You Gotta Believe!

Quinn Williams.

A 22 year old nonbinary chef.

They grew up in a quite rigid household. Their family had always accepted them, but they always felt somewhat stuck.
That was what was confusing for Quinn. It was as if had been born into the wrong household, but the right one at the same time.

But then again, that was 7 years ago, in their teen years. They can do whatever they want now, and that includes being a chef!

In fact, they were going to chase a mini dream right now!

***

"I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT," Quinn shouted while mashing the attack button on their controller. They were practicing for a mini gaming competition. The prize was a figurine, but it was signed by the creator of the game, so Quinn felt it was worth it.
"I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I- AARRRGH I DON'T GOT IT," they shouted when they lost. This game, a popular MOBA called Return of the Vikings, had quite intense matches.
"I almost had it, darn," Quinn said to themselves. "Well, I'll take a break for now. Then I'll try again later."

They lay down on the couch and looked up at the ceiling. They thought of what tactics they could use for their next match while watching the ceiling fan spin above them, when they remembered something.

「"You have to follow the schedule, we have one in place for a reason! "」

'Oh god, not now,' Quinn thought, covering their face. "BLAH BLAH BLAH I CAN'T HEAR YOU," they shouted at the air, trying to ignore the words their mom had said once. Well, not literally once, multiple times, but that's not the point.
Quinn tried hard to ignore it, but couldn't in the end. But then, it would be hard to ignore something a parent said almost constantly even if you were following as best you could. At least, that's how Quinn had seen it.

"Arrgh, whatever, I'm gonna play some more," Quinn said to themselves. They sat back up and picked up their controller again. They opened their laptop and played a few more matches before taking a snack break.
'Now I'll be able to go up a rank,' they thought when the started the next match.
Quinn used all the tactics they knew this match. The attack button was mashed, and when the match was done, Quinn had won!
"YES!! Yes yes yes!!" Quinn shouted. "I GOT IT!! Gold rank!"

*Bzzzt*

"Wh- Oh hold on, I got a notification," Quinn mumbled.

They looked at it; it was from their older sister.

≪Hey Quinn! How've u been doing lately?≫

'Oh my gosh, Sis!' Quinn thought happily.

≪Hey Sis!
I've been pretty good, u?≫

Quinn's Sister:
≪Pretty good as well~
I remember you told me you got a job at a nice cafe, is that going well? :3≫

Quinn:
≪Yep! I met some nice people, and I think my cooking is getting better too :3≫

***

After a while, Quinn and their sister stopped texting to go back to the things they had been doing.
They played more of their video game, and made it to the level needed to get to the competition finals!

「"You can do whatever you want, Quinn."」

"Heh, I guess you were right about that, Sis," Quinn said to themselves. "*yawn*, well, I'll go to bed now. It's getting pretty late."

***

(The next morning...)

The next day, Quinn went to work as usual, cooked dishes for customers, the average chef activities. Then when they went back home that evening, they got an email about the gaming competition! It said:

「Hello!
We have decided that your game play and rank are at the required level. To enter the finals, please go to this website and type in the code we have attached to this email.」

"YES!!" Quinn hopped around their room. "YES YES YES!!!"

They had gotten their wish to get in!

'I guess anything is possible... hehe, that sounds like a kids movie,' Quinn thought. They looked out the window and chuckled. "Yep," they said to themselves. "It is true, heh. You gotta believe~!!"