#but i swear theres a lot of fluff and schmoop involved too

[silverwolf1249]

Civilian Dr. Bruce Wayne au where he meets every batkid in the hospital he works at or during serious medical emergencies, and decides to take them in as his own. Side note, the kids do not become vigilantes, but it's not a completely no capes au either. Still deciding whether I want to turn it into a whole blown work on ao3 or just keep posting it here.

Dick Grayson Part 1:

When his parents are killed, Bruce doesn't go out of his way to find their killer and get revenge. Instead, he wished to be able to prevent as much loss of life as he possibly can. He left WE in Lucius' capable hands, and becomes a doctor. He's good at it, firm steady hands with a will of steel, full of determination and drive. In another world, Bruce would have used those same qualities to don the cowl, but not in this one.

He's halfway through his residency at Gotham General when he spots a flyer for a visiting circus. He has a day off around that time, and decides it couldn't hurt to try something different than usual. Bruce is in the audience when he notices something is very very wrong. Before he can even blink, the Flying Graysons begin plummeting to their deaths. Bruce looks up to the platform and, eyes widening with horror, leaps to his feet, pushing his way through the panicked crowd, eyes stuck on the boy desperately trying to keep his hold on the edge of the platform.

He remembers the wire had snapped just as the child was being thrown into the air, destroying his original trajectory. Bruce wanted to be able to catch the boy, break his fall, anything...but all he could do was struggle against the crowd rushing towards him, and watch the strength leave the boy's fingers as they let go of the ledge.

Time seemed to slow as Bruce watched the boy, whose arms lifted up as if he could touch the sky through the large tent they were in, falling like Icarus who flew too close to the sun. The moment is broken the moment the child hits the earth, and Bruce can scarcely breathe. Unbidden, memories flash through his mind, a happy family, a doting mother and father with a different boy with blue eyes and black hair that had also watched his parents die that night.

He fights with renewed vigor to escape, unwilling to admit to himself that the child was most likely a lost cause as his parents. It only takes another minute or so of working against the crowd before he manages to get past them to race to the boy's side. He pauses for a brief moment to collect himself, he couldn't lose control when there were people to treat in front of him.

He kneels on one knee and checks the boy's parents first, wishing that he had brought any kind of medical equipment on him. No breath, and no pulse, though it wasn't as he had high hopes to begin with by the state of their bodies, so Bruce moved quickly to the kid. Glassy, bright blue eyes attempted their best to focus on him, startling Bruce for a second before he realized what this meant.

He screamed for an ambulance immediately, and waited next to the boy as it took it's sweet time. He was mad at himself for being unable to help the child with the too bright blue eyes, nothing that he could do that would reassure him that everything would be alright. As the paramedics arrive, he is helpless to do anything but watch them carefully lift the boy onto a gurney and disappear off into the night.