Nerds Can Be Tough Too

Title: Nerds Can Be Tough Too

Summary: In a moment of heroics Harold saves Eva's MP3 player from Heather's clutches. But is that going to be enough to stop Eva from getting eliminated?

Disclaimer: I don't own Total Drama Island.

Pairings: main: Harold/Eva, others mentioned Duncan/LeShawna

Warnings: Crack pairings, Heather being Heather, maybe some light language. Some humour, some fluff and some OOCness (but you will come to know that I try to avoid that as best as I can).

Winter-Rae: Greetings, this is my first Total Drama Island fic. So please, go easy on me and don't flame me because I choose to ignore the canon pairings. Enjoy.

Nerds Can Be Tough Too

Harold stifled a yawn and then stood up and stretched. Whoever thought of this challenge was not only cruel, but twisted and messed up too.

It had already been 19 hours since he last slept and the minutes kept ticking by with a slowness that made a sloth look like The Flash. He had been feeling the effects of sleep at the 10 hour mark and he was fairly sure he wasn't going to last much longer.

'If they would at least let us do something this wouldn't be so bad,' he thought to himself, yawning again.

"I'm going to the bathroom."

He looked up at he heard Eva speak. A dreamy look filled his eyes, stopping his exhaustion for a brief moment as he watched her walk away.

'Eva, what a babe, violent, but a total babe,' he thought to himself. He saw something fall from her pocket and land on the ground. It was her MP3 player. She had been listening to it for the better part of the day and he knew that she listened to it often while they were in the Killer Bass cabin. He assumed it was to drown the rest of them out. He got to his feet to retrieve it.

'Here's my chance,' he thought, 'She loves that thing; if I return it to her I'll be a hero!'

Of course he could be making a huge deal out of a small thing but now was not the time to think about that, it was the time for action.

'Oh crap.'

He watched as Heather bent down and picked up the small item only to stow it in her pocket. It looked like she was going to get the credit this time.

'Foiled again,' Harold thought to himself as he sighed and sat back down; waiting for Eva to return or for sleep to over take him, whichever one came first.

He had been trying to get Eva to notice him for the better part of the week they had been on the island but so far...nothing. Maybe she wasn't interested. Of course leaving little secret love notes under her pillow wasn't the smoothest way to go about flirting, it was the best thing he knew how to do. He had even asked one of the other girls, LeShawna, to proof read them for him as his spelling was horrible and she loved to write.

When Eva returned he plucked up his courage and gave her a little wave. She looked behind her, assuming he was looking past her. But when she saw no one was there she looked back at him and pointed to herself. Harold nodded. She shrugged and waved back, but that was it.

'Guess I'll have to try a little harder next time,' he thought to himself.

"Dude, you're never gonna get a girl like that."

Harold frowned when Duncan and Geoff sat on either side of him. He couldn't stand these two.

"What do you idiots want?" he asked, "You going to try and swirly me again?"

The two other teens laughed.

"Naw man," Geoff said, "We're here to help you."

"You both have the romantic equivalence of a totem pole," Harold replied. The party boy and the delinquent exchanged confused looks.

"Was that a shot?" Duncan asked Geoff.

"I'm not sure, but I do think it was directed at our manliness," he replied. Harold rolled his eyes.

"So Eva eh?" Geoff asked, "She's cute, if she wasn't a friggin psycho."

"What you see as psychotic I see as insecurities," Harold replied yawning, "Besides, that's how some girls get their feelings out, duh."

"Look Napoleon," Duncan said, "Are you gonna take our help or stick with asking LeShawna to read over your little notes before you stuff them under Eva's pillow?"

"At least I'm on good terms with LeShawna," Harold shot back. Duncan fell silent. Harold was very impressed with himself. Of course while Duncan had something on him, he now had something on him. He was well aware of Duncan's fascination with the voluptuous vixen.

"You say anything and it'll be a swirly every night for the next eight weeks!" Duncan threatened. Harold waved him off.

"My lips are sealed," he said, "So, how do you suggested I get Eva's attention then?"

"Girls like her are taken back when you point out how hot they are," Geoff explained, "I bet's no one's every told her that before because she scares the crap out of most guys. When she comes back tell her you think she's hot or something."

"What," Harold said, "I can't do that, she'll murder me!"

"Well that will be fun to watch," Duncan mused.

"Idiot!"

When Heather didn't return the MP3 played to Eva, Harold frowned. She was trying to steal it! Now that wasn't cool. He got up and walked over to the nasty girl, tapping her shoulder. She whipped her head around and the look she gave him literally sent a chill down his spine. He was going to die now; he was going to fricken die.

"What do you want loser?" she snapped. Harold ignored the insult; he was determined to stand up to Heather no matter what the consequences might be.

"You have Eva's MP3 player," he said.

"So what?"

"Give it back to her."

"Why should I you freak, get away from me."

Harold crossed his arms over his scrawny chest.

"If you don't give it back to her I'll tell her you stole it."

