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storiesforallfandoms · 2 months

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treat him better ~ barry berkman;barry

word count: 2615

request?: no

description: after his jealous ex makes a scene, his new girlfriend decides to tell her off for not treating him better

pairing: barry berkman x female!reader

warnings: swearing, lil bit of angst(?), use of y/n

masterlist (one, two, three)

Barry walked in with his arm around another woman, and that’s how everyone in the class knew that things were about to get a lot more interesting.

Barry and Sally had had a pretty messy breakup a few months before that had resulted in Barry considering quitting his acting class. Sally claimed she just couldn’t put in the same efforts into a relationship and her career, and she thought that Barry deserved better, but everyone in the class knew that she broke up with him in a moment of jealousy when an acting recruiter had taken interest in Barry after a play they had put off a few months before. Because of their breakup, Barry had gone into a stupor and missed the opportunity, and Sally seemed absolutely tickled by that.

Then, suddenly, Barry came into class after having missed more than a week and he was much happier than when they had all last seen him. After being prodded by his classmates for a while, he admitted that he had met someone and was going on a date with them after class that night. Everyone seemed happy for him, especially Gene who was glad that Barry was finally back in class. But Sally was very notably not sharing everyone else’s enthusiasm.

Judging by the PDA and the happiness that was absolutely radiating off of Barry, this was his new girlfriend.

“Hey, Mr. Cousineau,” Barry said, approaching the acting teacher. “This is my girlfriend, (Y/N). Is it alright if she sits in to watch today?”

Gene smiled at (Y/N). “Got an interest in acting, young lady?”

She shook her head. “No, sorry, but Barry talks up this class all the time. He swears he has the best acting teacher in all of Hollywood.”

Gene laughed. “Flattery gets you everywhere, sweetheart. You can sit with the others, I just ask you don’t disrupt us while we’re on class time.”

(Y/N) agreed and followed Barry to sit down. His classmates were quick to come sit next to them, all excitedly introducing themselves to (Y/N). She felt a little overwhelmed by all the attention, but she also knew what she was getting into when she came to the class. She had been asking Barry for weeks about coming to watch him during his acting class, but he kept saying he didn’t want to “scare her away” just yet. At first she had laughed at that, but now she was definitely seeing how that might’ve been something he was worried about.

Everyone was so engrossed in the new comer that no one noticed when Sally walked in, and she definitely did not like that.

“What’s going on?” she asked, trying to keep a light tone in her voice but anyone who was paying attention would notice the strain of it.

And that “anyone” was, of course, Barry, who knew Sally like no one else did.

(Y/N) smiled and stood to greet Sally. “Hi, I’m (Y/N). I’m Barry’s girlfriend.”

She held her hand out to Sally, who merely looked at it as if it was diseased. Noticing her expression, (Y/N) slowly and awkwardly lowered her hand again.

“Sally,” Sally responded.

(Y/N) fought the urge to say “I figured”.

“Are you joining the class?” Sally asked.

“Oh, no. I can’t act for shit. I came to watch Barry.”

Sally made a fake sad face. “Oh, well Cousineau doesn’t allow people who aren’t in the class to stay.”

“She got my permission,” Gene said. “Sit down, Sally, now that you’re here we can start.”

The look on Sally’s face could only be described as annoyance. She marched up the stairs and sat as far away from everyone else as she could. (Y/N) sat down next to Barry again. He took her hand in his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. She smiled up at him and leaned into him. She could feel the daggers that Sally was glaring into the back of her head, but as long as she was with Barry she didn’t really care too much. She felt safer with him by her side.

Gene started the class by handing out a script to everyone. He said they were going to do scene work, which meant they were going to assign roles and act out a scene. There were only a small handful of roles within the scene, so not everyone was going to get a chance, but Gene said they would switch and have other people do the roles in the following class. He passed (Y/N) a script just so she could follow along and went on to assign the roles. The big two went to Barry and Sally, while the two smaller roles went to two other male students, Nick and Eric.

“The scene is of two former love birds having a domestic dispute over the custody of their son, who will be played by Eric, and then Nick, you’ll be playing the brother to Sally’s character who is coming to try and defuse the whole situation,” Gene explained.

