diff --git a/src/core/ext/transport/chttp2/transport/chttp2_transport.c b/src/core/ext/transport/chttp2/transport/chttp2_transport.c
index 3e7c078d3ce..3b84898fee0 100644
--- a/src/core/ext/transport/chttp2/transport/chttp2_transport.c
+++ b/src/core/ext/transport/chttp2/transport/chttp2_transport.c
@@ -425,7 +425,6 @@ static void close_transport_locked(grpc_exec_ctx *exec_ctx,
     /* flush writable stream list to avoid dangling references */
     grpc_chttp2_stream *s;
     while (grpc_chttp2_list_pop_writable_stream(t, &s)) {
-      grpc_chttp2_leave_writing_lists(exec_ctx, t, s);
       GRPC_CHTTP2_STREAM_UNREF(exec_ctx, s, "chttp2_writing:close");
     }
     end_all_the_calls(exec_ctx, t, GRPC_ERROR_REF(error));
@@ -521,10 +520,6 @@ static void destroy_stream_locked(grpc_exec_ctx *exec_ctx, void *sp,
     }
   }
 
-  if (s->fail_pending_writes_on_writes_finished_error != NULL) {
-    GRPC_ERROR_UNREF(s->fail_pending_writes_on_writes_finished_error);
-  }
-
   GPR_ASSERT(s->send_initial_metadata_finished == NULL);
   GPR_ASSERT(s->fetching_send_message == NULL);
   GPR_ASSERT(s->send_trailing_metadata_finished == NULL);
@@ -604,11 +599,13 @@ static void set_write_state(grpc_exec_ctx *exec_ctx, grpc_chttp2_transport *t,
                                  write_state_name(t->write_state),
                                  write_state_name(st), reason));
   t->write_state = st;
-  if (st == GRPC_CHTTP2_WRITE_STATE_IDLE &&
-      t->close_transport_on_writes_finished != NULL) {
-    grpc_error *err = t->close_transport_on_writes_finished;
-    t->close_transport_on_writes_finished = NULL;
-    close_transport_locked(exec_ctx, t, err);
+  if (st == GRPC_CHTTP2_WRITE_STATE_IDLE) {
+    grpc_exec_ctx_enqueue_list(exec_ctx, &t->run_after_write, NULL);
+    if (t->close_transport_on_writes_finished != NULL) {
+      grpc_error *err = t->close_transport_on_writes_finished;
+      t->close_transport_on_writes_finished = NULL;
+      close_transport_locked(exec_ctx, t, err);
+    }
   }
 }
 
@@ -825,7 +822,14 @@ static void maybe_start_some_streams(grpc_exec_ctx *exec_ctx,
   }
 }
 
+/* Flag that this closure barrier wants stats to be updated before finishing */
 #define CLOSURE_BARRIER_STATS_BIT (1 << 0)
+/* Flag that this closure barrier may be covering a write in a pollset, and so
+   we should not complete this closure until we can prove that the write got
+   scheduled */
+#define CLOSURE_BARRIER_MAY_COVER_WRITE (1 << 1)
+/* First bit of the reference count, stored in the high order bits (with the low
+   bits being used for flags defined above) */
 #define CLOSURE_BARRIER_FIRST_REF_BIT (1 << 16)
 
 static grpc_closure *add_closure_barrier(grpc_closure *closure) {
@@ -852,6 +856,16 @@ void grpc_chttp2_complete_closure_step(grpc_exec_ctx *exec_ctx,
     return;
   }
   closure->next_data.scratch -= CLOSURE_BARRIER_FIRST_REF_BIT;
+  if (grpc_http_trace) {
+    const char *errstr = grpc_error_string(error);
+    gpr_log(GPR_DEBUG,
+            "complete_closure_step: %p refs=%d flags=0x%04x desc=%s err=%s",
+            closure,
+            (int)(closure->next_data.scratch / CLOSURE_BARRIER_FIRST_REF_BIT),
+            (int)(closure->next_data.scratch % CLOSURE_BARRIER_FIRST_REF_BIT),
+            desc, errstr);
+    grpc_error_free_string(errstr);
+  }
   if (error != GRPC_ERROR_NONE) {
     if (closure->error_data.error == GRPC_ERROR_NONE) {
       closure->error_data.error =
@@ -868,7 +882,13 @@ void grpc_chttp2_complete_closure_step(grpc_exec_ctx *exec_ctx,
       grpc_transport_move_stats(&s->stats, s->collecting_stats);
       s->collecting_stats = NULL;
     }
-    grpc_closure_run(exec_ctx, closure, closure->error_data.error);
+    if ((t->write_state == GRPC_CHTTP2_WRITE_STATE_IDLE) ||
+        !(closure->next_data.scratch & CLOSURE_BARRIER_MAY_COVER_WRITE)) {
+      grpc_closure_run(exec_ctx, closure, closure->error_data.error);
+    } else {
+      grpc_closure_list_append(&t->run_after_write, closure,
+                               closure->error_data.error);
+    }
   }
 }
 
