Len didn't really have time to react when Barry hauled off and punched the time master. Not that he would have stopped him anyway, but it still surprised him given that Barry wasn't the one between the two of them who tended towards violence. But that wasn't even what really threw him. Love was not a word Leonard Snart was the type to exchange. He barely even said it to Lisa and there wasn't a thing he wouldn't do for his baby sister when it came to her well being. But there was Barry Allen, the Flash, proclaiming without so much as a stutter that he loved him.
A rage of expressions crossed his face in quick succession and he was suddenly glad the two other men in the room were at least temporarily honed into each other so he could pull back some of his usual composure. His mind stopped running over those three words, I love Len, long enough to catch the bulk of what Rip had to say and he was frowning again, eyes narrowed. It was a very good thing that Rip hadn't responded in kind with a return hit because he might have ended up with a cold gun to the face, or worse. Len was less compromising when it came to hurting the people he cared about, but he knew better than most that words could hurt as badly or worse than fists and weapons sometimes.
He pushed himself off the couch and put himself into Barry's space, in between the two of them because even if Rip maybe deserved another punch for that last bit, it wasn't the time or the place and antagonizing the Captain would only justify more harsh words.
"You don't get to say that, Rip." His words came out icy, and maybe a little bit dangerous. Very much Cold rather than Leonard but people tended to listen when that was the case. "Not when we both know ending Savage means you get to get to be happy too," he reached to his side as he said it and made contact with Barry's arm, just something to reassure him because he knew the value of simple touch.
"I'm not a hero, but I know what one is. Barry's not going to stop being the Flash because of me. I wouldn't let him. But we don't get to decide what makes him happy. He does. His happiness is not expendable either." The word came out like a curse as he stepped further into the Captain's space, because he was so tired of hearing it in reference to anyone on the team. Even if Rip had clarified that Len himself wasn't the disposable one.
"And if you so much as suggest that my partner was ever expendable one more time I'll do a lot worse than a punch. Mick deserved better from you and he deserved better from me. From all of us. I have to live with what I did but I'm done letting you or anyone else influence what I decide to do about people I care about. You should leave. Now. Before this reception gets any colder." He could maybe forgive some of the Captain's tendencies towards being an asshole given he was motivated by family. But not when he crossed the line when it came to the people Len actually cared about. Barry was one of those people now, for however long this place would let him have it.