Because You Were Nice to Me in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- In Ace Of Spades, this is part of the reason why Harry Potter becomes obsessed with Jim Gordon-because he was nice to Harry when he visited Arkham.
- In Avengers: Infinite Wars, during Wanda's time on Dathomir, she earns the interest and friendship of Ros Lai, daughter of the evil Queen Zalem, as one of the few people on the planet to treat Ros kindly despite her apparent deformity.
- A Bad Name: The Merchants were willing to help Peter out while he was struggling to survive on the streets as a homeless bum. After he Triggers and gains The Gamer's powers, he decides to stick with the group and return the favor.
- Fates Collide:
- Elizabeth Bathory befriends Ruby Rose and helps her shop for new clothes because Ruby called her cool. No one had ever called her cool before.
- Jack the Ripper becomes attached to Mercury Black because he helped open a food container for her while she had a broken arm.
- In the sequel, Lost to Dust, Miyamoto Musashi visited Adam Taurus in prison and gave him food. She’s the only human he likes.
- Hild had been toying with Ranma for her own amusement in Hell Is a Martial Artist with the intention of one day breaking him and remolding her into a succubus. But all of that changed and she started genuinely caring for Ranma after he made her a Mother's Day card.
- This actually plays both ways, as the above was given because Hild showed far more interest and concern than anyone else involved in his life. Just as Kami-sama planned.
- I'm Nobody: Tali decides to stick with Roxas and give him a tour around the Citadel (and answer all his never-ending questions on subjects that should be common knowledge and can be answered by a tourist guide VI) is because he was the only one who cared enough to help her when she was fatally injured.
- Deconstructed in Mad World (Invader Zim). Because Nny treats Dib nicely, Dib is blind to the obvious clues that Nny is the homicidal maniac he was investigating when they met.
- This is a recurring theme in the Infinity Train: Blossomverse
- Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail: Lexi joins Chloe Cerise on her trip across the Train because she took a kettle of hot water — that he accidentally sent flying into the air — for him. Amelia later joins because Chloe is the first person to forgive her for all of her mistakes.
- Infinity Train: Voyage of Wisteria: Goh Fujihachi has been a complete funk through to what happened in Blossoming Trail, but thanks to a friendly mouse-like music in Warbler, he agrees to let her become his denizen partner on the Train.
- Infinity Train: Seeker of Crocus has the biggest number of this.
- Augustine Sycamore saving the father of the Silver Lycan who will become Vaillant, gives him a loyal denizen partner. He also convinces his Shadow to redeem himself — despite said Shadow having brainwashed Augustine to kill his partners.
- Like in Blossoming Trail, Chloe Cerise obtains Lexi and Amelia this way. She also gains a Mirage Pokémon partner in Hewie because of how she freed him and the other Pokémon from Dr. Yung's control.
- This is discussed between Easter and London in regard to Specter. In his series, Specter was loyal to Ryoken because Ryoken took him in when he could no longer go back to his home and his mother tree was cut down during the six months he was in the Lost Incident. However, in regards to the Infinity Train, Specter has shown to be close to London because London was willing to sacrifice himself during a trip in the Fog Car (and face the ire of Pyramid Head) in the hopes that Specter could eventually escape and have a chance to go home.
- Lucina Reacts: Tharja gives this as the reason she pursues Robin constantly after Libra shuts down her other excuses. Vivi and Velvet also figure out that Tharja has other reasons for it apart from their own.
- The Many Dates of Danny Fenton:
- The girls who have issues begin to have an interest in Danny because he's not giving them trouble and acts considerate to them.
- Violet Parr was broken up over her relationship with Tony ending that she regressed to how she acted in the first film, but Danny being respectful and cheering her up helps not only give her back her confidence but fall for him.
- Jen Masterson went from dismissive of Danny to falling for him after he denies that she was part of a prank to get back at Dash so that she didn't get in trouble.
- A platonic example would be Buttons. After Danny stands up for him against the typical ungratefulness of his owners, the large dog becomes friends with Danny and later tries to help him against Katie at the carnival.
- The mime from Animaniacs is so used to bad things happening to him that, because Danny pushed him out of the way of a falling anvil, he helps keep Danny safe from Katie.
- Danny learns Ami Mizuno has feelings for Ben Tennyson because he was nice to her on their blind date and even openly supported her desire to be a doctor, as well as trusting her with knowledge on the Omnitrix. This makes Danny actively support the two.