“Shouldn’t be hard for them,” someone behind (Y/N) muttered.

She tried not to be too upset over Sally getting the lead with Barry, conveniently when the scene was about two exes. It wasn’t like Barry was never going to act with Sally ever during class, and Barry had already told her how Sally was essentially the star of Gene’s class. But she couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable with what she was going to be witnessing. At least the scene was ex-lovers and not current.

They set up for the scene on stage, with Barry stood off to the side as he was meant to enter when the scene started. Sally and Eric were stood on the other side of the stage, with Eric on his knees to portray a young child. (Y/N) giggled to herself at how he looked, which earned her a quick glare from Sally. When they made eye contact, (Y/N) slowly sunk down into her seat.

“Okay, and...” Gene said, taking his seat in the front row. “Action!”

Barry walked on and mimed knocking at a door. Sally opened the “door” and asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here for Mike. It’s my weekend with him.”

“Your weekend?!” Sally snapped, her voice sounding a bit more vicious than the words needed to be.

“Cut!” Gene said. “Sally, reel it in a little for now, okay? Your character isn’t lashing out at Barry yet.”

Sally huffed a sigh and nodded. Gene told them to take it from Sally’s line.

“Your weekend?” Sally asked, a lot less angry than before.

“Yeah, that’s how custody agreements work, Julie. You had him for the week, not I get him for the weekend, remember?”

“I told you he was staying with me this weekend. He has a birthday -”

“‘It’s my dad’s birthday’,” Gene corrected.

“Right, sorry.” Sally quickly got back into character to try again. “I told you he was staying with me this weekend. It’s my dad’s birthday, he wants all of us to go spend the weekend at his cabin.”

“You certainly did not tell me that, otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”

Sally opened her mouth to say her line, but hesitated. She looked down at her script quickly. Everyone in the room looked at each other, and (Y/N) heard a few murmurs.

“Sally?” Gene prompted.

“Sorry, I lost my spot,” Sally said.

“Do you want to start from the top?” Gene asked.

“No, no, it’s fine. I’ll find it. Uh.”

She was looking at the page for so long that Barry tried to reach over to point out where they were. She jerked her paper away from him and muttered something along the lines of “I got it”.

“Say your line again, Barry,” Gene said, sounding somewhat exasperated.

“You certain did not tell me that, otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”

“It’s not my fault that you don’t listen, Sam. I definitely told you that Mike is staying with me this weekend. You can take him next week if you want, but I already agreed to these plans with dad.”

“I can’t take him next week, Julie, I have work. That’s why we agreed on weekend custody for the time being. Who’s going to look after him while I’m working in the evening.”

(Y/N) was engrossed in the scene. Well, in Barry acting the scene, anyways. He was doing really well, even with Sally’s screw ups. She had seen him rehearse at home before, but he did seem to be in his element here. It made her want to see him in an actual play even more than she did before.

At one point, when Sally had fumbled a line again, Barry turned to meet (Y/N)’s eye. She smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up. He smiled back and winked at her.

Sally scowled. “Hey, don’t break the scene!”

“Too late,” Eric said from the side of the stage.

“Really, Sally, maybe we take five to go over the scene alone,” Gene suggested.

“No, I’m fine. It’s her.”

Everyone followed Sally’s outstretched finger to look at (Y/N). She felt her face burn. “I-I’m just...watching.”

“You’re sitting there judging me,” Sally insisted. “I can see it. You’re judging me and it’s fucking me up.”

“Sally, I think you may be over exaggerating a little,” Barry said. “She’s just watching.”

“No. She’s judging me, and I want her out!”

Sally crossed her arms and looked to Gene. She seemed to be the only one in the room against (Y/N). Even Gene looked frustrated with the way Sally was acting. He ran a hand over his face and heaved a heavy sigh, but then surprised everyone by saying, “I’m sorry (Y/N), you’ll have to leave.”

If there was any way to feel even more embarrassed, (Y/N) was definitely feeling it in that moment. The blush in her face from Sally’s earlier claims deepened a lot.

“Mr. Cousineau, that’s not fair,” Barry argued.

“I’m sorry, Barry, but if it will get Sally to shut up and act better, then (Y/N) will just have to go.”

