The Tent Boys

Harrison Winters grew up in the worst place for a gay boy - rural Iowa. He was the only child of two devoutly religious evangelical Christian parents. His father had his own church. His mother was a typical minister’s wife, following in all of his beliefs and acting like the good subservient woman. They believed they were called directly to be ‘servants to the Lord’. Harrison’s parents expected him to be as devout as they were. He faked it as a kid. The older he got, the more he realized he hated it. He knew he was gay and he knew this just wasn’t going to work. He tried his best to keep his desires suppressed figuring he could coast until he was a legal adult and could leave on his own.

Despite the dreadful life at home, Harrison was a happy, pretty optimistic and fun kid. Everyone liked to be around him. He was also super smart. He liked to please people as much as he liked to be pleased. He could talk his way in - or out - of pretty much any situation. 

Harrison had dreams of leaving Iowa. It’s not that he didn’t like the place itself, but he found too many of the people there too conservative. He heard too many times what some of them thought of gay people, it wasn’t ever good. He wanted to be somewhere where he could be out, have a boyfriend, live well and have a great job. He had plans to be an architect. He loved buildings and structures and wanted to create his own. He had LEGOs and other building toys and models. He kept a sketch book with him at all times where he drafted his ideas about structures he wanted to create. 

The only real struggle Harrison had was his sex drive. Harrison went through puberty and then was constantly frustrated that there was no release for him. He masturbated, a lot. Sometimes 5 times a day. No matter how much he thought of it, he didn’t dare act on any of his feelings. Being gay was taboo where he lived. Harrison didn’t much care for the boys around him anyway. They were immature, bratty, dumb and uninteresting. He frequently looked a pictures of older men as material for his jerk off sessions. Men in their 40’s and 50’ were the ones who most caught his attention. Whether it was Mark Harmon from his ‘Chicago Hope’ days or Pierce Brosnan from his James Bond days, he found that these dark haired daddies got him super aroused. He thought it was weird at first, but he eventually grew into it. 

The only major setback Harrison had in life was his evangelical parents. 

After an incident where he was caught using the computers at the library to look up resources for gay youth, his parents sent him to a conversion camp. That was a major failure. His parents ended up kicking him out of the house. He was forced to fend for himself at 15 years old. He ended up stealing money from his father’s church funds and took off to find a new life. 

* * *

Harrison’s journey to Washington, DC was mostly uneventful. He did his best to stay under the radar. Fortunately, he had the cash that he’d stolen - slightly more than $3,000 - and was able to use that to make his travels a little easier. 

He thought maybe a big city, like New York City, would be a decent place to try and get by as a homeless kid. He figured it was big enough to get lost in, but also had enough to offer as far as opportunities to survive. He had to keep telling himself, he was now a homeless kid. This fact bothered him. It really wasn’t a part of his plans. He wanted to turn 18, leave home, move away on his own terms and become an architect. That schedule was advanced somewhat, and he now wasn’t sure how he’d pull this off without being able to finish high school. Anyway, he decided he would figure it out.

Unfortunately, not really being experienced in traveling, Harrison made a few mistakes. Instead of getting on a bus to Chicago, where he’d catch a train to New York, he got on the wrong bus and ended up in Peoria, IL. After an overnight on the street where he nearly got arrested, he found his travel frustrations would get worse. The bus to Chicago was broken down and he didn’t want to risk spending another night in such a lame city, so he ended up in Indianapolis. He finally got things worked out and hopped on a direct train from Indy to the Big Apple. He probably shouldn’t have, but he sprung for the cabin so he could shower and sleep.

* * *

Once Harrison made it to New York, he was blown away at the sheer size and scope of the city. He spent his first day and night just exploring the city. He loved the buildings, the lights, the sounds, but it was also overwhelming. There were so many people. The streets were busy and in some cases, dirty and smelly. The same for the subway. He really had no idea what he was going to do next. The other homeless people he saw were in really sad shape - either filthy and grungy, or crazy, or dangerous. He saw how the cops treated them, which was not very well. His first night wasn’t too bad since he found a place to sleep. That didn’t last long.

New York City was not what Harrison imagined. It certainly was not a good place to be as an underaged homeless boy from farm country. He had one bad experience after another. For several days it did nothing but rain. Harrison was soaked head to toe, which meant he was also not welcome at a lot of the places he tried to hang out during the day. People spit on him. He was beaten up more than once. Most of the clothes that weren’t on his back were stolen. He managed to hold on to his backpack which contained the few belongings he could keep, his sketchbook and the cash he was carrying. All of that would eventually disappear too.

Harrison met a boy one evening. The boy seemed to finally be someone nice. He was cute too. He ran into him in an alley one night while looking for a place to sleep.

“Oh, man, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” Harrison said as he stumbled on the boy lying on the ground behind a bunch of pallets. 

“No, no, that’s ok,” said the boy as he looked up at Harrison, impressed with how cute he was.

“Do you think it would be ok for me to camp out around here somewhere?”

