Tony knows what the team really thinks of him. It's a delicate balance: they tolerate him because of his money and his toys, and he gets to stay on the team and fight with them. He's okay with that. So long as he hides the fact that Steve's and Bucky's names are written on his skin in the most embarrassing act of one-sided love affection ever, everything will be fine.
It just figures that a fantastically stupid villain, a kidnapping plot and a video camera will bring Tony's well-kept secret out into the open.
In a world where your soulmate's favorite color appears on your skin when they are injured, Tony Stark is born with grey-- the color that appears when your soulmate is incapacitated or dead-- across his body.
Although rescuing his soulmates, Steve and Bucky, isn’t new, Tony never planned for them to find out he's the one helping them, much less catch him in the act.
He certainly didn't expect them to ever want him back.
HYDRA need a replacement for Zola’s genius, and they have years worth of experience breaking and brainwashing a good man into something they can control.