Just to make you feel better Ann, I don't know how many Hairstreaks you've seen, but they ALL do that rubbing their wings together thing. Whenever they sit still, the rub their wings back and forth. So it had nothing to do with his wing being torn, it's just a natural behavior for them. I can't remember exactly why they do it, or if I ever read why they do it. But it's super common. I always think it's fun to watch them rub them back and forth. It might be to fool predators. You know, they have those tails and eyespots near their tails so predators get confused as to which end is up. So the rubbing of the wings might make it look like the false eyespots are the head moving around when really their actual head is holding still. Just a thought. But it's totally normal.
And butterflies lose large parts of their wings and still fly around and act normal so I think they get along just fine. Even in the flight cage where we protect them from most of nature, the butterflies still get old and worn out. The color fades, the Swallowtails lose their tails, and some of them parts of their wings. They still fly just fine and I've seen some even in the wild that I couldn't believe were still flying. I kind of like having a few damaged ones at the museum so I can tell people, "This is why we don't touch the butterflies!" If I had a nickel for every time I've said that...