- The girls who have issues begin to have an interest in Danny because he's not giving them trouble and acts considerate to them.
- The Maribat AU frequently positions Damien as somebody who actually cares about Marinette as a person, and is willing to hear her side of the story rather than blindly accepting Lila's Blatant Lies and Malicious Slander as fact. This fuels her growing attachment to him, as she's far too used to dealing with Fair-Weather Friends and useless adults.
- The New Recruit: Matt Garretty, by the time Agent Coulson finds him, has been on the run and scared out of his mind for the last nine days. Coulson, quickly recognizing that Matt's just a scared kid and not some supervillain in the works, calms him down and buys him the first decent meal he's had in a while. This gets Matt to tell Coulson exactly what happened in Seattle, and it's implied that this is why he agrees to join SHIELD.
- New Stars:
- The Orville crew decides to bring an unconscious mystery soldier aboard for medical treatment because he saved the lives of Marcus and Ty Finn, only getting hurt while defending them.
- The entire time he's on board the Orville, Maxx is treated with nothing but respect and kindness... something he's not used to receiving from anyone but Jedi and other clones. As a result, he's more than willing to help them however he can, and ultimately sacrifices his one chance to get back to the Republic to help Kelly, John, Isaac, and Talla get out of a collapsing Krill base.
- Peter Parker Needs A Hug: The second after he gets to Gotham, Peter Parker stops a criminal from beating up an old man (holding the criminal off until Red Hood shows up). The old man is the owner of a nearby diner and hires Peter as a dishwasher to thank him.
- Basically the reason Elle and Bella end up bonding in the Resurgence Series, as they helped each other during their time trapped in Pinehearst.
- In Say It Thrice, Lydia's persistent kindness to Betelgeuse ultimately wins his complete loyalty.
- Shadows over Meridian: Jade makes it clear that the only reason she's freeing Phobos is because that's what Raythor wants, and Raythor was the only one to treat her with any kindness after she arrived on Meridian.
- One of the main reasons Bill Cipher changes in A Triangle in the Stars. Steven was the only one who stuck by his side and was genuinely kind and understanding to him through and through. Everyone else either hated him, suspected him and wanted him dead at one point, saw him as a boss, or perhaps merely took pity upon him. No wonder Bill came to care for the boy so much.
- It's also the reason Kryptos and Hectorgon were spared all those years ago. They were the only ones who were and remained nice to Bill.
- A Slayer Transformed
opens with Faith Lehane (currently travelling from Boston to Sunnydale after the death of her Watcher) saving Optimus Prime from a demon attack, sustaining serious wounds in the process. In gratitude for her efforts, Optimus brings her to the Autobot base for medical attention. - In When Demon Hunters Meet the Arrow, this is basically why Ra's al Ghul decides to leave Thea Queen alone despite knowing that she's Malcolm Merlyn's daughter. While League tradition would normally demand that Malcolm's family pay for his sins after he betrayed them, after Team Arrow went to such trouble to create fake evidence that Thea isn't Malcolm's daughter, the sight of Malcolm basically going insane from rage as Thea rejects him as her father and dismantles his company and fortune to rebuild the Glades is so amusing to Ra's that he decides he'll spare Thea.
- In With Grace And Elegance, Himawari Hayashida refuses to pressure her newly-found granddaughter into learning Sensha-do in spite of her desperate need to find a successor that won't dismantle everything she built with the reformations. After a lifetime of people forcing her into various kinds of martial arts without taking her opinion into account, Ranma is so genuinely moved and grateful for her grandmother giving her a choice that she seriously considers becoming the heiress Himawari needs.
- The Plantar Family Pet:
- Despite thinking that Anne was just a wild animal, Sprig tried his best to take her feelings into consideration and care for her as best he could. Due to this, Anne becomes incredibly protective of him, to the point that she's willing to take on a killer wasp and even her friend Sasha in order to keep him safe.
- Maddie is the first amphibian who's genuinely kind to Marcy, which slowly and surely earns her trust even after all the horrific things she endured. In turn, Marcy becomes the first person who's genuinely interested in Maddie's witchcraft, something that excites her enough that she makes Marcy her apprentice.
