This study researches how queer players project their identities onto characters within the computer game Team Fortress 2, a popular multiplayer first-person shooter developed by Valve Corporation in 2007. The game lets its players customize their character’s appearance in the game through cosmetics that players can purchase from and trade with each other. While retellings at large have been documented throughout the years, there are very few studies researching specifically queer retellings (fan art and fan fiction) in games where the player themself does not create the character they are playing as. Our research question is “In what ways and what forms do queer players project their own identities onto video game characters who are not LGBTQ+, and why?”. To answer this we followed a qualitative approach conducting 13 semi-structured interviews with Team Fortress 2 players and fans who identified as queer. The study showed us that all of the participants had some way of an emotional connection to the characters in the game, and a common reason for this was relatability. Furthermore, TF2’s reluctance to explore more emotional and personal sides of the characters led to the participants filling in these gaps themselves through retellings. The pre-existing queer community was also significant, as it let the participants share and create queer art and headcanons with people similar to themselves (both regarding identity and interest). Additionally, the flexibility of TF2’s cosmetics led to self-expression despite the pre-designed characters - participants equipped cosmetics to better reflect themselves, their identities or their perceptions of the characters. Thusly, we found that the intersection between community, self-expression and the source material in the game all provided a basis on why players decide to project themselves onto these characters in particular. This study both addresses the lack of existing queer retelling studies and provides deeper insights in player projection and expression within computer games.