Because You Were Nice to Me

"Wendy: But why you? Why are you willing to go up against Roark for someone you barely know? Marv: She was nice to me. Wendy: She was desperate. She needed protection and knew how to keep you around. It didn't work out. You don't owe her anything. Marv: She was nice to me. She gave me something I didn't know existed. I wasn't never even able to buy a woman, the way I look."

- Sin City: The Hard Goodbye.

A character, sometimes the Butt Monkey of a given work, is treated for the first time in their lives with genuine kindness and friendship. As is such, they will be exceptionally loyal to their benefactor, even if the benefactor themself admits that it was all a lie.

The nature of this character type is such that their loyalty to their benefactor will extend to generally absurd lengths. Not even the benefactor themself will be able to persuade them that they had cruel ulterior motives—this can be problematic if the Butt Monkey in question ends up turning Axe Crazy. Can be part of a Heel Face Turn.

Will be immune to Twisting the Words. Often is also The Woobie. Related to It Meant Something to Me. See also Disproportionate Reward and the animal version, Androcles' Lion.

Anime and Manga
"Dragon: What a small being. Get lost. This is not a place you should come. Ivaldi: Return Roux! Dragon: That girl is your wife? Ivaldi: No. Dragon: What kind of relationship do you have with her? Ivaldi: Nothing. I had only stopped by at the village to have some bread. Dragon: You are throwing your life away just for that? Ivaldi: For that I have gambled my life!"
 * In Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, Banagher's main motivation when it concerns Audrey is that she made him feel like he belonged for the first time.
 * In Gantz, as The End of the World as We Know It approaches, Nishi goes on a rampage and kills his entire class after they pushed him out of a window. The only classmate he spares is the girl who gave him a love letter earlier in the day.
 * Code Geass has a big one late in the second season.
 * Kimi ni Todoke: Sawako towards Kazehaya simply because he's the first classmate to return her morning greeting.
 * This is the basis of the relationship between the two characters in Okane ga Nai—the Uke feels like the Seme is being nicer to him than anyone ever has been. This, despite the repeated rape.
 * And likewise the driving motivation of Kanou's obsession with Ayase is because of one occasion where Ayase showed him kindness when he was feeling down.
 * Kaze no Stigma. Kazuma goes to extreme lengths to protect and help one of the women of the Kannagi household, even while she's desperately (and fruitlessly, considering their respective Power Levels), trying to kill him. Both she and others are downright shocked by this, since it's heavily out of character for the otherwise-cold Kazuma—heck, he even charged the family head an outrageous fee for rescuing his own kid brother. Ayano is halfway to eating her own liver out of jealousy, convinced that Kazuma must have fallen in love with the girl, but in the end, the truth is revealed...
 * Bleach: This is the reason why Nel follows Ichigo, protects him from Dordonii, shows concern over his injuries and, ultimately, transforms back into her unbelievably hot adult form to fight Nnoitra.
 * Possibly the case with Creepy Child Gretel of Black Lagoon. Since, by the end of her arc, it seemed that the only other human beings she actually liked were her brother and Rock. This is because Rock, the only truly decent human being in the Crapsack World of Roanapur, listens with sadness and horror rather than disgust at the coldly delivered Hannibal Lecture of Gretel, a little girl so traumatized by rape and torture with her twin brother Hansel back in Romania that murder has become the sole source of joy for them. He holds her in a tight embrace and weeps, begging her to accept the possibility that there is hope, and still a possibility of a new and happy life for a little girl like her. This act of sincere kindness, so alien to Gretel, was enough to move even a mass murderer like her to blush like a real little girl for the briefest of moments... leading to one of the saddest moments of Evil Cannot Comprehend Good ever. Her version of thanks was to offer herself sexually to Rock, thinking that is the only way an adult will appreciate her in return. Before she left Rock she stated happily "I hope we can meet against someday mister! We can have a picnic!" Sadly, .]]
