diff --git a/ircd/db.cc b/ircd/db.cc
index dad930aa1..d7c58242e 100644
--- a/ircd/db.cc
+++ b/ircd/db.cc
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ ircd::db::request
 	"db req",
 	size_t(request_pool_stack_size),
 	0, // don't prespawn because this is static
+	0, // zero-size queue will yield submitter
 };
 
 /// This mutex is necessary to serialize entry into rocksdb's write impl
@@ -9859,6 +9860,9 @@ ircd::db::prefetch(column &column,
 	if(cached(column, key, gopts))
 		return;
 
+	if(!request.avail())
+		return;
+
 	request([column(column), key(std::string(key)), gopts]
 	() mutable
 	{