I'm writing a series of books that go like this: The father of a poverty-stricken family turns to the mafia for money when his wife gets incredibly ill. The only child, a five year old boy named Kyle, befriends one of the members of the mafia, Vincent, and the two share a very strong bond. When the father isn't able to pay back what he owes, Kyle's friend kills the two parents. Kyle is forced to live on the street and soon befriends a homeless man named Duke, who teaches him to become a vigilante so can extract his revenge. Kyle grows up, becomes a vigilante, finds love, and, throughout the story, goes through all the psychological and emotional turmoil that accompanies his choices in life. Anyway, there are two central friendships in the story that are essential to get right; the one between Kyle and Vincent and the one between Kyle and Duke. How do I make the relationships Kyle has between these two characters seem real? There isn't a huge time frame between Kyle befriending Vincent and Kyle's parents being killed, so how do I create a believably strong friendship within a relatively short amount of time, like say a month?