- The Hurricane:
- Oliver Queen ultimately prevents his half-sister Emiko from being a future threat by visiting her and revealing that Robert wanted her family to receive support, openly stating that even if her mother was the mistress to a married man Emiko herself didn't do anything wrong. While Emiko isn't willing to forgive everything Robert did, Oliver's words inspire her to abandon her vendetta against the Queens, recognising that Oliver's words reflect how he and Thea didn't do anything to her either and it's unfair to condemn them for Moira's neglect of Emiko and her mother.
- Basically the reason Ra's releases Laurel from the League of Assassins; while she disobeyed his orders by approaching Batman for aid, considering that her actions saved the entire League from being "Jokerized", he acknowledges that she was never a good fit for life in the League and declares that she will receive a complete release from them.
- Chronicles of the Siren War: Commander Thorson gains the loyalties and affections of numerous kansen thanks to him showing them genuine compassion, unlike the factions the kansen served under who treated them like weapons and discarded them when they are no longer of use to them.
- In Blue Fire and Boiling Water, Azula gets trapped with a nonbending Earth Kingdom soldier named Thuy under a bunch of rocks and is seriously injured when she was 11 years old. Thuy freely admits to hating the Fire Nation Royal Family, but he's not willing to let a terrified and injured child suffer so he comforts her and gives her food while they wait for rescue. When Thuy mentions that the Fire Nation soldiers who came to rescue Azula would imprison him for life, if not kill him instantly, Azula decides she'll save the man who provided her stability and comfort when he had no real reason to. The rescuers unknowingly create a gap in the rocks near Thuy, and Azula blasts a few rocks out of the way which ensures he’s able to safely escape.
- In Assassin's Keeper, Rock saves a pair of children from some thugs who got the drop on them. After Hansel and Gretel kill the thugs in question, Rock buys them pizza and ice cream, winning their loyalty. In the end, Rock adopts them both, and Balalaika agrees to spare them so long as they stay the hell away from her and her men.
- Ichigo insists Ukitake be sparred by Ulquiorra in The Defeated because she was the one of the only Soul Reapers to show him any kindness. He tries to avoid fighting Kenpachi for the same reason, but the latter insists on their rematch, forcing Ichigo to kill him.
- Heirverse: Aizen/Gin, Aizen/Orihime and Ulq/Orihime all count.
- In Waking Dream, this is the entire reason Diva fell in love with Reeve Roswell: he was the first human who ever treated her with any genuine kindness.
- The premise of He Can't See It is Xander accidentally running into Marcie in a dark room and befriending her, resulting in the invisible girl devoting herself to helping him (by pretending to be his telekinetic powers). Unfortunately, new friend or not, she's still highly unstable and goes too far with her attempts to help him by crippling a couple bullies.
- Worlds Apart (Buffy) sees this approach somewhat backfire, when Angel’s efforts to help Faith result in her developing a semi-warped attraction to him even though she knows he's with Buffy (and doesn't know that Wesley was able to arrange for Angel's soul to be anchored so the clause isn't an issue). This makes Angel uncomfortable when he realises that part of the plan to pretend he’s reverted back to Angelus would require him to respond to Faith's advances.
- In Semper Ad Meliora, this seems to be a running theme with Lelouch and his followers.
- He elevated Jeanne to his personal aide despite her gender (Euro-Britannia being more conservative in that regard than the mainland) and is generally very nice to her overall.
- He not only allowed Kallen to serve under him, he also helped her sort out a delicate situation involving her father which earned him her heart.
- Lelouch took in the Shinozaki Clan and later all of the Shinobi still in existence when they were exiled due to ideological differences with the Japanese government, earning their undying loyalty.
- As for Jaeger and Hashima, he permitted the former to serve under him despite being utterly mad, and so far, Jaeger has been nothing but help to his cause, with Hashima sticking around due to loyalty to Jaeger.
- A New Hope (Danganronpa): This is hinted to be the reason that Mikan falls for Hajime and Chiaki. After a lifetime of getting bullied and abused by everyone, Mikan is touched that the two of them are nothing but kind and supportive of her.
- Danny Phantom: Stranded: Danny treating Star respectfully despite her status at the time in the A-List causes a shift in her character, which leads to her turning a new leaf and falling for him.
- Lady Lucks Favor:
- During Danny's first encounter with Desiree, he learns she has to grant any wish she hears and wishes that she could choose which ones to grant. Though initially Desiree merely befriends him, she later admits to Spectra that she's fallen in love with Danny as a result.
