A change of pace was needed in general after not being able to have much choice in it for so long, and to at least lessen people recognizing him as the former prince.
Just being real is the key. He gets to be himself instead of having to fit in the mold someone else decides is right for him.
It was supposed to be a joke Jess
Just a teasing comment to laugh about
Jesssssssss
Once it becomes a challenge, he won’t back down
Just as Jess wouldn’t listen if it were the other way around
And he just can’t help it. He can’t back down once she challenges him.
He has to taunt her about it
If she would just admit it, he would shave it off immediately if that’s what she wants
It could’ve all been over so much faster if she’d have just said he could pull off the beard, even if she preferred him clean shaven.
Now she’s just trying to push buttons
Regardless if it made him squirm, he can’t back down.
Clearly aria doesn’t have an issue with it like jess does
He only had so many options of what to say
Aria would’ve eventually questioned too much there anyway. Perhaps that’ll push off anymore questions
Now if she would just say it, this whole standoff would be all over
When all he really wanted was to brush it off and stop the interaction with her, but he had to
When really, he probably wanted to shave the entire time, but wasn’t going to just for the sake of proving his point. He just needed her to admit defeat.
