Honestly it’s patience. You really do need to be patient. Some bunnies can take months or years to open up. If he doesn’t like when you pet him you’d know. He’d get up and hop away on his own or flick his feet at you. The best thing you can honestly do is just ignore him and let him come to you and just be with him at his level. It’ll allow him to explore you without feeling you’re going to try to interact with him when he does. You also might have to think about his personality. Some bunnies don’t prefer human interaction that much and would rather be independent. It’s nothing about you as an owner, it’s just the personality they have. Most bunnies aren’t they type that enjoy being handled and cuddled and pet, those bunnies are rare.

I’ve had my boys about 15 months. Bombur was very comfortable with us from day 1. Asriel on the other hand took months and months of just sitting near him. Not petting him. not touching him. literally just being there with him and laying face to face or in the same vicinity. It wasn’t until 8 months after we had him did he really start opening up. Even now he’s not the most social bunny. If you pet him when he doesn’t want it he will run away. When he sniffs us he runs away. There are moments he will come up and lay on our chests or flop next to us for pets, but that’s not the norm with him. It’s very much an I come to you only when I want love situation. Other than that he’s usually laying at the foot of the bed with us or by Bombur’s cage.

I think eating from your hand amd letting you pet him are already good signs Like A&B said, it takes patience but at the same time it also depends on the bun’s personality.

Kurotta runs away most of the time when we try to pet him, but that’s because he wants to do his own stuff and not because he doesn’t appreciate pets. He loves pets when he’s lounging.