Heartwarming / Be More Chill

• So many of Jeremy and Michael's interactions in the first half of the first act. So many.
  • There's Michael's introduction, where, in the midst of all his teen-angsting and emotional struggles, Jeremy all but lights up when he sees his best friend. It's the first time we see him actually happy. Although he's preoccupied with his music, Michael is clearly just as effusively glad to see him.
  • Michael's continued attempts to cheer Jeremy up, if wrongheaded at times, show how deeply he cares about his friend's wellbeing.
  • This exchange:
    Michael: Will you be too cool for m— video games?
    Jeremy: (without missing a beat) No. No way.
  • The entirety of "Two-Player Game" might be the biggest one, reinforcing Michael and Jeremy's True Companions status, but especially this part:
    Jeremy: You know that you are my favorite person,
    that doesn't mean that I can't still dream.
    Michael: Is it really true? I'm your favowite pewson?
    Jeremy: (laughing) Yes! We're never not gonna be a team!
    • In some productions, Michael hugs Jeremy from the side on this line and they fall over each other laughing. It's every bit as sweet as it sounds.
• From the 2018 production, Michael's reaction to Rich vandalizing his and Jeremy's backpacks to spell "Boyf Riends", both in the reveal of the incorporation of a long-time Fanon to the show and the additional representation for LGBT+ fans. Not to mention, it’s a wonderful shutdown of the homophobic bullying the boys face.
  Michael: (laughs warmly) My mothers will be thrilled.
  • George Salazar has stated that the amount of love and acceptance in LGBT+ households has contributed to Michael becoming the wonderful person and friend that he is.
• Christine's first conversation with Jake at the end of play rehearsal is surprisingly sweet. For starters, her shy little "I know" when he introduces himself is quite adorable, as she's shocked the most popular guy in school is taking interest in the resident theatre geek. Then, Jake asks if he can say something "really stupid," and talks to Christine about her last role, in which her character died. He admits seeing her character die made him genuinely sad, and that when he saw her bow at the end, he was really glad Christine was okay. In his own, inarticulate bro way, he's telling her that her performance did exactly what every actor wants — get a genuine emotional response out of the viewer.
  Christine: That's not stupid at all.
• While it doesn't end well and is predicated on Jeremy being manipulated by the SQUIP, Brooke's crush on Jeremy is quite sweet; it reveals that under the snooty popular girl exterior she adopts when spending time with Chloe, she's very kind and considerate, and she genuinely enjoys spending time with him.
• "A Guy That I'd Kinda Be Into" features an incredibly adorable bridge section through which Jeremy and Christine get to dance slowly together, ending with him lifting and twirling her around.
  Christine: And why am I telling this to you?/Guess there's a part of me that wants to...
  I guess a part of me likes to talk to you,
  I guess a part of me likes to,
  Who knew?
• Jake's part in "Upgrade". After being cut to her core in an earlier scene by a jealous Chloe who insinuates Jake's only using her until he gets bored of her, and he might already have moved on seeing as he missed play rehearsal, Christine starts to have serious doubts about her relationship with him. Jake puts this to rest immediately.
  Jake: You're not gonna say hi?
  Christine: I was. At rehearsal.
  Jake: I wanted to be there, but it's the same time as archery —
  Christine: It's okay. Really, you don't have to —
  Jake: Which is why I told the coach I quit! I don't want to do every extracurricular at school. I just wanna do yours.
  • He also tells her, after being known to be a player who gets with any of the popular girls he wants, that he prefers dating someone like her.
• Although it doesn't end well, Michael almost immediately forgives Jeremy for leaving him behind at the mall and blowing him off the day after he takes the SQUIP; in fact he's so elated to hear that it worked that he hugs him and invites him to his place to celebrate and test it out.
  Michael: We gotta get stoned in my basement!
• It's a small one, but when Michael is hiding in the bathroom, Jenna comes up trying to get in so she can pee. Michael says "I'm having my period!" and without even a second of hesitation, Jenna responds "Take your time, honey." in a sympathetic voice.
• In what's just about the only good thing to happen at the disaster that is the Halloween party, Christine and Jeremy share an adorable moment towards the end. They are sitting on the couch together as the party dies down, talking about their respective failed relationships with popular kids, when a pause comes up and Jeremy admits he has no idea what to say to her. Christine gently tells him, as she always does, to say whatever's on his mind. Jeremy randomly makes a very weird sound, and there's a beat in what looks like yet another humiliating moment for him...and then Christine makes an even stranger sound. Cue the both of them playing off each other, imitating each other's noises, and seeing who can make the loudest, weirdest one, before dissolving into a fit of giggles.
  Christine: It's pretty killer to sit and chat with you...
  Jeremy: It's pretty killer for me, too...
  • Fridge Brilliance makes this scene even sweeter when you realize that the Squip is off due to Jeremy drinking earlier on at the party. Christine bonds the most with Jeremy when he's himself.

• "The Pants Song" in its entirety is another huge one. After being more or less useless the entire musical, Mr. Heere is alerted to the severity of Jeremy's situation, prompting him to try to push through his depression and try to save his son. To do this, he enlists the help of Michael, who, after the Halloween party, is ready to give up on Jeremy entirely. With a little encouragement and support from his best friend's dad, however, he's up to the task. It's equal parts moving, funny and awesome.
