-Unbetaed and not a native speaker so please kindly point out any mistakes.
-Warning: Major Endgame spoilers.

Stephen was meditating when he felt someone standing at the Sanctum's front door. People often mistook him for being in tune with the surrounding so he could sense any presence. While it was true most of the time, he simply put a spell at his front door because there had been too many uninvited guests coming to this Sanctum lately.

He had been tempted to put a spell so people wouldn't notice the building but Wong said after Decimation, people needed all the help they could get, even mystic helps, to this door needed to be opened to whoever needed it. That was the job of the Master of the Sanctum, not to mention the future Sorcerer Supreme. That title seemed to be more and more daunting lately. He was not sure he was up for the task.

He used his third eye to check who was at the door. It was the last person he expected to ever visited him. He doubted Steve Rogers needed his help of any kind.

He quickly teleported himself to the front door. His Cloak who had been examining his tomes quickly attached herself on his shoulders. Nobody should let Captain America, well ex Captain America (he didn't see that coming but again he only looked up to the point they won, not where everybody would end up afterward), to wait in the cold. That'd be a crime or something like that. He shook his head. Old habit died hard. He blamed it on the PSAs in the public schools he attended.

He opened the door slowly to keep up with his mystical persona. He nodded. "Welcome the New York Sanctum, Cap." He nearly bit his tongue. To be fair, Rogers was still Captain America around three days ago his time. Time travel sucked when he was at the receiving end.

Rogers smiled. "Doctor Strange, I'm sure you're well aware that I'm not Captain America anymore. Sam Wilson is Captain America. And you can call me Steve."

"Steve, please come in. And you can call me Stephen." It'd be awkward if he used his title when Steve didn't. Not that Steve had any title at the moment.

Steve smiled. "That's a good name."

Stephen smirked. "Yes, it's a great name." He stepped back and let Steve came in. He noticed that Steve still had a straight back despite his age and his strides were still strong.

He led the way to one of the studies at the first floor. There was no weird objects to spook muggles (Peter Parker's term) in that room. He didn't think Steve was the person who spook easily but why took the risk. He doubted Steve could have a heart attack with his supersoldier serum.

He let Steve sat on one of the armchairs that was not stacked with books. Luckily Wong was not present, otherwise he would scream something about mistreatment of books and reported him to book's equivalent of Geneva Convention. He sat on the opposite chair. This scene felt like déjà vu. Not that he could mistake Steve for Thor at the moment with his head full of white hair.

"Do you drink tea? Or do you need beer or other beverage?"

"Tea is fine. No milk, no sugar. I don't want to test the limit of my dwindling serum at this age."

That was a new information for him. He used magic to put a cup on Steve's hand and to fill it up with Chamomile tea. He himself could use Chamomile so he summoned a cup for himself.

Steve looked suitably impressed with his wide eyes expression. He guessed his desire to show off had never worn off.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to magic even after everything I've seen since I woke up from the ice, eleven, no eleven plus fifty years ago so that'd be sixty four years ago. It's hard to keep track about time with time travelling."

"Tell me about it."

Steve took a long look at him."You'll be the expert in that, won't you? Tony told me about you looking through 14,000,605 futures so it must be at least thousand of years. I guess I shouldn't complain. How did it feel?"

"Exhausting and it's hard to keep all the facts straight after so many possibilities despite my photographic memory."

"You too?" Steve smiled. "I guess we don't only share the same first name. I also possess eidetic memory because of the serum."

Stephen should've known that. He read about it at school. But a lot of things slipped his mind because there were too many facts swirling in his head. He needed to sort them out otherwise he'd be a like walking encyclopedia and as useful as one in battles.

"Steve, not to be rude or anything but why do you come here? I don't think it's to find common ground between us. If it's a preamble to recruit me to join the Avengers, I need to politely decline. I've taken my vows as a Master of the Mystic Arts to protect our reality so I've no time to join the Avengers."

"That's a pity but I understand. I'm not an Avenger anymore so I think Sam will be the one recruiting. I presume he will come knocking on your door in a few days time once he got used to the idea of being Captain America. I just want to have a chat with you because I heard so much about you from Tony and I've also travelled to 2012 to return to the Time Stone to your teacher, the Ancient One, a very serene and prominent lady, and she also talked about you. She asked me to check on you when I get back to this time. I can't just break a promise to a lady." Steve seemed to smile to himself at the last sentence as it was a secret joke.

Stephen started to feel invisible cold sweats dripping from his back. He didn't expect Tony would have anything good to say about him given his cryptic behaviors on Titan. He barely got over his guilt over Tony's death and Steve's mentioning it bringing him back the memory he'd tried to get rid of.

As what The Ancient One said about him, his guess was as good as others. He drew a deep breath. Might as well rip off the bandaid as soon as possible. "OK, tell me all about it."

Notes:

-I know I've written the fics where they met but the difference is this one post Endgame so will mention canon events in MCU.
-The fics before this story where Stephen was dealing with his guilt were There Was No Other Way and You Still Have a Place in My Heart.
-Aelaer pointed out that Stephen didn't kill the aliens in Endgame, just sending them through portals.

i-sudoku dot tumblr dot com/post/184750033953/endgame-a-moment-of-appreciation-for-doctor

I'm glad that the good doctor still upholds his Hippocratic Oath.