 * In Ranma ½, the "genius kunoichi" Konatsu becomes slavishly devoted to Ukyo because she treats him better than the abusive family that raised him.
 * And Tsubasa does this when Akane and Female Ranma express kindness to him.
 * This is the entire reason that Maomolin tries to "help" Ryoga win Akane's heart in the anime-only story "Ryoga's Proposal".
 * Girls Bravo: It's pretty obvious that Yukinari was going to fall for Miharu considering that she's the only girl who treats him with genuine kindness and doesn't bully him or beat him up. Needless to say, he doesn't really hold feelings of love for Kirie who has a crush on him but brutally beats him up constantly or for Lisa who's insane and constantly tries to abduct and seduce him.
 * Made ridiculously Anvilicious by the fact that Yukinari has an allergy to women: every woman in both worlds the show takes place in, except for Miharu, causes him to break out in hives.
 * Yukina falls for Yukinari for similar reasons. She is also in a similar situation: Yukinari is the only guy that does not trigger her allergy to men. By the end of the series she takes every opportunity to cling to him to make up for a lifetime of being starved of physical intimacy. Too bad Yukinari is still allergic to her.
 * Actually,
 * Elfen Lied: This is more or less Lucy's reason for falling in love with Kouta. In her words "All those days we spent together as children? Those were the only good days I have ever known in a life that's been nothing but a hellish nightmare."
 * Bishop Mozgus's Quirky Miniboss Squad in Berserk is made of inbred freaks (and a Bishonen who catches on fire if exposed to sunlight) who'd be stoned to death in minutes in a peasant village, who are undyingly loyal to him because he's the only one who ever treated them nice.
 * In Katekyo Hitman Reborn it's shown that the main reason Tsuna likes Kyoko is because she was the only girl in 12 months who bothered talking to him.
 * Possibly the reason Nagato Yuki acts like Kyon befriended her in Suzumiya Haruhi; because he got a library card. (Ironic in that Kyon seems to have done this just to avoid an argument with Haruhi, giving him little clue as to Yuki's true feelings. Also, she's an Emotionless Girl). As we found out in Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody, she's only three years old, and basically spent the first three years of her life being bored out of her skull, so Kyon getting her a card was probably literally the nicest thing anyone had done for her up to that point.  Given the nature of the series though, any number of other explanations could apply.
 * Haku of Naruto was fiercely loyal to Zabuza because the older man said he had use of Haku's abilities.
 * Kimimaro was perhaps even more fanatic in his loyalty to Orochimaru, willing to sacrifice his soul and body as the man's next vessel or, failing that, dying to secure the one who would become his vessel. And all because Orochimaru was the first person to ever show him kindness.
 * The only reason Karin ever gave a dang about Sasuke is because he saved her from a bear (offscreen) during the Chunin Exams.
 * In the Vampire Knight light novel Vampire Knight: Ice Blue no Tsumi, Fuuka grows to believe in Aidou because he was her only ally—having rescued her so several times and was the only person who was honest with her. So, naturally,
 * In Volume 10 of The Familiar of Zero, there is a particular exchange between a dragon and the protagonist of the epic tale "The Hero of Ivaldi", in which the protagonist is preparing to rescue a girl who had betrayed him from the dragon:
 * In Volume 10 of The Familiar of Zero, there is a particular exchange between a dragon and the protagonist of the epic tale "The Hero of Ivaldi", in which the protagonist is preparing to rescue a girl who had betrayed him from the dragon:

"Piccolo:You were the first person to not be afraid of me."
 * Josette's unwavering loyalty to Julio contains elements of this trope as well.
 * In Durarara!!, this turns out to be the reason for why Tom is one of the only people that can keep Shizuo's temper in check: Tom was one of the first and only people outside of his immediate family to treat him like a normal person instead of a freak.
 * Piccolo said this to Gohan when he took the hit for him in early Dragonball Z.