Everyone was still looking at her. She slowly rose from her seat, moving mainly on autopilot as she was too in shock to think about what she was doing. Suddenly, she felt like she was back in high school. Sally was like the mean girl who everyone loathed but followed out of fear of her wrath, including the teacher, apparently. She even looked so smug as (Y/N) started to leave, reveling in her win.

But, as she reached the door, (Y/N) remembered that they weren’t in high school anymore. They were adults, and she was about to act like an adult.

She turned back to say, “Sally, you’re a bitch.”

There was a collective gasp from the students.

Before Sally could respond, (Y/N) continued, “You are a cold hearted, selfish, self centered bitch. You think because you played a few lead roles in stage plays, and had a few five second cameos in whatever CSI is currently on air, that you run the world. But the truth is, you’re just a high school mean girl that peaked before you even graduated.”

(Y/N) glanced at Barry, who was watching her with a shocked look on his face. She wasn’t sure if he was upset at her outburst or just surprised by it. Either way, she couldn’t stop herself now. She was on a roll.

“You never deserved Barry,” she said. “You treated him like you treat everyone else: like a prop to get yourself ahead. When he was no longer useful to you, you dumped him and let him be broken for months. And now you can’t stand that he’s happy again with someone who genuinely cares for him, so you have to try to ruin that. Well, I’ll tell you something, you may have kicked me out, but I’m still the one who gets to have Barry come home to me. You go home to, what, your empty house and one page script for your next miniscule role?”

The room was silent. There was many emotions on everyone’s faces. No one made any move to speak or anything, so (Y/N) took it as her cue to leave. She hurried out the door, leaving the sound of it closing behind her to echo through the room.

The cool evening air cooled down her burning face as she crossed the parking lot to Barry’s car. Once she reached it, she felt the anger subsiding and a slight feeling of guilt crept into her. She didn’t regret what she said at all, but maybe she could’ve done it a better way. Like maybe not in front of Barry’s entire acting class and his acting teacher.

She went to open the car door, but realized Barry had the keys. Obviously, it was his car, but she had been so angry she had forgotten she didn’t have the key. She sighed and leaned against the car. In that moment, the building door opened again. (Y/N) looked up to see Barry was approaching her.

“I’m so sorry, Barry,” she said. “I know I shouldn’t have snapped like that in front of everyone. I was just angry and I refused to let her embarrass me before I left - ”

Barry cut her off by cupping her face and kissing her. She was taken by surprise and pulled away to ask, “You’re not mad?”

“I am the opposite of mad,” he said. “I haven’t loved you more than I did when you were calling out Sally in there.”

(Y/N) playfully raised an eyebrow at him. “Love?”

“You heard me.”

It was the first time Barry had said the big L word. (Y/N) was definitely not going to let him forget that the first time he said it was because she had called his ex-girlfriend down to the dirt in front of his whole class.

“You know I meant every word, right?” she asked. “She never deserved you. You deserve someone who will treat you so much better than she did.”

Barry wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him. “I know I do, and I have that now.”

(Y/N) smiled and leaned in to kiss Barry again. She was glad he wasn’t mad at her for her outburst, and she was especially glad she was the one to get to make him happy.

“You should go back and finish your scene,” she said after she reluctantly pulled away from their kiss. “I don’t want you to get in trouble for being gone so long.”

“I told Cousineau to give another classmate my role. And I told him I wouldn’t act with Sally ever again, not even during our big class productions.”

(Y/N) gasped and pulled away from him. “Barry you can’t do that!”

“I can, and I did.”

“But...why?”

“Because you were right about her. She’s selfish and self centered. I refuse to be used by her anymore, or risk having her try to sabotage my potential acting career again.”

She was stunned. She couldn’t believe he was being serious. But also, she felt overjoyed to hear that Barry was finally putting himself first. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him so tightly that she nearly knocked him over. Barry laughed and pried her off of him.

“Want to go to the diner?” he asked. “Then you can come back to my place for the night.”

She nodded. “Yeah, I’d love that.”

