[PotC] Don't Ask Where It's Been (Jack, PG)

[wallwalker]

Title: Don't Ask Where It's Been
Author: wallwalker
Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Characters: Jack
Warnings: None
Summary: It's a good thing that treasure maps are so durable.
Notes: Written originally for fic_promptly.

Jack knows very well that if any of them had known where these treasure maps had been, no amount of gold in the world would make touching them worthwhile.

He knows it, because he's been as guilty of mistreating them as anyone. He's had his hands on a few treasure maps in his time, most of them worthless - most of everything is worthless, so that's no surprise. Most of them he shoved into a drawer or a crack between planks, to sit rumpled until something jarred his memory. Thank goodness they were made of durable stuff, most of the time.

A few of them... well. They ended up in more interesting places. It wasn't any fun having a really good treasure map, in Jack's opinion, if you couldn't show it off. Oh, you had to make sure no one else got hold of it, or they'd actually have a chance to beat you to the prize, but you at least had to make sure other people knew you had it. Searching for treasure was no fun if you didn't have anyone else searching for it too; who were you supposed to jeer at, otherwise? A few of his more promising maps had ended up in bars, and had inevitably ended up in the middle of very amusing barfights. Several others... well, there were few things that wenches liked better than the promise of treasure. Honestly, that was probably enough said.

Yes, it's a wonder that any of those maps survive, considering what sort of mistreatment they had to withstand. But then, most of them had been made by other pirates, and they at least understood their fellows. That was probably why they were so bloody durable.