Title: In the Name of Love
Author: Reyn
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Sasuke's inner Queen would be a step more in this direction.
Warnings: slash, AU, gay (in a 'fabulous' sense)
Author's Note: I…am incredibly picky about my cookies. They can't be the slightest bit burnt and must be soft. And preferably containing chocolate. Otherwise I won't eat them.

In the Name of Love

Sasuke stared at his third batch of cookies, all of which were just as black and smoldering as the first two. He had no idea what he was doing wrong. He followed the recipes to the book and had readjusted the oven temperature and cooking time for each batch.

Maybe he needed to buy a new oven.

Grabbing his keys and jacket, he marched out of the house to do a bit of appliance shopping.

The girl at Home Depot was good. Too good. Not only was she able to sign him on for a new state-of-the-art double stacked oven in which he could bake four times the amount of cookies at once, she was also able to convince him he would need the new microwave to go with it.

And stove top.

And dishwasher.

And a fridge that had a drawer for a freezer and separate wine storage unit to match.

And granite countertop since the white tiles would look out of date with all these new appliances.

Add a small flat screen TV to hang in the corner so he could sit at the bar and watch the game while waiting for the cookies to finish and he was set.

Three weeks and an entirely remodeled kitchen later (Look! New flooring and wallpaper as well!), Sasuke was ready to try this whole baking thing again.

And again, he found himself failing miserably.

By the fourth batch of burnt cookies his arm was getting tired of stirring the damn dough every time he had to remake it (because with his new oven, he was able to cook all it at once!).

He double-checked the recipe again and pulled out a pen and paper to do the math on all his time and temperature readjustments and once again came to the conclusion that it wasn't him.

Well if it wasn't an error on his part or an error on the oven's part, maybe there was something wrong with the wiring and gas in his house?

Phone calls were made and one week and a new lighting and heating system later, Sasuke once again littered his counter with baking ingredients.

By the second batch he had to disable the smoke alarm and open all the windows downstairs to get rid of the smell.

Collapsing on the couch, Sasuke stared miserably up at his hazy ceiling. Maybe he just needed a new house.

He sat up.

That was it!

Gathering up his ingredients, measuring cups, and bowls, he loaded up the trunk of his car and made a few phone calls.

Two houses, three apartments, and six pissed off yet baffled friends later, Sasuke finally decided to break into his boyfriend's place and see if his luck would change there.

He should probably get that lock fixed before Naruto came home.

Five failed cookie batches, a disabled smoke alarm, and an open balcony door later, Sasuke was ready to call it quits lest he die of smoke inhalation.

He didn't want to call it quits, but the solution of buying Naruto a new kitchen probably wouldn't sit well with said owner or said owner's landlord.

Pacing back and forth in the living room didn't really help either, but Sasuke was beyond frustrated at this point and determined to wear a path in the floor to let his boyfriend know just how irritated he was. Who in their right minds asked someone whom they had to teach how to even turn on the stove to bake cookies for them!

He sorely wished he had laser beams for eyes so he could burn a hole in everything he glared at.

He'd make the curtains combust, the remote control melt, the Home & Garden magazines smolder, and the pictures…

Sasuke's face softened as he looked at the pictures. The shelf was covered with them and in the center was a group shot of Naruto, surrounded by the girls and boys of the little league team he coached; the ones Sasuke had been asked to bake the cookies for to help out with the bake sale they were holding in a few days.

Next to that was a picture of himself that Sasuke had no recollection of posing for. Actually, several of the frames contained images of both him and Naruto, despite the fact that they had only been dating a few months.

Just below his line of sight there was a picture from when they were at the beach, just seconds after a strong undertow had knocked Sasuke flat on his ass. He remembered thinking Naruto took the picture just before that happened…apparently he was wrong.

Picking up the photo, he moved it down to the bottom shelf in the back where no one would notice it.

As he moved to stand back up, he spotted a rather nice candid photo of the two of them just outside some club in Vegas, each holding an overly-fruity drink with their pinkies embraced as Naruto led Sasuke towards some unknown destination. Both of them were dressed to impress and had small smiles on their faces. When he couldn't stop staring, Sasuke realized it was a really nice photo.

He decided to steal it, frame and all.

Granted, he couldn't exactly have it out in the open when his business friends and family were over considering how much it screamed of gay. Maybe he could put it by his bedside; then only he could look at it.

A photo with an oversized dog near the top of the shelf caught his attention and he frowned as he gave it a closer look. It was of Naruto, his ex-boyfriend Kiba, and Kiba's dog.

Why the hell did Naruto still have that picture? Sasuke had stolen him from Kiba fair and square, meaning remnants of the ex were not allowed.

