Are my cats "fighting" for dominance

[venusqui]

Sorry if the title is misleading but I honestly cannot think of a proper term for whats going on. I currently have two cats, mother and her son, only separated by a year in age. they're approximately 13-14 years old.  When they were younger is was obvious that the mother was the one in charge. Getting the best spots and able to push her son out of others when she wanted them. A few light hits with her paw, no claws if he was stubborn.
Now though it seems they are both contending for certain spots but only if they notice the other cat has a preference. For example we have two spots in our computer room that both get sun and look out the window. Only difference between the two is one is higher and the other has a roof.
But if the son suddenly starts only uses the bottom spot the mother will try to always get into the spot the second the son leaves it. This also happens in reverse if the son notices the mother uses the spot too often. There has been no physical fighting or growling from either party. I don't ever feel any real tension between the two, it more feels like a sly sibling squabble with each one just pushing there way into areas. The worse it has ever got was the son actually was going to sit on the mother just so he could be in the lower spot while she was still in there. Still no growling or even paws lashing out at each other. The mother ended up leaving the spot before getting sat upon by her larger fat son. This has also happened with other spots around the house. Especially in front of the heater with the only difference to the previous example as there is no difference where they sit in front of the heater. It spreads heat evenly and there's no draft there.
I'm mostly just curious as to whats going on. Is this some version of an older cat trying for dominance over his mother? Is this bad? Has anyone else noticed something similar happen with their own cats? Should I be laughing when I notice this happening?

Thanks for reading hope I can get some advice.

 

[red top rescue]

Yes, I do think you should be laughing!  At this age, and after living together all these years, it's not at all surprising that they have these little pushing matches.  Also, if one goes into the spot the other just left, he/she may just like the pre-warmed effect.  I'm sure that's why my cats, who have cat beds all around, insist on jumping up and lying down on my desk chair every time I get up to go to the bathroom.  I have some mother/son combos here as well (ages 3 and 4) and yes, I've seen one of the boys climb into a cat bed he wanted on top of his mother.  She left, leaving him the warm spot.  Warm spots are extremely attractive in the winter.  Every time I forget to close my laptop, when I come back, there's a cat on it, either a mother or a son.  As the dominant cat in the house, I carefully lift the offending party off and then fix whatever damage they have done, which in some cases has resulted in flipping my display sideways and even upside down.  After the first experience of that, I went online to a support group and found that I could flip it back by using the Ctrl key and the up or down arrow, so that must be how they flipped it in the first place.  NOW I laugh, but the first time I yelled and screamed.