diff --git a/src/matrix/room/timeline/persistence/GapWriter.js b/src/matrix/room/timeline/persistence/GapWriter.js
index 7b6e7600..2fc56a21 100644
--- a/src/matrix/room/timeline/persistence/GapWriter.js
+++ b/src/matrix/room/timeline/persistence/GapWriter.js
@@ -119,13 +119,14 @@ export class GapWriter {
                 eventStorageEntry.displayName = member.displayName;
                 eventStorageEntry.avatarUrl = member.avatarUrl;
             }
-            txn.timelineEvents.insert(eventStorageEntry);
-            const eventEntry = new EventEntry(eventStorageEntry, this._fragmentIdComparer);
-            directionalAppend(entries, eventEntry, direction);
-            const updatedRelationTargetEntries = await this._relationWriter.writeRelation(eventEntry, txn, log);
+            // this will modify eventStorageEntry if it is a relation target
+            const updatedRelationTargetEntries = await this._relationWriter.writeGapRelation(eventStorageEntry, direction, txn, log);
             if (updatedRelationTargetEntries) {
                 updatedEntries.push(...updatedRelationTargetEntries);
             }
+            txn.timelineEvents.insert(eventStorageEntry);
+            const eventEntry = new EventEntry(eventStorageEntry, this._fragmentIdComparer);
+            directionalAppend(entries, eventEntry, direction);
         }
         return {entries, updatedEntries};
     }
diff --git a/src/matrix/room/timeline/persistence/RelationWriter.js b/src/matrix/room/timeline/persistence/RelationWriter.js
index 3838c494..13b0014d 100644
--- a/src/matrix/room/timeline/persistence/RelationWriter.js
+++ b/src/matrix/room/timeline/persistence/RelationWriter.js
@@ -44,10 +44,36 @@ export class RelationWriter {
                 }
             }
         }
-        // TODO: check if sourceEntry is in timelineRelations as a target, and if so reaggregate it
         return null;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @param {Object} storageEntry the event object, as it will be stored in storage.
+     *        Will be modified (but not written to storage) in case this event is
+     *        a relation target for which we've previously received relations.
+     * @param {Direction} direction of the gap fill
+     * */
+    async writeGapRelation(storageEntry, direction, txn, log) {
+        const sourceEntry = new EventEntry(storageEntry, this._fragmentIdComparer);
+        const result = await this.writeRelation(sourceEntry, txn, log);
+        // when back-paginating, it can also happen that we've received relations
+        // for this event before, which now upon receiving the target need to be aggregated.
+        if (direction.isBackward) {
+            const relations = await txn.timelineRelations.getAllForTarget(this._roomId, sourceEntry.id);
+            if (relations.length) {
+                for (const r of relations) {
+                    const relationStorageEntry = await txn.timelineEvents.getByEventId(this._roomId, r.sourceEventId);
+                    if (relationStorageEntry) {
+                        const relationEntry = new EventEntry(relationStorageEntry, this._fragmentIdComparer);
+                        await this._applyRelation(relationEntry, storageEntry, txn, log);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        return result;
+    }
+
     /**
      * @param {EventEntry} sourceEntry
      * @param {Object} targetStorageEntry event entry as stored in the timelineEvents store
@@ -224,4 +250,4 @@ const _REDACT_KEEP_CONTENT_MAP = {
                            },
     'm.room.aliases': {'aliases': 1},
 };
-// end of matrix-js-sdk code
\ No newline at end of file
+// end of matrix-js-sdk code
diff --git a/src/matrix/storage/idb/stores/TimelineRelationStore.js b/src/matrix/storage/idb/stores/TimelineRelationStore.js
index 504693f9..013fb2d6 100644
--- a/src/matrix/storage/idb/stores/TimelineRelationStore.js
+++ b/src/matrix/storage/idb/stores/TimelineRelationStore.js
@@ -59,4 +59,17 @@ export class TimelineRelationStore {
         const keys = await this._store.selectAll(range);
         return keys.map(decodeKey);
     }
+
+    async getAllForTarget(roomId, targetId) {
+        // exclude both keys as they are theoretical min and max,
+        // but we should't have a match for just the room id, or room id with max
+        const range = this._store.IDBKeyRange.bound(
+            encodeKey(roomId, targetId, MIN_UNICODE, MIN_UNICODE),
+            encodeKey(roomId, targetId, MAX_UNICODE, MAX_UNICODE),
+            true,
+            true
+        );
+        const keys = await this._store.selectAll(range);
+        return keys.map(decodeKey);
+    }
 }