Picking up the picture, Sasuke took it to the kitchen and threw it in the trash, making sure to drop it on top of the egg shells that still contained a bit of raw yolk in them.

At that moment he heard the lock to the door jiggle, causing him to turn and block the trash can with a guilty expression etched across his face. When the lock continued to jiggle for the next two minutes, Sasuke grew bored and wondered just how hard it was for someone to open the door.

That was when he remembered he had the lock changed to fix the one he broke.

"Sasuke! For some reason my key's not…" Naruto frowned down at the door handle once Sasuke opened the door to let him in. "…What are you doing in my apartment?"

"I give up on baking your stupid cookies, I need you to fix my smoke alarm, you need to fix your smoke alarm, you are forbidden to own anything that relates to Kiba, and your new keys are on the counter," Sasuke said, crossing his arms and leveling Naruto with a stare that conveyed everything was his fault.

"New keys? Why? What's wrong with my smoke…Wha…What happened?!?" Naruto exclaimed, dropping his bag and heading into the mess that was once his kitchen.

It took a good hour of explaining and three attempts at cookie baking for everything to sink in before Naruto was finally compassionate about the whole situation.

"You're not going to break up with me just because I can't do this for you, are you?" Sasuke asked suspiciously as he watched Naruto wipe the countertop clean.

Naruto chuckled and shook his head. "It'll take a lot more than your inability to bake to get me to break up with you," he reassured, not realizing Sasuke had wisely kept quiet about the photo theft.

"So why is your team having a bake sale anyways?" Sasuke asked, changing the subject.

"Oh! It's to raise money for uniforms!" Naruto said excitedly, his eyes lighting up as he got to talk about his fourth favorite subject in the world (the first three being ramen, and his job. Sasuke had self-proclaimed the third spot for himself for now. As time went on he planned on moving up). "Usually the league chips in, but this year the design the kids want is really unique and will cost us extra. The legue doesn't want to put the money up for it, so it's up to us to pay for it ourselves."

"That's it?" Sasuke deadpanned. "I've been to hell and back for a fundraiser? Naruto, why didn't you just ask me for the money?"

"What? Sasuke, this is a little league team. We do stuff like this all the time for anything involving money. Besides, it's cheaper for you to just make some cookies than buy an entire team custom-made jerseys," Naruto placated, knowing better than to let his pride start an argument with his already irate boyfriend.

The dark miasma suddenly radiating from Sasuke let Naruto know that he had unknowingly stepped on a landmine.

"Expect to have contracts to sign next week," Sasuke ordered, his empty soda can crushing in his grip to help maintain his composure.

"Er…Why?" Naruto asked nervously, drawing back in fear of the murderous aura rolling towards him.

"My company will officially be sponsoring your team," Sasuke stated, putting the can down and moving to grab his coat. "Your jerseys will be blue and you will call yourselves the Uchihas."

"Wait a minute! Our jerseys will be orange!" Naruto shouted as Sasuke opened the door and stepped out. "And we can't call ourselves the Uchi-!!"

The door slammed shut, and Sasuke had the satisfaction of knowing that in the future he would be able to use the excuse that he didn't hear whatever Naruto was saying since he obviously kept talking after he left.

That satisfaction was dashed when he heard the apartment door open mere seconds before he could push the button for the elevator.

"I remodeled my entire house for the sake of your team! The jerseys will be blue!" Sasuke said firmly, jamming the down button several times for good measure.

"You're still on about that?" Naruto asked in a way that made Sasuke want to smash the idiot's head in with one of the many bowls he had left back in the apartment. Damn, he'd have to come back and get those someday. "You almost left without taking these."

Sasuke looked down at Naruto's hands to see a key and back of a picture frame.

"That's not mine," he denied, feeling the familiar weight of his own set of keys in his pocket.

"It's my spare key," Naruto explained, holding it out for Sasuke to take. "I figure it'll be easier to just give you one rather than come home to find my locks changed every time you decide to come over from now on."

Staring at the key, Sasuke was torn between falling a little bit more for Naruto or being peeved at the way the warm fuzzy feeling growing in his gut was dissolving his rage as if it were nothing.

"There's also this," Naruto continued, turning over the frame to reveal the picture of him and Sasuke in Las Vegas that Sasuke had forgotten to steal. "It was under where your coat had been, so I'm guessing you wanted it?"

A battle of pride warred within Sasuke. After several long moments, the ding of the elevator seemed to snap him into action and he quickly took both the picture and the key and marched into the elevator.

Turning, he hit the button for the first floor and waited until the doors were beginning to close before putting in his last two cents. "You're still going to be the blue Uchihas!"

He waited until he had dropped at least three floors before mentally adding, "Thank you for the key and photo. I love you."

He was sure Naruto got the message though as his phone vibrated with a text that said, 'I love you too.'