diff --git a/src/service/rooms/timeline/data.rs b/src/service/rooms/timeline/data.rs
index 22a6c1d0..c15d8e7f 100644
--- a/src/service/rooms/timeline/data.rs
+++ b/src/service/rooms/timeline/data.rs
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ use conduit::{
 	Err, PduCount, PduEvent, Result,
 };
 use database::{Database, Deserialized, Json, KeyVal, Map};
-use futures::{Stream, StreamExt};
+use futures::{future::select_ok, FutureExt, Stream, StreamExt};
 use ruma::{api::Direction, CanonicalJsonObject, EventId, OwnedRoomId, OwnedUserId, RoomId, UserId};
 use tokio::sync::Mutex;
 
@@ -82,11 +82,14 @@ impl Data {
 
 	/// Returns the json of a pdu.
 	pub(super) async fn get_pdu_json(&self, event_id: &EventId) -> Result<CanonicalJsonObject> {
-		if let Ok(pdu) = self.get_non_outlier_pdu_json(event_id).await {
-			return Ok(pdu);
-		}
+		let accepted = self.get_non_outlier_pdu_json(event_id).boxed();
+		let outlier = self
+			.eventid_outlierpdu
+			.get(event_id)
+			.map(Deserialized::deserialized)
+			.boxed();
 
-		self.eventid_outlierpdu.get(event_id).await.deserialized()
+		select_ok([accepted, outlier]).await.map(at!(0))
 	}
 
 	/// Returns the json of a pdu.
@@ -131,11 +134,14 @@ impl Data {
 	///
 	/// Checks the `eventid_outlierpdu` Tree if not found in the timeline.
 	pub(super) async fn get_pdu_owned(&self, event_id: &EventId) -> Result<PduEvent> {
-		if let Ok(pdu) = self.get_non_outlier_pdu(event_id).await {
-			return Ok(pdu);
-		}
+		let accepted = self.get_non_outlier_pdu(event_id).boxed();
+		let outlier = self
+			.eventid_outlierpdu
+			.get(event_id)
+			.map(Deserialized::deserialized)
+			.boxed();
 
-		self.eventid_outlierpdu.get(event_id).await.deserialized()
+		select_ok([accepted, outlier]).await.map(at!(0))
 	}
 
 	/// Like get_non_outlier_pdu(), but without the expense of fetching and