diff --git a/lib/octicons_gem/lib/octicons/octicon.rb b/lib/octicons_gem/lib/octicons/octicon.rb
index 62a53f474..7de596ec8 100644
--- a/lib/octicons_gem/lib/octicons/octicon.rb
+++ b/lib/octicons_gem/lib/octicons/octicon.rb
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ def initialize(symbol, options = {})
         @width = octicon["width"]
         @height = octicon["height"]
         @keywords = octicon["keywords"]
-        @options = options
+        @options = options.dup
         @options.merge!({
           class:   classes,
           viewBox: viewbox,
diff --git a/lib/octicons_helper/lib/octicons_helper/helper.rb b/lib/octicons_helper/lib/octicons_helper/helper.rb
index 44c0c7475..c7030e6ad 100644
--- a/lib/octicons_helper/lib/octicons_helper/helper.rb
+++ b/lib/octicons_helper/lib/octicons_helper/helper.rb
@@ -9,10 +9,10 @@ module OcticonsHelper
   def octicon(symbol, options = {})
     return "" if symbol.nil?
 
-    cache_key = [symbol, options].to_s
+    cache_key = [symbol, options]
 
-    if octicons_helper_cache[cache_key]
-      octicons_helper_cache[cache_key]
+    if tag = octicons_helper_cache[cache_key]
+      tag
     else
       icon = Octicons::Octicon.new(symbol, options)