Tyler (left) is from Virginia beach. His mother moved here for a job. Charles (right) is from Chapel Hill, born and raised.

The two are often together. "I make sure he does get what he need. Everybody needs somebody. I choose him. He's trying to make something of himself."

Tyler, 19, would like to get a truck so that he could get a job and save some money. He yearns to be a photographer one day. He recently was kicked out of his mother's apartment. "It was just time to go," he says then looks over at Charles and grins: "He my daddy, I guess you can see. He took me off the street. He provide."

Like Tyler, Charles has aspirations. Tyler jokes Charles is headed to a retirement facility.

"Ha!," Charles tosses his head back. "Ain't going to be in a retirement home. I got one more year. Take me a cruise."

"To where?" I ask.

"Wherever it's going to take me... All I know it's gonna be seven days and seven nights."

(photographs taken on Franklin street between Columbia and Henderson streets in Chapel Hill)