Ceiling Vent Clint Barton

Sometime in late 2011 or early 2012, Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom began characterizing Clint Barton as someone who crawled through vents and air ducts as a standard mode of transportation, eavesdropping, and hiding. A number of fics also have him sleeping or living in the air ducts, humorously referred to (given his name, Hawkeye) as "nesting".
When and where this trope began is not entirely clear. It even has its own tag on AO3: Ceiling Vent Clint Barton. The result, regardless, is a broadly accepted character trait that had little to no clear basis in canon until the Black Widow (2021) movie canonized it many, many years later.
==Origins of the Trope==
In June/July 2014, 2 Tumblr threads attempted to determine the origins of the trope. They are reproduced below in threaded order, in an attempt to preserve some of the context of the conversations:
==Fanwork Examples==
Please restrict examples to either early (pre-Avengers movie) works or works where Clint's presence in the vents constitutes a major point in the work, rather than a throwaway moment. Otherwise we'll be overloaded without visitors being able to see the development of the trope.
* A High Road Out From Here by Clio-jlh, March 10, 2012. Phil really doesn't want to move offices. And when his new team steps in to make it feel a little more like home, he suspects they were encouraged by a certain archer.
* Ordinary Workplace Hazards by scifigrl47, April 23, 2012 - May 2, 2012. Tony Stark has once again engineered something that might well lead to the downfall of Western Civilization. No one's really surprised. This time, however, it might just be the lesser of two evils.
:Clint and Phil hate playing pickup, but damn, Clint loves the Roombas, and damn, Phil loves Clint, though he's not really sure why sometimes. It's time to play Hide-And-Seek with hostile robotic AIs in the SHIELD home office.
* On Nesting by snack_size, posted to AO3 on June 2, 2012. Clint moves into Avengers Tower, and promptly takes up residence in the air ducts, including the one above Bruce's lab. It soon becomes clear that this isn't just a cracky, quirky behavior.
* do the math, expect the trouble by BobbiMorsed, November 19, 2012. It takes much longer than his six years with S.H.I.E.L.D. (and a few more brushes with death than anyone's really comfortable with) but Clint finds a family, even if he wasn't looking for one.
:Written for the marvel_bang.
* Clint Barton's Guide to Friends and Ceiling Vents by NoliteTimereEos, July 11, 2015. In which Clint Barton meets a missing assassin in the vents and somehow becomes friends with him. Things don't go as bad as they could have.
* That One Time Clint Lived in the Vents at Stark Tower for Three Months and No One Knew by Era_Penn, October 24, 2015. Tony was pretty sure there was a ghost living out its afterlife in his kitchen. He thought it must have moved in approximately two Thursdays ago, and it seemed to really enjoying cooking - especially Italian - and crappy Chinese takeout. It also seemed to be very friendly, as it always left a note that said something along the lines of ‘for my generous host’ or ‘leftovers are Tony’s, NO ONE EAT’ on top of the food.
==References==
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