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Because they're the team that most fits the idea of a traditional "family". Reed, for all of his faults (and strengths), is the most famous, heroic father in the world.

Scott's an abused child in a terrible place (more terrible than he's been allowed to consciously remember), and deep down, what he really yearns for is a father to rescue and protect him.

What he gets, of course, is an abusive thug who wants to use him as a weapon, and then a noble, well-meaning idealist who treats him as an heir and general, but never a child. (And then of course, there's Corsair - the embodiment of too little, too late when it comes to this kind of thing...)

"Transgender rage is more powerful than the courts.

Transgender love is more hopeful than the law.

We have always been here and no "ruling" can eradicate us!"

That's because, under New York Law, it was literally statutory rape.

Why do I keep saying that?

New York Penal Law Section 130.25: Rape in the Third Degree says:

"A person is guilty of rape in the third degree when:

[The first few examples involve people under the age of seventeen and are not applicable here.]

7. He or she engages in vaginal sexual contact with another person without such person's consent where such lack of consent is by reason of some factor other than incapacity to consent;

8. He or she engages in oral sexual contact with another person without such person's consent where such lack of consent is by reason of some factor other than incapacity to consent;"

So the "affair" was, at least as far as we know, completely telepathic. Obviously telepathy isn't a recognized thing in the real world. Personally, I tend to think that if it's enough to count as infidelity then it should be enough.

But just in case telepathic genitals don't count as legally genitals:

New York Penal Law Section 130.55: Sexual Abuse in the Third Degree:

"A person is guilty of sexual abuse in the third degree when he or she subjects another person to sexual contact without the latter's consent."

But Scott did consent, right? Well...

If you want to find out what "lack of consent" means, then you look for the part of the statute that defines it, specifically:

New York Penal Law Section 130.05: Sex offenses; lack of consent, which says:

"2. Lack of consent results from:

[we'll scroll down the list to the relevant provision]

"(h) a client or patient and the actor is a health care provider or mental health care provider charged with rape in the third degree as defined in section 130.25, a crime formerly defined in section 130.40, aggravated sexual abuse in the fourth degree as defined in section 130.65-a, or sexual abuse in the third degree as defined in section 130.55, and the act of sexual conduct occurs during a treatment session, consultation, interview or examination."

So there you go.

I'll dig out my relevant scans that I've used before:

Cartoonishly evil depiction of Emma aside, Scott has clearly come to her for therapeutic purposes. The disclosures he makes about his conflicted feelings and turmoil are exactly the kind of things that are disclosed in a therapeutic session.

Here's another one I go to often for this discussion.

Emma, again, presenting herself as a therapist. The scenario is, of course, completely inappropriate for therapy. Scott is expressing visual discomfort, and if this were not telepathic and someone else were to see this, I'm sure they would immediately go "WHAT THE FUCK!"

But that's kind of the point. A patient, in a therapeutic session, puts a lot of trust in their therapist and can be fairly easily lead to accept things that they normally wouldn't if it's presented as part of the therapy.

Now, I've actually had someone pop in once and argue that it's fine, because Emma isn't a real therapist.

I suppose that's possible. Maybe Morrison did intend Emma to be making shit up as she goes along. We know she identifies herself as a sex therapist to Jean, and you'd think Jean would have caught her lying, but she's kind of going through her own thing, maybe she didn't notice. We definitely don't see Emma present any credentials.

The thing is though, since then, we've seen Emma act as a therapist more than a few times. Gambit and Rogue have gone to her. Most recently Raven and Irene even sat down with her. She wasn't trying to fuck any of them, so that would imply at least there's something genuine in her qualifications.

That said, even if she was lying, Scott doesn't know that. And it's an interesting bit of mental gymnastics to argue that Emma LYING to Scott means that he suddenly is able to consent to her when telling the truth would be statutory rape.

By the way, the reason we call it "statutory rape" is because intent doesn't actually matter. If the facts are true under the law then the victim cannot consent and it is ipso facto rape. So even if Emma has somehow deluded herself into thinking this is the start of a consensual relationship, it is not. Just like if you fuck a thirteen year old, even if you think she's eighteen, you're gonna be on a registry.

Now is this prosecutable?

Again, in the real world, telepathy is not a thing. At least not recognized. If I've ever met someone who is secretly a telepath then I apologize profusely for whatever you might have picked up. So no, not in the real world.

In Marvel? Well...who knows. I'd imagine at this point telepathy is a recognizable enough element to be incorporated into the law. There was Star Fox's trial in She Hulk, as I recall. And his thing is KINDA telepathic? So...maybe?

But even if it's not prosecutable, if you're going to count it as infidelity, then IMO, it absolutely counts as rape/sexual abuse.

And I'm probably going to keep saying that until the day I keel over dead.

Haha, sorry it took me a while to get back to you. She's a lot and I couldn't decide how deep to go. Basically, she's a fickle and selfish person who must be the centre of everything, all the time. Racist, deceitful, shallow, and above all dramatic. I love it, but oh boy does their relationship suck.

She's the kind of person who says shit like this. 'I did it because I wanted to and I'm not sorry. You wouldn't get it. You're old, Tigra's a slut, and I refuse any consequences for my actions.'

They are a teenager who has never used anything other than an algorithmic feed on a social media app to find fannish content, they don't even know where the settings page is, and they're having a real bad time. They have to get up early in the morning, school is awful, all their clique-y peers have been mean to them about their weight, their teachers are impatient, they just got seven hours of homework and their last class was gym. And they are eternally frightened that they're secretly a bad person and their only current recourse against this is to be like, at least I know that pineapple on pizza is a sin.

Approaching things from this angle has never steered me wrong. Even when the person in question is not literally a teenager, they're still pretty much letting their inner kid drive the bus right now.