- Similarly, because Danny catches Spectra before she can do much damage, he's willing to help her and uses Desiree's powers to wish Spectra could feed off both positive and negative emotions (previously, she could only feed on negative ones), earning her friendship as well.
- Princess Dorathea falls in love with Danny because he talks to her nicely after their initial fight, comforts her, and takes her to the school dance as a substitute for the ball she was forced to miss.
- In A Charmed Life Light is genuinely grateful to Ryuk for dropping his notebook and just for being there. Also because Light is nice to Ryuk, Ryuk goes out of his way to make sure that Light is safe and happy.
- In Everyone Deserves A Christmas Gift because Light Yagami was nice to Ryuk and gets him a Christmas present Ryuk grants him Godhood.
- In Solitude, Light has always been alone and never had a peer he could relate to before he met L, and because L was nice to Light Light ultimately gives up on Kira, the notebook, and his plan to kill L.
- Those Who Stand for Nothing Fall for Anything: According to B, because of L's poor relationship with his father "if you show [L] the slightest sign of affection, he's loyal to you for life."
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
- Blade of Demon Salvation: Tanjiro, upon seeing the Spider Demon Mother (who is later given the name Ito) surrender, chooses to spare her life and offer her a chance to live without having to eat humans. Seeing Tanjiro's sincere kindness and mercy leads the demon to accept his offer and later help Genya take Tanjiro to Tamayo's clinic. This also makes Tanjiro a Morality Pet to her, as she goes out of her way to avoid killing humans despite having the opportunity to do so in order to make her escape easier because it would mean betraying his trust.
- It’s revealed late in the fan novel Echoes in the Deep that Emily and Tarick's relationship is built on this: When Emily is transported back in time to Tarick's childhood, she stops a vendor from beating the Street Urchin, gives him food, and, as he's taken away by cultists, assures young Tarick she’ll help him if he finds her in the future. For the first gift of kindness received in his miserable life, Tarick pined for Emily as the Outsider for 4000 years until she was born.Tarick: I have been curious for the longest time, how does it feel to have obtained a God's favor?
Emily: Everything...because I was kind to a boy?
Tarick: To a boy who suspected there was no kindness to be received from his fellow man. You may as well have made the Sun rise on a world of endless night.
- In Walking in Circles, Solas cares for and befriends Evelyn in the first place because she constantly goes out of her way to help or rescue him, even when she must suffer for it while he didn't think much of her in the beginning.
- Solas also often notes that no matter how many things about himself that he's ashamed of are revealed to Evelyn, she always accepts him without any hesitation.
- What If Frieza Turned Good?: After Vegeta reveals his identity to Cuit and Cheelai, Frieza fully expects the pair to abandon him. However, both declare that they owe him for how he helped each of them escape the terrible places they were stuck in when they first met, and for protecting them from bigger threats. Frieza is completely taken aback at the prospect of having earned their loyalty.
- While everyone in town is either afraid or hateful towards Bruno whenever he walks through town in La polilla y la mariposa, Anná is the only person who saw Bruno for The Woobie that he really was. They end up becoming each other's only friends and they eventually marry.
- Chaos Theory: This trope singlehandedly derails the entire Fifth Holy Grail War when Shirou shows kindness to Illya, thus changing her perception of him. She subsequently becomes his ally, and the author outright states a number of plans end up screwed by this.
- Passing Days shows how much kindness can change things in the Servant roster at Chaldea, because Vy's efforts to be respectful to anyone she summons endears her to almost anyone who answers her call, sympathizing with her choices and outright putting differences aside if it means it could ease her worries about being the last Master of Proper Human History. As she put it to one of the story's antagonists, Vy would rather treat the Servants around her as human beings deserving of respect than just mere familiars. The Family of Choice in the Grailed Big Seven and so many other Servants come together because of Vy's choices.
- Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): This trope goes two-way between the Two Beings, One Body that form Monster X — San appreciates that Vivienne Graham doesn't abuse him like Ghidorah's middle and right heads did after San fuses with her, whilst Vivienne eventually comes to appreciate the Heartwarming lengths San goes to caring for her throughout her Trauma Conga Line.
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi/The Untamed
- In Gold Poisons, Jin Guangyao of all people survives the story thanks to this. His saving of Mo Xuanyu from his abusive household gets the real person who poisoned Lan Xichen to come forward, clearing his name. His saving of Wen Yuan during the war means Wen Qing owes him. Finally, his giving Nie Mingjue both an antidote and a copy of the symbols to get the antidote to work as a gesture of trust allows Wen Qing to save him.