@@ -1013,6 +1033,7 @@ static void perform_stream_op_locked(grpc_exec_ctx *exec_ctx, void *stream_op,
 
   if (op->send_initial_metadata != NULL) {
     GPR_ASSERT(s->send_initial_metadata_finished == NULL);
+    on_complete->next_data.scratch |= CLOSURE_BARRIER_MAY_COVER_WRITE;
     s->send_initial_metadata_finished = add_closure_barrier(on_complete);
     s->send_initial_metadata = op->send_initial_metadata;
     const size_t metadata_size =
@@ -1066,6 +1087,7 @@ static void perform_stream_op_locked(grpc_exec_ctx *exec_ctx, void *stream_op,
   }
 
   if (op->send_message != NULL) {
+    on_complete->next_data.scratch |= CLOSURE_BARRIER_MAY_COVER_WRITE;
     s->fetching_send_message_finished = add_closure_barrier(op->on_complete);
     if (s->write_closed) {
       grpc_chttp2_complete_closure_step(
@@ -1103,6 +1125,7 @@ static void perform_stream_op_locked(grpc_exec_ctx *exec_ctx, void *stream_op,
 
   if (op->send_trailing_metadata != NULL) {
     GPR_ASSERT(s->send_trailing_metadata_finished == NULL);
+    on_complete->next_data.scratch |= CLOSURE_BARRIER_MAY_COVER_WRITE;
     s->send_trailing_metadata_finished = add_closure_barrier(on_complete);
     s->send_trailing_metadata = op->send_trailing_metadata;
     const size_t metadata_size =
@@ -1406,7 +1429,6 @@ static void remove_stream(grpc_exec_ctx *exec_ctx, grpc_chttp2_transport *t,
     }
   }
   if (grpc_chttp2_list_remove_writable_stream(t, s)) {
-    grpc_chttp2_leave_writing_lists(exec_ctx, t, s);
     GRPC_CHTTP2_STREAM_UNREF(exec_ctx, s, "chttp2_writing:remove_stream");
   }
 
@@ -1537,41 +1559,9 @@ static grpc_error *removal_error(grpc_error *extra_error, grpc_chttp2_stream *s,
   return error;
 }
 