• Michael's turning point in "The Pants Song". It's a succinct, cathartic resolution to "Michael In The Bathroom"; after we last saw him at his breaking point, he now concludes that no matter the hurt he feels over Jeremy's actions, his friendship — and Jeremy's safety — are more important and that he's going to have his best friend's back no matter what.
  Michael: It's a classic study of the things we do for our best friends!
• A rather twisted one, especially considering the scene, but Jeremy's concern and compassion for Jenna during "The Pitiful Children" is quite touching. Despite being deeply altered by the behavioural conditioning he's undergone over the last few months, Jeremy is genuinely heartbroken at the thought that Jenna could feel as low and ignored as he did, hence him offering her a Squip. Whatever our leading man's flaws, it says a lot about him that the Squip gets him to go along with his plan by manipulating his empathy.
• Michael comes back to save the school from the SQUIP, and he and Jeremy team up to take it down. Especially because the first thing he says is "Michael makes an entrance!" to a Triumphant Reprise of "Michael In The Bathroom". The lowest emotional point in the show is set to the same music as the highest one, showing that Michael not only came back from his panic attack, but got to be the one to save the day. A lot of fans who have had similar struggles with anxiety and loneliness have talked about how meaningful it is to see this pain repurposed for heroism. Doubles as a Moment of Awesome.
• It may get lost in all the Nightmare Fuel, but Chloe and Brooke make up while under the SQUIP's influence, revealing their true appreciation for each other.
  Chloe: I just wanted to feel liked!
  Brooke: And I just wanted to feel seen.
  Chloe: (drops Jeremy and turns to Brooke, taken aback) But 'I' see you!
  Brooke: (gasps, dropping Jeremy) And 'I like you'!
• Many of the awesome moments in "The Play" are also this; the reprise of "Two-Player Game" for Jeremy and Michael fighting together again in perfect synchronization, genuinely happy to do so despite how badly they've been falling out.
• Then there's Jeremy giving Christine the Mountain Dew Red instead of drinking it himself. Not only is it moving to see how far he's come Character Development-wise, there's the fact that, as far as he, and even the SQUIP, knew, this was a Heroic Sacrifice; Jeremy only later finds out from Michael that deactivating one SQUIP would set off a chain reaction that would destroy all the others. In the 2018 revised script, after he does it, the SQUIP taunts Jeremy that it will "live inside his head forever", advancing on him menacingly. Jeremy barely even cares at this point, entirely engrossed in whether or not Christine's alright. After watching the Squip put Jeremy through hell for the larger part of the show, he's willing to face even worse if it means freeing Christine from a similar fate, making it clear what she comes to mean to him beyond a dorky crush.
• Rich being delighted when he figures out he's bisexual means a lot to LGBT+ fans. Even more so in the 2018 production when he, one of the popular kids, expresses a crush on the local outcast, Michael.
• In some versions, despite years of enduring bullying from Rich (especially about his and Jeremy's sexual orientations), the moment he comes out, Michael has nothing but kindness for him as he enters his room at the hospital.
  Michael: I'm sure someone very special would be lucky to have you, Rich.
  Rich: (hopeful) You think?
• Rich's development in general. He was unwilling to SQUIP the entire school to the point of being willing to sacrifice himself to keep everyone safe, and once freed, he goes from beating up on Jeremy and belittling him and Michael constantly to gladly offering the former advice and compassion, and taking a romantic interest in the latter.
• Rich mentions Michael has been visiting constantly while Jeremy's been unconscious. Almost immediately after, he runs into the hospital room to see a now-awake Jeremy, brightly and excitedly rambling about the scientific possibilities revealed by the destruction of the Squips via a network, back to his cheerful, geeky high spirits after the heartbreaking ordeal the show has put him through. When a still-ailing Jeremy asks him to tone it down because his head is pounding, he gently fumbles through an apology and finishes his explanation in an adorable half-whisper, still as goofy as ever, clearly trying to get Jeremy to laugh through the horror as well. As if this wasn't wonderful enough to see after the wedge driven between the two friends by the events of the show, the Broadway version adds this exchange:
  Jeremy: I don't get it. After everything I did, everything I put you through...you were still there for me. Why?
  Michael: (smiling sheepishly) Well, someone told me once, that...that if you love somebody...
  (Mr. Heere enters, fully dressed.)
  Michael: ...well, he said it better.
• On the note of Mr. Heere, when Jeremy sees he's fully dressed, a major breakthrough from his depressive, neglectful state we've seen throughout the show, he breaks down in Tears of Joy.
• At the end, all the popular kids giving Jeremy advice on how to ask Christine out. Jake, who used to date Christine, even tells Jeremy he'll "throw him a rope" if he needs it. D'aww, they're not so bad after all!
• Related to the above, despite Jeremy hurting her feelings, Brooke's comments imply that all is forgiven.
• The entirety of "Voices in My Head", for its message of hope, healing, and forgiveness, is incredibly uplifting. Special mention goes to the Big Damn Kiss Jeremy and Christine share when she agrees to go on a lunch date with him. Other highlights include the entire cast dancing together, having all become friends through their respective ordeals, and Jeremy mending his relationships with his father and Michael. Most moving of all? Jeremy's newfound faith in himself and hope that things can be alright eventually giving him the strength to take on the world, knowing he won't be alone when he does.
  Jeremy: ‘Cause of the voices in my head, the loudest one is mine!