Hello, people! Nightlingbolt here! Welcome to something... a little different from what I normally write. Yes, this is a three-way romance between Natsu, Erza, and Jellal. I've termed it, "A Study in Rivalry."

Now before we begin, I just want to establish that I neither condone nor condemn any sort of lifestyle (I myself am monogamous), as long as all participants are comfortable with whatever arrangement they may have and aware of what it may or may not entail. That said, this is pretty much an experiment in the dynamic between the three main characters of this story. This story assumes that Crime Sorciere are pardoned for their part in stopping Arcadios's Eclipse Plan, hence their membership in Fairy Tail. I'm probably going to get lynched by the Jerza crowd for this, but screw you all, I'm proud of how this turned out. Just enjoy it for what it is and flame me later.

I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, Hiro Mashima does.

Fairy Tail was as rowdy as it ever was after the Grand Magic Games, helped in no small part by the addition of three new members, Jellal, Ultear, and Meredy, the members of the independent guild Crime Sorciere.

Not long after they had joined, Erza had noticed a change in Natsu, the guild's original Dragon Slayer. He had started fewer fights among the guild members, though everyone was always brawling over one thing or another anyway, rendering the whole endeavor moot. He had also started helping out more around the guild, even staying behind to help Mira clean up at the end of the day.

But the strangest occurrence of all was Levy reporting to her that Natsu had asked to borrow some of her books. This really got Erza's attention, as, though she had taught Natsu to read and write, the Salamander had never bothered to take an interest in literature. Perhaps he had decided to become more educated for Lucy's sake?

She had interrogated the Celestial mage as gently as she could (which wasn't really saying much), but Lucy had resisted all her claims that she felt something for their teammate. She did, however, say that that he felt the need to surpass a certain someone, but uncharacteristically held her tongue even under Erza's torture methods.

At that point, Loke had appeared to do as much damage control as he could without physically confronting her. The Lion had mentioned that he noticed Jellal acting strangely, though he didn't know the ex-Wizard Saint enough to say how. Erza had stormed out of Lucy's apartment to speak with Jellal.

The Titania instantly noticed that her childhood friend had regained some of the swagger he had had during his Siegrain days. She didn't get why Loke thought that was a bad thing, until he had tried his hand at subtle flirting. Nothing explicit of course, merely compliments on relatively minor details about her appearance: her hair, her armor, her nose – really, her nose? Had Jellal finally cracked?

Scratch that, he had cracked much worse than this long before Loke ever said anything.

Things became awkward for Erza after that, but she still did her best to smile, nod, and present to Jellal that nothing was wrong. She could easily explain away his flirting as a way to validate himself, as Loke had done when he first came to the guild. And after all the drama he had been through in his life, he would want to try something – anything – to make himself feel wanted. She absentmindedly wondered if Ultear or Meredy had been subjected to his "charms."

The next day, she had been eating with her team. Jellal had sidled up to her and started to make small talk. That was all well and good; Erza wanted Jellal to get along with the rest of the guild, but especially her teammates. Lucy,Gray, and Happy were very receptive to his presence, and so was Natsu to an extent. However, she was by no means deaf to his growls every time Jellal had said something that made her laugh.

Eventually, Erza excused herself and Natsu, as she had promised to take him on an S-Class job to prepare him for the next promotion exam. Only later would Lucy tell her of Natsu's cocky smirk as they walked away.

For the longest time, Erza was confused at her two male friends' erractic behavior. Natsu was subtly yet noticably changing his brash ways, and Jellal had had more confidence in himself than he ever did without Ultear's influence. An offhand comment from Mirajane, however, had flipped a switch somewhere in her mind.

"Ah, the timeless battle of courtship."

Courtship! That somehow made sense to Erza! Natsu and Jellal were battling to win her romantic affections! How did she not see it before?

Now, one would think things got complicated at that point. Natsu was a reckless idiot, always looking for a fight, but he had a stout heart that gave him the drive to do anything and everything for the people he loved. He had been the one to give her peace when her thoughts were at war, making sense of her jumbled feelings with just a touch of his hand and the occasional exchange of blows.

Jellal, on the other hand, was her first love, yet at the same time, the one who ruined her life. However, he had been possessed at the time, and even his corruptor had changed her ways, doing everything she could to fix the man she had long ago broken. And it had worked. Jellal's true personality shined through the darkness, a man of humor, kindness, and intelligence. They both shined so brightly in her heart, how would she ever choose?

In true Erza fashion, she took the simplest course of action: she wouldn't.

Ever since learning the true intent behind both men's recent actions, things had fallen into place like the pieces of a puzzle. Natsu had considered Jellal a threat to him in the sense that he was smarter and generally more mature than himself. This drove him to study more than he had ever studied in his life, as well as motivate him to stay his hand whenever Gray, Gajeel, or any other member tried to pick a fight with him.

This, she theorized, had the effect of making Jellal realize that if he had let their past haunt him, he would never truly win Erza's heart. Calling upon his memories of Siegrain, Jellal had started casually flirting with her in a manner that he hoped exuded confidence, but Erza had seen his unease, which, honestly, put her off a little. Still, Jellal stuck to his guns, and Erza had seen Jellal behaving more confidently than he had ever been before.

In Erza's eyes, this contest to woo her was the best thing that had happened to either of them; each made the other better in their own unassuming way. Ultimately, Erza had no qualms with informing Natsu and Jellal that they could share her unconditionally. Natsu protested at first, but the threat of neither having her quickly changed his mind.

Weeks passed, and Erza had yet to truly regret her decision. Individually, her boyfriends were magic, but together, they were bliss. Jellal knew exactly which spots to hit; Natsu had had a bit more of a learning curve in that regard, but every spot he did hit burned her with pleasure she had never thought possible. And when all three were gathered, they took it to the next level, each attempting to top the other (the one fantasy she couldn't quite convince them to indulge). Their sessions always ended with Erza losing all capacity for human speech, panting and screaming as her lovers pushed her further and further over the edge, a high she never recovered from before the next morning.

Natsu and Jellal were indeed good for each other. They were both good for Erza. And that was all Erza really needed to know to keep herself happy.

There now, that wasn't so bad, was it?

I'm just going to address the potential comments saying Erza is OOC: I will admit that she may not totally be as she should be, but I feel entering a polygamous relationship for the sake of the growth Natsu and Jellal offer each other is perfectly within Erza's character. That was my vision for this story.

As promised, the final chapter of ABCs will be up Tuesday, a year from its publish date, which works out to about two weeks per chapter. Crazy, huh? Over the course of the week, I plan to drum up a Q&D ending for Lucky Star (I do still plan on doing a sequel, I just don't know when it's gonna come, since I have other ideas I want to work on) and try out some other stuff. Also, I did a chapter of Scenes last night, but I'm still not 100% which direction I want to take it in, so I may post that and put the story on indefinite hiatus. I already have a couple ideas in my head, so I'll put up a poll either tomorrow or when I put up Z with what I have in mind. So until then, peace and love from Nightlingbolt!