I think the reason vandermatthews is such a good ship (esp my interpretation/au) is because it’s that one “sun and moon” post. The "quiet lonely moon x harsh passionate sun" one.
Hosea is the moon. He is the calm in the storm that is the Van Der Linde gang. He supports everyone, knows everything, and though he may be alone in some of his opinions, although he does tend to be kind of grumpy, he truly cares and has a patience for people, especially Dutch, that is hard to find.
Dutch is the sun. He is bright, loud, the leader. He has goals and hopes and dreams, and he has since before he met Hosea. He genuinely cares about his gang, his family. However, his desire for true freedom slowly consumes him.
Hosea meets Dutch decades before rdr2, and probably fell in love with Dutch's enthusiasm and ambition. Dutch was the ringmaster. Hosea was the rock, the supporter. He joined Dutch as his partner in crime, and they built their family together.
As time went on, though, Dutch becomes more desperate. He wants more money, more freedom, and slowly sees people less as his family and more as his tools (Arthur being the errand boy, John being left behind in ch. 6, etc).
Did it hurt? For Hosea to watch his lover, his best friend, be slowly consumed by the idea of this thing he's been chasing all this time? To watch as bridges were burned in the pursuit of the life Hosea once wanted for the both of them?
Dutch is the sun; he is bright, powerful, the gang flocks to him for warmth and security, and he is slowly burning out. Hosea is the moon; his light is calmer, but still influential, keeping things running like the moon does with the tide. And the moon is forced to watch his lover burn out and take everything down with him.
