I have two neutered male cats ages about 8 and 3 years old.  The older one
(who is the grand uncle of the younger) has been the dominant of the two
except for a short two or three week period about 4 months ago when it
appeared that the younger cat was challenging the older one for the alpha
role.  During that period it occurred to me that the older cat was not
sleeping on the bed with me as often as he used to.  I also noticed that
when the younger cat would jump up on the bed the older one would
immediately get up and jump down off the bed to go sleep somewhere else.  I
figured it was just the older cat's rather anti-social attitude he has
toward the younger one until I started seeing the younger one ambush the
older cat with a few swats if he didn't move when he jumped up on the bed.
I decided a while ago to try and stay out of the little spats the guys got
into and since I had allowed the older cat to get away with what I viewed as
bullying in the past I decided it was only fair to just watch and see where
this new development would go.  At times when the younger cat would pick on
the older guy, for no apparent reason, his uncle would look at me as if to
say "You going to let him do that to me?" I would just tell him to kick the
little guys butt and show him who is the boss.  Yes, I know that cats can't
understand whole spoken sentences but I have that anthropomorphic tendency
that most humans have so I actually have conversations with animals, though
these tend to be rather one sided.  As it turns out the older cat either
took my advise or simply figured it out on his own because after putting up
with the younger guys crap for a few weeks he reclaimed his role as top cat
of the turf (sometimes he even tries to take a superior position over me.
Sometimes he succeeds.)  I think the introduction of a third cat, when I
took in a room mate, motivated the older cat because as soon as he met the
new cat (a pregnant female) he proceeded to seriously kick her butt then
stalk her for an opportunity to do it again.  The poor little girl refused
to come out of my roommate's room right up until he moved out a few months
later and I would frequently catch my cat lurking at the door to my room
mates room.  The younger cat on the other hand is very skittish and would
flee to my room and under the bed if anyone approached.  With the high rate
of human traffic that followed after my roommate moved in I even had to move
a litter box into my room and leave my bedroom window open for the younger
cat to come and go through.
Having reclaimed dominance over the younger cat the two of them have now
developed a strange ritual.  The older cat will walk into my room and begin
making chirping and cooing sounds.  When the younger one hears this he will
jump down off the bed and approach his uncle and lay down.  The older cat
then takes a bite hold of the younger cat by the scruff of his neck and
begins to drag him across the floor.  The little guy puts up with this for
about 10 to 15 seconds then kicks free with his rear feet.  The older cat
will generally chirp some more and claw at the carpet then attempt to bite a
hold of the younger cats neck and drag him again.  This will go on for
several minutes before turning into play fighting with either cat playing
the attacker.  The game usually ends in a stand off with the two cats
standing or sitting about a foot away from each other with their tails
twitching until one of them just walks away.  Occasionally the cat that
doesn't walk away will seize this opportunity to ambush the other one from
behind and the game will continue but there generally seems to be an
unspoken agreement between the two when the game is over.
These two cats have become more affectionate with each other since the loss
of my third cat, who was the oldest and largest.  In the past the older of
my remaining cats would occasionally groom his nephew but it was rare and
almost appeared to be an act of aggressive dominance with the older cat
biting and holding the younger one down if he tried to move away.  Now the
two will often groom each other in an affectionate manner and I've seen them
"request" grooming from each other by walking up and rubbing or head butting
the other.  I've never seen a "requests" for grooming refused.  This is
convenient at times, if I don't feel like brushing them when they want me
to, because I can generally get them to groom each other after I brush them
for a few minutes.
What I'm wondering about is this strange ritual that they have started to
practice.  It resembles behavior I've seen between a mother and her kittens
where the queen calls her litter with chirping noises then makes cooing
noises when they approach.  My sensitive side tells me that the terrified
reaction of the younger cat to all the commotion caused by introducing a
number of human strangers has stimulated the older cat to not only reclaim
his alpha position but also assume the role of protector that would be
played by a mother for her litter.  I have strong doubts about this theory
because, among other things, when the younger cat recently got into an
altercation with another neighborhood cat my older cat showed little
interest until I went looking for the little guy who I found hiding in the
garage standing at to unscreened vent ready to flee in the opposite
direction from any threat.  Normally the older cat would never pass up a
chance to scrap with a cat who wandered into his turf, or at least check out
the sounds of other cats fighting, but this time when it was his close
companion he showed little interest in investigating let alone rescuing.
Does anyone have any ideas about what this new ritual is or has anyone seen
this between two adult male cats before.  I've had little experience with
domestic cats and rather disliked them until a few years ago, though I have
worked with lions, cougars and lynx, so this behavior baffles me especially
given the lack of affection between the two in the past.  Sorry about the
length of this post but I felt some background history would help anyone who
might have an idea about what's going on with these two.
My thanks to any who provide constructive feedback.