Implyingi said:Ok, here's my take on things so far... (Skip below if you want a TL;DR)
Zero Two and Hiro don't work together (as a couple) and here's why I think that.
Zero Two doesn't see Hiro as a person, just her darling and there's a good reason for that. From the onset of the anime we've been presented with the premise that Zero Two and Hiro need each other as they complete each other, they are two halves of the same whole if you will. Zero Two is compatible with one other and it's Hiro. This is something Zero Two has been seeking for a long time, all those partners dead, the way people perceive her, it's all very sad and it's clearly had an impact on her mental state. Her desire to find the partner that won't die and allow her to be free is found in Hiro and to that end she has her eternal love, her "Darling".
Hiro is the other side of this parallel, Hiro perceives himself (as so do the majority) a failure. He has been raised to be a Franxx pilot something that is drilled into them form an early age, this however is seemingly the one thing he cannot do despite trying. Repeated failures and consequences of those have left him weak and down heartened. Here he meets Zero Two, a beautiful girl who is unlike any person he has seen before. Over the episodes that follow Hiro discovers his compatibility, manages to pilot and through Zero Two he is given the one thing he has striven for; piloting a Franxx to please Papa and help his friends and all through Zero Two, his missing piece if you will.
Here's the thing, turns out accomplishing that one thing you've been told to do is just that, an accomplished goal. Beyond piloting Hiro has become to feel for Zero Two and wishes to truly be by her side. He has seen different aspects of her personality, including times of weakness and wants to devote himself to this person. He has grown and gotten over the aspect of "I need to succeed piloting Franxx because I've been told that's what I'm supposed to do" and has progressed into developing his own reasons for doing that. Not because he is told but because he wants to be with Zero Two.
Zero Two has come to no such revelation, in-fact she doesn't (in my opinion) look at Hiro as a person but more of the goal of which she has been seeking, now obtained and nothing will take that goal away from her. Hiro "belongs" to Zero Two. Across these episodes there isn't dialogue in which Zero Two and Hiro communicate as people, they only speak of their wishes, goals, desires and alike, their entire romance dynamic is very fake feeling because of this.
Dr. Mech-Face Ossan (apologies I forget his name) even states in this episode not to give his emotions to Zero two because they will be eaten and my interpretation of that (and there might and probably will be many different meanings to that statement, both actual and metaphorical) is that falling in love or wishing to be loved by Zero Two isn't an outcome that can happen. Not the way Zero Two is as of right now anyway.
It's common for childhood friends to get cucked in anime and it's probably the same here but at this point Ichigo is winning the brownie points in the Hirobowl.
Closing thoughts: This could all change and I truly hope it does with as little heartbreak as possible. This is the first episode in which we see what I believe to be desire for Zero Two to fit in with the group (her staring at them from afar and having fun together). Perhaps she'll gain some humanity and realize her situation with Hiro and her treating of others up to this point has been nothing but somewhat cruel, especially if she feels no true sense of love for Hiro.
TL;DR
Zero Two is just using Hiro and the Dr's warning may actually be literal as she doesn't see him as a love interest but just means of achieving her goals.
Or maybe I'm just talking out of my ass, idk. Thoughts anyone?
what makes we wonder was the way she talked about the kiss and how its for someone special while at the same time denying hiro the kiss. It feels like she is a child playing with a toy, just that the toy is hiro