" Squall scorned, a weak twirl gracing the corner of his pale lips.

"Stop with the bullshitting, Leonhart!" Seifer hissed threateningly.

"I don't know what kind of evil furniture got to you, Almasy, but leave mine alone… don't worry; it won't bite… I promise…"

Seifer pushed himself off the desk, straightening himself up in front of it before punching its top once more. "Fuck! I said drop the shit, Leonhart!" he churned loudly.

Squall frowned, putting on a more serious mask as he pushed his chair backwards with his feet, folding his legs and arms still staring up at Seifer.

Several minutes passed in silence, stormy blue mixing with flaming emerald as they held the fiery gaze, almost defying each other… of what, neither knew...

"Well?! What is it?" impatience suddenly slipped through Squall's emotionless façade.

"Zack…" Seifer said bluntly, receiving yet again another of those eyebrow rises from the SeeD Commander. "Zachary Wynsnam… ring a bell?" he said viciously through clenched teeth.

"Your new groupie?"

Seifer glared. "He's a good kid; he's one of your new, most promising fuckin' students, Squall…"

"… and?" Squall blinked uninterestedly at him.

"Don't you fuckin' read your medical reports, Ice cube?"

Squall simply blinked indifferently at him again, his jaw twitching more visibly this time.

"The guy got himself beaten by two guys because he's gay… and by beaten, I don't mean, nicely wooped his ass a little, I mean fuckin' broken bones and blood all over the place, Leonhart," Seifer explained furiously. Squall then stood up from his chair slowly, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You're telling someone off for beating…?" the SeeD commander eyed the former Sorceress's Knight doubtfully, letting his arm slump down to his sides. The fury seemed to engulf Seifer completely by the words.

"I never did anything like those cowards did to Zack! They fuckin' ganged up on him and jumped him when he least expected it! Two against one, Squall… two against fuckin' one!" Seifer waved his hands in front of his face angrily. "I fought with the bastards who tried to show they were better than me, and I shut them right up by proving them how wrong they were… I did it for honor, not to break someone's mind and body apart!" he growled.

Squall seemed to tense, his eyes misting with unknown emotions as he turned to face his rival completely.

"Don't even fuckin' go there… don't you dare compare this to what happened with Ultimecia…" Seifer warned, pointing his gloved index at the shorter man.

"What do you want me to do then… why are you telling me all of this?" Squall snapped.

"I'm telling you to fuckin' kick these shits out before I break them myself, Commander…"

"Do you know who did this?" Squall inquired sighing.

"Don't know 'em by name, but I'd recognize 'em anywhere…"

"Well, we need to know if the reason this happened is really what Zack claims-"

"Squall… I heard 'em talking before I interrupted… and who the hell fuckin' cares why they did it! No one in their right mind would do this to a kid! And they did, because they didn't like what kinda people Zack wants to screw?" Seifer raised a gloved hand to his short golden locks, brushing his fingers through them roughly. "How the fuck can you be so CALM about all this?!" Seifer raged. Squall took a few steps closer glaring up at him.

"What, you suppose I could just drag their asses up here and beat them senseless too?" he hissed at Seifer angrily, his calm suddenly fading, surprising the taller man slightly. "You want me to lower myself to their level, perhaps?"

"Of course not you idiot, but maybe you could be a little more sensitive as to what kind of shit Zack's mind's goin' through right now and not just stand there, with that stick up your ass, acting cool like nothing's happened!" Seifer barked.

"I can't just throw them out without even looking into it, Seifer! I have to follow some procedures; I can't just snap my fingers and voilà! This doesn't work like your blood thirsty mind, does!" Squall almost regretted his words as soon as they escaped his mouth. This was one of the reasons he so thoroughly needed to keep his cool ; his emotions were too volatile… especially anger…

Seifer's body suddenly tensed in his complete fury before he grabbed the younger man's collar violently, pulling the shorter man towards him roughly.

"Don't you fuckin' dare... because unlike you, Leonhart, I have feelings for others..." he hissed through clenched teeth, inches away from the dark haired young man's face.

Squall jerked himself away harshly from his rival, backing away as any trace of previous emotion softly slid away from his features, before turning away completely, snapping, "Whatever…"

Seifer inhaled sharply, glaring hatefully at the back of the shorter man's back, almost succumbing to the temptation of twisting his neck in two, but inhaled deeply once more instead and turned around as well.

Satisfied with his newly found composure, he chuckled bitterly and turned back to face Squall, who still had his back to him, standing calmly, laying his weight on his left leg and caused his hip to hunch out, almost gracefully as he rested his gloved hand against his leather clad waist.

Oh yes… Seifer had always known how to make Squall lose control, and he knew he could do it again…

"You know... with all that's happened to you, Leonhart... I thought that now you'd be a little more supportive of your own..." Seifer smirked, seeing the younger man's shoulders twitch slightly. He turned around slowly, glaring at him over his shoulder, yet frowning in confusion.