- In If Them's the Rules, because Harry was nice to Tom (and is the first person to ever show him kindness), Harry becomes Tom's Morality Chain and Tom tries to reign in his sociopathic tendencies for Harry's sake. Tom's loyalty to Harry almost gets him put in Hufflepuff.
- A large part of why Harry Potter hired Penny as his personal assistant in For Love of Magic is because he remembers her as the nice older girl who made a point of helping him despite his prickly attitude.
- In New Blood (artemisgirl) as of the summer after second year, Harry chooses to side with Hermione, a Slytherin, over Dumbledore. Because Hermione sees him as a person, Dumbledore refuses to listen to him about the Dursleys.
- This is the reason why Emiri joins the Anti-SOS Brigade in You Got HaruhiRolled!. They too know what it's like to be neglected.
- Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità: A huge part of the reason Germany and Japan fell madly in love with Italy is because he was kind to them even as they were aloof and cold to him. His warmth melted their cold hearts.
- In The Blacksmith's Apprentice, Astrid is the only person who reaches out and acts friendly to Hiccup after he's disinherited by Stoick, while everyone else either ignores or abuses him, because Hiccup was the only one there to be a shoulder to cry on when her parents died and her family home destroyed during a dragon-raid. This eventually increases from platonic love to romantic after Hiccup manages to prevent her from being politically kidnapped by Thuggory of the visiting Meathead tribe; Hiccup was posing as heir because Stoick knew that Snotlout wasn't ready for such responsibilities yet (ignoring the fact that Snotlout would never be ready for such responsibilities, and used his current status to claim Astrid as his fiancé (while assuring her that he has no plans to force that on her in the aftermath).
- In Lost Boy, Hiccup bonds with the Night Fury as he initially encounters the dragon while he's trying to hide from Spitelout and Snotlout in the woods and the dragon just sniffs him and leaves. Hiccup later affirms that the Night Fury is one of the few things on Berk that's never tried to hurt him.
- In A Thing of Vikings, Heather defects from the control of her king and spymaster to the Hooligans because she'd fallen in love with Fishlegs due to his kindness.
- In The New Adventures of Invader Zim, Ying serves Nyx of his own free will because she's the one who gave him free will in the first place — when she reprogrammed him, she could have left him as a basic SIR unit drone but now dedicated to her, but instead she gave him an actual personality and the ability to make his own choices. His gratitude for that is why he chooses to stay by her side.
- In Baby Gazzee, after Gaz is turned back to normal (she had previously turned herself into a baby by mockingly reading one of Dib's spellbooks, assuming it wasn't real), she's planning to beat Dib up for bringing the book into the house in the first place. As she thinks about the previous week, however, she thinks about all the nice things Dib did for her over the week, such as giving her pop and pizza even though she's not supposed to have them, trying to keep her entertained, and even changing her back when he didn't have too, Gaz decides that maybe she's been a little too mean to him and decides to lighten up on him a little.
- The reason why Ryuko genuinely starts falling in love with Mako in Natural Selection is because she treats her like an actual person and values how she feels.
- In Missing Linc, Leni's kindness towards Ginny is what inspires Ginny to turn on her father and help the Loud sisters.
- Weightless: Seraph/Shepard was in love with Nihlus because he was the first person who showed her kindness.
- Demon Alya AU: Juleka theorizes that this is why Alya has latched so hard onto her and Marinette. As a demon, she wasn't used to others treating her with anything approaching compassion, so in her eyes, Juleka and Marinette were literally the nicest people she'd ever met.
- Dodged a Beetle: Lila made an excellent first impression upon Marinette at the start of the school year when she stood up for her against Chloé. Not only does this make Marinette more willing to gloss over any signs that Lila might not be as nice as she first thought, it convinced her to secretly pass the Ladybug Earrings to her, convinced that somebody so confident would make a much better hero than her.
- In Daymare, Izuku tends to desperately latch onto anyone who treats him with basic human decency, as he's far too accustomed to abuse and self-loathing and Desperately Craves Affection.
- Dead on Arrival: Rin, Miyuki, and Denki all wound up working for the Abegawa Tenchu Kai Yakuza since the group helped them out when nobody else was willing to.
