diff --git a/lib/vquic/curl_ngtcp2.c b/lib/vquic/curl_ngtcp2.c
index 50dd873767..3f1179b2dd 100644
--- a/lib/vquic/curl_ngtcp2.c
+++ b/lib/vquic/curl_ngtcp2.c
@@ -1282,7 +1282,7 @@ static CURLcode cf_ngtcp2_recv(struct Curl_cfilter *cf, struct Curl_easy *data,
   struct h3_stream_ctx *stream = H3_STREAM_CTX(ctx, data);
   struct cf_call_data save;
   struct pkt_io_ctx pktx;
-  CURLcode result = CURLE_OK;
+  CURLcode result = CURLE_OK, r2;
 
   (void)ctx;
   (void)buf;
@@ -1325,15 +1325,15 @@ static CURLcode cf_ngtcp2_recv(struct Curl_cfilter *cf, struct Curl_easy *data,
   result = CURLE_AGAIN;
 
 out:
-  if(cf_progress_egress(cf, data, &pktx)) {
-    result = CURLE_SEND_ERROR;
-  }
-  else {
-    CURLcode r2 = check_and_set_expiry(cf, data, &pktx);
-    if(r2)
-      result = r2;
-  }
+  /* do not replace `result` unless we have an error here */
+  r2 = cf_progress_egress(cf, data, &pktx);
+  if(r2)
+    result = r2;
+  r2 = check_and_set_expiry(cf, data, &pktx);
+  if(r2)
+    result = r2;
   CURL_TRC_CF(data, cf, "[%" FMT_PRId64 "] cf_recv(blen=%zu) -> %dm, %zu",
+
               stream ? stream->id : -1, blen, result, *pnread);
   CF_DATA_RESTORE(cf, save);
   return result;
@@ -1595,10 +1595,9 @@ static CURLcode cf_ngtcp2_send(struct Curl_cfilter *cf, struct Curl_easy *data,
     return ctx->tls_vrfy_result;
 
   (void)eos; /* use for stream EOF and block handling */
-  r2 = cf_progress_ingress(cf, data, &pktx);
-  if(r2) {
-    result = r2;
-  }
+  result = cf_progress_ingress(cf, data, &pktx);
+  if(result)
+    goto out;
 
   if(!stream || stream->id < 0) {
     if(ctx->shutdown_started) {
@@ -1655,11 +1654,11 @@ static CURLcode cf_ngtcp2_send(struct Curl_cfilter *cf, struct Curl_easy *data,
   if(*pnwritten > 0 && !ctx->tls_handshake_complete && ctx->use_earlydata)
     ctx->earlydata_skip += *pnwritten;
 
-  r2 = cf_progress_egress(cf, data, &pktx);
-  if(r2)
-    result = r2;
+  DEBUGASSERT(!result);
+  result = cf_progress_egress(cf, data, &pktx);
 
 out:
+  /* do not overwrite `result` unless there is an error */
   r2 = check_and_set_expiry(cf, data, &pktx);
   if(r2)
     result = r2;