You had been training at Kamar-Taj for months when he arrived. Some cocky doctor, a former brain surgeon. At least that's what they were saying. He was cocky for sure, but you wouldn’t call him a brain surgeon. His hands were scarred and shook harder than a leaf. It would be accurate to describe him as an absolute disaster.
This man struggled to give in. You weren't a master, but damn did he suck at this. He was entertaining during the group lessons, as he failed continuously to open a simple portal, and he let it bother him.
It was glaringly obvious he didn’t want to be there to learn about the magic. He always talked about his time as a brain surgeon. When he was rich and had a hot doctor girlfriend. He mentioned multiple times that said hot girlfriend bought him the broken watch he refused to take off.
It was sort of obvious that the hot girlfriend broke up with him.
You often ran into him in the library, since you went there to find some peace and quiet. He would take out stacks of books and finish them quicker than anyone there would have. It was easy enough to ignore.
You were reading in the library when he used the Time Stone the first time. Of course, you weren’t paying attention until you heard Wong and Mordo yelling. Once the yelling started you put in your headphones and kept reading.
What no one had expected was for the Ancient one to die. She had been guiding you fully until Strange showed up and she put her time into him. The Ancient One still guided you though, led you down the right path, gave you direction. The word of her death spread quickly, as did the ‘miraculous’ word of Strange defeating Dormammu.
Hearing that Strange was now the Sorcerer Supreme? Well, you lost the hope the ancient one gave you. You were on track to become a master, you were powerful and you submitted to the arts. The man had barely been there a few months. You had been there for years and now he had achieved more than you had?
You were sitting in your room, wearing sweatpants and a hoodie. Peacefully reading a book you had gotten from the new librarian (Wong was far more fun as a librarian than the new guy). Theories of what had happened to the lost library of cagliostro. It was quite an entertaining book if you were being honest. It was then that you heard a knock at your door.
You sighed, setting down the book and placing a scrap of paper inside of it to mark your spot. You quickly walked to the door to find Wong standing in front of you.
“The Sorcerer Supreme would like to see you, Y/N.” He smiled at you.
You groaned “Really? The all powerful Sorcerer Supreme wants to see me? What, does he plan to rub his success in my face? The guy’s arrogant enough.” You let out a laugh.
Wong merely sighed, “Do not be so quick to judge Y/N, Stephen Strange is not as arrogant as he appears. At least not now, anyways.” He placed a hand on your shoulder and patted it, before turning and walking away.
You watched him start walking before calling out after him “Try me Beyoncé!” He ignored your retort and kept walking. You walked back into your room, closing the door before changing into your traditional robes.
You quickly made your way to meet Strange in the main hall of Kamar-taj. He and Wong were standing and talking when you walked in. Wong noticed you first and took a few steps back, before turning and walking out of the room.
You walked up to Strange and bowed. It felt like groveling but he was the Sorcerer Supreme and it was customary.
“You’ve called for me, Sorcerer Supreme?” You did your best to hide the disapproval in your voice. She had only been gone a couple of weeks.
He smiled “Yes, thank you for meeting with me Y/N. I wanted to discuss some important matters with you. Please sit with me. Would you care for some tea?” He motioned to the table on your left, which had a tea set sitting on top of it. You could see steam coming from the kettle, and it smelled nice.
“Of course, thank you.” You said as you sat down. He sat across from you and poured your cup of tea, handing it to you before pouring his own.
He took a sip from his cup before speaking “As you likely know, Master Sol Rama gave his life protecting the London Sanctum.” You nodded before blowing into your tea to cool it down a tiny bit.
“I was reading through The Ancient One’s journals on those she has trained. There are many Masters of the mystic arts that could be chosen to guard the sanctum, and I need help deciding.”
You looked at him skeptically nodding along “What can I do to help you with this?” You asked, taking a sip of your tea. Surprisingly it was Earl Gray instead of herbal.
“Well,” he started, “I have one candidate that I'm strongly considering. I wanted to have someone give me an unbiased opinion, so i've called you. I’ve omitted any identifying details from this list, and I’d like you to tell me what you think of this person based on the qualities that I list to you.”
“Alright, that seems simple enough.” You took another sip of tea as he began reading from his paper.
“Now, these are The Ancient One’s words, not mine.
The Ancient One said, this master has a kind heart.
This master has advanced quickly in their studies of the mystic arts and has shown clear devotion to the mystic arts and the protection of it.
This master is very stubborn, a little bit headstrong, but that is something that can come in handy when protecting the mystic arts.”
He stopped to take a sip of his tea “Those were the most relevant notes, nothing else particularly relevant. Although The Ancient One kept a lot of notes on this master. What do you think?”
You sat and thought for a moment, the master he read about sounded qualified. “The one in the paper sounds perfectly qualified to protect the London sanctuary.” The Sorcerer Supreme smiled at your response.
