do you ever think about how leonard starts out calling barry “barry” even though we frequently see him referring to other characters by their last name because using barry’s first name—his nickname, even—is such an effective way to rub it in his face that he know who barry is, knows about his life and his friends and family
but leonard never actually uses that leverage, he doesn’t even tell lisa, and so “barry” goes from an explicit threat to an empty threat to… barry’s nickname
and leonard can’t just be calling barry by the same nickname that his friends and family use. it sounds too much like he is barry’s friend or family. which he’s not.
and it’s so much more glaring because barry is still calling him “snart” like they’re acquaintances at best, while leonard is locked into calling him “barry” like he thinks they’re BFFs
but obviously he’s far too stubborn to clumsily retreat to “allen” to put them back on even ground, so he pivots to mockingly calling barry “the flash” even to his face, even when they’re alone with the masks off (like in infantino street: he greets him with “hello, flash,” “the flash, a thief?” “the flash should remain a hero”)
but interestingly he’s still “barry” when leonard is asking him to save him from king shark. he’s “barry” when leonard is talking him down from killing in cold blood. leonard is always so intentional about the way he uses barry’s names, it is such an interesting contrast to the way barry used leonard’s
(barry, who, of course, improvised calling leonard “lenny” one time, and two people got shot over it. barry was one of them.)