 * In Puella Magi Madoka Magica, this is part of the reason wants to protect.
 * In Pet Shop of Horrors, one story centers around a girl named Maggie, who abuses her dog, Daisy. Count D takes the dog and lets Maggie pick a "little sister" (human girl) from his shop in exchange. Maggie chooses the girl who is the most scared and weak and names her Daisy as well, only for the girl to quickly become far more loved than Maggie is. At the end of the story,
 * In Dorothy of Oz, Abee is so devoted to Mara because she was the only person to treat him like a human being and not beat the crap out of him for being unable to answer a question. He even states this in the second volume when they first meet.
 * In the film Spirited Away, No-Face follows Chihiro around and attempts to shower her with gifts, becoming practically obsessed with her, simply because she speaks kindly to him and leaves a door open so he can come out of the rain.
 * In that case, it's a direct example. Because of his lack of face (identity), No-Face takes on the personality of whoever he's around. Chihiro's kind nature literally inspires him to be kind and repay her favors.
 * A romantic example in Fruits Basket. The reason Rin struggles to find a cure to the Zodiac curse is because her boyfriend Haru was the first person to ever want her. As a result, she's determined to thank him by breaking the curse and giving him a chance to escape the confinement the Zodiac are all under.
 * Koharu no Hibi: The reason Koharu gears her deep affection towards Akira, and the reason he decides to reciprocate.
 * Ennis of Baccano!, an Artificial Human whose creator treats her like garbage, tries to to protect the first people who were ever nice to her..
 * Hayate × Blade: This is why Isuzu Inugami became Momoka Kibi's swordfighting partner; all the other students avoided Isuzu because she looked like a Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl.
 * Snake in Black Butler. He was close to the circus crew because they befriended them despite his appearance, to the point he would attempt to kill Ciel when all his friends disappeared, thinking that Ciel was the cause of their disappearance.  He would eventually become loyal to Ciel after Ciel takes him in and like the circus crew, didn't care about his snake-like appearance.
 * Barnaby Brooks Jr. from Tiger and Bunny has a rather absolutist perception of trust—he either trusts someone entirely, or not at all. Thus, when Kotetsu for him, his Ice King persona starts to melt—and it melts fast.
 * Mirai Nikki: Yuno's devotion to Yukiteru stems from him jokingly making a marriage proposal to her right, spurring her into devoting her future to him.
 * In One Piece, during the Baratie arc, Gin of Don Krieg's crew fights with Sanji, the only person who gave him food when he was starving and begging for food. When having the opportunity to finish off Sanji, he is unable to because Sanji offering him food was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for him.
 * Fiore in the R movie tried to kill Usagi both because she was Sailor Moon and out of jealousy over Mamoru, whom he was in love with apparently because of how kind he was to him when they were kids..
 * In No. 6 because Sion saved and took care of Nezumi when he was injured one night Nezumi became devoted to him.
 * In Mamotte Shugogetten Kaori Aihara towards Tasuke after he saves her from tripping and offers his umbrella to her.
 * In Hekikai no AiON, Sheila  fell for Tatsuya because he was the only aside Ariel to show her kindness.
 * Our protagonist Seine as well. She decided go with Shimon, a man she didn't absolutely know nothing about just because he was nicer to her than her abusive foster father.
 * In Mayoi Neko Overrun, Chise, the local rich girl, tries really hard to make friends with Takumi and his group of friends. In a flashback, it turns out that the reason why was because she felt isolated since no one wanted to associate with her due to her status, and when she tripped and fell, Takumi was the only person who offered to help her back up. Eventually she does become a part of their group.
 * Horribly, Legato Bluesummers People Puppets maestro of Trigun. Perfectly well aware that his master, Knives, despises him for being human, bit of a poster child for Mad Love after Knives breaks his back for trying to kill Vash, and his loyalty doesn't waver even though he's crippled for life. (Or, in the anime, when Knives sends him to  and suffer forever.) It's all because of this trope (and some Boomerang Bigot misanthropy).
 * In the manga we got his absurdly complicated backstory. Knives stepped in coincidentally while, as a kid, Legato was being raped to death in punishment for a plot to kill everyone he hated (which was a lot of people). His exact status at the time is not spelled out, but is generally understood as research specimen, sex slave, or some hellish combination of the two. Knives cut the building apart, killed everyone except Legato because Legato's psychic powers kicked in just in time to steer the feather-blades away from his body. Then he more or less swore his allegiance on the spot and gave Knives permission to kill him now if he wanted. And Knives...asked him his name. And let him tag along. And eventually gave him responsibilities and a budget and things.
 * Asking him his name meant Knives was treating him more like a person than anyone ever had before, because he didn't have one to give. Seeing the scuffed, naked kid tear up in joy at that is a Tear Jerker in its own right.
 * And for those wondering how he could deal with Knives' angel arm and not with Rapey Mc Earlobes, the people at the whatever-it-was were clearly aware of his abilities and probably originally developed the blocking mechanism that he built into the coin-case as the prize for Vash defeating all the Guns, and insisted on activating. So Knives probably sliced the device and let him out of lockdown, with the net result of accidentally saving his life as well as killing all his enemies.
 * In Pandora Hearts, 's obsession with Lacie stems from this.
 * In the manga version of Fire Emblem Seisen no Keifu, this is the reason why  is in love with  . She explains to   that everyone treated her horribly , and   was the first one to offer her kindness
 * In Shuna's Journey, Because Shuna was nice to Thea and freed her from slavery, Thea later nursed him back to health. This happened when Shuna needed it the most, wandering through the desert as a husk of his former self.

