I made a second character and had him group with 3 simulated characters. Before I went to log out I friended the simulated players. I did get the "sim character" is now your friend message. I exited the game for a while and came back into it and loaded my second character. I clicked on the group button and selected friends and there were no friends listed. This all took place in Stowaway's step. My character is level 6. My first character is level 7 and just got to hidden hills. I did check my first character and his friends are still listed.
#Friends for secondary characters
covert kindle
covert kindle
Ok, I reloaded an earlier save and the friends are working for both characters now. Must have been a glitch I picked up somehow.