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This day was inevitable from the moment we learned Steve’s been keeping John’s past from him on Days of Our Lives. Because the former Pawn is finally learning what happened — or at least what Konstantin says happened — to Katharina today, just as Steve tells Marlena what he knows about the incident. But one thing he notably hasn’t done is tell John!

And learning about what he allegedly did as The Pawn from a man as vile as Konstantin, while his supposed best friend kept it a secret for decades isn’t going to sit well with John. Worse, Steve’s had plenty of opportunities to come clean recently and he’s kept his mouth shut.

That’s something he’s very much aware, Stephen Nichols admitted to Soap Opera Digest, noting that, “Steve was walking a tightrope through all of this, vacillating between telling John and trying to protect him by keeping it a secret from him. Steve is aware that this may destroy the friendship.”

And he’s not wrong. It doesn’t take long for their relationship to fray. “John begins to go silent around Steve, which hits Steve hard,” recounts Nichols.

Right now, though, we still aren’t entirely sure that John was the one to pull the trigger. Konstantin admits that he was unconscious when it happened, but that The Pawn was the only other one there with them, so it had to be him. But even if they eventually find out that John wasn’t the one to kill Katharina, that doesn’t mean he and Steve will be OK.

Because no matter how you slice it, Steve’s known a whole lot more about John’s past than he’s let on. He’s been keeping huge secrets from his friend, including all the work he apparently did for Victor with Steve acting as his handler. John, we now know, wasn’t just brainwashed into working for Stefano.

Maybe he didn’t kill Katharina. But thanks to Steve, he was in a position where he could have. How many other incidents were there like that one that Steve’s kept to himself? How could John ever trust him again if their entire relationship was built, at the very least, on lies of omission?

And that takes us to an even bigger issue. Can anyone ever trust Steve again? John, Marlena, Kayla — even the fans. No one will blame John for what he did when he was brainwashed but Konstantin and John himself. But Steve’s another matter, and if his friends and family react the way fans have been, he may be in a whole heap of trouble.

“Starting to hate Steve with a serious passion,” one viewer tweeted. “If that’s the intended goal, good job.”

And when Steve grabbed John for a meeting of conspirators with Ava, Hall Monitor just wasn’t having it.

“Seriously?” they demanded on Twitter/X. “Steve pulling John away from his family. Haven’t you caused enough trouble, Patchy?”

So we suppose the question isn’t just if Black Patch’s friendship can survive this tale — it already sounds like they’re headed for some serious trouble — but if Steve can!

What do you think? Are you out of patience with Steve or can you understand why he’s kept John’s past (and his considerable role in it) to himself?