Heather arched an eyebrow.

"Ohh I'm so scared tough guy," she mocked. When she saw the determination in Harold's eyes a flicker of panic ran through her. Eva would totally destroy her if he said anything.

"You wouldn't," she challenged.

"Hey, Eva!" Harold called out suddenly. Said young woman looked up from nearly falling asleep. She arched an eyebrow.

"What?" she snapped.

"Alright," Heather hissed shoving the MP3 played into Harold's hands, "Just don't say anything to her!"

"Looking good gorgeous," Harold said to Eva as he pocketed the player. Eva looked completely taken aback by his statement. She looked as if she was about to reply but fell silent. Harold saw her smile slightly and then go back to trying to stay awake.

Harold, overwhelmed with pride, went back to his seat and started to wait for the right moment to return to her the item. Heather steamed silently; Harold was going to regret crossing her.

"Nice one dude," Geoff whispered to Harold as he sat.

"I was awesome, wasn't I?"

"Totally."

Eva wasn't exactly sure what to make of Harold, the guy was probably the biggest geek she had ever seen in her life, not to mention totally not her type. But, he was charming and almost cute in a geeky, awkward kind of way.

'I wonder if he likes me?' she wondered to herself, 'Why else would he call me 'gorgeous?'

She shook her head of the ridiculous thought.

'The lack of sleep has to be getting to me,' she thought to herself. However, she chanced a glance and looked over at Harold. He was completely out, mouth open as he snored lightly. Eva glanced at the digital clock which marked just how long they had been awake. She saw it read 60 hours, not bad...for a geek.

'Oh I would kill for an iced cappuccino right about now,' Eva thought to herself. It was the 85 hour mark and she was so cranky and tired that if anyone pissed her off now, she couldn't be held responsible for her actions.

"Aw gross it works! Dude peed his pants!" She heard Duncan yell suddenly as he pointed to Harold. Sure enough the front of his pants were wet, the old fingers in the cup of water trick. Eva shook her head; she had done that to her brothers plenty of times when they annoyed her. She watched as Harold gasped in embarrassment and sat up to cover himself.

'Poor kid,' she thought to herself. She frowned, suddenly sick of Duncan and his lame attempts at trying to get attention. She walked over to him, drew her arm back and punched the punk's shoulder as hard as she could.

"What the hell!" Duncan snapped as he rubbed the spot that was no doubt going to bruise.

"Leave him alone!" she threatened, "Or I'll rip off your legs, shove them up your butt and call you a punksicle!"

Duncan raised his hands in surrender and backed off. Eva looked down at Harold and offered a rare and very small smile.

"Thanks," he said.

"Okay, you five come with me," Chris called to her, Gwen, Duncan, Trent and Heather, "The rest of you go and take a shower! You stink!"

As Harold took off Eva followed the others. When she saw Chris pull out the history book she knew she was done for. History was not only her worst subject in school but she always fell asleep during the class and sure enough, this time was no different.

When she finally woke up Eva found out that she had lost the challenge to Gwen, not a big deal really. All it meant was that someone from the Killer Bass team was going to be kicked off, in her opinion it should be the first person on their team who had fallen asleep, whoever that was. She wasn't really worried; she was one of the strongest and most competitive people on the team, aside from Duncan. It would be stupidity on her team's part to get rid of either of them.

She stretched and reclined on her bunk, hoping to catch a few minutes of sleep while listening to her music. She reached into her pocket for her MP3 player and jumped out of bed, it was gone!

She ran to her bags and quick threw everything out of them in order to look for the small device.

"Eva, what's up?" Bridgette asked her as she entered the cabin.

"My MP3 player," Eva replied shortly, "It's gone, someone stole it!"

Eva continued to tear the cabin apart in order to look for her MP3 player.

"I just had it!" she yelled angrily. Bridgette, who had been helping her look, was nearly hit in the head with a canoe paddle. She was now sitting on the steps of the cabin, figuring it would be best for her to not bother Eva while she searched.

She tried to warn Harold before he entered the cabin but he looked like a man on a mission so she left it alone. He'd get the idea soon enough.

"Eva?" Harold said dodging the flying clothes.

"Move!" she snapped shoving him aside. Harold, feeling very dejected, left the cabin. He sat next to Bridgette and started to help her warn the others about their team mate.

"Ah!" Eva yelled, "Where is my MP3 player!?"

The rest of the Killer Bass had to dodge the various items that were now being thrown out of the cabin windows and doors.

"One of you must have stolen it!" she snapped as she looked out the window at them, "I need my music! No one is going anywhere until I get my MP3 player back!"

She tossed a book, narrowly missing Harold's head.

"Okay, whoever took it better give it up now, before she destroys the whole camp," Courtney said. Harold dug into his pocket and held out the item.

"I tried to tell her," he said, "Heather stole it but she kicked me out before I could. Don't be too mad at her guys, it's not her fault."

"Yeah," Geoff agreed, "Lover boy here was just trying to be the knight in shining armour."