-void grpc_chttp2_leave_writing_lists(grpc_exec_ctx *exec_ctx,
-                                     grpc_chttp2_transport *t,
-                                     grpc_chttp2_stream *s) {
-  if (s->need_fail_pending_writes_on_writes_finished) {
-    grpc_error *error = s->fail_pending_writes_on_writes_finished_error;
-    s->fail_pending_writes_on_writes_finished_error = NULL;
-    s->need_fail_pending_writes_on_writes_finished = false;
-    grpc_chttp2_fail_pending_writes(exec_ctx, t, s, error);
-  }
-}
-
 void grpc_chttp2_fail_pending_writes(grpc_exec_ctx *exec_ctx,
                                      grpc_chttp2_transport *t,
                                      grpc_chttp2_stream *s, grpc_error *error) {
-  if (s->need_fail_pending_writes_on_writes_finished ||
-      (t->write_state != GRPC_CHTTP2_WRITE_STATE_IDLE &&
-       (s->included[GRPC_CHTTP2_LIST_WRITABLE] ||
-        s->included[GRPC_CHTTP2_LIST_WRITING]))) {
-    /* If a write is in progress, and it involves this stream, wait for the
-     * write to complete before cancelling things out. If we don't do this, then
-     * our combiner lock might think that some operation on its queue might be
-     * covering a completion even though there is none, in which case we might
-     * offload to another thread, which isn't guarateed to exist */
-    if (error != GRPC_ERROR_NONE) {
-      if (s->fail_pending_writes_on_writes_finished_error == GRPC_ERROR_NONE) {
-        s->fail_pending_writes_on_writes_finished_error = GRPC_ERROR_CREATE(
-            "Post-poned fail writes due to in-progress write");
-      }
-      s->fail_pending_writes_on_writes_finished_error = grpc_error_add_child(
-          s->fail_pending_writes_on_writes_finished_error, error);
-    }
-    s->need_fail_pending_writes_on_writes_finished = true;
-    return; /* early out */
-  }
-
   error =
       removal_error(error, s, "Pending writes failed due to stream closure");
   s->send_initial_metadata = NULL;
diff --git a/src/core/ext/transport/chttp2/transport/internal.h b/src/core/ext/transport/chttp2/transport/internal.h
index 6cba1e7fd20..31eb1e01ac0 100644
--- a/src/core/ext/transport/chttp2/transport/internal.h
+++ b/src/core/ext/transport/chttp2/transport/internal.h
@@ -327,6 +327,9 @@ struct grpc_chttp2_transport {
    */
   grpc_error *close_transport_on_writes_finished;
 
+  /* a list of closures to run after writes are finished */
+  grpc_closure_list run_after_write;
+
   /* buffer pool state */
   /** have we scheduled a benign cleanup? */
   bool benign_reclaimer_registered;
@@ -409,9 +412,6 @@ struct grpc_chttp2_stream {
   grpc_error *read_closed_error;
   /** the error that resulted in this stream being write-closed */
   grpc_error *write_closed_error;
-  /** should any writes be cleared once this stream becomes non-writable */
-  bool need_fail_pending_writes_on_writes_finished;
-  grpc_error *fail_pending_writes_on_writes_finished_error;
 
   grpc_published_metadata_method published_metadata[2];
   bool final_metadata_requested;
@@ -692,9 +692,6 @@ void grpc_chttp2_maybe_complete_recv_trailing_metadata(grpc_exec_ctx *exec_ctx,
                                                        grpc_chttp2_transport *t,
                                                        grpc_chttp2_stream *s);
 
-void grpc_chttp2_leave_writing_lists(grpc_exec_ctx *exec_ctx,
-                                     grpc_chttp2_transport *t,
-                                     grpc_chttp2_stream *s);
 void grpc_chttp2_fail_pending_writes(grpc_exec_ctx *exec_ctx,
                                      grpc_chttp2_transport *t,
                                      grpc_chttp2_stream *s, grpc_error *error);
diff --git a/src/core/ext/transport/chttp2/transport/writing.c b/src/core/ext/transport/chttp2/transport/writing.c
index 769b229a0da..139e7387c4d 100644
--- a/src/core/ext/transport/chttp2/transport/writing.c
+++ b/src/core/ext/transport/chttp2/transport/writing.c
@@ -208,7 +208,6 @@ bool grpc_chttp2_begin_write(grpc_exec_ctx *exec_ctx,
         GRPC_CHTTP2_STREAM_UNREF(exec_ctx, s, "chttp2_writing:already_writing");
       }
     } else {
-      grpc_chttp2_leave_writing_lists(exec_ctx, t, s);
       GRPC_CHTTP2_STREAM_UNREF(exec_ctx, s, "chttp2_writing:no_write");
     }
   }
@@ -253,7 +252,6 @@ void grpc_chttp2_end_write(grpc_exec_ctx *exec_ctx, grpc_chttp2_transport *t,
       grpc_chttp2_mark_stream_closed(exec_ctx, t, s, !t->is_client, 1,
                                      GRPC_ERROR_REF(error));
     }
-    grpc_chttp2_leave_writing_lists(exec_ctx, t, s);
     GRPC_CHTTP2_STREAM_UNREF(exec_ctx, s, "chttp2_writing:end");
   }
   grpc_slice_buffer_reset_and_unref(&t->outbuf);