AN: Prompt: His Dark Materials/Mass Effect crossover; Normandy crew and co all have daemons. As I mentioned on the meme I've already picked everyone's daemons I just have to write them into the story.
Kaidan flopped face down onto the stretcher in the makeshift bedroom and groaned as his muscles protested at the movement.
"You should have stopped hours ago." Ira murmured as she jumped up beside his head and curled into his neck with a large yawn.
"Mmm." Kaidan responded drowsily as he twisted his arm to wrap around the desert fox and pull her closer.
"He isn't the only one who should have stopped hours ago."
Kaidan lifted his head slightly and turned to see Medera slinking into the room looking exhausted. She crossed the floor and jumped up besides the biotic causing the stretcher to creak distressingly.
"What are you doing?" Ira cried in alarm as she tensed in preparation to jump off in case the stretcher collapsed.
"I plan on sleeping." Medera growled before she draped herself over Kaidan's back and closed her eyes.
"Here?" Ira demanded with an affronted look at the larger creature.
"She's fine, pup." Kaidan said as he ran a soothing hand through the little fox's fur. "It's Shepard you have to worry about; if he decides he's sleeping here too the bed will definitely collapse."
Ira sniffed in annoyance but rolled her head into Kaidan's touches. "Stupid cat." She muttered under her breath as she snugged back down into her master's neck.
Medera opened one large golden eye and gave the smaller daemon a look. "I could eat you with one bite, fox." She warned before closing her eye once more.
"I hope I give you indigestion." Ira snapped back before quieting when Kaidan tapped the end of her nose in reprimand.
"Sleep." The biotic ordered sluggishly. Ira sighed but nevertheless did as ordered and laid her head down and buried it underneath her bushy tail before closing her dark eyes. Satisfied that his daemon had listened, Kaidan closed his eyes once more and dropped off to sleep. There was a brief moment of blessed silence until it was broken by the sound of the door opening with a creak and someone cursing softly at the noise.
Medera gave a low growl of annoyance and the person froze in the doorway. "Leave him 'lone, 'dera." Kaidan muttered as he lightly reached back and swatted the cougar on his back. "You can come in, Joker." He added with a wide yawn.
The pilot shot the giant cat a wary look before he shuffled into the room; his daemon curled around his shoulders already fast asleep. He paused by the edge of the stretcher and hesitated before reaching up and gently pulling Dana from his shoulder and looking down at the Kaidan biting his lip unsurely. Their relationship was only a few weeks old and Joker wasn't sure whether or not he was welcome into the bed pile. If it was the Commander, Joker wouldn't have hesitated in the least but this thing with Kaidan and Ira was new.
Kaidan rolled to the side, dislodging Medera from her claimed position and forcing the big cat to growl in annoyance before she shuffled further down so that she lay across the biotic's legs. "Come 'ere." Kaidan murmured to the pilot with a gesture.
Joker hesitantly handed his sleeping daemon to Kaidan before lowering himself cautiously onto the stretcher and lying in the spot vacated by the biotic. Kaidan smiled sleepily and placed Dana back on the pilot's chest before draping an arm across Joker's abdomen. Medera snorted softly and lay her head across Joker's ankles and fell back to sleep. Ira; not wanting to be left out, squirmed out from between Kaidan and the pillow and clambered over her master's back and into the tiny space between the two men before curling into a little ball and dozing off.
All in all it was an adorable scene, one which Commander Shepard could only agree on when he finally stumbled into the room exhausted several hours later. He smiled softly at the sight and when Medera sleepily raised her head to look at him he gestured for her to stay where she was and moved across the room and to lie down on a vacant stretcher, moments later he was also asleep.
John woke slowly. Something heavy was lying on his chest but not so much that he found it difficult to breath. Something soft and warm was also tickling his left cheek and he couldn't feel his legs. Opening his eyes he looked down and found Dana sprawled across his chest; her arms and legs askew. Medera was making her large weight known by cutting off the circulation to his lower extremities and as he turned his head he found Ira's little body curled up in the spot between his shoulder and jaw. Obviously some time during the night the daemons had decided that they wanted to keep him company instead of the other two men and jumped ship so to speak.
John glanced across the room and grinned at the sight of his lovers entangled on the small stretcher. Kaidan had managed to worm one leg in between Joker's and had curled a socked foot around the other's calf. One arm was wrapped tightly around the pilot's waist with his hand between Joker's t-shirt and abdomen and his face was tucked into the back of the pilot's neck. Both of them were still sound asleep, and John took the time to just watch them lying in peace.
Raising a hand slowly, John gently brushed his fingers through the soft hair covering the Gray-Shanked douc sleeping on his chest. He saw Joker sigh absently at the touch and smiled softly. To be able to touch another's daemon with no ill effects was extremely personal; it was something that only occurred between lovers and close knit families. The fact that Ira had crawled into bed to sleep with him showed how much Kaidan thought of him. The biotic had only become part of his and Joker's newfound partnership a few weeks ago and initially the little desert fox skittishly avoided coming into contact with him at all.
