A/N: I could have sworn I read Danger Mouse's hike up the Himalayas after birth somewhere- anyhow, anything to do with his backstory does not belong to me. It will belong to... Cosgrove? Someone who's not me anyway. My sincere apologies for a lack of clarity.
...
DM's heart began racing in shock at what had just happened.
No, no, no, no! He wanted to scream. Penfold was never meant to know!
Tears filled his eye as memories of the last person (except Colonel K) had said to him when his bad eye was exposed. Stumbling off the chair, Danger Mouse left the kitchen hurriedly, his knees wobbling and composure at breaking point. He failed to see Penfold's hurt look.
...
Penfold was surprised that he had chanced on seeing the World's Greatest Agent in a vulnerable position; but knowing that his premature presence had been the reason DM fled the room nearly made Penfold cry. He didn't mean to see Danger Mouse's non-existent eye- it was an accident!
Even so, he couldn't let an eyepatch be the only reason the mouse was confident enough to save the world! He squared his shoulders, and left the kitchen.
...
He found his best friend sitting on his bed with one cheek buried into his kneecaps, trying to hold back tears of shame and sadness. Penfold felt a pierce at his heart at this heart-breaking sight.
"Chief?" He asked quietly.
Ears cocked, and DM looked up, startled at being disturbed. "Penfold, just leave me alone..." DM said stubbornly, turning away from his assistant.
"Why, sir?" Penfold asked, undeterred by his friend's rejection.
"You saw it, Penfold. My eye!" the White Wonder insisted, allowing his face to rest on his knees again. He didn't want Penfold to be here-not now, not ever. He didn't want the hamster's sympathy. He just wanted the wretched grandfather clock to magically appear so that he could go back in time and have Penfold forget this wretched deformity he possessed.
Penfold could only watch, heartbroken, as his best friend continued to weep -almost silently- into his knees.
"DM? Danger Mouse, look at me. Please?" he pleaded gently, allowing a paw to touch his boss's back ever so gently.
DM reluctantly obeyed, his right eye shimmering with tears. He was surprised to see that, despite his initial fears, Penfold was smiling gently at him and showed no signs of feeling either revolt or pity.
Just curiosity, respect and love.
Just seeing these emotions in his friend's eyes calmed the World's Greatest Secret Agent enough to help him relax slightly- although his tears remained.
"DM, please, why are you so upset about me seeing your left eye?" Penfold asked curiously, without the slightest hint of accusation in his tone. This question unnerved DM, but he had always trusted Penfold with his feelings before...
"Well, when I was a lad, I felt I was different from everyone else. Kids who saw it called me names." The White Wonder sniffed quietly. The few friends I had long ago never got to see my eye for fear of- of"- he stammered. "The point is, I never trusted anyone outside of family to see my bad eye. That is, until today." He regarded Penfold carefully before continuing. "It's not that I don't trust you, Penfold, because I trust you so, so much- I just hate exposing my left eye, because people who have seen it either bully me or say well-meaning but unhelpful things about it."
This silenced the hamster. Imagining his beloved boss as a child, weeping over something he was being bullied for and could not change, sparked a sense of injustice in Penfold's heart.
"Why do you have one eye, sir?"
The question was out in the open. Penfold watched nervously as Danger Mouse's shoulders stiffened as though pierced by a dagger. DM turned his one good eye to his loveable assistant, and sighed.
"Well, Penfold, you know my origin story, right?"
"Back to front, sir." Penfold replied loyally.
"Well, there is one detail I omitted to mention." The white mouse continued, looking at Penfold, who looked curious and anxious at the same time, like a schoolboy waiting to hear the next chapter of his hero's life story.
"You see, I was born with anophthalmia, which means I only have one eye. I was officially diagnosed with the condition on my return from Everest with my mother." He said sadly.
Penfold's eyes widened with a boyish wonder. "What happened next, Chief?" He asked in quiet awe.
"Well, my mother said I would have to wear an eyepatch for it. And I still do."
"Do you have to wear the eyepatch, DM, or is it just to hide your eye?"
"Just to hide it." His boss responded with a sigh.
Penfold gently placed a paw under DM's chin and tilted it towards him, a warm smile on his face, and his eyes sparkling behind his specs.
"DM, I promise you that me knowing about your eye will change nothing between us. We'll still be chief and assistant, and best friends too, of course- may that be fighting all our enemies, or snoozing side by side on the sofa waiting for a new mission to come in from the Colonel."
Danger Mouse chuckled weakly at this profound and earnest statement, wiping his nose on his sleeve in a rare moment of ungentlemanly behaviour. Penfold neglected to comment on this, and instead allowed his paw to fall from his friend's chin and hold DM's paw gently in his own.
"Our friendship will never change on something out of your control. The reason why nothing will change between us is because I love you, Danger Mouse, and nothing- nothing- will change how I see you; and I see you as my best friend, my boss and the mouse who never understood the meaning of the word limits." Penfold finished with a broad smile.
Danger Mouse gave a sniffle and a small smile, before pulling his assistant in for a warm embrace. "Thank you, Penfold," he said quietly. "I appreciate hearing that from you."
"You're welcome, Chief." Penfold replied, returning the hug with a kindly, supportive, gentle squeeze round his boss' torso.