i’m making that zoya/mal gifset and I LOVE THEM SO MUCH?! as a couple but not even as a couple, as characters. truly my two faves. because it’s amazing how they both basically play second fiddle and they are cool with it.
they are the supporting roles of the main hero/villain, alina and darkling. mal will always come second after alina, he is her friend, lover, her shield, her home but people will never look at him twice. she is the important one, she is sankta alina. zoya plays the same part for darkling, he uses her in more ways than one and than trades her off for newer model - alina. zoya loves him and wants him to love her or at least want her back but he doesn’t, so she settles. she wants to be loved and she is loyal to him unconditionaly (until he of couse, kills her family)
but you see, that could’ve been very well mal’s life as well. the only difference is that alina loves him back. they are both strong characters with their own journeys and powers and arcs and yet...
and that’s why i think that, ironically, in a world where alina would choose darkling or really where she isn’t an option, zoya/mal would work. they are driven, action forward, funny and flirty, bitchy and mean and they’d find comfort in each other.