Concerning clearing the document flow after these two floats:

> used to make sure the two icons are next to each other...

I understand that, but the document flow should still be cleared after these two elements are floated. I have no concerns with these items being floated, but you must recent the flow so that other elements in the layout behave as expected outside of your own feature. If you are unsure about how to reset the document flow: 

* my previous comment in your work notes how using Bourbon
* or you can ditch floating in place of displaying these elements inline-block