Vitamin D Deficiency Club

Marcus stood outside the community center, clutching his dad's old baseball glove like it was some ancient artifact. Meanwhile, inside, the sound of padel balls hitting walls echoed—everyone playing that trendy sport his crush Aisha was obsessed with.

'You coming, bro?' Tyler appeared beside him, energy drink in hand. 'Or you just gonna stand there looking like you forgot your vitamin this morning?'

Marcus shoved the glove deeper into his backpack. 'Nah, I'm good. Think I'll skip the tryouts.' Again.

His golden retriever, Buster, waited in the car, tail thumping against the window like a metronome counting down his failures. Marcus had quit baseball last season after striking out three times in one game. Now he was just... drifting.

'You know,' Aisha's voice made him jump. She stood in the doorway, padel racket slung over her shoulder, hair in that perfect messy bun he could never pull off. 'My little brother needs a baseball coach. He's terrible.' She grinned. 'Like, actually terrible. You'd be a massive upgrade.'

'Me?' Marcus laughed. 'I couldn't hit water if I fell out of a boat.'

'Exactly.' She stepped closer. 'You know what it's like to suck. That's worth something.'

Later that week, Marcus stood in the park with seven-year-old Leo, who held a plastic bat like a lightsaber. Buster chased every ball Marcus threw, creating chaos and making Leo laugh so hard he forgot to be nervous about hitting.

'You're not like the other coaches,' Leo said between giggles as Buster tackled him with tongue-out kisses.

'Yeah, well,' Marcus finally relaxed, 'I'm more of a vitamin supplement kind of coach. Not the main course.' He tossed another ball. 'But hey, we're all just trying to get our daily dose of not sucking completely.'

When Aisha showed up with smoothies afterward, Marcus didn't even panic when their hands brushed. Sometimes the best things weren't about hitting home runs. They were about finding where you actually belonged—and having a dog who made everything 100% better just by existing.