"Shut up idiot!" Harold told him. Eva stuck her head out of the door just in time to hear this conversation. Heather tried to steal her MP3 played but Harold got it back for her? That must have been why he called for her earlier. She ran out of the cabin towards him. He winced, as if he was about to get hit, and held out the item.

"Thank you!" Eva said gratefully as she took it, "Thank you so much!"

She then turned to the others, who did not look very happy with her. Eva swallowed.

"So," she said, rubbing the back of her head, a look of embarrassment on her face, "Sorry about that little misunderstanding. I guess no one stole it after all."

Courtney scoffed.

"Okay," Eva admitted, "maybe I over-reacted a little."

"You think?" Duncan asked sarcastically.

For the remainder of the day most of the Killer Bass team avoided Eva. Even when she tried to offer apologies to them they either ignored her or shrugged. She was fairly sure that this meant she was going to be kicked off at the campfire ceremony tonight. The only person who was being civil towards her, when he wasn't trying to sway the others to let her stay, was Harold.

"I should have given it to you earlier," he said, "After stupid Duncan pranked me I just totally forgot. This is my fault."

"Don't worry about it," Eva told him, "My temper always gets the better of me, no matter how hard I try to stop it. You know I've been thrown out of three different anger management courses for it?"

"Whoa," Harold said, "Seriously?"

Eva nodded.

"You're scary."

Eva smiled.

"Yeah, but apparently there's someone here who thinks I'm alright."

"Oh?" Harold mused, "Who?"

Eva shrugged.

"Whoever keeps sending me these things."

She reached into her back pocket and pulled out the small pile of notes he had been leaving her. Harold rubbed the back of his head and tried to play it cool. Eva however, was one of those observant girls.

"You look nervous there Harold," she teased.

"Well, how would you react if you were talking to someone you had the hots for who happened to be showing you the notes you had been coming up with for the past week?" he asked. Eva grinned.

"You wrote them then?"

Harold nodded. Eva picked out of the notes and glanced at it.

"No one's every told me my eyes remind them of a golden sunrise," she said, "Or called me gorgeous. You're kind of a geek you know?"

Harold laughed.

"I know, and you're crazy, but I like it."

Eva looked up at him and shyly gave him a kiss on the cheek. Harold got a silly grin on his face and she rolled her eyes.

"You're beautiful," he said, "I love a woman who knows how to take control."

Eva looked rather flustered.

"Yeah well," she stammered, "Just don't think I'm going to turn all girly just because you wrote some stupid poems for me!"

"Wouldn't dream of it," Harold replied.

At the campfire ceremony that night Eva watched as everyone on her team, save for her and Harold, received a marshmallow. She sighed. He did his best but it looked as if she was going home tonight. But even if she did go home tonight, she was still grateful to have met someone like Harold. He was willing to look past her flaws and call her beautiful, she couldn't have asked for someone better.

"The finally marshmallow of the night goes too..."

Eva hated it when Chris did this. It was annoying, not to mention a waste of time when it was an obvious choice.

"Eva."

"Huh?" Eva said, breaking out of her thoughts, "Wait a minute, what?"

Harold got to his feet and handed her the last marshmallow with a wink.

"Harold," Chris said, "The dock of shame awaits."

Harold looked at the others.

"Well, it's been fun guys" he said, "I met some cool people, not to mention the hottest girl ever."

He started to walk towards the dock with Eva watching after him, a look of shock on her face. She looked down at the marshmallow in her hand.

"You can't kick him off!" she said, jumping to her feet, "It should have been me!"

She looked at the others; they all were looking as confused as she was.

"You're all dense!"

She kicked Chris in the shins and stalked towards the dock after Harold.

"Harold, wait!"

He turned to her and was surprised when she wrapped him in a hug.

"You're a sweet guy," she said.

"Thanks Eva, I'll see you later," he said, "Don't let them get the better of you, try to watch the temper though, I think the Killer Bass needs someone as tough as you."

Harold kissed her cheek and then got on the boat with Eva watching it sink in the distance.

"I can't believe Harold hooked up before us," Geoff said to Duncan.

"Whose gonna get me on LeShawna's good side now?"

(Earlier: in the confession stall during voting time)

"Like I'm going to let them vote her off," Harold said to the camera. He worked open the voting box, where they placed the name of who they wanted kicked off, and pulled out the ballots. As he flipped through them, he frowned. All of them said Eva's name on them. He threw those ones out and replaced them with ones saying his own name.

"People make mistakes," he said," that doesn't mean you close the book and give up on them, she just needs another chance. Eva, if you ever see this, good luck. I know you can do it! You rock!"

Winter-Rae: Ah Harold, I love that guy. He's awesome. Why do I like him you ask? Because he was responsible for getting rid of Courtney, how could I not like him? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your dose of crack pairings from me. Be prepared, for coming up soon will be some Duncan/ LeShawna goodness. Cheers and thanks for reading!