#barry berkman #barry berkman imagine #barry berkman x reader #bill hader #bill hader imagine #bill hader x reader #barry imagine #hbo #one shot #fanfiction #fanfic #fandom

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berkmansimagines · 1 year

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Would've, Could've, Should've

A/N: Ok so a very long time ago I wrote a fic called tolerate it and I never really intended to do a follow up to it. But I recently got this idea and at almost 2.4k words later here it is! You can read this fic without reading tolerate it, exposition is provided. And I'm sorry this fic is so long! I let my imagination run away with me....

Summary: Barry seeks revenge.

Pairing: Barry Berkman x hitman!wife reader

Barry has been quietly seething for the past few days. It all started when Barry refused to do a job for a powerful cartel leader named Del. In response, Del sent two of his goons to beat you up. He wanted to hit Barry where it hurts. And it worked.

Barry’s heart nearly stopped when he found you after you got jumped. You were bloodied, bruised and laying barely conscious in the bathtub. You were beaten so severely, you couldn’t even walk. Barry had to carry you to bed.

You’ve been kinda skittish and on guard since the attack. You’re still badly bruised and in pain. Barry is really worried about you. You’re his fearless, badass wife. He hates seeing you hurt and scared like this.

Barry desperately wants to get revenge on the guys who hurt you. The only reason he hasn’t looked into who did this is because you didn’t see their faces, they attacked you from behind. You couldn’t describe the men to Barry. Even if you had, you begged him not to go after them. You didn’t want Barry to get caught up in cartel shit. It’s way too dangerous.

But Barry can’t let this go. Del’s goons hurt you badly. They could’ve killed you. Your husband’s fucking pissed and his anger is only growing.

Barry just returned home from acting class. He did a scene with Sally and Natalie where he played an angry character. Mr. Cousineau told Barry to think about something that gets him mad. His mind immediately went to you getting jumped by some faceless goons. Barry was so pissed off, he blacked out. He doesn’t even remember performing the scene. Afterwards Mr. Cousineau said that he did a good job.

A tense Barry walks in to find you sleeping on the couch. You fell asleep watching some movie on Netflix, which is still playing faintly in the background. Your husband takes a deep breath and his body relaxes when he sees you.

Barry doesn’t want to wake you up from your nap. You look so cozy and you need the rest. Barry knows that you haven’t been sleeping well since the attack. He hasn’t either…

Barry grabs the remote and shuts the TV off. Then, from the corner of his eye, he notices you shivering in your sleep. Barry takes the throw blanket on the couch and covers you with it.

You suddenly flinch and wake up with a jolt.

“NO! Get off of me!” you cry out.

Barry jumps back. He wasn’t expecting you to freak out like that.

You stay on the couch, anxiously running your fingers through your hair and trying to catch your breath. Barry sits down beside you and gently cups your face in his hands, trying to calm you down.

"Hey! Hey relax! It’s me. You're okay! It's just me," Barry says softly.

You’re in shock for a moment until you look into Barry's eyes.

"I'm sorry. I thought.... I…. I don't know what I was thinking..." you stutter breathlessly.

Barry pulls you into a hug. You bury your head on his shoulder and hug him back tightly. While holding you, Barry’s face just drops. He’s trying his best to be there for you but he feels himself getting angrier at the people who did this to you.

After a moment, you pull away from the hug and slowly rise to your feet.

“I’m gonna go out for a smoke,” you tell Barry. You need to clear your head.

You’re about to start walking towards the balcony when-

RING, RING, RING

You look down at your phone resting on the coffee table. It’s your handler, Diane. You have several missed calls from her. She gets annoyed when you don’t pick up.

“Shit,” you mutter to yourself.

You grab your phone and answer the call.

“Hey Diane! Sorry I missed your calls. I, uh -” you begin before getting cut off.

“You can tell me in person. I just arrived at your building. I’m walking over to your place now,” your handler informs you.

Your heart skips a beat. This can’t be happening. You never told Diane that you got beat up. You knew that she would get upset and you didn’t want her to see you like this…

“What?” you gasp.

“You’ve been MIA for days now. I know something’s up with you. I’m checking in. Okay, I’m outside. Let me in.”

Diane abruptly ends the call.

“Fuck!” you curse to yourself, tossing your phone down on the couch.

“What’s wrong?” Barry asks.

“Diane’s here,” you shrug.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK

Barry’s body tenses up once again. Your handler doesn’t like Barry. He’s bracing himself for a confrontation. You slowly limp past Barry, making your way toward the door. Barry follows closely behind.

