The bonds formed at West Valley High run deep. So deep, in fact, that Cobra Kai best friends Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) and Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) join forces outside the dojo.

In Cobra Kai, the two are victims of Kyler (Joe Seo) and his gang of bullies, so they immediately relate to each other. Throughout the series, though, Hawk is manipulated by the intense and brutal tactics of his sensei, John Kreese (Martin Kove). Hawk becomes an aggressor, passing off fundraised money as Cobra Kai’s and breaking Demetri’s (Gianni DeCenzo) arm, which puts his and Miguel’s friendship in jeopardy. But after Hawk defects from Cobra Kai at the end of Season 3, Season 4 sees the duo back in action. 

Hawk and Miguel have taken their on-screen friendship off-screen. Bertrand and Maridueña often post pictures together on social media off-roading, karate training and just grabbing dinner. Bertrand refers to Maridueña as “xolito” and “the sassiest goober alive” (and even once implied that they enjoyed a romantic Valentine’s Day bath together), while Maridueña says he “can’t wait to be 70 when we live in Laguna with our wives and magic cards.”

In one birthday post, Maridueña wrote that Bertrand is “both the little brother and older brother that I never had.” 

“I’m so proud to call you my friend and so excited for all of the world we have yet to explore together,” he wrote. “You’re still asleep right now in the other room but I promise to wake you up with 21 sweet punches to the giblets.” They seem to have gotten close while filming Cobra Kai’s first season back in 2017. 

The two not only like to hang together but seem to also enjoy working together enough to do more of it. They recently started a podcast called Lone Lobos, where they “navigate adulthood through all things pop culture.” Recent topics include Cobra Kai fan fiction, the Rice Purity Test and online dating. 

In the show’s first episode, Maridueña explains that they started the show in order to connect with older fans and show more facets of their personalities. “Chances are, 70 percent of the people listening to this are cooler than Jacob and I combined,” he says. “I want people to know more about us than just Cobra Kai.” The show was originally supposed to be called Shooting the Shit, which “perfectly encapsulates what we’re going to be talking about,” Maridueña says. But after pushback from higher-ups about the curse word, the two changed the name to Lone Lobos, as lobos means “wolves” in Spanish. And although Maridueña and Bertrand call themselves lone wolves, they seem to have found their pack.