diff --git a/noq-proto/src/connection/mod.rs b/noq-proto/src/connection/mod.rs
index 7971c74d11..5a89682297 100644
--- a/noq-proto/src/connection/mod.rs
+++ b/noq-proto/src/connection/mod.rs
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ pub use streams::{
     ShouldTransmit, StreamEvent, Streams, WriteError,
 };
 
-mod timer;
+pub(crate) mod timer;
 use timer::{Timer, TimerTable};
 
 mod transmit_buf;
@@ -455,6 +455,15 @@ impl Connection {
         self.timers.peek()
     }
 
+    /// Returns the instant at which `timer` is armed to fire, or `None` if it is not.
+    ///
+    /// `None` covers the timer never having been armed, having fired, and having been
+    /// cancelled.
+    #[cfg(test)]
+    pub(crate) fn timer_pending(&self, timer: Timer) -> Option<Instant> {
+        self.timers.get(timer)
+    }
+
     /// Returns application-facing events
     ///
     /// Connections should be polled for events after:
diff --git a/noq-proto/src/tests/multipath.rs b/noq-proto/src/tests/multipath.rs
index 2b00fd542c..de1cdc689e 100644
--- a/noq-proto/src/tests/multipath.rs
+++ b/noq-proto/src/tests/multipath.rs
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ use assert_matches::assert_matches;
 use testresult::TestResult;
 use tracing::info;
 
+use crate::connection::timer::{PathTimer, Timer};
 use crate::{
     ClientConfig, ConnectionId, ConnectionIdGenerator, Endpoint, EndpointConfig, FourTuple,
     LOCAL_CID_COUNT, NetworkChangeHint, PathId, PathStatus, RandomConnectionIdGenerator,
@@ -451,10 +452,15 @@ fn open_path_validation_fails_server_side() -> TestResult {
 
     info!("manual keep-alive of PathId::ZERO");
     pair.ping_path(Client, PathId::ZERO)?;
+    // Sent here, before the clock moves: `drive_until_timer` advances time before it
+    // drives, so a queued keep-alive would otherwise go out at the deadline itself.
     pair.drive();
 
     info!("advancing time to past client path {path_id} idle");
-    pair.advance_time();
+    pair.drive_until_timer(Client, Timer::PerPath(path_id, PathTimer::PathIdle));
+    // Deliver the abandonment to the server: the timer fires while driving the client, and
+    // the loop drives the server before that packet arrives. Without this step the
+    // `poll(Server)` check below would pass simply because the server never heard about it.
     pair.drive();
 
     // The client gave up first and timed out.
diff --git a/noq-proto/src/tests/util.rs b/noq-proto/src/tests/util.rs
index 56070e6242..90af6ea8e0 100644
--- a/noq-proto/src/tests/util.rs
+++ b/noq-proto/src/tests/util.rs
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ use rustls::{
 use tracing::{debug, info, info_span, trace};
 
 use crate::crypto::rustls::{QuicClientConfig, QuicServerConfig, configured_provider};
+use crate::connection::timer::Timer;
 use crate::{
     ClientConfig, ClosePathError, ClosedPath, Connection, ConnectionError, ConnectionEvent,
     ConnectionHandle, ConnectionStats, DatagramEvent, Datagrams, Dir, Duration, EcnCodepoint,
@@ -766,6 +767,40 @@ impl ConnPair {
         self.conn_mut(side).poll_timeout()
     }
 
+    /// Advances virtual time and drives both endpoints until `timer` fires on `side`.
+    ///
+    /// [`Self::drive`] refuses to step past a point where the only timers still pending
+    /// are idle timers (see `Connection::is_idle`), so it cannot be used to reach an idle
+    /// timeout: the timeout is exactly what `is_idle` discounts. This loop keeps stepping
+    /// to each next wakeup until `timer` is no longer armed.
+    ///
+    /// Note that timers fire in `drive_client`/`drive_server`, not in `advance_time`, so
+    /// every step has to drive both endpoints. A timer that is *cancelled* rather than
+    /// fired also ends the loop; callers should still assert on the event they expect, so
+    /// that a cancellation fails loudly instead of passing silently.
+    ///
+    /// Each step advances the clock *before* driving, so packets that must be sent at the
+    /// current time have to be driven out by a preceding [`Self::drive`]; otherwise they
+    /// are queued until after the first step.
+    ///
+    /// Panics if the timer is still armed after 1024 steps.
+    #[track_caller]
+    pub(super) fn drive_until_timer(&mut self, side: Side, timer: Timer) {
+        let mut steps = 0;
+        while self.conn(side).timer_pending(timer).is_some() {
+            // If `timer` is armed, this endpoint has a wakeup scheduled, so the advance
+            // cannot run out of timers.
+            assert!(
+                self.advance_time(),
+                "{timer:?} is armed but no endpoint has a wakeup scheduled"
+            );
+            self.drive_client();
+            self.drive_server();
+            steps += 1;
+            assert!(steps < 1024, "{timer:?} still armed after {steps} steps");
+        }
+    }
+
     pub(super) fn poll(&mut self, side: Side) -> Option<Event> {
         self.conn_mut(side).poll()
     }