Massage
There are days when his left shoulder hurts constantly. He doesn't know whether it's phantom pain or joint problems. All he knows is that it hurts. On those bad days he just decides to stay in bed, don't wearing the prosthesis and distract himself with an audio book until the pain becomes more bearable.
It's a good tactic.
“Pain?” Clint asks, sneaking into the bedroom as if it wasn’t his too. He’s holding a small plastic bag in his hand. Bucky pauses his audiobook and sits up. "Yes. Must be the weather.” It's pouring rain outside and a cold wind is whistling. “Come here,” Clint says, patting the middle of the bed in front of him. “What are you planning to do?” Bucky asks with a slightly skeptical look. “Don’t be so suspicious,” Clint grins and knocks again. Bucky sighs but sits down in front of Clint. “We’ll try something and hope it helps. Take the shirt off” “Clint-” Bucky starts conflictingly, but Clint interrupts him. “It will do good. Really. Just do it”
It's not like Clint has never seen him without the prothesis. It's just that on the days when it hurts, it's harder for him to cope. It's a memory that will always remind him of a nightmare that was unfortunately real. After another moment of hesitation, he takes off the shirt. Clint places a kiss between his shoulder blades and then takes something out of the bag. It crackles and a can is opened. “It will be cold now and then warm. Don’t be frightened,” Clint warns, and then a cold ointment touches his skin. His muscles tense and he jerks forward. Behind him, Clint chuckles.
“I warned you,” Clint says amused and begins to rub in the ointment. “I didn’t think it would be so cold,” Bucky murmurs and feels the cold slowly disappearing and a warmth spreading. Clint works with shallow pressure movements and slowly kneads his shoulder. Bucky feels the aching, tense muscles slowly loosen. He lets out the tension and closes his eyes as the pain slowly fades.