This Story About Keanu Reeves Buying Ice Cream to Help a Young Fan Is Heartwarming

SB Nation writer James Dator has a heartwarming story he shared about the time he was a 16-year-old kid working in a movie theater who happened to sell Keanu Reeves a ticket. Spoiler alert: this tale only adds to the legend of Keanu being a darn decent human being.

Recently, the John Wick star went viral when he helped a bunch of airplane passengers out after their small aircraft made an emergency landing.

Then there was the time he heard some kids needed a preschool so he bought the a building and some land and handed it all over. Then there's this candid act of kindness when he stood up to give someone else a seat on the subway, not to mention the time he spent 45 minutes talking with two young Kids at Newark airport after they approached him as fans.

Oh yeah, and then there was the time actress Octavia Spencer first moved to L.A. and her car broke down. Only one person stopped on the highway to come and help her. You know who that man was? Keanu.

James' twitter thread echoes this theme of Keanu always anticipating people's needs. It starts during an ordinary day shift at the movie theater where James worked.

It was a Wednesday morning in Sydney, Australia during the height of Keanu's action-star popularity. The Matrix was a huge hit, and he was working on the second and third films in the series. James had been bored until he saw someone walking into the theater to catch a matinee.

The person was wearing a "horse riding helmet." Knowing Keanu's affinity for motorcyles, it was most probably one for bikers and not horses. But I'm secretly hoping he rode into the theater on a horse, predicting that excellent John Wick 3 scene. 

James didn't recognize Keanu at first, because he saw so thrown by the sight of an equestrian waltzing around in his theater, with a leather jacket no less.

The actor requested a ticket for From Hell, a super creepy Johnny Depp movie about Jack the Ripper. James, not knowing how to ask Keanu for his autograph, came up with a foolproof plan that would have the actor put some pen to paper, without James having to "technically" ask for it.

Oh, and did I say "foolproof?" By foolproof I meant to say it was an epic fail. Keanu couldn't understand why the young man had wanted to give him an employee discount, because he clearly didn't work there. Or maybe Keanu's got such a deep sense of honor he couldn't possibly accept such an offer.

Keanu then buys his full-price ticket and walks away. James is dejected, until...

It took a few seconds, but Keanu picked up on the fact that the young kid had wanted his autograph and was trying to go about obtaining it in a slick way. So the Speed star  bought an ice cream cone he had no intention of eating just to get a sheet of paper he could sign, with the date and location printed on it, that could serve as a memorable autograph for the young fan.

And he helped the concession stand in the process, which is how movie theaters make all their money. Keanu's an absolute legend.

James was astounded by the gesture and was grateful to the actor for taking the time to make a young "idiot's" day. Other people were absolutely smitten as well.

It's not like we needed any more confirmation that Keanu Reeves is humanity's best friend, but it's so great to see new proof, year after year, of just how enthusiastic he is about being a great guy.