Comic Books

 * Marv's attitude toward Goldie in the first issue of Sin City. He's not an idiot—he realizes that Goldie almost certainly got close to him because she needed protection from whoever it was that killed her in the opening pages. But be that as it may, she's the only stranger that's ever shown Marv any genuine kindness, and it's also implied that she's the only woman who wasn't too terrified of his appearance to be with him. So he searches relentlessly to find her killer.
 * Subverted horribly in Miracleman. Upon his escape from the hospital, Kid Miracleman invokes this trope to the only nurse who was kind to him during his stay.
 * Tintin gets several allies this way: in Prisoners Of The Sun, for instance, he defends a boy from some bullies, and the boy later offers to guide him to a secret Inca temple, even though he could be killed for doing so.
 * In BPRD: 1947, agent Jacob Stegner gives a coin to a homeless beggar woman. The woman later appears to him to tell him that . Before she mysteriously disappears, she says, "I tell you this... because you were kind."
 * Huntress' devotion to the Black Canary in Birds of Prey definitely has shades of this, especially when you realize that Huntress had never had a friend before, in her entire life.

Fan Works

 * In chapter 89 of The Naru Hina Chronicles, Naruto reveals to Hinata the reasons behind his love/pathological obsession with ramen: . It's one of the main reasons—alongside his Supreme Chef reputation—that he.

Literature
""I miss the D.A. It was almost like having friends.""
 * In the Sweet Valley High series, hospital volunteer Elizabeth Wakefield is kidnapped by a mentally disturbed orderly. When she asks why he did it, he explains that he loves her and invokes this trope as the reason. She once helped him with his tray and it was apparently the only time anyone showed him kindness.
 * When Raistlin is nice to a gully dwarf, she becomes quite loyal to him. (He did cast a Charm spell on her, but that's supposed to wear off ... eventually. Based on Intelligence, so in her case it lasted a long time.)
 * It's reciprocated, however, and Raistlin's Crowning Moment of Heartwarming is when he drops everything to try to protect her, even when his friends abandon the gully dwarves.
 * Gollum/Smeagol is like this to Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. Right until
 * The house elves in Harry Potter take on this attitude to anyone who is nice to them—this starts with Dobby in Chamber of Secrets and Kreacher in Deathly Hallows. It's also implied that this trope is how Voldemort was able to garner support from non-human magical creatures like the giants—they were so used to being treated with rank condescension or outright persecution by the Ministry of Magic that Voldemort had little trouble convincing them he'd do a better job.
 * Also implied to be part of Snape's reason for turning to the Dark Side - Lucius Malfoy, one of the wizarding aristocracy, welcomes the no-name working-class halfblood as soon as he's sorted into Slytherin, and their friendship seems to have continued even when Snape became a double agent, and remained strong enough that Narcissa asked him to protect Draco from the consequences of a mission assigned by Voldemort primarily to get him killed.
 * And ultimately what made him  was likely his first friend, and given his troubled home life, the first person who cared about him.
 * Luna, and to a lesser extent Neville, basically have this sort of relationship to the Trio and Ginny. As a result, they were the only members of the D.A. to help defend the castle in Book Six. Luna is especially blunt about her general loneliness.