“Sure, I don’t own the place. You can do whatever you want. But I’d rather you camped out over here by me.”

“Hmm, I don’t see how that could be a bad thing. I’m Harrison!”

“Hello boy with the fancy name, I’m Wyatt.” Wyatt patted the ground next to him encouraging Harrison to sit.

The two boys chatted away. Harrison shared the food he had bought. Wyatt was 17 and had been homeless for more than two years. He was a tall, skinny dark haired boy who also wore glasses. He was a bit of a wreck. His clothes were worn out in every way. He stunk. His glasses were broken and held together by tape and rubber bands. Harrison fell into a sense of security that he shouldn’t have. He told Wyatt way too much about himself and his experience, including stealing cash from his dad. 

Wyatt hit the jackpot. He met a kid around his age, who was similar in size. He could easily take his clothes and shoes - which were in remarkably good condition - and end up with two major bonuses - new glasses and a wad of cash. Living on the streets made Wyatt bitter, angry. He didn’t need friends, he needed what Harrison had. He made his move.

“You’re really cute, you know?” Wyatt said coyly as he leaned in closer to Harrison.

“Aww, thanks, you are too!” Harrison happily responded. 

Harrison had never actually been with a boy before. He thought this was a good one to be his first kiss and maybe a little more. He had to work past the homeless boy smell on Wyatt, but he was a bit infatuated.

Wyatt leaned in further and kissed Harrison on the lips. They looked at each other and then Wyatt pulled Harrison close to him and kissed him again, this time more passionately. Wyatt took his time easing his way into Harrison. He soon had the boy right where he wanted him. Wyatt had Harrison laying on his back and he was on top of him. That’s when he went for it. He put his hands around Harrison’s neck and squeezed. He slammed Harrison’s head on the asphalt. He did it a few more times. He knocked Harrison out.

Harrison woke up hours later. It was still dark, probably the early hours of the morning. He was naked. The back of his head was bloody. His ass was sore. He was wet and sticky. Everything he had was gone. His backpack, clothes, shoes, glasses and all of his money. Harrison had no idea what to do. He ascertained Wyatt had robbed him of everything he had. He also came to the disturbing conclusion that Wyatt had taken much more than his belongings, he took his virginity too. He became ill as he figured out that the wet he felt was piss and the sticky was most likely cum. He began to cry, but had to get his composure and think about what to do next. He couldn’t sit there naked.

As he looked all around him, he found Wyatt’s filthy, worn clothes and shoes in a pile near the pallets they were sitting behind. Harrison was disgusted by the smelly clothing, but it was all he had. He put everything on and felt like puking. This kid had clearly not seen a shower or anything reasonably new in forever. He also came across the boy's broken glasses. He put those on too. He just sat there and for the first time felt like he wasn’t going to make it. He finally realized that his sketchbook was gone. His heart sunk. Losing that seemed worse to him than losing the money. He could replace the money. He spent the rest of the night crying.

* * *

Not knowing what to do next, Harrison decided New York wasn’t for him. He started walking. He had no idea where he was going, but he figured anywhere was better than here. He walked for days. He hid from people and police along the way. He found food at fast food places and restaurants. He cried a lot. It rained some more. His feet were killing him since Wyatt’s crappy shoes were not only worn almost all the way through, they didn’t fit Harrison’s big feet. 

He was miserable. 

Harrison found himself in Washington, DC. He walked around the city, getting shady looks and stares from people, and tried to figure out where to go. As it got dark, he wandered into the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial. He found a spot behind one of the huge marble exhibits that seemed out of the way and dark. It was late enough that no one was around. He curled up on the dirt and went to sleep.

The next morning Harrison got out of the monument before anyone would discover him. As he wandered around the Mall, he was unsteady. He hadn’t really eaten in days, aside from some scraps he found in some discarded fast food trash left on a park bench. He was lightheaded and couldn’t walk straight. His feet were in awful pain, which didn’t help. He looked very out of place among the tourists, like he might be on drugs. A transit cop noticed him and decided to watch him, suspecting that he was in trouble, or he was trouble. He kept his distance and followed him while radioing to a colleague for back up. He was going to take Harrison away from here and probably to the station to figure out what to do with him. 

Harrison thought he’d go into the Smithsonian Metro station to hide out. He had no idea what a busy place it was. He also didn’t care. He wanted to sit and rest. An officer in the station noticed him. The other officer was heading down the escalator to him. He was caught. Once he realized these officers were coming for him, he tried to run. There weren’t many places to go and he was grabbed by one of the officers who demanded he get on the ground. He radioed out that he’d got him. Just then alarms went off. They were fire alarms. People started to run for the stairs and chaos ensued. The officer let go of Harrison and ran off to deal with the situation. Harrison was free, but stunned. He was grabbed again, this time by a dashing looking young man who pulled on him. 

“You need to come with me. NOW!” The new boy yelled as he tightened his grip on Harrison. The mystery boy had blue ink all over his hand and arm.

