Hello & welcome to the forum
! Just thought I'd throw my two cents in haha. I'm a first-time beardie owner and when I first got my little guy he was never without stress marks (or at least not without them for long). He didn't seem to be overly afraid of me but he didn't seem to be a big fan either. It's taken some time and a lot of work but now we are at the point where most of the time he's stress mark free and light colors when I'm around him while he's in his enclosure or when he's out chilling with me. He doesn't usually ask to come out by scratching or anything but he lets me scoop him up without a problem when he's amenable to coming out and seems to enjoy snuggling with me. We still have work to do and I don't know how bonded he is to me just yet, but I've seen lots of improvement in my own situation with time so I'm sure if you keep up doing what you're both comfortable with you'll get there in time