 * Not to mention the Tear Jerker / Heartwarming Moment that is Luna's room in Deathly Hallows. Portraits linked with chains that said "Friends"?
 * This is definitely one of the series' recurring motifs. Imagine how different Harry would have turned out if Hagrid hadn't been the first person in his life to show him any kindness. It was Malfoy's contempt for Hagrid in Madame Malkins that really kicked off their animosity. The same goes for when he taunts Ron, Harry's first ever friend, on the train. If it weren't for Harry's loyalty, would he have accepted Malfoy's offer of friendship and been put in Slytherin instead? The entire series would veer off course....
 * This is the sum of Quasimodo's attitude toward Esmerelda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame—when the Hunchback is put on the rack and pelted with fruits, she takes pity on him and brings him water. This is especially noteworthy as the reason he's being punished was for trying to kidnap her.
 * In the Daughters of the Moon books, the Atrox has several rules binding the behavior of those who have given themselves over to them - one rule is, no Atrox agent can ever harm someone who has done them a genuine kindness.
 * There's a Bruce Coville edited short-story about a tormented and ostracized elf child whose school assignment is to interview a troll. Trolls' favorite food is elf-children, but the troll doesn't eat the boy because he sees how lonely and kind the poor thing is. At the end of the story, the elf child gets revenge on his schoolmates and teachers by freeing the troll and letting him eat them all, but tells the one other elf child who was kind to him that he won't feed her to the troll because "You're the sweetest girl I know"...
 * Keladry of Mindelan has this happen frequently. There's a reason she's called the Protector of the Small.
 * Her war-horse Peachblossom whose last owner was abusive agrees to work on his behavior when she promises not to yank of the reins or ever use spurs, but only for her: do not imply you are interested in stealing or buying him. Or in buying Kel.
 * Her lady's maid Lalasa admits in a stressful moment that she was so skittish at the beginning because she kept waiting for Kel to show she was like all the other nobles she'd met, realizing it wasn't going to happen lead to Taking a Level In Badass, teaching other servant class women the self defense tactics Kel had taught her and becoming one of Kel's staunchest supporters.
 * Tobe, the 10 year old indentured servant she rescued from an abusive situation rides into an enemy country in the middle of a war because she might need him and doesn't like to let her out of his sight for fear she might forget about him like a couple of other seemingly-nice people did.
 * In Uncle Tom's Cabin, a Kentuckian slave owner relates a story about a native African slave, brutalized by another owner, that had pledged undying loyalty to him when treated like a human being.
 * A partial example in Les Misérables, after being jailed for decades for stealing a loaf of bread, and forced to poverty and starvation due to the difficulty of criminals to find jobs, Jean Valjean comes upon a Priest who shows him kindness and houses him. At first, it seems like a subversion, with Jean Valjean taking advantage of the Priest and stealing his stuff. Then, when he's caught the Priest decides not to press charges, giving Valjean the stuff on the condition that he "buys his soul for God". Jean Valjean is converted from a bitter convict to the paragon of integrity of virtue for the rest of his life through all the crap he's put through out of loyalty to the Priest's one kind act.
 * Bothari in Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold, though it is a little more complicated than that.
 * In Peter Moore's Caught In The Act Lydia is an outcast, no one will associate with her except for Ethan. Because of this, Lydia seems to fall in love with him and becomes devoted to him to a Yandere degree.
 * In the Warrior Cats graphic novel Shattered Peace, Minty stops her mate from killing Ravenpaw since Ravenpaw was nice to her kits.
 * Lieutenant Mon of the RCN Series was a competent officer but with bad luck. Daniel Leary gave him a second-in-command position, and later a job managing a shipyard of which Daniel is part owner -- and hired Mon with a share of the ownership, too. The shipyard does very, very well under his management (either he was unlucky only in the service, or Daniel somehow negates his bad luck) ... and Mon's loyalty to Daniel is absolute.