- The Emancipators: All his life, Izuku has grown accustomed to being treated poorly by others, to the point that simply being ignored is the best he can hope for. As a result, whenever anyone shows him even the most basic decency, he becomes extremely attached to them...to the point of developing murderous intentions toward anyone who threatens his few precious people. And heavens help you if you actually hurt them...
- Emerald Furnace - Path Of Storms: During Nine's inner monologue, he could count the number of people who showed genuine kindness to him on one hand.
- In the "Let's Watch Our Show" Plot fic The Future Briefing Island, after Ochako sees the entrance exam from Izuku's point of view, she finds that the reason she made such a huge impression on Izuku, to the point of breaking three of his limbs to save her from the Zero Pointer, is that she was the first person outside his mother to treat Izuku with kindness. She is mildly disturbed to see that what she considers no more than basic decency had such a deep effect on him, while Ochako saw Izuku as just some kid she stopped from tripping, and initially forgot about him after that until he saved her during the exam.
- Leviathan: Izuku's efforts to help Hitoshi out even when there's no immediately obvious benefit for himself in doing so helps break through Hitoshi's aloof front and builds a friendship between them.
- In Whispered Tribulation, Izuku has a chance run-in with Toga Himiko while she's getting ice cream. Not recognizing her, he spots her some yen when she comes up short, then sits down with her and has a nice chat where he mentions that he doesn't think there's any such thing as an inherently evil Quirk. He leaves such a strong impression on her that not only does she decide to spare his life, she leaves the League of Villains and shows up to save him and Eri from Overhaul.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- A Future of Friendship, a History of Hate: Because Twilight saved Craggle from falling to his death, he protects her from a pack of shalehounds and lets her pass his bridge.
- The Clockwork Consequence: Why is Rainbow Dash so loyal to Nightmare Moon? Because she never got her cutie mark and was mocked and never taken seriously for it. Nightmare Moon, on the other hand, didn't care about this because she felt her actions spoke louder than her words.
- In Hurricane Trinity, this is why Grubber stuck with the Storm King even after the events of the movie. The Storm King could've taken any of his siblings under his wing, but he chose Grubber -who never thought he'd amount to anything- causing him to be forever grateful.
- Rainbooms and Royalty: Fluttershy proves herself worthy of bearing the Element of Kindness by treating the gargoyles, who had sworn loyalty to Nightmare Moon a thousand years ago, with compassion rather than reviling them. So touched were they that they swore loyalty to her, rather than serve Nightmare Moon. This comes into play during the Final Battle, as they show up to help the Mane Six (and Zecora and Ditzy) against Nightmare Moon's Shadowbolt army.
- Similarly, Rarity proved herself worthy of being the Element of Generosity when she gave the necklace she inherited from her grandmother to the Diamond Dogs as payment to let them pass. The Dogs are so stunned by such selflessness that they also show up during the Final Battle to help fight Nightmare Moon to repay the kindness.
- RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse: Really dark version with Puissance and her Vault Ponies. They're all ponies who have unique conditions that make them outsiders to Equestria, and since she's given them somewhere to live free of persecution, they're all grateful to her. Shame Puissance is a selfish, greedy, Manipulative Bastard who couldn't care less about them as individuals, but only sees them as things to have, and to give her adoration. The worst is Solar Flare, who is completely out of touch with reality but madly protective of her employer, believing all those ponies who say bad things about her are simply jealous of her wealth.
- Déjà vu no Jutsu: While working as Panther, Natsumi complimented Stag on his skills as a bodyguard, admitting that she wasn't particularly good at that herself. This compliment sticks in Stag's mind and spurs his eventual Heel–Face Turn from ROOT's mole to a loyal member of ANBU, as he's struck by how she finds his abilities so noteworthy.
- Glass Marionette: In the Forest of Death, Kankuro convinces his bloodthirsty brother not to go after Team Eight. This spurs Kiba's interest in Kankuro, especially when he sees that the puppeteer lost an arm in the Forest and initially assumes that Gaara was responsible. After the misunderstanding is cleared up, Kiba and Kankuro swiftly befriend each other, which eventually builds up into something more.
- The Kakashi Way: One of the reasons why Naruto trusts "Indra-nii" so much is because he's one of the few adults he's met in Konoha who treats him like a person instead of like crap. When the Sandaime finally learns about his newfound friend, he berates him for trusting a stranger, but is unable to come up with a way to counter Naruto's retort:Hiruzen: Naruto, you need to stop trusting everyone who's nice to you just because they're nice to you!
