Looka

The optimal way to enjoy rewatching early HIMYM is to interpret Barney Stinson as a bi dude who can't process his feelings for his male best friend, and that he copes by attempting to sabotage his friend's serious relationships and roping him into the playboy bros-before-hoes lifestyle. All so that Ted remains unattached and Barney can engage in parallel sexuality with him, the closest a nominally straight man can get to fucking another dude without actually fucking him. Or at least that's what I think.