Live-Action TV

 * Happens twice in the Buffyverse, both with Faith. First, it happens with her and the Mayor and then again with her and Angel. She was willing to die to save him, all because he helped her come back from being evil while everyone else hated her (mainly because he understood her, seeing as he was in the same situation about 100 years previously).
 * Also seen with Spike who likes Buffy's mother and sister for this reason, and shows his best side when Buffy treats him with respect; his demonic aspect comes out when she forgets this trope.
 * A villainous example: In the 1998 miniseries Merlin, Morgan le Fay becomes an ally of Queen Mab because "the Old Ways have been good to me."
 * In the season 1 finale of Young Dracula,
 * In Glee, the event that sparks Kurt's crush on Finn is when Finn once berated one of his friends for slamming Kurt into a locker. Even though Finn's seen taking part in this sort of bullying in the first episode, this one instance of kindness made Kurt like him. And once Finn joins the Glee club and they become friends, he starts to like Finn almost too much...
 * And later this happens again between Kurt and Blaine, and
 * In Being Human (UK),
 * In one episode of Bones, a female suspect who had previously stalked the victim becomes smitten with Booth after he had briefly comforted her.
 * In Sherlock, much of the reason why Sherlock allows John into his life and befriends him comes from John praising his deduction skills as "incredible" and "fantastic" while everyone else just calls him "freak." As the show progresses, it's clear that

Stand Up Comedy

 * Dane Cook has a routine invoking this trope. The idea is that every workplace has one person in it who is creepy or awkward in some way, and thus shunned by all of their coworkers. Dane states his approach is to always befriend such persons, with spontaneous gifts of candy bars and a willingness to talk about the awkward person's strange hobby—because when that person inevitably snaps and starts killing everyone in the office, you'll be the one spared their wrath, with a comment of "...Thanks for the candy..." instead of a shotgun shell to the face that everyone else got.

Tabletop Games

 * During the war on Tolkein of Rifts, the forces of Tolkeen liberated the Daemonix, a race of sub-demons from enslavement in another dimensions, and then asked them to help them fight the Coalition. Because the Tolkien asked them. As far back as the despised Daemonix could remember, no one has ever asked them anything. No previous master has ever given them a choice or the freedom to say no. Overwhelmed with gratitude, the Daemonix fought side by side with Tolkeen.

Theatre

 * Turandot has Liu, who follows Calaf like a dog, looks after his elderly father, suffers torture, and kills herself so that he can marry the unattainable title character...because he smiled at her once.

Video Games

 * Leads to two Heel Face Turns in Fire Emblem 7. Jaffar encountered Nino while too wounded to move. Instead of killing him, as per Black Fang custom, she bandages him up.
 * Soren in Fire Emblem: Path Of Radiance feels this toward Ike, as it was Greil and his family who took him in after a lifetime of hardship. In one support conversation, Soren describes this life to Ike, who is astonished, describing it as the most terrible thing he's ever heard and chastising Soren for his impression that Ike thought it was nonsense.
 * In Neverwinter Nights 2's built in campaign Neeshka mentions this about the PC if Relationship Values are stable before fighting the final boss, . It's a big part of the reason why the "romance" path with her, even though mostly cut, comes off as better written than most of the ones seen in video games. Inversely, Neeshka won't even need to be mind controlled into betraying the PC if their relationship values are low enough.
 * Listening to Jack in Mass Effect 2, only one other person besides Paragon!Shepard has ever been nice to her, and he
 * Metal Gear's Big Boss uses this trope to play the benefactor role a LOT. This has essentially become his MO for converting enemies to his side and inspiring unwavering loyalty in his men, and he has become frighteningly efficient at this.
 * In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, joins Mario's party simply because he was the first to be nice to her.
 * In Kingdom Hearts, Sora's party were the first only people ever to be nice to Naminé, even despite everything she'd done to them, which is why she spends the next year straight working on their behalf.
 * This is part of the reason Princess Sapphire Rhodonite falls for Almaz in Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice:
 * In Fallout 3, Gob will give the player a discount if they treat him nicely since everyone else in the town (especially his boss Colin Moriarty) treat him like crap for being a ghoul.
 * This is also most likely the only reason that, when you're in Raven Rock and have the option to free a Deathclaw from its cage, that it doesn't attack you on sight. Granted the base was going to go up in flames soon and it either wanted out or wanted its revenge, but it could have attacked you at that moment but didn't.
 * In the Old World Blues DLC of Fallout: New Vegas, if you manage to befriend or help out four of the Think Tanks,.
 * Several characters in Dark Souls have this. Lady of the Darkling is fervently loyal to Gwyndolin because he accepted her as a follower despite her hideous appearance, providing her purpose in life. Eingyi is similarly devoted to Quelaag's sister because she sucked the deadly Blightpuss from his body, saving his life but becoming deathly sick in the process. Also, it's possible for Maiden Rhea to become friendly towards the player should the player
 * Basically the reason why Phoenix becomes a lawyer in Ace Attorney—he remembers this one incident when he was nine years old, where