Naruto: Then I'd be even more alone. - In Chapter 138 of Kitsune no Ken: Fist of the Fox, Zabuza gives this as the reason he's going to cooperate with Naruto's group when they come to interrogate him—specifically because Hinata, who's with them, had been the first to intervene and plead for his life when Naruto was going to kill him during the fight with the Blood Mist Gang back in Chapter 41.
- Little Uzumaki:
- After meeting Iruka, Naruto, and Teuchi, Gaara wants to ensure their safety during the invasion, since they actually treated him like a person rather than a monster or Living Weapon.
- Following the Fountain of Youth incident, Sasuke found himself surrounded by people trying to exploit his situation, unaware that his mind hadn't been reverted to that of a child like all of the other victims. The only one who treated him with sincere kindness and compassion was Hinata. So Sasuke decides to humiliate Neji in order to punish his cruelty towards Hinata and defend her honor.
- My Wish Order Brother: Deidara originally planned to kill Naruto so as to Leave No Witnesses when he inevitably had to cut his losses and leave Konoha, but changes his mind once Naruto stated that both his Kekkai Genkei and art were totally awesome.
- In chapter 89 of Naru-Hina Chronicles, Naruto reveals to Hinata the reasons behind his love/pathological obsession with ramen: he was beaten very badly once as a little child (before entering the Ninja Academy), and he was discovered by Teuchi, who took him to Ichiraku, fed him, and got him cleaned up. He was the first person who was ever nice to Naruto. It's one of the main reasons—alongside Teuchi's Supreme Chef reputation—that Naruto tries to convince Hinata to let him cater their upcoming wedding.
- In A Teacher's Glory, Anko ends up on both sides of this trope. She feels this way toward the Third Hokage, who took her into his trust when everyone else suspected her of helping Orochimaru, and she earns this from Ino for giving her a frank analysis of her skills and actions, encouraging reassurance, and advice.
- True Potential: Isaribi's loyalty to Kabuto stems from how he was able to assist her when nobody else could, helping her find a way to change out of her Kaima form and assume her fully human form at will.
- Uchibi Sasuke: When Sasuke learns that people are intentionally selling Naruto expired food — at a mark-up, no less! — he becomes utterly outraged on his behalf, calling out the vendors responsible. He also explains to Naruto just what a sell-by date means. These simple actions unintentionally earn him Naruto's immediate respect, loyalty, and friendship.
- What You Knead: Following the preliminary matches of the Chuunin Exams, Kakashi asks Kurenai for help teaching Sakura how to weave genjutsu illusions. Part of the reason why Kurenai agrees is because they took flowers to Hinata after she wound up in the hospital, rewarding them for the kindness they showed her student.
- In This Bites!, Cross gives a News Coo he meets a 900 Berry tip when he buys a 100 Berry newspaper from him. Then after the Alubarna battle, said News Coo, named Coo, gives Cross an edition of tomorrow's paper due to the very raw deal that the Straw Hats and Vivi are getting.
- The protagonists of Dating a Team Magma Grunt started dating because Brendan tried to cheer the Magma Grunt up after he beat her team and caused her to cry.
- Pokemon: Shadow of Time: This is Ash’s relationship with Misty, as she latches on to Ash due to being the first person to be truly kind to her since she left Cerulean City.
- In The Power That's Inside, this is basically the reason why Meowth stayed with Jessie and James - Giovanni only kept Meowth around as a novelty and originally intended to turn him into a Living Battery once he got a Persian. Jessie and James on the other hand treated Meowth with decent kindness.
- In Pokemon: Festival of Champions, kindness is how Karen got her Murkrow, Umbreon, and Houndoom; she was the first person to accept them all for what they were rather than reacting to them with fear or disgust.
- In Pokémon Reset Bloodlines, Misty is given a much sadder backstory due to additional Fantastic Racism, being mistreated by her family, and having no friends except for her Pokémon. It's not until she meets Ash — who befriends her right after meeting her because he remembers her from the canon timeline despite the eponymous "Reset" — that she begins to have a more positive outlook on life and even humanity at large, and all because he's one of the first real friends she's had in her entire life. Later, when Iris asks her about their relationship, Misty admits to feeling attracted to his kind and caring nature.
