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Daniel’s doctor was adamant, either he would start wearing glasses or he wouldn’t be able to keep doing his job, and really, Daniel was too young to quit the only career he had ever known or wanted. So glasses it was.
At first, he didn’t think too much of them, it was a normal occurrence. He would need some time to adjust to the added weight on his face, the fogging in the constantly rainy Gotham, but he would be fine once he got used to them.
There was also the option of the contact lenses but Daniel recoiled at the idea of putting his fingers in his eyes. Absolutely not. He would do just fine with his glasses.
He was fine with them even when he was buying the frames and the seller had advised him to go for the thick sturdy frame. He was a cop, he would end up running around, probably drop them once or twice. Daniel would be more than happy if the glasses could survive all that so he did as the seller advised and bought that.
He hadn’t bothered telling anybody about the glasses. Only Gordon knew. Gordon was the reason why Daniel had to go get an appointment with his doctor. The man had noticed that Daniel’s eyesight wasn’t as sharp as it used to be and pretty much ordered him to get that checked out.
So when he walked into the precinct, he should have known that there would be some kind of reaction. He didn’t expect as much mockery, though.
Daniel kept telling himself his colleagues didn’t really mean it, that it was just them trying to be funny, was all.
After a couple days of the same jokes, Daniel didn’t find it as funny anymore.
He hadn’t been this insecure since middle school. As he got older, he grew to accept certain things about himself no matter how others viewed him and he didn’t like regressing to those feelings now.
On yet another crime scene, in the middle of the night, Daniel cursed. He was convinced these nights out were the reason why his vision was so strained and he ended up needing glasses.
The other cops did their work, collecting evidence, keeping people out, the usual. Daniel had his own tasks to worry about.
“Hey, Martinez, come here, put those double eyes to some use,” one of his coworkers called out, the words followed by general laughter of mostly everyone.
Daniel rolled his eyes. “Yeah, man, totally haven’t heard that one before,” he called back. He sort of didn’t want to go and see what they needed him for, but he was still on the job so he went.
It turned out the other man was actually serious and showed him some kind of a book with tiny writing inside it. Daniel scowled at the man. “Hah. Freaking hilarious. They’re not a magnifying glass. And I need them for the distance, you dumbass. I don’t see you asking Gordon for help.”
“Like I’m gonna ask the commissioner.”
Or anyone else with glasses, for that matter, Daniel wanted to say.
“He’s too busy babysitting,” another cop next to them muttered.
Daniel looked around and saw the end of a dark cape just disappearing in another room. He hadn’t even noticed that Batman was helping them out on another case.
It was pretty usual these days. The other cops didn’t even complain all that much anymore, learned to work around the caped vigilante. And well, he did help, so Daniel didn’t mind him as much as he had used to.
When another officer tried to tease him about the glasses again, Daniel swiftly moved over to that next room. Even tolerating Batman right now sounded better. He would find something to do there, surely. There was always something to do.
Daniel walked into the room, trying to appear nonchalant, as if he was supposed to be there. He shined his flashlight around, ignoring the looks Gordon was throwing his way. He hadn’t said anything, so until he did, Daniel was fine pretending to be looking for clues or something.
He was about to shine the light onto another table—the lighting in this apartment was horrendous—when the beam of light ended up on a broad chest. “Sorry,” Daniel mumbled as he moved the light away from Batman, ready to get out of his way.
Tonight, Daniel didn’t really feel up to annoying the man.
Yeah, he had toned it down a lot since Batman had become an actual part of their investigations, but he could relate today. It wasn’t the nicest feeling being constantly teased, even if the other person didn’t have any malicious intent.
But Batman caught his eye and for some reason, it made Daniel stop.
“Since when do you—”
“Jesus, yeah, I’ve got glasses now,” he couldn’t help snapping a little. “I’m sure you’ve seen more interesting things in your time so get going.”
Daniel moved to walk around him. God, even Batman? Seriously?
Maybe he would just head out and stand guard outside the apartment building, keep the reporters or whoever was there, out of their crime scene. Daniel was sure those people wouldn’t act like him suddenly getting new glasses was a reality shattering experience.
He didn’t get far. A hand caught his elbow. Daniel turned back to Batman with a startled expression. Daniel had tried to block his entrance before, but they didn’t touch. That just didn’t happen.
Batman seemed to realize that at the same time and dropped his hand. “They suit you,” he said.
And if that wasn’t even more startling than the grip.
“They do?” Daniel couldn’t stop the words. He had been hearing all kinds of jokes for the past week. That could easily ruin one’s self-confidence.
Batman held his gaze. His eyes were so vibrant with all that black makeup around, Daniel didn’t want to look away, couldn’t.
He nodded at Daniel.
Daniel grinned at the taller man. “Thanks, man.” He even patted his shoulder heartily.
Feeling much better, Daniel kept going toward Gordon. “Got anything for me to do, sir?”
“Ah, yes. Could you—”
Daniel ended up being sent out of the room to locate somebody who would bag the evidence and register it properly. He knew the guy who did that, only needed to find him somewhere in the pretty big apartment, it wasn’t a hard task.
When Daniel stumbled upon him, he told him where Gordon wanted him.
The man’s brows rose. “Glasses, Martinez?”
And for the first time that week, Daniel just chuckled and gave the man the finger before walking off to do more work. He knew the guy was pretty easy going and so he got a laugh in return.
The teasing hadn’t stopped for a few more days, but by then, everybody had run out of jokes and comments to say and the glasses ceased to be such a novelty.
Daniel returned to his routine, the only thing different—apart from those glasses—was the encounter with Batman that he couldn’t stop thinking about.