diff --git a/bench_fio/__init__.py b/bench_fio/__init__.py
index d16f0a1260..f5982623f2 100644
--- a/bench_fio/__init__.py
+++ b/bench_fio/__init__.py
@@ -22,17 +22,19 @@
     network
 )
 
+
 def gather_settings():
-    settings = defaults.get_default_settings()
+    defaultsettings = defaults.get_default_settings()
     customsettings = parseini.get_settings_from_ini(sys.argv)
-    #print(customsettings)
+    # print(customsettings)
     if not customsettings:
-        args = argparsing.check_args(settings)
+        args = argparsing.check_args(defaultsettings)
         customsettings = vars(args)
-    settings = {**settings, **customsettings}
-    checks.check_settings(settings)
+    settings = {**defaultsettings, **customsettings}
+    checks.check_settings(settings, defaultsettings)
     return settings
 
+
 def main():
     checks.check_encoding()
     checks.check_if_fio_exists()
diff --git a/bench_fio/benchlib/argparsing.py b/bench_fio/benchlib/argparsing.py
index 03471efe3c..6448fd1440 100644
--- a/bench_fio/benchlib/argparsing.py
+++ b/bench_fio/benchlib/argparsing.py
@@ -90,7 +90,6 @@ def get_arguments(settings):
         help=f"Override the default test runtime per benchmark"
         f"(default: {settings['runtime']})",
         type=int,
-        default=settings["runtime"],
     )
 
     ag.add_argument(
diff --git a/bench_fio/benchlib/checks.py b/bench_fio/benchlib/checks.py
index 41824002a6..f5f964e356 100644
--- a/bench_fio/benchlib/checks.py
+++ b/bench_fio/benchlib/checks.py
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ def check_target_type(target, settings):
         return {"file": "filename", "device": "filename", "directory": "directory"}[filetype]
 
 
-def check_settings(settings):
+def check_settings(settings, defaultsettings):
     """Some basic error handling."""
 
     check_fio_version()
@@ -90,6 +90,11 @@ def check_settings(settings):
             print()
             sys.exit(9)
 
+    if not settings["runtime"] and not settings["size"]:
+        # if there is no explicit runtime nor size supplied, fallback to
+        # the default runtime
+        settings["runtime"] = defaultsettings["runtime"]
+
     if settings["type"] not in ["device", "rbd"] and not settings["size"]:
         print()
         print("When the target is a file or directory, --size must be specified.")