Seifer shook his head, sighing. "Well, c'mon Squall… with all that leather and those belts of yours, think I didn't notice?"

Slowly, yet surely, the stormy eyed young man turned completely, facing his long time rival, glaring intensely, the frown now completely disappeared.

"Shut up," Squall ordered, yet keeping his tone blank, as much as his apparent rage allowed.

The crooked smile on the tall golden haired man's lips widened as he clicked his tongue, walking slowly around the shorter young man, whose stormy gaze followed his every movement carefully.

"Squall, Squall, Squall..." Seifer sighed again, stopping before his rival. "Why do we always end up like this; me telling you the truth, you wanting to suddenly rip my guts out..." he sighed again, smirking malevolently. "…gettin' boring you know..."

"What the hell are you getting at with this, Seifer..." Squall hissed up at him, his grey eyes flaring with rage.

"I'm just trying to understand why you're so hesitant to help someone who's like yourself, Squall..." Seifer frowned in a falsely worried fashion.

"What-"

"I heard you broke up with Rinoa just before I came back to Garden, Squall..." the dark haired young man's body seemed to tense immensely at the words, yet he held the glare he sent the taller man with unwavering fire.

"What ever happened to the "perfectly in love", couple, hm? I thought you two'd grow old and die beside each other... yes... you made such an adorable picture..."

"Seifer-"

"Seems like something finally came up and disturbed your little paradise, huh?" Seifer chuckled, eyes widening innocently. Squall took a threatening step closer to him. "… or…wait... was it the opposite... maybe something... wouldn't come up?"

The SeeD Commander's nostrils flared in rage, his blue stormy eyes seemingly ablaze. "Take… that… back…" he hissed.

"See what I mean by you wantin' to rip my guts out whenever I tell the truth, Squall?" Seifer cocked his head innocently to the side. "Come on... it's nothing to be ashamed of really... you're not the only one… I'm sure Rinoa doesn't mind that you couldn't… get it up… she's a very understanding woman, you kno-"

Before Seifer could place another word, Squall's shorter body had pounced upon him, throwing him violently to the floor and fell down on top of him as he punched his stomach forcefully. Seifer felt the air completely shoved out of his lungs, as he choked down to inhale the precious oxygen. Without even regaining his breath, his left fist collided powerfully against Squall's jaw, drawing a slight crack from the bones beneath the pale skin. And then he was pushing his body upwards, only trap Squall beneath him, crushing him to the floor.

And so their battle began; fist, feet, knee and even teeth crashed on each other's skin or whatever part of the other's body could ram against the other's. They rolled, shoved, threw each other in the most painful of ways, in a hatred and passion more intense than they had ever felt coursing through their bodies before.

At some point, a high shriek erupted, coming from the door of the Commander's office, followed by running and the sound of someone dialling a phone, but neither paid attention to anything else but the carnal engagement in which they were both determined to win.

And then, "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!"

Just as Seifer had been pulling at Squall's silky brown hair fiercely to prevent the latter from tearing a chunk of skin off his forearm - which had been holding Squall in a head-lock - with his teeth, their bodies stilled instantly as a very furious looking Xu stomped inside the room, hands on her hips, her brown eyes burning with rage.

They both stared at her, unmoving from their positions.

"How old are you two?! FOUR?! Get your asses off the floor, you pathetic dogs!!" she raged.

Squall thrust his elbow backwards, hitting Seifer's ribs brutally, causing him to choke as he took advantage of the weakness to push the taller man's body from on top of his and stood up, cringing in pain as his hips ached painfully by the movement… not to mention every other part of his body… especially his collarbone for some reason…

He looked down at his hands. No more gloves… apparently those had been discarded during their fight one way or another. But now all he found on his skin was fresh blood… perhaps Seifer… or his… or both mixed together as the crimson color dripped slightly of his pale skin.

He glanced down at his body. His leather jacket was still intact on his shoulders, but the thin white shirt he always wore underneath was half way torn apart, leaving his chest almost completely bare. He could see several dark marks upon his pale skin. He cringed at the sight of two deep, bleeding gashes on his collar bone – bite marks - hence the stinging pain in that part of his body… and why he'd had the sudden urge to bite off Seifer's arm, just as Xu had entered the office.

What the fuck just happened here… we both turned into two blood thirsty animals or something… that's… that's…

"Disgusting…" Seifer grumbled behind him, shrugging off his grey coat and throwing it on the chair behind Squall's desk as he spat the blood in his mouth.

My chair…Squall glared at the arrogant blond, even as he removed that dark, blue, sleeveless tank top of his, which was practically in the same state as his own shirt.

Hyne… at least we didn't get to tear off each other's pants… Squall groaned. What just happened here… Squall blinked to himself, the same question floating through his mind once more, face grimacing in both pain and disgust.

"Stop putting on this freakin' show, Seifer… unless you want everyone to see that wonderful state you're in?" she said, her dark eyes flashing with something almost akin to wickedness.

