#a normal life

[tripsens]

[hdawg1995]

Marianas Trench is right, I don't belong in this normal life. idle hands with time to kill will spill this normal life. this normal life don't feel right.

[foreverafangirlblog]

All-time forever favourite band Marianas Trench RELEASED A NEW SONG

ALERT ALERT

IM FREAKING OUT

ITS SO GOOD AND COMPLEX AND I NEED MOOOREEEEEEEE

[sendingflowerstothemoon]

I love how the lyrics of a normal life look so welcome to my twisted mind but with the notes and the background it turns it into a sort of call to adventure beginning of a fantastical story song. So excited to listen to this on repeat all day!!!

[amiiancasselmanyet]

I feel it in my bones this is gonna be the greatest trench era and album like we are so fucking back baby and I hope the shows are even more theatrical than face the musics

[jasombee]

My fellow Trenchers

Marianas Trench dropped a new song and it’s 7 minutes of pure bliss

[gennyanydots]

A Normal Life

Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw x f!reader

A song fic warmup before I start on my two fics for the #love is in the air tgm challenge.

Fic inspired by the song “Normal Life” by July for Kings.

Masterlist

Bradley was nervous. He knew he probably had nothing to worry about. Probably. You’d been together for two years. This was inevitable, but there’s always that quiet voice in the back of his mind whispering to him that this isn’t the life he deserves. He isn’t meant to have the life his parents missed out on. If they wouldn’t have it then why should he get it? You’ve quieted his fears on more than one occasion but it’s still always there whispering.

His palms are damp no matter how many times he’s wiped them on his pants as he waits. He told you to meet him at the beach at 8. He knew most likely you’d be late. You can’t be on time to save your life. You’d been shocked when he didn’t get mad at you the first time you made him late somewhere. Why would he? You still got where you were going. Who cares if you were late?

He feels like he’s going to crawl out of his skin while he’s waiting. This is partially his fault. He got here early. He got here early AND knew you’d be late. Just putting himself through extra torture. He could go and wait with his friends. They’re a little bit aways from him, waiting for the big show. He told them he wanted to be alone though. To sort through his thoughts.

He hops up and down a couple times to try and burn some of that excess energy off. It doesn’t help. He shuts his eyes and takes a few deep breaths before he hears someone walking in the sand towards him and places a hand on his left shoulder.

“Calm down, Rooster. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Bradley rolls his eyes. Wrong. There’s a lot of things to worry about, “Untrue.”

Maverick chuckles, “And what exactly is there to worry about?”

“What if she says no? What if she hates the ring? What if she’s just been going along with this relationship for fun and she actually hates me?”

Maverick shakes his head, “Your girl saying no to you? I don’t think she’s ever done that before. She stares at you like you hung the moon. She hangs off every word you say. Hell, she laughs at your dumb jokes.”

Bradley shrugs, “At least someone around here thinks I’m funny.”

Maverick laughs and ruffles Bradley’s hair, “If she hates the ring take this one back and get a new one but I’m pretty positive she’ll love it. You were smart getting Amelia to drag her to the mall and make her look at rings. Casually. Like she couldn’t guess why she was being dragged from jewelry store to jewelry store.”

“That wasn’t even my idea!” Bradley says exasperatedly.

“Just sayin’. Your girl could never just go along with a relationship. She’s too stubborn. And not that good of an actress. Someone would have caught on by now. She’s not faking her feelings for you. She loves you. So much. Head over heels. To the end of the earth. Forever and ever kind of love. Even if you do forget to take out the trash sometimes and put things up too high on the shelves for her to reach,” Maverick says with a grin.

Bradley grumbles, “I got her a step ladder.”

A pair of headlights pull into the small parking lot.

“Show time. Don’t mess up,” Maverick says and shakes Bradley’s shoulder before letting go and calling over his shoulder, “Don’t think. Just do.” He hurries back to wherever the rest of his friends are.

Bradley takes a deep breath. Don’t think. Just do. It’s still some bullshit advice but it’s all he’s got.

You get out of your car, looking beautiful in a pair of rolled up jeans and one of his hoodies. Bradley loves it when you wear his clothes. An unspoken claim that he revels in.

You walk up to him with a smile on your face and he opens his arms for you to step into, which you do and fling your arms around his middle.

He smiles when he hears a muffled, “Missed you today.” from his chest and he kisses the top of your head.

“Missed you too, babe,” he says as he buries his face in your hair and takes a deep, calming breath. Your presence has always calmed him. Quieted his racing mind. Gave him a soft place to land. A home for his heart.

“Did you just sniff me?” he hears you ask and he laughs.

“Yeah, I did. I like that new shampoo you’re using. Smells nice,” he says against your hair.

“That’s weird, Bradley. Stop sniffing me,” you say and playfully push at his chest but he just holds you tighter. He just needs a few more seconds. He closes his eyes and to himself in barely a whisper, making sure it’s too quiet for you to hear, says, “Talk to me, dad.”

He thinks of his very few and fleeting memories of his parents together. How happy he remembers them being, regardless of how much time they spent apart. His mother’s smile that was always plastered on her face when she was even talking about his dad, even after his death. They truly were meant for each other. He always wondered why his mom never remarried. Never even tried to date after losing his father. He gets it now.

