A/N: ABC Snippets for Takeru and Patamon/Angemon. I always feel like there would be so much more to explore in Takeru's character than what any of the Adventure series/films has given us, so here is my tiny contribution for the great characters. Most of the snippets are part of my head-canon AU, but the necessary context should be present in each one. Small orange reference in C, which owes the concept for Three Meals a Day. Some background canon ships. Contains spoilers up to Digimon Adventure tri. 3: Confession. Hope you enjoy!

A big Thank you! for Rosamanelle for working her magic as a Beta.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Bandai and Toei.

A is for alone

Three days. It had been three days since the Digimons had disappeared into the void and most likely gone back to the Digital World. Without their memories.

It had been close to three days since he had had an appetite or slept properly. Three days when he had felt any real happiness.

Three days that felt like an eternity.

Takeru wasn't sure what the others thought of the reveal of Patamon's infection. He hadn't really bothered to find out. He had cried, mostly alone during the nights when he was unable to sleep. Yamato had offered him some comfort and let their mother know about the incident, both responding to him with strong sympathy and pity.

He hated the sympathy, if he could have said something maybe all the others wouldn't be feeling the same sorrow. Yamato's gloominess only added to his own sense of failure.

Koushirou had continued to work himself towards exhaustion. Some of the others were moving on, some dealing with the pain by offering encouragement to the group – hope that felt out of character and sounded hollow even to his ears.

He just was there, listening to the others speak.

He had considered of giving his explanations to the group for few times but it felt meaningless. Just like it had felt with the infection in the first place.

B is for basketball

The changing room was filled with cheery conversationas the players were getting to know each other in the final minutes before the game. Takeru took part in the conversation for the sake of forming new social relationships, but he couldn't deny being nervous.

Tokyo's Sports for Charity organization was holding its annual celebrity charity sports event, and somehow, someone had gotten a hint of Takeru's past in his school's basketball club. He had no idea who had given the tip, but once requested to take part for the good cause, he hadn't dared to say no. Being the Digital World's public spokesperson had its ups and downs.

Takeru hadn't officially played after he had quit in the school team during his very short first year at high school. Of course, he had played for fun at times, and even Angemon had learnt a few aspects of the game to offer him some company at times. However, the memories didn't provide him too much comfort because in few minutes he would have to play under the eyes of few thousand spectators.

It was all for fun of course, but still the idea made him nervous. In moments like these the man wished he could channel out his inner Daisuke.

The crowd looked humongous when they entered to the stadium. And despite the fact that Takeru was very accustomed to speaking for big crowds when it came to his book or writing in general, now he was extremely happy to see his very excited niece and a nephew who apparently had been whining for weeks for Yamato and Sora to take them to watch the game.

C is for cooking

"You know I never expected to see you fillet a fish."

Angemon raised his gaze towards his partner at Takeru's slightly humored remark.

"You can't cook with your hand."

Takeru was unaffected by the angel Digimon's unflustered reply. He was unwilling to let the new piece of information just slide away, "I didn't know you could even cook."

This time Angemon didn't reply anything but washed the filet under the cold water from the water bottle, and put it down on the wooden plank.

"How do you know how to cook?"

"It was sometimes boring when you were at school – I used to watch television, occasionally there was a cooking program." Angemon replied, seemingly not too eager to open up about the subject.

Takeru raised his eyebrows, interested, an amused smile on his lips, "So you are telling me that you have known how to cook for years without ever even mentioning it?"

"Possibly."

Takeru watched as Angemon started to turn the camping pan over the small fire.

"You know, you could have gone to school on my behalf if you had watched the education network. Mom would have been proud." Takeru reminisced, earning a soft snort from his partner.

D is for dependence

When the Chosen children had first entered the Digital World the Digimons had been ecstatic. They had waited for their partners for so long. Not to mention the luck the kids seemed to bring with them;without their power the Digital World would either still be conquered by the Dark Masters or have been destroyed long ago. They had brought hope, Angemon though with a hint of irony.

Over the years their partners had grown and taken even bigger rolesin the Digital World. With Digimon Kaiser it of course had been necessary, since human adversary created a never before seen situation.

The humans' conceptualization of the Digital World often seemed difficult to understand, yet Koushirou could work with the theories for days, surpassing every obstacle on his way. As child stage none of the partner Digimons paid too much mind for the nature of their World, and even in Adult stage Angemon felt that he was one of the few of them who felt a stronger need to comprehend the situation. Maybe it had something to do with his nature of being an angel type Digimon, focusing on the law and order of the Digital World.

The group of teenagers, young adults even perhaps, was intently focused on discussing something Koushirou was showing them from his apparatus. The discussion going forward without any sort of contribution from their partners.

Angemon stretched his back, moving muscles at the base of his wings a few centimeters. He didn't know whether to be surprised when Takeru's eyes were immediately on him despite the fact that they were standing quite far off from each other. The teen offered him a small sympathetic smile before focusing back on the discussion.

E is for edge

It was the damn coastline just at the edge of horizon, shining in the sunlight, blurring in and out of existence between the worlds. They would need to keep going, and fast.

Takeru stared the coastline for couple of seconds before swiftly turning his gaze ahead to their destination, even if in reality it was still out of sight – the coast of the Dark Ocean being the only real landmark.

Angemon took a sidelong glance at his human partner but said nothing.

Takeru hated the Dark Ocean, or more so he hated to be able to see it so clearly. He had never wanted anything to do with it, never had had any piece of himself drawn to its lures. But still, here he was once again in the middle of sanity and abyss. All those years when he had tried to escape it, run as fast and far as possible, he had only ended up closer and closer to it. He had shouted, cursed, fought and spread much more destruction around him than he ever had wanted, all while trying to retain himself from any negative actions.

Somewhere along the line he had stopped running.

He didn't know whether it was a new tactic or had he just sunk so deeply into the quicksand, each passing wave carrying little more sand with it, sinking him deeper and deeper.

Where does the ocean start and where does the land end?

There were times when Takeru noticed that he just didn't care anymore. And there were times when that scared him more than the darkness in itself ever had.

A/N: If the tri. Confession related Takeru-focus interests you then you should definitely check out Absent by dnofsunshine. I tried to take a different approach to the incident, since despite the support from family/friends something in Takeru's character shouts loneliness. I wanted to write a drabble where Takeru is emotionally detached from anyone, doesn't directly speek with anyone and feels like an outsider even if he is with familiar people.