There were a lot of words and Bruce heard every one of them, he moved the pieces around in his head, because he was a genius and he could do that while also having a mild freak out. Barnes was being blamed for the murder of the king who forced the accords, Rogers just lost someone and was clearly not going to lose another, Tony was just trying to keep everything from exploding while the others reacted emotionally, it made a patchwork amount of sense. With a few questions still, about who was really moving the chess board.

But Bruce was full of trauma, mountains of it, and there were only a few words that could trigger him absolutely. The Thaddeus fucking Ross? Pounded through his head like Tony was screaming it. He froze and his face went completely white. "How did ... why was he there?" They were quiet words at first, he was trying to add the pieces in. "The army, they'd have a reason. He had a lot to gain from all of this, he was probably behind it." That was Bruce really mostly talking to himself, as if talking to himself would remind him that Thaddeus fucking Ross was not anywhere nearby. Maybe he had showed up, hoping to find Bruce. He thought he could use Tony against him.

"Sorry, sorry," he shook his head, fingers tight on Tony's arm and then relaxed. He was not going to let Ross wreck his chances at being a good friend. He could ask those questions after. He wasn't questioning why Tony was dealing with Ross. Yet. "Sorry, this is your story, keep going."