“You should take it easy,” he tries.

You turn back to your husband and shake your head. You look so serious right now. Barry stops himself. You answer the door. Diane is in complete shock when she sees you. You’re badly bruised and look like hell.

“Y/N, what the fuck happened to you? Who did this?” Diane asks you as she lets herself in.

“It’s, uh, it’s a long story,” you shyly reply.

Diane puts her hands on her hips, rocking that power pose she does so well.

“I’ve got nothing but time. Talk to me,” Diane insists.

You reluctantly tell Diane everything. Diane is someone who always has something to say, but she’s eerily quiet as you talk about what happened. She doesn’t speak up until you finish your story.

“Those guys who jumped you… did you see their faces?” Diane questions you.

“No,” you quickly shake your head.

Diane’s eyes narrow in on you, looking you up and down.

“You’re lying,” she calls you out.

You clench your jaw and give Diane a cold, threatening look. Don’t even fucking go there.

Barry stands in the background, silently watching this conversation between you and Diane play out. He scrunches his forehead at your reaction to Diane. You told Barry that you didn’t see your attackers faces. Did she lie to me?

Diane snickers. She changes the conversation and shifts her focus to Barry.

“So all of this happened because you didn’t do a job for the cartel?”

Diane takes a step towards Barry and he steps back. He’s already pissed off. If Diane sets him off he might explode his anger out on her. He’s trying his best not to snap.

“Diane, please don’t…” you attempt to mediate the situation.

“Don’t what? I’m just stating facts here. You got beaten to a pulp because of Barry. He caused all of this,” Diane says.

You shake your head.

“Don’t do this,” you warn Diane.

Diane keeps approaching Barry.

“How could you let this happen, Barry? You can’t just say ‘no’ to a man like Del. You should’ve protected Y/N and made sure nothing was going to happen,” she yells at Barry while jabbing his chest with her fingers.

Barry’s eyes widen. He takes another step back.

“Stop it!” Barry pushes her hand away.

Diane gets right in Barry’s face.

“This is all your fault and I blame you!”

You step in between Barry and Diane, aggressively shoving your handler away from Barry.

“Hey, don’t talk to him like that! It wasn’t his fault,” you defend your husband.

“Of course it’s his fault! The only reason Del’s goons jumped you is because of Barry,” Diane scoffs.

While you and Diane argue, Barry quietly backs away from you two. He goes to the bedroom and grabs a handgun from underneath the mattress. He holds the gun up, checking if it’s loaded, as he rushes past you and Diane. You’re both so locked in the argument, you don’t even notice Barry storming out with his gun.

Barry drives off angry. He doesn’t even know where he’s going, he has no plan. He’s just pissed off and out for blood. Diane struck a nerve.

BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ

Barry feels his phone vibrating in his pocket. He pulls it out and sees that Noho Hank is calling. Barry raises his eyebrow. What the fuck does Noho Hank want?

Barry would normally ignore Noho Hank’s phone call but something in his gut is telling him not to. He puts in his earbud and answers the call.

“Hello?”

“Oh Barry! Thank sweet baby Jesus you picked up! I need you to do a job for me R-E-S-P-E-C-T. It has to be done today,” Noho Hank pleads.

Barry shrugs. Noho Hank probably meant to say ASAP but Barry doesn’t correct him.

“What job?”

“Some troll from a Mexican cartel is trying to break up my partnership with Cristobal. Cristobal thinks this guy is so suave, but he’s not even that good looking!” Noho Hank complains.

Barry’s face perks up when he hears Hank mention the cartel.

“What’s his name?” Barry asks.

“My partner’s name is Cristobal. C’mon Barry! You know this,” Noho Hank answers.

“No, not Cristobal! What’s the name of the target?” Barry asks impatiently.

“Oh his name is Del. He’s a leader in like the second largest drug cartel in Mexico,” Noho Hank explains.

Noho Hank continues going on about Cristobal and Del, but Barry isn’t listening. His mind is racing. From everything Hank said, the target sounds like the same guy who ordered the attack on you.

“I don’t even know what Cristobal sees in-”

“I’ll do the hit,” Barry interrupts Noho Hank.

