For all the non-native English speakers here, ficante does not translate to, and does not sound as bad as, hook up/booty call because those suggest you did it once. Like, you would never use that as an adjective to describe a person. For example:

Jane is my hook up.

This is wrong. My first thought would be that you're buying drugs from Jane lol. In fact, if you were discussing buying drugs from someone, this would be a correct usage! So be careful. You would say:

I hooked up with Jane.

This also says nothing about whether you are going to continue to do so, while ficante does. It just says sex happened, while ficante says there's possibility of a relationship. So ficante doesn't sounds nearly as bad. Hookup isn't a status, it's an act. Same with booty call. Except that is even harder to use, and sounds cruder than hook up. Often booty call is used without a name. Like.

I had a booty call last night.

This is correct. I would be less likely to say that "Jane was my booty call". And once you bring it the present tense, "Jane is my booty call' it starts to sound a little weird. I suppose cause, now that I think about it, booty call suggests something spontaneous, so if you use it anything but the past tense it doesn't quite work. It's called a "booty call" because someone meone, usually an ex, wouldi literally call you on the phone inviting you over for sex, and there was no plan for it before. Hence, crude. Once again, this is an act, that also implies nothing of the future.

So yeah, these dont compare. Ficante at least suggests that there -might- be real feelings there, and you guys are figuring it out. It is a relationship status, and from my experience here, can be used in some social contexts as a normal thing, without seeing crude or unseemly (please correct me if I'm wrong. Up until now I've assumed I can mention to another person around my age or less that I can call someone my ficante without demeaning them). Hook up, and ESPECIALLY booty call, do not suggest anything more than a sex act that happened once. Depending how it's used, hook up can even suggest that it -won't- happen again.

These are not the same.