I will share a recent related experience in a sense, well kinda related. So my ex and i were heroin addicts got on methadone and had 0 sex life. I really could not get horny or whatever and it was really upsetting because i couldnt even get excited enough to watch porn. Went from being a 24 year old who would have sex 3 times a day if he could to a 28 year old with a history of opiate use who couldnt even find the motivation to watch porn, like i would start it because i wanted to feel like a man but then would turn it off because it wouldnt interest me. This made me very upset.
So my ex and i are trying to figure out where we are going (this was before she was my ex) so she says "well we havent had sex in (forever) so whats the deal is it the methadone or me" mind you this was during the we need time off discussion. So i started crying saying i dont know whats wrong with me once i get insurance i am going to see a doctor you dont know what its like not feeling like a man i wish i could say it was you so i wouldnt have to say "i dont know whats wrong with me i feel like i am not a man i dont feel attracted to women i dont get horny and the expense of energy to get started is a waste"
Well somehow after all of that we managed to have sex, it didnt rekindle our love but we did it twice more before the official "just friends" started (which isnt a bad thing we are literally best friends now) but it literally made the bad thoughts go away. It was like i was so hung up in the idea i couldnt perform i wouldnt perform or that i couldnt have sex or whatever it was. My point is that one time literally showed me i was wrong and i could have sex and somehow that made me want sex, with her with anyone i find attractive, after years of not thinking about it or whatever i was doing to make it go away. Yes it was partly the opiates but i thought once i got to under 20mg my sex drive and desire would come back, it didnt until she kick started it. It was weird it was like i was the ball at the top of the hill and she kicked me down and started the rolling again. We may not be dating anymore but i sure do thank her for that, i thought i would never have interest in women again.
I guess my point is sex begets sex. He may just have forgotten what the fuss is as hes been distracted. I wouldnt have thought it possible until i lived it. I know its not a direct parallel but it just shows that people are capable of turning thoughts into actions, i would never have thought just thinking my dick wasnt functioning would make it not function for the woman i loved. It can be way more complicated then "hes not into me."