The Doctor walked into just about the dullest, most ordinary coffee shop in the universe. He should know. He's been into every one.
His goal to taste a coffee from every coffee shop in the universe had to be completed; no matter how dull and ordinary it was. The underlying theme to him seemed to be... brown. Dark brown hardwood floors, chocolate brown plastic counter, brown chairs with brown upholstery, a splash of blue curtains. An admittedly handsome barista, his tastefully spikey, tossled, just sort of brown hair matching the coffee cup he was drinking out of perfectly as he stared out the window near where the TARDIS was parked.
Yes, just an ordinary coffee shop on an ordinary street corner on Earth. But he knew better than to judge a coffee shop by its scratched, oak wood tables (which he had just licked to check, earning a look from Angela, his blond companion for the last two years who he picked up in 1955, who was waiting with her arms crossed over her blue, classic 50's period outfit, outside the TARDIS doors). Norway, the Doctor thought, spinning around in circles, sniffing obnoxiously so the three patrons of "The Banana Cafe" looked up at him in bemusement. Chocolate shavings, with a hint of freshly mowed grass. Splash of wood.'
Yep' he nodded, thinking to himself, still spinning in careless, slow loops, observing the cafe, 'definitely Norway. The year 2019'
"Sir?"
The Doctor looked up, surprised to hear an English accent from behind the counter. The handsome barista was looking at him, but unlike the three other observers of the Doctor's signature odd manner, with a smile and a twinkle in his eye.
"Sorry?" the Doctor asked, giving the man a confused grin.
"You were saying something about chocolate, grass, and Norway." the barista replied with the same look. The Doctor began to think he might know him from somewhere.
"Aaah, yes. Well, I was just saying it smells fantastic in here.", giving the man, who looked to be about 30, a winning smile.
"Thanks! You know, if you'd like, I could give you the tour!" he said, grinning so his tongue stuck through his teeth.
The two men looked around the coffee shop. The Doctor thought it was far too small to need a tour- there wasn't much behind-the-scenes excitement to 7 identical tables, windows in between each one, and a back room.
"Although... the back room could be promising."
"You did it again, sir." the spiky haired man said a few minutes after his last statement, smiling. "Thought aloud, I mean."
The Doctor looked round with his mouth open from where he had had his back to the shop, standing in one of the windows, having a mouthed conversation with Angela about how much longer he was going to be.
"Yes. Yes, I do tend to do that." he said, scratching the back of his head embarrassedly.
"So... the tour? Back room first, then?" the man behind the counter said, gesturing grandly towards the door.
"Yes! Yes, alright. Angela, you'll have to find something else to do for a while!" he yelled out the open window he had previously been in front of.
As the Doctor boosted himself over the counter and they made for the arch that was the way to the cramped back room, a blonde, pretty girl in sweatpants and a sweatshirt emblazoned "The Banana Cafe" holding a large, cardboard box ran out and said without looking up "Doctor, I was just checking the storage in the back and we're running out of beans for the decaf... coffee."
The girl dropped the box she had been carrying and she and the Doctor both stood on opposite sides of the doorway with their mouths open in pure shock. The barista stood in the middle looking knowingly back and forth from the blonde to the Doctor.
Suddenly, everything made sense at once, as it often did for the 1009 year old Time Lord.
Rose Tyler had entered the same room as the Doctor for the first time in one hundred and three years. And the Doctor had unknowingly been having a pleasant, normal conversation his past self.