“I’m very glad you agree with Wong and I.” He said as he stood up, offering you a hand up as well. “Congratulations then, Master Y/L/N. If you would accept, I would like to place you in charge of the London Sanctuary.”
You froze for a moment in shock. “Wait… me? But I’m not even a master yet!” Strange took your hand and helped you up with a smirk on his face.
“Well, if Kisielius hadn’t attacked you would have been a Master by the end of the week. At least, that's what The Ancient Ones notes say.” He gave you a pat on the shoulder “If you accept, we can get you moved into and acquainted with the London sanctuary by the end of the week.”
You stood there looking at him dumbfounded “Really? This can't be real. Are you serious?” You must have looked absolutely silly, because Strange looked like he was trying to hide a bit of a laugh.
“Why would I be kidding about this? You’re very qualified, The Ancient One was proud of you. You’ll be perfect for protecting the London Sanctum.” By that point the confusion was starting to wear off, and the realization began to set in.
You blinked a couple times, absolutely not blinking back tears, as you nodded “Yes. Absolutely. I accept it!”
He clasped his hands together at your reply “Fantastic! I’ll get this set up! Please be ready to move over tomorrow morning, we will get you settled into your room. The next morning we’ll get you situated with the layout of the sanctum!”
The Cloak of Levitation flew to Strange and clasped around his collar. He turned on his heel and began to walk out. Once he was at the door way he yelled “Wong! She agreed! Get over here!”
You walked out and back to your room stunned. In one day you became a master, which you had worked hard to earn the title, and you overtook guarding the London Sanctum.
That night you packed everything you owned which, admittedly, wasn't very much. Some clothes, some personal items from your past, and a few books that were yours. You went to bed that night excited for tomorrow.
The next morning you would be brought to the London Sanctum, and would spend the day becoming accustomed to your new (extremely massive) room. You would spend the following day with Stephen Strange, walking through the corridors and rooms of the London Sanctum.
The next few weeks you spent learning of every single artifact in the Sanctum. Researching every single item, and learning everything you could about each one. An item hadn’t picked you yet, like how the Cloak of Levitation chose Strange, but that was alright.
You weren’t expecting to find Strange in the London library. Asleep with his face in a book. A book about the Eye of Agamotto, you noted. You know he broke the natural law to save earth by using the Eye.
You gently put your hand on his shoulder to wake him up, “Doctor? Doctor Strange are you alright?” After a moment his eyes fluttered open. He sat up and rubbed his eyes before looking at you.
“Oh! Master Y/L/N! I apologize, I must have dozed off.” He looked exhausted and you saw his eyes flicker with a bright green, the same color as the Eye of Agamotto.
“You were trying to figure out the consequences, weren't you?” If Strange wasn’t fully awake, he sure was now.
“How did you know?” You smiled softly
“A few months before you came to Kamar-Taj, I became a little too curious. So I began experimenting with the Eye. Just simple and dumb little things. Still hungry but didn’t want to ask for seconds? Just borrow the eye and give yourself more food from the past. The Ancient One had to fix a rift I created.”
His eyes were wide, laced with confusion.
“Unlike you, I took a step back in my studies. I began researching more than I learned how to harness the mystic arts. I suppose The Ancient One knew that I was afraid to cause destruction, so she let me step back. That's when you came along, and I figured I’d never get any further in my studies.”
Strange looked like he was in awe. “You learned how to harness the Eye? And you never got caught until you caused a rift? That's amazing!”
That took you back a bit, how was he amazed by how you broke a very important rule?
“Wong caught me immediately! I can’t believe you made it so long! Fuck you’re beautiful!” And with that Stephen Strange found he spoke a little too much.
The both of you froze, locking eyes as you felt a burning blush spread across your face. Stephen’s face began to turn pink as well. In a panic he began to try to find some way to fix what he just said.
“I mean, you are beautiful! You did such an impressive thing! Even if it was a bit dangerous it's such an amazing feat! I… uh-” He stopped his ramble, smiling awkwardly with his tongue pinched between his teeth.
You simply stared at him for a moment before blurting out “Who knew someone so arrogant could be so dorky.” Your eyes widened as your hands shot up to cover your mouth.
The two of you started laughing at how awkward the situation was. Stephen stopped laughing first and put out his hand for a handshake.
“How about we try this again. My name is Doctor Stephen Strange, and I couldn't help but notice that you are very beautiful.”
You smiled and took his hand with your own “My name is Master Y/N Y/L/N, and you seem different for some reason. Perhaps you could enlighten me?”
“How about dinner? Tomorrow night? I know a wonderful Italian place a few blocks from here.” His eyes were lit and had an excitement that you had never seen in them before.
“It's a date!” After hashing out a few more details the two of you went your separate ways.
When you met him that night you noticed that while his hands were still scared and shaking, he wasn’t wearing a broken watch.
Perhaps you had found love in the form of a cocky former brain surgeon.