Heartwarming / Sanders Sides

WARNING: Untagged spoilers ahead. Read at your own risk.

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• Even before he officially becomes friends with the others, there are a few instances where Virgil is seen laughing at the other Sides' antics (not in a mean-spirited way, but a "hey, these guys are Actually Pretty Funny" way), and is visibly having fun despite himself. He was always a good guy; he just needed a little support and kindness to be able to show it openly.
• "Accepting Anxiety", full stop. Thomas and Virgil finally hash it out, with Thomas apologizing for blaming him so often and Virgil apologizing for making Thomas so scared all the time (to the point that the two-parter began because Virgil just stopped and Thomas lost all fear, drive, and inhibition). In the end, Virgil tells them his name, everyone accepts him, and Patton gives him a little drawing of the four sides holding hands.
• The Christmas Episode for 2017 has plenty:
  • The Sides have a Secret Santa among themselves. Logan gets Virgil an audiobook, which Virgil pretends to be indifferent towards but clearly appreciates. Roman writes Logan a screenplay starring him and Sherlock Holmes, which Logan is elated by. Patton makes Roman homemade pasta "with love." (And cumin.) Virgil, meanwhile, made Patton a card but feels bad for not doing more. However, Patton loves it! And as a nice little Freeze-Frame Bonus, one shot reveals Virgil signed the card, "Best Friends." Awwwwwwwww!
    • The best part of this is how each gift displays the giver's own quirkiness, but each recipient experiences at most a second or two of skepticism before realizing that they love it.
  • The Sides' version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" ends with this sweet lyric, after a rewrite from Roman:
    Roman, Patton, and Logan: (indicating Virgil) And an emo who's now our best friend!
• In "Can Lying Be Good?", Roman takes one of his usual jabs at Virgil, only to apologize for it and admit that he doesn't enjoy the senseless bickering between the Sides. He's gone a long way when it comes to Virgil.
• Virgil and Patton's friendship in general. Patton is nice to Virgil and in return, Virgil genuinely likes Patton. There are even cuts to Virgil smiling or chuckling whenever Patton does or says something funny.
• "Why Do We Get Out of Bed in the Morning?" features Thomas giving a genuinely friendly and enthusiastic "Hi, Virgil!" to Virgil. Virgil even responds with a similar friendly greeting as he leaves, albeit at his own normal energy level. The growth in the two’s relationship is touching when compared to Virgil’s early episodes where Thomas would become immediately concerned and annoyed by his presence and Virgil took a certain pleasure in furthering the feelings and Thomas’s anxiety.
  • "Crofter's - The Musical!" also shows how happy Roman and Logan are to see Virgil.
• "Dealing with INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS" features a surprising amount of gentleness from Logan towards the other Sides, while he's fending off Remus's antics. He initially starts to call Virgil "paranoid" for being easily upset by Remus and for worrying that the intrusive thoughts Remus creates make Thomas a bad person, but Logan corrects himself mid-word and compliments Virgil for being on his guard instead. He also gently talks Virgil and Patton down, rather than being overly harsh on them, and gets them to realize that what they've been doing is harming Thomas without being judgmental or denigrating them. It's a far cry from his habit of bickering with Roman, and he deserves Thomas's later compliment that he's cool.
• "Are There Healthy Distractions?" ends with Logan helping both Thomas and Virgil calm down from an anxiety attack.
• Oddly enough, even Deceit/Janus gets a moment in "Putting Others First." While Roman is confused and reeling, Patton leaves to go check on him and entrust Thomas to the Side he formerly never would. Janus seems genuinely grateful for being given the chance to show that he actually does want to help.
  Patton: Janus?
  Janus: (sincerely) I'll take care of him.
• In the same episode, when Deceit first appears, his first action is to pull Thomas behind him, effectively shielding him from a hulked-out Patton.
• In "Flirting With Social Anxiety," upon seeing how downcast Roman is as Thomas passes up the opportunity to talk to a cute guy at the mall (and possibly the fact that Roman has messed up again), Virgil suppresses his fear of social interaction long enough to push Thomas toward the guy and give Roman a chance to shine.
  Roman: Thank you.
  Virgil: Uh... you're welcome, I guess? In all honesty... I really don't know what that was.
  Roman: (Lays a hand on Virgil's shoulder) Bravery.
  Virgil: W-what? N-no, I-
  Roman: (In a fond voice) Shut up, emo.
  • Thomas, Roman, and Virgil’s collective Squee during the end card is absolutely adorable.
• Logan's countering of Remus's efforts of cognitive distortion - as much as it is a disruption to the schedule that Logan has been putting together, when Logan realizes how badly Thomas is being impacted by Remus's actions, he sets it aside for the sake of Thomas's mental health.
• In "The Sides Need a Nice Day":
  • After Patton rushes Logan through his pick-a-card activities and Logan points out he hasn't had time to enjoy anything he's picked, Patton makes another set of cards, which both say, "Redo today and I'll chill out this time". Cut to the library, where Logan seems pleased and Patton says to the camera, "I did it!"
  • After Roman gets upset with Virgil's telling of the tragic version of The Little Mermaid, particularly about the prince being a jerk, Virgil softens his approach and reluctantly changes the ending to a happy one so Roman can sleep peacefully.
  • Remus makes friends with Bloody Mary offscreen, and even describes her as a "real nice gal."
• In "Virgil Reacts to Anxiety from inside Out 2", Roman calls Virgil the group's favorite depiction of anxiety.
• SO much of "What Makes the Perfect Gift?":
  • Janus's gift to Patton: the box-inside-a-box gag opening to a homemade card
  • Patton's gift to Remus: an air fryer, which the latter loves (though for reasons Pat did not intend for)
  • Remus's gift to Virgil: a handmade... thing. Remus adorably calls it "Mr Fuzzy."
  • Virgil's gift to Logan: it takes until the end of the video, but when Logan figures it out, it's A LINE OF MYSTERY PUZZLES TO DIRECT LOGAN TO HIS ACTUAL PRESENT. We don't see the final present, but just the fact that Virgil made something so thoughtful is all that matters.
  • Logan's gift to Roman: a $20 bill with Roman's face in place of Andrew Jackson ("fuck that asshole"). Logan praises Roman's creativity and concludes that he'll probably find a better use for the money than himself.
  • Roman's gift to Janus: A BITCH SLAP that Janus is not even mad about. Then Roman shows that he bought some socks. Although it's undermined by some "cold-blooded" comments, it's still a decent gift.
  • Nico's gift to Thomas: a necklace. Regardless whether he feels romantic or platonically towards Thomas, he still says it looks good on him and it makes for quite the sweet gesture.
  • Thomas's gift to Nico: it turns out that the entire gift exchange in the video was to brainstorm a gift for him. Although Nico said he didn't need a present in return, Thomas still got a really nice personal gift. Inside a homemade "Karrot King" bag, there's a notebook for his songwriting. As Thomas said, it combined all of the types of presents in this episode: gag, trendy, handmade, those that appeal to interest, useful and... sends a message.