"And why would anyone see me, huh?" the broad shouldered man snapped, glaring at the Headmistress.

"Because you're going to the infirmary… both of you… and I'm not going to ask the students to nicely evacuate the corridors just to let you beasts through…"

Squall's head shot to the Headmistress's direction, eyes widening in horror yet not pronouncing any word.

"WHAT?" came Seifer's bark, mouthing Squall's own mental reaction, "Oh that's just great, Headmistress!" he walked over to the smaller woman. "Just take a nice long look at us for one fuckin' second! You think your Commander'll be much of a good influence to your lil cadets now?" he continued furiously.

Xu raised an eyebrow at him. "What you should be worrying about right now, Almasy, is your own ass, because this ass is going to get itself kicked the hell out of here as soon as it's not so bruised anymore!" she hissed, stabbing his bare, beaten chest with her index repeatedly, glaring up at him threateningly.

Seifer gaped down at her, all anger almost deflating out of his aching body as realization suddenly dawned upon him.

"No," Squall protested emotionlessly before he could even stop himself. Seifer and Xu instantly turned towards him, identical expression of shock tracing their faces.

"What do you mean, "no"? The doors of your office are practically falling off their hinges; you're bruised on almost every inch of your body; the skin of your collarbone was bitten off… and you're telling me not to expel Seifer?!" she shrieked.

"I started it… it's my fault..." Squall said, turning away from them both as he took off his leather jacket, to then rip off the battered white shirt off his shoulders and put the jacket back on his shoulders, zipping it and throwing the bloody cloth that was once his shirt on the floor in disgust.

When the dark haired Commander turned around to look at them after a few silent moments, he found them still staring confusedly at him.

"What?" he snapped impatiently.

Xu shook her head, sighing and waving her hand in the hair in disbelief. "Fine… I'll take your word for it… just… just go to the infirmary, will you? You're both a mess…" she headed towards Squall's desk, sitting down behind it in the large armchair and laying her head in her hands. Glancing up after a few moments, only to find them staring back at her silently, her eyes narrowed threateningly. "That was an order, soldiers!" she barked, causing both of them to startle slightly.

Squall nodded briefly, saluting the Headmistress before turning around calmly. Somehow the gesture seemed ridiculous to him as he remembered what he must have looked like in this beaten and wild appearance. He strolled slowly out of the office, leaving a still shocked Seifer to stare at his back in disbelief.

"What the hell are you waiting for?" Xu howled behind him.

The blond man shook his head, shaking himself out of his appalled state and willed a smirk back to his lips. "My, my… haven't we got a foul mouth today, Headmistress…" he chuckled mockingly, picking up his Gunblade swinging it over his shoulder, and on the other, his grey trench coat. He strolled out of the office, barely missing the coffee mug that was forcefully hurled at his head.

Seifer moved to the elevator, throwing his hands between its closing doors just in time, and pushed them apart, causing the mechanism inside to groan loudly from the pressure.

Squall did not as much as glance at him and paid no attention to him either as the tall blond stepped beside him. They stood silently side by side, waiting for the elevator to reach the first floor.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Seifer noticed a thin line of blood pearling down one corner of his rival's pale cracked lips.

"You got blood," Seifer pointed the corner of his own lips with his gloved index, "right there…"

Squall glared viciously at Seifer, wiping the blood away calmly with the back of his hand.

"Whose fault is that?" Squall snapped. Seifer simply smirked proudly, looking away from his shorter rival. He laid his bruised back against the wall, wincing slightly at the pain, but otherwise ignored it. He let his blond head fall back, resting it against the wall as well and closed his eyes. His Gundblade rested in his lowered right hand, on his side, while his trench coat still lay on his bare shoulder, held against it with his left hand.

It was the sight of two appalled cadets which greeted him when a soft "ding" caused him to open his eyes and look before him as the elevator stopped, its doors swishing open. Their eyes moved nervously back and forth between the SeeD commander and himself.

"Yeah… I kicked the shit out of hi-" a groan was shoved out of his lips as a fist thrust forcefully into his bare stomach before he could place another syllable. He instantly recoiled defensively, his arm encircling his stomach, eyes shutting closed tightly at the pain that jolted through his already throbbing body. When he finally opened his eyes, looking up, it was only to glare at the retreating back of one silent Squall Leonhart, whom many other pairs of eyes followed as he made his way towards the infirmary.

Giggles brought Seifer's attention away from the SeeD Commander and he noticed the same two students staring at him mockingly. Straightening his body, he viciously slashed his Gunblade just inches from both their terrified faces.

"Fuckin' Ice Cube…" was what the low grumble sounded like as Seifer stalked half-heartedly towards the Infirmary, ignoring all the curious glances the passing students shot at him.

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TBC…

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(1) Parkinson: for those who might not know what Parkinson is, well, it's an illness that makes you shake a lot… I don't know that depths of it so… yeah… just know that these people just shake a lot…