John recalled that a few days into the relationship Ira had jumped up and settled into Joker's lap while he and Kaidan were visiting him at the helm; it was an action that had made John absurdly bitter for hours. It was the Lieutenant who eventually cornered John several hours later in the port observatory. He had entered the room with Ira in his arms and eyeing Medera warily as she snarled at their entrance from her position sprawled across the floor beside the window. Not saying a word Kaidan had calmly placed the little fox onto the bench John was leaning on before turning and hesitantly leaning forward to brush his lips across John's own. Shepard being who is was of course pulled the biotic closer and deepened the kiss, earning a moan from the Major. He had almost jumped out of his skin when something small and warm landed in his lap and he had looked down to see Ira staring up at him with something akin to amusement in her large amber eyes. "Don't think you're special." She had declared smartly before jumping down to the ground and approaching Medera; who was almost ten times her size fearlessly and with determination marking her stride. "Cat." She acknowledged imperiously before audaciously curling up beside the cougar. John had felt the mixture of indignation and amusement coming from Medera and had to smile; although she didn't mind Kaidan joining their family, Medera hadn't so sure about his upstart little daemon.
Obviously they had worked out their differences, John thought as he looked down at the daemons surrounding him. With the end of the galaxy so near, John had never felt as loved as he did then. The only thing that could improve it was having Joker and Kaidan beside him too. A soft knock on the door interrupted his musings and he looked up to see Liara hesitantly peering into the room. "Hey." He greeted softly.
Liara's eyes widened at the sight of him half buried in daemons and she shot a surprised look toward the two sleeping men on the other stretcher. "Oh!" she gasped in shock. It was only then that Shepard realised that although everyone knew of his and Joker's relationship, it wasn't general knowledge that Kaidan was also involved.
"Don't act so surprised, Liara." An amused voice said from near the Asari's feet.
Liara glanced down at her daemon who had hopped further into the room while she remained in the doorway. "Although I suspected, Aleios, I was not sure." She scolded gently.
"Some Shadow Broker you are." The squirrel-like creature scoffed in amusement. "I told you that the pilot smelt like biotics but would you believe me?"
Medera raised her head and glared down at the fluffy creature imperiously. "Is that a problem?" She growled.
Aleios froze as the cougar's eyes fell on him and he trembled minutely until Liara bent down to pick him up. "No it is not, Medera." Liara answered for them both with a raised eyebrow. "Now if you have had your fun, EDI says that Admiral Anderson wants to speak with you and the Major at your earliest convenience, Shepard."
Shepard sighed before nodding absently. "Ok, thanks. Tell him we'll be there in a ten minutes."
Liara nodded in reply before shooting an unreadable look in the direction of the other two men and leaving the room with Aleios in tow.
Sighing once more Shepard gently lift Dana off his chest and to the side before sitting up and kicking his numb legs to get his own daemon off. Medera snarled softly at the action but lay back down to return to sleep almost immediately afterward. John rolled his eyes at the action and scooped Ira up gently in his hands. Across the room Kaidan twitched awake and rolled onto his back with a sleepy confused frown. "We got a meeting with Anderson in ten." John told the biotic as he handed the man's daemon back to him and made his way to the showers.
Kaidan blinked several times in confusion before the words filtered into his sleepy mind. "Right." He replied with a wide yawn as he brushed at his eyes with his free hand in an attempt to wake himself up. Gently extracting his other hand from underneath the still sleeping pilot he dropped his feet to the floor and pushed himself up. He stood blankly for a few seconds until the sound of water running signalled his need for a shower and he shot a look over his shoulder to see Shepard already stripping down and entering the shower. Ira twitched in his arms at the action and nipped him gently on the wrist in warning. "Don't get any ideas; John said ten minutes not an hour."
Kaidan looked down at his daemon with a sheepish grin. "I'll try." He replied before turning and placing her on the spot he had just vacated and heading toward the shower.
AN: The cougar was picked because I felt that it suited a Paragade Shepard perfectly; independent, a strong creature and very protective of its family. Joker got the Gray-shanked Douc because i could see him having a daemon that represented his inner self; cheeky, sarcastic and something that would be energetic (when not dead tired lol) and able to move around freely. I could have picked a bird due to him being a pilot but I didn't want him to have a bird. Kaidan's daemon was picked mostly because I adore the hell out of the Fennec Fox. It's super cute with its tiny body and big ears. But since I kind of made Ira such a sassy little thing I picture her as being Kaidan's internal emotions and the opposite of his usually cool, calm and collected exterior…or at least that's what I'm going with lol.
*EDIT: Liara's daemon: Apologies but changed it ever-so-slightly, I found the perfect creature for her on the net (a cross between a squirrel and an alligator believe it or not) obviously someone with Photoshop had too much time on their hands but BOOM alien squirrely-thing for Liara's daemon. I can't remember exactly what the artist called it, but I think it was something like Squirrigator or some conglomeration of Squirrel and Alligator if anyone wanted to see the actually image of it. So all in all: not an alien bunny but a squirrigator (still all fluffy and grey, no scales).