It struck Barry very belatedly that he'd just hit someone. In the face. Thankfully, he hadn't channeled any of his speed into the punch or that could have been very bad. He was just glad that Rip hadn't elected to hit back. Not, as some might think, because he couldn't take a hit. He was actually pretty good at that and would have recovered quickly. But he knew Len, and he knew how protective he was when it came to people he cared about. He'd watched him kill his father for hurting Lisa. And while he didn't really think he rated quite so highly in terms of Len's affections, he still had a feeling that Len might have actually killed Captain Hunter if the Time Master had raised a hand against him.
Except it sort of felt like he'd been punched. Rip saying that his happiness wasn't important caused him to freeze up, feeling numb and a little sick. He couldn't quite keep the reaction from showing on his face. He was mostly good at managing his insecurities, but the idea that he didn't matter outside of the Flash was one thing he had a hard time with. He'd sacrificed so much for the job, had given up relationships with people he'd cared about and pushed aside so much of himself for the greater good. And he knew that he would continue to do so. It was like Oliver had said. Guys like them didn't get the happy ending. But hearing someone flat out say that it didn't matter if he was happy, that his happiness was completely inconsequential so long as he did what the world needed, hurt more than he had ever expected it to.
He almost didn't register Len stepping between them, except that he was always at least half aware of Len's proximity to him, until he felt his boyfriend's hand on his arm. He appreciated the contact, particularly given Len's general aversion to touching people when it wasn't necessary, and it snapped him out of the slight daze he'd slipped into. Taking a breath, he reached down and squeezed his boyfriend's hand. He was fine. Or he would be. Especially with Len right there next to him, standing up for him in a way that made him love him that much more.
"Maybe you don't get it, Captain Hunter," he said quietly. "But I'm the Flash. I'm always going to be the Flash. And my personal life doesn't change that. A time traveling megalomaniac trying to kill me and altering the entire timeline didn't change that. Eobard Thawne killed my mother, got my father put in prison, changed everything about my life before I got my powers, made me the Flash five years earlier than I would have been in the original timeline, killed people who would have otherwise survived, including his own ancestor and Ronnie Raymond, and generally risked breaking everything, and that still didn't stop me from doing whatever it is I'm meant to do. And if the Time Masters didn't see the need to step in to stop that, in spite of the massive risk to the timeline, I don't see where you get off commenting on my relationship. It won't change things. I think you just hate the idea of anyone being less miserable than you."
His grip on Len's hand tightened slightly, trying to give his boyfriend some comfort in return. What Captain Hunter had said about Mick had been completely out of line. "Nobody on your team should be expendable," he said, still trying to process how anyone could think that. "And it's screwed up that you think that way. Your team deserves better from you. Hell, they deserve better than you. And if you keep thinking that way, you will lose. Not because you don't have an amazingly capable team who can help you do what you need, but because why would they want to when you clearly don't value them." He looked Hunter dead in the eye and forced himself to remain as calm as possible. "So, like we both said, you really should leave before you make this worse for yourself."