Barry couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was bad enough that this was yet another person who only saw his worth in terms of his role as the Flash, in terms of what he could do for the greater good. Len had been trying his hardest to convince him that he was allowed to be happy, to put himself first sometimes, but it was hard to unlearn a lifetime of feeling like he had to be what other people wanted if he didn't want to lose them. It didn't help that most of his life had involved people discounting his opinion, writing it off as wrong because they so obviously knew better. Hearing this was just another reminder that his life wasn't really about him. That, at the end of the day, his happiness didn't matter as much as the greater good. That what he thought and what he wanted didn't really matter to anyone else.
And he could have handled that. He could have. It sucked and it was exhausting and disheartening, but he'd heard it before. But listening to Hunter talk about Len, hearing him completely dismiss a member of his own team, as if he had absolutely no worth or relevance beyond his usefulness to the supposed timeline, made Barry want to punch him. Len was a good person, in spite of all the damage his past had left and how much he didn't think he deserved happiness, and he deserved better than that. Without even really thinking about it, Barry moved across the room until he was in front of Rip and, remembering what Eddie had taught him back in the day, punched him hard in the jaw.
"Shut up," he snapped. "Just...shut up." He was holding on to his composure by a thread and he was nearly shaking with how angry he was. "You don't get to come into our home and talk about Len like he's anything less than extraordinary. He came on your mission because he wanted to help. To make a difference. To do something good. And you have done nothing but treat him like he's worthless, when you're not exploiting his skills. You don't get to comment on our choices. Not when this whole crusade, which is getting people killed and making the timeline worse from everything I've seen, is based on your selfish motivations. You can dress it up that this is about stopping Savage and making things better, but at the end of the day you don't care about the damage you do as long as you get your family back."
He took a shaky breath. "I love Len," he said, "because he makes me happy. He sees me. Not the Flash. Me. In a way nobody else does. He's one of the only people who remembers I'm a person under that suit. And he makes me better. He challenges me. He forces me to work harder and be smarter and push myself. And if you don't think I can accomplish whatever it is you think I'm going to do with my life, then you're more of an idiot than I thought you were. So if you have a problem with this, or you have a problem with him, then you can take that opinion and shove it up your ass, Captain."