He loosens his arms from around you and takes a half step back and lets his hands run along your arms until he finds your hands and holds onto them both as he squeezes them gently. Your eyes look up to meet his and he sees a soft smile on your face and he takes a steadying breath.

“When I was in my 20’s I thought being alone was best for me. Forming any kind of attachments was hard. Making friends was hard. I was convinced that whoever I cared for would leave me in some way or another. I didn’t understand why I needed anyone. I was upset. Mad at the world. I started to wonder why I was so miserable. I tried to remember back to my happiest times as a child and as hard as it was to admit, it was whenever I was surrounded by people. By my parents. By their friends. By Maverick. By my childhood friends. I also remembered what I dreamed for myself. It wasn’t anything extravagant. Just a normal life. A fast plane. A pretty wife. Some children of our own. A house to settle down in until they’re grown. Then maybe a house out on the beach. The American dream,” Bradley said then slipped down onto one knee still holding your hands and looks up into your eyes, which ho notices are filled with tears. “Do you want to live a normal life with me?”

He hears a soft sob then, “A normal life? With Bradley Bradshaw? That’s a dream come true.”

He grins and pulls you down to him, which knocks you off balance and you end up sprawled on top of him. He wraps his arms around you and covers your face in kisses while your giggle fill the night air.

“What’d she say?” Bradley hears yelled towards the two of you.

“Yes!” You yell from on top of him and you laugh when you hear the cheers off in the distance.

Bradley grins and rolls you off of him and sits up before grabbing the little black velvety box from his pocket. You smile as you hold out your hand. He places the ring on your finger and you pull back your hand to look at it.

“This looks familiar,” you say with a laugh.

“That wasn’t my idea!” He says and stands up then offers you a hand to help you up.

You let him help you then snuggle into his side, “I don’t believe you, Mr. Bradshaw.”

Bradley shrugs as he leads you over to your group of friends, “Believe what you want, Mrs. Bradshaw.”

[lightscamerabitchsmileee]

OMG THE NEW MARIANAS TRENCH SONG IS AMAZING 💙💙💙 it's like a mixture of the previous eras wrapped into one it's probably their best song in years no doubt about it Josh's voice is insane as always and the harmonies are top notch absolutely incredible a true MASTERPIECE 💙💙

[thehuntfortrencherlostmedia]

So… fuck it. Time for my full and super thorough breakdown of A Normal Life as a whole. Now keep in mind this is just my interpretation of it at the moment. If stuff releases that counters this, I’ll be happy to be wrong.

The beginning obviously points to the lingering spirit of Phantoms hanging around before we embark on a new adventure, but it also points to something else IMO: the lingering effects of COVID & the lockdown.

In fact, Josh is straight up singing about how lockdown was for him: A mix between pure bliss & pure torture. That antsy feeling of not knowing what to do with yourself with all this free time on your hands, unable to connect with your friends & family… having Amanda helped, but then.. he lost his parents. And it put him on a pretty dark path that he almost went down.

Could leave tonight and run, and make a bitter fool of everyone

Then he realized what he needed to do, and made a solo record showing other artists: Hey, this is what I can do for you. Sadly, nobody really bit on it, but it got a lot off his chest.

But it was during that time that Josh finally did something he hadn’t done in years: Go back to a harsher, more grungey sound of his youth. And he realized that he could take that sound & evolve it into his new material as things opened up again. It’s what made him revamp his studio entirely. He couldn’t sit still, he needed to move forward… and sometimes looking at your past & seeing how far you’ve grown helps you overcome the most dark times of your life. This song is truly the start of A Hero’s Journey, not knowing what’s next in store, but excited for the future.

Josh is one to write his emotions, but this song… man, it cuts deep.

[marlo404]

new marianas trench album today, here’s some tragic pokemon yuri to celebrate because I’m normal about music 🎉

[placentafluid]

sooo… haha, what about all those…. um… voices in the night or whatever

[inkblotgalaxies]

I am going to LOSE MY MIND OH MY GOD.

MY FAVORITE BAND OF ALL TIME, OH HOW I HAVE MISSED YOU!

Don’t mind me I am just going to listen and ascend. This is like if Masterpiece Theatre (my FAVORITE album, by the way!), Astoria, and Phantoms had a love child and I am obSESSED.

Sigh. Good golly, I love this band so much.

Now give me the album and the tour rrrraaaaahhhh!!!

[cyber-punk-rock]

Not shutting up about this one yet

I think my favorite part of this song is the first time it breaks into the chorus. Starting with the “How can this be right?”

Because at the end of “right” the chord changes and it’s almost hopeful, almost wistful

And then Josh launches into “What about all those voices in the night?” And when he goes for the high note on “all” it’s so angelic and soft and full of longing and I just melt

Finishing that part, he goes straight into another high note, replacing “life” with “liars” before the guitar comes in pretty heavy

The whole song is great but my head keeps looping this soft part and I just swoon

The whole song is a masterpiece

[sendingflowerstothemoon]

Obsessed with the fade on "fade into the night". I can't remember the proper musical term for it but I loooove when music hits a loud notes and immediately backs off. Sfortsando? Whatever it's called its soo tasty it just hits you Bam in the face & then it's gone !

[amiiancasselmanyet]

Not to go back to my theatre kid roots but I hope this album is like ever after in the sense that it could EASILY be adapted into a stage show at some point,, i feel like the way josh described it as "each song is a plot point" would really lend itself well to being an actual musical