John Childermass/John Segundus

Pairing
Pairing:	John Childermass/John Segundus
Alternative name(s):	John Squared
Gender category:	Slash, M/M
Fandom:	Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Canonical?:	No
Prevalence:	main pairing
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John Childermass/John Segundus is the most popular pairing in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell fandom. It pairs secondary characters John Childermass and John Segundus.

History

On AO3, the pairing appeared in 2015, after the television adaptation of the book, which featured several scenes between the characters.

The portrayal of Childermass as a dashing, sarcastic, mysterious heroic figure as well as the feisty, somewhat effeminate portrayal of Segundus might have contributed to the rise of the pairing within the fandom, as well as the fact that their interactions more-or-less bookend the television series. The first episode opens on Segundus, who meets Childermass shortly after; the last episode ends on an exchange between them which seems to open up the possibility of future collaboration between the two.

Common Tropes

• Virgin!fic in which Childermass initiates Segundus
• Slow Burn and Enemies to lovers due to the antagonistic elements of their relationship at the beginning of canon
• Sex Magic, Sex Pollen due to magical influences
• Hurt/Comfort
• Social class differences, as Childermass is a servant and Segundus is a(n impoverished) gentleman
• Epistolary
• Post canon

Example Fanworks

Art

• Segundus & Childermass doing some gay magic for 221bees​ ✧˖°⁎ by ghostbees (2015)
• [1] "Ungentlemanly pleasure" by thislearts (2015)
• This is the art I made for the JSMN fanbook. by thislearts (2016)

Fic

• Lesbian and Gay Figures in Magical History: No. 6 John Segundus by rubyofkukundo (2015)
• Hal-an-Tow by halsinator (2015)
• Convergence by inkblot_fiend (2015)
• This Side of the Rain by Erinye (2019)

Podfic

• (Podfic) the measure of the year (written by BeautifulSoup) read by marianas

Resources

• AO3 tag
• Fanfiction.net