diff --git a/crates/cli-support/src/js/binding.rs b/crates/cli-support/src/js/binding.rs
index 1c5e91869d1c..bdaf39b7b93c 100644
--- a/crates/cli-support/src/js/binding.rs
+++ b/crates/cli-support/src/js/binding.rs
@@ -548,57 +548,32 @@ fn instruction(js: &mut JsBuilder, instr: &Instruction, log_error: &mut bool) ->
         | Instruction::CallExport(_)
         | Instruction::CallAdapter(_)
         | Instruction::CallTableElement(_)
-        | Instruction::DeferCallCore(_) => {
+        | Instruction::DeferFree { align, .. } => {
             let invoc = Invocation::from(instr, js.cx.module)?;
             let (mut params, results) = invoc.params_results(js.cx);
+            assert_eq!(results, 0, "deferred calls must have no results");
+            // substract alignment
+            params -= 1;
 
             let mut args = Vec::new();
             let tmp = js.tmp();
-            if invoc.defer() {
-                // substract alignment
-                params -= 1;
-                // If the call is deferred, the arguments to the function still need to be
-                // accessible in the `finally` block, so we declare variables to hold the args
-                // outside of the try-finally block and then set those to the args.
-                for (i, arg) in js.stack[js.stack.len() - params..].iter().enumerate() {
-                    let name = format!("deferred{tmp}_{i}");
-                    writeln!(js.pre_try, "let {name};").unwrap();
-                    writeln!(js.prelude, "{name} = {arg};").unwrap();
-                    args.push(name);
-                }
-                // add alignment
-                args.push(String::from("4"));
-            } else {
-                // Otherwise, pop off the number of parameters for the function we're calling.
-                for _ in 0..params {
-                    args.push(js.pop());
-                }
-                args.reverse();
+
+            // If the call is deferred, the arguments to the function still need to be
+            // accessible in the `finally` block, so we declare variables to hold the args
+            // outside of the try-finally block and then set those to the args.
+            for (i, arg) in js.stack[js.stack.len() - params..].iter().enumerate() {
+                let name = format!("deferred{tmp}_{i}");
+                writeln!(js.pre_try, "let {name};").unwrap();
+                writeln!(js.prelude, "{name} = {arg};").unwrap();
+                args.push(name);
             }
+            // add alignment
+            args.push(align.to_string());
 
             // Call the function through an export of the underlying module.
             let call = invoc.invoke(js.cx, &args, &mut js.prelude, log_error)?;
 
-            // And then figure out how to actually handle where the call
-            // happens. This is pretty conditional depending on the number of
-            // return values of the function.
-            match (invoc.defer(), results) {
-                (true, 0) => {
-                    js.finally(&format!("{};", call));
-                }
-                (true, _) => panic!("deferred calls must have no results"),
-                (false, 0) => js.prelude(&format!("{};", call)),
-                (false, n) => {
-                    js.prelude(&format!("const ret = {};", call));
-                    if n == 1 {
-                        js.push("ret".to_string());
-                    } else {
-                        for i in 0..n {
-                            js.push(format!("ret[{}]", i));
-                        }
-                    }
-                }
-            }
+            js.finally(&format!("{};", call));
         }
 
         Instruction::IntToWasm { input, .. } => {
@@ -1194,8 +1169,8 @@ impl Invocation {
                 defer: false,
             },
 
-            DeferCallCore(f) => Invocation::Core {
-                id: *f,
+            DeferFree { free, .. } => Invocation::Core {
+                id: *free,
                 defer: true,
             },
 
@@ -1264,13 +1239,6 @@ impl Invocation {
             }
         }
     }
-
-    fn defer(&self) -> bool {
-        match self {
-            Invocation::Core { defer, .. } => *defer,
-            _ => false,
-        }
-    }
 }
 
 fn adapter2ts(ty: &AdapterType, dst: &mut String) {
diff --git a/crates/cli-support/src/wit/outgoing.rs b/crates/cli-support/src/wit/outgoing.rs
index 890b79b2fb0e..d90dcd3f5ee6 100644
--- a/crates/cli-support/src/wit/outgoing.rs
+++ b/crates/cli-support/src/wit/outgoing.rs
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ impl InstructionBuilder<'_, '_> {
                 // ... then defer a call to `free` to happen later
                 let free = self.cx.free()?;
                 self.instructions.push(InstructionData {
-                    instr: Instruction::DeferCallCore(free),
+                    instr: Instruction::DeferFree { free, align: 1 },
                     stack_change: StackChange::Modified {
                         popped: 2,
                         pushed: 2,
@@ -389,7 +389,7 @@ impl InstructionBuilder<'_, '_> {
                 // special case it.
                 assert!(!self.instructions[len..]
                     .iter()
-                    .any(|idata| matches!(idata.instr, Instruction::DeferCallCore(_))));
+                    .any(|idata| matches!(idata.instr, Instruction::DeferFree { .. })));
 
                 // Finally, we add the two inputs to UnwrapResult, and everything checks out
                 //
@@ -429,7 +429,7 @@ impl InstructionBuilder<'_, '_> {
                 // implementation.
                 let free = self.cx.free()?;
                 self.instructions.push(InstructionData {
-                    instr: Instruction::DeferCallCore(free),
+                    instr: Instruction::DeferFree { free, align: 1 },
                     stack_change: StackChange::Modified {
                         popped: 2,
                         pushed: 2,
diff --git a/crates/cli-support/src/wit/standard.rs b/crates/cli-support/src/wit/standard.rs
index 953fbfa56880..ba29a75e417b 100644
--- a/crates/cli-support/src/wit/standard.rs
+++ b/crates/cli-support/src/wit/standard.rs
@@ -95,7 +95,10 @@ pub enum Instruction {
     CallCore(walrus::FunctionId),
     /// Schedules a function to be called after the whole lift/lower cycle is
     /// finished, e.g. to deallocate a string or something.
-    DeferCallCore(walrus::FunctionId),
+    DeferFree {
+        free: walrus::FunctionId,
+        align: usize,
+    },
     /// A call to one of our own defined adapters, similar to the standard
     /// call-adapter instruction
     CallAdapter(AdapterId),
@@ -423,7 +426,7 @@ impl walrus::CustomSection for NonstandardWitSection {
             };
             for instr in instrs {
                 match instr.instr {
-                    DeferCallCore(f) | CallCore(f) => {
+                    DeferFree { free: f, .. } | CallCore(f) => {
                         roots.push_func(f);
                     }
                     StoreRetptr { mem, .. }