diff --git a/cpp/include/kvikio/utils.hpp b/cpp/include/kvikio/utils.hpp
index 41b50f7108..8194310198 100644
--- a/cpp/include/kvikio/utils.hpp
+++ b/cpp/include/kvikio/utils.hpp
@@ -150,10 +150,43 @@ class PushAndPopContext {
 std::tuple<void*, std::size_t, std::size_t> get_alloc_info(void const* devPtr,
                                                            CUcontext* ctx = nullptr);
 
+/**
+ * @brief Create a shared state in a future object that is immediately ready.
+ *
+ * A partial implementation of the namesake function from the concurrency TS
+ * (https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/experimental/make_ready_future). The cases of
+ * std::reference_wrapper and void are not implemented.
+ *
+ * @tparam T Type of the value provided.
+ * @param t Object provided.
+ * @return A future holding a decayed copy of the object provided.
+ */
+template <typename T>
+std::future<std::decay_t<T>> make_ready_future(T&& t)
+{
+  std::promise<std::decay_t<T>> p;
+  auto fut = p.get_future();
+  p.set_value(std::forward<T>(t));
+  return fut;
+}
+
+/**
+ * @brief Check the status of the future object. True indicates that the result is available in the
+ * future's shared state. False otherwise.
+ *
+ * The future shall not be created using `std::async(std::launch::deferred)`. Otherwise, this
+ * function always returns true.
+ *
+ * @tparam T Type of the future.
+ * @param future Instance of the future.
+ * @return Boolean answer indicating if the future is ready or not.
+ */
 template <typename T>
 bool is_future_done(T const& future)
 {
-  assert(future.valid());
+  if (!future.valid()) {
+    throw std::invalid_argument("The future object does not refer to a valid shared state.");
+  }
   return future.wait_for(std::chrono::seconds(0)) != std::future_status::timeout;
 }
 
diff --git a/cpp/src/file_handle.cpp b/cpp/src/file_handle.cpp
index 882799e016..a1bb5781ee 100644
--- a/cpp/src/file_handle.cpp
+++ b/cpp/src/file_handle.cpp
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 #include <kvikio/defaults.hpp>
 #include <kvikio/file_handle.hpp>
 #include <kvikio/file_utils.hpp>
+#include "kvikio/utils.hpp"
 
 namespace kvikio {
 
@@ -212,10 +213,9 @@ std::future<std::size_t> FileHandle::pread(void* buf,
   if (size < gds_threshold) {
     PushAndPopContext c(ctx);
     auto bytes_read = detail::posix_device_read(_fd_direct_off.fd(), buf, size, file_offset, 0);
-    std::promise<std::size_t> read_promise;
-    auto read_future = read_promise.get_future();
-    read_promise.set_value(bytes_read);
-    return read_future;
+    // Maintain API consistency while making this trivial case synchronous.
+    // The result in the future is immediately available after the call.
+    return make_ready_future(bytes_read);
   }
 
   // Let's synchronize once instead of in each task.
@@ -263,10 +263,9 @@ std::future<std::size_t> FileHandle::pwrite(void const* buf,
   if (size < gds_threshold) {
     PushAndPopContext c(ctx);
     auto bytes_write = detail::posix_device_write(_fd_direct_off.fd(), buf, size, file_offset, 0);
-    std::promise<std::size_t> write_promise;
-    auto write_future = write_promise.get_future();
-    write_promise.set_value(bytes_write);
-    return write_future;
+    // Maintain API consistency while making this trivial case synchronous.
+    // The result in the future is immediately available after the call.
+    return make_ready_future(bytes_write);
   }
 
   // Let's synchronize once instead of in each task.