Barry hears Noho Hank let out a sigh of relief.

“And that’s why you’re best assassin in all of America.”

Barry rolls his eyes. That’s far from the truth…

“Where’s Del? I can do this right now.”

“He’s flying to LA. He’ll be landing on a private airstrip in a few hours. You know the place,” Noho Hank tells Barry.

Barry nods. It must be the same private airfield where he was supposed to take out Cristobal. He can sniper Del from a distance as soon as he gets off the plane.

“Yeah, I’ll let you know when it’s done.”

Barry ends the call with Hank.

Fuck! Barry realizes that he only has his handgun on him. This job is going to require a lot more than that. He needs to go home and get his sniper rifle. Barry turns the car around and heads back to your place.

BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ

Barry’s phone starts vibrating once again. He looks down to see who’s calling. It’s you. He immediately answers.

“Y/N?!”

“Barry! Where are you? Are you okay?” you ask. You sound worried.

“I’m fine. I’m just driving around. I needed to get out of there…” Barry says.

“I’m so sorry! Diane shouldn’t have said those nasty things,” you apologize.

Barry takes a deep breath, staying quiet for a beat.

“But she was right. It was my fault,” he sighs.

“No, no, no. Babe, I don’t blame you for what happened,” you reply.

Barry shrugs.

“I kicked Diane out. She’s gone now. Please come home,” you try.

“I’m already on my way,” he tells you, and then, “Did you really see those guys’ faces? Was Diane right about that too?”

You take a deep breath, trying to figure out the right words to say. You told your husband that you didn’t see their faces because you didn’t want him to go after them. You were trying to protect Barry.

“Yeah. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lied to you… I just… I don’t want them to hurt you like they hurt me…” you quietly admit.

Barry’s heart sinks.

“I’ll be alright. But, uh, I need to tell you something. Don’t freak out! Noho Hank called and he hired me to kill Del…”

You gulp.

“Are you sure it’s the same-”

“It’s him,” Barry assures you.

“Okay,” you sigh, “And Noho Hank? He’s one of the Chechens, right?”

“Well yeah, but this job isn’t for them. It’s for Hank. Del is trying to interfere in his partnership with Cristobal,” Barry explains.

You shrug. You don’t know any of these people and you don’t want to. You only care about Barry. You feel uneasy about this job but you’re not going to fight your husband about it.

“I’m coming with you.”

Barry’s jaw drops.

“Really?!”

“Yeah. We should do this together,” you answer.

You wanted so badly to just move on from everything that happened but you haven’t been able to. Then you had that fight with Diane. She got you riled up. Now you’re starting to believe that you can’t move on from this without getting closure. You want revenge.

“Okay. I’ll be back home in a few minutes,” Barry tells you.

“I’ll get the rifle ready,” you reply.

Barry picks you up and you drive to the private airfield together. When you arrive, Barry takes you on top of a hill right next to the airstrip. It’s a great hiding spot. Barry will be able to get the perfect shot.

The two of you wait for a couple of hours before you hear a plane flying overhead. Barry gets himself in position with his rifle as the plane lands.

You’re watching with a pair of binoculars. You didn’t bring your own gun because your arm and shoulder are still pretty fucked up from your attack. You’re not one hundred percent sure you could make the shot.

Two henchmen get off the plane first. You let out a small audible gasp, recognizing them almost immediately. Barry is focusing on his scope but hears your reaction when the first two men step out. He puts the pieces together.

“Are those the guys that jumped you?” he asks in a low, serious voice.

“Yeah,” you quietly answer, “The guy on the left lashed me with that belt he’s-”

Barry pulls the trigger before you even have a chance to finish the sentence. He shoots Del, who just stepped off the plane, first. Then he shoots the two goons. He shoots one of them in the head, killing him instantly. He shoots the man that you called out in the kneecap. He falls to the ground screaming in pain. Barry wanted this guy to suffer. After a beat, he shoots the goon in the head.

You can’t help but let out a small smile. You turn to your husband, giving him an appreciative nod. Barry looks at you and his face softens.

“Let’s go.”

#barry #barry hbo #barry berkman #bill hader #barry berkman imagine #barry berkman x reader #barry berkman x hitman!wife #bbhw

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