- In The Keys Stand Alone: The Soft World, the four succeeded on Tipaan where many others failed because they were the only people to treat the Svenjaya decently and to defend them when others gave them hell. They were designated Svenjaya Friends, so that not only did the Svenjaya patriarch offer to help them get the otherwise inaccessible Cloud Horn but when George and Ringo were accosted onstage by a trio of drunken punk cowboys, the Svenjaya band they were jamming with beat the crap out of the attackers and helped the two get away later.
- In The Eternal Shadow, Bluefen falls madly in love with Swartt after he is the first one to speak kindly to her once. Key word: once.
- Can One Change Fix All of RWBY?: Salem has Cinder, Emerald and Mercury's loyalty because she lifted them up from their miserable backgrounds and gave them better lives.
- In This is making a move, it's revealed that Charlie Walker became Jill Roberts' accomplice because she seemed to be the only one who showed him any affection while he was abused by his adopted parents. Unfortunately, this blinded him to the fact that she might double-cross him.
The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong
- In Won't let go, the demon prince Mo Bai grows obsessed with the human Shang Hua whom he abducts to bring him back with him in spite of having known him for barely a week when they were kids — and in this single week, Shang Hua lavished more care and attention on Mo Bai than his birth family ever gave him in his whole life.
- The King Nobody Wanted: Ser Hugor Waters fights for the Targaryens at the Battle of the Trident solely because of Rheager's presence. Rheager once defeated him in a joust but returned the armor Hugor lost without demanding a ransom while also complimenting Hugor's performance (which Hugor doesn't feel he deserved) and offering to buy him a drink.
- Bad Prediction AU: One of the reasons why Blue Pearl snaps and calls out Blue Diamond for failing to support Steven against White Diamond is because she recalls how kind and compassionate Steven has been towards her.
- In Faded Blue, Lapis chooses to stay even after discovering that Steven is not her Diamond because he released her from the mirror.
- Steven Universe gets this response from various characters in Gift of A Diamond.
- Blue Diamond takes a liking to Steven because he listened to her and empathized with her, even developing maternal love for the half-gem because he wasn't intimidated by her status and size.
- Blue Pearl takes a liking to him because teaching and looking after him gave her something to do, as well as the affection and respect he gave her (something seldom displayed to a pearl).
- The quartzes at the Human Zoo look to him as a little brother and respected leader because he sees their worth and trusts them, unlike the harsh and caring Holly Blue Agate.
- Lapis Lazuli takes a liking to Steven for releasing her from the mirror and healing her gem.
- Various gems from Blue and Yellow's court (like Aquamarine) grew to like him for his magnetic personality and his creative (yet still effective) ideas.
- In Freedom's Limits, it's implied one of the reasons Smador warms so quickly to Madavi is because she treats him like a person and offers to share her food with him. He implies she's one of the few people in Mordor who cares about what happens to him and treats him as someone of value.
- The Heart Trilogy: Even though Smaug actually held her captive, Kathryn comes to care for and eventually love him because he's the first person she met who didn't fear or despise her for her abilities, helped and supported her, and fully accepted her. He also saved her life when she had a vision that almost killed her. Compared to the way she had been treated by most of her own kind, Smaug comes off as positively decent.
- In A TDA Love Triangle with Betty, Cody, and Gwenny Gwen and Bridgette both are warming up to Cody because of the kindness he shows them when they are in a vulnerable position.
- Shatterheart: Syaoran is drawn to Kurogane and later initiates a relationship with him because he was the only one to show any concern for him and is the only one to show him any kindness and realize that Syaoran is a different person from his clone.
- In the time travel AU fic Across the Years, when Jade is testing Sikowitz's time machine (Sikowitz is basically an eccentric scientist and Jade is his assistant), she ends up going to the Blitz by accident, where she ends up protecting a little girl and reunites the girl with her family before returning home. Later on, after Jade has brought Tori from 1869 into the present to treat a gunshot wound, Jade meets that same girl, who is now a grandmother with a wealthy family. As thanks for Jade's past kindness, the now old woman not only covers Tori's medical bills but also provides the paperwork necessary for Tori to start a new life with Jade in the present.
- Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series loves pointing out holes in canon, such as how Seto Kaiba gained majority shares in KaibaCorp. In the original, Kaiba came up short, but Mokuba saved him by giving Seto his shares. The Abridged series points out that since Mokuba is only five years old, nobody gave him shares. So how did Kaiba take over? Hobson the butler pitched in, because Mokuba was the only person who didn't treat him like dirt.
