diff --git a/integration/kube_integration_test.go b/integration/kube_integration_test.go
index db5958548286d..3e9a2ba8f1320 100644
--- a/integration/kube_integration_test.go
+++ b/integration/kube_integration_test.go
@@ -2530,31 +2530,73 @@ func testKubeJoin(t *testing.T, suite *KubeSuite) {
 	// send a test message from the participant
 	participantStdinW.Write([]byte("\ahi from peer\n\r"))
 
-	// lets type "echo hi" followed by "enter" and then "exit" + "enter":
+	// type "hi from term" followed by "enter" to broadcast data
+	// to all participants.
 	term.Type("\ahi from term\n\r")
 
-	// Terminate the session after a moment to allow for the IO to reach the second client.
-	time.AfterFunc(5*time.Second, func() {
-		// send exit command to close the session
-		term.Type("exit 0\n\r\a")
-	})
+	// validate that the output from both messages above is
+	// written to the participant stdout in the expected order.
+	require.NoError(t, waitForOutput(t.Context(), participantStdoutR, "hi from peer"))
+	require.NoError(t, waitForOutput(t.Context(), participantStdoutR, "hi from term"))
+
+	// send exit command to close the session
+	term.Type("exit 0\n\r\a")
 
 	// wait for all clients to finish
 	require.NoError(t, group.Wait())
 
-	// Verify peer.
-	participantOutput, err := io.ReadAll(participantStdoutR)
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-	require.Contains(t, string(participantOutput), "hi from term")
-
 	// Verify original session.
 	require.Contains(t, out.String(), "hi from peer")
 
 	// Verify observers.
 	for _, capture := range observerCaptures {
-		assert.Contains(t, capture.String(), "hi from peer")
-		assert.Contains(t, capture.String(), "hi from term")
+		output := capture.String()
+		assert.Contains(t, output, "hi from peer")
+		assert.Contains(t, output, "hi from term")
+	}
+}
+
+func waitForOutput(ctx context.Context, r ReaderWithDeadline, expected string) error {
+	var prev string
+	out := make([]byte, int64(len(expected)*3))
+	for {
+		select {
+		case <-ctx.Done():
+			return trace.BadParameter("timeout waiting on terminal for output: %v", expected)
+		default:
+		}
+
+		// Forward the context deadline to the read deadline.
+		if deadline, ok := ctx.Deadline(); ok {
+			if err := r.SetReadDeadline(deadline); err != nil {
+				return trace.Wrap(err)
+			}
+		}
+		n, err := r.Read(out)
+		outStr := removeSpace(string(out[:n]))
+
+		// Check for [expected] before checking the error,
+		// as it's valid for n > 0 even when there is an error.
+		// The [expected] is checked against the current and previous
+		// output to account for scenarios where the [expected] is split
+		// across two reads. While we try to prevent this by reading
+		// twice the length of [expected] there are no guarantees the
+		// whole thing will arrive in a single read.
+		if n > 0 && strings.Contains(prev+outStr, expected) {
+			return nil
+		}
+		if err != nil {
+			return trace.Wrap(err)
+		}
+		prev = outStr
+	}
+}
+
+func removeSpace(in string) string {
+	for _, c := range []string{"\n", "\r", "\t"} {
+		in = strings.ReplaceAll(in, c, " ")
 	}
+	return strings.TrimSpace(in)
 }
 
 // testKubeJoinWeb tests that joining an interactive exec session