They ran out of the station and down a few blocks, away from the Mall and all of the craziness that was going on there. The strong mystery boy walked Harrison down an alley and behind some buildings. They hid in between two huge construction dumpsters.

“I have no idea why the fuck I did that, but if I didn’t you’d be fucked hard and not in the way you probably like to get fucked,” the mystery boy said in a gruff tone. “I’m Blaze. You fucking owe me.”

“You pulled the f-fire al-larm? Uh, I-I-I’m Harrison. Thank you,” a tired, nervous and grateful Harrison replied.

“Yeah and this blue shit takes forever to get rid of. You look like shit. You smell worse. And that’s a lot since I’ve been living on the streets here for four years. Where did you come from and why are you such a disgusting mess?”

“I walked here. From New York.”

“FROM FUCKING NEW YORK? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m doing. Some kid robbed and raped me. Thanks for helping me, but I don’t have anything I can give you. So I’m just going to leave you alone.”

“FUCK THAT! You definitely have something you can give me.”

* * *

Blaze brought Harrison to the tent city that he lived in. He was turned on by the cute boy he’d found. He was going to take his favor out on him in trade. For now, Blaze figured the kid had been through enough and he’d try to help him out. 

“Aww, who is this sweet thing? And what did you get all over you?” Lucas said as he looked over the new boy.

“This asshole is Harrison. I rescued him from the Smithsonian Metro station by pulling a fire alarm. He walked here from New York. I think he’s basically fucked. He’s going to be around long enough to pay me back for what I did for him.” Blaze sounded annoyed, but as if he were proud of his catch.

“Well, Hi Harrison! You walked from New York? That’s crazy! I want to call you Harry, is that ok? I’m Lucas! It sounds cute like you. We need to get you cleaned up and find you some new threads. You stink!” Lucas cheerfully offered. He was giddy at the possibility of having a new friend who wasn't as gruff and Blaze.

Harrison was unsure what to do about this sudden goodwill. The last time he let his guard down, he was knocked unconscious and robbed.

“Uh, yeah, uh, I appreciate this, really. I’m, well, new to this.”

“That’s fucking obvious.”

“Blaze! Stop being an asshole for a minute and have a little compassion for the poor thing.”

“Yeah, whatever. I’m a fucking den mother now.”

“Just shut up. Harry, don’t mind him. His bark is worse than his bite. He saved my ass a year ago. He’s actually a good guy. He’s just rough around the edges.” Lucas wrapped his lanky arm around Harrison.

“It’s ok. So, is there where you guys live?”

“Yeah. No one bothers us over here. This park is sort of out of the way and there’s these homeless groups that fight with the city to protect us. So, we live here. In this tent. Which will be a little crowded now. I’m ok with that. Maybe we can cuddle?”

“No fucking cuddling girls. We need to find some food and we need to teach you a few things. If you’re gonna hang here, you gotta hold your own. I’m not a fucking camp counselor.”

Harrison was sort of overwhelmed again. He didn’t know what to make of this situation. He was also finding himself aroused for the first time since Wyatt robbed and violated him, and beyond that, since he would jerk off in the shower at home. Harrison’s unnatural sex drive was a ticking time bomb. He had sex, but wasn’t conscious for it. His first kiss was with the boy who beat him. He wished he could take that night back. Anyway, he saw a future again. These guys might turn out to be his first real friends.

* * *

Several weeks had gone by. Harrison was learning the ropes from Blaze and Lucas. He learned that Blaze and Lucas satisfied their carnal desires with each other fairly frequently. He also found himself the target of both of their desires. Lucas took him to where the big metal clothing donation boxes were and helped him find some new clothes. He showed him places to look for food. He had him sit with him while he played his guitar on a street corner to earn cash. Blaze gave him more practical skills to earn money - hustling. At first it was something that disturbed Harrison. He wasn’t attracted to the guys he’d have to work for. It was tough at first, but Harrison made it work. His cuteness and charm earned him a nice buck from some guys. He ended up in a few bad situations too. Blaze taught him some ways out of those. Lucas didn’t like to trick. His tricks took advantage of him. He was weak, shy, and so skinny. He had a slightly feminine way about him, or at least very androgynous. It made sense that Lucas didn’t do it. Blaze made enough to take care of both of them. Now, Harrison was contributing too.

The three boys developed a close friendship, like a family even. Harrison would spend the next almost three years making the best of being homeless. With Blaze and Lucas, it seemed almost fun at times. It definitely was better than being in his awful home. Harrison found peace with the situation. Enough that he began to think of what could be next. As he tricked, he hoped someone might like him enough to date him and take him away. His hopes were frequently dashed. He had pretty much given up on that dream. Then he met Jack.

Thanks again for reading! It’s not the most exciting chapter in the story, but at least you know a little more about how Harrison got where he is. Harrison’s journey to DC wasn’t as rough as Lucas’ or as intense as Blaze’s. He had plenty of other experiences, but unfortunately we can’t cover them here. As always, I welcome comments, suggestions and criticisms either in the comments section or by email at [email protected]. Next up we’ll learn about how Blaze got here.