I'm not exactly an expert on Rip Hunter (property of DC), so this is based on my knowledge of 52 and the Booster Gold series.
Warning: if you don't like slash, this fic is not for you. I can't help writing it, you don't have to read it, I perfectly understand. If you do like slash, I hope you enjoy, even if you don't like the pairing.
My apologies for any bad writing.
'The hardest thing to understand', thought Rip, 'is people'.
Rip Hunter had a brief moment of time alone before Booster Gold got back, giving him a moment's piece, and yet all he could think about was Booster.
Time was easy to understand, once you stopped thinking about it in terms of mechanics, like the ticks of a clock. Endlessly counting down the minutes, day after day, year after year, that was how Rip used to think about time. Time, he now knew, was more... organic than that. Time was the moments, the moments in history when everything changes, the moments that start a chain of events, the important points in somebody's life. Time was Booster asking him to save Ted Kord. Time was Booster wandering into Rip's lab, aware that something was wrong with it. Time was Rip discovering a time traveler looking to make his name for himself in the past.
Rip never told Michael, but he had long been aware of his activities. The past, present and future was his job, after all. Rip remembered being fascinated by such a simple desire. Booster's plan had been thus:
1) Steal security droid.
2) Steal equipment for superpowers.
3) Go back in time.
4) Become Superhero.
5) ?
6) Profit!
Rip smiled, aware that repairing and talking to Skeets so often was giving him the little robot's internet-based sense of humor. Rip loved Skeet's sense of humor. But more than that, Rip loved Booster's sense of humor.
Booster hadn't been laughing so much lately, ever since Ted died. Thinking about Booster hung up about Ted made his stomach squirm.
'No, no way,' thought Rip, sitting up.
It wasn't logical. Of course Booster would miss his best friend, right? But Rip had suspicions that they were more than friends. There! His heart had tightened.
"That isn't possible," he whispered to himself.
He was jealous.
Rip Hunter was jealous of Ted Kord.
Why?
The answer that had so long evaded him suddenly became clear.
"My god, I'm in love with Michael."
How could he not have noticed? He knew that he had the ability to change solid time, so why did he tell Booster there was no way of saving Ted? Because he didn't want Booster to save Ted. He told himself it was the ramifications to the timestream, but what if - what if it was something more personal? What if he knew that if Ted came back, Rip would be shoved to the side.
Even though the universe was in danger, Rip had loved working with 'Supernova' and when Time was in danger again, he could have turned to someone else. But he didn't. He went to Michael.
Because he loved him.
The idea was absurd, and Rip, for the first time in ages, burst into laughter, stopping just as Booster came back, beaten and bruised from trying to save Babara Gordon yet again.
Rip suddenly felt ashamed of himself, and sorry for Booster. Maybe if he had realized his feelings earlier he wouldn't have gone too far. He had to tell Booster to stop.
'Moments in time', he thought sadly, 'I'll remember this one, and regret it.'
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
This is a fan-theory folks, I have no proof.