diff --git a/lang/ast/expr/arith.c b/lang/ast/expr/arith.c
index f65e248..8e4d6b0 100644
--- a/lang/ast/expr/arith.c
+++ b/lang/ast/expr/arith.c
@@ -1276,7 +1276,7 @@ struct token_parse_result arith_parse_label(
 		return PARSE_RESULT(IVY_ERR_BAD_SYNTAX, 0);
 	}
 
-	if (expr_terminates_at_token(state, IVY_TOK_LABEL)) {
+	if (state->s_sub_type == EXPR_SUBTYPE_KEYWORD_ARG) {
 		/* we are currently parsing a keyword or complex message
 		 * argument, and have just encountered the label denoting the
 		 * next argument. terminate here and propagate this label to the