His bedtime Netflix habit
Was biting him in the ass
For years, every night
He’d undress
Slip in to bed
Turn the lights down low
Open up the laptop
And switch on something
Educational
Something with a nice bit of
Narration
And soon he trained his brain
So that he could not drift to sleep
Except by the soft glow of the screen
And a soothing voice in his ear
Telling him something
Interesting
He was alone, and it was okay
And sometimes when it wasn’t
When he longed for embrace
Half the internet was there
With an answer
And a release
And afterwards, spent and relaxed
He would let the action continue
Too relaxed now to even hit pause
Drifting off to sleep
In the flickering lights
And the staged screams of ecstasy
He was still alone, but it was okay
And then one day
As much to his surprise as anyone else’s
He was not
They talked, and held hands
Went to restaurants
And kissed
And then one night,
She asked him to come up
And now his Netflix habit
Was biting him in the ass
For as they lay together talking
In the dark, in the warmth
The soothing sound of her voice
Sent him drifting off to dreams
As she confided, fearfully, that she loved him
And asked him if he loved her
And he snored in reply
And oh my friends
What happened next
I will not repeat
Except to say that once again
He was alone
And it
Was not
Okay