Webcomics
"O-Chul: Who do you know that treats you as a friend? MITD: Well ... Xykon, because he gives me toys to shut me up. And Redcloak, 'cause he feeds me to shut me up. And Right-Eye, although I haven't seen him around lately. And you, because you're nice and listen to what I have to say."
 * In Drowtales, Ariel buys a cheap gladiator to help deal with a school bully. However, after the gladiator saves her life, Ariel grants her her freedom, but she refuses to leave. However, Vaelia's reasons for loyalty are not purely because Ariel did something for her.
 * From the same comic, Mel'arnach and Lulianne seem to have this even though they're a jailer and prisoner respectively. This becomes especially apparent when Mel escapes and Lulianne follows.
 * This is why the Monster In The Darkness in Order of the Stick helps O-Chul. On the other hand, since he's got a rather hazy view of "nice", it's also why he helps Xykon:


 * In Long Exposure, Mitch's love for Jonas is based on this trope. As detailed in the prequel mini-comic, Mitch, already a troubled child, states that nobody likes him as a result of his Dark and Troubled Past. Jonas telling him he liked him shattered this worldview, though thanks to his No Social Skills, he demonstrated his crush in screwed-up ways, and it's not until the main storyline things got sorted out and eventually become an Official Couple.
 * In Sakana, Yuudai becomes less of an angry Jerkass once someone shows genuine kindness to him (emphasis on "genuine") This is especially evident when he befriends Taisei, who treated him as his friend immediately after they've just met; and even warms up to his former Sitcom Arch Nemesis Jiro after

Western Animation
""Marge, I love you! And I can tell from your basic level of courtesy that you love me too!""
 * In Jimmy Two-Shoes Chuck, a bus driver, becomes an obsessed stalker of a friend to an unwilling Jimmy after Jimmy called him "pal" and apologized for accidentally wrecking his bus. Chuck is shown to try to become a persistent friend to anyone who's even remotely nice to him.
 * Invader Zim: Although Zim was pretty mean to Keef for the most part, because he called them "friends" and pretended to enjoy his company (for appearances sake) Keef became obsessed with Zim even after Zim made it clear he wanted nothing to do with him.
 * Hey Arnold!: In "Helga On The Couch" it's shown that Helga fell for Arnold when she was in preschool because he was the only person in her life that noticed her and treated her kindly, by complimenting her and giving her his crackers at snack time.
 * The Simpsons did an episode where Homer and Marge entered a Wife Swap-style reality show. The Henpecked Husband ends up falling for Marge, while his frigid, controlling wife falls for Patty.


 * Foxglove the bat from the Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers episode "Good Times, Bat Times" claims that she works for Winnifred because before she met the Rescue Rangers, Winnifred had been her only friend. Based on how we actually see Winnifred treat her, either Foxglove was lonely to a degree not accounted for by human language, or the writers couldn't come up with anything that would actually work.
 * Family Guy: In one episode, Meg accepts a pity date from Brian, her family's talking dog, and becomes obsessed with him after he insults another girl in her defense and kisses her while drunk.